Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

My first though was - it's fine. Simplistic, but fine. You can't really praise this anime as another isekai or fantasy. We've seen all of this before - powerful hero, cute waifu, unnecessary game interface. But if you dig just a little deeper, this anime can pleasantly surprise you. I have some tiny issues with its animation, but it's not necessarily bad. On one hand, I just wish it was smoother, had more frames per every single animation. But on the other - whenever you pause the animation, every single frame is way more detailed than you'd expect. So I guess it's a fair trade-off. Maybebecause the animation is this moderately-good throughout the series, you never think that they skived at any point during production. I like it.
It also has surprisingly beautiful backgrounds. Oftentimes they are neglected in anime as something unimportant, but in Shield Hero they often stand out as gorgeous art on their own.
Beautiful CGI dragon. Take notes, Overlord. It was actually awesome. And the rest of CGI elements, while still noticeable, are way less egregious than they usually are.

Opening is good. At first I thought it spoils too much. But this anime is fairly fast-paced. So, the first episode didn't have the opening at all, the second did, and what I thought it spoiled - happened in third. So, it's not that bad. I also liked the second ending a lot, which I'm only mentioning because I rarely even notice endings. This one was nice.
Overall soundtrack wasn't something I'd listen to daily, but it was very... how do I put it... non-generic? Various flutes and violins gave it a nice medieval vibe, and it was mixed with, for the lack of better word, very Spanish guitars.
The more I watched this anime, the more I liked the music in it. Maybe not a masterpiece, but quite memorable and pleasant indeed.

Characters are fine. Obviously (well, obviously after you've seen episode one) a lot of them are horrible, vile people that you don't want to have anything in common with. But the thing is - you do. These pieces of... filth... are a perfect allusion to modern society.
Society that doesn't see anything wrong with itself. Hypocritical society that praises its heroes for the same things it hates in its villains. Society that indulges snowflakes, that believes any accuser without proof. And those that don't believe just turn away and stay silent.
Among all this filth, which is best represented by Malty (who is a woman, and therefore can never lie, right?), Ren is probably the best character. I do not absolve him of guilt, but at least he says what he thinks. This is not enough to go against the society, but that's also not his goal. And you can see him genuinely worried about mistakes he makes in this world.
Mirelia... welll... you know, she's a waifu. Totally fits my kink for purple-haired queens that include Hernietta from Zero no Tsukaima and Cornelia from Code Geass. So, you know... she was destined to be loved by me. But also, she is just a badass. I'll never get tired of her.
Melty (not Malty) is amazing. Master of putting people at their place with a kind tone and a smile. Bravo.
Filo is very likely my favorite character in the series and probably one of the best I've seen this year. Literally doesn't give a damn about anyone's opinion. And everything that leaves her mouth is pure gold.
Now, you may have noticed that I haven't touched the most important characters yet. Naofumi, the protagonist, and Raphtalia, his obligatory waifu. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that I liked them more than I didn't. It's just that the story around them was a little... forced. I especially hated episode 4. But then they fixed the moment that almost made me drop this anime in episode 5, so... I guess all is forgiven. But generally speaking, the ending of episode 4 was... let's just say, the heroes didn't deserve enough of my trust in their relationship for this to work. I hated it.

That said, the fact that I don't like some story around the protagonists doesn't mean that I don't like the story overall. Yeah, some twists are silly and full of plot holes, cliche etc., but I was still invested in it and wanted to see the heroes succeed and the villains to get what they deserve.
It is indeed hard to stop watching this anime. After every episode I immediately wanted more. And what's good is - the episodes were filled with content. One episode of Shield Hero could easily be two episodes of any other show. And that is awesome.

Tate no Yuusha is another anime that exceeded my expectations. I don't think it was incredibly deep, but had way more meaning in it that, say, Danmachi, Tensura, Goblin Slayer or Overlord, all of which I also enjoyed.
While I don't feel incredibly passionate about this anime, I still caught myself smiling a lot when watching it. Which means it did something right, and I truly enjoyed my time with it. And I'm so happy that they already announced seasons 2 and 3, because I watched the episodes of season 1 disappear with dread.
Tate no Yuusha is an anime that I can recommend with clear conscience to anyone who doesn't hate isekai as a genre. I still enjoy it, and I'm sure that this is far from the last anime in it that I will watch and love.

P.S. I'm not above admitting when anime makes me cry. For example, Re:Zero made me cry like a baby, so did Fullmetal Alchemist and Violet Evergarden, I shed a few tears during Koe no Katachi and hell, even some moments of Tsurezure Children made my eyes wet, even though it was mostly too fun to feel sad.
What I'm getting at is - Tate no Yuusha didn't make me cry. All the drama in it was just... not enough.
But... while I wrote that by episode 4, the heroes didn't deserve my trust in their relationships, by 25 - they did. Sure, they were still somewhat rushed and phony, but it was enough for me to shed one single tear when I saw... well... the way this season ended.
And I was happy. It was the most wholesome ending I've seen in a while. Especially considering this is just an ending to the season, not the anime. Just... beautiful. Thank you.