Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero
To be honest, my personal life experiences make me highly biased towards this anime. I was falsely accused by a "fictim" years ago, and I never had my name cleared. I suffered loss in many areas because of being lied on. As such, I found myself almost instantly seeing myself through the eyes of Naofumi. It almost certainly made it where I glossed over every misstep and reveled more deeply in the satisfying moments than any regular viewer. That being said, this anime was amazing solely because of that. The moments of emotional outrage and hatred, the times he gotin a "win" against those who were trying to destroy his reputation, the moments where he showed how much better he was as a man than almost everyone around him, were fantastic. I could feel his bitterness, his resentment, and unlike me, who was powerless against my circumstance, I could feel his power when he stood up for himself.
What enhanced the story even more was the addition of Raphtalia. Raphtalia serves like an angel and guiding light (along with Filo) keeping Naofumi from being overcome by hatred and rage at the world around him. Their relationship was a great one, and the unique thing about it, is that Raphtalia wasn't just a one note character just to help Naofumi, like a Belldandy or something. She also had her own deeply traumatic experiences and past pains that made for some great moments in their own right. Together, the two helping each other through such intensely unfair circumstances made you root for them in a way that you don't root for many MC's.
Outside of the angle of him being falsely accused and Raphtalia helping him stay on the right path, to be honest, the anime was pretty much standard Isekai fare. Demons are attacking the world, the heroes summoned from another world must save it, blah, blah, blah... Not much about the anime or world was groundbreaking, until the very last two episodes when you learn a little more about the nature of the waves. That wrinkle in the story provides Shield Hero an opportunity to take a different path from most Isekai animes, if they choose to do so.
The animation is pretty standard, as well. It's not something beautiful, like the Fate series, but it's not horrible either. The fights are entertaining, but they aren't exceptionally memorable, either. The characters are either likable, like Naofumi, Rapthalia and Filo, or completely unlikable, like Melty, the other heroes and the King. This aspect helps to strengthen the anime, as there's not many characters that you care nothing about one way or another getting a lot of screen time.
Overall, the strength of this anime is going to be determined by how much you can relate to Naofumi's predicament. If you can't relate to it, you're more than likely going to think this is just an average anime with a wronged hero. If you can relate to it, I think you'll enjoy it much more.