Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

The story of a kind and warm hearted person that did no wrong and yet... was met with harsh ill treatment. Plot 9/10 The story had a very interesting concept, a ‘hero’ summoned into a new world against his own will. Being told to fight for the people in the new world with ‘rewards’ in store Forced to realise the unjust nature of the authorities in the new world and get demoralised for superficialities Framed for everything and subjected to malice by the rulers in the new world.Still, this individual has no choice but to fight for this new world that treats him worse than an animal.

That was the life of Iwatani Naofumi, the Shield Hero.
Summoned along with 3 other Cardinal Heroes, they took an ‘unspoken vow’ to fight for the country they were summoned into with promised riches and fame to be bestowed upon them.

To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy the introduction to the anime. It was abrupt and showed no insight towards the main protagonist’s life before the Isekai incident. Nevertheless, I gave the anime a shot and as far as personal opinions are concerned, I have no regrets.

Naofumi was defamed, degraded and even framed... accused for committing horrendous acts and even set-up by people he felt he could trust.

That was the beginning of Naofumi’s experience in a new world and also the beginning of a bad nightmare.

Naofumi has no choice but to take it all in, all the harsh treatments exacted upon him. He had no choice because he couldn’t go against the world. He was one individual.

Having no choice, Naofumi decided to not rely on the help of the people that brought him misfortune. Instead, he decided to fight for his own survival.
With that, Naofumi began his own adventure relying only on himself and a handful of others along the way to learn more about this new world.
During his travels, he met many different people here and there. People that you wouldn’t be able to meet if you started out with riches and fame. He met the peasants and along the way, made some comrades and developed a close relationship with them.
He had made few friends but these were friends he knew he could trust, friends that truly cared for him.
He would fight alongside them, overcoming the harsh trials the world had offered and furthermore, dealing with the unwarranted unpleasantries bestowed upon him and his friends by the cruel malice of the country’s rulers.

This however, played out extremely well nearing the end. Naofumi, forced to succumb to all this... with his friends endured throughout and eventually got what he and they deserved in the most fruitful manner.

Character 10/10

This led to Naofumi developing a very cold and rude personality. He seemed to only care about himself and his friends. He seemed to take no interest in strangers and cared nothing for a title let alone for fame. Naofumi had nothing to lose so he let anyone say anything to him.
However, what made Naofumi so special was that even at the darkest depths of despair, he had friends there for him.
You can call him what you want, mess with him all you want and he won’t lay a finger on you. Just don’t touch the people he cares about.
Naofumi, deep down cared more about his friends than himself. He wanted to protect the only people that he could trust and the only ones that actually cares for him.
He is a very loving and passionate individual at heart.
That’s what made him special, his attitude was what intrigued me. If someone was being falsely imprisoned, surely that person wouldn’t be happy or soft. Losing everything meant you had nothing to lose, your survival instincts kick in and you can become a complete jerk to everyone. That was what Naofumi experienced and that made much more sense than the typical ‘crying alone and striving to prove people wrong’ No, you fight... For yourself and those you care about.

Why the hell would you care about what people say about you and what they think of you? The whole world thinks you’re trash even when you know you aren’t. It’s futile to go against so it’d make more sense to go along with it.
And those that truly think you’re a good person, protect them. Those are people that will stay true to you.

The other main characters were extremely well developed. Raphtalia, the irony that brought about so much sense.
Raphtalia was... like Naofumi, devoid of everything. Like him, she had lost everything she cared for. Naofumi brought her light and a reason to live while she eventually showed Naofumi too, a reason to continue fighting knowing it’ll not bring back what was taken away.

And then along the way, the two encounter more people that would eventually become their most formidable enemy or greatest ally
Naofumi, eventually made a tiny circle of friends that they shared each other’s pain with.
A small group with a strong bond.

Art 8/10

I felt the character designs were pretty good. Action scenes were pretty good as well despite the occasional disappointing CGI what made up for the lack of good CGI was the cute friends of Naofumi.

His ‘harem’ was sized imperfectly but equipped with perfection if I do say so myself.

Filo was that cute angel both in appearances and characteristic. The cute little girl you must protect, no matter what! The girl you can’t stay mad at. She donned a cute angelic outfit with her own pair of angel-like wings... need I say more?

Then there’s Raphtalia, the first person you came to trust. Your closest companion in battle and in personal grievance. Because the other one can’t really understand your pain at a mutual level, Raphtalia is the girl you know if you can’t take it anymore, you can talk to her. She constantly worries about you because she’s more mature and understands your pain more than Filo. Raphtalia the raccoon girl that looked more like a nekomimi to me and well, of course that caught my attention. It caught everyone’s... I mean, who the hell doesn’t like cat girls

Then, Melty. I wouldn’t want to spoil anything about Melty because she came to be a very important individual in the later parts of the anime and talking about her will break the ‘Spoilers Paradigm’ of my review but, Melty is cute too.

Finally, Myne/Malty the flirtatious girl you met at the start, the one that you thought you could trust but ended up taking everything away from you. Yes, the slut/bitch of the year.
Myne is pretty, I have to admit but eventually the depictions of her will somehow get you extremely irritable. I mean, that is the target emotion the anime wants you to have. They do a good job at it.

This anime is filled with many other interestingly devised characters and I applaud the enthusiasm built into it!

Sound 10/10

The OP and ED weren’t superb but they were great! I really enjoyed them however, what led to a 10/10 would no doubt be the amazing voice acting!

From Filo’s pure cuteness and innocence in her voice to Myne’s slutty infuriating irritating voice that just causes your hatred pile up ever since her first ruckus, all the Seiyuus did a splendid job of leaving a huge impression for better or for worse so I am happy to say that I am extremely pleased with them!

Overall 9/10

I am fairly certain at least 90% of the people will enjoy the development of this anime that will leave you with one hell of an impression and bring you through one hell of a bumpy ride with the protagonists that will end up leaving you with a warm happy feeling in your heart.

That’s how impactful the relation you can draw with the protagonists and the other characters together.

I highly recommend giving it a shot!

Take note that this review may be outdated. Always check my profile for my latest rating, I may have changed my rating due to various reasons.