Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3

Of all of the nearly limitless isekai out there, Shield Hero always seemed like it stood out from the rest. In hindsight, even early on it did not do all that much differently than other isekai, but it was the first time I saw the revenge subplot executed decent enough. Because the author was able to create such a gripping and interesting story in the first season, I was excited to see what they would be able to cook up in the next seasons when revenge and retribution were no longer the goals of the Shield Hero. Needless to say, the second season was awful,but the third season seems to have gotten at least a little bit better.

Before getting into the gripes, it’s important to give credit to Shield Hero where it is due. Compared to the lackluster animation and hilariously bad CGI of Season 2, Season 3 is a breath of fresh air animation-wise. Although definitely different compared to Season 1, the character designs are nice and the overall art style looks great. Kevin Penkin returned to compose music for this season, and although the tracks didn’t have the same effect on me as earlier ones, they were good nonetheless and enhanced the experience.

The main problem with Shield Hero now is the direction of the plot. Ever since the end of the revenge storyline, and more so after travelling to Kizuna’s world in the second season, it does not feel like the story is going anywhere. Naofumi just keeps expanding his slave harem and events in the story just happen for what feels like no reason. There is definitely a trend throughout this season of finding the other heroes and getting them to reform, and I enjoyed seeing that with Ren the Sword Hero, but none of it is going anywhere. There is just this looming threat of some sort of strong Phoenix monster that does not feel threatening at all due to the audience knowing little about it.

The new characters also do not feel important to the story and only serve to detract attention from the pre-established ones. Sadeena felt important, but only for a few episodes. Fohl and Atla seemed like major characters, but Fohl was just shafted to the side and made to be a weakling while the illness-stricken tiger loli Atla was buffed to the max and cemented as another piece of Naofumi’s harem. Oh yeah, and they’re both slaves. This author seems to be unable to introduce characters without making them Naofumi’s slaves, which continues to make the story less enjoyable. Wyndia was important for the fight against the dragon, but ultimately loses her purpose afterwards.

But it wasn’t enough for these new characters to be dull and bland: they also had to take away time from the old ones. This would be fine if the new ones were interesting and developed, but they aren’t, so that makes the lack of screen time from the older characters that much worse. Raphtalia is still here, but more one-dimensional than ever. Filo this season felt like another kid in the village more than a core part of Naofumi’s party. Melty was just… sort of there. Rishia was supposed to get some development this season, but the lack of build-up and actual change we see prior to her big moment makes this feel like it came out of nowhere. One of the only old characters that I felt actually got good development was Ren; his genuine regret at events that happened multiple seasons ago allow for his character to be transformed into a proper hero.

Overall, the third season of Shield Hero was something that exceeded my expectations, but those expectations were so low that this isn't really anything remarkable. Although not quite reaching the same heights as the first season, it was enjoyable and a good apology for the travesty that was Season 2. Hopefully the next season (if we get it) turns out better, as the arc they're set to adapt has an interesting premise.