Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

I had a little of prejudice towards this anime. After watching so many Isekais, I was kinda dispirited. I decided to give it a try after the commotion it created, about false accusation of rape. It happens in the first episode, but the first episode has 40+ minutes. If it were 2 episodes of 24 minutes, there would be a real chance that I could have dropped Shield Hero in the first episode. It was a really good decision of the staff to make the first episode a special of 40+ minutes. By doing this they managed to comprise the core of the narrative inthe first episode, and by doing so, making the viewers bite the bait to watch how it will develop. About the commotion it created, false rape accusation is not something new. From the beginning of western civilization (which condemns rape), there were many cases that woman in position of power used the demoralizing effect that rape accusation has to destroy the life of enemies. The most famous case is in the Bible, when Joseph rejected the sexual assaults from the wife of his boss Potiphar. She, frustrated and enraged, teared her clothes and accused Joseph of trying to rape her, leading him to jail. Shield hero makes use of this classical narrative to enrich its plot, making it grounded in reality. There a limited variety of human situations, and the classical stories, from the bible, to Greek Theater, to Shakespeare, etc, approach all of these. Shield Hero innovates not by creating new plot elements, but by mixing those classical elements in a very modern and popular trend in japan, that is Isekai. This attempt starts really well, and for about 20 episodes it works perfectly fine in holding the viewer's interest. There are also elements that connect the plot to the real drama of escapism in modern society, mainly in japan. For example, the way that the main character Naofumi looses his joy in living after being set up in a scheme made by the princess, and after some time he regains it by interacting with a demihuman girl (very cute, btw, Raphtalia) reinforces the idea that foment groups like mgtow, hikikomori and otaku, that real women are bad, and only unreal (such as 2d) women are loyal, lovely and ultimately good. This platonic line of thought, exalting what is imaginary and despising the reality, is deeply rooted in anime, prevents most of anime from being real art. Being it a isekai, I should not expect something different than this. This escapism is the core of isekai genre.
As the plot unfolds, Naofumi has to face the hardships of being considered a rapist, being secluded by society. To endure such a miserable life, he develops a shell of villainy and emotionless behavior. This is a coping mechanism that many of us can adopt in face of bad situations that hurts ourselves. Facing the dilemma of existing good and evil, but only evil seems to being appearing to us, we negate the existence of good, as it just a illusion. We act as we have no emotions, because if we had them, we would be sad, and being sad is unpleasant. If there is no good, evilness is just the normal. There is no reason to fell disgusted by it. We just have to accept it, waiting until the portion of evil due for us is delivered and the day of death arrives. This is the main cause of the nihilistic behavior of Naofumi. The author gets it right by not doing it a object of desire to the viewers. That kind of character defect is constantly placed as the "badboy" archetype, such as Sasuke, of the show Naruto. Trying to imitate this kind of character is actually to impoverish your soul by sticking to a cheap gnosis. What is well valued in the plot is the development that Naofumi has in leaving this gnosis and reacquiring his joy.
As for the context in which Naofumi is, he is one of the 4 cardinal heroes that have to save the world. As he is secluded by the rest of them, he trains by his own and gets much stronger then the rest of them. The others are portrayed as useless, arrogant and weak warriors. Even the Sword Hero, that has some qualities, is relegated to a position of caricature. This makes the "Shield Hero always saves the day" kind of feeling that impoverishes the plot. The Sword hero, at least, should start after sometime being useful, and a true companion for Naofumi. Maybe that happens in the second season (hoping there is going to be a second season).
Another problem of the plot, and that's the main reason why I gave it a 9, is that the whole situation of injustice that the protagonist suffers is solved some episodes before the last one, ep. 25. So it means that the story keeps developing after that fact, even more in the original source, the Light Novel. The atmosphere of seeking for justice and cleaning his name was the core of the narrative and most people started watching and got caught by this element. After this situation is solved, Shield Hero seems to become just one more cliché isekai, like many others. I realize this is not a fault from the staff of the anime, unless they wanted do create a original ending, terminating all hopes for a second season. That being said, this story would be better if, instead of having his name cleaned in the same Kingdom of Melromarc that betrayed him, the author should have kept the parallelism with the story of Joseph. Joseph were betrayed by his siblings, sold to slave traders and carried to Egypt. There, after the false rape accusation, he became governor of Egypt, a different country than his. And them his brothers come to Egypt asking for help and he can finally confront them. Inspired by that, I would prefer that Naofumi, instead of solving his situation in the Kingdom of Melromarc, he could go to another country, possibly being betrayed there again, but then solving all the problems and becoming very important and powerful, as for example in the Kingdom of Siltvelt, a country of demihumans that worships the Shield Hero. After some time, the Kingdom of Melromarc, that has just useless heroes, would need the help of Naofumi, and then all the lies would fall apart and Naofumi would clean his name there too. This could be in the context of the last wave, fusing the last and epic battle with the climax of the plot, that is justice being made. For me this would be the ideal plot. But it may be asking too much from a isekai.
Another thing that annoyed me is the ending that princess Malty had. She should have been sold as a slave, have a arm ripped out, or something like this. She suffered very little.
About the art, in general it was consistent and pleasant. It's not a super production, such as the first season of One Punch Man (that I consider a 9) or Violet Evergarden (that I consider a 10), but there is no deformation in animation, the battle scenes are fluid and the characters have good quality in facial expressions and style. The soundtrack lacks variety and good timing. The director doesn't seem to know when to play a song that carries thriller, or rage. Most of the time the soundtrack is blanket, not appealing at all. there were times the direction got it right, as in the battle that happens from episode 19 to 21. Epic music was played, conveying to the viewer the action.
This little flaw in terms of sound didn't had a great impact in how I enjoyed this show. In general, it is one of the best Isekais ever made. I have never been so attached to the characters of a isekai anime as I have in this anime. The plot is made in a way that you feel avenged after every situation that the protagonist triumphs. I recommend this anime for everyone.