Rising Of The Shield Hero...
I stopped by the local big box store with an asterisk on the front of the building to treat myself to Rising Of The Shield Hero...
After this experience, Naofumi harbors an extremely bitter attitude toward royalty. But, Naofumi, picks up the pieces of his ruined life and begins to turn things around slowly but surely. First, Naofumi, acquires the services of Raphtalia, a raccoon demi-human and teaches her to wield a blade. Naofumi and Raphtalia venture out on various missions helping people with Naofumi embracing his undeserved bad-boy image. Then, Naofumi, hatches an egg to reveal Filo, a bird-like creature who can transform into a little winged-girl. Filo, in her bird form, she spends some time pulling the carriage that Naofumi and Raphtalia use to travel, but, quickly develops an aptitude for combat.
My favorite scene of Rising Of The Shield Hero is, of course, the trial of Myne, which plumbs some dark depths, but, nonetheless Naofumi's solution was very entertaining. A close second best scene would be Naofumi's contentious meeting with the king after the second wave of catastrophe. Of course, even though, raccoon-girls are not quite the same as cat-girls, Raphtalia still managed to capture my heart. She is the perfect companion for Naofumi and brings him back from the abyss more than once. One of the more touching scenes comes when Raphtalia returns to the dungeons where she was imprisoned and finds the remains of her best friend in a cell.
Rising Of The Shield Hero has a fair amount of red ink not only with the various monsters, but, also with the Heroes, their allies and with other people. Themes such as slavery, torture, mass-murder and racism occur at times during the series. Although the series is at its heart a harem-genre anime, there's very little in the way of fan service aside from a bit of cleavage. The series does have a lot to say about hatred and intolerance, but, is also a tale of redemption and perseverance. The tone of Rising Of The Shield Hero is somewhat dark, but, somehow manages to maintain a thin thread of optimism.
Rising Of The Shield Hero is a mix of video game-inspired adventure, like Sword Art Online, combined with classic monster-of-the-week action, with a heavy dose of political intrigue thrown in for good measure and all wrapped up in classic harem-anime goodness. Throughout the series, there are a number of unanswered questions about the waves of catastrophe and the nature of the Heroes. Although answers do not come by the end of the series, overall, I enjoyed the series a lot. I would certainly like to see more of the series, but, at the time of this writing, although additional seasons have already been announced, it will take a while for new episodes to be available. As it stands, I would give Rising Of The Shield Hero a 4 out of 5.
I heard about Rising Of The Shield Hero some time ago on an anime forum and thought it might be something I might like. In Rising Of The Shield Hero, we follow the adventures of Naofumi, our resident every-man from our world who suddenly finds himself in another world along with three other people -- the Heroes -- summoned to save this strange world from regularly occurring catastrophes. Naofumi's situation goes from bad to worse when he discovers that no one likes the bearer of the Shield and soon finds himself falsely accused and publicly ridiculed and outcast by the entire kingdom.Volume 1
Geeky university student Naofumi Iwatani goes from second-class citizen to second-class hero when he’s summoned to the video game-like kingdom of Melromarc. Known as the weakest of four heroes, the Shield Hero, is tasked with defending the world from calamity. But when Naofumi ends up betrayed and belittled from the start, will this hero-turned-cynic still be willing to fight?
Volume 2
Journeying to a neighboring country, Naofumi and his party are framed for kidnapping princess Melty. Now on the run, Raphtalia recalls her traumatic past, Filo faces her noble destiny, and the Three Heroes Church sacrifices everything to destroy the Devil of the Shield. When a member of the royal family offers to help, will Naofumi accept it?
After this experience, Naofumi harbors an extremely bitter attitude toward royalty. But, Naofumi, picks up the pieces of his ruined life and begins to turn things around slowly but surely. First, Naofumi, acquires the services of Raphtalia, a raccoon demi-human and teaches her to wield a blade. Naofumi and Raphtalia venture out on various missions helping people with Naofumi embracing his undeserved bad-boy image. Then, Naofumi, hatches an egg to reveal Filo, a bird-like creature who can transform into a little winged-girl. Filo, in her bird form, she spends some time pulling the carriage that Naofumi and Raphtalia use to travel, but, quickly develops an aptitude for combat.
While Naofumi and his party work very hard to build up their skills, the other Heroes are having parties in their honor and galivanting around the countryside in their own reckless adventures, but, since they view this world as a video game, they don't realize that their actions have consequences. They end up making more trouble for Naofumi, as he finds himself trying to clean up after the other Heroes' mistakes. After the first wave of catastrophe Naofumi, realizes that he and the other Heroes need to work together or face certain defeat in upcoming waves. By the second wave, Naofumi's skills have increased dramatically, but, the other Heroes are still not working effectively together. As a result, Naofumi's actions during battle prove decisive and his almost single-handed victory doesn't go unnoticed. Events take a dramatic turn with the third and fourth waves of catastrophe as new players emerge to complicate Naofumi's life.You'll never take anything from me again... I'll chase you to the ends of the earth and make you regret ever being born.
My favorite scene of Rising Of The Shield Hero is, of course, the trial of Myne, which plumbs some dark depths, but, nonetheless Naofumi's solution was very entertaining. A close second best scene would be Naofumi's contentious meeting with the king after the second wave of catastrophe. Of course, even though, raccoon-girls are not quite the same as cat-girls, Raphtalia still managed to capture my heart. She is the perfect companion for Naofumi and brings him back from the abyss more than once. One of the more touching scenes comes when Raphtalia returns to the dungeons where she was imprisoned and finds the remains of her best friend in a cell.
Rising Of The Shield Hero has a fair amount of red ink not only with the various monsters, but, also with the Heroes, their allies and with other people. Themes such as slavery, torture, mass-murder and racism occur at times during the series. Although the series is at its heart a harem-genre anime, there's very little in the way of fan service aside from a bit of cleavage. The series does have a lot to say about hatred and intolerance, but, is also a tale of redemption and perseverance. The tone of Rising Of The Shield Hero is somewhat dark, but, somehow manages to maintain a thin thread of optimism.
Rising Of The Shield Hero is a mix of video game-inspired adventure, like Sword Art Online, combined with classic monster-of-the-week action, with a heavy dose of political intrigue thrown in for good measure and all wrapped up in classic harem-anime goodness. Throughout the series, there are a number of unanswered questions about the waves of catastrophe and the nature of the Heroes. Although answers do not come by the end of the series, overall, I enjoyed the series a lot. I would certainly like to see more of the series, but, at the time of this writing, although additional seasons have already been announced, it will take a while for new episodes to be available. As it stands, I would give Rising Of The Shield Hero a 4 out of 5.
