Modern anime seems to be cursed with Isekai after Isekai. From Sword Art Online to Knights and Magic, it has had more than its share of controversial ( Especially SAO) or just downright terrible anime. Innovation is often left to very basic changes in the structure of the show that cause it to stand out. Konosuba, for example, is a comedy anime first and an Isekai second, it stars a deadpan, dry, and despondent protagonist with a cast of female characters with such clear comedic and ridiculous flaws that any sort of generic, unnuanced harem forming is entirely out of the question. Overlord and Youjo Senki both follow an evil or at least amoral protagonist. Re:Zero brings interesting and formulated mechanics to the world it takes place in. No Game No Life at least gives the watcher and interesting concept and fun visuals to take in. Shield Hero attempts all of these in the most lazy, half-hearted ways possible and accomplishes nothing at all.

Firstly, the show is technically poor. The use of badly made CGI rivals the early episodes of romance anime Tsuki ga Kirei, and otherwise the art and animation is just uninteresting or downright unappealing. The world's visuals lack and flair and character, instead being conformed to the most boring, uninviting and generic fantasy setting that it can possibly be. Of course, what's a modern anime without cute girls? Shield hero has them, and has plenty of them, but clearly all of the attention in character design was set of them, as basically every male save for a disgusting fat nobleman that wouldn't be out of place in a gross hentai and a shopkeep with darker skin has the exact same facial design and proportions. The fight animation is serviceable but suffers from Light Novel syndrome, or way too many times where everyone stands around and does absolutely nothing for so long that it causes the viewer's mind to wander from the boring and often needless dialogue. Monogatari this is not. Show, don't tell.

But technical inspiration and quality is the least of Shield Hero's concerns. The plot is rife with ass-pulls, jolly conveniences and lack of actually giving a shit on the creator's part. The amount of times a character pulls through impossible odds due to sheer willpower is staggering, and rivals the absolutely ridiculous times it happened in SAO. At least in SAO it made a certain degree of sense, especially with the implications that are brought forth in Alicization (Which absolutely does not excuse the decisions made in SAO's embarrassingly bad direction). Shield Hero makes no attempt to atone for its lazy and embarrassingly trope-laiden writing.

The most unfortunate part of the anime's poor performance is that it had a very strong start. A young man who seems to have it made as a hero in a fantasy world is thrown to the dogs with nothing. He finds companionship in an unlikely place, and starts to move forward. Everything goes downhill from the moment Filo is introduced. Shield Hero goes from an intense, suspenseful story to a waifubait harem anime with a basic, poor plot coming along for the trip, populated by characters with the depth of a kiddie pool.

Shield Hero is a great representation of what not to do when creating an anime.