MiNiSoTaN's The Rising of the Shield Hero Review
Where Shield Hero fails to drive forward most is with its story. The show did begin on the right foot however. The first few episodes did a good job at setting up the plot along with more lore and world building. It was once we reached the conclusion of the first wave that things began to deteriorate. After the introduction of Melty, the show began a downward spiral that it never really recovered from. The story became boring and uninteresting. We never saw an actual set goal in mind for Naofumi and his party. For half of the season they are just wandering around Melromarc with no clear objective in mind. Every event they come across happens by mere chance and it was more divine intervention that they ended up there rather than them actually setting out for the location in the first place.
One of my biggest grievances with this show comes with the faithfulness of the adaptation, or rather the lack there of. After watching the Shield Hero I read through the Manga, Light Novel and Web Novel. I was encouraged to by people on the r/ShieldBro subreddit to do so, so I figured why not. I was astounded to read how well the story is actually written and was wondering if I watched the correct show. Each physical version of Shield Hero is much more gritty with adult themes. The dialogue they use doesn't sound like it is coming from, the school playground. People actually die. Gruesomely. I am by no means advocating that the anime has to be a direct 1:1 adaptation of the Web Novel, or Manga. That isn't a realistic expectation. But what I am trying to get at, is that if they want to truly adapt a good story they have to make the correct decision as to stays faithful and what doesn't. The anime does a very poor job at keeping the monumental moments faithful to the source material. Whether this is because they thought they could do better, or because they believed toning down the brutality of the story would concede a bigger audience, we'll never know. I guess my main take away from the story is that it is unorganized with no clear direction, and it doesn't keep its core tenets faithful to its source material.
One of the most disgusting and unfaithful parts of the show comes from the adaptation of this scene above. This is about halfway through the show at this point, and Melty gets captured by Idol who turns out to be Raphtalia's previous slave owner who tortured her and killed her friends. In the manga we get this beautiful scene of poetic justice where the slave becomes the master. Raphtalia has grown and is stronger than Idol now. He begs for mercy, but Raphtalia has none to give. She ends up killing Idol by stabbing him and pushing him out a window. One of if the not the largest character development moments for Raphtalia throughout the entire series. It shows her finally overcoming her fears and putting her past behind her. Once a lost scared little girl is now a brave and courageous soldier.
Now guess what happens in the anime.
NOT FUCKING THIS.
In the anime Raphtalia literally is too scared to kill Idol. She cries to Naofumi how she can't do it. What I loved about Naofumi in the manga is that he doesn't intervene. He let's Raphtalia do what she wants, because he know's she'll make the right choice. He knows she isn't a little girl anymore. He looks at her with approval and satisfaction that she was finally able to do something so brave on her own.
In the anime Naofumi does the whole bullshit speech of "Will killing him give you closure?" She ends up sparing Idol's life because of the whole cliche "If I kill you, I'm not better that you." What a fucking dumb cop out. Actually made me angry when I read the manga and saw what we missed out on. Anyways Idol still falls out the window but it was an accident because he tripped. But PSYCH! He doesn't actually die. He revives a dinosaur that ends up stepping on him.
Keep in mind this is one one of the many difference scenes Shield Hero took their own liberties in terms of changing the story. It doesn't pay off. The only reason I'm giving the story the score it has now is because I know it can be better and I hope that changes with the coming of Seasons 2 and 3.
If you do want to know a little more about some of the other aspects of the story I was unsatisfied with because they portrayed the source material in a poor manner, check out my YouTube Video where I go a bit more in depth.
Naofumi For all the story does wrong, it does do right with most of its characters. Naofumi is exceptionally well written. From day 1 he is given absolutely nothing and treated like shit by everyone in the entire country. After the false rape accusation by Malty, he has no one to turn to and no one to trust. I absolutely LOVE this. Far too many times now we get MC's that get beaten up or struggle, but they can turn to their friends for help. Not this time. Naofumi has to build his friends up before he can turn to them. His relationships with Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty flow so smooth together. He goes throughout the entire season always checking his back and being cautious and kind of an ass with everyone he meets. He doesn't want to take any chances with the risk being what happened before. Naofumi is an a great protagonist and I hope to see him further develop through the rest of the rest of the series.
Raphtalia She is arguable the character that changes the most throughout the season. I already explained a lot of it in the 'Story' section of this review so I won't go too much more in depth. I like her as a character. She compliments Naofumi well. She almost acts as his foil where they balance each other well. Naofumi is the bruiting tough act that just wants to get the job done. Raphtalia is the one with compassion and wants to help people because she remembers that is what Naofumi did for her. Although I wish the anime did a better job at adapting some of her more important scenes from the source material, she still remains as a highlight of the show.
Melty Introduced about a quarter into the series, Melty makes her way into Naofumi's party after having the soldiers falsely accuse him of kidnapping her. She is a nice addition to the Shield party. She is much more cautious and headstrong when it comes to decision making, but ultimately trusts Naofumi which is something I admire and respect.
Filo This Sesame Street ripoff of a bootleg big bird was pretty neat throughout the show. We learn that she is the heir to being the queen of her bird race which is pretty cool. Really not too much to add besides that. She's a nice edition.
Characters (cont.) Every other character in the show is pretty minor, and the new major ones are introduced so late into the series they not even worth mentioning in the show because they play so little of a role. What I wish the anime did better was focus a little more on the other heroes. Yes I know the title is "Rising of the Shield Hero" it suppose to focus on the Shield Hero. I'm not saying we need dedicated 24 minute episodes to the spear, bow, and sword heroes. What I wish we got to see what a little more interaction between all four of them. We did get to see them all talking together a few times but it always ended with Naofumi saving everyone or him just leaving because he got annoyed. I'm hoping season 2 delivers more with the side characters.
The art and animation the show was actually pretty good. One of the few aspects I was impressed by. For a show being about fighting waves of hundreds of enemies, it does a great job at showing the action scenes. There is a lot of screen time dedicated to fight scenes and they are all (for the most part) very well done, I didn't have too many complaints about the art department as well. Nothing super special, Shield Hero isn't reinventing the wheel here. It goes by the book and does a good job of it. I would be very surprised to find someone who thinks that the art and animation within this show is lacking much less bad. I only give out close to or near perfect scores to areas where I believe the category is done exceptionally well or innovates with something never seen. Shield Hero doesn't do this, but it's not a bash against the show. It follows the formula and it comes out clean. No complaints.
It is very difficult for me to actually be moved by a piece of music. The main ending, "Kimi No Namae" moves me. It's a beautiful song that I loved listening to whenever an episode ended. It starts off with a quite but defining chord progression introduced in part by some soft vocals only to explode into a frenzy of instruments backing up the main chorus. The Main ending gets a standing ovation from me.
Music in my opinion is the hardest area for an anime to do well in. Shield Hero unfortunately falls in the same pit of "I don't really care" music. No music during any of the battle scenes or dialogue was particularly memorable to me. Again, I'm not saying the music was bad, it just wasn't memorable, there's a difference. Listening to one piece and enjoying it in them moment is way different than listening to a piece remembering it, and wanting to listen to it again. I didn't want to listen to any of the Shield Hero music again, besides the ending. And I'm sorry but what is up with the Japanese rapping in the OP. Dear god I thought I was listening to a leaked track off an old Evanescence album form 2009. For everything the Ending OP did right, the main OP did wrong.
For the most part I didn't particularly enjoy the show. The times where I did enjoy it however, were very good. All that was really memorable were the battle scenes and introduction to the show. That's about all the fond memories I have of watching this show. If you were disappointed, or wished there was more, READ THE SOURCE MATERIAL. It is 100% better. I'm surprised how poorly you can mess up animating the story when it's given right to you. I hope season 2 and 3 do better.
Although Shield Hero didn't particularly impress me, I am hopeful for its future. There's already been a season 2 and 3 announced, so I hope that they can learn from some of the community feed back as to what needs to be changed for the future. Thank all for reading. I hope you enjoyed yourself. I will spitting out some more reviews in the near future. Make sure to follow my page for updates.
Favorite Episdoes
Ep. 1 The Shield Hero
Ep. 2 The Slave Girl
Ep. 20 Battle of Good and Evil
Ep. 22 The Four Heroes Council
Official Scores
Story: (4/10)
Characters: (7/10)
Art: (7/10)
Music: (6/10)
Personal Enjoyment: (5/10)
FINAL SCORE: (5/10) MEDIOCRE
@MiNiSoTaN