The Rising of the Shield Hero

We've come to a point in the anime industry where isekai anime are immediately judged just for being isekai. Due to the apparent "overuse" and "unoriginality" of the genre, some individuals will make a big deal about it or not even watch an anime at all simply because of the genre, even if the isekai elements have essentially no bearing on the narrative whatsoever, as is the case with The Rising of the Shield Hero. Yes, Shield Hero is an isekai, but don't let that blind you from seeing the true themes and merit of this show. At its core, this is an anime allabout friendship, perseverance, and what it means to truly be a hero. *Notice: Updated thoughts at the bottom* It's also a cleverly disguised loli harem series too. Crazy, right? But I'll save explaining this shocking revelation for later. Oh, the suspense! I know I just started off by saying not to judge Shield Hero just for being an isekai, but it honestly does have a stereotypical fantasy setting. Heroes are summoned to another world that's suspiciously designed just like a video game with the task of saving the world from monsters. Yeah, I've totally never heard that one before! But what really matters is execution, which Shield Hero completely nails. After starting off quite harmless with everything going fine and dandy for Naofumi, the recently dubbed shield hero, things take a dark turn after one of the most controversial occurrences in modern anime goes down. He gets accused of rape. Because of the current state of our real world society, the false rape allocations against Naofumi by the bitchy princess Malty struck a cord with many people and caused lots of heated debates on the topic. I say keep reality and fiction separate, and I personally think that this was a great way to swiftly introduce the central conflict between Naofumi and basically everyone else. Everyone essentially berates and shames the poor dude, leaving him a little broken on the inside. In the span of a single episode, Malty, the king, and the other three heroes summoned to the world are set up to be extremely hatable characters, and it just works. It's honestly as good of an introduction as you can get in a fantasy series. What I love the most about Naofumi is how he deals with the crappy lot in life he ended up with. He transforms from a happy go lucky protagonist to a more cynical guy who only seems to care about personal gain, and I feel like this is a pretty realistic shift considering what he's gone through. He even ends up purchasing a demi-human slave! I thought only bad guys did that! This of course is where the anime starts to really get good, because of how great Shield Hero portrays the relationship between Naofumi and his slave raccoon loli Raphtalia. You can tell that Raphtalia has gone through some pretty messed up stuff, which the anime touches on in later episodes. It seems like Naofumi treats her a bit harshly at first, but you can quickly tell that he's actually giving her some tough love and training her to become stronger and to get over her fears. Heck, she even upgrades from a loli to a woman, that's how effective his training is! And then after Naofumi gets further put down by the kingdom, it's Raphtalia who saves him from completely falling into despair. That's why their relationship is great, because they both help and in some ways even complete each other. Plus it's handled in a completely unconventional way too. You'd think that Naofumi would release Raphtalia from being a slave, but neither of them in fact want that, to the shock of the Spear Hero and others. Of course the writing here can be viewed as dangerous as it seems to present slavery in a positive light, but I think this situation should be kept separate from reality and that the morally grey approach works in the anime's favor. It's little things like this that make Rising of the Shield Hero really stand out. One thing that could weaken your interest in this anime would be how quickly you get annoyed at the constant degradation of Naofumi, because his defamation continues far after Raphtalia saves him, and is the primary conflict in the anime. This isn't a show about a hero fighting against monsters. No, this is an anime about a man fighting against the people who should be his allies. I've seen people say that they've gotten exasperated over how much Naofumi gets put down, but I'd have to disagree. This anime makes you really dislike characters who shouldn't actually be villains at all, yet are set up like it due to their poor choices and actions. And shouldn't a good antagonist be someone that viewers are meant to despise and root for the protagonist to overcome? Shield Hero does just that, and I think that the central conflict is handled and eventually resolved quite well. Of course, there's more going on than just that. Throughout his journey Naofumi encounters two more loli party members. Lucky him. The first is Filo, a cleverly named filolial who Naofumi basically raised from birth after purchasing her as an egg. She has two forms. The first is her angel-like loli form, and the second is her super fluffy giant chicken-like beast form. What can I say, she's absolutely adorable in both forms. She does lots of useful things like draw the wagon, beat up cgi monsters, and kick the Spear Hero in his balls. Also, like Raphtalia, Filo develops a strong bond with Naofumi in which they build off of each other to further evolve as characters. Filo also develops a cute rivalry with Raphtalia over Naofumi's affections, which is pretty humorous. The final girl to complete Naofumi's holy loli triad is Melty, the younger sister of Malty and heir to the throne. Because Naofumi has the most hostility towards royalty, his interaction with Melty sets up an interesting dynamic. They gradually learn to trust and rely on each other, and by consistently helping Melty, we can further see just how much of a hero Naofumi really is. Melty also has my favorite character design in the show, and despite being nobility, Melty's cuteness just makes my heart melt. These characters travel together cleaning up the messes of the other three so called heroes all while being defamed and hunted by the government. Yet despite his annoyance at and mistrust of everyone outside of his party, Naofumi keeps persevering, which is quite admirable. Though you know what I think gives him strength? The lolis. You may have noticed that all three main girls are lolis. "B-But Raphtalia isn't!" Wrong! She may have evolved from her loli body, but she says that she still has the age and mentality of a child. This is a clever technique by the writer to hide the fact that Naofumi has obtained a loli harem. And just like your typical harem, all three girls have a thing for Naofumi and go all blushy blush when they're around him. And just like a harem protagonist, Naofumi seems completely oblivious to their advances. The author knew that he'd be labeled a degenerate for making a loli harem series, so he masqueraded his fantasy as an isekai anime. It's simply brilliant honestly. Or maybe I'm just completely wrong. Yeah, it's probably the latter...but you never know... Madkid was asked to RISE to the occasion and perform both opening theme songs. To be honest, my FAITH in their ability to deliver quality music wasn't too high since I'm personally not a big fan of their style, but they did a good job here. Yes, the show does have its share of flaws. For one, I do feel like episode 21 should have been the season finale, since there was a transition of arcs after it, which to me was a pretty odd design choice considering that the anime only had a few more episodes left. Shield Hero definitely has its share of technical issues as well. In some cases character designs and movements just looked a little sloppy. And the cgi used on some of the creatures just didn't look that good. The Rising of the Shield Hero has a surprisingly decent narrative that touches upon themes that lesser anime in the genre don't even bother to mention. You know, a lot of isekai protagonists tend to act like the three cardinal heroes. They're ecstatic about living in a fantasy world and think everything revolves around them. But Naofumi is different. He keeps getting back up after getting knocked down. He may seem like he takes advantage of others, but he always has everyone's best interests at heart. He genuinely cares about his party. And even if he doesn't get any appreciation for his good deeds, he still always does the right thing. And that's what makes this shield bro a true hero... *Edit with current thoughts* ...except I don't think that anymore at all haha. Naofumi can go join the ranks of hundreds of other bland isekai protagonists. I revisited this series and wow, I have to say I'm disappointed. I don't usually do this, but I have to decrease my initial score of the show and disagree with a lot of what I wrote above. Naofumi's character is actually quite bland and he never receives useful development. The revenge plot is really mediocre, hollow, and relies solely on the "shock value" and "big moments". The way that slavery is handled is atrocious, and I'm kinda disappointed in myself for even attempting to defend its usage and execution as adding "depth" to the anime. Yes, it's just fiction, but that doesn't excuse trying to rationalize it as acceptable. The female characters are also painstakingly one note and dedicated to Naofumi with nary a shard of originality. Plus the 2nd half of the anime is a complete snooze fest. All around a mediocre experience. I'm going to keep what I wrote above since I don't believe in changing one's work. It's how I felt then, so I have to deal with it. Just know that it's a lot more positive of a take then how I feel about Shield Hero now. I'd say the show is a 5/10 right now for me personally. Hope you're still able to enjoy it though!

Who are we? Every person ever. And what do we want? Throw shit at Naofumi. And when do we want it? Every second, non-stop, 247. Modern problems require modern solutions. If society humiliates you, lets you down, you get accused of crimes you didn't commit, the general public turns against you, the game is rigged, system corrupted, you are bullied, isolated and alone, you see the worst in people and proceed to turn against the world and enter a safety mode where you become something of the sort of a "cynical little animal." Or that's what I would do.... unless... there was a cute animal-earedwaifu and rare-breed loli bird eating up all the negative feelings, ensuring I get healed, fed and mutually respected. This is the life of Naofumi, the shield hero, our main character -- and, unlike most isekai Jesuses, he is not "a big deal." After experiencing the worst, he relies on the worst, buys the cheapest slave he can get and, just like that, their adventure in this world where royalties are meanie wienies, double standards a way of life and the slaver dude the greatest guy -- begins! It's not hard to point out where this show's weaknesses are. The story events are insignificant filler, the isekai core plot hardly more than an excuse for the series, the side-characters solely exist to put our main lead in this unjustified situation where he is treated like garbage, most of the "bad things" have no other purpose in the series than to provoke the audience with injustice; the opposing characters' ignorance is pushed to such extents that when their development finally starts, it is done in a manner that does not convince. The change does not come from within the characters but from the outside, entirely relying on the will of the author. in fact, it is so extreme that it starts to feel like it's driven by anti-government, anti-society and anti-religion agenda. The female casting is waifubaiting and the adventure side could entirely be labelled as wish-fulfillment. It's easy to point the finger here and go "this is the type of shite I am supposed to hate in anime." Finding these flaws annoying and letting them ruin the viewing experience and kill the entertainment value is understandable. But even after all of its issues, the show is not exclusively bad, but has some strong pros as well. However, there where the cons are practically self-explanatory and easy to list down, the pros don't stand out nearly as strongly. First of all, Tate no Yuusha has charm. Anyone can write a coherent backstory which leads to being isekai'd, and it certainly is not much harder to make the side character seem more like decent humans by extending the storyboard with anti-shield-wielder backstory that explains why they are so deeply hated, and how it's all "just politics". These problems could be countered, but that would be side-tracking, like trying to prove that it can be done for the sake of it. But charm is something that is much harder to accomplish, and it was achieved partly because the main focus was most of the time put on Naofumi's party, which is the most relevant thing there is. Secondly, Naofumi is a great character. On the surface level, it's easy to judge him or not even give him a chance, but below the first layer lays much more. He is a genuinely nice guy who has to mask his core personality to survive due to other people being unreasonable. He isn't your average gary stu isekai Jesus who is nice just because he cannot be anything else. Naofumi chooses to help people and decides where his own adventure leads him while, at the same time, ensuring his kindness is not taken for granted so that he won't be used. How many isekai series are there where the character has to take measures and alter his own personality for his own well-being? There aren't. Almost every single one of them rely on being so overpowered that their measures are bs at best, trying to hide the fact that they could destroy the world by simply farting too hard. He doesn't even seek revenge because that would simply make him feel bad. And what is this sentence if not 5000 years worth of human philosophy summed up? Finally a character who chooses this path not because it is "the right thing to do and according to muh morals" but because it benefits him the most. One can easily claim he is the same as your typical isegary, but he has awareness and reasoning that makes perfect sense, and that is what sets him apart from nearly all of the other alternatives. And thirdly, from the main cast department (read;waifu squadron), this is the purest isekai series I have seen. It's not driven by lust and sexual remarks, but by characters who have something decent going on under their skin.../fur/feathers. There is no romantic subplot or sexual tension to keep the audience interested with fanservice or useless feelings pondering. It's just a dude getting comfy'd by bunch of lolis. And with this, I speak of yours truly/the viewer. There is not much more that I have to say. It's isekai, so it's okay to dislike it, of course, but it has heart. It's definitely not a soulless piece, but a genuine anime that has lots of good things going on in the cute, comfy and main cast departments. I almost never felt like it was fake as so many modern anime is, outside two occurrences: 1) episodes 15-17 or so where the 4th loli appeared and I absolutely hated her, and 2) the last few episode where the show has clearly started to lose its way. While the overall pace can be criticized, the episodic flow is smooth, the production is stellar, directing follows a clear vision with consistency, and there is nothing that ruins the fun or makes the series worse from these parts. Outside some CGI, the art rarely stands out for negative reasons. This time, I hardly found the CGI monsters to be a problem either, I acknowledge it exists, end of story. I highly enjoyed watching this series and it deserves some praise from me. It's not the smartest anime you can see, but it is a smart production with nearly as smart execution. I much rather recommend giving it a try than advice not to.

If someone told me that we need a shield hero in some chaotic world filled with corruption and flaws, I’d be laughing. There’s a saying that not all heroes wear capes but now, we have one that wield a shield. Naofumi Iwatani, the present day otaku fits for a typical protagonist and in our modern times, his transportation to a fantasy world is an overused trope. There’s probably a good dozen shows I can think off from the top of my head with similar gimmicks. Naofumi happens to be the oddball armed with a shield than your RPG crafted sword. Watching The Rising of the ShieldHero actually started out as a pleasant experience. Even with the amount of controversy before the first episode aired, I knew what to expect judging from the trailers and promotional content alone. But if we were to talk about controversy, the subject of betrayal and rape accusations comes to mind. It’s a sensible subject in both real world and fiction. However, this is merely a part of the plot that is necessary to adapt into the story for character progression. Either way, people will have strong opinions about that. Have those opinions. Let's instead disregard the controversy and focus more on the characters and storytelling instead? The first few episodes spelled out with the introduction of four main heroes – the shield, sword, spear, and bow hero. As a double length special, it made sense to draw out as much as Naofumi’s character as possible. Initially, he is portrayed as a man with a sense of honor, dignity, and in general, level headed man with an open mind. After being betrayed and falsely accused by Myne, he became a mistrustful individual with a desire for revenge. At one point, he becomes self-loathing to the point where he loses purpose in this fictional world. After meeting the demi-human Raphtalia, he begins to reevaluate himself and find his purpose. Backtracking a few steps, it shouldn’t be hard to identify what kind of person Naofumi is. There are many ways to describe him and to me, he is more of a jaded anti-hero than your noble hero. Throughout the course of the story, Naofumi begins to trusts in others especially his own party consisting of Raphtalia, Firo, and Melty. Out of this group, Raphtalia evolves the most both physically and mentally. Originally, she is portrayed as a weak child with PTSD symptoms. But after coming in contact with Naofumi, she grows into a courageous fighter who manages to overcome her personal demons. All this seems to draw in a lot of interest and honestly, I believe the first half of this show managed to capitalize on them rather effectively. Sure, there are despicable characters like Myne or gullible types such as the spear hero, Motoyasu. However, they didn’t truly make the show unwatchable. If you put yourself into the shoes of the creator, they probably created those two characters with the intention of getting the audience to hate them. I should say that’s no understatement because the bottom line is, there’s nothing likable about either Myne or Motoyasu. If we talk about Myne, she’s easily described as the bitch in sheep’s clothing. In other words, she wears a mask to hide her true nature. Have you ever met someone who pretended to be your friend to take advantage of you? Think of Myne. That’s what she is: a cunning, manipulative, and treacherous sociopath who uses whatever she can get her hands on for herself. Motoyasu isn’t much of a likeable person either with his ignorance and extreme gullibility. When it comes to women, he’s like a child who virtually believes what others tell him. This pretty much becomes a running gag in the show where Myne is able use him like a dog on a leash. It doesn’t help that he display borderline pedophilic tendencies towards characters such as Firo. It makes me want to puke and I don’t think anyone can find his interactions with Firo to be comfortable in any shape or form. At some point in the show, I’m sure viewers will wonder if the other heroes will get any sort of character development. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. This season is called The Rising of the Shield Hero for a reason and most of the attention is focused on his group and party. Characters such as Raphtalia gets their development and background story because they are a central focus in the show. Others such as Ren and Itsuki are just part of the premise. Their background stories are not explored so don’t expect to get attached to them. This is another part where I believe the show suffers in terms of characterization. We don’t really understand their personalities besides what they show on the surface. Unlike Naofumi who finds a purpose in the story, it feels like most of the main supporting cast lacks one. Even characters such as Firo or Melty becomes more and more stale overtime. I mean, how many times do we need to see an oversized chicken pronounce her intentions to eat and fight? Don’t me wrong though, I want to see the main characters to develop but outside of Naofumi and Raphtalia, the others really doesn’t set a bar. To make matters worse, it seems the show loves to inject dialogues during mid-fights to drag out content. This is especially evident in later episodes where the charaters' dialogues are far overstretched than what they should be. That also leads to how character relationships is presented as the storytelling unfolds. In fantasy adventures like this, there’s often times that when a male and female companion develop deeper feelings towards each other. Raphtalia has obvious feelings towards Naofumi for anyone who pays attention to her dialogues. She even shows jealousy towards Firo during their early encounters to see who can earn Naofumi’s attention. While it’s not truly love that Naofumi responds with, he does develop a deep trust for Raphtalia and Firo. Melty is a bit of an oddball in the group as this season shows that Naofumi regards her more of as a companion than a friend. Watching Naofumi’s character interactions within the group can be sometimes heartwarming while other times feel out of space. However, I do give praise to the voice acting talent of the show. They manage to grasp the character personalities in particular Naofumi and even someone as intolerable such as Myne. The Rising of the Shield Hero is more of a dark fantasy so having a studio like Kinema Citrus working on this feels somewhat fitting. I would have preferred Wit Studio known for their more refined resume, but Kinema Citrus manages to work its magic for the adaptation. As a dark fantasy, there’s often violence that displays the cruelty of this parallel world. Character designs are in line with what you can picture from an isekai show. It adapts straight from the light novel (personally, I think the manga version is a poor example for its art style). As the shield hero, Naofumi’s most noticeable design is his character expressions that drastically changes. In the beginning, he is shown smiling with joy but this shifts into a more cynical expression. On the other hand, Raphtalia’s evolution from a child to an adult fighter shows her growth. She takes on an archetype heroine look with demi-human traits such as her ears and tail. Furthermore, characters such as Firo possesses animalistic traits designed to give them a more fantasy look. And finally, I should say the world building of this show does hold value although the anime adaptation only scratches more of the surface of their world. Perhaps the most controversial isekai show of the year aired and we’re not even half way through 2019 yet. Looking at the future lineup will likely have fans talking more about the direction of modern fantasy isekai. For The Rising of the Shield Hero, this could have been an incredible anime for a dark adventure. The first half showed a lot of potential but most of that is weathered down by the repetitive storytelling themes and lack of characterization. There’s still plenty of more in the light novels so this anime only gives a taste for the audience. If only that taste didn’t turn from honey sweet to bitter sour.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime was great. It was a show that brought me back to the isekai train after watching a certain broken heap of an isekai anime from the Summer 18 season that shall not be mentioned. The story was fun and nicely written. The characters were fun and enjoyable especially Rimuru. The visuals were beautiful and the music, as well as voice acting for both languages, were great. It's was the best isekai anime that I watched despite its few faults. Naturally, I decided to check out Shield Hero as I thought it would be the next best iskeai anime thatwill surpass Slime based on the amazing premise. It had the potential to be the saviour of this tiresome and uninspired genre. Maybe that was my mistake and I expecting too much for an isekai anime at this point. So what exactly went wrong here? The story, characters, themes, world-building, direction all of the above? In order to not immediately begin destroying this contrived mess of a plot, I'll start talking about what I liked and that is the revenge aspect of Shield Hero. One of the main things that made Shield Hero stand out of the isekai crowd is that it was the first true dark isekai anime. You could say that Re:Zero was the first true dark isekai anime however it only had one episode that was truly dark while the rest the show is tamed in comparison. From start to finish as we follow a broken and damaged lead trying to save the world while trying to endure and fight the endless hatred caused by the people he was summoned. This alone really made Shield Hero unique in the story side of things as it ditches most of the story elements that were in other isekai anime in order to introduce new story elements that were not presented in other isekai anime until now with Shield Hero. Shield Hero is a core revenge story. The revenge story may not be as special when it comes to anime but Shield Hero is one of the most fascinating and rewarding revenge stories I have seen in the long while. While it may not be as well written like Skip Beat and Gankustou it was still a fascinating ride I really enjoyed. Seeing Naofumi humiliating and take down the people that caused his reputation to get shattered put a smile on my face as he really went through a lot of things in order to have the will to take them down. This is all thanks to the show's fairly competent writing when it's not being an incompetent pandering feast and that is where our problems begin. While the revenge aspect of the show was strong from start to finish, I cannot say the same thing for the other story elements such as the save the world from the waves. The waves are basically your typical survival arenas that you see in a video game and they are not that interested in the slightest thanks to weak execution. I will give the show credit for trying to make the waves interesting toward the end but by then the show was already over by that point. Another major problem that would later plague the anime is how they make everyone minus the protagonist dumb and contrived. This alone really takes a massive shit of Naofumi's revenge tale as it could have been avoided if the characters just shut up and behave like actual human beings. Furthermore, why did no one in the capital cast a lie detector spell on both Naofumi and Malty chest? Any person with a brain would have put a lie detector spell on someone in case they are lying where they could receive a shock. The fact that the series showcased that the slave crest can also detect lies in episode 21 was infuriating and it really highlights just how contrived and poorly written the series is as it could have been used in episode 1 for Naofumi's trial. Don't get me started with the lacklustre world-building. I will give it Shield Hero credit for least trying to establish it's own world in certain episodes it compared to most other isekai animes but it's still lacklustre as the world at various points feels so lifeless and empty. The UI system is not interesting in the slightest as just another generic UI system that has been done in other isekai anime in the past. Now Shield Hero has a lot of themes yet most of them were poorly executed. My favourite is how the show tackles the topic of slavery. Not only is it handed incredibly poorly due to how preachy it was but the topic of slavery more often gets shafted (especially in the second half) in favour of stupid pandering. By far the biggest problem with Shield Hero is that it doesn't truly know what it wants to be. At first, the show is a dark revenge story, then it's a power fantasy and then it's an adventure series, then it's a harem. This alone really screws up the tone, direction and pacing of the series. The first 4 episodes of Shield Hero is very grim and dark that has a lot of tension and atmosphere thanks to the subject matter of rape and humiliation. Naofumi is portrayed as a cold lead who just wanted to revenge of the people that humiliated him. Unfortunately, episodes 5 and onward the series decided, for the most part, put its revenge plot in the bus just so the series can add generic isekai tropes and cliches for a show that didn't need it in the first place. It's not like the revenge has been shafted the revenge aspect it's but it doesn't appear all the much post-episode 5 as the series decides to waste its time of sick self insert loli pandering. Finally, the final 4 episodes which were without a question one of the most boring and lacklustre final 4 episodes I have seen in 2019 Not only did the series completely jump the shark where it introduced plot threads up its ass but it also lost its purpose. Episode 21 in terms of atmosphere and direction feels like I'm watching a finale of anime and it really shows. The episode after that feels like episode fodder as it's filled with fan-service and plot threads that won't be fleshed out due to the low episode count. I give the final 4 episodes credit for showcasing Naofumi's new powers and abilities then again the show could have ended with a cliffhanger after episode 21/22 The final thing I want to point out is the controversy in the first episode. When Shield Hero first aired it was met with controversy thanks to its offensive content where Malty (aka Bitch) falsely accused Nafoumi of raping her. I can definitely get why people get mad of this messy storytelling as it was done much better in Persona 5 but what I cannot forgive is a bunch of SJW try-hards trying to put down a show just because it deals with more serious themes and topics. This is why I didn't give two shits about the Goblin Slayer controversy as that series was an awful show regardless of the controversy being there or not. The characters aren't much better as all of them minus Nafoumi and Raphtalia ranged from bland, annoying, poorly written or the combination of the three. Let's start with Nafoumi who is easily the best thing about Shield Hero. He starts off as a grumpy individual who doesn't trust people but as the series progresses with the aid of Raphtalia not only does he open up to people he also becomes a proper badass especially towards the final quarter of the series. Another strong aspect of Naofumi is that he's not overpowered as he mostly relies on his partners to take down various enemies. Finally, he is not a bore to watch, which more I can say about iskeai protagonist as they all lifelessly self-insert husks. Nafoumi is tied with Rimuru for being my favourite isekai protagonist. Another character that I really liked is Raphtalia. She may not be as good as Naofumi in terms of development but she's a good character in her own right. I liked her chemistry towards Naofumi. Despite being a loli she will do anything to project Naofumi from falling into darkness. Sadly this is where my praise for the characters ends. The show has a lot of characters yet all of them are clichéd and poorly written to the core. The other heroes are a bunch of soulless character archetypes. They don't develop as characters whatsoever and they are all incredibly contrived. The bottom dog of the bunch a spear hero who is one of the most contrived and dumbest characters I have seen. His dialogue is painful to listen as he incredibly preachy for the sake of it and he's the main source of the show's major contrivances. In many ways, he's no different Sugou from Sword Art Online thanks to comically evil appearance and dialogue. Finally, the less I say about his confrontation towards the Shield Hero the better. The same thing can be said for Malty and Filo as they are literally loli trophies that constantly suck of Naofumi hairy crotch for a living. The villains are garbage. They are all evil for the sake of being evil, especially Malty who is probably the worst female villain I have ever seen in any fictional work. Her motivations are contrived beyond belief and she's overall a slag. She's comically evil and not even treating in the least. Her contrived motives aren't explained or given any depth whatsoever. Our villain's ladies and gentlemen. As for the overall presentation, Shield Hero looks beautiful for the most part. It may not be as colourful as 8bit That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime but it still has that special visual flair that helped it stand out from the crowd of other isekai anime. Character designs for the part were appealing to look at. The background scenery has a lot of attention that is only made better by the use of dark soft colour palette. The animation is, for the most part, good and fluent. The fight choreography is solid, the movement is smooth and there's rarely any recycled footage. Unfortunately, Shield Hero visually is not perfect for one. The animation does dip a bit for certain episodes as it messes up the overall good fight choreography of the series. The second and final notable issue was the crappy use of CGI as it was not only ugly to look at it but also didn't blend in with the 2D animation. Now we have the soundtrack and it's shocking subpar. The series features a dull score of fantasy music that doesn't keep the viewer invested in the scene due to how bland they were. Sure there were a couple of decent tracks every now and then, but it wasn't enough to save this mediocre soundtrack. The first opening theme Rise by MADKID is a fantastic opening that not only fits the tone of the series, it also a generally well-produced song that is filled with great vocals that scream hype. The same cannot be said for the second opening theme FAITH by MADKID. It's still a good opening on its own right but it was missing the intensity that was from the first opening. I may be the minority when I say this, but I really dislike the ending themes. Everything about them screams generic and lazy with their boring vocals and mediocre ending visuals. The voice acting is great for both languages. The voice actors for both the dub and sub did a fantastic job with the roles that they were given. Notable performances go to Kaito Ishikawa as Nafoumi (sub), Billy Kametz as Nafoumi (dub), Erica Mendez as Raphtalia (dub) and Rina Hidaka as Filo (sub). It's honestly sad what happened here. Shield Hero had to be great but it totally blew it. It has underwhelming characterisation, a shitty executed plot that is only made worse by plot contrivances and a subpar soundtrack. The only thing that saved this show from being terrible is the visuals and the main two characters. Everything else was a mess. I honestly thoughtt that Shield Hero and Slime would save the isekai genre for me but I guess Shield Hero was not suitable for the job as it showed its true colours which is being another generic isekai anime. I hope season 2 and beyond will be better. Least you tried Shieldbro.