The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4

I think it speaks volumes when there are so few reviews for a show that is oft-touted as one of the big names in isekai. I have just finished Season 4's 12th and final episode, and my thoughts on the series as a whole, are that "it exists". It is not as offensively bad as Season 2, but it is nowhere near as good as Season 1. Honestly, Shield Hero as a show, peaked in Season 1, fell into the Mariana Trench with Season 2, and has then spent the last 2 seasons trying to climb out of that deep chasm. As I said, Season 4doesn't really do anything that I hated, but it also doesn't do anything daring, shocking, or, I feel, have any moments that harken back to the darker and grittier side of the story. It's a fairly cookie-cutter plot-line this time around. The main plot of this Season, is that Naofumi wants to settle things in Q'Ten Lo, because the constant assassins that are being sent after them due to Raphtalia wearing a miko outfit, are interfering with the preparations to take on the next Guardian Beast, the Phoenix. The first arc / half of the season is the gang traveling to Siltvelt and dealing with political issues therein, while the second arc / half is dedicated to sorting out the political issues within Q'Ten Lo. Admittedly, it's a bit of a reductive way of looking at it, but that is what the story could be summed-up as; If I said anymore, it would probably spoil the entire season, so it does kind of prove that it's a very linear and cookie-cutter plot this time around. This season also has a much heavier focus on Naofumi and Raphtalia, while a lot of the other cast-members get pretty heavily side-lined. Yes, it fits with the plot, but makes the show feel quite shallow. There are 2 cast members who have some growth in the Siltvelt arc (no spoilers), and Sadeena has screen-time in Q'Ten Lo (obviously), but a lot of time is spent developing a new character, and building up a cliché "evil figure". Overall, as I said right at the start, this season "exists". It's not the worst Shield Hero offering, but it's not the best. The plot is linear and mostly predictable, with a few good moments and a couple of twists sprinkled in for good measure. The art and animation were decent, if not pretty good in some areas, while lacking at other certain moments. I will solidify my opinion of this being a "middle of the road" Season, with a score of 6/10 "Fine" and Mixed Feelings.

Absolute ass. I could name all the things wrong but frankly idc to give it anymore of my time. Season 4 was so awful that I'm entirely uninterested in Season 5. I've been rather uninterested since Season 2, but Season 4? Damn it's awful. Did they hire new amateur writers or something? It was SO bad. The only reason I give it a 3/10 is cuz the animation was good, not great like Season 1, but good. I'd only give an anime a score less than 3 if it was basically abandonware. Can't submit the review(too short?) so I guess I'm forced to add more or abandon the review: Raptaliawas pulling moves straight from her ass. Seriously where did she learn half of these? Naofumi has been a background character for at least 2 seasons now. I seriously could not care less about the two white haired wolf kids or the orca. Yet this is where the writers spend their time by completely wasting mine. I don't care about the stupid Rapi bear thing. I swear it was only created to sell merch. There was so much talking that I literally started skipping almost all dialogue near the end of Season 4 and then watched the ending and was still not interested. This season, like last season, was almost 100% political bs. This series has fallen so far. I absolutely loved Season 1 but this has become such a crapshoot of a show that I honestly can't stand watching it anymore. (is that enough dialogue MAL? I swear I'm never writing another review)

I will put it this way: the adaptation in this season is better. Not because the quality of the anime got highter, but because of the quality of the source material going down. -Visuals. They improved, instead of terribly bad they are just bad now. CGI doesn't make your eyes bleed, but that's all. Fight scenes are almost non-animated, with some static poses and special effects or poorly looped moves. It doesn't look good, but not as bad as it used to be. -Plot. The problem is simple: while the title is about an existential threat to the world and brave heroes fighting waves that can destroythe world, both arks of that season are fillers. And while the viewer could at least care about Raphtalia, I doubt there are any fans of tiger duo - even in LN they aren't really fans #1 choice, and with anime cutting corners who even cares about those. Sadly both arcs are in places with lots of demi-humans, so no variety here either. -Characters. Both of those filler stories are supposed to be focused on characters, yet somehow it doesn't really feel like there is any weight or impact - sure, power ups and abilities are nice, but weren't those supposed to lead to some character growth? And I am not even mentioning a horde of noname characters that enter the scene to be forgotten the moment they leave it, but when the main cast is barely doing anything worthy of note - the show becomes extremely boring. And that's the problem with this season: it is extremely boring, and it is still not good enough to be worthy of your time. I guess you can run it in the background instead of some streamer, cause you aren't really missing anything anyway.

Let’s start with the basics: this part of the story (light novel) on which the anime is based is not exactly the best. We can all agree that, starting from the second season, the quality of the plot dropped significantly, and the direction taken by the animation studio was rightfully criticized for both its animation and direction. That said, both the third and fourth seasons show a slight improvement compared to the previous one, preventing the anime from sinking as low as season two. Still, this doesn’t change the fact that, overall, the story is far from great. In my opinion, the Silvelt - Q’ten arcis one of the weakest in the entire series, and not even the animation work can save it. The Silvelt section, which doesn’t add much to the main plot, dragged on unnecessarily for five dull episodes. In contrast, the Q’ten part was more engaging, with the final episode’s fight being the highlight of the season. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the new characters, who feel like empty shells (just like in the light novel). The Rising of the Shield Hero ends up being a series that introduces thousands of characters, only for them to have sporadic relevance without any real development. That being said, I must point out once again that it’s difficult to create a good show out of source material that already has so many flaws. The only positive thing I can point out is that what’s coming next in the story is among the best parts of the novels (compared to what we’ve seen so far). Whether the anime succeeds from here on will depend heavily on the animation studio’s work.