Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. A fews week ago, I took a look at The Faraway Paladin. An isekai series that honestly didn’t need to be an isekai and went roughly unknown by the masses. This week, we’re taking a look at an isekai that is known and loved by the masses. I’m talking about The Rising of the Shield Hero. Despite the anime starting off on a “controversial” note, the series went on to be a big success. You could even argue that the “controversy” helped get more eyes on the anime. The Shield Hero gained a fair amount of popularity. So much so that many started putting it on the same level as The Four Horsemen of Iseki (Konosuba, Re:Zero, Overlord, and Youjo Senki). Naturally, when a second season was announced in 2020 fans were hyped. Despite the anime being delayed until 2022 fans were still excited to continue following Naofumi’s story and see what would happen next. The anime was done once again by Kinema Citrus who had the unfortunate task of adapting what many considered to be the weakest point of the story so far. Like no joke, this is the part of the series that everyone hated. Some people supposedly stopped reading around this point because they didn’t the arc and felt it dragged on way too long. So, were they able to perform a miracle and make a decent meal after this disaster? Let’s find out. This is The Rising of the Shield Hero S2.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “Bring Back” by MADKID. Give them credit, it’s cool they got them to come back for the second season. Sadly, this song didn’t pull me in like the first two song openings. Some parts are good but other parts just don’t mash up well. It’s like they try mashing various songs together to form one song and it didn’t work out liked they hoped it would.
The ending is “Yuzurenai” by Chiai Fujikawa. Hey they finally gave me an ending I like. It’s a beautiful song that tells you to never give up even when your back into a wall. Even though things may be bad now keep holding on to the hope and you’ll achieve your goal.
Episodes 1-4
The season starts off where we left off in Naofumi’s domain where we see people are hard at work training for the next wave when all of a sudden a bunch of bat familiars attack the village. Raphtalia and Filo easily defeat them but something weird starts to happen. The countdown to the next wave stops (that’s good) and a mysterious blue number appears (that’s bad. Hopefully it’s not the red light of death. Scene here: https://youtu.be/ySipb0vgFiE). All four heroes (I’m sorry I mean one hero and three dumbasses) go to the castle where we find out the stooges also fought the familiars (what the hell did you idiots do this time?) and just like Naofumi have no idea where they came from. Mirelia says that this is the work of the Spirit Tortoise, a legendary monster that is said to bring calamity every few centuries. The three dumbasses refuse to fight the creature saying that they’re busy handling the waves and take their leave. We see Rishia still has feelings for Itsuki but he still doesn’t care for her and sees her as useless which he’s kind of right. While she’s got good base stats her level is still low and when it’s time to fight she won’t be much help (we might as well have a ladybug fight for us). Raphtalia suggests that Rishia become Naofumi’s slave that way she can boost her stats in a short amount of time. Rishia accepts in order to be accepted by Itsuki and becomes his slave. The next day the group rolls out and heads toward the Spirit Tortoise. They travel for a few days and eventually come to an outpost where rumors are going around that the three dumbasses tried to fight the tortoise, loss and are now dead (Oh God yes! Now we can summon new heroes). With Fitoria’s help Naofumi is able to confirm that the dumbasses are still alive (damn it! Can you at least tell me if the Bitch is dead? Asking for a friend here). The outpost then gets attacked by the familiars of the tortoise where Naofumi is able to fend them off and gets approached by a mysterious woman who wants to be killed by him (scene here: https://youtu.be/gspnDLk1xbM).
And time. Okay, the first episode left out a lot of content and as a loving fan of this series and reviewer I can’t in good faith continue this review without explaining the content they skipped over. Okay, first off, after the battle of the most recent wave we get introduced to two new characters who Mirelia brings in to train the heroes and their companions. The first one is Éclair the daughter of a noble who oversaw Raphtalia’s village and the best swordswomen in the kingdom. Where was she all this time? Hunting down the knights who sold Raphtalia and the other demihumans into slavery. The second character is an old lady who Naofumi actually saved during one of the waves. The old lady is the last living master of the Hengen Muso Style, a form of fighting that grants its users power similar to that of the heroes and allows them to fight against monsters. Now don’t let her old age fool you, in truth this woman is at level 95 she’s actually a higher level than Naofumi and the others. Speaking of levels we actually find out that just because you have a higher level doesn’t automatically mean you’re the best. When the training begins we see the three dumbasses skip out on it as they don’t think they need it. However, Éclair and Ren have a duel where Éclair beats him despite being lower level than him. Despite being lower leveled Éclair knows how to use her skills and is a trained fighter as opposed to Ren who doesn’t know how to use his skills and has just been relying on the power he inherited from his title to see him through. When the three dumbasses finally start training they quickly quit because they felt it was too hard and believed that it was all a ploy by Naofumi to get revenge on them. Rather than accept the fact they weren’t as strong as they originally thought and put the effort in to get better, they choose to run away but Mirelia won’t let them. She saw something like this coming and made it impossible for the heroes to leave the borders of the country and any guild or country with relations to the kingdom was told not to issue any quests to them meaning they’re stuck. Desperate for freedom, the three dumbasses go to the extreme and raise their weapons at Mirelia who is undeterred by this and agrees to let them leave on two conditions. One, participate in the next wave battle and stop it. Two, eradicate the mysterious monsters plaguing the country which we found out are the familiars of the Spirit Tortoise. They accept and head out where they fled to the east and went missing while withholding information about the monsters from the country. According to Fitoria they were trying to end the waves for good which strays from the path she had intended for the heroes to follow. A plan that would have forced Naofumi to sacrifice millions of lives in order to save the world as opposed to Fitoria’s plan which sees Naofumi and the others saving the people. This in turn leads to Naofumi going out to search for the others and rescue them. He’s willing to put aside his hate and deal with their stupidity in order to save lives as opposed to the alternative.
So in episode 2 we find out that the woman who wants to be killed is actually Ost a familiar of the tortoise who has taken on the form of a human. She explains that the tortoise’s true purpose was to slow down the waves and in order to do that it required a bunch of human souls. So throughout centuries, it would send out its familiars into the world to start wars or attack, and when things got really desperate the tortoise would wake up and cause havoc itself (going all Godzilla on us). However, this time it’s different. Someone is controlling the tortoise from within and Ost now wants Naofumi to destroy her master before it kills everyone. We also learn about the vessel heroes, heroes who come from different worlds like Naofumi and are granted a weapon to fight against the waves. While their powers aren’t as great as the cardinal heroes, they are still quite strong and could hold their own in a fight against the cardinals (I believe it. Naofumi might win but the others, they’re gonna get their asses kicked). After this nothing much else happens in the episode. The army generals that have gathered form a plan with Naofumi to stop the tortoise’s movement and decapitate it (scene here: https://youtu.be/p4j8Va_bF8c).
Nothing much happens in episode 3. We get the assault on the turtle where many mob characters die, but Naofumi’s team succeeds at decapitating the tortoise (scene here: https://youtu.be/3HsAVuhsuVM) but it hasn’t been defeated it (did you think chopping its head off would be enough to kill it?).
Episode 4 starts with us learning more about Rishia. She came from a poor noble family but they got by and were happy. The good times were taken away when a greedy noble from a neighboring town illegally levied debts on her family. Since they couldn’t pay them back, Rishia was taken from them and going to be sold into slavery. However, she was saved by Itsuki (one of the few instances where he did something right) and joined his group in order to repay him for everything he’s done (so in a way she’s like Raphtalia). The next day, Naofumi and his party scale the back of the tortoise to find a way to finish it off. Nothing much really happens after this until they reach a temple of the tortoise where they find some faded Japanese writing most likely left by a past Cardinal Hero (so all the heroes came from Japan? Damn it, why don’t Americans get isekai’d?). Ost can also read and remembers how to defeat the tortoise, they have to destroy its heart (well duh, that’ll destroy anything). They go inside where they run into L’Arc, Therese and Glass (scene here: https://youtu.be/OzP_H0kBV_g).
Episodes 5-8
At the start of episode 5 L’Arc says they’re not here to fight Naofumi. Instead, they’re here for the same reason Naofumi is, destroy the tortoise. They tell Naofumi that the tortoise is being controlled by a man named Kyo who comes from their world and is trying to take control of multiple spirits for his own greedy intentions (he sounds like an asshole). L’Arc says they should put aside their differences for now and team up but Naofumi says no (he likes L’Arc and Therese. The more he spends time with them the harder it is for him to fight them). Both sides go their separate ways where Ost leads Noafumi’s team to the heart of the tortoise where they come face to face with Kyo the Book vassal hero (scene here: https://youtu.be/Z-vydqVrAzQ, a book hero? Really?). He taunts them a little bit before disappearing and the group fights the heart of the tortoise where they manage to destroy it, but even that’s not enough to finish the thing off (oh what the hell is this? They chop off your head and destroy heart yet you still live? What kind of bullshit are you on and can I have some?). The only good thing to come from this is Ost regaining her full memories and opening a path to the deepest depths of the tortoise where they come across Kyo again who reveals that Ost is the soul of the tortoise.
We begin episode 6 with the head and heart of the tortoise regenerating meaning it’s back on the move again. A protective barrier gets put on the soul of the tortoise and the only way to get to it is to destroy the head and heart once again (fuccckkkk~). Kyo shows them the three dumbasses and how he’s using them as a power source for the tortoise (finally, they’re useful). Eventually they’ll be drain of all their life and die (and the bad news?). Just when the tortoise is about to unleash its attack, Fitoria arrives to fight and protect everyone. L’Arc and the others arrive as well and the fight against Kyo begins. We see Rishia step up in a big way by mastering the art of Hengen Muso Style, taking on Kyo by herself, and even saving the three dumbasses (okay, I have a whole new respect for Rishia. She a bad girl. She got bad taste in men but that’s another story). Ost hands the power of the tortoise to Naofumi and opens up a path for Filo, L’Arc and his team to go to the heart where they destroy and Fitoria destroys the head. This lowers the barrier on the soul but Kyo had a backup strategy for this and creates his own barrier but Naofumi uses the spirit tortoise shield to blast through the barrier and destroy the soul (scene here: https://youtu.be/jS6ROpTQ0H8). However, Kyo accomplished his goal and has captured the souls that the spirit tortoise absorbed. He escapes back into his world with L’Arc and the others going after him. We get a tearful goodbye from Ost and Naofumi and the others go after Ryo to save the souls which means they’re going into another world (who would have thought Naofumi would get isekai’d twice?). The Spirit Tortoise is destroyed and the world is safe (Shizuku: What about the other heroes? (Nitsuj): Fuck’em).
Episode 7 opens up with Naofumi waking up in a cell with Rishia by his side. Raphtalia and Filo are nowhere to be found and their levels have returned to 1. Not only that but Naofumi lost all of the shields he accumulated (makes sense. It’s in another world. It’s like starting up a new game none of your items or levels transfer over). They do find Raphtalia where she’s reverted back to being a loli (well on the plus side she’s cuddlier now). The three leave the cell which is open and head outside where they see they’re on an island and the cell disappears on them (what in the Dr. Strange hell is going on here?). They explore the island and fight the monsters to level up, but run into trouble when a kappa attacks them (and this one follows the lore more closely) and get saved by a new character named Kizuna the Hunting Hero, one of the Four Cardinal Heroes in this new world (scene here: https://youtu.be/7xpRnKzV_cc). Her weapon is a fishing rod (that’s interesting) which she can use to hurt monsters but can’t attack people with it meaning she can’t hurt Naofumi or the others. We find out that she’s friends with L’Arc and Glass but hasn’t seen them for a while because she screwed up and got captured by an enemy country. She explains that they’re trap in the Infinite Labyrinth, a temporal prison where no one can leave once they’re inside. However, Kizuna did find a way out (a bug in the system so to speak), but she can’t get through it. Thankfully, Naofumi manages to come up with a plan to bust through the bug by using a monster plant to destroy the room of the bug and this allows them to escape.
In episode 8 Naofumi and the others discover that the next wave will appear in 10 days and they still have no clue where Filo is. Kizuna says they should head to Sikul, the country that summoned her where they’ll be safe, but it’s too far away on foot so she suggests they sneak into the capital of Mikakage (the kingdom that imprisoned her) and use their hourglass to warp to Sikul (classic videogame move). It’ll take them two to three days to reach the capital and they’ll need to buy a pass which means they’ll need money (time for Naofumi’s merchant skills to come to the rescue once again). We get a chance to see that this world is more Asian influenced and features different races such as spirts and elves (truly this is the more interesting world). They also find out that their items give them different effects. After a day or two as street peddlers, they manage to make enough money to get a pass as well as some armor. Once they reach the capital they come across a crowd gathering around a genius mage who claims that he has found a way to teleport just like the heroes. At first the group thinks it’s Kyo but it’s a new character named Kizuki. That night, the group sneaks into the palace where they fall into a trap and have to fight their way to the hourglass where Kizuki is waiting for them. We find out that he’s Kyo’s business partner (oh good, an asshole is friends with an asshole. This is not surprising in the least). Despite falling into Kizuki’s trap the group manages to fight their way to the hourglass and get ready to teleport only to fall into Kyo’s trap. Raphtalia doesn’t get teleported with the others and Naofumi has to watch as his first waifu gets left behind in enemy territory (scene here: https://youtu.be/aOv4RuYcjLk).
Episodes 9-13
At the start of episode 9 we can see Naofumi’s rage building back up again and he meets Ethnobalt another vassal hero (just how many vassal heroes are there?). He hands Kizuna her shikigami, Chris, which is what they’re going to use to find Raphtalia. Using Raphtalia’s hair (you just carry that around with you?) and Naofumi’s blood they create a shikigami (scene here: https://youtu.be/CnATgUSMKOs) and use Ethnobalt’s floating boat to travel (oh and he’s a rabbit). We see that Raphtalia is with Glass and the others in enemy territory. As they fly there we finally get to see Filo who has been captured by a slave trader and being forced to perform in front of people (oh you have made a big mistake). When they arrive in the city where Raphtalia, Glass, and the others are, Noafumi finds Filo and is ready to kill to save her but Rishia holds him back (no, let him go, he’s got a lot of rage built up). At night, they sneak in to save her and mercifully break the mind of the slave trader who we find out was the son of a noble (one waifu found, one more to go).
In episode 10 we focus on Raphtalia. After the events of episode 8, Raphtalia was captured and imprisoned where she reunited with L’Arc, Therese, and Glass (not the reunion anyone was expecting). They decide to push their differences aside and work together (yesterday’s enemies are today’s friends). Using Raphtalia’s illusion magic, they manage to trick the guards and escape. They start traveling together and help Raphtalia level up along the way. Eventually, they come to a city where they’re holding a trial to select the wielder for the Katana vassal (again, how many vassals are out there. And doesn’t this overlap with the Sword hero? If we’re lucky we’ll get a vassal who’ll be more useful than the hero). We see Kizuki (hello asshole) is the one trying to wield the vassal but in a strange twist the vassal winds up in the hands of Raphtalia (she is a worthy candidate). This results in Raphtalia losing her slave crest and the group getting chased by Kizuki’s guards who accuse them of stealing the weapon (so much for the vassal being the one who chooses the wielder). Raphtalia also returns to her adult form (loli Raphtalia is good but big Raphtalia will always be the best) and gets saved by a shrine maiden at a shrine that has served the Katana hero for generations. The shrine maiden gives Raphtalia some new clothes and she heads out to fight Kizuki where she nearly kills him and escapes. As she’s escaping she gets cornered by spirit creatures, but saved by Naofumi and the others. We end the episode on a warm hug between hero and waifu.
So everybody reunites in episode 11 and return back to Sikul. Meanwhile, Kizuki gets sliced in half (there was a delay in Raphtalia’s attack), but Kyo shows up to save him. Kizuki’s servants however want revenge and beg Kyo to give them power to crush his enemies (like making a deal with the Devil). Back in Sikul we find out that L’Arc is the king (had me fooled. The guy doesn’t have an air of royalty around him) and Kizuna scolds Glass and Naofumi for trying to kill each other (she started it. Scene here: https://youtu.be/LgRQO3bxhJA). She agrees to help them beat Kyo and then vows to find a way to save both worlds. While out in the town they get attacked by Yomogi a loyal servant of Kyo who has come to kill them (what do you see in that asshole?). They easily beat her and even save her from a demon sword she got from Kyo (that was her first mistake. Accepting a gift from him. Scene here: https://youtu.be/a19haCvhx40). Kizuna then has a sit down with her one-on-one without the others around. We find out that Kyo and Yomogi are childhood friends and his desire is to stop the waves forever (he lying). Yomogi agrees to help them stop Kyo as he’s obviously done a lot of bad things and is prepared to die alongside him to atone for his actions. The next day they get their new upgraded equipment and just in time, Kyo has activated a wave days before the actual wave was supposed to happen. Kizuna, L’Arc, Theresa, Yomogi and Glass get transported where they appear right outside Kyo’s lab where the truth finally comes out. Kyo isn’t trying to stop the waves, he’s trying to create his own waves.
Episode 12 starts with narration from Kyo about his former life. Much like Naofumi he led the life of an otaku but unlike Naofumi he hated life and considered everyone in it, shitty (the pot calling the kettle black). When he got isekai’d he was praised for his discoveries and research, but still considered the world shitty and decided that he would use this second life to the fullest (by being one of the biggest assholes in anime history. Seriously, you’re making the 3 dumbasses look good by comparison and these are the guys who are constantly messing up and need others to clean up after them). Returning to the story, Naofumi and the others get picked up by Ethnobalt who takes them to where Kyo is so they can take him down while Kizuna, L’Arc, Glass, and Therese fight the monsters of the wave (which are looking more and more like SMT demons the more I see them). They enter Kyo’s lab with Yomogi leading the way (it’s a trap!) where they come face to face with Kizuki’s followers. Kyo turned them into chimeras and now they want revenge against Raphtalia for killing their master. Raphtalia easily cuts them down (well that was a good 10-second warm-up, now let’s move on to the main course) and then stays behind with Filo and Yomogi to fight a zombified Kizuki who is now in possession of the Mirror vassal (well he finally became a vassal holder. He just had to die to become one). Naofumi and Rishia take on Kyo where Naofumi unleashes the Rage Shield and gets consumed by his rage that he turns on Rishia because of how much he annoys her (I mean she is loyal to Itsuki and wants to be with him. She’s like Harley Quinn when she was hopelessly in love with The Joker). Rishia manages to reach Naofumi inside his rage-induced state who releases Rishia. While Rishia fights against Kyo, Naofumi fights to gain control of his rage where he receives help from Ost who calms his soul telling him he doesn’t need to rely on rage anymore as he has others he can depend on. With the power of the Mirror vassal and Ost’s spirit, he manages to defeat Kyo (geez, even his death was anticlimactic) and retrieve the power of the Spirit Tortoise (scene here: https://youtu.be/f9Ujc4BJE1o). With their work here done, Naofumi and the others get teleported back to their world to end the episode.
In the final episode we get a series of stories told by the characters. Some are funny like when the girls went shopping for clothes (scene here: https://youtu.be/9jX68nGHFS4) and Ost teaching Raphtalia what getting intimate means (scene here: https://youtu.be/qHIDggX1h-g, who knew Raphtalia was so innocent). There are a few sad moments such as Kizuna trapped in the Infinite Labyrinth where she came so close to killing herself in order to escape the isolation (because we as humans are not meant to be alone). There’s also the group going to place flowers on Ost’s grave.
Final Thoughts
Ohh~, this was a bad season. I’m sorry, I can’t defend this season. It was rushed, skipped over a lot of important details, and just felt empty. In the first season you could sense this love and care for the story, characters, and themes they were exploring. Sadly, we don’t get that here. While I understand they were covering a part of the story a majority of the fans didn’t like and even made some stop reading the series for a short time, I still feel that it’s their job as a production studio to tell the story correctly and not skip over details that would leave the audience wondering what’s going on. Many fans have said the 12 fewer episodes this season had is what resulted in them skipping over content and rushing through the story and maybe they’re right. If this season did have 24 episodes then it probably would have been better paced, but like I said this was the low point of the series so while we would have gotten more details it wouldn’t have changed the fact that this arc is pretty stale and boring compared to what we saw in the first season. Kyo never once feels intimidating. He doesn’t come off as a threat to the group as say Glass did. If anything, Kyo is like an annoying mid-boss that keeps coming back to fight you. It was fun at first, but it gets annoying by the second or third time. If there’s one good takeaway from this season it’s that Naofumi and the others have formed a truce with Glass and the others thanks to Kizuna which I’m glad for because these characters work better as allies than enemies. Hell, they’re better allies than the 3 dumbasses will ever be.
Final Score
This is a hard one to do but the second season of the Shield Hero earns 3/10. The only thing stopping it from being lower is the fact that they rushed past an arc that a lot of people didn’t care about and with the promise of a third season along the way and this arc over we can get back on the right track because from here things start to get a lot more interesting. What do I mean by that? Check out the third season or read the novels to see what happens next. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.