Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. You know, I’m surprise the Shield Hero doesn’t have it’s own rollercoaster. With all the ups and downs the series has had over the years it’s quite shocking. It had a “controversial” start only to win fans over with it’s good writing and story as well as switching up the way isekai stories are told. Then the second season came out. One of the worst follow ups to a great season I’ve ever seen. It was rushed, dull, and just plain bad. So when the third season was announced there wasn’t a lot of excitement around it. Released in 2023 and done once again by Kinema Citrus, the studio was hoping to the right the wrongs of the second season and get the fans back on their side. Did they succeed? Let’s find out. This is The Rising of the Shield Hero S3.
Opening and Ending Theme
This season’s opening is “Sin” by Madkid. I’m so glad they kept this group on. I like this song a lot more than the previous opening and the title of the song is fitting for this season. Our three dumbasses are finally going to have their past sins catch up to them and smack them in the face. Pride comes before the fall and when it comes you hit the ground hard.
The ending is “Suki ni Natte wa Ikenai Riyuu” by Chiai Fujikawa. Here’s another artist they keep on. I will say that out of all the endings this is my favorite. The piano at the start is beautiful and the song just has this sense of peace to it. While Naofumi is still in pain it’s not as heavy as it was before. It’s lighter now. He has people he can trust and depend on. He is happy.
Episodes 1-4
So the season starts off with Naofumi and his party traveling. We find out that the Spirit Tortoise was actually one of four beast who will revive and try to stop the waves by killing people. With the Tortoise defeated the next one will be the Phoenix (it’s the bird of the south). Thanks to the energy they took back from Kyo they managed to create a barrier that will give them three and a half months before the Phoenix revives and wreaks havoc. As if that wasn’t bad the other three dumbasses have gone missing again after that whole Tortoise ordeal and we also find out that the Staff Hero is the king (oh you have got to be kidding me? It’s like, whoever chose these heroes is begging for the world to be destroyed). After talking with the queen, Naofumi and the others head back to the slave trader in order to get more citizens for his land so he can defend it from the Phoenix. Unfortunately, most of his products have been brought up by other merchants and he recommends Naofumi head to Zeltoble the country of merchants and mercenaries to find the missing citizens of his land. He and the others make it to Zeltoble where they meet the slave trader’s uncle (who looks exactly like him. It’s the Nurse Joy/Officer Jenny effect) who takes him to an underground auction where slaves are being sold. The slaves are being sold for a pretty high price and after buying up all the remaining slaves from the slave trader, Naofumi is short on funds. However, there is a way to get money quickly, compete in the underground coliseum (I said quick, not easy). After seeing the coliseum, Naofumi decides to participate with Filo and Raphtalia. They wear masks to hide their identities and slowly start to build a following (scene here: https://youtu.be/p4nknFnL2Uw?si=WGH-pqcL3SOLrWCA).
In episode 2 all the teams forfeit after seeing Naofumi’s team win and he earns the attention of a woman named Nadia. The two go for a night stroll (I’m surprised to see him follow a woman after what that bitch did to him in season 1) where they get attacked by other participants in the coliseum. Nadia easily defeats them with lightning magic (oh I’m liking her more and more). The next day Naofumi’s team continues to win and earn big cash. Eventually, they face Nadia in the coliseum who fights alone (kind of dangerous for a battle mage) and manages to hold her own against Naofumi’s team. When the arena fills up with water we get to see Nadia’s true form, an orca, which means she’s a demihuman (woah, did not see that coming). Want an even bigger surprise, Raphtalia knows who she is. Her real name is Sadeena and she’s also been trying to buy back the slaves from Raphtalia’s village (what an unexpected place to meet an ally). She takes the fall to give Naofumi’s team the win but her sponsor says this fight is invalid (like hell it is) and arranges a second fight that sees them all fight against a murderous clown (Seras: Is there any other kind of clown?). It’s a short fight where they manage to win but only because the clown gives it to them and takes their leave hinting that they know about the other world and everything (scene here: https://youtu.be/NJxwCHemLFc?si=aImo-X7XXoIVKEh6). Sadeena’s sponsor calls bullshit again, but the slave master and a merchant put a stop to him and award Naofumi his earnings and Sadeena the slaves she’s been trying to buy.
We begin episode 3 with Naofumi meeting Fohl and Atla the white tiger siblings who are slaves. We see that Atla is sick and blind, so Fohl fights in the coliseum to pay for her food and medicine. In this world white tigers are said to be the strongest next to the heroes. Fohl is only a child but he’s already at level 38 and can go as high as level 120 (damn, I think the author likes tigers. Which is okay in my book. It’s the only cat I like). Naofumi agrees to buy them and even heals Atla with a very expensive potion which Fohl swears to work the rest of his life to pay him back. After this, Naofumi returns to his village with the slaves. Despite the improved population and Sadeena their defenses are still weak and they need to find a quick way to make money. As the episode goes on we see Atla steadily get better and better (scene here: https://youtu.be/gCg_Wb2Fv6c?si=5hf5hC4lis_anbuc) and when Naofumi and the others briefly head out the village gets attacked by slave traders hoping to capture them for money. Luckily, Naofumi and the others return to save everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/c4Avny7ywyo?si=7Xy5sflPQ1JwauHg) and we discover that these traders come from a noble who lives in a region that was a devout follower of the three heroes religion (news flash buddy, your three heroes are dumbasses). Because of this, Naofumi can’t kill them so he sells them as slaves to a region that are devout followers of the Shield Hero (they’re going to treat you well). After this incident Fohl allows his level to be reset along with Sadeena to get hero buffs so that they can get stronger. They then get called to the palace to meet the queen where we hear the story of the king. Just like Fohl he had a sister who he was devoted to and wanted to protect (you siscon). He sacrificed everything for her only to see her get sold as a slave in the Shield Hero region. He went mad with vengeance and killed the king of said region. He now seems to have some fascination with the two siblings now. After that charming story, the queen tells Naofumi that they found Motoyasu (you brought us here for that dumbass?).
So in episode 4 Naofumi’s village is steadily rebuilding. S’yne the murderous clown from episode 2 arrives in the village but Naofumi kicks her out because she’s too dangerous and can’t be trusted (scene here: https://youtu.be/5vHVBXUpgTI?si=4BKEpbB4kmGp4rwZ). Naofumi, Rapthilia, and Filo then hit the road to look for Motoyasu. After the last wave his party went their separate ways and now he’s trying to find them (oh, so the bitch and harem got smart and saw how stupid he was). He finds one of his girls, Elena, where we see she abandoned him because he ain’t shit now. No money, no fame, which means he has no value to her whatsoever (wow. Just like Motoyasu his party members were shallow. (Mira): The blind shall lead the blind). Naofumi shows up and tries to talk to him but Motoyasu runs away (like a bitch). Naofumi talks to Elena and she tells him what happened in the past. So just like the others, Motoyasu tried to defeat the Spirit Tortoise before Naofumi only to fail. Once his party saw how his attacks weren’t working, they decided to abandon him. After this, Naofumi and the others hit the local tavern where they find Ren (from one dumbass to another). All of Ren’s party died during the Spirit Tortoise attack which he doesn’t blame himself for (because that would mean admitting that he was weak and wrong) and he’s now teamed up with the bitch (oh you have got to be kidding me?). In a move I can only describe as the epitome of stupidity, Ren believes the bitch’s lies about Naofumi conspiring with the queen to oust her from the throne, is cheating to get stronger, and that Motoyasu tried to rape her (*deep breath* GAAAAAAAHHHHH~! Why the fuck are you believing this bitch!? You know she’s a fucking liar that can’t be trusted! There’s being delusional and then there’s just being a straight-up dumbass afraid to face reality and take responsibility for your actions. This is the latter sprinkled with the former). In another bizarre event, the bitch somehow removed her slave mark. Motoyasu comes in where he tries to talk to the bitch but she continues to lie to win over Ren. Naofumi finally hears enough and tells Ren what he doesn’t want to hear. His party died because of him. He treated this world like a game and refuses to take ownership for his failures. Ren hears enough and points his sword at Naofumi trying to kill him but his attack does nothing (that sword is wasted on you). Ren and the bitch flee with Motoyasu trying one last time to win her back but she kicks him away (it is amazing how one bitch is responsible for fucking over the world). This leaves Motoyasu in a dark place where reality finally sets in and he never wants to talk or trust a woman ever again (he’s going to become the Pride Hero). In his darkest hour it’s Filo who extends her hand out to him and he instantly falls in love with her (pervert! Just die! Scene here: https://youtu.be/nNAAAUDJsGU?si=c285IkA4pKhBFg1Q).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 starts off a little wonky with two randos attacking Naofumi and the others while they’re out on the road. These randos are actually pretty powerful as one of them summons a meteorite where Naofumi’s shield barely holds against it. The trio get saved by S’yne who we find out is a vassel hero from another world (just how many worlds are there in this anime? (Mira): As many as the author needs to keep the ideas flowing). Rapthalia manages to beat them (scene here: https://youtu.be/Ktced_EmELQ?si=hyQ8IDieq4gpgr1R) but S’yne says they’ll return (with weapons). Despite still not trusting her, Naofumi allows her to return to the village and keep an eye on her for the time being. We see some of the kids got stronger during Naofumi’s absence and while some want to continue training and getting stronger, others want to follow a different path outside of battle and Naofumi respects their wishes. Others like Keel, wish to continue getting stronger and Naofumi takes his party and a few of the kids out to hunt some bandits that have been causing trouble. While out looking for them Naofumi runs into Motoyasu again (oh it’s the bird lolicon) fighting Ren wearing a ridiculous mask that doesn’t hide his identity at all (what the hell are you wearing?).
Episode 6 starts off with seeing Ren’s life before he got isekai’d. He was still in school and pretty much a loner with good looks and was quite good at games. Like I said before, when he got isekai’d he treated this world like a game believing he was the strongest (and reality quickly came around and bit him in the ass). We continue to explore his past where we see it didn’t take long for the bitch to betray him and take all his stuff (seriously, this had to be a speedrun record. She abandoned him faster than Naofumi). He was soon hunted by those mysterious mercenaries from another world where no one wanted to help him because he sucks (a valid reason). Angered and wanting to get stronger, Ren’s greed finally made him unlock his curse series (and even then, he’s still weak). Returning to the present, Naofumi tries to stop Ren before the curse series takes its toll on his body (scene here: https://youtu.be/s7sr8_u9hQo?si=q35Zi4QDmqamB4Z9). Éclair shows up asking to fight Ren and return him to his senses and Naofumi leaves it to her. Despite fighting a hero, Éclair is able to push Ren back with ease and beats him quickly to return him to his senses. Then out of nowhere the mysterious mercenaries from before appear and try to kill them. However, they all get saved by Motoyasu (we are truly in the end times). Motoyasu easily defeats them (he’s gotten stronger. The power of loli gives him strength) and they destroy their souls so they won’t return (scene here: https://youtu.be/TerwQkHhmH0?si=YOY0ZvPF7-oq49Pw). With Ren back to his senses he decides to become Éclair’s sparring partner in order to get stronger (alright, that just leaves one dumbass to deal with).
In episode 7 Naofumi and the other dumbasses have two months before the Phoenix appears. The rest of the episode is just filler and once again they skip over a lot of stuff (it’s as if the director and writer just gave up). A new character named Rat shows up at the village who is an alchemist and wants to create strong monsters. Noafumi gets a dragon egg which is cool and has to carry it around in order to increase its stats. Ren continues to train with Éclair where it’s obvious he’s falling for her (I ship it). The dragon finally hatches and it’s a wyr that they name Gaelion. At first things are fine but then it enters its teen rebellion phase and transforms into a horribly rendered CGI dragon before flying off on its own (ungrateful lizard).
We find out in episode 8 that Gaelion is somehow stealing Filo’s stats. If something isn’t done she’ll drop down to level 1 or worse, die. They find out that Gaelion has retreated to the dragon den where Naofumi fought the zombie dragon that was left by Ren because of his stupidity. They enter the den and fight against Gaelion where he swallows Filo (taste like chicken) and they fight against him. The group manages to knock the dragon down but Wyndia begs them to stop (scene here: https://youtu.be/dawpS92eOe8?si=maO_mfKfuQlgJ2Fl). So Wyndia reveals that the dragon was her father (I have many questions) and his spirit has taken over Gaelion to exact revenge. Wyndia begs her father to return Gaelion but it evolves into an even stronger dragon known as the Emperor Dragon and attacks the group.
Episodes 9-12
Episode 9 gives us the fight against the Emperor Dragon which gets defeated by Fohl and Atla and Rapthalia delivering the final strike (scenes here: https://youtu.be/dawpS92eOe8?si=maO_mfKfuQlgJ2Fl and https://youtu.be/M07jlGEclTk?si=bLMp0ofycFuB5bqQ). After this, Naofumi puts together that the villagers tricked Ren into killing the dragon so that they could steal his treasure for themselves. Ren apologizes to Wyndia who forgives him and Filo has the cursed removed but loss some of her levels in the process. Gaelion absorbed her levels and was able to evolve. He’s also got the soul of Wyndia’s father within him.
In episode 10 Itsuki has finally reappeared. He’s been showing up at the arena winning money and is being manipulated by that bitch. He believes Naofumi is evil and won’t listen to anyone. Not even Ren can get to him (what is wrong with you dumbasses!? Stop listening to the bitch). We see how his team pretty much abandoned him just like Motoyasu except they came back to him when he started winning money for them (good God you became her sugar daddy. You truly are lost). Realizing that words aren’t going to work with him (I mean have words ever worked with these three dumbasses? The only way they’ll learn is with a swift kick in the ass) Rishia volunteers to fight Itsuki herself and save him from despair (the only way he’ll see how weak he’s become is if he loses to the one person he considered the weakest).
Episode 11 continues the story of Itsuki. Before the fight begins he targets Naofumi accusing him of using the kids as slaves, exploiting them, and making him out to be the worst person imaginable (stop playing the damn victim and own up to your mistakes). We see Itsuki has awakened to his curse series which allows him to shoot bows that make people believe everything he says (man, these dumbasses really were a lost cause. It is a miracle this world hasn’t been destroyed by the waves). Having seen just how gone Itsuki is, Rishia finally fights him (kick his ass, Rishia. It’s been a long time coming). We finally get a chance to see just how strong Rishia has become (so glad she won’t be dead weight) as she’s able to deflect all of Itsuki’s attacks. The more Itsuki loses the more he becomes consumed by his curse series, but even that’s not enough to beat Rishia. Hell, even his bow can see just how much he’s fallen that it actually gives Rishia a weapon made entirely of ki so that she can knock some sense into him (that is how delusional he has become). After Rishia finally beats him we get to see his past. In his world, psychics exist, and it was believed he had psychic powers. He got accepted into this gifted school only to discover that his powers were below average (actually they were below below average) and was seen as inferior to everyone else. After his lost, he goes running back to the bitch only to discover that she abandoned him, spent all his money, and left him in debt (and she officially played all of you. Be sure to kill her the next time to see her). So Itsuki goes into a catatonic state with Rishia taking care of him and Naofumi offering to pay off some of his debts to end the episode (scene here: https://youtu.be/2WhUKZUBiuM?si=XYaP3g-aAr5kPG_b).
In the final episode, things seem to be going well as everyone prepares for the Phoenix, but they throw in a new story. Naofumi gives Raphtalia a miko outfit and then the village gets attacked by demihumans trying to assassinate her. Sadeena reveals that these assassins are from Q’ten Lo, an island nation to the east and our little Raphtalia is actually member of the royal family (https://youtu.be/m00S8DSgrx4?si=RjH2RcgEyYQdMQM-). The miko outfit is only allowed to be worn by their Heavenly Empress. When Rapthalia put on the miko she was unknowingly declaring herself the empress of Q’ten Lo and since the island already has an emperor this might as well be seen as a declaration of warn against the emperor (nice going Naofumi. You declared war on a whole island). Raphtalia’s dad tired of the needless fighting fled the country with his wife and Sadeena joined them vowing to protect them (and she did one hell of a job. The parents died in the first wave and Raphtalia got sold into slavery). What makes this situation even more messed up was the fact that Q’ten Lo have been watching Rapthalia since the moment she was born. They knew she knew nothing about her royal heritage and did nothing to protect her and her family during the first wave. They wanted her to die because the emperor sees her as a threat to his rule. Seeing the writing on the wall, Naofumi decides to head to Q’ten Lo and settle this himself.
Final Thoughts
Season 3 was an improvement over the second season but still has faults. I do like how all the heroes finally wake up and get that reality check they so desperately needed. As much as I hate to say it we really do owe the bitch for bringing these heroes to their lowest points so that Naofumi could pull them back up and get them all on the same page. It’s unfortunate this had to happen to them but compared to Naofumi they got off easy. It was nice to see Naofumi’s party and village continue to grow and prosper. I like the addition of Fohl and Atla and the dragon despite the awkward CGI. The anime unfortunately skips over a lot of important content and because of that it makes some scenes feel like they’re out of left field or don’t make a lick of sense. Such as those two hunters from the other world. What was there deal? What did they want and how did their powers work? I’m not saying they need to adapt everything from the light novel word for word but they need to make sure they’re hitting the important stuff so that the anime-only fans have context of what’s going on and why. The animation improves a little this season. I will say I do like the character designs of the demihumans. Especially Sadeena’s orca form. Those aren’t easy to make.
Final Score
The final score for the third season is a 5/10. It’s an okay season that greatly improves on everything done in season 2 but still has its faults. I don’t know if they’ll be able to fix all these faults before the next season. I think this is going to be the norm. However, this does give you an excuse to check out the novel and experience the series in a different way from the anime. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.