The Rising of the Shield Hero season one review

The world of the Shield Hero

The Rising of the Shield Hero transports you into a new world from the first episode. No really, the protagonist is sucked out of modern Japan and into another world within the first few minutes – this anime gets straight to the point. Iwatoni Naofumi (Kaito Ishikawa), a content college student, is summoned as one of the Four Cardinal Heroes to another world, bound by a legend to protect this world from the catastrophic waves that plague it. The four heroes are the Spear Hero, Bow Hero, Sword Hero and Shield Hero – the Shield Hero being the only hero without a weapon. Naofumi, unfortunately, finds himself with a shield permanently strapped to his arm and with no other fighter wanting to join his party. Eventually, a beautiful heroine, Malty (Maaya Uchida), joins him as his only ally. The conniving Malty falsely accuses Naofumi of rape and Naofumi is condemned as a criminal and an outcast.

There is an immediate change in Naofumi’s character as distrust becomes his second shield. In his desperation to exact revenge on the nation that betrayed him, he purchases a sickly demi-human slave child, Raphtalia (Asami Seto). Instead of trying to prove his innocence and bring dignity back to his name, Naofumi realises that with a tarnished name he is free to do as he pleases because he no longer has anything to lose. He can be a hero without the pressure of hero etiquette. What we find is a deeply flawed and selfish hero who is also rational, just and protective of those who believe in him. Because we expect so little of Naofumi, his strength and moments of generosity and so much more powerful. At the other end of the see-saw, the other three heroes are worshipped and become naively confident in their abilities. Each time they fail, their failure is magnified by the fact that they have to be rescued by the ridiculed Shield Hero.