English Dub Review: The Rising of the Shield Hero “Episode 20”

You’d think this old man in a funny hat would be easier to beat.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The pope, who Naofumi and his allies are fighting, has used a new kind of magic, “Cathedral”, to trap them inside of an enormous magical barrier in the shape of a cathedral. Within, the heroes find their powers to be significantly nulled, and Naofumi isn’t able to access his curse abilities to try and turn the tide of the battle. Nonetheless, each of them uses their strengths to counter the pope’s powerful magic, but unfortunately, the prayers of the faithful give the pope a nearly endless supply of magical energy.

Things look bad, but Naofumi is able to tap into this cursed power by focusing deep within. As he looks inside himself, he comes face to face with some kind of demonic entity that tries to nurture the anger within Naofumi to awaken the cursed power lying dormant within him. The spirit reminds Naofumi of all the struggles he’s faced, all the persecution he’s had to endure, and slowly but surely, Naofumi gives into his anger and sees nothing but blood red in his vision. Embraced in an infernal set of armor, he trudges towards the pope with pure hatred for the world and everything in it. It seems that he’s about to be lost to his inner hatreds until Raphtalia, Melty and Filo rescue him with the power of friendship.

Naofumi still keeps the cursed armor that empowers him but has a new resolve to protect his friends from harm. Acting as their leader, Naofumi leads the heroes into battle against the pope. Their onslaught of attacks is able to put the pope on the defensive, but things turn once more when the pope uses another powerful magic to begin shooting arrows at Naofumi and friends from all directions. The attack seems to be illusory, but it still is way too much for everyone to handle.

All seems lost, but at the last moment, the queen arrives with her army to put a stop to the pope, who is a traitor to the kingdom. With an enormously powerful spell, she summons a beast from the ground that gnashes into the pope with its enormous teeth. The battle is won, but not without loss, for it seems that Naofumi has sustained some serious damage.

Our Take:

This season of Shield Hero is going to be coming to an end soon, and this episode marks one of the final stories in it’s run. As such, now isn’t the time for this show to hold back, but for it to charge forward at full speed and bring to a close all the major threads and themes that have been at stake for the last twenty episodes. I’m happy to say that it seems the showrunners have gotten the message on that front because this is easily one of the strongest episodes of the season and a great ending to what was already a pretty radical fight. At long last, we get to see Naofumi become the hero that was awaiting within him. After all the struggle, after all the pain, Naofumi is no longer just the joke of the world he inhabits.

Naofumi struggles against the curse within him, which acts as a personification of his shadow self; the angry, bitter self that wants nothing but revenge against a world that’s wronged him. This has been a conflict that’s followed him since the beginning, which makes it especially pertinent that it comes to its head at the apex of his fight against the pope. The tension in the episode was such that it really did feel like Naofumi might be lost. The “Power of friendship” which resolves that struggle may have been cheesy, but it also felt well-earned. Naofumi has never been a simple character, but a normal-ish guy who’s just doing what it takes to survive. That test of survival has brought out both good and bad within him, which has always served to divide his path.

In purely visual terms, this episode does not disappoint. We’re treated to some of the best visuals in the series thus far with beautiful magical attacks and well-choreographed fighting that catches the eye and your attention. I still think that Shield Hero, with its generic setting and world concepts, doesn’t capture the imagination in the same way that a fantasy shounen might, but at least it cares to make it’s fights worth watching.

This is a good time from start to finish. It’s an episode full of strong character development, great pacing, and colorful action. I’m eager to see what’s to come and how things will finish up. If it’s as good as this, then I’ll be a happy man.