English Dub Review: Rising of the Shield Hero “Rising of the Shield Hero”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Picking up from the previous episode, Naofumi confronts Glass in single combat, where she reveals herself as a hero from L’Arc’s homeworld, known as the self-proclaimed the “Fan Hero.” but during the course of this intense battle, Naofumi discovers that Glass is weak against a Shield ability he gained from their last encounter, but hesitates, unwilling to kill her since he realizes that her along with L’Arc all have a common goal of trying to protect their respective worlds. It’s here where we get to the heart of the episode which is whether or not Naofumi believes the land he was forcibly sucked into and treated like a pariah is worth saving given the hell he’s been put through over the course of this series, but thankfully Raphtalia reminds Naofumi that there are many people in this world actually worth protecting.

Meanwhile, Queen Mirellia finds the green-haired pigtailed Lecia from Itsuki’s (the Bow Hero) group and has her launch liquor barrels at Glass. Intoxicated by the powerful alcohol on contact L’Arc and Therese helps Glass withdraw as the Wave’s time limit runs out. Returning to Cal Mira, Naofumi ponders the revelation of other worlds fighting the Waves, and taking Fitoria’s words to heart about “Sacrifice”. After Filo saves Lecia from a suicide attempt, Naofumi decides to recruit Rishia into his party, after she’s kicked out of Itsuki’s (the Bow Hero) party due to a false accusation against her involving broken jewelry. Throughout this entire series, Rishia much like Butters Stoch from South Park, has often appeared as a background character who’s been the butt of several cruel jokes for her clumsy nature and is often treated like shit for a cheap laugh, So it’s a touching scene and kinda relatable from Naofumi’s perspective given that they were both falsely accused of something atrocious.

Sailing back to the mainland, Naofumi takes up Mirella’s reward which is the Lordship of Raphtalia’s homeland of Seyaette, with people Naofumi trusts to rebuild it. While Raphtalia is overjoyed, she also expresses a foreboding feeling that this is insurance should Naofumi die or go home, though the episode and by extension the season ends when Naofumi reveals that his sense of purpose has been renewed and that Sayaette will serve as a new beginning for him and his party. As Naofumi and Raphtalia oversee her village rebuilding, it leads to a montage during the credits serving as an Epilogue of sorts showing the other insipid douche-heroes resolving to become stronger than Naofumi., but it ends with a strange cliffhanger involving the sleazy salesman Beloukas encountering somebody familiar in his store.

Our Take.

This was quite an ending. While I don’t really feel sad for the other three heroes as they were self-righteous jerks who still consistently treat this whole catastrophe as a mere game without consideration or consequence, I’m hoping at some point they’ll all encounter a rude awakening get their shit together and put their petty attitudes aside. I get that this story is about the Shield Hero’s journey, but making all three of Heroes equally useless, powerless, and sometimes comic reliefs shouldn’t be the most frequent and contrived way to make us root for Naofumi.

While big twist involving Glass’ world was certainly unexpected, I’m glad that the bonds that Naofumi forged with everyone managed to convince him to stand firm with his friends even after the shit-storm of false accusations from the early episodes. Overall for a season finale, It was a perfect mix of action, plot-twists, and a beautiful ending as well.

At the time of this review, it’s uncertain if a season 2 will ever be in the works. Since the Lightnovel & Manga series, it’s based on is also still ongoing, It’s unclear what the real ending will be or what will become of all the key characters and what role each of them play as time goes on.

Expect a full season review next week right here on Bubbleblabber.com