English Dub Review: The Rising of the Shield Hero “A Conspiracy Linked”

What is it about being the Spear Hero that makes Motoyasu so dumb?

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Naofumi and the others are sent off to continue the next step of their journey. Refreshed from their care in the hands of the Filo Queen, they set forth to try and rally for the next wave. Once they reach the gates to the kingdom, they find Motoyasu the Spear Hero blocking their entrance. As expected, he attacks Naofumi on sight, claiming that he’s still somehow brainwashing Raphtalia and Filo. Naofumi tries to persuade him otherwise, but this just emboldens Motoyasu further. During their fight, Motoyasu accuses Naofumi of killing Itsuki and Ren, the heroes of the Bow and Sword.

Naofumi questions whether or not Itsuki and Ren are actually dead, but Malty uses her poison words to keep Motoyasu blind to Naofumi’s reason. She enacts a barrier around them and then uses magical fire to try and defeat Naofumi, but Melty uses her magic to stop the flames. Next, Filo jumps in, only to find another member of Motoyasu’s party in the mix.

Pretty soon, it’s a party-on-party battle, with the combined magic of Motoyasu’s team being infused into his spear. Seeing that, Naofumi is able to figure out his own combo skills as well. With their combined efforts, Naofumi’s team uses combo attacks to knock out Motoyasu and bring Malty to her knees. Even in defeat, Motoyasu insists on putting up a fight, but things come to a quick stop when Raphtalia realizes that all the soldiers previously around them have disappeared.

Filo urges Naofumi to use his shield prison to surround all of them and brace for what’s to come. He puts up his defenses, and soon an enormous beam of energy comes crashing down upon them. It breaks through the initial shields and nearly kills all of them, but Naofumi holds firm and stops the energy with all of his power. The caster of this spell then reveals himself, the Pope from the capital cathedral, who has come to purify Naofumi by killing him, destroying Motoyasu’s team in the process. He reveals the sinister intentions of the Church, which aims to enact a coup by killing the royal family and all that might stop them. He also reveals it was not Naofumi that killed Itsuki and Ren, but the Church as well.

Our Take:

Now, this is the kind of episode I can really get behind. From the beginning, this episode grabs viewer attention and keeps it preserved throughout the whole episode. The last couple episodes we’ve been getting have been a little bit heavy on exposition and lacking in real plot development, but this episode makes up for that in spades. It uses the battle not just as an entertaining setpiece, but also as a way to heighten the conflict between Naofumi and Motoyasu just before the big reveal is made that they’ve been playing against each other by the Church. And it’s a pretty damn good fight, too.

This is a twist that I didn’t see coming, though it does feel like a natural extension of the world. This is a realm of corruption, conspiracy, and lies, and it really does make sense that one of the political entities vying for power in the kingdom would be a dogmatic Church. Though, they haven’t gotten a lot of development until now. If I were to try and improve this twist, I would have the Church be more present in the story as an invisible force; always watching, waiting, judging the sins of those they deem unworthy. What’s nice as well to see is the way the other heroes get comeuppance for their foolishness by having Naofumi’s critiques of their “heroism” confirmed by the Pope. Naofumi’s character needs that kind of validation.

This marks, I imagine, the end of Motoyasu’s attempts to try and defeat the “Devil of the Shield,” and it really is about time. That plot was getting really stale, really fast because it basically always boiled down to the same conflict over and over again. Now with Motoyasu soundly defeated, however, and a new villain revealed, we can move on to a more fresh plot line. Moreover, excellent pacing, tone, and exciting special moves make for a really great fight.

This is a great episode of anime, not just an episode of Shield Hero. It does a great job in tapping into the themes that have served this show so well while not languishing in itself. It is entertaining, emphasizes it’s well-developed cast and keeps the plot moving in a significant way. There is so much to love here that I don’t think anyone who’s been watching up to this point will be disappointed.