Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2

This show is a piece of trash, and I’m shocked I or anyone else ever gave it the time of day. The first four episodes of season one are decent, and while the production issues which would later come to plague the series were already rearing their ugly heads even back then—bad CG, bits of clunky animation, and so on—the actual story they told, at least as far as isekai is concerned, was fairly compelling, and the firestorm of internet controversy they ignited was thoroughly hilarious. However, immediately after this, the series devolved into the most generic isekai harem you’ve ever seen, and nothing about it is worth anyone’s time for a list of reasons both obvious and egregious. Reason 1: How the fuck are we not bored of this yet? Gosh, where do I even begin? I’m so glad Mushoku Tensei came out between now and the previous season of Shield Hero, because it serves as a nice and easy example to reference when explaining why this very similar anime is, in comparison, complete shit. Isekai as a genre has grown into this unholy behemoth, and almost all of it has been awful, but Mushoku Tensei was a truly refreshing exception. In oversimplified terms, both are isekai anime with an overpowered MC who is, at least ostensibly, easily characterized as a self-insert. However, their execution sets them apart completely. Where Mushoku Tensei actually cared about developing a uniquely detailed fantasy setting whose immersion was only bolstered by the stellar background art, beautiful colors, and hand-drawn detail, Shield Hero relies on the same RPG video game standard we’ve seen used fifteen billion times by now, whose drab, ugly, lackluster banality and endless info-dumping is only made worse by the hideous art design, garish CG, stale environments, and shitty over-designed, off-model character art. It’s an anime that both looks and feels incredibly cheap, and I’m having a very hard time figuring out why this series has received so much attention, even as a light novel. I understand why it grabbed peoples’ attention at first—and we’ll get back to that in a minute—but why didn’t people get bored and drop it after it became so generic and boring? Was the first arc just good enough to keep people around, no matter how awful it got? Because as it stands now, I’m genuinely challenging myself to find any difference between this and the seasonal isekais that nameless studios pump out every season, and I seriously cannot find anything. Reason 2: What the fuck is the author expecting me to see in this man? Whenever a show comes out that doesn’t conform to peoples’ strict worldview, it has become normal to see internet mobs trying to “cancel” such anime. The most common source of this sort of whining and bitching is, as one might expect, lolis. Anime containing loli fanservice or lolis in general will very often find themselves the targets of raging lynch mobs screaming about how they contain or promote pedophilia, and while this may seem like a ridiculous thing to suggest, I must say, as an individual who grew up and lives in a country where the first response to gun violence in schools has always been out-of-touch elected officials blaming the sales figures of Grand Theft Auto V, this method of conflating fictional entertainment with real life social issues is actually a very common thing. However, in the anime community, these people almost always come across as virtue signaling prudes or, as is most often the case, as complete charlatans who don’t actually give a shit and who just want to ignite controversy surrounding a show they don’t like. I know reviews can be taken down for analysis like this, but I’m not technically breaking the rules as I’m not commenting on viewers of this show specifically, and either way, I don’t disrespect the hustle. I’m an attention whore myself, and I’m glad I brought up Mushoku Tensei earlier, because the controversy surrounding that series absolutely reeked of this, and it remains a good comparison for my thoughts on Shield Hero. The protagonist of Mushoku Tensei was an outright sexual deviant, and this became quite controversial not simply as a matter of fact, but also because the series and its characters seemed to go out of their own way to make excuses for his behavior in a way many found discomforting. Personally, I enjoyed Mushoku Tensei for two main reasons. Firstly, it had a clear and impressive amount of effort put into its production, and seeing such love and care from the creators behind it gave me an inherent respect for the series. Secondly and more importantly, it was shockingly and consistency well-written in a way that most anime—and certainly most isekai—are not. But why is this relevant to the controversy, and why is the controversy relevant to Shield Hero? Naofumi is, generally speaking, a good person, and Rudeus, the protagonist of Mushoku Tensei, is not. He’s a borderline narcissist who has great difficulties recognizing his own faults, and whenever he does recognize such faults, he turns into a pouty child who’s incapable of getting out of his own head and improving in real terms. Much more damning is the fact he’s a pervert, and his willingness to cross the physical boundaries of women in his life is only exacerbated by the fact he’s the protagonist of an isekai harem and, quite crucially, knows it. Before being isekai’d, he was a disgusting otaku NEET who spent his days jerking off to anime girls exactly like the one’s who he now inhabits a world surrounded by, so his tendency to instantly view and treat the women he meets as sex objects is frankly gross. I could go on, but hopefully you get BOTH of the points I’m making here. Point one is obvious: Rudeus really is a scummy guy. But the second point is what I’m really getting at: Rudeus is a real, fleshed-out, well-rounded, flawed character, NOT a self-insert. He has some positive qualities, and he has what some might consider to be a relatable backstory, but he is far too complex and unpleasant of a character to be broadly considered a “self-insert.” In comparison, Naofumi was a real character for about four episodes, and ever since those first four episodes (which were not the most brilliantly written pieces of literature in the first place), he has been a classic, hollow, lifeless self-insert, and this is where the controversy becomes relevant, because what is a self-insert? Why is it used as a derogatory term? A self-insert is a protagonist who the author deliberately designed to be as generic and unremarkable as possible, while simultaneously being as relatable as possible, but only by means of the most inoffensive, broadly applicable, and unchallenging personality traits imaginable, all for the soul purpose of creating a clear and inviting non-character for the audience to project themselves onto to achieve maximum escapism when watching a show, which itself is also deliberately pandering in whatever way. This is usually considered to be a negative way to construct a character, because not only is it cynical and manipulative, but because it is simply a recipe for an awful script. If you’re watching anime because you want to actually watch an anime and not insert yourself into it for whatever indulgent, masturbatory reasons you may have, and you actually want to be treated to quality storytelling, then this approach to constructing a protagonist is obviously contemptible. Naofumi going from a brooding, expressive, angry MGTOW to some generic light novel man and falling squarely into this self-insert trap can be criticized on these terms, but watching this season, I’ve started looking at this show from a slightly different angle, because this show features slavery. And that’s fine. I mean, slavery exited in real life, so why shouldn’t it exist in fiction, right? My reaction to these kinds of things being included in anime has always been to simply shrug it off and ask, “Who gives a shit?” But then I started to truly appreciate the angle Shield Hero…

After watching this season, I can safely say, Malty is the reason why I even finished Season 1. The biggest problem with Shield Hero is that it just isn’t as satisfying to watch anymore, because the revenge plot is done, and now it’s just a generic isekai. I’m sure the studio and animators realized that, so what did they do? They proceeded to milk the living heck out of Raphtalia and create some fan service, because they know there are many people watching this show just for her. I had low expectations coming into this season, because I didn’t think Season 1 was that good to begin with, especially in the second half. Somehow this season still ended up being disappointing. This season of Shield Hero was paced poorly, was uninteresting, the characters got even worse, but it did have one saving grace, and I’ll highlight that down below. My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20 STORY: 5.5/25 An awkward mess would be an understatement. Granted, I didn’t expect a whole lot from this season, but this was not good. I’ll talk briefly about the two main arcs of this season: The spirit tortoise arc. Absolutely atrocious, and I’m sure most of you agree. I started the arc and the first thing I wondered was who Éclair was. I looked back at the previous season, skimmed through wikis, and I found nothing about her. So, you’re telling me she just showed up? YUP! That was the first sign that this was getting extremely rushed, even though I’ve never read the light novel. I don’t blame them for rushing this though, because it’s just a boring arc, and I can see why this rushed it, but you can’t introduce an important character without letting us know who she was beforehand. The biggest problem to me was how they deviated from the plot of season 1, which was fighting the waves, and seeing the video game mechanics in play. This time, there’s just this random tortoise thing that’s supposedly a danger to the world, which felt so random. After a few episodes of meandering about doing a whole lot of nothing, Naofumi and company face off against Kyo Ethnina, who is officially one of my least favourite villains of all time. The way he just shouts so annoyingly, but honestly has the same intelligence as people in Team Rocket from Pokemon is just near unbearable. All he does is shout arrogantly, and when he gets defeated, WHOOP-DEE-DOO, he has yet another trick up his sleeve. Very poor character writing, and one of the lamest villains I’ve laid my eyes on, Malty was actually frustrating to watch, in a somewhat good way, and vastly superior to Kyo. Next, we have the New World arc, which started off decently, but once Kyo came back on the screen, I realized that it’s still horrible. The first few episodes of this arc were the best of the entire season, and those were the episodes where virtually nothing happened, and they were exploring the Infinite Labyrinth. Obviously, the writers knew that the series was struggling at this point, so how should we save the story? SMOL RAPHTALIA IS DEFINITELY THE ANSWER TO ALL OUR PROBLEMS!!! Yikes. Though, the reason for my increased enjoyment to start this arc was the addition of the Cardinal Hunting Hero Kizuna, who was a fun and bubbly character with at least a little personality. Another reason is that Shield Hero finally got back to its roots and focused on levelling up and gaining items, which was the best part about Shield Hero in Season 1. Twists and turns happen, the gang eventually reunites again after episode after episode of absolute nonsense and Raphtalia not leaving the screen for more than two seconds. The villains were uninteresting, and the ending of the arc was rushed heavily as well. Overall, just hugely rushed. The development of the characters was poor, the villains were lame, and the amount of plot holes was crazy. ART: 4.2/10 Huge step down from Season 1, and it became abundantly clear that Kinema Citrus was already setting their sights on working on Made In Abyss Season 2. Character expressions were awkward, fight scenes took place in stills, and the Spirit Tortoise looked like a huge, heavy pile of CG. Yikes. MUSIC: 8.4/10 I will say, Kevin Penkin is still the saving grace of this show, and the music is pretty good in important scenes. Looking forward to his work in Made In Abyss Season 2. The opening was not as good as the first two, and the ending was alright. CHARACTERS: 5.5/20 Uninspiring, boring, and just stock characters. Maybe they’re kinda cool in fight scenes, but what could you tell me about any type of reasonable character development? Let’s go over some of the characters. Everyone’s favourite character, Raphtalia! I’m convinced she’s just here since the fans love her. She can fight, and keep Naofumi level-headed, but that’s no different from Season 1. The romance is just there because you just gotta have some kind of a harem in an isekai for the fans to be happy. When the story gets bad, they just show some smol Raphtalia, and expect the fans to be satisfied. Let’s talk about Filo and Rishia now. Filo barely got any screen time, and there was no development for her, she’s just there. Rishia got my character development this time, by being more brave I suppose, and building up her skills. Her plot armour is crazy though, as not even Kyo’s gravity attack can oppose her. The question though is, why was Rishia wearing that Filo outfit in the tortoise arc??? I mentioned Kyo earlier, and how bad he is, so let’s talk about our saving grace, Kizuna. Definitely the best character in the series, because she’s strong, and has a pretty fun personality. Still a very bare-bones character that would benefit from some development. Would love to see more of her. Finally, let’s talk about our protagonist, Naofumi. He seems like a smart guy right? To be honest, he’s just an average protagonist, but he looks smart because everyone around him have very low intelligence, and rely on him to do the heavy lifting, though we do see this theme quite a lot in other shows as well, it just seems more noticeable here. He’s a solid character, but his only intriguing aspect is when he gets angry and the wrath shield tries to take over. I still don’t understand how he can attack when he’s supposed to be a defensively oriented hero. ENJOYMENT: 2.5/15 I found myself completely checked out at times, and there was little to no elements that had me enjoying this season. THEMATIC EXECUTION: 4/20 What this show does, is fix bad thematic execution, with what the writer and director thinks is good themes. For example, if a fight was underwhelming, or if the story was convoluted, they’d try to fix it with some fan service. If the plot was boring, they’d try to spice things up with a hint of romance. It just doesn’t work. No themes were executed well, as a lot of things felt forced and rushed. OVERALL: 30.1/100 Definitely the worst show I watched in the spring season. The story was massively rushed, the characters were uninspiring and bland, the villains were lame, and I didn’t enjoy it at all. I even heard that they didn’t follow the light novel very well from the readers. It’s a shame, though I kind of expected this, since the second half of the first season gave me signs that the story would go downhill, but I didn’t expect that this would be this appalling. The production and animation overall was very janky as well. The saving grace for this series was definitely Kizuna and Kevin Penkin’s composing. I believe that Season 3 might be a bit better than this season, but I’m not going to be expecting much at all.

The Rising of Shield Hero Season 2 is one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had to sit through, and this is coming from a Yankees fan. How do you even manage to fuck up a sequel to one of the most popular LN adaptations of all time this badly? Say what you want about the first season of Shield Hero, but it was hard to deny it was all the rage back in 2019. As early as the first episode’s airing people were either ranking it among their Top 10 or throwing shitfits over it. There’s not much to say about Season 1 that hasn’t already been said by thousands of others. Shield Hero is the definition of low-hanging fruit at this point. It’s juvenile shlock with terrible characters and endless plot contrivances that has no idea what it wants to be. I hated it, but at the same time I kept coming back. At the end of the day I had fun watching it week to week, laughing at the comical amounts of edge, tonal whiplash and stilted dialogue. Season 2 on the other hand strayed so far from my expectations I was left speechless by just how consistently fucking terrible it managed to be every episode. It’s not bad in the entertaining sense, it’s bad in a way that just leaves you incensed. So much of it fundamentally fails on every level that you’d think this was the result of some kind of corporate sabotage scheme put into place by the vengeful author of another terrible isekai series, angry that his internet fanfiction turned legitimate franchise was overshadowed. As you can probably guess, Season 1 left off on all the plot threads that kept people watching (the rape accusation, the “other universes” nonsense, etc.) resolved in the most unsatisfying ways possible; now Naofumi the Shield Hero/wholesome slave owner and his harem of walking cliches have pretty much accomplished all the goals that were set in the first season, or the first 5 volumes of the novels. Here’s the issue: the whole point of the "rising" of the Shield Hero was already shown in the first season. There’s nowhere else to go from here, but considering there was still 17 volumes left to cover, a second season is pretty much a given. Guess what Kinema Citrus decides to do? Rush through the following volumes, completely skip context to new characters and story developments, and drag out what fans already consider to be the worst arc in the series with a decreased animation budget and worse directing. Great. Of course most viewers won’t know any of this supplemental info at first, so they’ll be immediately let down. I couldn’t think of a better way to make sure 70% of viewers drop your series within the first 5 episodes. The Spirit Turtle/Kyo arc is (from what I’ve heard) incredibly boring enough in the novels, so I have no idea why the studio chose to turn it into even more of a pointless slog. I couldn’t tell what the worst part of this season was, the endless scenes of characters spouting prosaic dialogue at each other for minutes on end, pedestrian attempts at developing characters or the stale, repetitive fight scenes that only exist to hook the audience back in after the other 2 put them to sleep. Director Masato Jinbo doesn’t have that bad a record, working on stuff like Shakugan no Shana S2 and Yuru Camp. The animation is considerably less polished than Season 1 and there’s an embarrassing number of off-model shots, even during still frames or any one of the thousands of mind-numbing talking scenes. Looking at all the shoddily drawn characters is more stimulating than actually listening to them converse. It’s a direct contrast to Season 1, which looked leagues better than this. In Season 1 characters were hardly ever off-model for 25 episodes, and the worst I can say about the animation was that it relied too heavily on CGI models for a lot of fight sequences. The background characters even looked like humans instead of stick figures most of the time, and it's sad that I have to praise it for doing the bare minimum that most anime can't even seem to accomplish these days. What’s the problem here? Did they not care? I’d have to guess that condensing the volumes of the story this season covers into a 13 episode season gave the staff less time to refine everything from adapting the light novels to a television format to making sure it actually looked halfway finished. This was probably the decision that sealed Season 2's fate. On the topic of characters, one of the biggest blights on this season is the new character Rishia. She’s so fucking annoying. I thought people were overreacting before I started the season but yeah, she really is one of the least likeable characters ever written. 99% of her screentime is wasted on her obsessing over one of the heroes who wants nothing to do with her (understandable), crying for some reason or just being dead weight in fights or emotional scenes. Season 2 opts to skip most of the scenes establishing her and make her feel like a genuine addition to the cast and just skip right into her training, making her feel like she was awkwardly inserted into the story at the last moment. You’d think a character like this would have some kind of arc or emotional resolution but she NEVER IMPROVES. She’s obnoxious and stagnant enough to the point Naofumi calling her out during his rage scene feels completely justified instead of mean-spirited. The reason I reserved almost an entire paragraph for her is because she’s a major character in the season, and you’d better believe they try to force you to like every time she’s onscreen despite the fact there’s absolutely nothing to like. Naofumi and his harem are as insipid as ever. The other new characters from parallel universes range from uninteresting to background scenery. Glass, the mostly silent rival to Naofumi from the first season, gets ruined as she becomes another sidekick for Naofumi. The arc villain Kyo is a bland, two-dimensional prick with about as much likeability as Rishia. Season 1 at least had the smart idea of making all the villains comically over the top, unapologetically evil scumbags so you could enjoy how awful they were, and get some satisfaction when they finally go down. Kyo is not only unbearably annoying but also has no depth to him. Filler villains in Naruto have more complexity than this guy, who’s supposed to be a major player in the Shield Hero world, as he’s the illegitimate Book Hero as well as being from a parallel world. He appears, conducts a little evil in the background, makes some evil swords (ripped off from that one Bleach arc for some reason) and gets defeated in one of the least exciting climactic battles ever animated. You really think nothing of him the entire season and forget everything about him once it’s over. Shield Hero Season 2 is an unbearably ugly, passionless and aggravating sequel to a series that didn’t really need any further continuation. I actually feel like I was too hard on Season 1 in the past, because despite it being tasteless, ludicrous and offensive to everyone, it was entertaining. It was fun, ridiculously grimy shit you got invested in because it always managed to rise to some absurd new level of stupidity. Season 2 has nothing of value. It insults fans of the light novels and the manga by removing key elements of the story. It insults casual viewers by being an ugly, vacuous waste of time. There is nothing redeeming about The Rising of Shield Hero Season 2 and it should not have been made. There was no passion put into the production at any level and it absolutely shows. The best thing you can say about this season that it’s a massive letdown and the worst thing you can say probably breaks several MAL guidelines. I’m not even a fan of the series yet I still feel like a part of me died watching this.

The only reason I gave this season a 5 was because of the average animation. Otherwise, it would be a 3. This season was seriously just a DISASTER. Absolutely NOTHING was done right. All the things done perfectly in season 1 were just scraped and totally removed from this season. Way too bad a successor. I seriously can't understand how could they do this to such a great story... "New characters were, useless plot points, overly confusing and boring storyline with the worst possible main villain" This line sums up the entire season. Conclusion: Watch this only if you want to simp on a character. Useless for any other reason.

I just don’t know what to say about this season other than I’m disappointed in it. I don’t have that many strong feelings associated with it, so it isn’t like I can pick it apart super easily to explain myself, but coming off of last season (which admittedly wasn’t perfect) into this season was a huge letdown after waiting so long for the second season. For me, most of that came down to the plot, but there are certainly other elements of Shield Hero season 2 that made it a less than ideal experience. One of those is the animation, and I can’t really say whether it’s gotten worse from the first season because I can’t remember, but looking at this season on its own, the animation definitely wasn’t up to the standard I would expect it to be at. The characters themselves also played a large factor in my dislike of this season for a couple of reasons. Number one, the antagonists and other new characters weren’t great, in my opinion. I didn’t really find myself caring about any of them, which made any play at drama tedious to watch. Not to mention, the way these characters fit into the plot wasn’t all that great because the characters themselves weren’t all that great. More than that, though, the original characters still felt quite lax. There was grit and color to many of these characters (especially Naofumi) in the first season, and that’s part of why I ended up loving this series so much. But everyone was really one-note this time around, and even if the characters were advancing through the plot, they didn’t grow as individuals. Again, though, the plot is really what made watching this season unfortunate for me. I simply did not care about it at all. I was looking to be struck with the same magic I saw in the first season, but now that Naofumi’s conflicts are different from what they were originally (which was basically being ostracized by everyone but his own party), I found I didn’t like the next step in Naofumi’s journey as much as I would have liked to. Maybe that’s because too much of the plot is exported to the events happening, rather than giving time for the characters themselves to be the plot for an episode or two (essentially building on the characters), but whatever the reason, I couldn’t get excited about anything that was happening the entire time. Now, I didn’t give this season a terrible score because, at the end of the day, there’s still a lot about this world that hasn’t been revealed, and despite me not being excited for this season, I’m still excited for the series at large. Because of that, I don’t think it’s fair to score this season as though it was unwatchable—for me, it wasn’t unwatchable. It was boring and tedious, sure, but I still enjoyed a few of the moments of high tension or emotion, and I still enjoyed being with these characters when they had the time to be focused on rather than just plowing through the plot. For me, this score reflects that this was very much an average season of anime (and, to be honest, I did round up from a six to a seven because I have a soft spot for this series), but who knows? Maybe Shield Hero will step up in a big way from now on.

The first season of the Shield Hero had a big impact in the community. Half of it was praising it for its bold take on an isekai protagonist who is wrongfully accused, and the other half was shiting on it for being full of cheap tactics for engaging the viewer through rage instead of quality writing. As the season kept going, more and more people were joining the dislike side as one by one everything that made the initial episodes good was being replaced with the same generic crap that plague all isekai and turned a once (supposed) subversion of the formula into yet another power fantasy. By the time the second season began most didn’t care about it, but were still hopeful it would return to form. The source readers kept telling them all sorts of crazy shit are going to happen next which will blow their minds. So, they added it to their plan to watch lists and made it the most anticipated show of the season it came out (MAL statistics wise). What they got was something that was vastly inferior in every aspect.Here is a quick summary: 1) The revengeporn, the main reason everybody was watching it for, is over. Naofumi got his revenge when the princess got punished back in the first season. Everything that followed that felt hollow. 2) The protagonist lost his cool edgy side where everyone hated him and he didn’t trust anyone. Now he’s another generic self insert power fantasy for antisocial otakus. 3) The pacing became ridiculously fast, thus not letting the antisocial otakus to enjoy the harem. 4) The animation is far worse and uses a lot of horrible CGI. 5) Even the source material readers openly admit that the turtle arc is garbage. 6) Better isekai came out during the gap between the two seasons (Rezero, Mushoku Tensei) making even the fist season to seem like crap in retrospect. 7) The anime became yet another generic harem isekai. And on top of that it’s about a slave harem that keeps excusing slavery by making it seem like the girls love being slaves. And now for a more detailed breakdown: The Shield Hero at this point can might as well be called the Harem Slave Hero, since the attributes of his shield change at the drop of a hat, while his gathering of cute underage girls who rush to be included to his party after being abused by some evil slaver continue as normal. The mental gymnastics for excusing such an immoral act come down to not presenting it as a bad thing, since this way the girl becomes stronger very fast. It’s something nobody else does although it’s a cheat code for becoming super powerful in a few months. The whole concept is eye-rolling since slavery is legal in the show and the slave girls are joining willingly because every other male in the show is either incompetent or an asshole. Plus, as much as they keep saying slave crests are way too expensive to be used many times, the protagonist uses them all the time without having any financial problems. Even if he had problems, he could ask the queen to pay for the expenses. He is the hero who is destined to save the world after all, why does he have to pay for anything? Meanwhile it’s neither immoral nor expensive when they use a slave crest on the king and the princess without being slaves and against their will if that way they can ridicule them for standing against the protagonist. Basically, when he does it it’s perfectly fine. When someone else does it then it’s evil. The first half of the season is about fighting some turtle monster that nobody in the audience gave two dimes about. The whole thing was done in a very rushed way with far worse production values and no real personal investment as far as the good guys are concerned. For them it was just another side quest which through videogame shenanigans stopped the normal quest to defeat the Waves. For as long as the special event monster is alive there is not going to be another monster attack. Good. Just don’t kill the monster and the world is saved. The end, the heroes can go home now. Unfortunately the protagonist has become a saint at this point who no longer does missions for surviving in a kingdom that hates him. He just does missions on command, so when the queen tells him to kill the monster, he agrees in a second. As for the other heroes, they refuse because there is nothing to gain from it. And I don’t mean loot, I mean actually achieve something that will stop the monster attacks. By leaving this monster alone they no longer have to worry about the other far more powerful monsters. Obviously the show makes them seem uncaring for not wanting to do the wrong thing, just for making the protagonist to come off as heroic once again. Before he gets to do anything against the turtle, another girl begs to be his slave. The show excuses it as her being sold to an ugly one dimensional rapist who smirked with the evil things he kept doing. Once she was saved by the Bow Hero she instantly fell in love with him, since what a better way to excuse being a slave to someone than love at first sight? The cute girl instantly wants to be a slave of the hero so she can help him. And by help she means become his waifu. But the Bow Hero is a retard who doesn’t let her join his party because she is weak, although the slave crest would make her super powerful in no time. This is where the Shield Hero jumps in and does the logical thing. He makes her his slave. Because in this show women can be helpful only by being slaves. Then the battle with that turtle thing happens in a completely dull way. The other three heroes are once again proven to be incompetent so Naofumi can show off how amazing he is once again. Then they get captured immediately and out of screen because the animators skipped the battle. In fact they skipped half the source material because they wanted to move to more interesting stuff as soon as possible. The heroes from another isekai are back and they became allies out of nowhere. They want to destroy the world but they also don’t want to team up with the villain who wants to do the exact same thing. This sudden change in alignment happened out of screen because they skipped the buildup where they slowly change the way they see things. The new bad guy is the Book Hero, someone who came out of nowhere and with no build up to his plans. He just wants to destroy shit and acts like a one dimensional evil rapist so the audience can instantly hate him instead of pondering about his legit reasons for wanting to destroy the world. Nah, we can’t have nuance in our crappy power fantasy for incels, just make him come off as a jerk so the protagonist can beat him up with no remorse. The queen of the chocobos appears out of nowhere and fights the turtle without ever explaining how she knew about the battle and why she came in this specific moment. She just pops into existence at this convenient moment for a convenient attack at the convenient weak point of the monster. If it comes off as lazy writing it’s because they skipped the part where she is informed about the whole situation and comes to join the fight. Meanwhile the rest of the nobody soldiers are outside and are doing absolutely nothing because they are useless. This part is not rushed and they skipped nothing. They always were useless. Then the new slave waifu saves the day with a power up she gained out of screen because they skipped the training. Then harem lead and his underage nymphets get teleported from one isekai to another isekai. Isekaiception. This has the effect of making them lose all their powers. Imagine working hard to get somewhere and then losing everything just because you moved to a different area. The recent slave girl for example can no longer perform those broken martial arts from the previous episodes, and essentially loses all her character development. Also what does losing everything means exactly? You forget how to fight or how to cast spells? Your equipment magically goes back to wooden starter weapons? This videogame logic i…

Few things in life have disappointed me as much as Shield Hero season 2. I don’t like looking like a fool at all. I hate it. Yet, because of the God awful adaptation that was Shield Hero season 2, I look like an idiot to everyone I tried to put on this series. Disclaimer. I am one of the biggest fans of this series. I am over 22 novels deep into this and have been reading it since the WN days, so my review and disappointment are from a place of love, not hate. Shield Hero season 1 was not a perfect adaptation. At best it was mediocre, but the changes they made there were tolerable. Moved an arc around at the end and slightly changed raphtalia and naofumi’s personalities to make them more palatable for anime onlies, stupid, but tolerable. Season 1 had a kick ass soundtrack, some great fights, tension, edgy and dark revenge story, etc. It was a very fun time even with the changes, so it didn’t come as a surprise that it was one of the most anticipated sequels of all time. Season 2 on the other hand, was the complete opposite. From completely erasing important side characters’ development such as Rishia and Eclair, to omitting large swaths of the Spirit Tortoise and otherworld arcs, to animation issues, to pacing problems, this was a train-wreck. No, in fact train-wreck is putting it too lightly, this was just awful. While the Spirit Tortoise arc may not have been the best written story in the medium, it basically sets the tone and lays pivotal groundwork for most of the next 8-10 light novels. Kinema speedraced through it leaving us with a climax that felt equally disjointed and unimportant. Like why would people get emotional when a character dies if you have done absolutely nothing to help us get attached? The second half of this season was slightly better, but still Kinema insisted on making changes to the story. Changes which really made no sense because this is largely considered one of the best parts of early Shield Hero novels. I legitimately think that the production committee are afraid to not have Raphtalia on screen for more than 5 minutes because they think that it will kill the story or make people lose interest. Seriously, the amount of revisions to her character and events surrounding her in this season were real head-scratchers. It’s a shame that I can honestly say the only good episodes were 9-12. You have to go damn near two months until you get to a decent Shield Hero episode and that’s just sad. While the studio’s changes were why myself and many other LN readers hated this season, we aren’t the only ones. Even anime onlies will find this to be a much weaker instalment. What made Shield Hero cool in the first place was the edgy revenge story with Naofumi going out to clear his name and make Malty pay for her crimes. Once we reached that point in Shield Hero S1, this story really loses some of its fangs. It no longer has any of the spice that separates it from the other 200 isekai/fantasy shows we get a year. Combine that with Kinema Citrus removing all the groundwork and world-building that should have made seasons 2 and 3 really special... and you’ve got a shitty combination. I spent 2 years hyping this season and season 3 up as peak isekai. Shield Hero may not be the BEST isekai or BEST written story out there. But it’s one I really love and enjoy. There’s so many emotional moments in volumes 6-14 of Shield Hero that will probably have 0 emotional payoff when we get to them in the anime because of the rushed adaptations and content changes and it saddens me. This series, source readers and even casual fans deserve better. I have little hope that we will get it going forward. My suggestion is that if you have ANY interest in this world or the characters, read the books. Shield Hero season 2 gets 4 out of 10.

This anime is bad. Really bad. At this point this seems like a fundamental universal truth like math axioms. Almost every review is critical of it and an average score of 6.6 on MAL is pretty much a certified garbage label. But here's a thing. Season 1 was just as bad, however the reception was way more positive. The writing is consistently dreadful throughout both seasons and the characters have the IQ of 6 year old kids. There is absolutely nothing interesting happening and the revenge subplot from season 1 was handled so poorly, that I have issues expressing how bad it was. So why did this happen? The answer is that the second season committed the CARDINAL (pun appreciation moment) sin of being boring. As a fellow anime connoisseur, I noticed that my tolerance for bs is way lower than that of the general public. In time, I got significantly more chill and was able to watch and to some degree enjoy actually bad anime. As long as it is able to provide some level of entertainment with passable fights or style (ex. Jujutsu Kaisen) it was fine. This anime however was too much for me and I ended up fast forwarding through all episodes and I'm confident that I didn't skip any relevant information. The problem is that Shield Hero provides absolutely nothing. The plot is a generic isekai that everyone here has seen way too many times with extremely poorly defined mechanics and worldbuilding. Every character is a generic copypasta without any defining qualities. It's literally just - the good character, the bad character and the mind-numbingly dumb character. There is nothing outstanding in any other aspect of the show to compensate for the dreadful writing and to be honest there isn't much room in this script to add an actual well choreographed fight. It is still hard to say which villain is more poorly written, but I know for a fact that everyone enjoyed the princess from the first season as a lolcow way more. In general, the first season was the hilarious kind of bad. The pacing was significantly faster and the amount of stupid stuff happening per minute was high, just enough to not make anyone fall asleep. This is the only thing that made it watchable as a "so bad it's good" kind of anime. But too bad... when it takes you about 3 episodes just to get to anything happening at all, you f-ed up. There is no way around it. Nobody ever cared about any of the characters, it was always about a comically dumb mf-er getting owned by the god introvert main character that is perfect in his perfection just like every otaku on this planet and his little harem, provided to him, as usual, by the author's grace in random encounters. To summarize, anime was a mistake. Stop wasting your time on this and go touch grass instead.

The first season was a diamond of isekai anime, it is brilliant and it is a masterpiece. Sadly, this new sequel has gone downhill and It is quite dissapointing. I'll cut it short why this sequel is dissapointing: 1. Unlike the first season, now the studio decide to made Filo a loli pedo bait character, it is embarrasing, disgusting and for sure targeted for a certain audience as a "fanservice". 2. There's lot more fanservices. When people click and decide to watch "Tate no Yuusha" season 2, first thing that came to mind are what make the anime great in the first place and that gems brought us here to continue our heroes journey, the fact that the "Tate no Yuusha" that we knew barely have any fanservices in the first place, I'm sure people don't come here and expect more "fanservices", its not what we want when we decide to watch this prequel and what the fans are looking for. So with that being said, this prequel is not like what you think it is, drop your expectation and look at the rating, what you're going to expect are pedo bait and more fanservices. Overally, its just uncomfortable watching the anime.

Spoiler Free* There were some boring parts to it and I feel like some of it was rushed and underdeveloped, however, it's an overall enjoyable sequel if you're not the overly critical stuck up watcher. I wasn't a fan of Part 1 but it needed to be there, Part 2 was fairly entertaining even though the main antagonists were subpar, and Part 3 just felt like a little extra bit of fan service, could or could not be your cup of tea. It's not perfect in the slightest, but, it's nice to know what happened next after season 1 and the main cast developed pretty well. If you liked S1 Shield Hero, you'll enjoy it if you just back and relax.

With time, a caterpillar develops into a beautiful butterfly, An uninteresting flower bud blossoms into a lovely flower. Then there's the Rising Shield Hero, From being a "mid-show," it turned into a "typical Isekai trash"! After an overrated first season, to which I even contributed by giving it an 8/10 (regretting my life choices) came a much anticipated 2nd season. I, too, was excited. The first season ended in mid-2019. It took almost three years to bring the second season, and fans created far too much hype around it, which quickly backfired. Anime fans who are defending S2 by calling the Spirit Turtle Arc overall a bad arc, need to know that Anime adaptation of the Rising shield hero was never true to its source material. In S2 They tried to fit four volumes 6,7,8&9( the Spirit Turtle Arc&New World Arc) within 12 episodes, by doing so they skipped the majority of its source material content, even going as far as altering some plot points in the anime. The pacing of S2 is like every other trash Isekai show out there. Also, Compared to S1, S2's animation quality suffered greatly, and there are some good examples of how not to use CGI in anime. Positives- I'd be better off leaving this empty... The only satisfying moment for me was from Ep12-12:35. Rishia... she deserved every bit of it. Throughout the season, she was extremely annoying to watch. If you want to keep up with the story read the web novel/ light novel/ manga. Don't waste your time here it isn't worth it! They totally fuc*ed up the adaptation! R.I.P. to the Rising Shield Hero(Anime only)!

Bro dont watch this bosta, muito ruim pprt. Dont compensa! (copairriti só pra enviar o meu) Spoiler Free* There were some boring parts to it and I feel like some of it was rushed and underdeveloped, however, it's an overall enjoyable sequel if you're not the overly critical stuck up watcher. I wasn't a fan of Part 1 but it needed to be there, Part 2 was fairly entertaining even though the main antagonists were subpar, and Part 3 just felt like a little extra bit of fan service, could or could not be your cup of tea. It's not perfect in the slightest, but, it's nice to know what happened next after season 1 and the main cast developed pretty ...

This is my first review,please forgive any mistakes.The story was great.It has a better plot twist than before.Maybe the cgi was little bit bad,but the storyline was very great! This anime genre is not my type but this anime make me interest into this genre.I recommend it to who loves Isekai genre. Second season is more better than the first season.The new heroine gonna make your heart flow and the animation was great!The fight scene are good.If you like fighting genre,yes this anime will be.The way chararacter react to situation and event is very great.I'm sure you guys will like it.

Do you know that feeling when you are disappointed so much that you don't even have anything strong to say on the subject? This is exactly how I feel after watching S2. It's so average and boring with glimpse of hope that dies right there that I don't even have the passion to say anything snarky about it. The plot itself is a weak point. We have a big turtle to defeat, a bunch of background characters nobody cares about since they have nothing going on for them and "Yor" who is evil because he is evil, as in poor writing. I wasn't much of a fan of this whole "timer" thing going on, but now they are pulling it out their ass to explain why it stops\pauses\accelerates and doing other shenanigans. We have a level reset (but not really, but it is, but no they still have skills, but they can't use most of them, but later they can) just because, a shortened Rocky training montage and a very weak world exposition that could have taken more time which was wasted on drawn out dialogues with no substance and a snooze fest of the whole Turtle arc. The atmosphere itself isn't doing any better. Power of friendship, hugs and rainbows is what it really is about now, because let's be honest who ever cares about the extras dying in the background. Beyond that Season 2 has weak level of animation which results in numerous static shots a god awful 3d CGI at one point and generally lazy directing. Considering the general success and praise of Season 1 it feels like those in charge did it as an after thought (since many of the source material issues can be worked around with good production) and it's sad. Lazy, mediocre and boring, a pure wet fart is what it is.

The first half of this season is objectively bad. The pacing was completely demolished by skipping the training arc, and a lot of characterization for Rishia and the Bow Hero were lost. The missing backstory really affects the viewers' relationship with Rishia, because without it, why would we care about her like we do Raphtalia and Filo? That said, the plot and pacing in the second half were pretty good... But the fights are starting to get repetitive in the way they're resolved. I want to make a joke about it but then this review wouldn't be spoiler free. Despite all that, the season is still enjoyable and if you like the overarching story what are you gonna do? Skip this season? Lmao

Shield Hero Season 2 is an anime that is a shell of its previous self. With all of the hype surrounding the release of Season 2, everyone expected something at least on level with, if not better than, what Season 1 had delivered, yet all we got as fans was disappointment. According to LN readers, both of the arcs in this season were probably the worst, and if that was the case, they could have fast-forward through both and moved on to the next arc instead of constructing something that is this bad. Even the artwork is a step down from what was shown in Season 1. To be honest, the only redeeming aspect of the story is the introduction of Kizuna, and her presence on the show at least made it bearable. Overall, I would not recommend Season 2 to anyone, and I believe the fanbase for Season 3 has been significantly reduced as a result. Season 3 should be better than Season 2, but based on what we have seen thus far, we shouldn't have high expectations and risk overhyping the show, as we did with Season 2.

Back in 2019, there was a show that generated a bit of controversy among fans. Content creators, bloggers, and the media all ran with stories about an anime titled 'The Rising of the Shield Hero'. That's because from the franchise's first animated episode, there was a scene about a woman betraying a male protagonist and turning him into a criminal, at least in the public's eyes at the time. From that point on, this anime was labeled with controversy. Welcome to 2022 where yet again, we see Naofumi on an adventure but this time without being ostrachized by the public and living his title as a shield hero. To be fair, The Rising of the Shield Hero's popularity goes beyond its anime medium as its novel series has been fairly popular worldwide. The anime received a second and even a third season although there was a bit of gap between the announcement and actual airing date. Nonetheless, we can expect Naofumi to continue on his adventure while dealing with the unsettling presence of 'Waves', a reoccurring phenomenon in their world. And make no mistake about it, Naofumi's world is still far from peaceful with dangers lurking in the shadows and secrets hidden within. Watching this season didn't feel that much different at first however. Naofumi's party is still largely still the same that includes Raphtalia and Filo. Joining them this season is Rishia and although we don't know much about her, she plays an important role in the party. From this season, we are also introduced to the Spirit Turtle and the devastation it's been causing in their world. Think of its presence as a main boss in a quest. That's how I watch this show with Naofumi as the protagonist hero taking on any challenge in his way. Regardless, the first half of the season deals with the Spirit Tortoise with new characters joining the cast including Ost and Eclair. Returning characters from the first season also makes an appearance that includes Glass and her party. Ultimately, this season introduces one of the most detestable character in the franchise, perhaps even surpassing Malty S Melromarc. Meet Kyo Ethnina, the book hero with an ego and God-like complex who looks down on everyone. Similar to Malty, he uses others to achieve his goals and views himself as the greatest being in existence. I'm not going to lie, if you plan to watch this season, you'd better be prepared to stomach his nerve wrecking dialogues and personality. He's the type of character that no one likes. The first season chronicles Naofumi and Glass' party along with their new allies to deal with the Spirit Tortoise while also discovering some unsettling revelations. WIth 13 episodes, it seemed odd for the story pacing until you realize the season is divided into two story arcs. To be more precise, the episodes themselves are connected with the overall plot but Naofumi and his party deals with a new problem. I won't spoil it but let's just say that their adventure gets a lot more difficult due to some significant stat changes to their abilities. Luckily, they're also joined by the Hunter Hero, Kizuna Kazayama. With a bubbly and energetic personality, Kizuna becomes an invaluable ally for Naofumi. Glass' presence also reveals a more innocent side to her character, especially through her relationship with Kizuna. Ultimately however, the second half of season 2 shows the grim nature of their world and its timeline. Characters such as Raphtalia and Filo are treated like animals while Kyo's actions continues to have enormous impact. In fact, you could say that Kyo is an overarching antagonist of season 2, representing everything that contrasts the shield hero Naofumi. While this franchise has not been a technical masterpiece, I do appalud the studio and producers for taking their time to animate this season in the best form possible. Watching this season gave me a similar impression of the first season for its world setting and character designs. Glass also took on a new look early in the season before reverting to her longhaired kimono. Other characters largely remain the same in terms of looks. One noticable character is Ost for she blurs the line between familiar and humanity. Action sequence return in style with fast paced chereography and its combat features. It seems after all this time, Shield Hero didn't lose its touch when it comes to its animation quality. Perhaps delaying the show for almost two years was worth it. The Rising of the Shield hero will continue to make news headlines as long as the franchise lives through its popularity. While the second season didn't explode into controversy, some fans may still be nervous in taking a chance for this season. Make no mistake though. This sequel is definitely an improvement over the previous despite some lack of character development and mediocre storyline. Even with the absence of some prominent characters (ex. Melty, Ren, etc), the anime still feels like at home. With a third season on the horizon, this franchise is far from over.

When I first started The Rising of the Shield Hero, I was looking at the reviews of every season. I saw season one was considered the best, and that season two was considered the worst, even being called a disaster by multiple reviews. It didn't give me hope it would be good, but I like to see complete stories, so I decided to watch it. I'm sure it'll surprise many of you, but I actually seriously enjoyed this season. I definitely noticed a few animation errors, and the plot was a little rushed, but overall I really don't consider this a disaster. It was a good season, with a nice storyline, and features one of the best characters with the introduction of Kizuna. I'm certain fans of the light novel series were disappointed in this season since it was only 12 episodes (episode 13 being more of an OVA rather than story episode), but removing that and focusing on the anime itself, I think it works. Season one was great, but I cannot deny that some sections did feel a little drawn out, and it definitely felt like there was some filler episodes thrown in. Granted, they did come back to become relevant, which was always nice to see, but season two had a very nice pace. There is a noticeable shift in the story focus around halfway through, but I think both parts were very well done. It may feel a little rushed, but that also gives it the benefit of being interesting at all times, and I really enjoyed the pacing. One of the biggest complaints I saw was that the animation had a major drop in quality, and I...really cannot see the difference. I started season two immediately after season one, and the animation looked pretty much the same. It had good combat, excellent sound design, great performances from the cast, and was appealing to look at. There is a slight drop in quality towards the later half of the season -- episode 10 and 11 especially -- when it comes to some characters talking, but the rest of the season was just fine. The only other thing I noticed, and maybe it was stylistic in choice but during some action sequences the screen would darken whenever characters used attacks, especially attacks that produced light sources. It was a little weird, and I actually can't figure out why it was like that. Otherwise the animation was just fine, and it was nice to look at. The story of season two is also just fine. There are a few plotholes, and that split in the middle is a little jarring, but it flowed well and felt cohesive enough. I'm sure some are disappointed because it doesn't really feature Naofumi seeking revenge, nor does he fall into darkness as much, but I think that works in its favor. It's an arc about finding positivity and joy in those around, and finding value in the people you care for. I will say the main villain was a little weak, especially since he didn't really do much. I do feel if there was like two or three episodes to explore his motivations and backstory it would have been more satisfying to see the final confrontation. Overall I think The Rising of the Shield Hero Season two is an enjoyable season. It's not as cruel, it features great characters, and I personally enjoyed what it had to offer. The second part of the season is especially good, so it's worth a watch for that alone. Personally speaking, the wait time between season one and season two might have skewed people's expectations and resulted in calling this a "disaster". It's not a disaster. It's not even bad. It's an enjoyable season that has decent action, fun characters, and a satisfying conclusion. Overall rating: 7.5

As I'm fairly sure I mentioned in my previous piece, Shield Hero has an identity problem. The show doesn't seem to know what to do with itself in the absence of Naofumi being unfairly slighted and oppressed by those around him. Matter of fact, the show starts by posing a problem the Cardinal Heroes need to solve and the 3 others straight up refuse to help for no good reason and walk away, almost as if it were written in their DNA that they just necessarily have to be assholes to make the story work. The saving grace is that other than a couple of throw-away lines a pop, they never show up as actual characters again for the rest of the season and don't have any speaking lines. I guess Bow Bro shows up in some flashbacks, but the point is Spear Bro is irrelevant as he should be. Also, I just realized, that one moustached asshole in the Bow Hero's party is literally called Mald. Irony? Coincidence? I wonder. As for the actual plot, as I said, the show doesn't really know what to do with itself in the absence of the everyone-is-wrongly-accusing-Naofumi-of-crimes plot. As such, the first half of S2 is boring as sin. It picks up towards the end, and the final couple of episodes are actually interesting, felt like watching the old Shield Hero again, but getting interesting as the climax approaches is the bare minimum to be expected and the first 8 or so episodes are a real slog to get through. I was reminded of the whale fighting from Re:Zero, except much less interesting. It somehow felt even more boring than the Charybdis fight from TenSura, and that one was a real pain to get through, but at least that one was mercifully short. The only anime I've (recently) seen handle a properly fleshed out fight involving multiple characters versus one giant monster is the first Godzilla movie by Polygon Pictures. If you've bought into the Shield Hero story and feel confident you are in for the ride, then give it a watch. Otherwise, skip it. If you're hoping for the quality of the first half of the first season, then this is not that.

Rising of the Shield Hero season 2 is a major disappointment. When I originally watched this show I had watched only the anime, but season 2 was so basic and unpolished that I started reading the Light Novels which by the way are in no way perfect but are well above average and a very enjoyable read. If you are an anime only viewer and have come here after season 1, I highly advise you read the manga instead. Start at around chapter 33 to get a better grip of the pacing, this is well before season 1 ends, because some major changes were made to the ending. Shield Hero tells a very good story which is heavily character focused and if you ain't interested in reading Light Novels the manga is stellar and much better use of your time. I recommend it and this review has nothing to do with the source material. Back to the anime, season 2 has many problems but there are 3 major ones I would like to focus on without comparing it to the Light Novel: 1. Character development is removed in favor of fanservice and shounen stuff. Compared to the previous season it quickly becomes apparent that they tried to wrap some loose ends due to anime plot changes instead of embracing them. You end up with 2 episodes of monologues and very mundane interactions, which looking back at how basic the other heroes were portrayed in season 1 might not seem too bad but quickly piles on. We're jumping from an action sequence to an info dump until the very end of the season. Raphtalia gets more screen time than she should and animation improves when she is being cute but major plot lines have been reduced to a few lines of extremely basic dialog, which is barely enough to set a tone or describe what is going on. The priority was to showcase specific flashy events, yet major characters like Raphtalia are reduced to sidekicks from "Eminence in Shadow" or plain simps. 2. It is very clear major plot points were cut. Season 1 was not perfect but it was extremely coherent, yes changes were made from the source material including major cuts and tone shifts but the show flowed nicely and an anime only viewer could rarely get lost or in a situation where they couldn't figure stuff out. Every arc felt like it had decent dept, something to chew on. This is not the same in season 2, characters just high five each other and become best friends. Villains have nothing going for them except maniacal laughter. New lands are discovered every episode and forgotten by the end of it. It's like a crossover between "Eminence in Shadow" and "Shield Hero" where we got all the one-liners from Eminence and the crappy animation from Shieldbro. 3. The animation is horribly inconsistent. Many might remember the dinosaur fight in season 1 and laugh at how choppy the 3D was. Hold your breath, because this was miles better than almost every fight in season 2. Choppy 3D is now the norm, intermixed with stills and basic Sony Vegas AMV effects. The shading is also much worse, I dunno if they changed the person in charge or they had so little time but some scenes look absolutely mortifying.