Iwatani Naofumi’s best weapon comes at a cost, giving him and Berserk protagonist Guts something in common.
The rising of the shield hero is a grim yet exciting isekai action anime series that will return in the spring 2022 anime season, and isekai fans around the world will want a reminder of what kind of magical shields protagonist Iwatani Naofumi has. He is the isekai Captain America, but with more variety.
Naofumi’s shields are based on the materials and spells he absorbs, similar to Rimuru Tempest using the Predator ability to absorb his enemies, and Naofumi’s most powerful shield is the Rage Shield, part of the “wrath” series of shields. Her power and her involved compensations should also remember shield hero berserker armor fans in the hit seinen series crazed In more ways than one.
The power of rage in Shield Hero & Berserk
Both Naofumi and Guts are brave and compelling anti-heroes who are known for their proactive and tough mentality, not their warm and caring ways, though Naofumi adores Filo and Raphtalia. Naofumi and Guts are hardened and scarred by their many harsh experiences, and this is reflected in their best weapons, which offer enormous power, at a cost. Many anime heroes have a dark “inner monster” that they can call on for help, such as Ryomen Sukuna or Hollow Ichigo, and the Rage Shield and berserker armor suit are Naofumi and Guts’ version of that.
The Rage Shield and berserker armor are powerful weapons that channel the darker side of their wielders, and these protagonists see their rage-based weapons as emergency options, not standard weapons, as that power comes at a price. But at least the power is formidable, with Naofumi’s Rage Shield being his best shield of all. Naofumi manifested it with her pent up anger towards the king of Melromarc and his continued misfortune during this isekai adventure, and that anger reached a boiling point when she thought Filo had been eaten alive by a zombie dragon.
Naofumi’s Rage Shield has a mind of its own, encouraging him to give in to his wrathful side and channel it into extreme power, and Naofumi often listens. At one point, he absorbed the zombie dragon with that shield, further increasing the Rage Shield’s power, and began speaking with the zombie dragon’s voice. This shield can tear enemies apart in battle and then finish them off with the fearsome Iron Maiden technique, although this technique did not work on the mighty warrior Glass.
This is all similar to Guts’ berserker armor suit, which is his second best weapon behind his dragon slayer sword. In the suit, Guts is protected from damage from head to toe, and his speed and power are greatly enhanced. In fact, this suit can keep him in the fight despite exhaustion and injury, which is a huge advantage against most enemies. Thus, Guts was able to send out a massive Kraken in the Falcon of the “Millenium Empire” story arc, along with a swarm of crocodile monsters and one of Griffith’s apostle minions.
The cost of rage shield and berserker armor
Both the Rage Shield and the berserker armor suit come at a cost, as Naofumi and Guts learned during their respective adventures. Naofumi and Guts are angry and bitter antiheroes who were always driven by anger and spite anyway, and their best weapons magnify all of that to an extreme degree. These heroes seldom harness the power of friendship: they channel the power of rage and defiance against worlds that regularly abuse them, and while they gain great power, they must also pay a fitting cost.
Naofumi’s Rage Shield does serious damage to its wielder, such as burning him alive, and he can’t sustain that for long in battle. In fact, the second stage of the Rage Shield demands Naofumi’s blood as payment, and Raphtalia and the others were shocked to see Naofumi’s body bleeding everywhere as he wielded the Rage Shield in battle. Not only that, but the Rage Shield warps Naofumi’s mind and twists it with anger, rage, and animalistic instincts, and he can be lost if this continues. Naofumi is determined to fight fire with fire, but it will cost him, and her ally Raphtalia can’t bear to see it.
Meanwhile, Guts’ berserker armor pushes his body far beyond its limits, resulting in Guts’ muscles and bones straining beyond repair. The berserker armor only nullifies Guts’ sense of pain instead of protecting him from the source of the pain, and Guts could easily lose himself in the armor’s wrath and destroy himself completely as he demolishes his enemies. Guts wanted power, and he got it, but he’s only human, and the berserker armor will gladly make him pay for it. Fortunately, Guts now has his own group of his own, and characters like Puck and Shierke are there to stop him if the berserker armor tries to completely take over Guts.
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