What’s this?
As soon as Naofumi settled into his role as the new ruler of the Raphtalia village, they found themselves beset by an attack from a horde of bat monsters! The Waves’ timer mysteriously stops, and a meeting with the other Cardinal Heroes and the Queen reveals the rise of a new threat: the ‘Spirit Tortoise’ is bringing potential ruin with it, and with the other Heroes choosing to do nothing. . in this regard, things naturally fall to Naofumi to take care of things. With new ally (and new slave) Rishia in tow, the Shield Hero’s party heads to the Spirit Turtle Kingdom to save the world once again.
The Rise of The Shield Hero Season 2 is based on aneko yusagiThe series of novels and broadcasts in Crunchyroll the Wednesdays.
How was the first episode?
Christopher Farris
Classification:
There is a possibility that the start of a second season of The rising of the shield hero
could be a boon for the series. There’s a clear break from all the consternation and baggage that fueled the original outing: most of the foundation built on the persecution of Naofumi has been cleared up. However, not content with just one demihuman slave, he now becomes the ruler of an entire town of demihumans. The world is still besieged by regular monster attacks, which are now also subject to hero assassination attempts from other worlds. Then, of course, some new problem inevitably creeps into the plot of Naofumi and his team.
There is definitely a sense of a diversion from plot necessity in the development of this premiere episode. The driving force of the entire first season storyline, the Waves, is literally put on pause so the Queen can impart the new number of a ‘Spirit Tortoise’ that we haven’t heard of before, but we’re sure is. each a bit like a big mess. It certainly means that the episode starts quickly; We barely get time for the kind of reset items with Naofumi in the demihuman village before they’re suddenly stalked by random bat monsters brought in by the evil Turtle Pope’s ascension. But it also means that parts of the story make Business As Usual too shallow to shield hero. The other Cardinal Heroes, seemingly having learned nothing from the climax of the previous adventure, continue to act like callous idiots towards Naofumi and his friends, shrugging off the need to do something about the Spirit Tortoise under the auspices of it. it’s not your job.
So even though Naofumi is more willing to help with the situation, the narrative strangely continues with that sense of resentment that we’re supposed to expect around him in this story. It’s almost unintentionally hilarious, the way both the Queen and later Fitoria act as if they need to convince Naofumi to take over the Spirit Tortoise under duress, even though he immediately agreed to do so. I know that this kind of off-putting tone is part and parcel of the darker, more nihilistic angle of appeal. shield hero it’s trying to present in its fantasy world, but it just unnecessarily enforces itself when its main character no longer has reason to act like the world is against them.
That said, the looseness of the fight in Shield-land is picked up in this premiere by Rishia, who ends what could be considered the emotional core of this episode. The pursuit of her by her former group with Bow Hero definitely mirrors Naofumi’s own story, to the extent that you can almost hear the author say “See, I can write a woman Who is also insulted and mistreated for unfair reasons! It’s equality!” Of course, the main difference is that when Naofumi was at his lowest point, he was forced to buy a slave, while Rishia is struggling and is convinced of
become a slave and aaaaaawwwwww Christ.
Look, I don’t need to go into detail about this, we had half a year of slavery speech with the first shield hero season. But it has to be said that it completely undermines that the show ever portrayed the slave trade as this dark and seedy element that its hero might turn to out of desperation, when at this point it’s more of a weird mechanic that the characters can undergo. for the convenience of enhancing the story and the verbiage for a fetish that is not even half as entertaining as in other series like How NOT to summon a demon lord. I mean, the fact that Rishia agrees to become Naofumi’s slave for a while doesn’t provoke horrified reactions of offense, it’s just shocking.
Regardless, shield hero Season two has at least started off with a lot of momentum, even if some of the new story elements come out as sharp turns. But this is a show that did better the more it expanded its world-building anyway, so perhaps finding out what the deal really is with this spirit tortoise or seeing how Rishia’s development unfolds along the way will be beneficial. The fights we have in this episode with our heroes making their way through countries, both Bat and Donkey Kong, are decent, focused blasts of action (there’s a bit of shaky CGI, but you know I always love seeing Filo fight in its big and swollen, bird-shaped), and you know Kevin PenkinThe score is still pulling its weight. It’s the start of a second season that seems to be justifying its existence, with all the caveats of how you felt about the original’s existence in the first place.