The Rising of the Shield Hero will always hold a special place in my heart. In early 2021, I had very little experience with anime. The only ones I saw at that point were Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail, and Seven Deadly Sins. That summer, I really got into Fire Emblem Three Houses, and the voice actors got me to try out Cautious Hero and Scarlet Nexus. But then I stopped watching anime after a few days.
A few months later, I found out that my two favorite voice actors from Three Houses also voiced the two leads from Shield Hero. I got excited because of this, and I knew that I had to watch it. It took me a week to watch the first season, and it completely changed my views on anime. From there, I started watching every anime that looked interesting. But why did I like it so much?
Naofumi is summoned to a fantasy world with three others to serve as a hero. Each of them becomes a different hero, and Naofumi becomes the Shield Hero. He then gets framed for something he didn’t do, and is cast out. The entire kingdom now hates him and he loses all his resources. But he’s still obligated to fulfill his duty as a hero.
All that happens in just the first episode, and it was a fantastic episode. Then Naofumi meets a slave trader who sells him a young slave girl named Raphtalia. After that, the next 20 episodes juggle so much. The main draw for me was the relationship between Naofumi and Raphtalia. He starts off very cold and angry because of what happened, and sort of views her as a tool. But over time, he starts to view her more like a daughter.
But there’s so much more going on during the first season. Naofumi and Raphtalia are constantly fighting monsters alongside the rest of their party. They also have to deal with the hatred from the kingdom and the other heroes. They even have to deal with evil and corruption within the kingdom itself. There’s a lot going on, and there’s some solid fight sequences here and there.
It’s been five years, but I still believe that the first season would have been a perfect season if that little arc at the end wasn’t included. The season perfectly balances wholesome moments, darker themes, action, and a bunch of good characters. There’s a significant drop in quality during the second season, but things pick back up again with seasons three and four. Though they never reach the same peak as the first season.
Even with its ups and downs, the entire package of the first four seasons is solid. Plus there’s a fifth season on the way. Shield Hero is a good fantasy anime and it’s an even better Isekai story. Some people might not be interested in some of the themes, but it’s still a good anime. Fortunately, the first four episodes should be more than enough to tell you if it’s for you or not. If you like it by that point, you’ll really enjoy the anime.
8/10