Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

Tate no Yuusha is a thundering disappointment for many fans of the isekai genre. And for those who would not have labeled themselves as such, Tate no Yuusha is a testament to their dislike or indifference, being yet another mediocre, soulless title lurching and tossing throughout a tired genre that is swiftly approaching its death throes. In truth, Tate no Yuusha doesn't please much of anybody.

If there is a reason Tate no Yuusha ever stood out in the first place, it is because of the protagonist and the appalling situation he is soon forced into. Though isekai anime taking a turn for the dark ... are hardly rare, the abject betrayal Naofumi faces is not the treatment one would expect for someone abducted from their world and supposedly re-branded a "hero". The corrupt, contemptible society he is forced to fight for is not what you might anticipate from a genre where the setting— the fantasy— is meant to be an escape from the monotony of the real world. Instead, it turns out things in Naofumi's new world may actually be far worse than they ever were in his old one. A fantasy turned nightmare.

The whole 'twist', I suppose— if you could call it that— was a success in the eyes of many. It turned another forgettable, run-of-the-mill anime into something a bit more engaging, and gave many a reason for the viewer to empathise with Naofumi, through joining in his hatred for society and his potential quest for revenge. Whether these themes were ever fully realised, or even handled well, may well be a different story entirely.

See, Tate no Yuusha never actually takes things further than 'corruption sucks' and 'I'm mad— grr, watch my flames of anger.' The king is inherently evil because of a small grudge. Myne is verminous scum merely because... wait, there is no actual reason. Motoyasu, the spear hero, is a gullible idiot who likes to womanise and that is all there is behind his punch-able little face. Raphtalia is a benevolent mary sue who will not utter or even think a bad thought, her almost immediately (and incomprehensibly) falling in love with Naofumi, thus existing as waifu material for those who like to rescue their damsels from distress. Filo is pure fodder for lolicons and a relentless annoyance for anyone who is not. The list goes on. The only one who still has potential is the Queen, but considering the path the show has trodden thus far, it would be illogical to assume a second season would fare her any better. Tate no Yuusha's characters, though they may initially show promise, are quickly cast aside and made merely to be fanservice or vehicles to drive Naofumi's hatred along, however the writer's whims may fancy.

Oh, you wanted to see the anime tackle issues surrounding the slave trade, and Naofumi's moral dilemma of having taken part in an evil system yet saved someone as a direct result of it? Sorry - I have disappointing news. Did you want to see the politics, heck, even geography of the world explored with more than two lines of dialogue? Nope. Not here. Everything in Tate no Yuusha is surface level. It has the facade of maturity, but in reality is about as mature as a 1999 Slipknot album.

Any fight scene, no matter how overwhelming and powerful the opponent, can, and will, be prematurely ended by Naofumi's anger turning him Super Saiyan. Whereas anime like JoJo will carefully construct the fights to be based on tactics and cleverness, Tate no Yuusha presents nothing except power levels. You can fast-forward through any climactic fight scene and have lost little to nothing of value, as all you ever need to know is that Naofumi got angry and won. Sure, there is a degree of self-awareness throughout the show, with characters remarking on how this power is essentially him "cheating". But when Naofumi attributes all his success to hard work and yet wins merely because of said mysterious power randomly appearing at the most convenient time— essentially a deus ex machina— you have to wonder what the hell he is even talking about.

If all you ever wanted to see was Naofumi take revenge against those who wronged him, then, I am sorry to say, but even that will lead you to much disappointment. On numerous occasions, when he is on the cusp of enacting his long-sought revenge, he takes the high road and proselytizes about how killing a bad person makes you just as bad as them, or whatever— the usual tripe you hear from lame, holier-than-thou anime protagonists. Since when was Naofumi ever supposed to be an idealistic person? Hadn't he lost all his faith in society, or even in morality itself after what he had experienced? Not only does this betray fans of the first several episodes, but it makes his character an inconsistent and incomprehensible mess. He plays hero when it is supposed to sound cool, and villain when it is convenient for him. By the time there actually is some sort of retribution for those who wronged him, it is too little too late, a thumbs-up, an "okay, cool" rather than anything deserving of applause. Tate no Yuusha surely and steadily loses its steam as the episodes blindly trudge by, and once its primary theme is lazily cast aside, there is no reason to care about what happens to a world where saving the day and being a 'hero' never even meant anything in the first place.

So there you go. Another trite isekai anime, popular mostly for its gimmicky nature, masquerading itself as mature merely because it has themes that are darker than is usual. Those who aren't fans of the genre will most likely have trusted their instincts and avoided this show, anyway, but for those who sit on the fence, and even for those who generally enjoy these sorts of shows, there is not much to be gained from Tate no Yuusha's feckless affairs. It makes me miss the flawed but ambitious Re:Zero, and Re:Zero is not an anime I had really imagined myself missing all that much.

And now I'm all out of words because I realise the next one of these— Arifureta— is down the corner, just a week's time away, with a premise that is almost word-for-word copy-paste of what is found in Tate no Yuusha.

It just doesn't end.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime was great. It was a show that brought me back to the isekai train after watching a certain broken heap of an isekai anime from the Summer 18 season that shall not be mentioned. The story was fun and nicely written. The characters were fun and enjoyable especially Rimuru.
The visuals were beautiful and the music, as well as voice acting for both languages, were great. It's was the best isekai anime that I watched despite its few faults.
Naturally, I decided to check out Shield Hero as I thought it would be the next best iskeai anime that ... will surpass Slime based on the amazing premise. It had the potential to be the saviour of this tiresome and uninspired genre. Maybe that was my mistake and I expecting too much for an isekai anime at this point.
So what exactly went wrong here?
The story, characters, themes, world-building, direction all of the above?

In order to not immediately begin destroying this contrived mess of a plot, I'll start talking about what I liked and that is the revenge aspect of Shield Hero.
One of the main things that made Shield Hero stand out of the isekai crowd is that it was the first true dark isekai anime. You could say that Re:Zero was the first true dark isekai anime however it only had one episode that was truly dark while the rest the show is tamed in comparison.

From start to finish as we follow a broken and damaged lead trying to save the world while trying to endure and fight the endless hatred caused by the people he was summoned.
This alone really made Shield Hero unique in the story side of things as it ditches most of the story elements that were in other isekai anime in order to introduce new story elements that were not presented in other isekai anime until now with Shield Hero.

Shield Hero is a core revenge story.

The revenge story may not be as special when it comes to anime but Shield Hero is one of the most fascinating and rewarding revenge stories I have seen in the long while. While it may not be as well written like Skip Beat and Gankustou it was still a fascinating ride I really enjoyed.
Seeing Naofumi humiliating and take down the people that caused his reputation to get shattered put a smile on my face as he really went through a lot of things in order to have the will to take them down. This is all thanks to the show's fairly competent writing when it's not being an incompetent pandering feast and that is where our problems begin.

While the revenge aspect of the show was strong from start to finish, I cannot say the same thing for the other story elements such as the save the world from the waves. The waves are basically your typical survival arenas that you see in a video game and they are not that interested in the slightest thanks to weak execution.

I will give the show credit for trying to make the waves interesting toward the end but by then the show was already over by that point.
Another major problem that would later plague the anime is how they make everyone minus the protagonist dumb and contrived. This alone really takes a massive shit of Naofumi's revenge tale as it could have been avoided if the characters just shut up and behave like actual human beings.

Furthermore, why did no one in the capital cast a lie detector spell on both Naofumi and Malty chest? Any person with a brain would have put a lie detector spell on someone in case they are lying where they could receive a shock. The fact that the series showcased that the slave crest can also detect lies in episode 21 was infuriating and it really highlights just how contrived and poorly written the series is as it could have been used in episode 1 for Naofumi's trial.

Don't get me started with the lacklustre world-building. I will give it Shield Hero credit for least trying to establish it's own world in certain episodes it compared to most other isekai animes but it's still lacklustre as the world at various points feels so lifeless and empty.
The UI system is not interesting in the slightest as just another generic UI system that has been done in other isekai anime in the past.
Now Shield Hero has a lot of themes yet most of them were poorly executed. My favourite is how the show tackles the topic of slavery. Not only is it handed incredibly poorly due to how preachy it was but the topic of slavery more often gets shafted (especially in the second half) in favour of stupid pandering.

By far the biggest problem with Shield Hero is that it doesn't truly know what it wants to be.
At first, the show is a dark revenge story, then it's a power fantasy and then it's an adventure series, then it's a harem. This alone really screws up the tone, direction and pacing of the series.
The first 4 episodes of Shield Hero is very grim and dark that has a lot of tension and atmosphere thanks to the subject matter of rape and humiliation. Naofumi is portrayed as a cold lead who just wanted to revenge of the people that humiliated him. Unfortunately, episodes 5 and onward the series decided, for the most part, put its revenge plot in the bus just so the series can add generic isekai tropes and cliches for a show that didn't need it in the first place.

It's not like the revenge has been shafted the revenge aspect it's but it doesn't appear all the much post-episode 5 as the series decides to waste its time of sick self insert loli pandering.

Finally, the final 4 episodes which were without a question one of the most boring and lacklustre final 4 episodes I have seen in 2019
Not only did the series completely jump the shark where it introduced plot threads up its ass but it also lost its purpose.

Episode 21 in terms of atmosphere and direction feels like I'm watching a finale of anime and it really shows. The episode after that feels like episode fodder as it's filled with fan-service and plot threads that won't be fleshed out due to the low episode count. I give the final 4 episodes credit for showcasing Naofumi's new powers and abilities then again the show could have ended with a cliffhanger after episode 21/22

The final thing I want to point out is the controversy in the first episode. When Shield Hero first aired it was met with controversy thanks to its offensive content where Malty (aka Bitch) falsely accused Nafoumi of raping her. I can definitely get why people get mad of this messy storytelling as it was done much better in Persona 5 but what I cannot forgive is a bunch of SJW try-hards trying to put down a show just because it deals with more serious themes and topics.
This is why I didn't give two shits about the Goblin Slayer controversy as that series was an awful show regardless of the controversy being there or not.

The characters aren't much better as all of them minus Nafoumi and Raphtalia ranged from bland, annoying, poorly written or the combination of the three.
Let's start with Nafoumi who is easily the best thing about Shield Hero.
He starts off as a grumpy individual who doesn't trust people but as the series progresses with the aid of Raphtalia not only does he open up to people he also becomes a proper badass especially towards the final quarter of the series.

Another strong aspect of Naofumi is that he's not overpowered as he mostly relies on his partners to take down various enemies. Finally, he is not a bore to watch, which more I can say about iskeai protagonist as they all lifelessly self-insert husks.
Nafoumi is tied with Rimuru for being my favourite isekai protagonist.
Another character that I really liked is Raphtalia. She may not be as good as Naofumi in terms of development but she's a good character in her own right.
I liked her chemistry towards Naofumi. Despite being a loli she will do anything to project Naofumi from falling into darkness.

Sadly this is where my praise for the characters ends. The show has a lot of characters yet all of them are clichéd and poorly written to the core.

The other heroes are a bunch of soulless character archetypes. They don't develop as characters whatsoever and they are all incredibly contrived. The bottom dog of the bunch a spear hero who is one of the most contrived and dumbest characters I have seen. His dialogue is painful to listen as he incredibly preachy for the sake of it and he's the main source of the show's major contrivances. In many ways, he's no different Sugou from Sword Art Online thanks to comically evil appearance and dialogue.
Finally, the less I say about his confrontation towards the Shield Hero the better. The same thing can be said for Malty and Filo as they are literally loli trophies that constantly suck of Naofumi hairy crotch for a living.
The villains are garbage. They are all evil for the sake of being evil, especially Malty who is probably the worst female villain I have ever seen in any fictional work. Her motivations are contrived beyond belief and she's overall a slag.
She's comically evil and not even treating in the least. Her contrived motives aren't explained or given any depth whatsoever.
Our villain's ladies and gentlemen.

As for the overall presentation, Shield Hero looks beautiful for the most part. It may not be as colourful as 8bit That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime but it still has that special visual flair that helped it stand out from the crowd of other isekai anime. Character designs for the part were appealing to look at. The background scenery has a lot of attention that is only made better by the use of dark soft colour palette.

The animation is, for the most part, good and fluent. The fight choreography is solid, the movement is smooth and there's rarely any recycled footage.

Unfortunately, Shield Hero visually is not perfect for one. The animation does dip a bit for certain episodes as it messes up the overall good fight choreography of the series. The second and final notable issue was the crappy use of CGI as it was not only ugly to look at it but also didn't blend in with the 2D animation.

Now we have the soundtrack and it's shocking subpar. The series features a dull score of fantasy music that doesn't keep the viewer invested in the scene due to how bland they were.

Sure there were a couple of decent tracks every now and then, but it wasn't enough to save this mediocre soundtrack.

The first opening theme Rise by MADKID is a fantastic opening that not only fits the tone of the series, it also a generally well-produced song that is filled with great vocals that scream hype.
The same cannot be said for the second opening theme FAITH by MADKID. It's still a good opening on its own right but it was missing the intensity that was from the first opening.
I may be the minority when I say this, but I really dislike the ending themes. Everything about them screams generic and lazy with their boring vocals and mediocre ending visuals.
The voice acting is great for both languages. The voice actors for both the dub and sub did a fantastic job with the roles that they were given. Notable performances go to Kaito Ishikawa as Nafoumi (sub), Billy Kametz as Nafoumi (dub), Erica Mendez as Raphtalia (dub) and Rina Hidaka as Filo (sub).

It's honestly sad what happened here. Shield Hero had to be great but it totally blew it.
It has underwhelming characterisation, a shitty executed plot that is only made worse by plot contrivances and a subpar soundtrack.
The only thing that saved this show from being terrible is the visuals and the main two characters. Everything else was a mess.

I honestly thoughtt that Shield Hero and Slime would save the isekai genre for me but I guess Shield Hero was not suitable for the job as it showed its true colours which is being another generic isekai anime.

I hope season 2 and beyond will be better.

Least you tried Shieldbro.

Can this fkin bird stop cockblocking please?!! just stop it already you person of questionable sexuality discord furry ass reddit mod anime author who added that bird into the story only to be a cockblocking overweight rotisserie chicken what the f is wrong with you? Are you a masochist what could compel you to design a character thats so shit that it singlehandedly makes the show unwatchable like 1 cockblock is fine 2 is like whatever but when its the 15th frickin time like just stop and for a revenge story the conclusion is just NOT satisfying AT ALL. Its like the weakest zinger I ... HAVE EVER SEEN and then the fkin bird comes back in for another cockblock as soon as i even think about thinking that something might happen in this shiz like sheesh this author a gay ass nigga fr fr on god bruh this guy aint right.

*Review contains no spoilers*

"Great production, loss of focus, lack of good characters" That basically describes Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari.

In my opinion, an anime that has excellent production but have nothing more to offer than the production is much worse than an anime that is just bad. Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari had real potential to be a great anime or even better. With good art, great animation, and a fantastic soundtrack, but with a lack of good characters and a plot that is just boring and randomly changing and with rushed pacing. This anime becomes a much worse version of what it could ... have been. It just saddens me to see all of this good production going to waste. Being bad is far better than being boring.

Let us talk about the best part first. The music is Astounding both openings could be easily considered one of the best in the season. The main theme is wonderful. Kansas, Mirrors, Autoroll and many other pieces of the soundtrack are incredible. definitely, a soundtrack that I and many are going to remember and come back for.

Other than that there is not much else to say about this anime. The plot was okay in the first 4 episodes I guess, but it just didn't know where it was heading. It felt like every 3 episodes have a completely new direction for the plot. Although an ever-changing plot could be great this one doesn't even come close to that. The pacing is garbage. There are almost no good characters. All of the characters are as generic as it gets. Which in turn makes the plot that has no chance of being developed even less intriguing.

I still don't understand what does the sitting of Isekai offer to a story like this. Isekai is an interesting setting when it used for the plot rather than just being a sale tag. For example, an anime like RE: zero uses the setting of an Isekai to have a plot revolving around the concept of "respawning" which made the plot much more interesting, on the other hand in Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari there is just no reason plot-wise to have the story in another world really.

To wrap things up. This anime had the potential to be great with its production value but even with all of that, the plot and the generic characters drag this anime down and make it an overall disappointment.

Started off with so much potential, but was sadly wasted with poor execution.

Story 6/10
It was actually pretty damn good at the beginning,but it started dipping from a certain point. Half way through, it felt like there was a totally different atmosphere, and the emotions it managed to stir up wasn't there anymore. Things just got repetitive, and it got to the point where I wasn't even excited for the new episode to come out.

Art 8/10
Decent, although not a fan of those CGI monsters running around.

Sound 7/10
None of the OST is particularly memorable, but the OPs and EDs were always good though.
...
Characters 4/10
Overly rushed development for Naofumi's character and relationship with Raphtalia at the start, leaving the rest of the show devoid of any sort of deep development they could've had. Everyone else, other than Naofumi's crew + Queen, is just straight up annoying af. I know it's the anime's intention to make them like that, but its really exhausting just looking at them and hearing their voices.

Enjoyment 6/10
I'd recommend starting this and see how it goes, but I won't promise you'll enjoy it from start to finish. If I wasn't watching this when it was airing, there's a chance I would've dropped or take a long brake from it.

Shield Hero is "hard isekai" bordering on high fantasy. It sets out for ambitious goals but fails to deliver on some of them. The plot is a classic hero's journey story, and it isn’t shy to touch hot-button topics such as slavery and racism, politics, and the power of hatred as a driver. The anime has innovative story telling and gray characters above the isekai genre’s average. It isn’t fully satisfying regarding execution details, character depth for some of the cast, and animation quality. Overall, Shield Hero is a flawed yet important advancement of the isekai genre and enjoyable not only for isekai and fantasy ... fans.

*** Genre ***
Isekai tropes are present throughout Shield Hero, but are they relevant for it’s story? Not for much of it. Both Shield Hero's world and characters work well without the Isekai version of a heads-up displays for the heroes, or the TV-style projectors Melromarc's government uses to spread news to commoners. These are just ugly plot devices to allow for convenient narration shortcuts, without significantly influencing the plot itself. The story is closer to epic fantasy worlds than to vanilla SAO-type Isekai. Shield Hero relates to shows such as "Danmachi", "Made in Abyss", "The Twelve Kingdoms", or "Spice and Wolf" equally well.

Other premises are more typical of the isekai genre, These include leveling and grinding mechanics, and of course the waves of catastrophe and the related dragon clocks. A wave, timed with second precision by the dragon clocks, is a periodic, world scale attack coming literally out of blue sky. The heroes have to be prepared to this heartbeat of increasingly difficult opponents, which feels like a forced way to create a feeling of emergency. It’s only consequent that wave fights are shown, but the world’s overall strategy to deal with the wave phenomenon is given more attention.

*** Story ***
Shield Hero is typical high fantasy regarding the size of it's narrative, cast and world . The plot details touch many hot-button issues in a way driving away parts of the audience very early on. They miss out on the quite decent saga this debatable shock-value kick-start evolves into. The cast is diverse regarding to races, stereotypes, social level, and age. The world building is done in nuanced detail, with each location having a distinct history, population, and political interest.

The story briefly introduces the main cast and rudimentary isekai mechanics first, and then for a long arc turns into a road movie of the titular hero's adventurer party. His journey becomes increasingly influenced by political intrigue which culminates in a stand-off of opposing political camps near the capital. The season ends on a cliff-hanger related to the multiverse structure of it's world.

Like a classic Bildungsroman, Shield Hero builds it’s characters trough training montages, fights, contact with players more powerful than themselves, and some individual's dark past. In particular I enjoyed some smaller arcs from genres rarely covered elsewhere, such as a trading arc similar to "Spice and Wolf" and a healer arc reminiscent of "Mushishi" plots. The protagonists and antagonists only think they understand this worlds' nature, but while unraveling it new mysteries keep appearing. This unreliable narrator trope is used a lot, e.g. news in this world spreads at proper medieval speed and rumor grade distortion only.

The single most polarizing accusation the show faced is that Naofumi is a self-insert incel (“involuntary celibate”, a derogative term for single males) protagonist with despicable morals and obnoxious methods. Some viewers see large parts of the story's premises as mere vindication to allow Naofumi to do questionable things in good faith. In their judgement, Naofumi mind-breaks Raphtalia to transform her into a child soldier, and by this slavery and child abuse are glorified and the Stockholm Syndrome and trauma are exploited. Superficially this makes sense. To make things worse, there is cognitive dissonance in the upbeat montage that's visually narrating Raphtalia's training arc. Is it delivering or deconstructing a slave owner's mentality excuse plot? The sequence remains ambiguous, if it is deconstruction, it’s success gets stuck half way between School Days' and Madoka Magica. However, consider similar arcs in Game of Thrones, such as Arya Stark and the Hound. The Shield Hero's versions are wooden in comparison, but in GoT we accept medieval moral standards and logic because they're just consistent within their world and era. Why not in anime?

The narration techniques Shield Hero uses are fairly modern, which is a huge advancement for the Isekai genre on it’s way to catch up with contemporary hard high fantasy story telling. In it’s execution, and when own inventions come into play, Shield Hero’s narration sometimes fails to deliver on it's ambitious goals. Complexities of the best-selling light novel plot are sacrified too easily on the altar of PG-13 approval.

There’s too much cognitive dissonance between an epic, mature at heart base story, and the at times heavy-handed, oversimplified and forced way it is told. It's almost like two parallel narrations. One is the adult, nuanced plot contrasting the two main power couples, Raphtalia/Naofumi and the Queen and King of Melromarc. The other is the over the top, cartoonish plot told trough the third power couple, which is Malty and Motoyasu, with the help of comic relief and chicken-ex-machina Filo. This coarse team easily annoys adult viewers like myself with it's cliche overuse, and the clumsy ways Malty begs for our hatred and the other heroes for our schadenfreude. Unfortunately these sub-stories are too important to the overall arc to be ignored.

Shield Hero’s story telling approach is ambitious, but fails to fully meet all of it's goals. There are rough edges which include decency of plot devices and heavy handed character designs with forced plot, but equally many innovative and entertaining aspects as well. Because Shield Hero points into a direction I like to see more of in future anime, innovates the isekai genre, and has the courage to touch hot irons, I still rate it (6/10), despite visible flaws.

*** Animation ***
The animation in Shield hero is average at best, the art style uninteresting. The detail level changes far too often and static montages are overused. One can literally see how producers decided to save money on scenes selectively. This hurts the fight scenes in particular, which have little fluidity, are using a lot of bad CGI and have PowerPoint grade frame rates. Despite some visible effort to increase the detail level of faces during emotional scenes and big plot changing decisions, the protagonist's faces often weren't drawn expressive enough to give their dialog visual credibility. This often leads to uncanny valley situations where you hear them talking about about big emotions, but can't see those and by this have empathy. Animation is by far the biggest shortcoming of the series, rating as low as (3/10).

*** Sound ***
When looking at the low animation quality, you would’t expect the outstanding sound and music in Shield Hero. This is largely owed to Kinema Citrus’ Australian prodigy collaborator Kevin Penkin of "Made in Abyss" fame. He delivered very strong OPs and EDs, where the dramatic K-pop anthem OP1 and the enka influenced ED1 are particularly memorable. ED1 pretty much made it into my personal top 20 of anime songs, and certainly is a contender for best ending of the year. The sound effects for the environment and fight noises are nothing you will notice much but they are always present and well done. The background music and character themes cover multiple styles and support the plot very well, just as you would expect from the A-tier movie composer Kevin Penkin is. The score is recorded using a full orchestra. An easy (8/10).

*** Characters ***
Arguably some flatness here, but it could be worse. Not all characters develop equally credibly. This is owed not the least to a really large cast, less may have been more. Naofumi's development is titular, continuous, and visible: an interesting, gray character who was discussed in the story section already.

The second member of the leading couple, Raphtalia, is oddly uneven. She has rapid development in the early episodes, then stalls, only to speed up again significantly towards the end. She's not a flat character at all, and her rags-to-riches growth is sufficiently made visible. She is given two full episodes and several long scenes to develop, but some of it in my taste is too forced. Her overall goodness and Rem-grade level of unconditional love for Naofumi-sama make her waifu-bait. But she had deserved a little more Holo-style banter and self-will, to better show her growing maturity, individuality and undeniable wit.

The supporting cast remains underdeveloped, owed largely to anime's run-time. The development and stupidity of Sword and Bow hero is not very credible, and antagonist leading couple Malty and Motoyasu are outright cartoonish. The friendship of the side-kicks Melty and Filo has very little and predictable development only. There are a few cardboard villains with frontal lobotomy such as Idol and the Pope you forget about ten minutes after the episode.

There are some interesting antagonists, such as the Royal couple of Melromarc's and other members of the social elite. They have shades of gray, individual morals and motives. However, their face and woman every fan loves to hate, Malty, is spoiling it. There is an interestingly gray character in Fitoria, but her appearance remains without consequences, as is the team of heroes from another world introduced late in the show. All four certainly will be revisited in a second season, if it comes to pass.

Most players in Shield Hero’s world are neither good nor evil, have individual moral compass and drivers, and are in conflict with themselves over hard decisions they have to make. This may confuse some viewers more used to stark good vs. evil contrasts. Very importantly, there is sum of the parts magic at work. While some characters have issues, the show works amazingly well as an ensemble piece. Cartoonish characters as Motoyasu, Firo and Malty for my taste do more harm to that than good. The rest of the cast too often remains decoration, e.g. using POV story telling for them could have worked miracles.

The world itself is a major character in any isekai, this one in particular because it leans so much towards high fantasy. Just 24 episodes, however, are too short for both world building and detailed character development for everybody, while still having some plot. A second season is needed to build on the groundwork this season laid. Most mains are having credible development arcs, and the world is immersive and despite the usual fantasy caveats pretty consistent. This can't completely make up for some annoying and undeveloped secondary cast roaming in it. (5/10)

*** Enjoyment ***
I've been fantasy trash for all my life outside anime, with fandom for the usual suspects such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I’m also a big fan of adult, morally ambiguous stories in which each character has an individual moral compass and motive and there is no need for “the good side” to win. And Shield Hero caters both preferences.

When I recently started to explore the world of anime, I immediately binged genre classics such as Re:Zero, Konosuba, Youjo Senki, No game No life, Danmachi, on top of the more fantasy and adventure themed Made in Abyss or Spice and Wolf. Verdict: Shield Hero isn't any worse than Re:Zero and most other isekai classics. It's definitely better than Danmachi, even with disadvantage it gets from animation quality.

Crunchyroll has both co-funded and co-produced this show, and it feels like they tryed out many things in the first season, leaving an uneven aftertaste. A huge problem of the show is that it can't make up it's mind regarding target audience. It's appealing to younger isekai fandom, but misses out on genre tropes such as good fighting scenes and almost completely lacks sexualized fan service (which is not a bad thing, just an uncommon decision for the genre). It appeals to a mature audience with world building and gray characters, but annoys them with the caricatures Malty and Motoyasu are. I keep my fingers crossed that Crunchyroll's data-mining department concludes that shifting the series towards mature viewers (down with PG-13!) and adding more animation budget for a second season is the way forward. The characters' background stories and the world itself have all it takes for a satisfying franchise, this season’s implementation doesn't.

The show has many easy attack surfaces if you apply SJW and red flag standards. It actively seeks them. It temporarily has a loli slave, it has a misogynist world view, it has rape, it has some flat and cartoonish antagonists. Those issues are all real, but I love the genre and despise SJW-ish down-voting. Fortunately Shield Hero is not another morally solidifying piece of edification literature - within it's PG 13 and 24 episode anime format limits. Shield Hero is still a (6/10) for me, because I definitely want to see next week's episode – even with some tears in my eyes.

*** Overall ***
(7+3+8+5+6)/5=5.8, rounded to 6 with no corrections needed. People passionately hate or love this show. It touches them in one way or another, so there must be something about it. It sets itself high goals, but fails to deliver on too many of them. The animation quality isn't fun, but Shield Hero is a genre contribution that matters, and this means: above average, (6/10).

If I had to describe one of the single biggest problems with this show, it would be its awful pacing. After watching over 12 episodes worth of content, it feels like only 6 episodes worth of stuff has actually happened. Everything feels like it has been drawn out to a snail's pace as the story slowly runs along with it's more-or-less generic plot.

Then comes the relevant question of why I'm still watching it. The reason being that Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari is being incredibly manipulative and is slowly pulling me along for the ride. Almost every episode has a very similar format: Do something ... boring for 18 minutes before leaving a pretty decent cliff hanger at the end. After that, viewers keep watching to the next episode due to a combination of investment in the characters and curiosity of what's going to happen next. All out this method of executing a story feels annoying and manipulative and it doesn't rub me the right way at all.

Aside from it's methods, the rest of the show doesn't really hold up at all. After a really fantastic first episode that really left you feeling connected with the character of Naofumi, nothing especially interesting happens after that. The initially interesting and cruel people quickly become the equivalent of Team Rocket and most of the tension is undercut by the nothingness that is most of the rest of the series. That doesn't mean there aren't interesting and exciting scenes, but honestly there aren't enough to really make this show anything but ok.

Moving on to the art and sound, it's not really looking too great. While the soundtrack is pretty decent, it never really pops or stand out to me in a meaningful way. Visually, the show is nothing special. The animation is pretty mediocre throughout all of the fights, but along with that, the general direction is incredibly lukewarm. Most of the art is still and doesn't convey much, and the CGI can be incredibly distracting whenever it's used. All out, the visuals definitely do not make up for the average story and actively bring it down.

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari is not a bad show, in fact I actually really enjoy parts of it, but if you wanted to watch an Isekai anime with intrigue and promise, I would not recommend this show in the slightest.

In the most basic American High School English class students learn that progressive plot has four natural parts: Start - Rising Action - Climax - Ending. Most people would assume that the Climax would be the most exciting part of the progressive plot, but really that couldn't be farther from the truth, unless that writer is literally a generational talent. Most of the excitement tends to fall in the Rising Action because when someone puts together all the evidence given in that phase everything becomes clear, therefore the Climax and Ending are fairly boring, in comparison.

So, for something called The Rising of the Shield Hero ... why is it so damn boring? Well, let me tell you that is completely the fault of the author's inability to construct a narrative that highlights the best parts of leveling up a character, and the ongoing politics surrounding the vilification of Naofumi.

Instead of having a streamline of events, this source material's beginnings were nothing more than a handful of quests designed to make Naofumi and his crew look strong. While this can be done well, there was no bite, no excitement, NOTHING. The animation studio literally did Point-A to Point-B to Point-C. That's boring as hell, and explains why the last 10 episodes were so slow.

BUT! BUT! Myne was renamed to Bitch! It's like redemption for the viewers! Yeah? So, give me something else. A great anime isn't built on a couple of great moments. A great anime is built on consistently great moments. Shield Hero doesn't have many.

This anime had a great start, but like Darling in the Franxx the ending is so bad that an argument can be made that this could be a HARD SKIP. Up to you, I would never recommend this show to anyone. Read the material though, that's good.

Tate no Yuusha is a Kinema Citrus anime based off of a light novel by Aneko Yusagi. For those of you who aren't familiar with Kinema Citrus, they worked on the second series of Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka with White Fox and they were behind the heavily over-rated Made in Abyss. But who knows. Maybe this will be their crowning achievement. 

Story:
Our protagonist is an otaku named Iwatani Naofumi. He's examining a strange book when he finds himself pulled into the world described by the book. He's told that he's one of four Cardinal Heroes that's destined to save the world from waves of monsters. ... To be specific, he's the shield hero. Things go badly for him pretty quickly when he gets no respect and is promptly accused of a crime he didn't commit. He finds himself without resources and virtually alone in a world he can only escape by defeating all the waves or dying. 

The big problem with this narrative is a simple one. The way the kingdom of Melromarc acts towards Naofumi makes no sense. From the moment he arrives, they act like he's basically useless and they shouldn't have summoned him. And to make this more egregious, we find out they didn't have to. There were other kingdoms that actually wanted to summon the shield hero. So, why did a kingdom that thought he was useless from the start even bother summoning him? It would be like dragging the chubby kid who starts sweating if they have to walk a couple centimetres into a sporting game that you absolutely need to win. This plot point would make sense if all four had to be summoned together or if they considered him useful until he was falsely accused but neither of those is the case. We even find out that the kingdom that summoned him has a sizeable cult that thinks the shield hero is basically Satan. So, why did the representatives of this kingdom think summoning him would be a good idea? 

There are also some issues with consistency. To use a big example, Naofumi is approached by the chocobo... I mean filolial queen who berates him because the heroes have all been gathering together instead of each going their own ways to fight aspects of the waves in different areas. Shortly afterwards, she gets upset with him for quarrelling with the other heroes because they all need to fight together to beat the waves. So, they should be splitting up against the waves but they also need to fight together or they won't survive the waves?

There are also points where Naofumi does come across as over-powered in comparison to the other heroes. In theory, this makes some sense since he's had to go it without the perks and other advantages they've gotten, but when the series has a levelling system and he's the lowest level, it's a bit absurd. 

With those criticisms out the way, there are a lot of good aspects to the narrative. Having Naofumi serve as a scapegoat for a certain, unscrupulous member of the royal family leads to some strong tension. The way the series hints at something more behind the waves and uses that in its climax is really well handled. The series is also pretty consistently engaging. There's always something happening to keep your interest. And the series does end on a strong point with good reasons to watch the follow up and a satisfying end point for the series. 

Characters:
For me, the strong point of characterisation is Naofumi himself. I appreciate that he isn't your stereotypical, bright-eyed paragon protagonist. Nor is he the completely obsessive, dark and tortured type of protagonist. Nor, for that matter, is he the magnificent bastard variety of protagonist. He has some aspects of all three but they're combined in a way that makes him unique. He does strive to do what's right but he's also pragmatic and completely willing to take advantage of the rules of the world he's in to advance his own position. He's even willing to play up his own notoriety when he thinks it will give him the edge he needs. Which combines to make him a very interesting character. 

His party is quite interesting too. Raphtalia, Filo and Melty are all compelling characters in their own right. The biggest issue I have with the three of them is that there are points where the series is almost harem-like in their dynamics with him. Which is annoying. Especially when they're dynamics with him are so much better when the series plays up a more familial relationship with him as either a surrogate father figure or a big brother type. 

The other heroes are a bit boring. Itsuki and Ren don't have much to them and Motoyasu's big purpose is to be the more naive, paragon type of hero in order to play against Naofumi's pragmatic approach. 

The antagonists do deserve some credit. Early on, the series hints at there being more to them than just, mindless monsters invading cause that's how they are. And the climactic scene at the end gives us exactly why the waves are happening and what those responsible stand to gain. There's certainly more to be extrapolated upon, but what we do get is really interesting.

Art:
As a rule, the anime does look pretty damn good. It captures the feel of a game world really well. It has some strong designs, especially when it comes to its fantasy weapons and armour. The action sequences are, as a rule, well executed and flow nicely. Kinema Citrus also did well with background details and fleshing out the world that way. 

Sound: 
The actors do a good job with their performances. Ishikawa Kaito, Hidaka Rina, Seto Asami and Uchida Maaya all deliver in the main roles. There are good actors in the supporting roles as well. Han Megumi and Inoue Kikuko both come to mind. The music is a bit mixed. I'm not really fond of the theme tunes but a lot of the incidental music is well done. Kevin Penkin deserves a lot of credit on that front. 

Ho-yay:
There are definitely moments betwixt Filo and Melty that read as more than a little gay. 

Areas of Improvement:
Give an actual reason for Melromarc to summon Naofumi. Because, as is, it's a pretty big problem and really makes zero sense. 
Proof-read your story. There's really no excuse to have inconsistencies of that magnitude. 
Focus on Naofumi as a father figure and not a potential love interest. Yes, the borderline harem element is worse in some rubbish anime like Sword Art Online or Goblin Slayer, but that doesn't make it good or even acceptable here. It just comes across as a lazy way to prop up the hero while sacrificing the potential for more interesting avenues for character interaction. 

Final Thoughts:
There are quite a few elements to this series that I appreciate and I would like to give it a good rating. Unfortunately, the borderline harem interactions and various story problems are bad enough that I can't, in all honesty, call this a good anime. I would still say it's pretty decent, certainly better than some other isekai series out there. I'm giving it a 6/10. 

I am very disappointed in how this show ended up being. I loved the first few episodes and i expected to see some relationship development between the shield hero and Raphtalia with them facing ups and downs since they both had trust issues and how their friendship came to be. However, it turns out the main focus was not even on that. This show took such a wrong turn, that now it's a typical harem where all his three females companions love the hero for no reason no matter what he does and in a way it's almost like they don't have a mind of ... their own. They just love him and trust him while the world shits on the shield hero with "NO POSSIBLE REASONING" at all. It's like everyone is stubborn as fuck and we just have to sit and watch as everyone blames the shield hero for EVERYTHING even though it's clear as day that he was not involved in anything. Not only that but the show is not giving us a reason to even love the hero. We know nothing of his background what so ever. It's a shame since the show had such great potential.

When I saw the announcement of shield hero, I was not pleased but also not surprised. Isekai in anime is pretty weird in that it became extremely popular after the release of parody isekai titles like kono suba and re zero, and now the oldest generic isekais they were trying to deconstruct in the first place are releasing one by one: smartphone, death march, and finally shield hero. That being said, I was surprised because I found this anime adaptation pretty decent. But as expected, the show steadily shows its faults as episodes come out. I'd still recommend it, but just don't get your hopes ... up.

Story 8:
The story is the strongest point of this show by far. The premise specifically, while controversial was a really strong set up. The first 48 minutes of the show will draw out anger in you that you didn't think you have, the good type of anger though. This also works as a good character set up for our main character.

Characters 6:
Due to the injustices served to him, he learned to distrust the world. Instead of the usual kind, righteous, mary sueish characters we have for anime protagonists, The shield hero leans more on the chaotic neutral side. Unfortunately, he is the best character in the series by far. While raphtalia is very likeable, she is a really weak character in that much could have been explored on her conflict as a slave forced to fight, as it stands she is just a stockholm syndrome victim whose only conflict is that she loves MC and MC only sees her as a daughter. Same goes for filo. Myne, while she still makes me want to choke her, is pretty much a mustache twirling villain at this point. The scenes where Myne and Spear guy tries to fuck over MC, like the rigged race and the forced duel in public and then ultimately fails, unhealthily reminds me of team rocket.

Art & Sound 5:
Production wise, Art is pretty decent. The first few episodes are definitely above average on the art department, but the recent ones are just consistently decent. The soundtrack is a non-factor. It fits, but doesn't really stand out or enhance the scenes. One particular scene with the Curse Shield, and Filo with the Dragon, that was supposed to be dramatic, was really just "meh" and could have used some better sound direction.

Enjoyment 7:
Now I've been a critic so far for this show, but enjoyment wise if your an isekai junkie and likes cute raccoon and birb girls, you'll probably like this show. The show is fun, some anger and feels inducing moments, and cute and aww inducing moments with raphtalia.

Overall 6:
The show is not bad, in fact it is pretty enjoyable. This show probably will suffer because it sets itself up as a serious/psychological isekai anime, while it really isn't. I have the privilege of knowing what it was in the first place, a generic isekai. Episode 9, starts volume 3 for the light novel, which means that the anime will probably go past volume 4 which is when the injustice against MC gets resolved and it just becomes the adventures of Shield hero and his slaves. It's fun generic isekai fare. So again you'll enjoy the show if you don't get your hopes up and start treating it like it's best of winter anime material

This anime hurts me because it was my favourite. The sheer anger that it provokes through the first half of the season was phenomenal, and it is the first time I have had an anime hit me in that way. I was very very invested. And that is why I was so incredibly disappointing when the second half devolved into a generic issekai with a grumpy protag. It's cringe. Yet I sat up every week, praying this episode would bring it all back. It never did. The characters are so one note. As I said, the first half is stellar. so if you can manage ... to stop yourself there, I personally think you will have one hell of a ride. Then it goes out of service :(
TLDR: I like the plot, gets shit after halfway break.

This anime had my hopes up the first few episodes, but the last few only made my eyes roll. Every line of dialogue now has become as predictable as any other isekai schlock cashgrab. The first few episodes were great setup, the arena arc was really suspenseful, so why did the quality have to drop so badly? The characters the last few episodes were completely one-dimensional and predictable, raphtalia is the embodiment of justice, naofumi is still kind of suspicious of everything but not really and filo acts like a kid. Now, the characters on their peak were nothing much to talk about but atleast ... they had a bit more. Naofumi was spiteful, wass actually afraid of using the shield's rage function and actually had a moment of weakness. Raphtalia was caring and supportive of him in even the worst moments and was angered at the injustices done to them and filo was a bit more rash, you could say. Now, they try to still maintain these characteristics but they're fading quite quickly, filo's rash attacks feel weird compared to the fact she does everything exactly like told thereafter. The childishness is also not recognizable in any attacks, they feel more like one of a well trained soldier. Raphtalia really doesn't so much, she has become a bit of a side character that just hangs around the grouchy mc. Naofumi also doesn't really develop, or even has any characteristics beside A N G E R Y. Has there been any mention of his past, what he likes, what he wants to do for the world? Nothing, right.
I could go on and on about the characters, but you should get the point.

Onto the plot: there isn't any. It feels more like death march, just going wherever doing whatever with sometimes a little sidequest. Then they do some things and Naofumi gets a new party member or item or whatever. Lame.

The problem with this anime is that they're trying to go off of the momentum built in earlier episodes to carry the plot, but instead should build upon it.

I don't really know if I'd call it good, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy Rising of the Shield Hero. For the first half of the show, it got me really interested in it, then it showed its weakness.
By the start of the second half it started to be a generic isekai that most people dislike..

I kinda enjoyed this anime cause it make you feel this thirst for revenge, everytime something unfair happened to the main character you wanted him to get stronger and fight his opponents.

What I did not like is the terrible writing from time to time, ... the bland fights(except for a few exceptions) and the terrible cgi of course.

Very linear and stereotypical but still very enjoyable, if this show was a sound it would be background music.

This show is just the same crap over and over and by episode 18 it has gotten really old. Maybe if there's some amazing ending I will change my mind but I really doubt there will be.

The Shield Hero is still fighting with the same people he fought with on the 1st episode like seriously I can't be the only one sick of this. It's like an endless loop of the stupid pink haired princess and even dumber spear hero just trying to make the Shield Hero look bad for no reason. The most annoying thing is that there is no explanation about why ... they are even trying to frame him. Most shows attempt to create a back story but this author just said screw it i just want random battle scenes. It's like a child wrote this show there's no depth to it at all.

Also some random chick showed up half way through the show and said consider me your enemy and never came back lol wtf. This show has turned into a joke to me but I've already watched this far so I'll probably finish it, hopefully it ends well to make me feel like i didn't waste my time.

Rising of the Shield Hero starts out with a very strong premise designed to get the reader hooked. A gritty, revenge driven take on your standard isekai, our MC is thrown headfirst into another world and immediately framed for a crime he didn't commit, left practically penniless as a result of his sentencing, and his name spread far and wide as a criminal scum. Unfortunately all this promise is lost as the series drags on, with increasing frustration the story, world, and characters are dumbed down to an extant that it almost feels like a different show by the time the series is ... over.

(Reviewer's note - At the time of this writing I have watched 24/25 episodes, but feel confident in my opinion. There will be very minor spoilers in my review.)

The story of Shield Hero begins simple enough with a rather simple video game-like premise that doesn't actually get any major twists until the very end of the series. To the shows credit, at the very start of the series it does a good job of making the viewer believe that the world and people around our MC are out to kill him just as much as the Waves are.

The problem therein is that the deeds of this world, and it's inhabitants is so poorly executed that it almost becomes a parody of itself. The Non-Wave villains are evil for the sake of evil. "Team Rocket"-esque is the best way I can describe the villains presented to our MC, with their motivations trivial, their methods mundane, and their escape/punishment lackluster in it's eventual conclusion. By the time an actually competent villain is introduced, the series is nearly halfway over and they disappear for almost the rest of the series, leaving us wondering why we had to put up with all the other disappointing villains this whole time. The introduction of a competent antagonist highlights both the first villains stupidity, and sadly Naofumi's fellow protagonists idiotic shortcomings, simply that the 3 other humans sent wit Naofumi are all equally useless. Apparently in the LN it is explained better, but to the anime viewer we are given nothing in terms of their motivations or reasons. They are idiotic and thick-headed in all their actions, and their sole purpose seems to be to make our MC and his party look better, or merely get in their way.

That isn't to say that Naofumi's supporting members are the opposite, they also seemed to be stripped of a lot of their personalities in this adaptation as well. Raphtalia, a once diminutive, malnourished, slave girl, has loads of potential in interacting with Noafumi. Redemption, self-sacrifice, personal growth, all these traits are simply brushed over within 3 episodes of her introduction. She, like the other party members that are introduced later, are reduced to harem-like shells of themselves that are merely their to be eye candy, momentary glimpses of what they COULD have been, comedic relief, or the offense that the Shield Hero cannot create himself.

The shining glimmer of Shield Hero is the music, done by Kevin Penkin. The music DOES take some getting used too (Saxophone used in a combat theme??), but I began to really enjoy myself with his scores around episode 10.

This well done combat music however is wasted on the actual substance of combat in the Shield Hero, almost all the fights are reduced to talking/bickering between party members, the enemy attacks, the protags grunt and grimace, they respond, enemy either falls down or responds in kind, more talking, etc. There is almost no strategy present, which is a glaring omission since all the Heroes are specialists in their weapons (Shield, Sword, etc.). All attacks, with the exception of the MCs of course, are merely beam shots. The series even stooped so low as too all have them use the same name for their attacks, "Meteor _____" (This may be the problem of the source material, and not necessarily the anime but it still bears mention).

The Shield Hero Light Novel is an extremely popular series that was predicted to be a strong bridge between Japanese and Western audiences. Sadly this anime is a major disservice to a (supposedly) intriguing story and has not encouraged this reviewer to pick up the source material at this point in time.

The shield hero is a postirony. You can't call it bad, because in fact it is supposed to be bad, and it does its job, therefore, because of its purpose, it is good.
The fact is that the main character ends up in a very bad fanfiction book created to pump money. The hero himself says about this that this book is a passerby. You have no right to call this anime bad, because the anime itself says so.
Naofumi is a simple anime guy, he's not smart, he's not stupid. However, in the anime, he seems to be the smartest person in the world, as the ... antagonists here are the dumbest people in the universe, with teenager-level thinking.
For some reason, in the world in which the hero fell, there are RPG mechanics, as in an MMORPG. This is strange, because the hero ended up in a book, and not in a game, but it's better not to look for logic in this anime. What is the value of Raphtalia's breasts changing their size, for no apparent reason.

I'm sorry. It's a pity.
I love the literary device where a character with a normal reputation accidentally loses it and has to restore it. However, the implementation of this in the anime is very poor.
It would have been much better if there had been an emphasis on Naofumi and Raphtalia's local adventures while revealing the world. Instead, the anime has a lot of bloody pathos for the sake of pathos, stupid antagonists who rule the world, and in general it's some kind of circus. Isekai stories have potential, but they do not use it, as it is not profitable.
This anime is very overrated, but on the other hand, it can entertain for 1 time. I don't know what happens in the continuation of the story, but there are rumors that everything is still 10 times worse.
However, thanks for your attention! I wish you enjoy anime.

For once, this show's politics are exactly as bad as the woke liberals say. It's definitely an incel fantasy with a loli harem and slavery apologism. If you can't watch a show while hating the politics and the main protagonist, you won't like this.

However, there's something about it that makes it entertaining enough to keep watching. Among the half dozen isekai series I watched, this was far from the most repellent, despite its unequivocally bad politics and horribly unlikable protagonist.

The show's craft is much better than a lot of other popular isekai series. Despite the main antagonist primarily being a shallow caricature of an ... evil conniving Stacy that torments the incel hero for fun, she and the other female characters still feel like they have actual personalities, especially when compared to, say, TensuRa, where the women are just walking pairs of tits for the protagonist to enjoy.

The subplots are interesting and have some amount of tension, even while we know the protagonist is the typical isekai power fantasy of a loser otaku turned invincible bad ass. It feels like there are actual stakes to the action, which is where a lot of other isekai (e.g. SAO) fail.

You find yourself rooting for Naofumi a bit, even while you realize he's a vengeful prick who helps others only as a way to get back at the people who wronged him. You want him to become a better person, even if you realize the world of the story is completely contrived to make it seem like he has no choice but to be a slave owning scumbag.

This is the rare show that I enjoyed and will most likely continue watching but have no earthly idea why I enjoyed it or why I want to see more. However, it's definitely no masterpiece, so again, if you're put off by the truly awful politics of the show, you're not missing much.

I went into the first episode blind and went into second episode really wanting to enjoy this series. It promised a darker twist on the isekai genre, with some interesting takes on the normal isekai tropes and examination of subjects like slavery, gender politics, and the criminal justice system. I was looking forward to a more mature anti-hero tale, with a dash of vengeance or come-uppance for good measure.

As of this writing of this review (episode 6) that potential is largely wasted in favor of more straight-forward power fantasy. The ending of Episode 4 was a bit of a jumbled mess and the loli-bait in ... Episode 6 made me pretty uncomfortable. I'm going to keep watching to see if the season can regain its footing (and to find out why the royal family hates Shield Hero just so much).

Watch if if you're bored, but otherwise, find something better.

BIG RAMBLE AHEAD

I really want to like this anime. But it feels as if they rushed everything in the first 4 episodes and then filled the rest with filler. It has such good potential, but it just crashed after episode 4. The main thing that annoys me is that the show could've easily been just developing the relationship between Naofumi and Raphtalia as they fight through the waves, maybe get a lil bit more dramatic, maybe give us a sense of tension because the Waves are getting stronger every time.

Maybe at least if we had had more time to get attached to Naofumi before ... he became corrupted, if they had shown us a bit more what he was like before he was accused of rape, maybe then I would've been more invested in him.

Not only that, but the fact they showed his and Raphtalia's relationship in a montage instead of just dedicating episodes to how they grew to like each other doesn't really help me ship it. Talking about ships, can we talk about how a LITERAL CHILD was put as a supposed love rival for Raphtalia? I would've been fine with it if it had been brought up in a silly "haha kids are weird" kind of way, but the fact that it seems they want us to take Filo's love seriously is what confuses me. SHE'S A CHILD!!! And why dedicate episodes to that, if it's supposed to be pointless? It feels as if they threw out all their good ideas, bundled them up in 4 episodes, but then realized they needed to make more episodes so they just threw in filler that doesn't amount to anything.

TLDR: This show has good potential but it was wasted and now it's a mess