Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (The Rising of the Shield Hero)

The Four Cardinal Heroes are a group of ordinary men from modern-day Japan summoned to the kingdom of Melromarc to become its saviors. Melromarc is a country plagued by the Waves of Catastrophe that have repeatedly ravaged the land and brought disaster to its citizens for centuries. The four heroes are respectively bestowed a sword, spear, bow, and shield to vanquish these Waves. Naofumi Iwatani, an otaku, becomes cursed with the fate of being the "Shield Hero." Armed with only a measly shield, Naofumi is belittled and ridiculed by his fellow heroes and the kingdom's people due to his weak offensive capabilities and lackluster personality.

When the heroes are provided with resources and comrades to train with, Naofumi sets out with the only person willing to train alongside him, Malty Melromarc. He is soon betrayed by her, however, and becomes falsely accused of taking advantage of her. Naofumi then becomes heavily discriminated against and hated by the people of Melromarc for something he didn't do. With a raging storm of hurt and mistrust in his heart, Naofumi begins his journey of strengthening himself and his reputation. Further along however, the difficulty of being on his own sets in, so Naofumi buys a demi-human slave on the verge of death named Raphtalia to accompany him on his travels.

As the Waves approach the kingdom, Naofumi and Raphtalia must fight for the survival of the kingdom and protect the people of Melromarc from their ill-fated future.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari
Character:	Isekai Quartet 2, Isekai Quartet Movie: Another World
Sequel:	Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Raphtalia

Main

Seto, Asami
Japanese

Iwatani, Naofumi

Main

Ishikawa, Kaito
Japanese

Filo

Main

Hidaka, Rina
Japanese

Glass

Supporting

Han, Megumi
Japanese

Melromarc, Melty Q

Supporting

Uchida, Maaya
Japanese

Melromarc, Mirelia Q

Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko
Japanese

Elhart

Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki
Japanese

Melromarc, Malty

Supporting

Bridcutt, Sarah Emi
Japanese

Fitoria

Supporting

Tange, Sakura
Japanese

Amaki, Ren

Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Tanaka, Shou

Producer

Ogata, Mitsuhiro

Producer

Kurosu, Nobuhiko

Producer

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Opening Theme

	1: "RISE" by MADKID (eps 13-19, 22-24)
	2: "FAITH" by MADKID (eps 2-3, 5-12)

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Ending Theme

	1: "RISE" by MADKID (eps 1)
	1: "Kimi no Namae (きみの名前)" by Chiai Fujikawa (藤川千愛) (eps 2-3, 5-12)
	2: "Falling Through Starlight" by Asami Seto (eps 4)
	3: "Atashi ga Tonari ni Iru Uchi ni (あたしが隣にいるうちに)" by Chiai Fujikawa (藤川千愛) (eps 13-20, 22-24)

Reviews

Dec 3, 2023

mrfried

Recommended

To preface this review, I first watched the series when it came out and loved it, but after being disappointed with season 2, I decided to go back and watch Season 1 again and see if it still was as good as I remembered, or if I just was caught up in the hype.

So first things first, I did end up changing my score as I was a victim of the hype, it wasn't the 9/10 that I had originally given it, the series has some flaws, and the animation, while slightly above average, is not at the standard it would need to be to ... be up there with the top ranking Isekai's
But for me, the story, characters, and character development still stands up, so it is a solid 8/10

Everyone should know the story of this series by now, so I'm only going to talk about it briefly, besides, it isn't the most interesting part of the series.
The main storyline with the waves is a backdrop where the only influence it has is on places that it hits, and characters who it has directly affected their lives, beyond that there is no sense of impending doom as everyone else engages in their own petty politics or schemes, or there are just some other goings on that have to be dealt with.
It's very much like they are the main dragon storyline in Skyrim that no one pays too much attention to, until they are forced to, because the rest of the time everyone is just focusing on the side quests and would rather be doing those.

Then we get to Myne / Malty's false accusations and her schemes, this is just an excuse to have Naofumi alienated from the others, and have him travel the land for the first half of the series, and while this is the part I prefer, it is more character driven than story/plot driven
Then when we get to Melty and the second half, and hints of a conspiracy, it becomes a lot more story focused.

However it's the second half of the series where we start to get issues, for me the conspiracy plot line didn't work that well as it felt rushed and violated the principle of "show don't tell" and in general things feel a lot more rushed. After taking its time on the first half, it feels like once they got to the second half they wanted to wrap up certain parts of the story and as such didn't allow it to breathe.
At a certain point it felt like it just said "we're done now, let's wrap it up" and honestly, I feel that is where the issues of Season 2 came from.

As said before, the first half was the part I enjoyed the most, it was focused in on the characters and their development, and while it was the part that was the most simplistic in the story, being more of a character drama, it felt the more rewarding.
For me, this was the reason why Season 1 was so good, yet season 2 was such a disappointment

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Jul 31, 2022

IvanLaptev

Mixed Feelings

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 ...

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Nov 25, 2023

BadGuyBoog

Not Recommended

Warning: I use an actual fucking show to explain my points. The word ‘edgy’ is quite frequently used as criticisms for things that try to be dark. This is an edgy show. But what do I mean by that? What is the difference between dark and edgy as far as shows and characters go? In this review I will be using 2 examples of exceptional dark shows/characters in comparison to this show to explore this aspect and explain why this show fails to enthrall me. For these examples I will use Daredevil and Thorfinn from Vinland Saga. The biggest difference I think between these two ... similar concepts is the handling of tonal levity and the usage of these tones in relation to theme. In a dark show it is important to have lighter tones and scenes to juxtapose the darker content, however it is important that the aesthetic of the show as a whole cannot be breached. In Daredevil, the scenes of friendship, love and happiness are just as sharply written, and just as important to the themes and characters as the darker moments. They enhance the twisted shit that happens through characterization. Because we know Matt Murdock is a good guy and because we are invested in his relationships, we can care when things get dark and go to shit. In Rising of the Shield hero, the difference between the dark moments and the happy moments are night and day. You can’t claim to be dark and mature but then have a bunch of moe loli waifu bullshit. It’s tonal whiplash. In one scene you have a girl facing the corpse of her friend who suffered from torture and enslavement and in the next you have a chicken who turns into a little girl playing hide and seek with a princess. The juxtaposition is too great, too sudden and too wide. You need time to grow darker, which boils down to good pacing. But what really sets dark and edgy apart is theme and intent. Daredevil is so fucking good because of its themes (especially in season 3). It handles religious idealisms and the importance of faith. About the justification of violence, responsibility and the morality of vigilante actions. About the value of human life, the law, sacrifice, guilt, parental failures and pleasure. Matt Murdock is always at odds about these questions just as he is in physical conflicts with his enemies. Dark, mature and gory content is a tool to enhance these themes and its characters. The brutality of the violence makes us question the morality of using it. Daredevil’s struggle of his dilemma of killing Kingpin questions the previous themes set up and pushes the themes of human value and guilt further. The dark content is not the main attraction but rather tools used for telling a grander and more meaningful story. What does Rising of the Shield hero do with its dark content? What themes does Rising of the Shield hero present? The way I see it, edgy shows and movies are dark just for the sake of being dark. Any themes it might have are secondary and nothing but justification. Next, I want to talk about the difference between edgy characters and dark characters using Torfinn from Vinland saga. The biggest difference in this area of the conversation has to be the characters certainty of identity or the struggles within them. Tormented characters like Thorfinn and Matt Murdock will do disagreeable things that hurt those around them. The situations force them to question themselves or choose the wrong path. Thorfinn has lost everything and claims the path of revenge. We feel great sympathy for him but we know very well that by choosing unrelenting violence he is disregarding and disrespecting what his father was trying to teach him. He abandons his family and any pleasures his life could have had for the sake of vengeance. When he reunites with Leif he is faced with a choice to let go of this pain and we see him struggling to consider it. For if he agrees then what were all those years of suffering for? Dark characters fall. Now look at Naofumi. What internal struggles does he go through? Throughout the entire show everyone says that his cold nature is only a facade and that he really is a caring and kind person. When he faces a challenge he can’t overcome he just gets stronger automatically because he’s the protagonist. He never wavers in his resolve and is always kind to those around him. How can I believe this is a tortured man when he’s giving headpats every episode? Now I’m not saying a dark character can’t be more positive and kind, let’s look at Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly. This is a man who is funny and always helps people out. But only barely, he hesitates and hates himself for this compassion. Everytime he does good, it is a struggle for him. I wouldn’t go so far as to call Naofumi a Mary Sue, but every ‘dark’ action he does is dictated by circumstance and not due to any personal struggle. In the end I think the difference is simply the quality of the writing. There are still edgy characters that fit the description I set for dark characters, but fail at it miserably. Also this show makes you question if Raphtalia is his daughter or girlfriend. What the fuck?

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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

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Iwatani, Naofumi

Filo

Glass

Melromarc, Melty Q

Melromarc, Mirelia Q

Elhart

Melromarc, Malty

Fitoria

Amaki, Ren

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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

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Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Ending Theme

Reviews

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