Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2

The second season of The Rising of the Shield Hero fails to match the first in terms of interest. One of its major flaws is its overall brevity, which makes the new adventure feel rushed and forced. The first season already provided a satisfying conclusion, so the plot twists in the second season feel unnecessary. The initial episodes are fast-paced, with a continuous succession of pressing situations that leave little time to assimilate everything that is happening or to appreciate the new characters.

The cast is expanded with new additions, but some of these characters are completely marginal because there is not enough time to develop ... them properly. If the story had been longer, these characters could have been explored in more detail, which would have made them much more interesting. Other characters are better constructed but fail to make a strong impression.
Among the old cast members, Naofumi is the one who has undergone the most drastic change. He has softened, although he still shows his grim side from time to time.

Although the story develops with difficulty, there are still some moments that captured my interest just enough to keep me watching. The Rising of the Shield Hero 2 features two different types of revelations: some tied to new events, which are the ones that encouraged me to find out how the story would develop, and others inherent to the lore.

The second season raises more questions about the overall context, but the explanations that could help us understand the full picture are still a mirage. None of the many open questions are clarified.

Although three years have passed since the first season, I did not notice any significant changes in the technical aspects of The Rising of the Shield Hero. The series features well-groomed and more refined manual drawing than the first season, both in the close-ups and in the Western-style fantasy environments, thanks to a slightly flatter line, although it is not particularly eye-catching.

When the camera pans out to frame multiple subjects in a single shot, the quality drops slightly, but this does not affect the enjoyment of the fight scenes. These are once again characterized by smooth animations, skillful use of lighting, and effective visual effects.

As before, the manual drawing is supported by CGI, which is limited to rendering the hordes of monsters and human armies. The CGI stands out noticeably compared to the traditional line art due to its sometimes rigid animations, but there are few sequences in which it is present, and it does not ruin the overall viewing experience.

While the show's artistic quality is largely unchanged, with only a few technical stumbles, the same cannot be said for the script. The Rising of the Shield Hero 2's biggest problem is its short length, which results in a frenetic narrative. The viewer is bombarded with information, twists, and pressing situations without having time to digest everything. This is reflected in the superficial development of the new characters. Additionally, the protagonist's change in character may not please everyone. The second half of the adventure improves somewhat, with calmer pacing, but it still suffers from the overall brevity, which prevented me from fully appreciating some of the emotionally charged moments.

Despite its flaws, The Rising of the Shield Hero 2 is still an enjoyable watch, and I am hopeful that future seasons will address some of its shortcomings.

Personal Vote: 6.5

The first season was a diamond of isekai anime, it is brilliant and it is a masterpiece. Sadly, this new sequel has gone downhill and It is quite dissapointing.

I'll cut it short why this sequel is dissapointing:
1. Unlike the first season, now the studio decide to made Filo a loli pedo bait character, it is embarrasing, disgusting and for sure targeted for a certain audience as a "fanservice".

2. There's lot more fanservices.
When people click and decide to watch "Tate no Yuusha" season 2, first thing that came to mind are what make the anime great in the first place and that gems brought us ... here to continue our heroes journey, the fact that the "Tate no Yuusha" that we knew barely have any fanservices in the first place, I'm sure people don't come here and expect more "fanservices", its not what we want when we decide to watch this prequel and what the fans are looking for.

So with that being said, this prequel is not like what you think it is, drop your expectation and look at the rating, what you're going to expect are pedo bait and more fanservices.

Overally, its just uncomfortable watching the anime.

As I'm fairly sure I mentioned in my previous piece, Shield Hero has an identity problem. The show doesn't seem to know what to do with itself in the absence of Naofumi being unfairly slighted and oppressed by those around him.

Matter of fact, the show starts by posing a problem the Cardinal Heroes need to solve and the 3 others straight up refuse to help for no good reason and walk away, almost as if it were written in their DNA that they just necessarily have to be assholes to make the story work. The saving grace is that other than a couple of throw-away ... lines a pop, they never show up as actual characters again for the rest of the season and don't have any speaking lines. I guess Bow Bro shows up in some flashbacks, but the point is Spear Bro is irrelevant as he should be.

Also, I just realized, that one moustached asshole in the Bow Hero's party is literally called Mald. Irony? Coincidence? I wonder.

As for the actual plot, as I said, the show doesn't really know what to do with itself in the absence of the everyone-is-wrongly-accusing-Naofumi-of-crimes plot. As such, the first half of S2 is boring as sin. It picks up towards the end, and the final couple of episodes are actually interesting, felt like watching the old Shield Hero again, but getting interesting as the climax approaches is the bare minimum to be expected and the first 8 or so episodes are a real slog to get through.

I was reminded of the whale fighting from Re:Zero, except much less interesting. It somehow felt even more boring than the Charybdis fight from TenSura, and that one was a real pain to get through, but at least that one was mercifully short. The only anime I've (recently) seen handle a properly fleshed out fight involving multiple characters versus one giant monster is the first Godzilla movie by Polygon Pictures.

If you've bought into the Shield Hero story and feel confident you are in for the ride, then give it a watch. Otherwise, skip it. If you're hoping for the quality of the first half of the first season, then this is not that.