Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Episode 8 Discussion

Demyx_IX said:
Yo, they taught you about how dragons from different works of fiction eat in college?! That's amazing, who knew that a college would do that!

Less snarky response; we're not talking about iguanas, komodo dragons, alligators, or geckos. We're talking about a mythological creature that has been reanimated. So you can't just say; "Yep, that's exactly how a zombie dragon eats its food." When there's no real life counterpart to compare with.

Also, the anime shows a red liquid spraing out as if the dragon pierced Filo. So there's that too.

SSL443 said:

I mean considering how quickly he has bounced back from every "setback" it's a bit silly to imagine that he would go full ragemode without some mechanism that is forcing him to do that. He really hasn't suffered enough to justify flying off the handle; the way he interacts with average people makes him come off like a spoiled, entitled brat, frankly. Hard to sympathize with.


Where is the "curse series" supposed to have even come from? It's yet another plot device with no foreshadowing whatsoever.

The correct place to introduce or foreshadow the curse would have been in the very first episode, so that it is established as a central concept from the get-go. That's the whole point of foreshadowing and why it is needed. Then it could come to a head in episode 4, and finally lead to consequences in episode 8.


Yep, sums it up.

This is not just a problem with shield hero, but I wish anime would not pull their punches. Either Filo or Raphtalia could have died in this episode, but the author didn't have the guts to go through with it.

BlakexEkalb said:
I don't think we should pull any Akame Ga Kill and just off characters this early in the show.

SSL443 said:

We're a third of the way through, it's as good a time as any to have some death. And it wouldn't be "just offing" characters if there is a narrative purpose.

Aniteku said:
I have rewatch ep 8 2 times in subs and dubs and i still think this was a very good episode. I dont see why people are complaining. The art like always was really good same for the VAs and btw naofumi VA was the mvp with the rage sceene.

I really liked the beginning and ending of the episode on how it keep showing how much they care for eachother. naofumi crafting accessories for his daughters using the little tool they gift to him in ep 7 and on how they all dint blame one other for what had happen with the dragon like how filo rushed in or how naofumi berserk mode burn and cursed raphtalia. Now the dragon yeah it was CG but wasnt bad at all i got over it right away but maybe is bc im so used to see cg in anime. Raphtalia keeps acending has pure waifu even if she was poised by the dragon miasma she stoped naofumi in time from losing in his mimd into rage or he would had killed everyone right there.

I saw some people saying that there was no danger there but what i saw was naofumi in a corner with filo gone and rathtalia poison and cursed naofumi had nothing he could do if wasnt for filo fighting the dragon from the inside im pretty sure at least raphtalia would had die and that would be reason enough to make me burn all the LN i have in this series.


Now my only complains of this ep was filo coming out of his belly like "hiya folks!" They could at least make her exousted or show somekinda signs she indeed had a hardtime inside the dragon and my other complain was raph could have showed a lil more emotion when she thought naofumi got step on but at this point im sure everyone knew he was ok since we got to see him activating the curse shield in his UI

Again i dont see what making some people all pent up about this episode i think was the 2nd best episode so far with ep 4 being the number 1

Also why are people comparing this show to berserk or goblin Slayer? Even death note with napfumi has light? This show to me is just a hardmode of sao really

veridiancity said:


The beginning and ending is also my favorite part of the show, how he was making the accessories but hid it when Filo woke up shows that Naofumi is still not comfortable with showing positive emotions even though he does deeply cares for his party. These little indirect characterization with some of this show characters are imo, the greatest strength of this anime.

I didn't mind the CG but there's just a certain stigma with CGs in animes, I understand the disdain for it.

Personally I think the fight could be an expectation issue, I was certainly expecting a more epic fight considering that -

1. It's a dragon, the usual expectation for a dragon fight are quite naturally higher I'd imagine, it was certainly so for me.
2. Relative to the show, the fight with the Nue (in the cave) was great, then we get this fight that is a let down fight choreography wise and just overall feels rushed.
3. No danger, the dragon eating Filo was suppose to showcase it as a dangerous foe, but the scenes that follows does not portray the menace of the dragon well.

However after reading your perspective, I agree that the cursed shield is meant to be the highlight of this episode and not the dragon. Still I cannot deny that I was disappointed but I can agree that perhaps my expectation were wrongly set.

I agree that Raphtalia could have shown more emotions, the whole scene just feels rushed in general.

I would rank this as the weakest episode for me so far, still love it though.

Aniteku said:
i dont see why people keep saying its dark anime really they even compare to goblin slayer and berserk idk were they got that idea really. It does however have SOME dark elements but this isnt really a dark show is about a guy that starts from 0 and his struggles to survive and being the real badass hero. Also naofumi isnt that anti hero like light from death note he just a dick

redcobra said:
For anyone complain about this episode, just wait for BD version.

I mean why people forgot TV version of any kind of anime is shit. Compare fixed version BLUE RAY DISk that remove censors, improve grafics.

Plebs complain watching free anime, and they forgot BD version uncensored version exist.

Today episode be like :
Normies : this episode is bad, cg bla bla.
BD version anime : I'm a joke for you.

cchigu said:
Hate the characters so much. Naofumi is a self insert, Raphtalia is generic and basic with zero substance and Firo should not have existed.

3/5 episode. Better than the last one but still sucks. Iirc it just went downhill from here in the manga especially the revenge on Myne and the King by the Shield Hero was anticlimactic and plain bad.

SSL443 said:
You are projecting desperation onto a character where none exists because YOU think their situation is desperate, regardless of how the character is actually behaving.

That's a bit ironic given you clearly aren't doing this yourself.

And enough with putting words in my mouth. I do not want information "spoonfed" to me, I want characterization. Proper use of narrative technique is NOT "spoonfeeding", for crying out loud.

None of this matters. The point is that the bird survived what could easily have been established as a fatal encounter; the point that the other characters believed that it was until the reveal that she survived.

SSL443 said:
There are arks in this? Like Noah's Ark?

malMaxi said:

Like story ark. I'm sure you are aware of the definition of the term.

malMaxi said:

There was plenty of proper techniques used and a lot of people for whom these techniques worked, including myself. The fact that they didn't work for you is not an indictment on the show at this point. If it was an indictment on the show, you have so far failed to substantiate your attacks on it with facts.

Dhyan_manu said:
This just a sneak peak of the shield of rage if they explored it any further then that would have totally ruined the epicness of shield of rage 2 upcoming in third wave.
Even an idiot could tell that filo wouldn't die people who are complaining why she didn't die are either who don't have common sense that main characters can't be killed that easily.
Also the dragon was atleast 10x powerful than when it was alive which they didn't mention in anime. Yes cursed shield is kind of OP but it comes with a cost you will know it later on how greater risk it is to use the cursed series.

mecegirl said:

It's spelling joke. The ark you mean is arc.

DumpsterKing said:
This doesn't work as a counter argument. By this logic, every popular show that is highly rated can't be criticised because 'it works for the majority'. There are no 'facts' that can be established when talking about what makes good character writing but, I'll give you the short version of my opinion.

Introducing a character and having their entire personality be different by the next episode is bad character writing (Raphtalia, Naofumi). Having a character's (Raphtalia) personality revolve entirely around the main character is bad character writing. Not allowing us to see all of the apparent suffering Naofumi has gone through is bad writing in general because, it makes Naofumi's rage and general personality seem petty.

malMaxi said:


I disagree that Raftalia's and Naofumi's characters are "entirely different'. What i see is the sides of personality that they previously had either no reason to manifest (Naofumi) or were unable to manifest (Raftalia) coming out in the right conditions.
With Raftalia the situation is compounded further in that she undergoes the magically accelerated adolescence phase, during which her personality actually forms.

Refusing to show the character's backstory is the liberty of an author. It is not automatically bad writing. Refusing to show Raftalia's adolescence would be a problem if she ever acted in a way which was not suggested by her major character-establishing moments, all of which are amply demonstrated.

Naofumi's rage and general personality are not reduced to being petty, but rather ARE petty. That is a character flaw, not a flaw of the story.

Raphtalia1 said:
to be honest as an LN reader or Manga I was disappointed with the studio steps that summarized all the material because it would confuse the audience, there were even many parts such as why the curse shield did not speak as in episode 4 before, and we did not get further information on the curse of the shield because this is the end of volume 2

papsoshea said:
Then the fake tension and despair, Filo supposedly dies and after all that melodrama, it switches tones and has the goofy comedy.

Oh goody! The "inhabiting the dark power" trope! The edgy edgelord "I hate everything / Kill, Kill, Kill everything!" logic. Is this another of those plot devices where the protagonist gains the ability to pull it out of their ass to win almost every time in a situation that is majorly going against them? Using the power without control of your actions and just saying "what happened?" while he is stopped by a female character embracing him. These common and overused tropes are everywhere with this isekai.

jaxensounds said:


Filo is a main character, she couldn't just die that easily. Besides, Naofumi could see Filo's healthbar, right? His past experiences acts as an emotional driving force towards the Curse Series activation.

papsoshea said:
I felt this episode just rehashed the plot of the previous one where it shows another hero's (Sword Hero) incompetence that leads to a settlement being riddled with a curse that makes everyone ill.

papsoshea said:

Lastly, something needs to change like newly added characters or another major event, the characters as of now are flat and Raphtalia is starting to lose her charm (IMO). The CGI on the dragon was very poor and hope that was just the studio saving $$$ for other episodes.

SSL443 said:

This scenario didn't even have the setup as the seed, just a throwaway line about how the Sword Hero killed a dragon. But nothing to foreshadow that it would become a zombie. That came out of nowhere so that there could be a fight scene and fake "tension".

mecegirl said:
I don't think any foreshadowing was necessary for the dragon being able to turn into a zombie.

SSL443 said:

It did require foreshadowing as it was a previously unexplored phenomena in the world of this story. But the more important reason is because the author already used foreshadowing in a parallel situation. The fact that no foreshadowing was present here suggests that he isn't really aware of the techniques that he is using and is just haphazardly cobbling together whatever events hit the plot points he is trying to get to (in this case the curse sheild and Naofumi almost killing his party because he's having an emo episode).

DumpsterKing said:
While not entirely different, the personalities are different enough for the change to be jarring. With the absence of any additional depth or nuance of note - it leaves me with little to get attached to.

Another problem with the change is that it completely ignores the possibility of a lot of interesting scenarios. Having the characters slowly change or work through their problems over a period of time is something I find significantly more engaging than 'they've changed' or 'they're over it'. The one episode of Raphtalias development fails to convince me that this was possible and fails to be compelling. It's even worse when, as I said, Raphtalia is left with an uninteresting personality as a result.

If Naofumi's problems are petty, why should I care? The show has, on three occasions (ep1, 4, 8) attempted to leverage his problems for serious emotional impact but, if the basis of that is faulty, why should I care? He has little to no other traits to care for, so the lack of weight on his emotional problems causes a disconnect.

I should also probably rephrase my statement. This isn't bad writing - mediocre or average would probably be the best descriptor.

SSL443 said:
It did require foreshadowing as it was a previously unexplored phenomena in the world of this story. But the more important reason is because the author already used foreshadowing in a parallel situation. The fact that no foreshadowing was present here suggests that he isn't really aware of the techniques that he is using and is just haphazardly cobbling together whatever events hit the plot points he is trying to get to (in this case the curse sheild and Naofumi almost killing his party because he's having an emo episode).

malMaxi said:
The possibility of undead monsters was established during the wave.
The existence of dragon and the fact as it was dead was established during previously recounted exploits of other heroes. It was even repeated in the episode.

Once again, you are simply not looking at the story being told.

SSL443 said:

You can keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.

mecegirl said:
During the first wave those enemies were zombies thou.

SSL443 said:

Foreshadowing of the specific mechanic by which the residual mana of a slain magical creature condenses into a crystal with the power to reanimate the corpse.

And again. The fact that the seed WAS foreshadowed and this particular detail wasn't creates inconsistency.

Is it a big deal? No. But it lowers my overall impression of the writing

SSL443 said:
You can keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.

SSL443 said:
Foreshadowing of the specific mechanic by which the residual mana of a slain magical creature condenses into a crystal with the power to reanimate the corpse.

mecegirl said:
lol Honestly, I think you got a little too hopeful when the seed thing was followed up on.

mecegirl said:


Apparently the writer of the original story is a woman.

I think we will just have to disagree on this. It certainly could be foreshadowed but it not being foreshadowed won't strain credibility for the average reader/viewer because it is already a legendary creature like a dragon. Add to that that the villagers told Naofumi that the atmosphere of the mountain had changed to the point that normal adventurous couldn't survive, then surely something odd must be going on with up there beyond a simple rotting corpse.

As for the rest, yes it was a means to an end with the curse shield, and that is one of the dangers of this story being so hyped in the beginning. It just ain't that deep so tropes are gonna run amok from time to time.