If you're not a fan of isekai anime this might interest you as it has a slightly different concept but I doubt this will change your mind on the genre.
The concept and story of shield hero is really interesting with the four hero's being summoned and Naofumi being framed which gives him a very pessimistic and angry which is why I found Naofumi really interesting during the first half of the series. Sadly as the series goes on my biggest complaint with Shield Hero is that it mainly just becomes another generic isekai about adventuring with friends and Naofumi's interesting character lessens overtime. My biggest blame to that is Raphtalia in my opinion.
The characters for Shield Hero are pretty solid throughout with Naofumi as previously mentioned being the most interesting and my personal favourite character. Another really good character is Malty who is to be honest the main reason Shield Hero is good because she sowed the seeds and acts as the uniting character that literally everyone hates. She's a character you'll definitely find something to be annoyed about whether its her wrong doing to Naofumi or just her general attitude you'll find a reason to hate her by the end. So personally I believe she's one of two things that make Shield Hero good. Malty and Naofumi. The other heroes also effectively play the roles of generic guys who see this as nothing but a game and are generally not nice most of the time to counter Naofumi's character. My personal favourite female character was Fitoria who is introduced later on as she gave an air of mystery and I personally thought she was a 100 times more interesting than Filo and Raphtalia.
Now this is where I've got to talk about the characters I'm not so keen on, mainly Raphtalia. Personally I liked Raphtalia at first and her role did seem obvious from the start as the one who would help Naofumi grow which she did well in the first half but during the later parts of the series I really felt she became stale and boring and is just there to be that characters that's always worried about the lead. A lot of the times in the battles I'm getting excited for the fight only for it to turn out very generically and Raphtalia comes in with the power of friendship. If you're a fan of that type of power of friendship Fairy Tail style anime then you'll probably like Shield Hero during its second half. Sadly by the end of the series I just saw Raphtalia as a clingy heroine who lessened my investment in the show and I just rolled my eyes whenever she'd interrupt something. Filo on the other hand I found alright she was just that type of cute side character as a bonus alongside Melty.
The music for the series is great with both OPs being sung by the same artist and having that catchy tune to hype you up for each episode. Alongside the contrasting simple and peaceful EDs to end each episode.
As said before I really like the setting of the four heroes and think it gives some interesting scenes like when Naofumi is framed the other heroes immediately turn against him and seeing the conflicts between the heroes was really interesting. The action for the series is great so if you're just looking for an action anime Shield Hero delivers a lot with tones of game mechanics. I've always liked underdog stories and Shield Hero delivers on a satisfying story of "The Rising of the Shield Hero" which it gives a satisfying conclusion even if right at the end they throw a curveball out of nowhere to hook for a sequel.
Overall I think The Rising of the Shield Hero starts off very well but later on loses some of its uniqueness to generic character tropes. Its a great watch for action or isekai lovers who don't pay much attention to the story and are more in for the characters.
8/10 would recommend.
