This is all venting, and if some of these issues are corrected in later seasons or something, well, good for them. I genuinely did enjoy the show when I started it, but as time has gone on, these little things have started to bother me. if you like the show, please leave, I'm just here to vent, and don't necessarily want to bother anyone. I might pick this show up again depending on how the second and third season are received, but as of right now, I'm not sure at all because of some of these things, some of which were a bit of a stretch I admit.
my little issues:
1) the characters are really bare bones
2) I thought Filo taking the role of the future chicken god was rushed
3) a lot of the pacing in the later episodes is really bad
4) I think it was episode 4 when that emotional moment early on in the series happened, and I really didn't feel much at that point because for comparison, re;zero had a similar scene in episode 19, but that was episode 19, shield hero was episode 4.
5) the king wasn't given a good reason to dislike the shield, to be fair I stopped shortly after Naofumi boarded a boat to go on vacation or something, I just got disinterested at that point, so if the king was given a better reason to be biased against the Shield hero specifically, I don't know.
6) I hate that they introduced the cursed mode, because it makes Naofumi a bit too overpowered, and I feel like it took away the purpose of Raphtalia.
7) the point with Raphtalia was that she was supposed to be the sword to Naofumi's shield, but in the second half, she feels kind of like her role was greatly diminished.
8) I hate that the chicken god blamed Naofumi for what happened to him. She had a point, but also, seriously, sorry to bring up victim blaming, but that's what it feels like, and that's aggravating
9) for people who have played a similar game, the other Heroes are a bit too bad at it. I mean I understand the spear hero and even the sword hero to an extent, but the bow hero comes off as a smart enough guy, and I think he would at least have some kind of tactical knowledge rather than just spamming strong attacks.
10)Naofumi is too overpowered for his level, this is back to the cursed shield, but I know tactics win, but that's not what Naofumi is using, he's using a power up her got that makes him super strong, even though he should be a lot weaker than the other heroes.
11) Naofumi being told to make up with the other heroes felt like it was kind of dropped. They stopped the bad guy, he tried to make up with them, but then failed, so it's back to just not getting along with each other. Maybe their going for the slow burn, which that's fine, but for now, this sub plot, which the chicken god emphasized was pretty important, feels dropped.
12) the church twist came out of left field. They were shown to be shady, but the twist that they were the ones behind everything felt underdeveloped. It's not unbelievable, but with what little presence they had, it felt kind of out of nowhere. there weren't any real clues either other than that they were kind of suspicious.
13) the entire plot when they were on the run kind of dragged for me, in that it just wasn't enjoyable. Myne and the Spear hero were cartoon villains, and I can't find enjoyment of them when you try to make them more serious villains.
14) The spear hero being a pedophile, I know we're supposed to hate him, but really, REALLY, we're going there.
15) they made the other heroes too stupid or too horrible to feel like Naofumi could make up with them, and that really grinds my gears, because of what the chicken god said about how if the heroes aren't united, we're all gonna die.
16) I didn't feel anything with the plot about Raphtalia's village, in part because as mentioned before, the characters are kind of bare bones, I mean look at Isekai Quartet, they don't do much with the shield hero characters, because it's hard to do anything with the shield hero characters. They even find things to do with Tanya's soldiers, and most of the Re;zero cast, but Shield trio gets little to do, beyond Naofumi making one of his killer one remarks, and Filo being cute.
17) I feel like they don't go all the way with Naofumi's meanness, which is more of an issue pf adaptation from what I've heard, but I think they make him too nice, but also-
18) I think the story feels too self indulgent by making him mean. the whole, be mean to everyone because their not nice to you is kind of immature. I have no problems with Naofumi being mean, but he should at least be respectful to someone like the king. If you told a king to kneel before you, you would be killed, no doubt, but Naofumi does it because he can, but really he should be careful not to threaten a guy with that much power, it might not go well for him.
19) the execution scene was painful, just because it felt like the writer giving the audience the sweet revenge they want by having Myne beg while sexualizing her a little bit, it was kind of disgusting honestly, even if Naofumi spared her.
20) the part where Raphtalia let that one guy live was just not a cliche I'm fond of
21) returning the slave mark, which I know they modifed the reason for that choice from the light novel, but still I think it should've stayed gone.
22) last one, I could try to think of more, but I think I've gotten most of it. That episode where they just stood around talking. Like the pope just let them talk it, and I'm like, "ya know this was fine while watching, but now that I think about it, what the heck was that," I know they have to have some kind of meaningful conversion, but please find a way of doing it without forgetting the plot. To be fair, I might remember it wrong, it's been awhile.
