This winter season, while not the best winter season we’ve ever seen, certainly had a few strong contenders. I tend to look for certain studios, writers, or directors when choosing what I’ll watch for the season. Naturally, The Rising of the Shield Hero was not at the top of my list – it looked as though it were the typical isekai fair of wish fulfillment/fantasy of otaku loners who have never uttered a single word to a girl. Suffice to say I was almost certain I wouldn’t like the show, especially considering that I was tired of what this genre had to offer after dot hack sign back in the mid 2000’s. At the behest of a friend, I gave it a sincere shot.
At first, it seemed as though we had the usual isekai drudgery. Main character is an otaku, check. Isn’t social, no romantic interest, etc. He gets sucked into a world through the usual method of magical mcguffin and is engulfed in his surroundings which let him live out his wish fulfillments, or at least so he believes. The land he is plunged into is currently battling a dark prophecy which fortells that they must withstand the plague of several waves of dark creatures and monsters, the first of which they have already suffered to great damage. The only way to stave off this invasion, as is the case in most fantasy shows, is to rely on the unreliable words of some guy who wrote a book once – summon the four heroes to take up the mantle to defeat this new evil and protect the lands! (Seriously, if you’ve ever written a book a long time ago in a fantasy world, you may as well be god).
While at first it would appear to superficially be falling in line with the standard tropes (even at times point it out such as in the weapons shop in the first episode), there is something a little…different? You can tell there is this attempt to paint a picturesque “isekai experience” which naturally leads you to expect some sort of subversion. And man, did that subversion happen and happen hard.
Our hero, Naofumi Naotani, is reincarnated as the shield hero. He, along with his absorbed bretheren who wield a lance, sword, and bow respectively, are equipped to begin “training” and forming their party for the incoming second wave. Naturally, nobody is too eager to go to the Shield hero’s side because – it’s a damn shield, it’s more armor than it is a weapon after all. However, one such traveler does indeed wish to join his side, and her name is Malty.
Long story short – she pretends to be his friend but cons him out of all his dough, equipment, and reputation in one night by claiming he sexually assaulted her. Ouch. Naofumi attempts to defend himself since it couldn’t be further from the truth (does anyone think at this point he was capable of this? Where are the witnesses? What kind of crock of shit trial is this?), but nobody in this unnamed king’s court is buying it. Malty’s scheme is heavily implied to be a part of Motoyasu, the spear warrior’s grand plan to strip Naofumi of all credibility.
Naofumi like any sane individual begins to question the fabric of the world and wonder how something so horrible, corrupt, and twisted could occur, and leaves by telling him to “shove [this money] up your ass”, throwing the few silver coins at this feet in contempt.
Naofumi’s character transformation from the typical beta man to a cynical, mistrusting, “ends justify the means” hero is not only believable but cathartic – you feel as outraged as he does that what occurred was allowed to occur. Watching him go from being awful at haggling because of his fake bravado to threatening shopkeepers with monsters was entertaining. The bit about how he “cannot taste food anymore” is probably a layer 1 allegory for how he views humanity.
Raphtalia, who he formerly sees as an ends to justify the means and eventually becomes someone he cares for, lets the remaining pieces of his humanity shine through and better yet is a way for him to heal as a person. She is actually absolutely precious, and he had better take care of her. Watching her as a child makes her transformation into a loyal, loving partner in crime feel that much more gratifying – if they had just expected us to believe she was this loyal from the start I would argue that’s a hard pill to swallow. Instead, they show her dependency as a child, what she though the shield hero would be, manifest into these feelings of deep loyalty and duty to prevent the tragedies of her past happening to others.
I was impressed that Naofumi was able to turn some of the royal guards to his side too. If it were me I’d let the monsters eat their asses, no doubt. Fuck ’em. He’s a better man than me.
Long story short – I went from “another isekai, who cares” to “Alright, I’m paying attention”. Looking forward to watching more.
