The Shield Hero is slowly becoming an Iyashikei anime and I’m totally ok with that – after slowly boiling an emotional conflict to its head, I feel like we’ve been taken on a new journey to another world of healing. Naofumi is slowly regaining his trust in humanity and it would seem as though the show is inviting us to do the same.
Naofumi is basically Filo and Raphtalia’s father in the way he cares for them. Filo loves him the way a child loves her father, but it’s pretty clear Raphtalia loves him the way an adult would. Either way, they’re very clearly a family and I say this with my whole heart – I want to see them happy. This show has become a healing anime more for me than for Naofumi. Better yet, I care for each one of them. I definitely remember my jaw being open for a full minute when I watched Filo get eaten by the zombie dragon. This show has made Naofumi’s tenuous grasp on sanity, his tenuous grasp to find something to protect and made us share in that struggle in a way that has me fearing the worst anytime I see his companions hurt. I too don’t want to see him lose anything else. If anything, I want to see my favorite little family continue to grow and live in peace.
Naofumi letting his guard down to Raphtalia and Filo, letting himself smile, mentioning that they would be stronger tomorrow than they were today – I find myself saying the same things to my own family following moments of great strife. It felt earned and it felt real. I mean, I can’t be alone in wanting to see them end up in a great place.
It’s certainly not a one sided love either – the little gift that Raphtalia and Filo ended up buying for Naofumi was certainly a showing of dedication and a heartfelt moment. The river runs in both directions, that is for sure.
After Raphtalia’s blight (Shockingly similar to the “blights” from Noragami visually, isn’t it?), I kept urging that Naofumi would rush to the capital for the holy water he needed so as to not waste a single moment – I couldn’t bear to see his fragile world fall apart. Most importantly – Raphtalia is really an amazing person. Somebody as strong, as loyal as her definitely deserves better than this. You’d better take care of her!
I have to admit I keep wincing when I see the way that Naofumi does business – surely he knows a hospitable attitude is the best way to get returning customers right? In all serious, it’s very obvious the reason he persists so is due to the way he’s been shaped by this world. This is probably related how they are making it very clear that he is “cleaning up” after the other heroes perform some sort of superficial “good deed” that ends up creating a thoughtless mess for the people left behind. I am constantly reminded of the legends of the shield hero that were brought up in the beginning of the show – without him, a good lot of these people would continue to suffer. At this point he has some repute for sure – I’m just not sure if the populace understands that the “Savior of the Heavenly Fowl” is the same person as the Shield Hero.
I’d be ok if every episode ended up with the spear hero getting kicked in the crotch – I was also relatively surprised he was a lolicon, let’s lock him up. Can we kick Myne into a dumpster too? I don’t think I can contain myself for the queen’s inevitable retribution at the end of this show.
