Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Rising of the Shield Hero Novel 12
|
Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
|
|||
|
Agree with the review; i like this series, but this volume makes my patience wear thin. It's clear the author doesn't have any moral hangups about slavery at all, the point of absurdity. That part during he battle against Itsuki where spoiler[all his child slaves argue for their enslavement because Naofumi is 'such a kind master'] was cringeworthy to the point of hilarity.
I don't dislike Atla as much as the reviewer, but i agree that her character can be aggravating. It gives a "harem" feel to a series that didn't have that element at all. It feels like we've had a lot of characters dropped on us too, without them doing much of anything; hopefully we'll get something meatier in volume 13. |
||||
|
||||
|
maximilianjenus
Posts: 2902 |
|
|||
|
Atla....
be careful of what you wish for. |
||||
|
||||
TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5925 Location: Virginia, United States |
|
|||
|
I am behind a couple of books on Shield Hero. But from the review, it sounds like the author has really gone over the top on the slavery issue. So much so, that it would be considered seriously out of character for Naofumi.
Unless this is some "power corrupts, ultimate power corrupts ultimately" thing, where all of Naofumi's friends must save his soul from his descent into evil. But I have never considered Shield Hero that deep. To be honest, the only reason I am behind on the series, is that it has been dragging for me, and from the review the show's loss of focus on its main characters seems even more egregious. |
||||
|
||||
|
FilthyCasual
Posts: 2370 |
|
|||
spoiler[At one point, Naofumi does in fact accidentally unlock a shield that turns him into a raving overlord of evil, but I don't think that that's happened yet.] So nah, it's just Naofumi running his own Sims game in a village. Also Atla is cute. |
||||
|
||||
|
MiloTheFirst
Posts: 429 |
|
|||
|
I have also being disapointed by the latest volumes. to be honest the "slave issue" hasn't been much of a problem for me as I just see it as Naofumi being a tsundere, meaning he just doesn't want to admit he is being benevolent to them, in other words, rather than it being suppoused to contribute to some power fantasy, it is just some trope self-indulgence being played along the in-character concequences of naofumi's trauma, in summary, it isn't meant to be taken very seriously.
the first of my problems with this volume in particular is how similar itsuki's plot line resolution felt to Ren's. like come on both of them were esentially spoiler[a stubborn idiot in denial had to be defeated by a girl they previously looked down upon in order to realise the errors of their ways] that structure would have worked well for either of them but for the very same situation to happen to both of them just felt lazy. at least with Ren they explored a bit more his mental state in his volume but with itsuki it just felt as if the author just wanted to get it out of the way and move onto something else, which is a great diservice given the themes implied in his character flaws. then there is the hook for raphtalia's plot line in the next volume, to be blunt, it just felt stupid and forced not to mention out of the blue. spoiler[someone tell me how those ninjas who had been surveilling raphtalia all her life could not realize she didn't even know their country existed. thus they acknoledging the miko outfit as coup declaration is just plain ridiculous] not to mention why did raphtalia now has to spoiler[end up coincidentally being royalty from some country? just, why? how does this help the story? what theme is this sudden coincidence gonna help study?] at least this will help the story move aside from the invaders from other worlds for a while. tbh, they reminded me in volume 11 the biggest flaw of this series, "the author doesn't know how to write interesting villains that are persons" when the antagonist is some giant monster or a chatastrophy the story becomes really fun, but whether it was spoiler[the high-priest] in volume 4 or spoiler[kyou] in volumes 7 to 9 they just felt extremely petty for the sake of being petty, these new invaders now also feel cartoonish. when a major final battle (voulme 9) has you skimping through the pages because of how obnoxious the villain's tamtrum is, the writter is doing something wrong that being said I do still really like this series, I hope it fixes this issues going forward |
||||
|
||||
|
Rokk3000
Posts: 52 |
|
|||
|
I've been enjoying the series well enough and don't have QUITE as much a problem with the portrayal of slavery as some of the other commenters. My reason: Yusagi makes it clear enough that most slaves, especially demi-humans, are badly treated: starved, beaten, overworked, raped. It's made clear repeatedly that the way Naofumi treats demi-humans if very different from the way most humans, including the other heroes, treat them. Raphtalia, in particular - Naofumi's very first slave. Even though he is clueless as to her physical and mental maturity and how she feels about him, she is still precious to him. He considers her a "daughter." Groaner, sure. But he loves her just the same and would die for her or Filo.
And it's also very true what the slaves say of Naofumi - he works as hard for them as they work for him and each other. He hunts, cooks for them, trains some of them, organizes them, goes into debt for them despite his money-grubbing merchant nature. Now what kind of master does all that? And he doesn't beat or rape any of them, and gives them plenty of rest. Pages and pages are devoted to that kind of thing, so we know the slaves are not exaggerating. It's not a reasonable comparison to real life - I recently read of a recalled book about George Washington's slaves. Washington was no Naofumi. He was not at all benevolent to his slaves, let alone a slave to them. I'd agree the Itsuki plot was rushed too much, and more time could have been given to Ren's growth as well. But the dragon storyline I think got about enough attention, and Raphtalia's story has been introduced nicely. As for what develops in the remaining half-dozen volumes of the series, it's easy to look that up. It's hardly a spoiler at this point, as the series has been complete for a while. So I won't go into it here, but there are plenty more revelations forthcoming for those who haven't read the original Japanese novels or the web series on which they were based. |
||||
|
||||
|
Rokk3000
Posts: 52 |
|
|||
|
[quote="MiloTheFirst"] to be honest the "slave issue" hasn't been much of a problem for me as I just see it as Naofumi being a tsundere, meaning he just doesn't want to admit he is being benevolent to them, i
That's an ongoing issue, and one that's deliberate. He always plays the villain in the way he talks and superficially behaves, and Raphtalia always stands up for him and says that's not how he really is. And his overall actions demonstrate that as well. It's Naofumi's reaction to being repeatedly betrayed - not just once or twice. Since he has been given the role of villain, he often acts it. I understand his feelings, and have done the same on a much lesser scale. So too do many other people. |
||||
|
||||
|
ultimatehaki
Posts: 1090 |
|
|||
From what I've seen that mad scientist part isn't in the LN at all (based on what's been released in japan.) Which is good in my opinion cause it was really dumb and the only part I didn't like out of the whole WN. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group