Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Rising of The Shield Hero
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Hiroki not Takuya
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I'd have to say that I might be a sucker for these situations but the pivotal interaction between Naofumi and Raphtalia in Ep2 and especially her VA's subtlety in conveying her emotional conflict between running away from what had terrorized her in the past or fighting it to keep from losing what she had gained left me with chills and a little teared up. I think this shows some quality underlying the "stomping around"...
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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Absolute Duo did the dude has a shield instead of sword thing, though it took all of two minutes for its protag to reveal that he also could falcon punch opponents (women, at least) so it did little to interrupt the "fantasy."
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Ronie Peter
Posts: 120 |
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I will say it again, with all respect: some columnists of this site are incompetent and should not write. This politically correct in the evaluation of the series is really a terrible mistake. Martin, please stop writing, you're an inability!
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5499 Location: Iscandar |
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I am really liking this anime. It has quickly become my favorite new show. I am not a big fan of the isekai genre, but Shield Hero is very appealing to me. And I am honestly not bothered by the controversial issues.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18424 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Wow, it took all of three posts for this to emerge. Can't say I'm surprised. So I'm being "politically correct" just because I'm basically saying, "some people could be bothered by this?" Sorry, but that's being hyper-sensitive the other way. Past discussion threads concerning this series have proven that some people will be bothered by some of this content, so what's unfair or inherently political about including a warning? If there's anything else in there you think is political then point it out for me, as I was specifically trying to make the review apolitical. Perhaps you should read the review again for other reasons, too. My actual criticisms are about the series being over-the-top in beating Naofumi down and not applying full fantasy RPG logic to a setting clearly heavily-grounded in fantasy RPG mechanics. Those are criticisms that I think would be hard to refute and in no way, shape, or form are they the slightest bit political. |
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Minos_Kurumada
Posts: 1181 |
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I remember reading this Manga, I think the "Matriarchal" thingy was established way after so, I suppose either I don't remember well or the Anime staff added it sooner to give more realism to the accusation or it's different on the light novel.
I mean, Why do it matters if it is a Matriarchal society? From a logical point of view the girl is a princes and Naofumi is a random guy from another world, who is the people supposed to believe matriarchal society or not? Another thing I am not sure it's the status of this as a "Controversy", I saw some videos on YT but all of them complained from the same tweet from the same guy, a sole guy mad at something it's not a controversy. It just sounded to me that some "Right" wing guys from YT wanted to capitalize a fake controversy to get subscriptions. |
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Cryten
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Sincerely thank you Theron for posting those reservations. Personally its exactly these reservations that I want to know a bit more about before I get into the series. The false rape into slave owner base story has me worried and has stopped my sampling the first 2 episodes. What I dearly want to know before I trial this series is: - Is it going to turn into one of those bitter revenge stories where the protag turns into a anti hero or anti villain who destroys the complacent in gruesome fashion in a big revenge arc. - or is it going to grow the characters in a more natural place of seeking refuge and healing followed by growing the character out.
I am not really interested in a Count of Monte Christo style spite/hate killing series. I really want to know if the whole embracing the bad rep story is going to play out that way. Cause I am still a bit intrigued. |
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S0crates
 Posts: 227 Location: Banned - Noticed our poor ethics |
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I think Theron handled it ok. Maybe a few people just assume that the politics impact/hurt the score, as we've seen this with Goblin Slayer last season where the reviewer (can't remember the name) clearly didn't enjoy watching the show and felt "forced" to sit down throughout it. With GS being that season's most popular shows, that probably gave a poor taste in some people's mouths (which might subconsciously carry over). The Rising of the Shield Hero will probably be this season's most popular new show (judged from amount of reviews, MAL members (https://myanimelist.net/anime/season), Crunchyroll reviews and feedback count, etc. etc.) and they probably just assume/fear more "reviewers that hate dark fantasy that review dark fantasy". As for the review itself, I personally am fascinated as for why a false rape allegations are that uncommon (and thus "controversial"). For a dark fantasy show that seem to be dealing with demonic spells and mass killings later on (judged from the opening), a rape allegation is more the topping of the cake, which the reviewer here also puts it as. (Sure, he might mention it more times than I would, but I don't get the feeling he's mentioning it as a method to evaluate his score to any larger degree more than as an acknowledgment that it sparked some conversation in the community.) Overall I'd say the opening is very good at setting the stage, as these sorts of scenarios happen in reality often enough without getting addressed (it would be political suicide to increase punishment for false rape allegations in current time) despite perhaps as much as 90% of allegations being false (http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/6478/1/Download.pdf). It thus uses a known "society problem" to turn the world against the protagonist in a way that is believable. It's also different from being believed to be a "killer" or "monster", as those brands doesn't hurt your honor and status in the same way. You can see from the ending of episode 1 that he is not filled with hatred, but more apathy and hopelessness. This is something new, and a feeling many can probably associate with more than "uncontrollable rage" in today's society. In a way it is similar to Goblin Slayer in a way that "good deeds/naive trust can go punished" and where there's certain roles that get all the glory, while there are unsung heroes that deserve better. All in all I feel these female (pen name) authors went about it in a very clever way. People who bring politics into this, (which I don't see any evidence of this reviewer being guilty of btw,) probably project a lot onto the protagonist that was never intended of the author. In a way, and this is not me trying to stir up any political conversation, the people who gets upset are probably the ones who need to hear such stories the most. As the presumption of innocence is the core value of modern civilization, and is increasingly important as social medias roars, where especially girls bully each other a lot by spreading false rumors more unhinged (before everybody knew "Gossip Gabi" on the block was not to be trusted, now many believes "Gossip Gabi" on facebook even if she lies constantly). To become emotionally stable, to not make errors of judgments and to become a decent citizens is about exposing oneself to that which makes you uncomfortable at times, as you can't make yourself less afraid, only more brave. And through bravery you gain self-control, and through self-control you gain clarity. Now, I don't mean to go full Buddhist preacher on this, but this story only serves to illustrate that there are always at least 2 sides to a story, and that no one should be quick to judge. Anyways, I also feel the art and character design is good, and the story seem to evolve more about brains (again drawing parallels to GS). I hope we'll get to see more "creative use" of spells as times moves on, and that the "low tier" is just "cognitive demanding tier". The world dynamics is also very interesting, and I hope the director doesn't shy away from the meaty pits in the visual novel (been hard not to have gained some spoilers at this rate, even if I havn't read it myself), and isn't afraid to go dark when there's a need for it. Overall a good setup, and I'm definitely going to watch this weekly going forth. Last edited by S0crates on Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:39 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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Alex_Sandy
Posts: 26 |
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I like this series too. I have to say I wasn't one of the people who exploded in self-righteous outrage over the false rape accusation used to propel the narrative. All kinds of incredibly crappy things happen irl including things like this.
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Nordhmmer
Posts: 1028 |
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Go over to The Rising of The Shield Hero Fandom Wiki and read the web novel's summary/synopsis-Though keep in mind the anime is adapting the light novel not the web novel and there are plot differences between them. --------------- For a few others...I keep seeing folks comment they've read the manga,yet they're discussing events that have not happened in the manga nor in the LN,but which occur in the web novel. The anime is based on the light novel. |
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Terrible90sDub
 Posts: 168 |
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Lol, I had a similar thought. It's possible I've just played the wrong MMOs, but tanks are often the most in demand of all class types, and seeing as they even throw in video game menus and status bars, it clashes that everyone here scorns someone with a shield. Granted, tanks are capable of doing damage in most rpgs as well, but... you'd think when signing up for a party, more people would want to go with the person who will soak up damage for them. Even beyond that, the world just seems poorly thought out to me, which makes it hard to see much in this series to praise. The way he threatens merchants is a good example of this, since even assuming he doesn't care that his reputation continues to sink, earlier we see him defeating those balloons just by punching them and we know his strength stat is in the gutter... Do merchants not have a basic knife around to protect their establishment against such situations? Couldn't they just stab a fork into one of them to pop them when they're presented as weak level 1 monsters? 
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Random Name
Posts: 651 |
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Yea I definitely don't understand the mindset of this world I mean dps are a dime a dozen. Tanks are where it's at. I think they really got the pecking order backwards. I mean if you're in a dungeon and a dps leaves you just keep going but if the tank leaves your waiting 30 min before you find a replacement.
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S0crates
Posts: 227 Location: Banned - Noticed our poor ethics |
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Someone clearly never played during the McCree era of Overwatch (would kill any tank even through healing), or the World of Roguecraft (World of Warcraft when rogues were OP and could kill anyone with gray gear). 
Then you had Dragon Age Origins where you're better of abusing healing and mana potions and going full DPS team (Storm of The century would kill your tank and dps regardless). Then you have all them Final Fantasies where the tanks are basically useless without some mage boosting them. And who the heck plays a tank in Mass Effect? Oh man, the best RPGs have no tanks. Tanks only became a thing with WoW I believe and then everyone started copying it. It's boring gameplay in my opinion and even in WoW it's much more fun with double Frost Mage in the arenas anyways. Edit: Here's me hoping the Shield Hero proves me wrong in this series though, but overall I must admit I'm no fan of tanks in games in general. They are arguably for people who needs to take it slow as they don't got the skill for high risk high reward type of play. Last edited by S0crates on Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:05 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2902 |
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I give a lot of points to the reviewer for not being blinded by the politics, only thing I disagree and I almost was not going ot bring up is this paragraph.
This is perfectly reasonalbe after watchign ep01; but ep02 gives us mroe info, that demihumans are considered inferior to humans and that the previous shield hero was a friend to demihumans. Also, and there is no real hint to that, just a what to read the scene, the amtriarchy set up is not done to make you think "in a matriarchy womens accusations will be given more weight", but it's a hint to something different in the future. I don't fault the reviewer much on this since it's obvious the matriarchy line was a hint to that, but don't worry, is not a hint about a matriarchy society being unmustly unfair to males or anything like that . the thing is shield hero is a series filled with hints to later developments, and it's perfectly reasonable to take the hints to other direction.}, so keep up the good work. |
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Junko666
Posts: 35 |
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To be fair Martin, you did more than simply say "some people could be offended".
Here you're stating that now is not a good time for stories to be adding in false rape accusations and I presume you're referring to the "#MeToo" movement here? Frankly this is silly. False rape accusations, slavery, murder or any other kind of atrocious crimes have been going on in the real world since time immemorial. Just because the #MeToo movement has brought more of these issues to light recently doesn't mean they were never there beforehand. If you feel that now's a bad time to use false rape accusations as a story element then when is a good time to? Answer will likely be never. I mean you're hardly going to find it inappropriate now but then be okay with it a few years from now right? Personally I feel that authors are entitled to write whatever content they want to when it comes to Literary Fiction and regardless of the content that is in their fictional setting, they as an individual shouldn't be attacked for it. Which is why I was appalled at what Nick Creamer said in his preview write-up. Nick should be ashamed for making those kind of projections on the author. Its fine to criticise the story but don't go after the author. Apart from that though Martin your review was fine overall in particular I definitely agreed with you here:
As someone who's played quite a few MMO/RPGs in my lifetime it does baffle me how the others don't seem to comprehend just how important the role of a "tank" is. Sure DPS have the "coolest" role but without the "tank" they would never survive. |
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