Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Rising of The Shield Hero Season 2
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thadec
Posts: 45 |
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With all due respect what on earth are you talking about? First off there is NO WAY that a character with so many personality and morality flaws has and who fails as often as Naofumi does can be called a Mary Sue. Second, an actual Mary Sue example is Rey from Star Wars, who becomes one of the most overpowered characters in the universe with no explanation (ultimately they had to retcon her as Palpatine's granddaughter) or training. By contrast nearly the entire first season of Shield Hero was Naofumi level grinding and absorbing things with his shield merely to become barely powerful enough to survive the next battle. And he still has very limited offensive capability. Speaking of "little offensive fighting capability" ... Raphthalia and Filo were never "basically fanservice." (Which, by the way, this show has virtually zero of to begin with. All the female characters have normal figures and modest clothes ... no Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagaan or Rangiku from Bleach.) Instead, they are in every single battle as his offensive weapons. Have you even watched this show? Because it certainly seems as if you are describing a different one. Yes there are a ton of isekai and fantasy shows with Mary Sue protagonists and female companions that only provide fanservice and harem antics. But none of them get anywhere near as popular as Shield Hero. Can the people who dislike isekai - or let's face it, shonen - protagonists please let us know the personalities that you want to see? The everyday easygoing nice guys: "potato-kuns" The vengeful, resentful or acerbic: "edgelords" or "incels" The purehearted awkward types: "boring boy scouts" Or maybe you just don't want to see any more male leads at all? If so, just say that. This is the amazing thing: go back to the 80s and 90s and male anime characters had WAY more extreme personalities. Inuyasha anyone? Yusuke Urameshi? Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star)? Guts (Berserk)? Those guys were borderline psychopaths (OK maybe not so much Urameshi) which makes all the handwringing over modern characters like Naofumi merely being selfish, mistrustful and ill-mannered hilarious. |
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Matcha.8
Posts: 130 |
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We're now three episodes into the season so I guess it's fair to pass the judgement now. For all the flaws and controversy of the first season, it kept me entertained throughout. And I was excited for the return of season 2. But season 2 so far is, to put it mildly, bland. I'm not a novel reader so I don't know what is ultimately the stakes of the current arc on the main story, but currently it seems almost non-existent to me. The tortoise simply exists as a random creature they needed to defeat in order to get back to the waves. The pacing is all over the place. There's no character development, not the main party or the new girl. It's like watching a filler. I simply can't get invested at all. Maybe I should come back after this arc is over...
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Thesarum
Posts: 428 |
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Shield Hero is definitely the show I'm most disappointed in this season. It's still pretty ok, but nothing like as compelling as the first run. I guess Naofumi having become powerful, successful and liked is harder to make interesting. He doesn't really feel threatened by the Spirit Turtle, which feels like it's only really dangerous for faceless army grunts we don't care about. And of course Naofumi and the key members of his team have "plot armor", but good writing can make you feel otherwise. The pacing feels a bit off, a lot of the animation doesn't feel as nice (and the turtle was frequently awful), it's just all a bit lackluster.
Still, I hold out some hope it'll find it's feet. |
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Cryten
 Posts: 1043 |
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Isnt the Filo queen meant to kill naofumi for failing to co-operate with the other cardinal heroes? Or was she just being tsundere? I know he tried once when he realised the others each had an aspect of how to power up. But he returned to I am not willing to even speak to those idiots routine straight after. Along with them wanting to take the worst interpretation of his actions just to keep the show having some level of spite.
I imagine if the other heroes where removed the series would of meandered a bit quicker without the constant source for nao to spite. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2560 |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5891 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Yeah it is weird, but it is real life. People fall in love and have crushes on people they shouldn't, and everyone around says what in the world are you doing. Also, I think the Bow Hero doesn't control his entourage enough. When it comes to Risha I think his entourage is more of the problem. Your right about the capture of the three heroes. Who captured them, or did they try to deal with the Turtle god by themselves, after rebuffing the Queen. Still the scene was look away and you missed it. Probably the anime editing much out for time. |
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everydaygamer
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I don't know I always thought they did a pretty good job of showing that the other three aren't complete jerks. Sword and Bow have nasty tendency of treating the world as a game so they never consider the consequences of their actions while spear is a well meaning idiot who always allows himself to be manipulated by a pretty girl.
But they are usually shown to not be completely incapable of being reasonable. It doesn't help that Naofumi tends to have very little patience when it comes to dealing with them. |
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Covnam
 Posts: 3733 |
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Ah, so that's what happened? I thought some info was missing when they kept talking about finding the bow hero when it seemed like the other 3 had all gone off to do their own thing somewhere else. So was that info completely missing or did I just missing a line somewhere? |
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tintor2
 Posts: 1918 |
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To be honest, I nearly fell asleep while watching this one. They kept talking all over and they kept hammering the entire of the new "slave" and her unconditional love for the dude who dumped her. Almost like a filler.
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MFrontier
Posts: 12000 |
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It's actually surreal seeing one of the Three Stooges actually acting like heroes and helping people. I guess it explains why Rishia is so focused on Itsuki, even if I feel like they still need to develop her more and establish what she brings to the table. But it kind of makes her seem like the Raphtalia to Itsuki even if he didn't treat her anywhere near as well as Naofumi treats Raphtalia (or eventually did).
Japanese people Isekai-ing is so commonplace that common Japanese is basically seen as an ancient language. I'm not surprised it's just coming down to Naofumi's party, but I was kind of hoping to see more of Eclair, Baba, and the Queen. I guess I should've figured L'Arc and company would wind up in the Turtle thanks to the Opening. But Jun Fukuyama's voice gave it away before "lad" did. I'm curious where this arc will go from here. Also, Glass's new outfit and hairstyle! |
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Thesarum
Posts: 428 |
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I don't know that the Itsuki Risha met is that out of character - he's always had the face he shows the other heroes (and Naofumi particularly) and the one he shows the world. When the heroes were off adventuring and leaving messes for Naofumi to tidy up, his "thing" was a self-appointed hero of justice act, bringing down evil rulers & lords. I imagine he was all charismatic freedom fighter act to the people he met at the time. He didn't care much for those he was "saving" other than in an abstract sense, but it's entirely plausible the daughter of a minor noble would have been dazzled by him initially. He treats it like a game, but being heroic and charming with a side of flirty is how you act to the damsels you save in games, isn't it?
Afterwards, the emotional impact of that first meeting blinded her to his real character (which isn't malevolent, just self-centered and arrogant, but he always does it with a smile because he believes himself to be a good person). Hopefully being part of Team Shield will open her eyes to all the ways Itsuki and Team Bow are terribly deficient. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 2560 |
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Have to say I was thinking the same about Ost being the turtle's mental embodiment when she showed up but dismissed it as too convenient and a little off. Glad that they explained that the Spirit Turtle isn't just some random menace in addition to the Waves but is a Guardian/safety to keep the waves from destroying the world in the hero's absence. At least that makes sense. That a turtle heart has a laser-eye defense mechanism is less so and frankly bizarre. It seems that the author couldn't decide whether the Turtle was supposed to be a Great Spirit (ala Re:0) or a Magical Beast.
Also, it really doesn't seem that the other Three Heros have been captured as alleged or are even around... |
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AQuin1904
Posts: 266 |
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I don't think anyone specifically said the three heroes were captured, just that they were last seen running off toward the tortoise. We're also missing a scene with spoiler[confirmation that they aren't dead] from the LN.
I recently re-listened to the Japanese audiobooks of this part out of curiosity, and I'm increasingly disappointed with what the anime is doing with them. I'm all in favor of skipping to "the good part," but this anime plays out more like they're trying to maximize time spent talking rather than fighting in an arc that was all about giant, spectacular kaiju battles. The anime cut down on repetition do to things regenerating, etc., but it also cut a lot of gimmicks and other moments that made the tortoise feel like a consistent, serious threat to Naofumi and his party. These fights feel flat and uninteresting as a result. A combination of screenplay and visual issues are dragging down what was already a lackluster arc. Ost is getting increased screentime, probably to increase viewers' attachment to her for later events, but I don't think she carries that burden well. She just doesn't have as much going on as other members of the cast. I agree with the review that Kyo's scenery-chewing villain is a highlight, especially after so long without a personified antagonist. Even a one-note villain is better than nothing. He's appropriately hammy here, but Yao Yukiko's performance in the Japanese audiobook is one of the most over-the-top performances I have ever heard. He comes out sounding like a deranged muppet in that version. The main thing that struck me re-listening to this part is that it feels like a four-volume detour from what was the main story (five if you count what became the end of season 1). Most characters that made up the bulk of season 1 don't really continue their stories in a big way until volume 10, and political scheming and backstabbing also takes a back seat until then. (That's also when elements that drew complaints in season 1 return in such a big way that you have to laugh at them.) At first, I thought they might be trying to cover this whole four-volume chunk in one season, but at the rate the anime is going, I now have no idea what they could possibly use as a stopping point. Edit: Oh, and the review reminded me: the anime completely cut Naofumi's biggest action set-piece moment of the arc so far, which was also his biggest scene in terms of connecting with Ost. Real head-scratcher, that one. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 12000 |
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I get that it might be partially because the anime keeps cutting content (even though it doesn't sound like the arc was much better in novel format), but this arc feels so...dry compared to season 1.
Characters just seem to be going through the motions, there's no character or relationship development going on (other than Rishia I guess), the action is only solid to okay, Rishia comes off more like a joke character than a fully-fledged member of the cast, and Ost gets so many fakeout deaths and has such an inconsistent personality that it's hard to get attached to her beyond her VA and character design. Kyo seems like a fun antagonist though. Ryohei Kimura plays a smug villain really, really, well. Also seems like maybe he's from Japan? He seemed self-aware about everything and has a Japanese name, and Naofumi thought he sounded like someone from Japan instead of like the other Heroes from that world. He feels kind of like Naofumi if he'd never met Raphtalia. Also, I was not prepared for Glass in twintails, a breastplate, and pants but she looks pretty great. Even Naofumi commented on it. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2032 |
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As I brought up awhile back and others have also now mentioned... yeah... this season has not been interesting. Now the big tortoise thing is a pretty cool set piece and a crazy threat. But everything else around it has been very boring. I really don't care about Ost. I don't even care about Rishia. I wouldn't even know the other three heroes were captured or whatever if not for the OP. I don't know how the original story is or where it's going, but we could've trimmed every episode so far to get to this point in half the time. Should've just rewritten things so the show begins with the exciting giant tortoise assault and we pick up on Rishia's story and the stakes and character relationships and general exposition on the fly in the midst of the fight and finally venturing within the tortoise with clever dialogue. All this could've been done better and within the first 3 episodes. Hopefully this arc ends soon and we get something closer to season 1 with the focus back on Naofumi and Raphtalia. |
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