The Rising of The Shield Hero Season 2

Episode 3

After two episodes that mostly amounted to exposition about a new random threat that we barely got the chance to see or understand, this week's episode should have been rewarding; all the setup is out of the way, and now it's time to tackle the threat of this giant turtle head-on. But I gotta be honest: I feel very disconnected from a lot of the turmoil that was going on in this episode. It's an inevitable consequence of being told constantly about how destructive the turtle is but never getting to actually see any of that destruction happen or get a better visual sense of how prominent the threat was. It seems like the showrunners have been saving all that carnage for the battle in this episode, but establishing a threat AND taking that threat out in the same episode only makes a lot of the devastation come across as very passive, and as a result, none of the deaths on screen feel like they carry any significant weight. When one of the prominent political figures goes out in a blaze of glory or when hundreds of soldiers die on the battlefield, it just makes them feel like fodder, even if that was never the intention.

That said, this episode does have its moments, accompanied by some nice animation cuts here and there. The way the turtle's head is cut off is appreciably creative. I also liked the beginning of this episode where Naofumi was actually seen as someone to be revered with a lot of respect and authority. Again, it's nice seeing the difference between how he is treated now versus how he was treated before. It even got to the point where his very presence seemed to boost morale amongst soldiers and despite the casualties, his plans did seem to work. Obviously things aren't that simple and I immediately called that there was a catch when the turtle was “killed”. We still don't know who's been controlling this turtle behind the scenes, and the turtle's presence still feels foreboding even without its head. Let's hope the conflict gets more engaging and streamlined next week.

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The Rising of The Shield Hero Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.