The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3

Episode 7

The direction of Shield Hero's season three is still unclear. Many likable things are introduced, one of them being glimpses into the lives of everybody around Naofumi, giving the show a laid-back feeling. Considering the beginning of the series, I never would've thought we could reach a relaxing point. There is a sense of overarching tension because the next big plot point would be the spirit phoenix's arrival. But if you took that line out of the episode, there isn't much urgency to make you think that preparation for the next big catastrophe is in process.

It's nice to see Ren being chill and interacting with other people properly. Naofumi having him serve food to the children and seeing him train with Eclair while watching that relationship develop is nice. The Spear Hero's whereabouts are unknown. Perhaps the creators realize they only need one person to harass Filo per episode, and introducing this new character named Rat fills the quota. Filo is going to need so much therapy after the season is over since everyone is just hunting her down and violating her personal space without consent.

While many of these slice-of-life moments are nice, it begs the question of whether or not the show will stay this way until the big bad shows up at the end of the season. Half of the season has already passed. While there have been developments, it doesn't feel like the show is going anywhere. There is a whole subplot with a dragon that came out of nowhere. Is it supposed to be tied in with the dragon that Ren killed in season one? Was it referenced for being cute, or was that supposed to be a foreshadowing? Hopefully, the next episode will offer more clarity.

P.S. The CGI for the dragon looks awful

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The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.