Got hooked on this anime, here's why

What an absolutely lazy day. I’ve done almost nothing but watch an anime called Rising of the Shield Hero. I suppose it’s fine to give myself permission to do this as I had been pretty much eating, sleeping and doing productive things without giving myself the time to just enjoy something.

I might of overdone it though. My eyes are a bit tired and my back hurts from being all day in bed, though it’s the only place I can watch this since I have no chairs or desk in my room. I am so terribly hooked I feel a bit ashamed but oh well, I’ll just finish the series and go about my usual business once again.

It's been a while since I watched anime, but these days for some reason I felt a longing to watch some, specifically I wanted to find something that looked kind of medieval, hopefully set in feudal japan with a mature animation and involving a lot of rain, in case someone has a recommendation (I just love those scenes of small villages and rain pouring, I can’t get enough of those moments).

Don't you just love that?

I had no luck with that so I settled for a title that called my attention: “The Rising of the Shield Hero”. If you want a description of what the plot is and all that go to Wikipedia and look it up or something because I want to talk about what caught my interest and not describe the whole cursed show.

The show is disguised as an adventure story but it’s really an emotional drama, with a lot of romanticism and thoughtful comment on society, corruption and moving on even when the whole world is against you. It manages to make you very angry and frustrated because you know the truth and can’t do anything about it.

Mein, one of the big antagonists. She WILL make you hate her.

At first I was put off by the fact that the main character described himself as a “common otaku”, living a comfortable life without having to work. But the animation moves quickly away from that narrative and the protagonist finds himself transported to a medieval setting, which is very much like a role-playing game where everything has a lot of personality and you can’t really tell who are other players or NPCs (shit, I’ve gone and described the plot). There are only four heroes who we know are players though and they all seem to come from different versions of Japan, like parallel realities so perhaps it’s not a game and they are there through magical means.

Each one gets a legendary weapon and this is where it gets interesting because the protagonist gets a shield while the others get ones that actually do damage. So here I’ll stop talking about the plot for real because that’s what I really wanted to get to: “what do you do with a fucking shield?!”. I wanted to see with what answer the series came up for that question and that made me stick around.

Actually that shield can do an endless amount of things and they got pretty creative on that.

Oh also, I stuck around because the protagonist had this big loser attitude and that reminded me of myself sometimes and felt that it was a genuine character. Also, it seems he’s cursed from the moment he arrives into this world, everybody treats him like a complete imbecile, he’s completely ignored by the king while the others are revered as heroes...

...and then gets robbed by a girl who was the only one who agreed to accompany him on his quest...

...and later he gets constantly sabotaged by almost everybody…

...and then he becomes resented and that’s where he becomes very serious about his role as a hero and works his ass off to get better equipment and level up…

...AND THEN… everybody dies. Because I’m already bored of talking about this anime.

Just kidding, it’s really good and I’m hooked. I’m very invested in the character development of Naofumi and, oh right I forgot to tell you he bought a demi-human child as a slave from a really shady character. Her name is Raphtalia and while he uses his shield to protect her, she is the sword that brings down the monsters.

The adult guy and young girl combination works. It worked perfectly in the movie “Grave of the Fireflies”, as well as the game The Last of Us, and also in the Telltale Games version of The Walking Dead. I think it brings out the more sensitive part of guys, the protector within, the guardian of innocent souls, and all sorts of titles you can give to the emotive sensation of looking after a younger one. Perhaps it works better in this combination than if it were a younger boy because there is always a bit of competition between men, even if subconsciously.

I don’t know, perhaps I’m too sensible, but after he bought the slave girl he dressed her up nicely, fed her the kid menu despite being more expensive and ate the cheaper one himself, then took her out and trained her how to fight while taking all the damage, it really got to me. In time Raphtalia turns into a badass swordswoman and is the voice of love to the main character who struggles not to get swallowed by his hatred towards all those who framed him.

The protagonist assumes a fatherly role with both Raphtalia and another girl who is actually a monster called a “filolial” which is a big bird, similar to Final Fantasy’s chocobos. But this girl turns at will between her bird and human form, retaining wings when human. One can’t help but like characters that hate the world while having a soft spot for those they choose to protect.

Filo was actually raised from an egg, but grows impressively in a couple of days.

It does get a bit cheesy at times and there are a lot of cliches going on, but it manages to end on some great cliffhangers and it becomes an absolute necessity to watch the next chapter.

What this show does really well is making you forget about the game-like nature of the world they're in. I mean, they sometimes remind it with the skills and him being able to see what level other people and monsters are, but it’s not to the point where it doesn’t allow you to get immersed in the emotional background of what’s going on.

I do like a lot the skills that Naofumi chooses and that he values learning about herbs and medicinal arts. When I play RPGs I tend to do the same and usually, my character will suck at fighting, requiring others to do the damage while I buff, protect and heal, so I guess I feel quite represented by the series in that sense.

Ok, now this is really it. I have nothing more to say about this. I mean I could go on and on, but you can also go watch the show if you’re so damn curious!

P.d. Within the first chapters the show gifted me a beautiful scene of rain pouring down in the forest so bonus points for that, very grateful because I needed to see that after so much time of dry hot weather!

All images were extracted from the Wiki of the show and belong to the creators of this anime.

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