The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3

Episodes 1-2

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The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 ?

Community score: 3.8

Shield Hero is back with a third season; this is the third time I am talking about its introduction. Skimming through the obligatory stuff, season one of Shield Hero was solid but controversial due to some of its characters and world-building elements. Season two was absolute garbage and probably one of the worst things I had finished in the past few years. Now we're onto season three, which seems to be doing everything in its power to make up for the franchise's previous shortcomings right out of the gate. It is spectacularly animated and directed with fight choreography, which gets me legitimately engaged with what's happening. But this season also seems to be trying to talk about one of its more uncomfortable elements: how it dealt with the concept of slavery. Even if you were a fan of the show, the way that Shield Hero frames the dark underbelly of this fantasy society, with the demi-humans being used as an allegory for subjugated minorities, wasn't handled well.

Naofumi buys his main companion and eventual emotional support as a slave, and she is so infatuated with him that she glamorizes the idea of what a slave means to her. I was never comfortable with the idea that Raphtalia still wanted to be his slave even after she got her freedom in season one or how she seemingly pressured other people into wanting to be his slave in season two. Yes, there were practical, in-game reasons for it, but the show never really tried to address how messed up the system was outside of maybe poking fun at Raphtalia. My favorite thing about season two was when she finally broke away from that moniker to gain some sense of independence, standing alongside Naofumi as an equal with some self-respect. I still question why Naofumi is seemingly okay with the slave market, as he regularly works with the main slave trader, who looks more evil than anything else in the show. Still, season three at least seems to be addressing part of that larger issue.

No world-ending threats are imminent. The season starts by establishing that there is some time until the next major attack happens. So, in the meantime, Naofumi is putting his money where his mouth is to buy up the demi-human slave trade. I don't know why he can't just work with the queen to have the system abolished. Maybe there are some issues with Naofumi being a part of that system since season one, or maybe it's something Naofumi feels he has to do on his own because of his promise. It is hard to say, but I like that he's at least trying to liberate as many people as possible. That seems to be one of season three's major emotional plot points so far.

Whether or not it can stick to that is another story because this franchise has had a very bad habit of setting up some pretty interesting ideas only to completely drop the ball and focus on the least interesting aspects of those setups (I say as I look at the entirety of season two). Plus, it has a poor track record with sensitive subject matter. Not only has this show not handled delicate topics very gracefully, but I would argue the entire isekai genre has had an abysmal history of dealing with heavy themes like slavery with any sense of tact. So, while we are off to a good start, I approach every episode with a strong sense of caution, depending on where the narrative plans to go. Considering that the next episode seems like it's going to focus specifically on the experiences of two poor demi-humans, let's see exactly what we're getting ourselves into.

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