Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4
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jdnation
Posts: 2499 |
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Just when I think I'm out, you pull me back in with this "so far it's okay" review.
Well, actually, I think I'll wait to hear more, in case it does let me down again. If it turns out to still be okay, or God-willing, good, I can always binge this later... |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20003 |
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Well, it's Shield Hero, by this point you enter into a new season you get what you're expecting...typical fantasy adventure stuff, pretty much every character is simping for Naofumi (especially Atla, it's like basically her whole character at this point), and the story doesn't seem to know where it's really going at this point.
That being said, the visuals of the season still remain on-point, MADKid did the OP, and Sadeena exists. But I can't say I'm at all engrossed in Siltvelt politics. Oh and the Three Stooges are taking a backseat in the plot again...but that's probably for the best. |
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SinisterOracle
 SubscriberPosts: 856 |
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We finally get to see a nude Naofumi!
In all seriousness, this season so far does seem better than 2 and 3. I’m hoping for some answers to things that keep being teased but never really explored. I recently rewatched the whole series and I have some thoughts: 1. Bitch/slut needs to be bitchslapped hard enough that all of her teeth get knocked out. 2. The three wieners are the dumbest ducking people ever. 3. Since Raphtalia is a vassal weapon holder for another world, wouldn’t she be transported back there during a Wave? 4. Naofumi and L’Arc would make a good couple. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4856 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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sadly that wont happen! he's too mentally damaged by myne's bullshit to ever trust anyone that does not have a slave colar on them. as for the dub, is that JYB using an alias!? and if so, WHY!? |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20003 |
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I love how they talk up how much of a utopia Naofumi is building back in his village and then have Fohl go "well, we're still slaves though" because yes, even the Shield Her has slaves. but it's okay because he's the Shield Hero, right?
Honestly I'm not sure if we're unironically supposed to be rooting for Atla's whole spiel and worship of Naofumi like your typical Isekai protagonist or see that she's becoming somewhat deranged/fanatical in her devotion to him. "God is never wrong." You shouldn't deify people like that, especially Naofumi who would never want that. Yet somehow I don't think we're meant to see Atla as being in the wrong versus the Siltvelt people. Even Raphtalia was a little thrown off and she was the first person to drink the Naofumi-sama cool aid. Okay, half-human turtle man shows up out-of-nowhere...because the plot needs him to. Also can she cut Fohl some slack? I get it, he's not as strong as her, but she like batters down his confidence and treats him like she cares so little about him practically every episode. I can't believe we're still wasting so much time before Naofumi just gets a frickin' boat. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 3030 |
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Ep4- With how stupidly Fohl was fighting, getting beat up practically just standing around, and for all the buildup that comprised the episode flashbacks and all it got a full laugh from me after he "transformed" that he declares "Watch Me..." and then cut to credits! For some reason, the "fight" seemed to have no stakes and built no excitement to see what happens next week and I wouldn't be surprised if Fohl just launches off with some lame/regal-sounding speech...Writing just didn't put in the background work to make me care...
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jr240483
Posts: 4856 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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its been one of my pet peeves regarding adaptations from kadokawa! while they definitely to justice with the production staff and anime quality of an isekai series ala this , re zero & eminence in shadow , they have a really nasty habbit of leaving out a lot of stuff which will leave anime only viewers batshit confused unless they are well versed in the light novels. and it is a damn shame too considering that among LN fans, this arc along with vol 21/22 is considered the best of the series! |
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Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 3030 |
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Maybe I should amend my last statement to "the adaptation team didn't put enough of the writing in to make me care"? I wouldn't say I'm confused so much as nonplussed at baffling plot directions. For one, Fohl and Atla had a great intro and their plight was interesting and relatable, but then they get put into the background with Atla being heralded as a fighting genius and Fohl being her hapless foil during interminable training when he had previously been a regular in the Arena Fights...
Then, *boom* here they are with Atla mouthing off to an army general as if she owned the place and gets rewarded with a death match which Fohl insists on entering too which seemed to me to be the biggest death flag. But, no, he's supposed to be the true wunderkind actually and Naofumi and everyone else is weirdly OK with it because "we just have to believe in them". No you don't, Fohl will get murdered if Jaralis is half as strong as he looks... We have to be missing some major info for this to make any sense or is everyone "in" on Atla being a one-girl army and that's why someone doesn't just grab her and Fohl and take them outside so the Grown-Ups can talk? |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 5348 |
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It's definitely odd. Like, I get her being dedicated to him at this point, but she has to know that he's just some guy, and not a god. It's pretty understandable that people would at least question why their living deity has only turned up now on his way somewhere else. And I definitely agree about how long this is taking. The Waves were the main problem, which got put on hold because of the spirit beasts. They dealt with one beast, and the second one will be coming sometime, but not before the sudden need to deal with royal succession for Raphtalia. And then that got put on hold to deal with this. It feels like maybe the story was going to resolve faster than intended and then the author went about inventing reasons to slow down along the way. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20003 |
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I can't believe we've spent so many episodes just for Naofumi and co. to get a boat. And they still don't really have the boat they need!
Honestly, imagine if they'd just stolen a boat, that would have been far more entertaining than this. Like, tell Sadeena to pull a boat heist, I feel like she'd be totally up for it. Give Sadeena more screentime in general. I get it, this arc is for Fohl and Atla's backstories/character development, especially Fohl, but it just feels like such a waste of time. Jaralis is also such a dime-a-dozen anime villain with no nuance. They establish that certain beast races are looked down and not given as much authority but then turn him into a mane-twirling villain who thinks he's the Final Boss and can have multiple forms. So Fohl can go full beast mode now because that's something Naofumi can do now. And gets ridden while naked by his sister. Yes, that is a thing that happened. Also here's all these thugs so the rest of the cast has something to do I guess. There's something funny about a blind girl pulling a fashion show on a guy who is more focused on cooking than anything else. Like even Raphtalia is trying to gauge how attractive she looks in a miko outfit and Naofumi could care less. Why do we even need to go back to restructure the party!? Wasn't this going to be the Q'Ten Lo group? |
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jr240483
Posts: 4856 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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its more or less one of the pet peves of the entire series! she's trying her damnest to heal his heart ever since the turtle arc involving kyo and he more or less brushed her aside as well as her advances! |
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Jabootu
Posts: 417 |
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SH has surely rebounded from the disaster of season 2, and it's polished enough. Still, every week leaves me feeling vaguely dissatisfied. I think the lore has gotten entirely too complicated, meaning they keep introducing elements and then leaving them unresolved for what seems entire seasons. Didn't Raphtalia become a sword saint or something? Isn't Filo the heir apparent to the throne of the Bird People or some such? The other three Heroes are running around in the background and when we do see them its seldom to much effect. The Waves, the alternate worlds...frankly, at this point I wish they'd just resolve all the big stuff and then just stick to the village Naofumi is building. Or...anything, really, as long as they would focus on it.
But no, we have to stop in a new city on the way to another city, introduce a bunch of politics and characters and stuff, and THEN spend a bizarre amount of time, an entire episode or two, on some not very interesting side characters battling each other in a manner that just has no juice. Was I the only one bored with that whole battle and wishing they'd just get on getting that damn boat already? It's not a production values issue, the show looks better than a good half dozen shows I could name that have worse animation but manage to get me really involved in their fights. I know that people get annoyed with all the meetings in Reincarnated as a Slime, but there's a show that knows how to introduce a bunch of stuff, keep a few balls in the air at a time, and resolve a couple before moving on to the next thing. It has a million characters but at least a lot of them are being serviced to the extent that you don't lose track of people. They might back burner one or two long-term plots, but you never feel like they won't get to them eventually because they're resolving so many others in the meantime. I want to like SH more than I do but it's really starting to lose me. |
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jr240483
Posts: 4856 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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the difference is that tensura has more comedic approaches to chapters that involve meetings.
SH tried that with the cardnial heroes meetings that the queen held, but that ep fell flat. probably why the LN never had a neeting like scenario every light scene thrn |
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Jabootu
Posts: 417 |
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Oh, no doubt. Slime does a lot of things better than SH (as does Overlord, for another example), and humor is definitely one of them. That said, the meetings in Slime also work better because the matters they discuss seem consequential. In SH we just seem to lurch from one sub-plot to another and seldom to much effect. Does anyone here feel any real tension or suspense at the approach of the next Wave? I don't mean that snidely, I'm honestly wondering. Because frankly I don't. Now you can screw up the macro story but still nail the micro story and keep my interest. Frankly, though, the show doesn't pull that off often either.
I think the most enjoyment I get from Shield Hero comes from his appearances in Isekai Quartet. Aside obviously because of the jokes, I think that's probably because it's basically just him, Raphtalia and Filo. I don't know that's there's anyone else on this show that I'm really that invested in. Again, though, I understand that milage varies. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20003 |
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I can't believe they're trying to make us interested in Trash's backstory they've been teasing for, like, two season...and I'm maybe kind of sort of interested in it? I wonder if Atla and Fohl will ever realize it's their uncle.
Why do I get this sense that we're going to get a lot of Raphtalia going "I don't want the throne!" and a lot of people not listening to her? Do I even want to know how Keel didn't know she was a girl for four seasons? Like, does she have absolutely no knowledge of male/female anatomy? Did she never bathe with anyone together to the point where they'd actually notice and tell her? And then she's having like a gender disconnect and being forced to wear a maid costume because Naofumi likes to put people to work. I totally forgot Gaelion could talk. I never expected Motoyasu to be the most effective of the Three Stooges but okay. It's funny how they recruited Itsuki and Rishia into the party and they then proceed to be useless against the Q'Ten Lo forces. Like, what was the point other than to give them something to do? And then they ditch most of the party to just have four people end up in Q'Ten Lo.
I dunno, a lot of the meetings in season 3 felt like "this could've been an email." |
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