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EP. REVIEW: The Rising of The Shield Hero

As someone who's played quite a few MMO/RPGs in my lifetime it does baffle me how the others don't seem to comprehend just how important the role of a "tank" is. Sure DPS have the "coolest" role but without the "tank" they would never survive.

The way he threatens merchants is a good example of this, since even assuming he doesn't care that his reputation continues to sink, earlier we see him defeating those balloons just by punching them and we know his strength stat is in the gutter... Do merchants not have a basic knife around to protect their establishment against such situations? Couldn't they just stab a fork into one of them to pop them when they're presented as weak level 1 monsters? :?

The other thing that bugs me some about this whole scenario is how willing everyone is to undersell Naofumi's potential. They seem to be entirely ignoring that a shield appearing as a set with the other legendary weapons means that they're supposed to be used in concert

Using a false rape accusation as a defining story element is incredibly ill-timed given what's been going on in the real world lately

Using a false rape accusation as a defining story element is incredibly ill-timed given what's been going on in the real world lately, which has created a lot of controversy for the series.

For example the country is actually ruled by a Queen but she is in another country on diplomatic business and we don't see her for several arcs.

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For example the country is actually ruled by a Queen but she is in another country on diplomatic business and we don't see her for several arcs.

No that is wrong. You meet the queen at the very end of the first arc of the series. Basically, Volume 4 of the Light novel, so this will probably be around mid season in the anime adaptation.

So about 3 or 4 years ago, KADOKAWA was looking for a title to make it big overseas, and during that time Crunchyroll and KADOKAWA were talking about some candidate titles. Crunchyroll producer, Sae Ho Song, pitched The Rising of the Shield Hero series to me, and he thought it was a great idea and we went forward with it!

like, how is this the fault of the series? The Light Novels started coming out in 2013, and the Web Novels came out many years before that. Obviously this is way before any of this #MeToo movement stuff.

Plus, its a series from Japan, written by and for a Japanese audience, so using a western standard to critique this plot point just seems really odd.

Someone clearly never played during the McCree era of Overwatch (would kill any tank even through healing), or the World of Roguecraft (World of Warcraft when rogues were OP and could kill anyone with gray gear).

Then you had Dragon Age Origins where you're better of abusing healing and mana potions and going full DPS team (Storm of The century would kill your tank and dps regardless).

Then you have all them Final Fantasies where the tanks are basically useless without some mage boosting them.

And who the heck plays a tank in Mass Effect?

Oh man, the best RPGs have no tanks. Tanks only became a thing with WoW I believe and then everyone started copying it. It's boring gameplay in my opinion and even in WoW it's much more fun with double Frost Mage in the arenas anyways.

I’m just gonna put it right out there and say without any spoilers that it doesn’t exactly stay ‘agreeable’.

Most of the series will be boring and harmless, emphasis on boring. But it does go to some bad places later on, so be warned.

AnimeFlyz wrote:

like, how is this the fault of the series? The Light Novels started coming out in 2013, and the Web Novels came out many years before that. Obviously this is way before any of this #MeToo movement stuff.

I am aware of this, but remember that I'm talking about the anime here, not any earlier version.

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Plus, its a series from Japan, written by and for a Japanese audience, so using a western standard to critique this plot point just seems really odd.

Why? People do this all the time and it's definitely not just Westerners who do it. In fact, not doing it at all would probably be stranger. Besides, a lot of the time I hear that argument used, it's done to attempt to excuse some pretty scummy stuff.

Now, I'm not saying that it's never appropriate - in fact, cultural context is often critically important in comedies, or in theatrical formats that are uniquely Japanese - but a fantasy series heavily based on Western-influenced RPGs and using a setting much more Western than Far Eastern is not the strongest place to make such an argument.

S0crates wrote:

Someone clearly never played during the McCree era of Overwatch (would kill any tank even through healing), or the World of Roguecraft (World of Warcraft when rogues were OP and could kill anyone with gray gear). Then you had Dragon Age Origins where you're better of abusing healing and mana potions and going full DPS team (Storm of The century would kill your tank and dps regardless). Then you have all them Final Fantasies where the tanks are basically useless without some mage boosting them. And who the heck plays a tank in Mass Effect? Oh man, the best RPGs have no tanks. Tanks only became a thing with WoW I believe and then everyone started copying it. It's boring gameplay in my opinion and even in WoW it's much more fun with double Frost Mage in the arenas anyways.

Thanks for the insight here, but I think you may be operating under a false assumption: that I'm talking only about computer or game system RPGs when I mention tanks. My background is actually much more in tabletop RPGs, and in those tanks are considered practically essential. Going into a combat-focused adventurer without 1-2 tanks (or characters who can at least effectively double as tanks) in a table of 5-7 is often practically suicide.