Funny you mention cartoonishly evil because technically, anime also encompasses cartoons. And why shouldn't animation, cartoons and anime alike, have cartoonishly evil villains and cartoonishly good guys?
@@linkskywalker5417 Im pretty sure everyone can understand what i mean by cartoonishly evil. The current villain of shield hero feels pretty similar to villains you see in comedy shows like konosuba. The difference is, konosuba started as a comedy, while shield hero started on a kinda serious note.
It truly is depressing how many anime try to "Um, Actually!" literal Slavery. "But he's really nice to his slave that the writer clearly ships him with, so it's okay!" Your mother should have swallowed you. !!!
I mean, if the hero of prophecy who was summoned from another dimension was framed as a rapper by a fire-crotch harlot who everyone believes in for some reason despite the overwhelming amount of evidence that it's a bold faced lie, and has no one to follow him while the only thing he has is a sheld the size of a saucer that impedes him from cutting butter with a knife, it'd be better to give him slaves than for us to become slaves to the demons or just outright fertilizer. But yeah, under other circumstances it would be wrong.
CONTEXTUALLY SPEAKING, Most isekais do this to indulge concerning fantasies. Naofumi does it because he literally cannot function without a DPS and initially he has really solid reason not to trust people, so he relies on the safety provided by the slave crest. He never treats Raphtalia as either a sexual object or a slave, opting to be more of an adoptive father and giving her freedom and agency from sitting in a cage or having a worse life. The crest later becomes integrated into the shield as a partywide buff, as well as a symbolic gesture of trust as he never uses it (save like one time for good reason) so people start taking it on to get those benefits. Slavery is never justified, but by his actions, Naofumi is not a slaver, he's a liberator. Edit: For you galaxy brains who keep coming at me with "Uh, why didn't he just write a completely different story?" the answer is 'because he didn't, and no amount of your wishful thinking or platitudes will change that.' Anyone else who tries to bother me with this infuriatingly pointless fallacy will be met with silence.
Funny Thing, the novel actually explains why they look like Chocobos. Because they were CREATED by a hero from Japan. Who probably played FF and liked those and ( probably unwillingly, at least this is what happened with Mamoru ) designed like that.
"The protagonist can't have childern! It is unrelable to our target audience! Have them want to suck his cock instead!" - someone from the Anime/Manga/ light novel industry, probably
@@mariox204 well even the one that just likes to pull wagons is being chased around by a weird older guy. And there is more than two now, including a blind child who likes to sleep in his bed.
"How absurdly proud Naufumi seems to be of himself for coming up with the same prank we all pulled on our pokemon rivals at age 6" Had me fuckin dying bro
@@dynamicworlds1 Instead we get a spinoff where Motoyasu is the MC and gets time traveled back to the start of the series and goes out of his way to change the story so that Naofumi doesn't get falsely accused and changes other story beats
props to Naofumi's English VA. bro is just the epitome of a shifty, edgy, batman-OC that he manages to nail Naofumi perfectly with that one slavery defense line
Yeah, billy kametz was an absolutely amazing VA in everything I've ever seen him in (even if the role isn't,,, the most flattering, like naofumi) Sadly he's passed away though :(
@@lord_ozymandias yeaaah he did I knew him mainly as Ran from Epic7 (bc I like ran,,, when he's written consistently,,,) but his voice is recognizable for me wherever it is. Really depressing that he's gone
Very minor complaint, but it's always bugged the absolute hell out of me that despite being the "Shield Hero", Naofumi's most frequent role in combat is not as a tank. More often then not, his huge variety of magical shields makes him essentially the party's caster.
I am sure he would have remained a Tank if he was not forced to find a way to survive himself. He was forced to think outside the box and use anything and everything to survive. If the other Heroes had bothered to listen to him when he was trying to tell them they could use one anothers power-ups I am sure they would have just as many crazy powers and he could simply be a Tank again.
Reminds me of how in monster hunter the support weapon can easily do the most damage if you use it the right way The hunting horn is slow, clunky but its buffs are extremely powerfull
The shield hero could have been sooo much better, but honestly I enjoyed the begining of the first season. The thing I hate the most is the fact that the other heros are so generic and boring
Agreed. Yes, the other heros are jerks and all but for how long will they stay so? They're supposed to be heroes, after all and they've to get off their high horse eventually and learn humility, I believe.
Apparently, the other three heroes actually did get their own arcs in the manga/light novel and those arcs happened before during and after the spirit tortoise. For some bizarre reason, the anime director just completely dropped them. The second season of the anime actually dropped a lot of interesting plot points for no good reason.
Anime drop things all the time in order to fit more story in. The truth is that studios never know how much of a show they will get to make, so they try to get in as much story as possible in a short amount of time so they can try to end each season at a spot where it would be OK if they never got the chance to work on it further. Sadly that means A LOT of anime get content cut, but I would rather some anime cut content then never getting a completed story.
@@K_O_M16 a lot of anime cut content like this one does, just like how movies adaptations of books will cut content in order to fit a runtime. They either show everything and risk not finishing the story, or cut content and leave a good story for people who doesnt care if they cut content.
@@aguywithalotofopinions412 and then its later revealed that malty was unwillingly possessed by a shard of an evil god which is why she acts so insanely evil and does stuff like lie when she knows she'll get shocked. And no one cares. not even her mother, she's still treated like a bad person.
No she wanted them to live because she felt death was to good for them. After thinking about it he agreed, she did not refuse as it was still his choice.
@@TheThebigice That was only in the Web Novel. It has yet to be revealed if she is or is not in the LN. So far it has just been shown that she is a pawn of the Evil God.
I think it is safe to assume what everyone points to for the decline: 1. The Protagonist stopped being the Man against the System once the Queen cleaned house; and he fell into the position as the only competent hero who is singlehandedly holding the line. Like every OP Isekai protag ever. 2. Raphtalia was downgraded to a just another follower instead of as the heavy damage dealer for the Shield Hero. She loses her critical role as more people are added and our Protag gets more ways to fight directly. Just like every Isekai ever. Edit: Felt the need to add a third big one to his after going back into the series. 3. Naufumi himself. What set this boy apart from other Isekai protagonists was his pathological fear of betrayal. That was what gave any excuse for resorting to Slave Brands. This was best shown in Episode 4 and the duel between Shield and Spear. He had this irrational fear of being betrayed and abandoned that overriddes everything he does. That is why Raphtalia goes out of her way to get the brand reapplied; she know that mentally he literally is incapable of fully trusting her without it. Great stuff; at least until he starts recovering emotionally and we never see that same type of primal fear of betrayal from him as in Episode 4. For reference look at a different show: 'Overly-cautious Hero' has a Protagonist who we learn near the end has an overriding pathological fear of losing friends in battle. He never makes that explicit but that colors everything he is doing, from trying to refuse comrades entirely to doing everything himself. Naufumi could have kept that edge to him, always having this irrational fear of betrayal from anyone he doesn't have total authority over. And I do mean everyone, from the Blacksmith to the Slave-dealer. But no, he is basically a standard cynical everyman protag who is also keeping Slavegirls because now they *want* to remain his Slaves. Oof.
1. The LN had a little more involvement in rising the other heroes to that level. 2. Raphtalia and the rest of the party get more powerful and Naofumi becomes an actual support. 3. The slave crest actually gives a stat and exp buff. That's why he keeps using it.
Yeah, Shield Hero downgraded with each passing episode to a generic Isekai. Raphtalia being the proof for being downgraded to being a potential love interest, and in the fighting department now that we have Filo dealing a good chunk of the damage to bosses, Raphtalia now is just the finisher.
When S1 aired it was my "guilty pleasure" show. Yeah there's a lot of elephants to ignore, but it was a fun ride once I turned my brain off. Then S2 started with another slave acquisition and immediately went into the most boring arc in any show ever. Dropped it like a hot potato. (edited for spelling)
Shield Hero: Guy who has next to zero offensive abilities and needs Slaves to help fight, while using his magic to ensrue they level up crazy fast Skeleton Knight: Stupidly OP who starts out on God Mode right out the gate and can own anyone who tries to stop him. Try again chief.
@@elvingearmasterirma7241 Except no it doesn't as the Slave Shield grants both exp and power boosts to ensure Raphtalia and Filo, who are doing most of the fighting, have as many advantages as possible.
@@elvingearmasterirma7241 In name only. They only wear the mark for the power up, that's it. You just like to point that out because it bugs you so much. Not my fault.
Eh. I think the trope is fine to some extent. Mostly because they DO treat them well, paying the slavers isn't necessarily a great thing but if that's how you can save someone from a bad situation and put them in a good one its fine. Some even have whole bits around trying to figure out how to break slavery that's just a forever thing in that setting. There's also the fact that in like 60-70% of these settings where a MC gets a slave slavery is closer to indentured servitude and criminal labor with only the 'truly evil' slavers dealing in illegal slaves who the MC will of course flatten and save the victims of.....and not only indentured servitude but perfected indentured servitude where it actually works and isn't just someone scamming someone into being a slave with no chance of escape, laws that require they be treated well or they get freed, laws that require them to be paid appropriately for their services and as such can free themselves eventually if they want to (they generally don't for various reasons in these but that's a different kettle). Shield hero is one of the WORSE slavery systems in isekai stories I've read. :P At least among any that aren't just 18+ stories. It honestly feels like a lot of these worlds use slavery largely to go 'See slavery doesn't have to be bad. Its just that our world is full of straight up horrible people.' and even so the protagonist usually goes a step beyond whatever the locals do with slaves(usually as simple as having them sit at the same table and eat at the same time as well as the same food. Which is really more of a general servant thing but I guess slaves get a step down from servant food normally?) Now is it strange that a large amount of Japanese media is trying to make good slavery? Yeah, yeah that's kinda....fucky. But that's probably mostly a fetish thing which isn't great but....yeah still fucky.
@@michaelholtke4445 It's genuinely concerning to me. Like, why do *so many* Japanese authors include it? Quite apart from spoiling every story it comes up in for me, it's kinda fucking me up that the stories get so popular internationally.
@@Sandman382 Nah, it's not fine. We don't need to reopen the slavery issue, especially when it's the only thing setting it aside from generic isekai. That's just shock value at that point.
It's weird to me that the fake rape accusation is considered _the_ elephant in the room, when I've never heard of that plot point and would have assumed the slavery was the elephant in the room. And even then, I hadn't heard about how he abused the agony-inducing slave tattoos. Why does this room have so many elephants?
false accusations are a much more relevant issue than slavery. In the West people don't really own slaves and we can accept it as part of the world the characters live in
The shock-titty-tattoo reminds me of an argument people make about real life slavery. That argument being that, though some slaves acted as if they really liked their masters... They did so under the constant knowledge that disobeying, or putting their masters in a bad mood even, could lead to physical punishment. Or being shipped off to a plantation away from your family. Or having your kids taken away. Or being killed. A "good" relationship with your slaves does not make you a good slavemaster. There are no good slavemasters. Which shouldn't need to be explained 🙄
Similarly, there's no such thing as a "good" slave position. Doesn't matter if you're in the fields or in the house, you and your kids and your spouse are still someone else's property.
@@valritz1489 Enter Thomas Jefferson, who simply cognitive dissonanced his way past this, by just not thinking his slaves were slaves anymore if he let them make his bath.
The stock titty tattoo solves the single largest anxeity facing slave societies, servile insurection. Figuring out how to keep slaves loyal is something slave societies wrote a lot about. Most Solutions to this problem involved some level of good Testament for slaves. The roman book "res rusticae" by columella argues that the best way to keep slaves loyal is to give this some hope of a better future, namely through offering Potential freedom. A roman could at any point free his slave, and under roman law a slave that reached the age of 55(i think) would be set free. Another recomendation is to give women as a prize to slaves and to allow slaves to Start families. Women could be given as rewards for loyal slaves, and it was thought giving rowdy slaves wives was a method of inspiring loyalty because then the slave holder could use the family as a insurance against disloyalty. Being able to magicaly compel complete loyalty removes perhaps the only incentive slave holders have to show any degree of kindness to slaves. The only thing left is the monitary incentive to at least keep the slave alive. Rising of the shield hero does not seem to think about the implications of the titty tattoo at all which makes the text's "slavery is not that bad actually" angle significantly more creepy.
Depends on the society. In some societies it really comes down to whether you could be free in the first place. So you may better be off enslaved than not enslaved as whatever would come to you when not enslaved might be worse.
My favorite genre of isekai anime is “slavery is bad so I shall become powerful to stop injustice! …by buying several slaves and using them to move up in the social hierarchy so that I can associate with the rich elites and then I will definitely end all the social issues and not just mess around with my good friends who I definitely don’t sleep with”
@pedroafonsopinheiro9874 In that society, orphans are not considered people until they are baptized at a certain age. Even after baptism they remain grey clergy which serve the noble blue clergy. They can also be bought and sold to the nobility. They all only survive off the leftovers of the blue clergy but the church is understaffed on blue clergy so the unbaptized orphans are starving live in terrible conditions locked up in the orphanage. Myne ends up becoming the orphanage director and tries to protect them from being sold (especially the women since they can be sold for sexual purposes) but she needs a way to have them be self-sufficient so they can be fed. To that end she has them work in in her papermaking workshop which (at least in the books) she admits is shady child labour. At various points she appoints or purchases some girls from the orphanage to serve her which will protect them from being purchased by less savoury people. At another time she enables a man from the orphanage to have his freedom purchased by a village so he can marry one of the village girls. On the whole, it is very much a world where you can't just instantly sweep away the way society works. It doesn't matter if you're a commoner or noble trying to do the right thing since the other nobles will retaliate and crush you and what you're trying to protect if you too abruptly and overtly go against their interests. It's a good show and light novel with a very carefully thought out story.
@@pedroafonsopinheiro9874ascendance of a bookworm, at least early on, has her settling on paid sweatshop labor as a viable compromise, since her funds are not unlimited. So, its not straight up slavery, at least. She does have paid servants, but the world has to drag her into accepting having servants instead of reading books.
Just once, I wanna see the isekai that includes slavery have the MC just go full "Murdertown, Population: Slave Traders", instead of "oh well if everyone ELSE is doing it too..."
@@eaahabis mushoku Tensei has a whole host of other problems. I would argue it's worse in ways. The main character is a pedophile and a groomer. I dropped it pretty early because the show wasn't showing him in a bad light and even encouraging the grooming.
@@eaahabis MC had seggs with a minor, he had his previous memories, so that's a big no no, doesn't matter if he was younger than her in his new life There, MT is no better (I don't hate MT)
@@Rybread52 I worded my comment incorrectly. What i meant, is that the shows original voice lines arent a dub. Since theyre original and intended to be used as original. If you didnt catch it, the original comment says "kiritos voice actor for Ren in the japanese dub" which CAN imply that he thinks the show is made in english and dubbed to japanese. I doubt that he does think that, but i wanted to clarify my thoughts either way
Depends. Ifyou have good criteria for what to read, it can seem that way. If not, you'll be wading through so much crap that Clutch Cargo will look like Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy in termsof quality. Unless you check a small fandom like Ghost Trick's
@@BJGvideosyup. Fanfic gets so much bad rep because of wattpad badboy stereotypes but in my experience, like, 80% character building comes from from it, and a lot of ff is waaay better than your average show. ┐( ∵ )┌
Because in fanfiction you tend to compensate on what is lacking on the story that you love or like. Like how I compensate the lack of gay stuff in naruto wherein I bridged that desire to the medium of journalism and literally submit gay fanfiction Naruto comics that are found at the back of every issue of magazine handed out. It was a one shot all most of the girls requested for more and the men requested a gl one. Im not gonna do it again though because it was a weekly issue of 13 pages and it made me depressed all throughout my four years in high school. This is why I gave up my dream of becoming a comic artist and shift programs halfway the semester to bussiness marketing instead.
You know, I always saw the other three heroes as parodies of the typical Isekai Protagonist archetypes. Ren is the brooding edgelord who is "so cool because he's indifferent to everyone" while having the personality of wet cardboard. Itsuki is the optimistic "chosen one" with a strong sense of justice, as well as an ego the size of Texas thanks to his hero complex. And Motoyasu is the loser harem protagonist who has gorgeous women fawning over him because the plot says so, despite the fact that his picture is in the dictionary next to the word "Incel". Also, the second season has been INFINITELY better since they finally killed that stupid turtle.
@Tin Watchman No one's forcing you, especially seeing how i literally didnt ever talk to you, but yeah: It's a good video, take the recommendation or leave it. And a Summary is hard; just sayin'.
@@mothersbasement Funny thing is... in the Rise of the Spear Hero Manga wich is the spin-off manga from the OG Series/Novel the main character is Motoyasu... and he doesn't change his worst traits that made him kinda despicable on this series... mostly... But... buuuuut... he becomes the best and the most entretaning of all the heroes on that story, also develops a moral code, a character development and the story is really really improved when they take even direct narrative flaws from even the first season episodes. They even redeem some of Naofumi's worst traits, Manga always wondering me on how an author perspective from a show can differ so much from another and can improve or ruin based on perspective. I really recomend you if you have time ''Rise of the Spear Hero''. Also, also... Some day ''What's an OP for Ranking of Kings opening 2'' I don't know why, but I feel it's one of the best openings ever.
@@mothersbasement I do have to ask, out of curiosity... How long did the shower take after writing and then expressing the part where you mockingly justify the show's slave bit... even in irony I feel extremely dirty after. watching it.
What’s frustrating about Naofumi and Raphtalia’s relationship is that their character flaws have a twisted, toxic synergy, but the story has never taken advantage of it. He’s afraid of being betrayed, she’s afraid of being abandoned. Their master-slave relationship, as screwed up as it is, plays off of these faults. Even if he doesn’t take advantage of it, Naofumi still has all the power in their relationship, he does have the ability to compel Raphtalia to stay by his side. Raphtalia, on the other hand, is scared of being alone. She desperately wants to have some connection to Naofumi, even being his property is better than nothing. They’re both damaged individuals, he can’t function in a relationship where he doesn’t have her on a leash, she sees that leash as a lifeline. The story has all this at its disposal and has done absolutely nothing with it. *THAT* is what’s so frustrating about “Shield Hero” to me.
In the LN Naofumi does struggle with all of this a lot more. Anime just doesnt have the time too deal with Internal Dialog. Its just the limitation of taking any written work into this kind of medium. So if you honestly want to see more of this play out in the story I suggest picking it up.
She was given the out when the slave curse was removed and the shield hero was curled up in a ball. She came back because she recognised his pain, not because he was the easy option; she could have gone with the spear hero for the easy option.
I like the interesting ideas in this anime but I wish they made the crest more of a mutual pact/contract mechanic rather than a taboo irl topic. Why'd the author build a found family daughters dynamic...then also add a sprinkle of unfortunate harem implications anyway. Why even have Raphtalia start out as a child. Why not have her start out as an adult in the beginning of the story if the author plans to pair them romantically later. This anime is good by isekai standards, I liked it when it came out. But the bar for isekai anime is so low anyway.
Wait until you see episode 10 of season 2 -- that put a huge wrinkle in that dynamic and it almost has to be addressed either in the last 3 eps of s2 or in the (already confirmed) season 3.
I recommend you to read the book titled Anti-Japanese Tribalism, it debunked thoroughly exaggerated and fabricated historical fictions regarding Japan and WW2, written by South Korean Professor Lee, Young Hoon. In now days Japan is one of the safest countries for women. Of course every existing country has it's own dark sides. However G7 countries including Japan are obviously the most civilized countries in Human history. That is why many people around the world wanting to move to those G7 countries even if they could risk their lives. P.S. if you don't mind please research about what South Korean soldiers committed against innocent Vietnamese women in Vietnam war and Soveit soldiers committed against innocent German women in East Germany after the capitulation of Nazi Germany.
@@validark Yes sir or madam! Japan and Germany gave tremendous reparations to South Korea and Poland etc. However, South Korea and Russia or most of existing countries never gave any legal reparations to the victims. It is wrong to blame the countries where already gave tremendous reparations.
I honestly really liked the idea of Naofumi being so desperate that he's driven to do something so horrible, and if the show had kept that kind of tone about it, it would have honestly been great. I really don't know why Raphtalia had to redo her slave collar tho. That kinda ruins it
as stupid as the reassons may sound there are a few raessons why raphtalia "had to redo the slave collar" first, it was forecfully removed, and leavig it off woudl kinda Give the win to the spear hero secondly, Naofumi still has trust issues, raphtalia knows that, its a stupid solution to it, but it works, Naofumi even says "you dont have to do this"(paraphrased) but it does help his "trust issues" thirdly, the slave crest provides Stat boosts, and not insiginficant ones at this point in the story as well, its a direct boost to their direct fighting power. lastly, it was "hers" it was, basically, one of the few decisions she coudl ever do for herself, and a decisiosns she KNOWS was done 100% out of free will, on her own acord, its somethign thats her,s and that she wont let anyone tak away
Yeah, I wish it kept the desperate tone longer too. The anime partly messed up the part where Raphtalia had the crest put back on. Naofumi is a much "lighter" character in the anime and really seems over his major issues by that point, but in the novels he's still pretty messed up and still can't trust anyone at all. I recall the scene had a sadder tone in the novels too, with Raphtalia being melancholy that Naofumi can only trust slaves that can't lie. Also a brief handwave that since demihumans have no rights in the kingdom, it keeps her from being captured and enslaved again (especially by Malty who would want to get back at her). Still weird though.
@@weberman173 1: I'm not sure you could have come up with a reason that paints Naofumi in a worse light. 2: Eh...no...that's a really stupid solution, one that values Naofumi not having to confront his flaws above women's autonomy. 3: This is where we come to the Thermian Argument. I can't speak for anyone else, but the question of whether Naofumi is a Good Guy or not only matters to me insofar as it influences criticism of the story he's in. Designing setting mechanics that make slavery metaphysically advantageous is a problem for the same reason that Naofumi verbally defending slavery is-both are authorial decisions that act to justify Naofumi's enslavement of a bunch of people. That's the problem, not whether slavery blackens Naofumi's soul and bars him from Anime Heaven.
@@weberman173 Also could be a fourth reason. The magic slave tattoo showed that Raphtalia was already the property of a slave owner. Without the marking, she would most likely recaptured and enslaved to someone else. She may have thought that her treatment under the Shield Hero was the best she could conceivably get in that kingdom.
@@prussianpolydactyl836 the ol' "somebody was going to do it eventually so I better dibs on firsties because I am one of the good ones" argument. No, that is not a defense or justification to sane people.
48:51 What's so funny about this is that "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance" did the pretty much the same "Villains with good publicity convinces the masses that the Hero opposing them is actually a dangerous villain who you should avoid because he can brainwash you just like he did all those people who say he is not a villain"-thing but executed it so much better by having the whole thing fall-apart when the masses themselves gradually come to realize that it's bullshit early on in the series.
I was really convinced that bow hero and kirito were gonna become good supporting cast since they were at least willing to call out bs when it was 100% impossible to ignore. From my perspective it even seemed like kirito accepted that his actions with the dragon was a big oversight and seemed ticked he didn't realize that sooner. That along with the impression that both sword and bow had differing opinions (if only slightly) on whether to believe all the things shield hero says made me think there was gonna be some genuinely good character dynamics coming Then none of that happened and we went to fight a turtle
it does come, just... later And they do become somewhat interesting characters that develop not only because of naofumi but also because of the people they ignored/dismissed but hey, spear hero still everyone's punching bag
The bow and sword heroes are not horrible, but they still have their flaws which are displayed in the ways they died. Ren died protecting his friend from a mugger, but if they hadn't ignored the warnings and news reports and decided to go down a different route things might have been better. He has a good heart but he sometimes fails to fully think about the consequences to his actions, which is displayed when he killed the dragon without disposing of the body. When he was told the villagers had suffered because if him, he genuinely want d to go there right then to apologise. As for Itsuki, he has an inferiority complex. In his world there are people born with special abilities, Itsuki is one of these people which was that he had very good aim and could handle a bow or aim projectiles really well, he had been special in a normal school but when he went to a school with other gifted people he began feeling inferior. This distracted him as he died being hit by a truck. Thus why Itsuki always wants to be better than others and can be jealous at times. As for Motoyasu, he is way too trusting and can't see a bad person for sh*t, he literally died to a yandere because he didn't realise how psychotic they were. Another reason why Naofumi just seems more suitable for being a hero is because he is, the weapons have different choices and the shield always gets its first choice, while the others get the second or third, who are still suited but have more flaws to work on.
@@Rynjinivar it is rather odd but yeah, Itsuki got hit by good ol' truck kun, Ren was stabbed protecting his friend and Motoyasu got murdered by a yandere
@@heechoonyeo4762 that also part of why they don’t take things seriously in this world. It’s either a weird dream they’re having, or them dying means nothing since they have a safety net. The author even trolls his audience later by making it turn out they were absolutely right about just restarting the “game” from a save file in the spin off.
The concept is interesting, however it falls flat pretty quickly once you realise that our "shield hero", who should mostly act as a tank with a few support abilities based on him...only having a shield, is instead primarily a caster with some of the highest damage outputs across the other heroes. It's just one of the many flaws of the story, but it's a pretty good indicator for the rest of them I think
In the first half they were really creative with the way he and raphtalia fought together and how he used his shields, honestly his duel with the spear hero is my favorite fight in the series. I wish he didnt get as many offensive shields though The berserk shield is good because its the whole point of the curse series, and it makes some cool moments The snake bite one would be ok if it was more about debuffing rather than outright attacking The ghoul one is a cool concept of draining mana rather than dealing damage, so that one is good But the dog one is too much, he doesnt need something so directly offensive
It's funny to me as an mmo player when this is actually a balancing pitfall I've seen a lot of cheap or rushed games fall into. Giving the tank high DPS so he can compete for aggro rather than, you know, weighting the enmity of his attacks or improving taunts. Then every PvP zone is just flooded with unkillable yet deadly paladins shit talking your mom while invulnerable lmao.
"The king will be called Trash and Malty will be called B***h" is literally the gag from the end of Men in Tights. "From this day, all toilets in the kingdom shall be known as Johns!"
There are two big differences. First, the structure is different-they don't change King John's name to "Toilet". Second, it's not actually a gag when Naofumi does it...which makes it a lot funnier, because Princess Bitch Whore's new names are _way_ too cruel to work as a joke.
Honestly, I would have enjoyed the show if it wasn't for the biggest overarching problem with the entire plot and setting: the protagonist is only likeable because almost everyone else outside of his immediate circle, on both a personal and societal level, are almost comically evil. unless you're going full grimdark, which the show never fully commits to, that just reeks of lazy storytelling. Like, the lean towards mutual aid against reliance on predatory nobles and clergy is good, but I still think Naofumi is a dick.
As someone who barely remembers having read the manga before the anime even came out (which was about up to the turtle arc and slightly after) this was one of my biggest criticisms. Naofumi is a slightly justified asshole with a bit of kindness, while everyone else is just a comically unrealistic asshole.
Would you not become a dick when the country that summoned you did so only to bully you and make your life hard? It’s also a lesson for him cause he clearly trusted too easily
Light novels, at least those on Syosetu can barely be called that, since anyone can write there, and most are very much written for self-entertainment. A lot are copy-and-paste, such as the latest "forsaken by guild/team but discover overpowered hidden talent" trend. I discussed how bad the plots can get with a friend, and we had the idea that the style of lazy Chaotic Stupid depiction of evil could be called "malicious will of the world" (rough translation), because the entire world seems hellbent on making the main cast suffer. There are more extreme examples of this kind of story that have been comicalized/printed as light novels, for example you could have a team of world-saving heroes torture and abuse the main character to an obscene level and everyone from a village peasant to the royal guard treat the main character like some kind of sub-human creature that needs to be put down. It's a bit of an extension from back in the day when people started to depict the hero in the "Hero vs Demon King" style stories as evil. The depiction of that evil gets simplified over time to the point that a "hero" could commit murder just because they want to see how well their new shiny sword cuts.
I haven't watched the anime but from what I am hearing it sounds like it would be a lot more interesting if they focused on the 4 main heroes and their perspectives and how they change as they spend more time in the world. Now that I think about it, an Isekai with 4 dudes who start out not knowing each other with different personalities and ideals eventually becoming bros as they travel together sounds much more interesting. I am tired of the whole 1 guy with multiple girls on adventures. How about some bromance for a change?
Isekai Lord of the Rings, I can dig it. Complete with them referencing the actual Lord of the Rings and going like "... and my axe!" while the people of the fantasy world look at them in utter confusion. More of that culture clash between feudal and modern would be a lot of fun too.
You may like "life with an ordinary guy who reincarnated into a total fantasy knockout". It's about two guys getting isekaid and uh... One of them turns into a girl... But like it's mostly bromance.
There's Didn't I say to make my abilities average in my next life something or other that does it with girls. I'm not going to claim it's great and I would only claim it's good for the isekai genre. Which is a bit like grading on a curve. But I did enjoy the actual fantasy characters having character arcs and training/bonding with the isekai-heroine.
@@ElijahtheSaint you don't need to be a slave to be loyal to someone, and treating it as a good thing is just wrong on many, many levels. Slavery is a thing of the past for good reasons, and it's not really a good idea to have slavery in MMOs, especially not if players can have them. I've never ever heard of anyone willingly being a slave, and I think I have a good idea why.
It always frustrated me that he was criticized for having slaves by the king. Dude, if you hate slavery that much... BAN IT! You're the damn king! Also, I can't be a fan of the queen either, because if she's the one truly in charge, then she's also the one who hasn't illegalized the slavery!
According to other people who can actually be asked to read the light novel, the institution of slavery was, apparently, on its way out. But thanks to Naofumi and his “rising”, slavery will go on to prosper as an industry for generations to come. What a hero.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick I mean that's its own issue with the writing, but look at something like US history. Multiple founding fathers took some issue with slavery, seeing it as wrong even as they themselves owned slaves (Such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington), but despite having some level of "Institutional Power" they chose to instead drop the issue, hoping the next generation would figure out a better answer... but instead, the tensions just kept heating up until it eventually boiled over in Civil War.
I honestly never understood the slave trope in anime. Mainly because destroying an institution of slavery in a other world and maybe one of those slaves joining him in that goal sounds like it could pure power fantasy if that is the intention of the work itself.
@@Thoralmir I was trying to say that if you are writing a power fantasy, destroying an intuition of slavery would lend greatly to that instead of keeping slaves but treating them nice. Obviously and in-depth look into slavery and what forms it could take could be a very interesting topic for a story to cover. Unless of course you are implying that slavery is at all a good institution. Which quite obviously it is not and it never will be.
It is shown as soemthing heartwarming because of what it symbolizes. Translate it to our world and you get a high excutive and the people working under him, executives with way too much power on top of that. It shows the responsiblity of these people, sure Raphtalia may be the slave but he treats her well. As the story progresses it shows how much he cares about her. He could mistreat her and but he doesn't. He is above such petty things. Just lke Raphtalias freeing speech against the spear hero went. Naofumi has that power because he does not abuse it
@@lucifer-librarian9562 You can get the same result without making her a slave of Naofumi (or more specifically making a subtle endorsement for the institution of slavery.) You could make her and escaped slave, or an orphan, or a refugee, or any number of things that would massively favor Naofumi in a power dynamic. I get what they were going for, the problem here is not a lack of understanding. The problem here is that execution leads to a subtle endorsement for slavery.
It took me 3 episodes into season one to realise that the main gimmick with shield hero is that every character is painfully stupid and pathetic except the protagonist.
@@asandax6 that saying is about how mobs can make people irrational, for shield hero it's just self centerism and shit writing it's not reflective of real life at all
I hate the fanservice they keep playing into with Raphtalia. I don't care if she was de-aged or whatever. They tell us she's ten and then give us some gross reverse loli pandering that makes my skin crawl. And it doesn't matter how "good" a master you have. Being a slave with a good master is like only having to eat half a turd instead of a full one.
In the early episodes, you're not supposed to like the slavery. When Shieldbro first buys Raphtalia, you're not supposed to be thinking "oh it's justified because he's a good master." You're supposed to be thinking "wow, he's so desperate he's resorting to slavery to get by." In the later episodes, yeah things get more uncomfortable. Raphtalia willingly keeps her slave brand, which is supposed to be a political move to keep her legal protections (as a freeman she's at risk of getting lynched) but the writers can't help themselves and present it as a love confession
It's basically pedophilia on extra steps. I prefer 19+ years old legal loli instead of matured 10 years old girl. Fck it, even 1000 year old loli is even better than sh1t like 5-10 years old with 'mature' body.
Despite the thesis of the video being "Shield Hero isn't that bad, actually," I definitely left with a lot less interest than I had at the start. I was never particularly interested in watching Shield Hero, but Geoff, my brother in Haruhi, that's a lot of elephants.
Yeah that’s quite a few elephants. And not like some anime where the elephant happens and then isn’t really brought up again so you can kinda will yourself to ignore it. They really double triple and quadruple down on some of those elephants. Like having the protagonist give a speech and throw hands to defend the elephant is a little fucking much
@@huckthatdish Ah, but you see, there are mechanical benefits to keeping the slaves enslaved. Thus, Naofumi is justified in keeping his slaves enslaved so he can keep giving them an XP bonus. This _definitely_ makes the elephant smaller instead of contributing to it.
@@timothymclean If slaves get XP bonuses, then why do we mainly see Naofumi using slaves? Wouldn't this "exploit" have been used by many adventurers long before Naofumi showed up? It really does feel like the author made the "XP bonus" thing just to have Naofumi be "just that awesome", when this one idea should change the setting dramatically if the story made even a lick of sense.
@@travonarmstrong6093 the stat bonus isn't a thing for any slave, it is a thing explicitly for slaves in the Shield Hero's party, being unlocked by studying the slave crest materials. The main reason behind Naofumi having his party members stay slaves was his paranoia caused by the initial events of the series. At the end of Season 1 he, and new members of his party, see it as a free stat boost to help his party members become more capable of fighting for themselves, at the cost of not being able to lie to Naofumi. Though Raph does strangely see it as a sign of her loyalty and dedication to him, which is probably from worshiping the Shield Hero growing up. None of this justifies it mind you, but it does give context to the "Hero" doing something evil. And many aspects of the Shield Hero anime were cut-out or condensed to the point of almost being a mask of the source material. Especially with the release of Season 2 where the director decided that the best way to adapt an okay arc, was to make it plain terrible, and skip over as much of it, and the events between it and the prior arc, as possible. (Including a quite important training arc which introduced new characters and ideas.)
SPOILER ALERT. I can forgive for Spear Hero not getting character development till Spirit Turtle Arc. Hell, even Bow Hero. After all, those two not only did they oppose Naofumi, they never showed any sort of regret for their actions even once. What I can't forgive is how the author did Ren Amaki dirty. Of all people, I genuinely hoped that he would end up much better than those two did, have a character development much sooner or even better join Naofumi in a quest or something I don't know. Because when Naofumi confronted him over his own fuck up over leaving the dragon corpse, he was the only one to show regret over his actions. It gave me hope that he would end up being smarter than the other two and end up in a better spot because of it. Then the spirit turtle arc happened and oh boy did I hate it. Not only does he agree with the other two to release the spirit turtle (still thinking that the world they're in is a game), not only do his companions die and he is in denial even as Naofumi confronts him about it. He ends up going to Malty for comfort. Of all people. Goddamit Aneko Yusagi. I know you wanna rub it in our faces that Naofumi is the only smart guy of the four but still!
@Existential Crisis Core on Infinite Earths my poor gamer boi 😭😭😭 I had such high hopes for him Also...revenge porn. Hm. I wouldn't really classify it as that... Then again when your benchmark what you classify as a revenge porn is something like Healing Hero Revenge barely anything can be classified as revenge porn. Still need bleach for what I saw.
The first thing that came to mind for me from this mention of Amaki thinking he's hot shit, getting shown he's steaming shit, then not learning from it, was a porn game called Alfimia Tower. That's *also* an isekai, and one where all the humans were isekai'd in. Winning makes the winner stronger and the loser weaker, and one girl found a way to get stronger from her wins to the point the other side game overed. And well, the goddess says you get returned to your home world when you game over, and there's no reason to assume it's killing people, so why not kill everyone you can for their precious exp? She argues that she's not killing people both to other people and to herself, and she's strong enough to get away with it thanks to that powerleveling. It's only when you do finally beat her and you both learn a bit more about the world that she's forced to accept that she actually did kill people. And she actually does take this to heart, for her admittedly brief remaining screen time. The game doesn't go over the trauma that would cause or anything too much, since it moves on, but it's at least something.
That is EXACTLY, bit by bit and word by word my opinion on Ren, hell when seeing how much of a stuck up grudgeful guy Naofumi kept being even after beig told that he needed to stop grooming on the past and move on by actually start explaining why he is right instead of getting pissed and offended and just yelling back, I actually did like Ren more, he was the first to actively think there was something wrong about the accusations, think things over, never did antagonize Naofumi or even opposed him, listened to his advice and even felt regret over what he did, that was perfect ! Then they shoved THIS shit down my throat, and t this day I'm still feeling the taste of it, so bitter that to this day I still haven't touched anything Shield Hero related.
I honestly understand this sentiment. I kinda forgot about the turtle in the light novels, but The Malty situation does make sorta sense in context, where she embeds herself in their lives while they’re in a vulnerable state, which does EVENTUALLY lead to them growing as characters from the experience. It actually happens to all the heroes later down the line. Just to be clear though, I haven’t watched the new season, so I don’t know how bad it was adapted.
OMG. XD Those idiots released Tortoise in WEB NOVEL, not in LN. XD This is one of the first major difference between both versions and first to be changing the light on the heroes. And this was a long ride, but those boys (beside Moto) changed to better people and Itsuki (IMHO) is the one really smart guy, who added most into 2nd arc in different world. Ren's character development is quite nice and progress steadily as well, but he needs a bit more time (he is youngest of them). "Harsh path" isn't enough to describe their hardships to being proper heroes. Moto is dumb, will be psychically crashed to no end. XD
As someone who's read a lot of the manga (i fell out during the spirit tortoise arc because it took too long to update) I didn't know until reading this comment section that something both the anime and manga never discuss is that Motoyasu and Melty literally sold women into sexual slavery to fund their adventures? Or that Ren's party died because he never trained with them and then abandoned them, which left them completely powerless to monsters? And then Motoyasu, literal sex trafficker and lolicon, is the guy that gets his own LN where he gets his own harem of Filos in the end? Lotta elephants here...
I forget, is Melty the princess we're supposed to like or is she the princess subsequently known as bitch? I feel like I shouldn't have to ask that question, but look at the elephant in the room. No, not that one, the other one.
1. Motoyasu never actually knew about Malty selling Rino or any others into slavery, he just believed her when she made some BS lie for why they're gone. 2. I'm not really certain on the specifics of Ren's party dying, but what I do know is that they all died fighting the spirit tortoise. 3. Motoyasu doesn't get his "own harem of filolials" as you put it. If you actually looked at the LN or manga for that story, you'd realize that Motoyasu isn't exactly himself during the time period the story starts. I won't deny that Motoyasu's obsession over Filo is creepy, he doesn't act that way to other filolials, just Filo
About the second elephant in the room it must be said it is far worse in the novel that the anime let you believe: Naofumi is shown as guenuienly traumatized by the initial events and as a result extremely gynophobic and misogynic, he clearly state that he chose Raphtalia because she was a girl and so if he had to buy a slave it might as well be one that reminds him of "the bitch that betrayed him" (which at this point is any female) so he would have no remorse and even feel good if he has to abuse her. From the internal monologue missing in the anime we understand that what is shown as acts of kindness (buying her a ball, giving her the lunch she wants) is in his mind done to keep her efficient so he can rentabilize his purchasse and it's not before the "duel" with the spear hero, where he think he'll be left alone again to have Raphtalia still sticks with him instead , that he begins to recorver from it and gradually change his perspective and it's because of Raphtalia's benevolence in this instance that he will make better moral choice later in the show such as helping improve the condition of demi-human. So in the novel the "Rising" of Naofumi is truly rising from his morally lowest point.
@@GamingWithHajimemes After buying her and her almost dying, I thought the campfire scene would convince him to realize he still had his humanity left and would release the slave seal himself - maybe even let her leave and eventually meet her again. I facepalmed so hard at what actually happened and how re-enslaving her was shown as a good thing that everyone was onboard for.
@@Jamazed I don't recall what happened in the anime, but in the LNs he is fine with her being an equal and joining his party voluntarily and tries to convince her not to get another seal (albeit he doesn't try very hard). She insists on the seal because she feels he couldn't fully trust her otherwise because of his past trauma. She trusts him and wants him to have no reason to distrust her, so she makes that choice. I'll be the first to admit it's messed up in a few ways (he concedes, allows her to continue that mentality, etc.), but I don't think that specific part is as bad as most people say.
Came back to watch this again, just cause I'm very sad about Billy Kametz's (Naofumi's english VA) passing and I wanted to consume something related to him before Fire Emblem Three Hopes comes out
it's really sad. He wasn't his work, of course, but his performance in 3hopes was great and it seems like he was good as Naofumi too. Seemed like a cool guy as well
Shield hero’s biggest fault is that it has a lot of interesting and honestly pretty good ideas that are completely squandered by their execution. It’s made significantly worse by the potential a story and world like that could’ve had. It ends up a pretty generic power fantasy isekai that doesn’t manage to execute its dumbest ideas well enough to qualify as dumb fun. It’s a show I want to be good, but can’t stand watching.
You are pretty wrong, it is a very deep isekai that executes its ideas masterfully, the novel at least, i did not watch the anime because i already readed the novel too many times. The slave thing is questionable... but it is more like a flaw for the MC, it is meant to show his lack of trust on everyone else, and his lack of self worth. It is meant to be a very deep trauma that he solves very slowly, so slowly in fact that you would need several seasons of the anime to show progress even if they animated at the fastest pace posible. It just has a very ultra slow start, setting up a lot of stuff that laster it delivers
@@Axterix13 you bring up a good idea, an Abridged version with a great team like SWE could turn Shield Hero from squandered potential, to an amazing story. BRING SHIELD HERO THE JUSTICE IT DESERVES.
@@artuno1207 Sheild Hero is fine the way it is. Although if they do a parody it should be exactly like Ghost story dub make it as insulting to everyone as possible. Make the adult babies throw a tantrum. Maybe hand out pacifiers oh wait most of you actually use pacifiers. Freaking weirdos go back to your checkbox.
It is sad when some of the fanfictions (such as "Ambition of the Red Princess" and "Dishonored Princess") make more sense than the actual manga/anime as they give Malty S Melromarc some sense in palace politics and have her side with the Shield Hero because, unlike her canonical counterpart, she realizes she can use all the bad elements of her country to set the Shield Hero against her father, mother, and next in line for the throne.
Well, then that would fuck over the endgame of the story where a lot of shit is revealed. I won't go into it because of story spoilers, but I will just say the story reaches a fucking stupid level of writing and scaling.
@@ApexGale Basically Terrible Writing Advice come to life with many of the characters, to quote Yahtzee, "tragic sufferers of the stupid virus" (his review of Haze).
Yeah, the whole slavery thing would be easier to ignore if only they had omitted 3 things: 1) The fact that Raphtalia willingly and gladly goes back to being a slave. 2) The fact that Naufumi forces every person that joins his party to become his slaves to ensure trusts. And 3) The fact that the in-universe game mechanics actually rewards having slaves by giving stats and xp boosts to the slaves! By doing these 3 things, the author is effectively saying that: Being enslaved is a good thing as long as the slave owner is nice. That the healthiest relationships are those in which you have superiority in the power dynamic. And that slavery is actually EMPOWERING TO THE SLAVES! No. Just. No! This show really did not need this trope at all! Wtf!?
How long is it gonna take people to realize these isekai light novel authors are societal rejects for a good reason lmao. Nearly every single one has a loli as a love interest/sexualizes them. They were never able to take control of their own lives so they resort to creating a fictional world where their self insert mc is OP and has women under their thumb. Except the only women they can write that way have to be underdeveloped/weak-willed/over-reliant. The classic deep-rooted mysogynistic mindset mixed with power and inferiority complexes is pretty much all I see now. Knowing these I've pretty much written the light-novel to anime isekai genre off for now lol
The worst thing is that in order to make the male protagonist look clean the female characters are portrayed as insane Because there is no sane person who will willing choose to be a salve just their master is good instead of choosing freedom
hearing the main character basically say "calm down libtard, don't you know slavery's legal?" is some next level sociology understanding by the ever understanding japanese. jfc.
@@amiablereaper Game of Thrones doesn't try to justify slavery or make it seem ok? The difference in how slavery is treated in this show v.s GoT is pretty huge.
@@amiablereaperone of the protagonists heavily depicted as a heroine has "Breaker of chains" as part of her title because he freed a whole country worth of slaves.
The one thing that really annoys me is that they entirely drop him being the "SHIELD" hero. the first season starts with him being super weak and the whole point of him getting Raphtalia and Filo is to have someone that can fight for him since his power doesn't allow him to do so himself. So you expect something like Re:zero where you have a genuinely weak protagonist that has to win through wits, ingenuity and relying on others, slowly figuring out more tricks and ways to help the party while also helping them grow with him. And then they just introduce the rage shield so that whole premise is thrown out the window.
The Rage Shield / Shield of Wrath isn't nearly as powerful in the LN. It has offense, sure, but it's all counter-attacks (which other shields have) and special attacks (which take a massive toll on Naofumi such as a 50% stat decrease on every stat.) and despite being his strongest weapon, it's also got an incredible amount of drawbacks. Using it for too long can cause him to completely lose his mind, or inflict a curse on him that'll never heal which permanently cripples him. Speaking of curses, it does actually curse him every time he uses it -- not just the special attacks, just in general use. It's a shield Naofumi generally hates to use, but will use if nothing else seems to work.
I think I could more easily forgive the Shield Hero resorting to slavery out of desperation, IF the narrative did not constantly DEFEND slavery. Instead of saying, "yeah I bought a slave but what else was I supposed to do", he full on defends slavery as a concept. When Raphtalia has her slave brand removed she could have just chosen to STAY without having the brand. But know, the narrative defends slavery which is just, weird/wrong/I don't even know WHY
In my opinion If a hero comes from a world where slavery is evil. And gets super powers in the new world and doesn't go out of his way to end slavery he is evil
@@Oxygen1004 The anime glosses over the reason for that. There are actual mechanical benefits for being his slave. And he gives her the choice of become a slave and have stat boosts, or just be a party member. She chooses the stat boost.
The fact that he buys a slave doesn’t really bother me since he's supposed to be at his lowest point and it could have been a set up for character growth later on. The fact that they keep using the slave crest is what's weird and uncomfortable. There's no justifiable reason for it, especially since the previous shield hero is a hero to oppressed people
I'm not sure of the morality but this feels like the pokerus thing. Slaves share XP between kills, so you could potentially have an army of a few dozen slaves that go from level 5 to 100 in a couple weeks of grinding, and since the slavery thing can be undone it's somewhat meaningless in the long run as long as it does happen once the demon lord gets sealed or something. This is considering Naofumi for some reason only "hires" anime girls, imagine if they were actual monsters, I definitely wouldn't want to be anywhere near an army made of Emerald Weapons.
@schizophrenic_rambler Even still, that is all an excuse made by the author to justify the slave crest thing. In-world justifications don't make it any less weird and uncomfortable cause the author still came up with excuses to continue using the slave crests. If he needed to find ways for them to get stronger faster, he could have thought up a much less creepy way of doing it.
@@connerrose6116 I guess you're right, it could've worked if it was like the party system in most RPGs that allows for customization and in MMOs where players can team up and share xp. That or if they made it a plot point acknowledging how truly horrible it is and had permanent effects, but the trope has worn out and it's not shocking anymore, it's just disgusting.
@notaperson4877 while that is true, my question is why so many viewers love slave girls Hopefully one day a respectable channel does a deep dive on The real world phenomenon that caused this trend.
@@christianweibrecht6555 guaranteed loyalty and safety are pretty appealing to people with trust issues, cause magically enslaved girls can`t dump you like your ex did for whatever reason. Or your friend who broke a promise or hangs out with someone more fun. Or a parent that abandoned you or just wasn`t attentive enough. Or it might be a reflexive from all the modern systems with "choice without choice", cause Japanese entertainment industry has many shared traits with slavery, and normalizing your trauma is a bad coping mechanism that still takes place.
As someone who's never watched Rising of the Shield Hero, it sounds like what makes this show so impressive is that it is competently made compared to most other Isekai anime...which just says a lot more about most other Isekai anime than it does this show specifically.
@@joshlegacy1101 If you say so. I just want a good traditional fantasy - something with out all this "trapped in a game world" bullshit. I can do without the masterbatory power fantasy wankery as well.
I've watched it, and that's about right. It's competent and mostly fine in a genre of absolute trash. I won't even say it's particularly good, just baseline competent.
There are good isekai, they're just generally not the ridiculous power fantasy ones. Though I would say Slime is probably the best of that sub-sub-genre over Shield Hero, it's still aggressively mid and anyone who tells you it's Great is tasteless as hell. Easy litmus test. should not be rating it above an 8. Ascendance of a Bookworm, Mushoku Tensei, Re:Zero, Drifters, and maybe Tsukimichi are the best recent isekai. I really liked Fantasy Bishoujo but it's a straight up comedy so ymmv, Cautious Hero and The Saint's Magic is Omnipotent are worth checking out. Some people swear by Grimgar. otherwise most of the good "isekai" is older. Or something that stretches the definition of isekai like Iruma-kun (which is straight up one of the best isekai if it is one). I haven't seen it, but people I trust say Overlord isn't actually good. Tanya the Evil and No Game No Life aren't good, by personal experience. So I'm a Spider and Realist Hero have their fans and their detractors so I guess it's worth at least seeing a few episodes to make up your mind.
This feels like the kind of show that I could genuinely like if it had a tad more nuance and dropped a few of the more uh. Elephant in the Room aspects. Like the idea that a lot of these isekai heroes probably have no idea what they're doing and that makes the world they're in worse is a genuinely interesting concept, and I like the idea of exploring why that might happen. And the idea that sometimes, even well reasoned arguments aren't going to change someone's mind, and some people are always going to hate you no matter what is also interesting, and an idea that sometimes even applies to real life! See: victims of bigotry. But it sounds like it doesn't really delve into those kinds of topics as much as I wish it would. Which is a shame, because that's all very interesting, and I hope more isekai anime try to tackle those things.
Thing is its not the focus of the Anime, even though people are trying to make it that. If you just go in with the understanding that its just part of the story you may like it for what it is. People are trying to hard to condemn it because it doesnt focus and deal with the issue in the way they want.
It's because many people like it so they must find a reason to hate it even if the reasons are incorrect or stupid kinda like how SAO is portrayed. It's a good show that many people like so they must find a way to hate it.
Shield hero has phenomenal ideas. The idea of a jaded, vengeful protagonist. The master-slave relationship that leverages the maters insecurity of being betrayed and the slaves fear of being abandoned, powerful and loving at first but ultimately trapping both characters in a toxic overdependence dynamic. The issue of progressive popular ideals clashing with archaic and loathesome practices like slavery is interesting because it presents a world where the issues of morality are partly divorced from the law. The secondary characters improperly fulfil stereotypes, the chosen one who’s deluded himself into thinking he’s special, the bland perfectionist protagonist, and the horny harem guy who tries to appear good but is secretly slimy. Mine could be a great case study of what drives a person with so much privilege to make a false accusation, but her motivations and nuances aren’t explored. The king and queen even have an interesting split of power. None of that is ever explored. The execution is always mediocre to terrible. SH would be a phenomenal story if it landed half of its ideas properly, but it feels very one dimensional. Amazing ideas bad execution
@@ShinryuZensen That only matters if the execution before then is good enough to get an audience member TO the rest of the story. Which for a lot of people it clearly isn't. So it's hardly unwarranted criticism.
In the light novels he specifically bought Raphtaillia because she's a girl and the woman who accused him of grape is a girl so he wanted to make Raphtaillia suffer
True, but he never acts on those thoughts. It shows how messed up this whole thing has made his thoughts, but he is unable to follow through with them. Even to the point that he was willing to sacrifice himself against the Multi Headed Dog Monster to let her escape when she was not willing to fight, even when shocked.
@@fourthmatchflame Yes, but the whole situation isnt meant to be seen as a good thing. I can also understand if its just not something one can handle. I hope you have found something you do enjoy. Great thing about Anime is that there is so much everyone is bound to find something they do like.
@@nobalkain624 like, im a fan of some pretty eadgy shit, but is the "Buying a female slave to vaciursly punish this entirely unreated woman" really nessacary? id aruge its not considering the anime cut it.
Naofumi wanting revenge for suffering from injustice was the main thing that everybody was interested in. Once he got his revenge, the plot just... kept going regardless.
The part I liked was that when he GOT his revenge, it was wonderfully petty. Considering that it feels most revenge-type ones go for the boring option of outright torture or worse, changing their names to be insults and then going "Welp, I'm satisfied, let's go do the adventuring thing" was a highlight for me. And I'd have been okay with pivoting to that, except that what followed lacked any of weight of the first part, with nothing to replace it. Also when the heroes compare how to get stronger and it turns out they all shape their own development through their own preconceived notions of how the world is "supposed" to work was fascinating... but if that ever amounted to anything other than "huh that's weird, I guess everyone but me is stupid" it lost my interest before that happened.
I believe the Redo of a Healer author said something about that in his interview. A lot of revenge stories lose focus on the hate and vengeance wanking and start turning into generic harems instead.
He didn't even get his revenge; After she ruined his life and his image, his big revenge was just him humiliating her by calling her a "bitch" in public, are you kidding me? Is he like 5 years old?
6:54 One could also say that the show quickly moves away from portraying it as morally questionable at best and kind of normalizes it by having the magical shock collar give stat boosts *and* casually having our hero slap one on his new party members.
Well, Naofumi himself was pretty hesitant to do that and it was completely Raphtalia's idea (at least in the Anime, which is the only thing I watched, though it is a bit different in the LN from what I heard)
10:23 - "Raphtalia chooses to get her shock-collar titty tattoo put back on..." I really hated that. Raphtalia got emancipated and Naofumi could not handle it AT ALL. He was freaking out thinking she'd abandon him. She had no intention to do so of course, but he seemingly couldn't be OK with the possibility that she might change her mind at some point. He was only happy once the status quo, of him not only having her support but of having power over her, was restored. It felt like it could have been a real moment of growth, but instead it just turned into a cheap excuse for why her role as a "slave" is OK - because at that point she chose to stick to it. But what would that mean if she changed her mind later? I dunno, there are things I enjoy about Shield Hero, but certain things about it just kind of bug me and this is one of them.
Keep in mind that by the time this happens in the Show only about a Month has passed since the Accusations that ruined his Life. It would take anyone a long time before getting over something like that, and thats after things get better. At this point everyone still thinks he did it and treats him like Trash. Also its explained better in the LN because in it they have a discussion where he tells her not to do it, but she says she wants to because she knows deep down he is still dealing with the Trauma and currently would be unable to fully trust anyone. Dont know if you really care, but thought I would let you know anyways. Hope this helps explain it a bit better to anyone who does.
It's been a while since I watched the anime, but I recall Raphtalia insisting upon it, while Naofumi only told her that it wasn't necessary anymore. (still carries some strange implications, given that the author keeps writing slave crests onto waifus, but that's a different matter).
I think one of the big takeaways of Shield Hero that MB touches on is there's a weird lack of nuance. Like one of the things that drew me in originally was the idea of an Isekai that really puts the main character on the backfoot. A weapon only useful for defense, No one joins his party, a false accusation making him a pariah. It's admittedly interesting! But then for almost the rest of the series the story goes out of its way to say "HE'S the good guy and everyone who doesn't agree with him is bad" Like, I can't say I'm a fan of slavery. But I can UNDERSTAND why someone in his position would be seduced by the concept. He's basically got a knife to his back and a very limited amount of time to save the world. It's kind of an interesting idea to bring up the idea of him doing a taboo and terrible things just to get ahead...on paper. But in practice the show bends over backwards to justify the act of owning and selling slaves, as if the author doesn't understand why slavery is bad. Like all I can think is that they're too afraid to actually make the main character do a bad thing or be a bad person. And I wouldn't mind HIM doubling down on his actions if the narrative didn't also double down. Everyone who brings up how and why it's wrong just kinda gets ignored or BTFO as if their concerns about him owning a human are unjustified. When MB described it as a power fantasy that really stuck out to me, cuz this screams "High Schooler who writes a story where he's right and all his bullies are wrong and stupid and evil". The popular hot girl is a transparently awful bitch, All the other boys are dumb, negligent and useless, never improve and unlike the main character don't read BOOKS which makes them inferior. Nobody improves because this story isn't about them. It's about how cool the main character is! He's never wrong. His shortcomings are minor and he easily works through them. He's justified in his actions cuz he's the only good guy of the three heroes. And like...despite the main draw being a story where the hero starts off losing he can't help but still get a lotta convenient idealized shit. His weapon does inherently provide him with more advantage than other people, but also he just HAPPENS to get a super rare Royal Choccobo. His party ends up being incredibly powerful to the point where they can easily beat the other 3 heroes despite them having WAY more resources, freedom and offensive weapons. I get that the point is Shield hero proving himself to be just as strong, but he ends up so far and away more competent than the others it's laughable. Worst of all it's just really dull. I lost interest about halfway through cuz at a certain point it was just the same repetitive bullshit.
@@yogialamsyah8429 will this friend be a male character with screen time and character agency or just another female that is used for the sake of slapping a cute girl on the cover so more people buy the light novel?
I disagree with this guys response I thought. It was great. However, no known media should make slavery look legalized. Unless your into that kind of thing.
@@greytakerrev7147 I'm just really tired of isekai with this mindset. That the only good male is the main character and the rest are comically evil or just borderline useless regardless of their established capabilities. I've realised over time that isekai will never truly take itself seriously, not even in the one's I think are good like Re:zero and Konosuba. Because of this I find it hard to like Mushoku Tensei despite it having aspects of isekai I wish were in more isekai but also ultimately being very self indulgent and very gross at points ( if the elf girl was actually a boy I would have called it a great subversion of the childhood friend trope but since it was a girl it just means another one to add to the harem ).
What's that... you say someone else should tackle anime's sordid and uncomfortable history with race and slavery and while we're at it "pedialite" (Cracks knuckles)
I feel like when it comes to slavery, the author wanted to have their cake and eat it too. They wanted the protag to use slaves, without making him look evil, so they kept making up new justiffications.
This is exactly why I couldn't make it past the first season. I kept waiting for the author to make it clear that it was actually kind of shitty to enslave a little girl/force her to kill, rather than free her immediately and find a home for her. I understand that the MC is supposed to be edgy at the beginning due to the false allegations, but I saw some red flags that the slave thing wasn't written in as part of that personality flaw. I got worried when she got her "sexy" power up (which is already weird as shit since she is still a child), so I looked up if the story ever acknowledges that, yeah, the slavery idea was pretty awful, and turns out nope. Not only that, it seems like most Shield Hero fans just don't care at all. I understand that some people can just brush that stuff off, but I just can't. It makes me feel mildly sick.
After having Naofumi’s new party members be lolis three times in a row I was so excited when he teamed up with two real adults in the last arc and was so damn defeated when they turned out to be evil
My main gripes with this show are honestly 1) how comically evil almost all of the bad guys are, to a point where its hard to even take them seriously as antagonists and 2) that the other three heroes are basically just cardboard cutouts with about as much depth as a paper cut. Over the course of the first season I kept telling myself "yeah, they're gonna get character development eventually... soon... aaany second now..." Needless to say, that didn't happen. Then I was kinda hoping the second season would adress these issues, but so far it doesn't even look like they're trying. Which is a shame, because this show does have potential. I'm just not sure if the show knows this, too, because they don't seem to do much with it lol
apparentlythe anime cut out some things, such as the depth the other heroes had. so yeah it seems to be partially an issue with the adaptation process....
I’ve read all of the WNs and most of the translated LNs. This will be spoiler free. I don’t remember this being as much of an issue to me when reading, but also they DO get character development, just later on. IIRC each of the three heroes actually get their own entire individual arcs of improvement. Which is kind of necessary to the narrative, because it’s pretty clear that as the waves get harder and harder, a single hero is gonna be less and less able to solo carry them. As far as the villains go, the whole concept of “the villains are people from this world shitting on Naofumi” goes out the window eventually and shifts to something else which would be a spoiler. And it doesn’t just shift to new comically evil villains, it becomes a little morally grey. The future villains get enough backstory/exposition that I actually root for them more than I do the 4 heroes ngl, in the way that I want both sides to be happy. EDIT: I just remembered that the anime did make it up to the introduction of the other world, so it’s not a spoiler to say that those villains are the four heroes from that world. Those four heroes are awesome and I love them. That said the slave/harem thing never really gets addressed how you would want it to. I think it is worth mentioning though that Naofumi does not intend to own these slaves forever, his actual main concern even over and above the waves is to use his shield-slave bonuses to get the slaves to a point where they will be self-sufficient when he goes home. I think the anime doesn’t include enough of his internal monologue on that point, that he’s mostly worried about what will happen to them after he leaves, because his only goal is getting the fuck out of that world.
Agreed on the first one. I like pure evil villains when they actually have the chops to back up their villainy. Less Joffrey Lannister and more Maleficent.
@@sarafontanini7051 I think it's just more "spelled out" in the light novels. I'm reading through the light novels right now, and there's not that much left out, it's just easier to soak in and retain when reading it. Those moments just pass by super quickly when animated. For example, the anime shows how Ren (Sword Hero) initially seems cocky and stubborn, but is the most likely to try and hear Naofumi out, and to admit he might be wrong... Especially after the dragon thing. Itsuki (Bow Hero)'s pride shows off quite a bit. While a side chapter in the light novels (events during season 1) gives more insight into Motoyasu (Spear)'s motivations and how he genuinely seems to think he's doing the right thing - but seems a bit too willing to shrug off bad things happening for the sake of that possibly false optimism - the light novel and anime show that nature pretty clearly.
"Regina George tormenting the peasantry" is the BEST deception of Myne I have ever heard, and I will never describe her with anything else from now on.
@@CrouTheBlackwing Not blaming you, just annoying that two isekai characters have the same name. It's not even a common name, it's just a few random sounds.
I can only wonder what went on in the author's head setting up a theme about how people in power are terrible and that the people should depend on themselves... only for all their problems to be solved thanks to a person of even higher power who _conveniently_ happens to be a morally good person
Well yes but actually no. The lesson isn’t that power corrupts or that all government is evil but rather than leaders should see themselves as servants and those who’re in it for themselves should gtfo. There are a other instances of more local rulers being pretty stand up guys, such as the elder of the village he protects during the first wave.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick it’s not robust, it was apparently dying out as a practice until Naofumi decided to spread the revolutionary idea of Stockholm syndrome and not completely working them to death. Now its further existence and prosperity has been secured for thousands of years. What a great guy that Naofumi fellow is eh?
You know, I thought the anime started out strong. Naive Naofumi gets betrayed and they really show that he at the bottom. I even didn't mind him buying a slave at this point, because it was shown that it was his only option, that it wasn't his first choice and the way they portrayed it made it look like the disgusting practice that it is. They showed well that he does it out of necessity and not to downplay the system. They even then have episode 4 which should have been the turning point in that story where they both see they don't need to have the slave-master relationship. Maybe even add an arc where Naofumi is then confronted with the fact that he helped a slave trader get back into business. Like he is always the one lecturing others that they only see this as some sort of game and not a world with living people, so it would have been perfect to showcase that he also made mistakes and he now had to resolve them. Maybe even the other heroes could have been helpful in that. So that they are not just fodder that do nothing, but who help him become a better person the same way he should help them become better people. But all this didn't happen. Instead, they redo the slave seal, they buy even more things from the slave trader, enslave the chocobo as well (fun thing that people seem to have forgotten that Filo is also his slave) and in S2, they make another girl into Naofumi's slave. I don't care that there is a justification in that she levels faster if she is considered his slave. This plot point should have been addressed already and not made worse and worse.
Honestly the part I liked the most about the first season was the slow reveal that almost every shitty thing about the people and society around Naofumi (other than the other heroes just being idiots) was a product of systemic racism. Why does everyone seem to immediately dislike and disrespect Naofumi even before he's accused of rape? Because the shield hero is traditionally associated with demihumans, and the kingdom that summoned him is extremely racist towards demihumans. Why is slavery a thing here? Again, because of anti-demihuman racism. Why are the obviously stupid king and obviously evil princess able to get away with so much and still have supporters and coconspirators? Because the victims of their plots are always seen as acceptable targets owing to their association with or sympathy toward demihumans. How does the lying, corrupt church shore up its power and support and why does it feel confident staging a coup against both the queen and the heroes? You guessed it: racism. It's a look at the way racist attitudes can twist and corrupt a society in ways that go well beyond the obvious everyday manifestations of discrimination that you don't see very often, especially in anime or manga or light novels. And then at some point that entire theme/plot thread just kinda got dropped and forgotten. And then they spent 5 episodes fighting a turtle.
It says a lot about society when the actual victim that was *falsely accused* somehow got more derided than the actually racist, lying bigot that accused him.
To be honest, if I'd spent the entire light novel up to this point grappling with the horrific realities of racism I'd be down for a turtle break too. Doesn't excuse all the terrible things they do in the name of allegedly fighting terrible things.
@@Account-jn7xu What do you mean by that? Do you mean "stop projecting politics onto this non-political show" or do you not want anime to be political at all?
Whaaaat? Are you telling me people would still support obviously corrupt politicians who cannot do anything right, just because they happen to also oppose a minority that the people have been conditioned to hate? That sounds so unbelievably stupid.... excuse me while I go scream into the void in a futile rage.
@@Account-jn7xu Yeah, cause disliking slavery and racism should be viewed as a political standpoint. Weird how many big animes (One Piece being by far the most influential) regularly address those themes, should we avoid all those and only watch...Dragonball? No wait, Namekians... eh.. Hentai? Yeah, I think those are about the only ones guaranteed to not address ANY humanitarian or political problems. So, have fun watching those...plots?
Why didn't they just have him resort to shady jobs due to his reputation and inability to fight. Then have raphtalia be a gift from his slave trader boss. Then his boss forces him to enact the same thing that happened to raphtalia in front of her, and that is where he draws the line and runs away with her. Now you have them even more down bad with literally everyone now against them.
It's also what most people would fucking do if they felt they had their country against them. They wouldn't buy slaves. It's fetish shit and everyone here knows it.
38:00 Anyone denying this is a power fantasy failed to notice... literally anything that happens in this damn story and how it's all made to make Naofumi 100% in the right.
It’s so weird that they have Naofumi be noble in almost every single aspect and then add slavery in as part of his story. It either intentionally or unintentionally implies that it’s the most practical and pragmatic considering he’s the man who is defending it and is the one lecturing the others on their actions as if he knows better than them. I can’t imagine the mental gymnastics that are required to both be someone who builds up the little people to be independent and also thinking it’s valid to own slaves and taking away their independence and free will. The math ain’t mathing
he doesnt think of it that way, because "he would free them if they just ask" someone used to how slavery works would point out how in a general sense it doesnt work out and theyre just lucky (plot) that nothing bad has happened yet, but explain the mechanics and what the slavery system does to someone like lets say goku, and he would be more than happy for it. and he actually does partially get over his trust issues as early as raphtalia's second slave mark but does it anyways because of the boosts conclusion: he trusts himself to not to act like a jerk and mess up on it, the other characters he also ends up enslaving reluctantly accept because of the boosts and their trust in him, but explain the situation to a bystander and itd end up seriously wrong ...if the story ended with that it wouldve been a lot more better, but it actually seems like its actually condoning slavery... although its done in a way that could easily be interpreted as sarcasm so this matter is purely subjective so its simultaneously the best and the worst anime of 2019
@noobfart But isn't making slavery the main way his companions grow stronger a pretty mixed message at best? As it basically says that slavery is okay if "the slaves are better off for it." Which was one of the arguments used for slavery.
@@bestaround3323 As far as Naofumi goes he still allows free will and his involvement is slavery is as benevolent as he could have humanly managed. He didn't have much choice considering how he was forced into using that underhanded method by the society that was basically raised to shit on the shield hero. It's less of a "message" and more of making the setting and making the best out of a bad situation. Slaves are party members, his shield benefits would be conferred to party members regardless of slavery. Naofumi early on has severe trust issues which is why he stoops to the slave crest in the first place. If there was a message it's that people can't grow stronger alone. Every time he uses the cursed shield(s), a power that lets him fight alone, he gets swallowed by that power and he's usually worse for it. He's not a perfect person by any means, he has personality issues he has to get over in order to use that shield power in a more heroic fashion. I can't critique beyond them trying to handle the giant turtle in the LN or after his fight with the demon dragon in the anime, as I got **really** tired of him babysitting the other 3 heroes who are all real pieces of work themselves. But Naofumi is someone that is a work in progress, slow as he may be to do so. It's never portrayed as a good thing.
@@bestaround3323his slaves can leave, and she would have died or been graped , so yea getting a little beat up isn’t so bad for freedom and self defence
I remember Gigguk talking about the second season, saying that he wasn't as interested because the main hook of the series, him being framed and an outcast, was resolved.
Maybe he shouldn't have watched it to begin with. One of my biggest problems with Gigguk is how he doesn't seemed bothered by all the gross shit in anime and says nothing about it.
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 Thats actually a great more, you made me look back on his statements and realize that he rarely like reacts to the awfulness in a lot of anime
@Antidote Bear Lmao anime fans are the ultimate soyboys, they're socially awkward consoomer coomers who can't get laid and have little to no masculinity to be seen.
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 Your plethora of buzzwords and “no u” attempt do not mask the fact that you are offended by cartoons, whereas someone like gigguk comes across as a charismatic and well-adjusted fellow who is not triggered by cartoons.
makes sense the average anime fan seems to hate exposition and can quickly lose attention when explosions aren't going off every few minutes. The spirit tortoise arc was the slowest arc of the series, but it was actually handled far better in the anime. Probably just because we got to see everything happen in motion. and the arc villain was voiced perfectly! It got weird after the next arc ended, but that would only be noticeable to those that are following the manga.
One thought I had watching this: A power fantasy isn't determined by how strong the main character is or how little they struggle but whether or not they are ever wrong and have to deal with the consequences.
Fun fact no one cares about: Itsuki's original world has quirks but not nearly as cool. He was born with a skill that makes him have really good accuracy, which is why he can hit bow shots so frequently. Itsuki also thinks that Naofumi has a skill that allows him to get along with animals well. Don't ask me why, I forgot.
Spoilers because in itsuki's world its a lot like MHA. Everyone has an esper power. But his was trash since it only enhanced accuracy while his peers could fly and shit. He assumes naofumi is a fellow esper because his own inferiority complex prevents him from admitting that naofumi could be so effective with no enhancement (also esper powers are normal to him and assuming others have one isnt that weird for him). It is also the source of his dumb behavior. He wants to be a hero SO BAD because he was a bullied incel in his last life. (Naofumi is the only hero who didn't die to get summoned all the others were killed)
@@Pedro-yr8fl it is funny. Though in the LN Naofumi does mention he has always had an unusually friendly relationship with animals to the point he seems to be a beast whisperer.
My biggest two issues (I couldn't even finish 12 episodes, just for transparency), besides the Elephants, are both about Raphtalia: 1: Raphtalia would've been better if she didn't have the ability to grow up rapidly. Not only that, but so would the worldbuilding. Why the hell aren't her kind the dominant race with an ability that seems to make them objectively superior to humans? There easily could've been a cultural taboo on making your children do it, and/or literal mental/biological long-term downsides. If you still want the older form, I would just make it explicitly a fake illusion that she uses like a coping mechanism, both to feel more confident and in hopes it makes people take her more seriously. 2: She shouldn't have become basically a whole different and suddenly way more positive and upbeat character once she got "older". Yeah, you change as you mature, but things like what she went through stick with you for life and even straight up alter how your brain ends up wiring itself. I think the happier persona should've been like, super obviously fake, while her real self would be a more stoic, cynical, irritable type who struggles with a lot of repressed anger and really feels constantly paranoid and on edge, but wants to put on a happy face just so Naofumi will approve of her. I think she'd have a lot of repressed misanthropy that she chooses to reverse onto herself, and urges for violence and revenge that she sees as proof she's a "monster". Essentially, Big Raphtalia should've been more just... crudely and sloppily plastered over what is very obviously still just a scared, traumatized little girl.
I mentally checked out of this show when the slave girl said something like, “If you really care about slaves then you would buy more slaves,” as some sort of “rebuttal” to the spear guy saying slavery is bad.
while i agree with oyu on that being "yikes".... from the perspective of the world they live in? thats a reasonable argument. Slavery is just "a thing they live with", slavery is bad, no questions asked, but a society, that lives with it, the best way, besides outright abolishment(whihc is hard to acomplish quickly especialy in a medieval society) to improve the lives of as many slaves as possible is to have someone who dosnt consider them "property" aquire them and treat them well,, its twisted, and dear god i m happy that it wasnt naofumi who said it, but from their view it makes sense
@@weberman173 Not to mention his party has LITERALLY been selling off its members as slaves behind spear dickhead's back. Bitch goes out of her way to sell any girl that gets too much of his attention or falls behind to make money for the party and then tells him they left. While waving his spear saying its wrong and freeing slaves he's also making more slaves. It also DEFINITELY the case that she intended to re-enslave Raph at the earliest opportunity since she hates beastmen. She just wanted to fuck over Naofumi more along the way and get more money as well.
@@weberman173 Better would be to simply take the slaves from the slavers by force. Paying into the process supports the business model- theft doesn't. It would also completely circumvent the brand, which would help with the message.
@@weberman173 I get that _you_ understand slavery is wrong but I don't think the issue is "This isn't realistic for the characters!" It's more an issue on what the anime is promoting. Not only are the people in this anime who call out slavery presented as jerks, it's the protaginist and his slaves endorsing it. Like, I think if you can get behind reincarnation, magic, etc then having slavery be criminalized in your fantasy story isn't immersion-breaking.
@@dracomurdock6349 He instantly becomes the enemy of ~50%+ of the human population in that fictional world and becomes option-locked and trolled with that due to the higher-level problem of the classical, fictional world-end scenario. He can free his slaves, he can't free other people's slaves until the waves are over, at least without starting a civil war during another, bigger war. edit: To reiterate, his only politically affordable option during the waves-crisis is to buy-and-release slaves using his own personally-gained currency from using his super-powers, per say.
So glad there are Isekai out there that not only don't indulge in the "slavery is legal here, so it's okay" BS, but actively denounce it. Big shout-out to Sword-Dad Shishou for straight up murdering his wielder/daughter's owner before burning the contract to set her free and your boy, Arc, for spending most of the first season of his show actively fighting against the slave trade of the world he ended up in.
@@ElvenRaptor Idk how to tell you this but it is in fact possible to do two things at the same time. We can call out the prevalence of (predominantly female) slavery in media and also try to combat IRL instances in whatever ways we can. Try again.
I don’t, as a rule, dislike “hate-sink” type villains. As far as hooks for a story go, you could do worse than “our villain is Joffrey Baratheon, but with boobs!” For me the big problem was that she only really got away with it for so long because EVERYONE in the world was so exasperatingly stupid. Made it more trying to experience than anything. I lament losing out on what Shield Hero could have been, but as it is it’s far from the worst show to get as popular as it has. The kind of show I don’t regret watching, but will probably never watch again.
You pretty much summed up my feeling about the show. I watched season 1 after it finished airing and enjoyed it for what it was. But after seeing all the hype for season 2 and 3 I thought, "No way this show is good enough to deserve this much hype". After season 2 came out this year it looked like I was right. Probably never gonna watch season 2 and beyond or rewatch season 1.
It's a shame, the idea that each of the protags interacted with the world differently before coming to it and that coloring how they see the world and how they solve problems is an interesting one. It would work well if the protags other than the shield hero had some benefits from their perspectives. Like if spear had better insight into min-maxing and character building, sword was the best at sheer combat due to his trained reflexes, that bow had insight into how the world's quests and threats structured themselves, and shield could keep the "understanding the world on it's level" thing. If the other heroes than shield were allowed to learn and grow as characters, and they learned to combine all their different perspectives to fully understand the world, it would lean well into the whole "all these guys are important and have to work together to save the world conceit".
They do get development after Season 2. Problem is everyone just want everything now instead of waiting for when it happens in the Story. Each of the other Heroes unlock their own Cursed Series Weapons and Naofumi has to help break them out of it. They then join him and start working together. Though Spear does have a Psychotic Break that he has yet to come out of, but still becomes a helpful party member.
@@nobalkain624 It's less "everyone wants everything now" and more "these dumbasses have been totally static and super uninteresting for the entire season, please give them more character traits". The author isn't always right.
@@syweb2 Oh I can understand. I just wanted people to know that it does happen at some point. Its up to them if they care to wait. People have become rather impatient in the Steaming Age where many have moved onto a Bing Style of Watching things.
@@nobalkain624 is it character development? Or is it "okay they're 'good' now that they finally see things MC's way?" Having the other heroes get some benefit from their different perspectives would have been a great tool for developing and balancing the characters. Let there be times where it's Naofumi who screws something up, and one of the other heroes has the right answer because of his approach being better suited for the situation. That would have been a great opportunity for the characters to mutually learn from each other, rather than just have the one main guy be always in the right and lord his superiority over the others.
@@Toshimi1043 Its up to each reader to decide this themselves, all I can do is tell you that Naofumi helps them each deal with breaking their own Cursed Weapons Series and the Trauma of it all. In the end this is just Entertainment and not meant to be some Great Fable. This has been the Authors first Published Book based on their first Web Novel. I just dont know why so many people get so upset about a Story they clearly dont like, and get further upset by those who do. The great thing about Manga, Anime, and Light Novels is there is so much out there that your bound to find something you do like. Instead people seem to focus on what they Hate and getting upset at those who do like it.
I personally loved the first half of the first season. But I started to fall out on the second half when Malty came and solved all of Naofumi's problems and Naofumi got his cursed shield. Suddenly, everyone loved Naofumi, he was OP, he had his loli harem and suddenly everything I loved about the first episodes was gone. I hoped the second season would fix this and introduce a rivalry between Glass and Naofumi, but no, instead Naofumi just makes his harem bigger and introduces a bunch of characters I don't care about. I still have hope for the series, because I genuenly enjoyed the first couple episodes, but currently, it's not going well imo.
I enjoyed RotSH right up until he got the literal bird brained loli, it was at that point I realised it wasn't going to deliver on its promise of a shunned protagonist winning over the common man and eventually getting his just revenge, instead it was just going to be yet more waifubait for wankers.
@@CynicalOldDwarf Yeah, I wish filo had stayed as a bird. Also, why is he contributing to slavery? When he got Raphtalia, atleast he had the excuse he had nowhere else to go, but Filo? Tf does he need an overpriced slave hatchimal for?
@@LaCabraAsada Because having him realize and acknowledge his mistakes would imply that he isn't the perfect MC that the author imagined him to be. Hell, he doesn't even take off the slave seal himself, it gets taken off through plot convenience when Raphtalia becomes a hero.
the sword hero honestly wasn't that bad with the dragon thing, it's kinda understandable, like "corpse a mile or two away is making entire town sick" and "corpse comes back to life quite literally because it felt like it" don't sound too crazy to not expect to me
Is everybody forgetting that Vultures, Crows, flies, and other predators are a thing that would eat that dragon's meat to the point that there'd only be bones?
@@aguywithalotofopinions412 In a fantasy world where massive amounts of predatory beasts that repopulate as fast as bugs exists just for Heroes to kill and get XP from I'd say that Dragon would have brought them together to created Mother Nature's version of "The Last Supper."
I have not listened to the new VA for Naofumi yet, but its going to be hard to not have Billy. He put a lot of work into making you feel Naofumi's emotions, he was a fantastic VA and will be missed.
My biggest problem with the series can basically be exemplified by the action of Raphtalia breaking free of her slave crest and the writers decide that she should just put one on again. Despite all its pretense, the show adamantly refuses to escape its bondage to the tropes of history’s worst genre of power fantasy.
To be completely fair: *SPOILERS AHEAD* . . . . Raphtalia breaks from the slave crest during the story twice. This first time you make reference to, she does get back to it. The second time however, she does not. The differences between the first time and second are that in the first she didn't break free, she was broken free, and Naofumi was still deeply untrustworthy to the point of needing some reassurance, as fucked up as this one is. Later on the story, when she breaks off it again, she actually breaks off it because she becomes a vassal weapon herself, aka by her own strength she is broken off the contract. This time around, pretty much an arc after the Turtle thing, Naofumi actually trusts her, and her being a vassal weapon literally doesn't see any gameplay benefit to reapply it (which is the whole reason why the crest even still exists as a plot point at that stage). Furthermore, from that point onwards, all the crests are removed one by one and never reapplied. The story does move on from that trope. It's a slow burn, but the slave crest was meant plot wise as a representation of Naofumi's ability to trust others after what happened to him. Still quite a fucked up plot device, but it does dissappear when the actual writter felt it had no more use within the story.
As I said in another comment she decided to put it back on because he was completely incapable of trusting anyone without the binkie of magical obedience at the time. As he's recovered over time he has started trusting more people without them being slaves to the point that Spoilers: in the current arc i've been reading the slavery mark came off again and despite wishing it was there for the baked in magic gps capabilities so he could find the two of them he's made no attempt to reinstate it once he met up with them again. He's seemingly grown past the need for his binkie. Now they could prove me wrong and the moment he gets back to where he came from he could go infantile and reinstate it but it seems like he's finally grown past the need to use slavery as he's met more and more people who are actually trustworthy.
@@Sandman382 *SPOILERS* : : : : As long as the manga doesn't deviate from the LN (which at this point would be really weird if it did) then no, the crest doesn't get reinstated later either, and all other crests from other characters also get periodically removed as well. They really do move on from it.
@@lucianocastrogiovanni2879 more spoilers but He literally owns an entire farming slave field where some are trained as soldiers. You're only correct about the slaves he's close to, or get "lucky" per say with that world's power-up situationals as being right-hand allies of a super-hero. I don't mind your argument regardless, both happen at the same time.
@@lucianocastrogiovanni2879 Ah, so the removal of the slave crest _does_ get the payoff I hoped it would, 'Now I can prove that I'm staying of my own free will!' They just...had to back up and drive over it one more time to get there.
My problem with Shield Hero is that it sets itself up as an underdog story with a morally questionable protagonist, and then goes out of its way to make him never actually feel like an underdog and to excuse all his morally questionable actions. Also, when I first read it I thought, "oh, this is like a parody or a deconstruction of the slavery kink fantasy kind of isekai" and then it just unironically was a slavery kink fantasy.
yeah, exactly; there's never a point that meaningfully has Naofumi get criticized for his decisions nor a point that meaningfully has Naofumi reflect on how horrible he's become
Some additional Information from the Light Novels: - When Naofumi got his first Slave he unlocked the Slaver Shield. This Shield allows him not only to direct the growth of his slaves but also increases the stat gain each lv. Meaning being his slave makes them disproportionally more powerful. This is arguably the strongest ability in his entire arsenal. Imo even more so than his Shield of Wrath. And if that wasn't bad enough, in order for this advantage to take effect at least one of the possible restrictions you can put on your slave must be in effect. Naofumi chose to make his slaves unable to lie to him because of his lasting trust issues. But to be honest I think the slave crest is a pretty versatile narrative device: From a purely objective standpoint, it would be stupid to not use that advantage but is morally so wrong that it makes it really hard to like Naofumi even though he has all those other redeeming qualities. It is one of the 2 things that keep the other Heroes from really trusting him because for all their faults they all are disgusted by the slavery. And for once they are not stupid to think so. You can also see that it is used rather well in the world-building. Using this for Trials in a society where it is normal that slaves exist seems entirely logical for example. - Also the one time he used Filos Crest to find her was not because she was annoying him by hiding but because the crown princess was taken and they need to get the fuck going if they want to save her. But that was in the Anime as well. - Regarding the other heroes I agree that they are a mishandled mess so far. I don't have much to add to what you already said but I will say one thing: They will get attention in the not too distant future. - I agree that the action in Shield Hero is mediocre at best. The Light Novel often focuses on strategy and mind games which the anime just flat-out ignores which hurt many fights a lot. Let's take the end of the wave where Glass defeated all the heroes as an example. (not quite sure how it exactly went in the anime I'll just say how it went in the LN): After Glass showed just how much stronger she was than any of the heroes present Naofumi realized something: There was a timer counting down. Since Naofumi assumed Glass was part of/linked to the wave and that this timer was in all likelihood a timer for the wave he concluded that all he had to do was stall for time. His win condition changed from defeating Glass - which was impossible for him - to survive, while Glass's win condition would be to take out Naofumi as she recognized him as being potentially dangerous. I personally quite enjoyed this and wouldn't say that the timer running out was anticlimactic bullshit in this instance. Though I don't want to say that there isn't anticlimactic Bullshit in Shield Hero. Ther absolutely is. - I am not sure what the Studio is thinking. The first Season was ok-isch paced if a little rushed but the 2nd Season is a clusterfuck of disjunct fight scenes loosely held together by butchered dialogue. They did skip so much of actually good stuff just to get to the action scenes of the probably worst arc of the light novel. And they even mess up these scenes. E.g. When Naofumi used his Air Strike Shield to Sever the Head of the Tortoise? Anime-only-nonsense: Naofumi doesn't have such attack options, he is a support/tank, not a dps. In the LN it was Raftalia who did this, why did they take that away from her? Also, the wolf boy from Raftalias Village named Kiel: He was supposed to join Naofumis Party as well. But the Anime ignored that because... it wouldn't be an all-female Party anymore??? I am so mad at Season 2 XD
Wait that wolf boy was supposed to join the party?! Lmao what was the director thinking when he thought about changing that? Does he really want a all-female party _that_ bad? He's hopeless then. He's really changing the course of the events of the story just to suit his fetishes.
Unrelated to the topic of the video: I wanted to say 'thanks' for recommending 'Birdie Wing', Love After World Domination', and 'Aharen-san' in your "Anime to Watch" video. I never would have checked them out of you hadn't mentioned them, and I'm enjoying them all very much (particularly BW).
I really need to just sit down and force myself to watch birdie wing. I know I’ll enjoy it, it’s just a matter of making myself see it. That being said though, I’m surprised at how much I ended up loving ‘Love after world domination’ it’s so unbelievably fun
I read the Shield Hero LN when I was first learning Japanese and I thought for sure I was misunderstanding the word 奴隷, but then I kept reading and was like, "oh, no it definitely just means literal slave..."
After what happened with Laura Bailey with The Last Of Us 2, I have a bad feeling. Still, Shield Hero is significantly more niche than TLoU2, so at least Faye Mata and the other VAs have hopefully avoided quantity, at least.
@@stielimusterman3066 The character Laura Bailey plays in the The Last of Us 2 killed one of the protagonists and because of this death, a full on campaign of cancellation on Bailey commenced for most of 2020.
@@SirDanFilmsUnltd From what I read on ANN, at least Faye Mata still has everyone's favorite crybaby useless goddess, Aqua from KonoSuba, while her Japanese counterpart, Sara Emi Bridcutt, still has one of the Yamai twins from Date A Live. And yes, I do remember the time Kana Ichinose got cyberbullied for her role as shipping-war bait Ichigo in DARLING in the FRANXX; now she's voicing the hilariously unlucky Maki "NTR-senpai" Shijo of Kaguya-sama.
I was listening to the audiobook while at work and I had to explain my "What the fuck?!" to a coworker who came in thinking I'd hurt myself. their reaction? "Jesus, what a fucking bitch"
Shield Hero is like the McDonald's of anime/manga, you want it for the instant gratification, then realize after you just filled yourself with something that doesn't provide any substance
Don’t insult McDonald’s like that. It’s bad for you and unhealthy like most fast food, but it’s fucking delicious. I’d argue that something like No Game, No Life is the McDonald’s of anime. Shield Hero is moreso like crappily made brussel sprouts greased in ranch seasoning. It tries to come off as more mature than it actually is, but what’s there in substance is straight up bad both for the shallow pandering and the surface-deep attempts at coming off as introspective.
@@PeterGriffithOfTheHawk Salty, greasy day old (probably longer) food that's cooked in almost certainly a disgusting kitchen. That sounds about right for this show.
Honestly as far as the two big elephants go with Shield Hero, I think it could have worked with either one of them? Like if it just did the fake accusation, or just did the slavery bit (and didn't have Naofumi freaking defend the practice), that could be a very solid sort of dark isekai schtick. But doing the false accusation and then the slavery as well, coupled with a few odd lines like Naofumi's defense of slavery or him being weirdly judgy about the art of the LN that isekais him, makes it hard to give the show the benefit of the doubt with its pieces. Like, it really feels like Naofumi is a nice person... with some very unhealthy views on women that the world semi-justifies, whose flaws are in turn justified mechanically as good actually with both slavery and the wrath shield. A Nice Guy, if you will. And I don't know if that's on purpose but it's just always kind of there? So I don't really feel able to just sort of enjoy the ride. It frontloads more iffy stuff than it can really handle well and then doesn't nail the payoff well enough to make it worth it, at least for me.
What kills me is the writer could have had him buy Raphtalia, free her, then proposition her to join him for a split of earned gold. Draw a FAKE slave crest on her and have them behave as master/slave in public so she couldn't be captured and bam. New partner, no moral yikes. I LITERALLY did this with my light side Sith in SWTOR lol
I didn't read the novel but apparently the point of that chapter was to show that Naofumi was pissed and had zero fucks to give. He buys Raphtalia in part because she looked like Malty.
Having him free her right away would undermine the story a bit, though. He's supposed to be completely untrusting, broken at that point. Desperate as well, since he can't fight and doesn't have much in the way of funds. Now, later, after the duel in the arena, her getting it back... that's where it should have ended. But it is pretty evident the author wanted slavery. If he didn't, the whole bonuses from being a slave bit would not exist. That's just something that the author put there to justify keeping the slavery. After all, character power level is pretty arbitrary, not something set in stone. Remove that stuff from the story and a character could be just as powerful, because the author says so. Plus game mechanics, which the story uses to develop its characters' powers, usually handle this sort of thing already. Higher levels take more xp, so the level gap will naturally close. Often times, the amount of xp given to a character can vary based on how the enemy's level is compared to their own, which again serves to close the gap. Some games award bonus xp for doing the most damage or getting the killing blow, which for the shield hero's party, would translate to his companions getting more xp.
They keep the slave crest because the Slave Owner Shield gives a boost to the stat growth of any slaves in his party, that's all (well, later on anyway, he was in a *real* bad headspace in the early part of the story). Said boost also stacks will all other 'companion type' shields applicable to that party member, which is part of why Filo is so OP (she gets like 4 different boosts that all stack). Incidentally, that's also why Raphtalia tells Rishia to become Naofumi's slave, so she gets an extra boost to her stat growth.
Or (what I expected to happen when I first watched the episode) Naofumi could have brutally murdered the slaver and freed all the slaves, only for Raphtalia to grab onto him and refuse to let go until he agrees to let her travel with him. This allows Naofumi to be the edgelord antihero the authors wants him to be, by finding a horrible person to take his anger out on, while also making him a champion of the people.
I thought with the slavery thing, that the whole outcast arc wouldve lasted longer and for naofumi to become more of an anti hero, fighting between wanting to be good and the horrors of the world, with him kind of going down both paths, like stealing, ransoming (which he does do), and embracing the rage shield more (do more with the fact its fucking sentient, please), ultimately making a choice between the road to redemption and heroism or embracing the dark that has swallowed him. instead, he just ends up like every other isekai protag: a wealthy, respected, harem owner.
