Once the most reviled and feared in all of Melramarc, Naofumi
Iwatani has embraced his role as the legendary Shield Hero. The brief peace he finds being the Lord of
Seyatte comes to a halt when a host of new Monsters attacks and the countdown
to the next Wave of Monsters suddenly halts.
All of this comes as a long dormant titan awakens and begins a destructive
march towards Melrmarc. Noafumi and his
allies are summoned once again to battle.
Between a monstrous “Spirit Tortise” and the looming threat of powerful Heroes
from Other Worlds making their way to Melramarc, Naofumi’s mission as the Shield
Hero just got a whole lot tougher.
While I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to Isekai,
I freaking loved the First Season of The Rising of the Shield Hero. Maybe it was the way Naofum’s story played
out, just wanting to see him rise from rock bottom and see him stick it to an
entire world that wronged him for no reason.
Maybe it was because I liked the JRPG elements and the uniqueness of
Naofumi’s forced skillset. I know
Raphtalia is super popular…but I’ll be honest I love Queen Mirellia a lot more
(sorry, not sorry). Whatever it was, Season
One was a fun binge. While I only had to
wait a few months to get to Season Two, having watched Season One Last Fall, I
can only imagine how hard it mustve been for anyone watching the show when it
first aired in 2019. Yeah, it isn’t uncommon
for big shows to take long siestas these days and it’s always a concern it
could kill a shows momentum. Thankfully,
the Season Two Premiere is evidence enough that time has been taken to make
sure that everything that made Season One work is still working while also
setting things up for an exciting continuation.
Even though it’s only been a couple of months for me, I
still sighed with relief seeing Naofumi’s new status quo hadn’t been
changed.
He’s still the Lord of
Raphtalia’s village, which is getting back on its feet.
Everyone still loves him.
Raphtalia, Filo and Melty are still around
too (though Melty has no lines).
He’s
even still got a pretty good friendship still going on with Queen Mirellia
because he isn’t a jerk who wont lend a hand cause he’s too damn famous (God I
hate the other heroes).
Season One was
all about Naofumi working his butt off to build up his reputation and he earned
every victory.
It’s good to see that’s
still paying off.
It shouldn’t be a surprise and yet it was, a lot of the
Premiere was actually split between setting up Naofumi’s new mission and prepping
the likely season long arc for new party member, Rishia.
She was once part of the Bow Heroes party but
was kicked out due to cowardice and inexperience before being rescued by Naofumi
during a battle.
Rishia’s a nervous
wreck throughout the Premiere but wants to get stronger and tougher so she can
return to Bow Hero Istuki’s party…why?
One
of Shield Hero’s most cruel elements in Season One was how quickly everyone
could turn on anyone and make them feel less than what they are.
Naofumi was the underdog who proved everyone
wrong and forged his own path with his own party and friends who weren’t assigned
to him by Melramarc. No one believed he, Raphtalia and Filo would ever come as
far as they have but they proved him wrong.
Point is, if Rishia belongs anywhere, it’s with Naofumi’s party and she should
give Itsuki and his stuck up bunch the finger for being so cruel…kind of what
Naofumi did throughout Season One but he still comes off as nice even if he
acts like a jerk.
Though…Rishia wanting to become Naofumi’s slave in order
to get stronger is bound to cause as much controversy as when he bought Raphtalia
as a slave in Season One.
Yeah, Naofumi
did it to save Raphtalia but it’s still a societal element that’s frowned upon.
What’s worse is that it’s Raphtalia who
encourages and first suggests Rishia take this route to gain XP as part of
Naofumi’s party…that just feels so damn wrong.
Yeah they’ve had interactions with the Slave Owner who sold Raphtalia to
Naofumi but I cant see Raphtalia ever being ok with this arrangement.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it but this
part of the premiere made me cringe and not in an amused way, far from it.
But kind of like Season One, this little controversial
tidbit didn’t stop me from enjoying Shield Hero’s Season Two Premiere.
It’s good to see the gang back together and
exciting to know theyre gonna battle a giant turtle just like in Final Fantasy
XV.
The new intro promises more new
characters and hopefully we’ll get to see some new Heroes from other worlds pop
in too (fingers crossed for Glass, she was one of my favorites).
Not sure if I’ll watch this weekly or wait
for it to wrap up since it’s only 13 episodes long.
Either way, it’s good to have the Shield Hero
back.
I’ve missed how awesome Naofumi is
compared to the other three schmucks who will never be on his level.
And I’m looking forward to seeing just how
much higher this underdog and his team can rise.
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