The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 (Fin) – 12 – Doing It for Her

Naofumi and Raphtalia undergo rigorous dragon vein training with Gaelion with only Sadeena accompanying them. Sadeena breaks out a little booze that proves too much for Raph or the dragon, allowing Sadeena to ask Naofumi a simple question: What are your feelings towards Raphtalia?

His answer is the predictable one: he sees her as his daughter. At least he wants to believe that’s all. Even if it truly isn’t any more complicated than that, as long as Raphtalia can smile, Naofumi’s heart is at ease. He cares for her a great deal. Of all the comrades he’s amassed, she’s his number one.

When Elhart comes to Luroluna with the delivery of a gift made specially for Raphtalia, it’s not a weapon, but a miko outfit, and Naofumi can’t mask his delight. The fact is, Raphtalia looks super cool (and cute) in what to him looks like traditional Japanese garb.

Unfortunately, this turns out to be a serious unforced error made completely by mistake. Naofumi doesn’t know it until Sadeena returns to town and insists Raphtalia take off the outfit immediately. But it’s too late: a bomb goes off in the house in which she’s changing, and suddenly the village is lousy with ninja-like assassins.

These assassins turn out to be tough customers by dint of their apparent immunity to attacks from heroes; Naofumi, Ren, and the recently acquired Itsuki are of no help. That means Atla, Fohl, and Sadeena must keep them at bay while Naofumi and Raph do chorol magic to cast confuse on all of their foes, allowing them to be mopped up.

Sadeena identifies the assassins as being from Q’Ten Lo. Raph was born into the royal family of Q’Ten Lo and is a descendant of its Heavenly Emperor (a lot of analogues to the Japanese imperial family). Her parents flet Q’Ten Lo to escape all the political wrangling, but then Luroluna was attacked by slavers.

That day happened to be one of the few days Sadeena, a royal guard of Q’Ten Lo who went on protecting Raph’s parents, wasn’t there to protect her, as she was busy fighting wave monsters at sea. She also makes clear that these would-be assassins have been watching Raph since before she was born, not lifting a finger to keep her from suffering or being enslaved.

As we know how important Raphtalia is to Naofumi, this obviously cannot stand, so he prepares to head to Q’Ten Lo immediately to open a dialogue. He can’t have assassins roaming around when the Phoenix arrives in less than two months. He stops in the captial, where Queen Reina rewards him for gathering the other three Heroes by committing knights to help protect his town while he’s away.

Naofumi intends to travel to Siltvelt with Wyndia aboard Gaelion, then open a portal for everyone else to join him. There’s a ferry from Siltvelt to Q’Ten Lo, and it will be interesting to see not so much if he gets support in his diplomatic venture from Siltvelt—which essentially worships him as a god—but how much.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until Season 4 to learn what will transpire. Will the Phoenix attack while all this Q’Ten Lo stuff is going down? Will Raphtalia be able to reject her claim, or be forced to wear the crown of a country she never knew? Who will Bitch swindle next? There will be plenty to cover, but it’s good to see Naofumi has his priorities straight.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 11 – Pride Before the Fall

Despite Rishia being his opponent in the arena, Itsuki spends most of the start ignoring her completely, shouting up at Naofumi and even firing arrows at him when he’s surrounded by kids. Itsuki believes Malty’s lies about Naofumi exploiting the child slaves, and is determined to use his newfound “justice” (i.e. the Curse Series crest Malty gave him) to defeat all evil in the world.

Itsuki soon learns he can’t ignore Rishia anymore. She’s a lot stronger and tougher than when he booted her out of his party. She no longer recognizes this version of Itsuki, and she’s just as determined to follow her own personal justice in order to get him to snap out of this funk.

Each time Rishia pushes Itsuki back with her Hengen Muso techniques, Itsuki retreats deeper and deeper into the Curse series, which bestows him more power, but power that’s tinged with the very evil he claims to be against. That power won’t work against Rishia’s strength and justice. Even when he binds her shadow and legs and drops a giant golden bull head on her, she simply smashes it to bits.

Itsuki thinks he has the upper hand when he snaps Rishia’s sword and she refuses to take Naofumi’s sword. But when Itsuki tries to fire a decisive shot at her, something nobody expects happens: the Bow itself betrays his curdled will. Instead of harming Rishia, it breaks her Slave Crest and provides her with a transluscent blade that can morph into a boomerang.

Rishia uses the morphable weapon to great effect, defeating Itsuki in the arena. He ends up falling back into his dark memories of once believing he was a hero of justice only to end up among the lowest-ranked of students. His pride, then, as now, was his undoing.

The one and only person Itsuki believes will support him no matter what is Bitch, but when he rushes to her accommodations, she and the remnants of his party are already gone. She left behind a note thanking him for all the prize money he made for her, and left a stack of debts in his name to pay off.

Itsuki is so overwhelmed by this betrayal he smashes the Cursed Series crest against the wall and then faints. When he comes to, he’s in a cabin by the sea in Luroluna Village, Rishia by his side. She takes his hand, tells him where he is, and that Naofumi will be paying off his debts, and she promises to help him as well.

Itsuki, still a little catatonic from everything he’s been through, nevertheless sheds a tear of gratitude, and allows Rishia to guide him by the hand to the garden, where they’ll begin his road to recovery from Bitch’s machinations and his own shattered pride.

Naofumi and Raphtalia look on as Rishia guides Itsuki and Eclair trains with Ren. Now all four Cardinal Heroes are in the same place, and well on the road towards working together as a single unit, just in time for the impending arrival of the Phoenix.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 10 – Bow Flex

Hey, remember Rishia Ivyred? Dumped like a bag of sand by the Bow Hero Kawasumi Itsuki, she joined Naofumi’s party and vowed to become stronger and more useful. Thanks to Elrasla she’s become a competent swordswoman. She seeks neither revenge nor apology from Itsuki—she simply wants to show him she isn’t the weak burden he abandoned.

As Filo runs off with Melty and Raph-chan to level up together, Naofumi appoints Eclair the village ruler, noting that she’d been over-relying on Melty for administrative duties, which kept the Crown Princess from necessary training. Ren offers to help her out, which she accepts. Then S’yne returns with a big sack of prize money and some news: the Bow Hero is fighting in the underground arena.

Naofumi brings Raphtalia, Ren, Sadeena, S’yne, Atla, Keel, and a handful of kids to participate in battles to gain experience. But Rishia has come in hopes she can speak to Itsuki. Instead, he completely ignores her and shoves her to the ground as he heads to the arena.

Itsuki glowers at Naofumi, telling him Malty Melromarc has informed him him all of the horrific crimes he’s committed. Bitch has already messed with the other three heroes, so it would be weird if she didn’t sink her pretty fangs into the Bow Hero as well. Like Ren and Motoyasu before him at first, Itsuki doesn’t believe anyone but Malty.

Atla suggests beating some sense into the guy, and I honestly like where her head’s at. I don’t think Rishia owes Itsuki a goddamn thing and would be wise to steer clear of him altogether, but he did save her life, so I respect her desire to at least talk to him, which only seems possible if she fights and defeats him in the arena.

Back at an inn where Itsuki’s reunited party and Bitch are staying, he provides more gold for her claimed cause: saving all of the slaves. Of course the money is just for her, and she intends to squeeze every possible coin out of Itsuki before ditching him like she ditched the Shield, Spear, and Sword.

Will Rishia be able to talk (or beat) some sense into Itsuki? I hope so, for as much as I loath yet another hero falling for Bitch’s wiles, we know that all four Cardinal Heroes will have to level up sufficiently and fight as a team in order to defeat the coming Phoenix.

As Elrasla said, Rishia is still raw, but she has confidence she can fight and win in the arena if she stays focused. That said, Rishia is raising her sword against her savior; will that perceived debt cause her to hold back? Hopefully not, because I want to see Bow Hero reformed. I also just want to see Bitch lose once more and take up a new hobby—one that doesn’t involve cozying up to and manipulating heroes.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 09 – Tripping the Light Dragon-tastic

Naofumi’s last shield just manages to absorb the Emperor Dragon’s attack, but he knows he won’t be able to stop the next one. Before it can charge up, Atla rushes into close range to use her pressure point attack. Because it becomes more powerful the tougher the defense, she manages to knock the dragon back, and it fires its breath at the ceiling, flooding the den.

The water washes everyone back outside. Atla is fine, and her actions not only saved everyone, but bought Naofumi and the rest of the party time to recover and regroup. That night, Wyndia confirms to her and Fohl that the dragon is indeed her father, and we get a heartwarming sequence of the dragon gradually learning how to take care of a demihuman infant entrusted to him by a dying man.

It’s while reminiscing about her childhood that Wyndia recalls touching her father’s one upside-down scale—his weak spot. Fohl makes sure Wyndia is okay fighting her dad, and she says she is; she wants to say goodbye to him properly. Seeing these sweet kids warms a drunk Sadeena’s heart.

Before the sun rises, the party gets organized: Sadeena, Wyndia and Melty will use choral magic to restrain the dragon while Raphtaia and Eclair launch melee attacks. Atla is eager to help, but Naofumi insists she hang back, as her unique power to undermine ultimate defense will be their last resort. This appeases Atla, who adorably tells Fohl she’s the ace.

As the skies begin to brighten, the curtain rises on one hell of a dragon boss battle. After luring him out with the Wrath Shield, the choral girls encase him in a giant cube of water, where Sadeena transforms into her orca form and gives him the business, supported by attacks from the swordsmen.

While his offense attacks, Naofumi distributes shields and buffs to everyone. Despite the large number of combatants, everything is kept nice and tight and the battle is easy to follow. When the Emperor takes off the kid gloves and zaps everyone with vicious beams of light, Atla senses her time has come.

Having built up magical energy back at camp, she and Fohl rush the dragon, only for her attack to bounce off a veil he has raised. Fohl keeps bashing at the veil until it shatters, allowing Atla to charge up her pressure index point finger of death, targeting the dragon’s weak upside-down scale. Her attack, which proves decisive, is presented with some decent sakuga along with one final flourish from Kevin Penkin’s boss fight music.

While Atla was committed to get the job done even if it meant sacrificing herself, she lands in Naofumi’s arms exhausted but alive. He may need to have a chat about her maybe not going so hard next time. The disabled Emperor coughs up Filo and Gaelion, who are none the worse for wear. All that’s left is to finish off the greatly-depleted dragon, achieved with one more round of choral magic, with Gaelion assisting in summoning a great orb of water.

Sadeena dives into the orb of water, which parries the dragon’s final breath attack, and she retrieves the Emperor’s core. Then Raphtalia delivers one final Mist coup-de-grace, atomizing the dragon just as the sun rises over the mountains. All that was missing from this satisfying conclusion to the battle was a good old-fashioned victory fanfare. Wyndia sets up a grave for her dearly departed father, and to her surprise, Ren leaves some flowers and prays beside her.

The villagers thank the Shield Hero for protecting them from the Sword Hero, but Naofumi calls them out for manipulating Ren and departs in a huff. Ren is deeply contrite for what went down and doesn’t believe he deserves forgiveness, but Wyndia forgives him anyway.

She actually knew he was manipulated all along, and that he really shouldn’t have been the target of her ire, but she made it so anyway. Both she and Ren have grown a lot, and are ready to move forward together as allies of Naofumi.

As for her father, he’s actually still around, as Gaelion is his new vessel. However, in the interest of allowing her daughter to carry on with her life, he’ll keep his presence secret, and asks Naofumi to do the same. Rather than give Filo her XP back (though he did absorb her curse), Gaelion grows big enough for Wyndia and Naofumi to have a celebratory dragon ride.

While this only makes the wagon-pulling Filo more jealous. However, as Naofumi says, all’s well that ends well, and they’re in a good place with the Phoenix drawing closer to its awakening.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 08 – Daddy Issues

Naofumi is deciding who will stay in the village and who will accompany him on the hunt for Gaelion when a new crisis crops up: Filo is gravely ill. Gaelion appears to be sapping her XP, resulting in her level gradually lowering. Atla can slow the decline, but can’t stop it, which means they need to do something about Gaelion if Filo is going to survive.

Naofumi takes Raphtalia, Eclair, Ren, Sadeena, and Wyndia to the neighboring village where Ren had previously defeated a dragon. They tell Naofumi there’s a new dragon in the den located in the nearby mountain. Wyndia doesn’t seem to particularly like these people.

While on their way to the den they encounter a porcupine beast, which Wyndia handles all by herself using magical power drawn from the dragon veins beneath the earth. Her power comes as a surprise to Naofumi, but Sadeena says one day Wyndia will be able to use Jamming and Choral magic.

Back in Luroluna, things go from bad to worse with poor Filo, who becomes covered in the same marks of red light as Naofumi when he was consumed by the Wrath Shield. Eventually her eyes turn red and she goes berserk. As the Gaelion search party pauses for a fire, Wyndia shoots an ugly look Ren’s way as well.

Whatever beef she has with Ren, when she slips and almost falls down a sheer cliff, he saves her life and tells her he’s glad she’s not hurt. Now that he no longer sees this world as just a game, he’s trying to be a better hero.

When Raph’s magical light can’t reach a particularly huge cavern, Wyndia taps into the dragon vein and illuminates the entire den. Shortly after that they’re ambushed by the berserk Gaelion.

As they defend and counter his attacks, the berserk Filo suddenly appears, ridden by Melty, Atla, and Fohl. The dragon possessing Gaelion lets out a breath that converts Filo to human form … then swallows her whole. This results in a transformation in Gaelion from a small red Wyr to a much stronger and more ancient-looking dragon.

According to his HUD Filo is still alive, so the party launches an all-out attack on the dragon to rescue her. Their efforts bear fruit as the dragon is grounded, but when moving in for a decisive blow, they’re stopped by Wyndia, who begs them not to hurt her dad anymore.

That’s right; Wyndia can sense within this dragon the soul of her father, who was the dragon Ren killed some time ago. She tries to talk sense into her father, telling him that while the other heroes were bad, the Shield Hero has only ever been kind.

The dragon responds by trying to kill Wyndia, but fortunately Ren is able to block its attack and save her again. This dragon is no longer Gaelion or her father, but the Emperor Dragon from the Hunting Hero’s world. He opens his breast armor to reveal Filo is now a part of his core.

Now that he’s resurrected he intends to subjugate all humans. Naofumi re-buffs everyone, but even their best attacks, so effective before, are useless against the Emperor Dragon’s tough skin.

When Naofumi discovers the dragon is somehow drawing its defense from his own shield, he prepares to fail a power-up attempt on his Wrath Shield. But to his dismay, the dragon is also capable of hacking his HUD. Instead of failing, he successfully powers up the Wrath Shield several times, thus gaining terrifying amounts of power.

The dragon turns red and its power discharge pretty much KOs everyone. Naofumi manages to get in front of Atla, Fohl, and Wyndia and sets up every shield he has, but the dragon’s breath blasts through nearly all of them, which brings us to a cliffhanger ending.

Mind you, all of this could have been avoided if Naofumi hadn’t kept the soul of the Emperor Dragon on his bedside table. I mean, do safes not exist in this world? Like the slaver attack on the village Naofumi left inexplicably undefended earlier this season, this is a dilemma of his creation. Hopefully he can fix it before Filo and the others pay an irreversible price.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 07 – How Not to Train Your Dragon

With two months until the Phoenix arrives, normalcy and peace washes over Luroluna village. This is an episode that runs largely on vibes as we observe along with Naofumi how the vast and diverse community of colorful characters he shepherded fares on a daily basis.

He cooks a hearty breakfast for everyone after their morning exercises. Rishia continues to improve, Atla can easily beat her brother with martial arts, Keel can transform into a therianthorpe thanks to Sadeena, and Ren is learning proper swordsmanship under Eclair. Also, S’yne digs Naofumi’s cooking.

Even with all of these established characters to juggle, she episode still feels the need to introduce a few more, from young Wyndia, a villager who excels at beast handling, and Ratotille Anthreya, AKA Rat, a mad alchemist sent by the queen to help Naofumi level up his monsters.

A quick visit to the paddock and Naofumi learns they’re one caterpillar monster richer. They discover eggs beneath them, meaning more will be on the way. Naofumi accepts Rat into the tribe, but doesn’t fully trust her, so insists on a crest, which she accepts.

Wyndia shows Naofumi a chest full of gifts from Siltvelt, including a black dragon egg. For the entire middle of the episode henceforth, Naofumi must carry the egg on his back to keep it warm and safe (he asked Ren, but the effects of the curse would have an adverse effect on it).

Naofumi and Raph stop by the Elhart, who has completed a siderite katana for her, but are otherwise in and out in a jiffy. That night when Atla can’t sleep, she asks Fohl to sing her the lullaby their mother sang for them. He does, and it’s lovely, but it ends up putting him to sleep, which is what Atla wanted.

The next morning, we learn why: Naofumi wakes up not only with the dragon egg in bed (which he put there) but Atla as well (which he didn’t). This is apparently the third time she’s snuck into his bed, and she butts heads with both Raph and Fohl about it. She insists that the Shield Hero’s shield be with him at all times, but Raph in particular ain’t havin’ it.

I couldn’t help but notice the Raph-chan plushie S’yne made; she later presents Naofumi with a plushie resembling Keel in dog form, which she uses as a translator to speak clearly and without distortion. In the battles sure to come, better communication will be vital.

In the library, Ren is studying and writing in Melromarc language, and blushes when Eclair suddenly draws quite close to him to make a correction and pat him on the shoulder. Looks like our boy is in puppy love once more, but Eclair’s a much better recipient of his affection than Bitch…even if she’s oblivious.

While Naofumi is inspecting a “camping tree”, a fast-growing shelter developed by Rat, the egg suddenly cracks. Raph, Rat, and Wyndia are present for its hatching, and Naofumi is as surprised as I am to find the newborn red wyr is a dead ringer for a Pokémon.

Wyndia names the cute little guy Gaelion on the spot, a name he seems to like, so Naofumi allows it and entrusts Wyndia with his care going forward. Wyndia and the other kids keep a close eye on Gaelion, who soon learns how to fly and breathe fire, which comes in handy during training missions.

Gaelion’s growth montage is accompanied by a stirring piece by Kevin Penkin that I feel really captures the warm, kind, happy vibes of Luroluna village in its current state.

It’s so light and lovely that I was completely unprepared for something to finally go wrong and spoil all the vibes. Naofumi learns that an ongoing prank of someone knocking on his door and vanishing turned out to be Gaelion wanting to play with him.

Raph suggest he keep Gaelion around as a “guard dog” to keep Atla out of his bedroom, but while he’s in there he discovers a jewel made from the Emperor Dragon’s core Naofumi had made in Kizuna’s world. Gaelion, who was established earlier as capable of eating anything, swallows the jewel, grows to immense size, and suddenly turns wild.

He blasts another hole in Naofumi’s house with his fire breath, then takes flight, much to Wyndia’s dismay. I suspect they’ll be going after him next week, but will he want to go back?

This was certainly a grab bag of different and not-yet-interconnected vignettes, but I made sure to savor this (mostly) peaceful outing because I know a lot of hardship to come in a couple months, and there’s no guarantee everyone will survive it.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 06 – A Sliver of Strength

Amaki Ren liked to game. He was good at speedrunning Brave Star Online, but while he was fine having a girl over to watch, he avoided bigger crowds. When he ended up in another world, he discovered that the mechanics were identical to BSO, and thus attempted to speedrun it as well. Then he rushed headlong at the Spirit Tortoise and got his party killed.

Fast-forward to when Bitch swore her allegiance to him. The very next day she ditches him and steals all his equipment, leaving a note calling him “useless.” The same hero hunters who went after Naofumi last week chase Ren through the streets, but when he tries to hide in a citizen’s home she tells him to leave.

Nobody in the city wants the failed Sword Hero around, so he heads into the wilderness, where he runs afoul of some bandits and … snaps. Drawing power from a curse similar to Naofumi a while back, he kills all the bandits and steals the leader’s mask.

That brings us to last week’s cliffhanger, with Motoyasu fighting the masked Ren. When Naofumi arrives, Motoyasu explains to his “dad-to-be” that he’s defeating the bandit leader, who just happens to be Ren. Ren then attacks Naofumi, but Naofumi finds he’s become incredibly weak.

Once Naofumi determines Ren is under the influence of the Curse of Greed, he prepares to have S’yne and the others restrain him and take him back to town. But Eclair asks Naofumi to let her duel the Sword Hero. She believes she can knock some sense into him with swordsmanship and chivalry.

Eclair is ten times the swordsman Ren is, and even gets mad being beaten over and over again he draws from the Curse of Gluttony to summon monsters … which Eclair defeats with ease. Eclair assures Ren that with his heart in its current state, not knowing what he actually wants, there’s no way he can defeat her.

Sure enough, when Eclair gets serious Ren doesn’t stand a chance, and the dual curses eventually render him unable to even properly hold his sword. She knocks him to the ground and shatters his mask, and he ends up returning to his senses.

Eclair is about to lend him a hand up when the hero hunters arrive, causing Naofumi and Raphtalia to panic knowing how powerful they are. But to their shock, Motoyasu followed Naofumi’s advice to get stronger, and is strong enough to kill both of them in ten seconds flat.

Raph uses a spirit sword to slash their souls so they won’t come back this time (hopefully), and a blood-soaked Motoyasu, who is in better spirits but also quite bonkers, ends up scaring the crap out of Filo again, causing her to revert to bird form and flee.

With the hero hunter’s interruption over, Eclair reaches out a hand and helps him up. He may be weak now, but she’s sure there’s a sliver of strength in him. Sure enough, he seems to have been killed when he protected some classmates from a man with a knife.

That took strength, and Eclair offers to get stronger with him together. He can worry about the reason he wants to get stronger later. Now, a Ren-centric episode was kinda the last thing I wanted, but Eclair kinda saved it at the end by being her awesome self, and gaining a training partner with a high ceiling.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 05 – Player Development

Naofumi, Raphtalia and Filo are fleeing Motoyasu’s grossness when they’re suddenly ambushed on the road by two randos … who are apparently the most powerful bandits they’ve ever faced? One of them makes a dig at the Heroes’ tendency to form harems, while repeatedly cackles with what I’d describe to be a “extremely punchable voice.”

In less than five minutes, Raph’s strength is sapped, Filo’s kick is dodged with one hand, and all of Naofumi’s shields and buffs are rendered ueseless as a massive meteor crashes down on all three of them. Thus ends Rise of the Shield Hero, with the abrupt deaths of its three main protagonists. I hope you enjoyed watching!

Oh … wait … they don’t all die? Oh, okay. Naofumi’s Shield Prison just manages to hold out, while dispelling Raphtalia’s buffs also dispelled a curse that sapped her speed. Even so, they probably survive another meteor, so it’s a good thing S’yne steps in to save them with her giant scissors.

The bandits refer to her as a “vassal weapon wielder from a destroyed world” but she and Raph cut down both of them. Rather than bleed like humans, they glow with blue light from within before crumbling. The show’s back on, folks! And as Naofumi still ponders what S’yne’s deal is, her growling stomach takes precedence.

They bring her back to Luroluna where she eats her fill, and explains that she was tracking Naofumi with a needle she planted on him back in the coliseum. The bandits worked for the Heroes who destroyed her world, which is different from the other world Naofumi & Co. visited, so there’s at least three worlds and likely many more.

Naofumi is understandably weary of this stylish yet inscrutable clown girl with the glitchy speech. After all, he’s no longer a loner, but is responsible for a whole village full of innocents in addition to his party members. But so far she seems genuine in her desire to prevent more wielders like him from being killed off or their worlds meeting the same fate as hers.

S’yne quickly makes friends by manipulating sewn dolls to the delight of the youngsters, while Eclair and Rishia return from a training session with Keel and some other novices. Many have reached Level 40, so Naofumi agrees to take the kids to the capital to Class Up. Meanwhile, Pedoyasu finds a Filo feather and continues his pursuit.

In town, Naofumi impresses upon the youngins the pros and cons of classing up, and that they should think carefully about what they want to do, because he doesn’t want them to simply default to fighting classes. Keel is gung-ho about fighting, but another kid likes cooking, while one of the mole kids becomes an apprentice with Elhart, whom he already knows.

Back in the village, Naofumi observes Elrasla and Rishia training the tykes, among them Fohl and Atla. Not only is Atla looking much stronger and surer on her feet, but she’s got quite the martial arts moves and is a quick learner now that she’s been given the chance.

Naofumi decides to bring the white tiger siblings with him on the hunting trip, along with Keel, Eclair, Filo, Raphtalia, and Raph-chan. Defense of the village in his absence falls to Sadeena, Elrasla, and the newcomer S’yne, which seems sufficient this time.

Reports from Eclair’s investigation of the surrounding lands indicates that the survivors of a prison razed by the Spirit Tortoise could be a concern, as well as a group of extremely cautious bandits who only attack people who are alone. To that end, Naofumi has everyone buddy up in pairs or trios.

He proceeds accompanied only by Raph-chan, in hopes he’ll be the most enticing target for the opportunistic bandits. But to his surprise, the first people he meets in the forest aren’t bandits, but the Spear and Sword Heroes. A surprisingly focused Motoyasu is either sparring or battling Ren, who is now sporting a sinister black mask for some reason.

That’s a random end to what at times was a pretty random episode, but I’m giving it high marks because S’yne is a cool new addition to the fam, and I had a lot of fun watching the nuts-and-bolts development of the youngsters. Keel, Fohl, Atla and the others are uniformly charming and easy to root for, and I’m looking forward to seeing them strut their stuff, even if I’m far less enthused about continued interactions with Motoyasu and Ren.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 04 – Cardinal Jackasses

Queen Mirela reports that Motoyasu has been seen in a town neighboring Melromarc. With the Phoenix approaching soon, she wants Naofumi to track him down and get him back on their side after his personally devastating failure to defeat the Tortoise.

The morning Naofumi is to head out with Raph and Filo, there’s a strange girl among the villagers: S’yne, AKA Murder Clown from the arena. She offers to pay an exorbitant amount for breakfast, but Naofumi doesn’t trust her or want her in his village while he’s gone. He leaves Eclair in charge and heads out on a Filo-drawn carriage.

Upon arriving in town, they find a wreck of a Motoyasu prostrating himself before his former groupie Elena, who has quit adventuring and now running her family’s bakery and cafe. Good for her, I say. When Motoyasu spots Naofumi he scurries away.

Elena is happy to tell Naofumi what happened, but there’s not much to say. No matter what skills he used, Motoyasu couldn’t put a dent in the tortoise, so Elena and his other groupies became disillusioned and abandoned him to his own, limited devices. Elena admits she simply picked the wrong hero to follow.

But while she’s moving on with her life, that kind of personal growth clearly isn’t possible for Malty, AKA Myne, AKA Bitch. Naofumi finds Ren sulking in a tavern, offers his condolences for Ren’s party ending up killed, and asks him to join him in the coming fight with the Phoenix.

Ren, with nothing better to do, is about to agree to Naofumi’s offer, but then Malty arrives and mucks everything up. She’s done something with her slave crest, as her mother couldn’t detect her and she is also able to lie without it glowing.

She wastes no time turning Ren against Naofumi and using her feminine wiles to get him to believe her, because she believes in him and always has. When Motoyasu shows up, Malty tells him to get his loser ass out of her face. She and the Spear and Sword heroes proceed to bicker.

It’s honestly quite exhausting, and Naofumi’s clear frustration is obvious and relatable. These are selfish and thoroughly unpleasant people he has to deal with, but he still has to try, doesn’t he? Fitoria threatened to kill the Cardinal Heroes if they don’t form a unified front like they should have from the start.

But if there’s anything Malty excels at (besides being fucking annoying as all get-out) it’s sowing discord. Ren is vulnerable after the losses he experienced and wants someone to tell him it’s not his fault and it’s okay to blame somebody, anybody else. Malty lets him blame the Shield Demon and Spear Loser. She also manages to make Ren act quite recklessly in no time at all.

When Naofumi gives him a piece of his mind, he responds by unleashing a sword skill, which Naofumi manages to deflect but blasts a hole clean through the tavern. And while I know Naofumi needs to try get Ren to fight along side him, when Ren teleported away with a smug Malty I celebrated, because it meant I didn’t have to see or hear them the rest of the episode.

Motoyasu doesn’t take Malty officially dumping him for Ren very well at all, but when he comes to, Filo is singing and dancing to the audience of tavern-goers previously traumatized by Ren’s attack. When Filo hands him some food and tells him in her sweetest voice and with her biggest smile to cheer up, Motoyasu cries out maniacally and suddenly grabs Filo.

The net morning, as Naofumi prepares to leave town without him, Motoyasu addresses him as “father”, declares his undying love for Filo (more like infatuation), and asks her her hand. Filo isn’t having it, and is in fact scared by Motoyasu’s unhinged advances.

When Raph tells him to knock it off, he calls her a Raccoon Pig, so she belts him. I tell ya, I don’t know how they managed to make this guy even more insufferable, but they did. And I’m sure we haven’t seen or heard the last of Malty and Ren…unfortunately.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 03 – Earning Their Stripes

It doesn’t take long for the two white tiger demihuman kids to ascend to prominence this week, as Fohl and his blind sister Atla serve as the co-protagonists of this episode. Naofumi returns to the Slave Trader, and passes by two girls that seem too clean, healthy and eager to be bought to actually be slaves.

Turns out Siltvelt worships the Shield Hero to the point they send their children into slavery hoping He will buy them so they can be closer to Him. Atla isn’t like that. He’s got incredible combat stats for a little kid, and as a White Tiger is one of the strongest non-Hero beings in this world.

When Naofumi learns of his little sister (voiced by Kohara Konomi), he agrees to buy her too, and gives her an Elixir of Yggdrasil to begin the process of healing her. Fohl vows to work and fight hard enough to pay Naofumi back many times over.

Naofumi and Raph teleport back to Lurolona, where all of the former child slaves they bought with their arena winnings are already settling into their new lives of freedom. It goes without saying that the bucolic environs are a damn sight more conducive to Atla’s convalescence than a slaver’s cell.

She continues taking the elixir, and eventually heals up enough that her bandages can be removed, revealing her stunning beauty. This unbandaging event, as well as her struggling and finally succeeding in standing on her own, is given extra gravitas by Kevin Penkin’s always rousing score, as well as Kohara Konomi’s talent for voicing gentle yet determined characters.

Atla and Fohl are such a compelling redemption story that the episode has us riding high, only to bring us crashing down when slavers attack the village in the middle of the night, while Naofumi is off…somewhere. You’d think he’d have better measures in place to protect the kids who were just freaking freed than…leaving them totally undefended.

Perhaps he didn’t think anyone would be bold enough to attack the Shield Hero’s territories, a lesson I hope he’ll never make again. He also at least told Fohl about a signal flare to fire in case of attack, but firing the flare required Fohl to evade the slavers while wheeling a still-frail Atla around. Also, the bright flare attracts slavers to their position instantly.

The chief slaver is ready to kill Fohl as an example to the others (a pretty dumb move, considering he just got done saying how valuable White Tigers are) but the Shield Hero flag one of his men snapped off its pole is tossed like a javelin between him and Fohl…by Raptalia.

That’s right, the cavalry has arrived in the nick of time. Naofumi encloses the kids in a protective Shield Prison while Raph, Rishia, Sadeena, and Elrasa easily handle the slavers, who thought they were pretty tough when they were terrorizing a bunch of little kids but find they’re hopeless against actual adult warriors.

Raph dissolves the chief slaver’s armor with one swipe, and Naofumi is ready to have him executed for his crimes. Fortunately for him, Eclair arrives just in time to tell him doing so would be a huge political headache. The mark on his shattered armor is that of a Three Heroes-worshipping noble family.

Naofumi agrees not to execute the slavers, but isn’t about to let them go. He decides to give them a taste of their own medicine: teleporting them to Siltvelt, where he knows he’s worshipped as a god, where the nobles will pay handsomely for his “gifts.”

All’s well that ends well, and Atla meets with Naofumi to tell him she’s eager to become stronger so she can one day repay him for rescuing and protecting her and Fohl. Fohl also tells Naofumi that he has to become stronger. You can’t help but love these cute kids’ gumption…plus their hair is super-cool looking.

Naofumi brings Atla and Fohl with him on his next visit to Melromarc, where Queen Mirelia says she has important information for him. They end up walking past the former king, whose aura Atla mistook for her brother’s. Mirelia later confirms that her husband was once the Staff King, and fought for his sister’s sake just as Fohl does.

However, that’s not the big news. The big news is that the Spear Hero, Kitamura Motoyasu, has finally been found. Yay, I guess? From what I recall, the guy’s a huge prick. We’ll soon find out if that’s still the case.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 02 – Whale of a Match

“Team Rockvalley” continues to win and earn winnings, but one night there all of their opponents forfeit, ending their night early. Naofumi agrees to have drinks with Nadia the beast woman, who likes a man who can handle his rukor fruit.

When they are surrounded by thugs on the street, Naofumi assumes Nadia has double-crossed him, but they’re not her men, because she takes all of them out with chain lightning magic. After giving him a hug (she’s a hugger) she says she hopes they don’t meet in the arena.

But after meeting with the owner of the city’s largest department store, who has an interest in sponsoring Rockvalley, Rishia learns that sure enough their next opponent will be Nadia, whom only Naofumi knows. When they meet in the arena, she gives him another snuggle before getting down to business.

Naofumi makes clear to Raph and Filo that this isn’t like their previous opponents; she’s much tougher, as befits a championship matchup. Those running the fights even make things tougher by flooding the arena, and Nadia takes advantage by transforming into full beast form: that of an orca.

This comes as a huge shock to Raph, who immediately recognizes her as “Sadeena-neesan”, a good friend from Lurolona Village. Once “Nadia” realizes she’s Raphtalia, and the man is Naofumi, she basically throws the match. Unfortunately, those running the show declare the result invalid.

Instead, they put Nadia on Naofumi’s team and pit them against the Murder Clown, who enters the arena flanked by two wooden golems and the aura of someone even more powerful and dangerous than Nadia.

Within moments, she has stopped Raph’s sword with magical wire and covered her and Filo in goo, but Filo transforms into bird mode and delivers a punishing kick to the clown. As she and Raph fight, Nadia/Sadeena urges Naofumi to join her in a choral spell.

This spell summons the wratch of the thunder god, not upon their opponent but upon Raphtalia, who is surrounded by lightning but unharmed. She harnesses this power to deflect the clown’s attacks and deliver a stirring coup-de-grace that creates a crater in the arena.

Unfortunately, the clown switched out her body for a golem dummy at the last second, so Raph’s awesome attack doesn’t hit. The clown then says a bunch of cryptic stuff to Naofumi about not having enough base strength and asking him to stay alive until their next meeting before disappearing.

The boss wants to nullify this match as well, but both the Slave Merchant and the department store reveal Naofumi’s identity as the Shield Hero and grants him the win…and the winnings. That means Naofumi and Sadeena, who both had the goal to buy back the Lurolona villages, are now able to do so.

From there we focus on young white tiger demi-human boy buying low-cost medicine for his critically ill, bandaged sister. We got a glimpse of these two striking looking characters in the OP, so I’m intrigued to see what their deal is. But for now, I’m on Team Sadeena, whale-tail hair and all.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 01 – New World, Same Problems

After a thrilling, intriguing, but brief cold open which has a masked Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo fighting in an arena, we get the lay of the land post-Spirit Tortoise. The other three Cardinal Heroes are missing, Malty may be planning something untoward, and a new Guardian Spirit, the Phoenix, is about three months away. Queen Mirela asks for Naofumi’s help locating the other heroes so the four of them can protect the kingdom.

Naofumi is primarily concerned with protecting his own lands, but helping Melromarc will be beneficial to that goal. After a quick stop at Elhart’s to see if he can mend the gear they got in the other world, Naofumi and his party of Raph, Filo, and Rishia stop by the slave market to find most of the slaves have already been sold.

The slave merchant tells them that because slavery is no longer legal in Melromarc, the beastman slaves are simply being sold in markets where it is still legal, like Zeltoble the country of merchants and mercenaries. So Naofumi & Co. head there in a travel montage set to Kevin Penkin’s always stirring score.

Once there, they encounter a man who appears identical to the slave merchant in Melromarc, only he is actually that man’s uncle. He shows them to the literal underground of the capital, where rich folks bid on the beastmen slaver who claim to be from Raphtalia’s home village of Lurolona, but are actually lying.

It doesn’t matter, as the Lurolona brand, connected as it is to the legend of the Shield Hero, is all that matters, and they sell for top dollar. Money is everything, particularly in a merchant country, so the slave trader’s uncle recommends a way for Naofumi to make the money he needs to buy up as many slaves as possible: fighting in the underground arena.

While checking out the arena, Naofumi meets a comely lass who correctly predicts the winner of the bout they witness. Then Naofumi procures some masks and tells Raph and Filo that they’ll be participating in arena battles in order to procure the necessary funds for his goals.

While it takes Filo a bit to understand that they have to appear weak at first in order to get more people to bet for or against them, their first match ends splendidly. Initially billed as underdogs, Naofumi, Raph, and Filo stage a major “upset”, even though they’re hardly going all out.

You and me both, Filo. The events I described above are ostensibly what’s going on in this new season of Shield Hero. But it felt like a lot, and also felt like it might’ve behooved me to go back and re-watch the second season, which is generally considered to be not that great. But while at times I was like Filo and didn’t quite get everything going on and mentioned and hinted at, I also agree with Filo that it sounds like fun, so I’ll be continuing to tune in!