Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

The Four Cardinal Heroes are a group of ordinary men from modern-day Japan summoned to the kingdom of Melromarc to become its saviors. Melromarc is a country plagued by the Waves of Catastrophe that have repeatedly ravaged the land and brought disaster to its citizens for centuries. The four heroes are respectively bestowed a sword, spear, bow, and shield to vanquish these Waves. Naofumi Iwatani, an otaku, becomes cursed with the fate of being the "Shield Hero." Armed with only a measly shield, Naofumi is belittled and ridiculed by his fellow heroes and the kingdom's people due to his weak offensive capabilities and lackluster personality.

When the heroes are provided with resources and comrades to train with, Naofumi sets out with the only person willing to train alongside him, Malty Melromarc. He is soon betrayed by her, however, and becomes falsely accused of taking advantage of her. Naofumi then becomes heavily discriminated against and hated by the people of Melromarc for something he didn't do. With a raging storm of hurt and mistrust in his heart, Naofumi begins his journey of strengthening himself and his reputation. Further along however, the difficulty of being on his own sets in, so Naofumi buys a demi-human slave on the verge of death named Raphtalia to accompany him on his travels.

As the Waves approach the kingdom, Naofumi and Raphtalia must fight for the survival of the kingdom and protect the people of Melromarc from their ill-fated future.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Raphtalia Main

Seto, Asami Japanese

Iwatani, Naofumi Main

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Filo Main

Hidaka, Rina Japanese

Melromarc, Melty Q Supporting

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Melromarc, Mirelia Q Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Glass Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

Elhart Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Melromarc, Malty S Supporting

Bridcutt, Sarah Emi Japanese

Fitoria Supporting

Tange, Sakura Japanese

Amaki, Ren Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Tanaka, Shou Producer

Ogata, Mitsuhiro Producer

Tokumura, Kenichi Producer

Reviews

Jan 6, 2025

teacup3000

Recommended

When watching an isekai style anime I don't expect much, since there's so much trash out there. Despite the odds this one kept me in front of the screen. Long story short: I liked it and I would recommend it.

Story:
The story itself is not super innovative. It follows the typical anti hero pattern, where the MC is not welcome in his new world. Together with 3 other heroes he should save the world by fighting off monster waves. Unfortunately the group dynamic between the heroes doesn't work very well and personal matters hinder the characters to work together as it was intentioned.

Character developement:
Tbh I didn't ... expect a lot here. Usually you'll find some superficial changes where someone was afraid to fight before but then, due to some surcumstance, they changed their mind.
In the case of this series the character developements were overall deeper. You follow the MC who needs to find a way to manage his anger and trust issues. It's not clear if he'll stay a hero or become some kind of villain. Other characters need to overcome grief, anxiety, naivity, stupidity and find their purpose in life. Also changes can also occur physically due to leveling up or archieving some intermediate objective. At the same time you follow the interpersonal matters between the heroes, the royals and the religious people. I liked how that was wrapped up in the end.

Art style:
In total I would describe the art style as clean and soft (soft because of the desaturated color palette) There's not much distortion or changes of styles.
I noticed quite a collection of different faces which of course gave the characters more personality. This also counts for the background figures, if there were any.

Animation:
1. Over all the animation was well made. I didn't find too many reused frames or overusage of still images. Or at least it was well integrated in the scene.
2. Timing and pacing felt good. I didn't have a lot of moments where I thought that scenes could be cut shorter/longer.
2. Usually there is not a lot going on in the backgrounds but at least the background images are not too flat.
3. The characters felt natural in their movement, expression and body language.
4. I'm not too fond of 3D animation in 2D anime. It wasn't too bad not my personal favorite.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 31, 2022

IvanLaptev

Mixed Feelings

The shield hero is a postirony. You can't call it bad, because in fact it is supposed to be bad, and it does its job, therefore, because of its purpose, it is good.
The fact is that the main character ends up in a very bad fanfiction book created to pump money. The hero himself says about this that this book is a passerby. You have no right to call this anime bad, because the anime itself says so.
Naofumi is a simple anime guy, he's not smart, he's not stupid. However, in the anime, he seems to be the smartest person in the world, as the ... antagonists here are the dumbest people in the universe, with teenager-level thinking.
For some reason, in the world in which the hero fell, there are RPG mechanics, as in an MMORPG. This is strange, because the hero ended up in a book, and not in a game, but it's better not to look for logic in this anime. What is the value of Raphtalia's breasts changing their size, for no apparent reason.

I'm sorry. It's a pity.
I love the literary device where a character with a normal reputation accidentally loses it and has to restore it. However, the implementation of this in the anime is very poor.
It would have been much better if there had been an emphasis on Naofumi and Raphtalia's local adventures while revealing the world. Instead, the anime has a lot of bloody pathos for the sake of pathos, stupid antagonists who rule the world, and in general it's some kind of circus. Isekai stories have potential, but they do not use it, as it is not profitable.
This anime is very overrated, but on the other hand, it can entertain for 1 time. I don't know what happens in the continuation of the story, but there are rumors that everything is still 10 times worse.
However, thanks for your attention! I wish you enjoy anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Aug 24, 2024

FATMANBELUGA

Not Recommended

We live in a world where the Isekai genre is so overdone. It’s gotten to a point where it becomes very hard to stand out and make a unique series in the Isekai genre. The Rising of the Shield Hero’s first 4 episodes do a very good job at putting the MC into a unique situation not many other isekais have done before. The twist in the first episode is so shocking, infuriating, and it gets the viewer excited to watch how the shield hero will overcome this obstacle. It was looking like The Rising of The Shield Hero was about to become a classic ... in the Isekai genre, becoming the standard for what a good isekai should look like, but oh boy was I wrong.

Remember the twist in episode 1 that sets up the rest of the series, well that doesn’t last for long. The show looses what makes it unique in the first place by the end of the first season. the whole point of the show is the shield hero trying to overcome this obstacle and they ditch it immediately. What’s the point of carrying on then? That’s like if in One Piece, after Luffy becomes pirate king, the Strawhats go on another adventure to defeat a giant tortoise that is terrorizing the north blue. If you want to watch only the good parts of rising of the shield hero then watch episodes 1-21. After that it becomes a standard Isekai harem.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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