The more you think about it, the worse it gets. Seriously, how was this show even greenlit?
Content warning: discussions of sexual assault in anime.
Summary:
The story makes light of sexual assault victims.
The author also REALLY likes slavery.
Also, Shield Hero is mid.
On January 9th, 2019, the first season of the Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) began airing, with its very first episode of this light novel adaptation sparking a major controversy in the anime community. And looking back at it, we believe that perhaps anime fans were too lenient on the series.
Naofumi shields sexual predators
The series starts with the main character Naofumi being summoned to a magical world along with three other people, and assigned one of the four legendary weapons — a shield. Unluckily for him, the title of Shield Hero is more akin to Antichrist for some reason, so nobody treats him well, nor wants to join his party — save for the royal princess.
Except, she only joins his party so she could falsely accuse Naofumi of sexually assaulting her, because of plot reasons, and it’s only his accursed status as a Shield Hero that prevents him from being outright executed. Why is she believed so easily? Because this society is apparently matriarchal! Why did the story have to go to the heavy subject of sexual assault as its inciting incident, when any author with even a yota of talent could come up with a less skeevy reason for the main character to be ostracized? Because don’t think about it!
And this IS skeevy. After all, victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault in real world are constantly faced with disbelief (if not outright malice) as they try to speak about their horrible experiences — which in turn makes other victims more hesitant to come forward, and the perpetrators more likely not to face any repercussions.
And while the light novel this series is based on was written in 2013 — four years before #MeToo movement has gained its prominence — this issue didn’t just suddenly pop into existence in 2017. And it also means Kinema Citrus had at least two years to change this premise. A good adaptation knows when to change the source material, after all — just ask David Production. And this is still somehow not this story’s only issue.
John Brown is Naofumi’s worst nightmare
As a result of becoming a social pariah, Naofumi finds himself alone, without any allies against impossible odds. At his most desperate, he follows a shady man into an even shadier place — and uses the few coins he has to buy a sickly little slave girl, whom he puts under a slave contract (i.e. a magical shock collar-esque curse that makes her unable to act against him).
Using slave master skills (because that’s a thing), Naofumi heals and trains this little girl (a beastfolk named Raphtalia) so she could assist him in battle. And in just a few weeks, through the dubious magic of “aging with character levels”, this previously 8 year old child grows into her mid-to-late teens, as well as into a crush on her slave master.
Later in the story, Raphtalia is forcefully freed from her slave contract — which should be a good thing! — except, it isn’t because we remind you, she has a crush on her slave master, and Naofumi has so many issues he doesn’t trust anyone he doesn’t have all the power over. So she decides to enter another slave contract with the main character. Wow.
And that is only the beginning! Later on, Naofumi puts even more people under slave contracts — because the related skills and passives make them stronger and allow for faster leveling. Who knew that being forced under complete servitude was so damn beneficial!
All of this, of course, is disgusting on every level. This story’s main character is made out as “the GOOD slave owner”, as if slavery itself was a redeemable concept if only it was perpetrated by good enough people. And no, the story does nothing to tell us that Naofumi is the bad guy — in fact, it goes out of its way to show us any and all of his detractors, and any people rightfully irked by him owning slaves, to be in the wrong. He is justified by the plot, after all!
Additionally, we have to repeat the fact that the story has Raphtalia fall in love with her slave owner in a completely lopsided power dynamic (and might we remind you that sexual assault on slaves was a very real and common issue through human history) — and that is to say nothing that she was literally a 8 year old girl a mere month before being forcibly freed, both making the logistics behind their possible romance nauseating by themseves, and adding child grooming to the story’s tropes.
Shield Hero is also mid
And all of this… For what? Does Shield Hero do anything so well it makes us forget everything wrong about it?
If we don’t pay any attention to the ways Shield Hero is horribly, horribly wrong — it’s not a very good series at all. It’s a very formulaic isekai, featuring such hits as videogame-like mechanics, baseline leveling progression, and politics and intrigue written by someone with only surface level interest in either. And the edge, of course. The series does a decent enough job in setting up its fights — but the same thing could be said about Arifureta (Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou), and nobody pretends that the series is anything but basic.
The Rising of the Shield Hero has gotten its traction not through any merit of its own — but through word of mouth thanks to its day-1 controversy. Thanks to it, this mediocre show received not one, but two more seasons, and was even featured in Kadokawa’s crossover project Isekai Quartet, along with shows that have much better writing than itself (also, Overlord). And seeing how much traction Shield Hero gets while such amazing shows as Nichijou and Drifters are yet to receive their second seasons, we just find this sad.
Do you think Shield Hero is still good despite its flaws?
The more you think about it, the worse it gets. Seriously, how was this show even greenlit?
Content warning: discussions of sexual assault in anime.
Summary:
The story makes light of sexual assault victims.
The author also REALLY likes slavery.
Also, Shield Hero is mid.
On January 9th, 2019, the first season of the Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) began airing, with its very first episode of this light novel adaptation sparking a major controversy in the anime community. And looking back at it, we believe that perhaps anime fans were too lenient on the series.
Naofumi shields sexual predators
The series starts with the main character Naofumi being summoned to a magical world along with three other people, and assigned one of the four legendary weapons — a shield. Unluckily for him, the title of Shield Hero is more akin to Antichrist for some reason, so nobody treats him well, nor wants to join his party — save for the royal princess.
Except, she only joins his party so she could falsely accuse Naofumi of sexually assaulting her, because of plot reasons, and it’s only his accursed status as a Shield Hero that prevents him from being outright executed. Why is she believed so easily? Because this society is apparently matriarchal! Why did the story have to go to the heavy subject of sexual assault as its inciting incident, when any author with even a yota of talent could come up with a less skeevy reason for the main character to be ostracized? Because don’t think about it!
And this IS skeevy. After all, victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault in real world are constantly faced with disbelief (if not outright malice) as they try to speak about their horrible experiences — which in turn makes other victims more hesitant to come forward, and the perpetrators more likely not to face any repercussions.
And while the light novel this series is based on was written in 2013 — four years before #MeToo movement has gained its prominence — this issue didn’t just suddenly pop into existence in 2017. And it also means Kinema Citrus had at least two years to change this premise. A good adaptation knows when to change the source material, after all — just ask David Production. And this is still somehow not this story’s only issue.
John Brown is Naofumi’s worst nightmare
As a result of becoming a social pariah, Naofumi finds himself alone, without any allies against impossible odds. At his most desperate, he follows a shady man into an even shadier place — and uses the few coins he has to buy a sickly little slave girl, whom he puts under a slave contract (i.e. a magical shock collar-esque curse that makes her unable to act against him).
Using slave master skills (because that’s a thing), Naofumi heals and trains this little girl (a beastfolk named Raphtalia) so she could assist him in battle. And in just a few weeks, through the dubious magic of “aging with character levels”, this previously 8 year old child grows into her mid-to-late teens, as well as into a crush on her slave master.
Later in the story, Raphtalia is forcefully freed from her slave contract — which should be a good thing! — except, it isn’t because we remind you, she has a crush on her slave master, and Naofumi has so many issues he doesn’t trust anyone he doesn’t have all the power over. So she decides to enter another slave contract with the main character. Wow.
And that is only the beginning! Later on, Naofumi puts even more people under slave contracts — because the related skills and passives make them stronger and allow for faster leveling. Who knew that being forced under complete servitude was so damn beneficial!
All of this, of course, is disgusting on every level. This story’s main character is made out as “the GOOD slave owner”, as if slavery itself was a redeemable concept if only it was perpetrated by good enough people. And no, the story does nothing to tell us that Naofumi is the bad guy — in fact, it goes out of its way to show us any and all of his detractors, and any people rightfully irked by him owning slaves, to be in the wrong. He is justified by the plot, after all!
Additionally, we have to repeat the fact that the story has Raphtalia fall in love with her slave owner in a completely lopsided power dynamic (and might we remind you that sexual assault on slaves was a very real and common issue through human history) — and that is to say nothing that she was literally a 8 year old girl a mere month before being forcibly freed, both making the logistics behind their possible romance nauseating by themseves, and adding child grooming to the story’s tropes.
Shield Hero is also mid
And all of this… For what? Does Shield Hero do anything so well it makes us forget everything wrong about it?
If we don’t pay any attention to the ways Shield Hero is horribly, horribly wrong — it’s not a very good series at all. It’s a very formulaic isekai, featuring such hits as videogame-like mechanics, baseline leveling progression, and politics and intrigue written by someone with only surface level interest in either. And the edge, of course. The series does a decent enough job in setting up its fights — but the same thing could be said about Arifureta (Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou), and nobody pretends that the series is anything but basic.
The Rising of the Shield Hero has gotten its traction not through any merit of its own — but through word of mouth thanks to its day-1 controversy. Thanks to it, this mediocre show received not one, but two more seasons, and was even featured in Kadokawa’s crossover project Isekai Quartet, along with shows that have much better writing than itself (also, Overlord). And seeing how much traction Shield Hero gets while such amazing shows as Nichijou and Drifters are yet to receive their second seasons, we just find this sad.
Do you think Shield Hero is still good despite its flaws?
