Tate no Yuusha/Shield Hero Season 2 Anime Episode Discussion

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by wissenschaft

To be fair, the arc that was skipped was filler and for pacing reasons its probably best to just skip it and get to the action. We don't need a whole season dedicated to the equivalent of a training montage.


I also found it funny that this season started off with making another girl into a slave. The writer really isn't shying way from that controversy. Overall its been a nice return to this setting. Naofumi seems in a much better mental state than he was in season 1. So thats nice. I'll be interested in seeing in what way the new girl can become a useful party member. Theres no point being in the party if she can do nothing useful.

The pacing in the LN was quite bad I will 100% admit. But skipping it clearly came at a cost. Like I really wonder whether people had the time to learn to care about sword lady and Ost. Or Rishia. Or the old lady.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Dengar

The pacing in the LN was quite bad I will 100% admit. But skipping it clearly came at a cost. Like I really wonder whether people had the time to learn to care about sword lady and Ost. Or Rishia. Or the old lady.

Well, I think they're interesting and have good character designs/voices, but I'm not sure if I'd say I care about them....

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Dengar

The pacing in the LN was quite bad I will 100% admit. But skipping it clearly came at a cost. Like I really wonder whether people had the time to learn to care about sword lady and Ost. Or Rishia. Or the old lady.

I care about Ost. And not just because of the voice, she's a pretty fun character who has proven this week she can be badass too. The others, I definitely don't give a damn. In fact, I wish Rishia would get lost somewhere. There's pretty much nothing to like about her. Her story feels like it was lifted straight out of a hentai doujin. I'm not sure what these type of stories are called, it's the ones where the girl is so desperate to get the person she likes to notice her that she somehow ends up getting gang-banged by other men. The slave contract with Naofumi is the gang-bang. No self-respecting girl would have done that.

[Twi]

....I did not need that imagery. Not that I think you're wrong. But still.

I'm clearly not a fan of the whole series, but I think the author tries to justify it because of the slave shield's bonuses to growth. Mind you, I've already gone on about how if Naofumi ever inverted he would immediately be able to strip them of their rights and they couldn't do a thing about it, but I think the point is that she doesn't have self-respect due to her personality. If she had a strong force of will then she wouldn't have tried killing herself after getting the boot.

Like, I don't respect it, but I could see her basically being desperate enough that she was willing to take a gamble since the alternative was her killing herself. If it doesn't work out... well, she can just try to finish herself off again. So for her there was nothing left to lose by becoming his slave and everything to gain.

And from an unbiased narrative point, her growth will be her eventually gaining a spine for Itsuki's sake.I mean, when you start from the bottom you can only go up, so again I can see why its an approach to take and why Naofumi would be the one best suited to help her. If not for the Slave system, it wouldn't be a problem.

[stray]

Originally Posted by Kanon

There's pretty much nothing to like about her. Her story feels like it was lifted straight out of a hentai doujin. I'm not sure what these type of stories are called, it's the ones where the girl is so desperate to get the person she likes to notice her that she somehow ends up getting gang-banged by other men.

But are they wearing mascot costumes in these H doujins? Asking for a friend...

I kind of appreciate Shield Hero keeping the harem subdued though.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I care about Ost. And not just because of the voice, she's a pretty fun character who has proven this week she can be badass too. The others, I definitely don't give a damn. In fact, I wish Rishia would get lost somewhere. There's pretty much nothing to like about her. Her story feels like it was lifted straight out of a hentai doujin. I'm not sure what these type of stories are called, it's the ones where the girl is so desperate to get the person she likes to notice her that she somehow ends up getting gang-banged by other men. The slave contract with Naofumi is the gang-bang. No self-respecting girl would have done that.

Well, that's kind of a graphic visual, but she definitely has a lot of self-confidence issues and klutziness and hasn't really contributed significantly to the plot and did way less than...basically everybody else in this episode.

But I guess it's okay because she's cute ?

[Huh...?]

Originally Posted by Kanon

No self-respecting girl would have done that.

People do various things for money and power, so it isn't odd that she agreed to become a slave just to get powerful, even if its humiliating (though considering the societal structure of the plot, that doesn't seem an issue).

Different place have different understanding, and its not like slavery is illegal in that Kingdom, and they are doing something wrong (never compare/connect Fiction with real life aspect, it destroys the story).

While everyone is making a fuss about a girl becoming a slave.
To me its nothing more than a "part-time work contract to gain work experience", considering i know Naofumi isn't the exploitative type.

I mean, the only difference between "Slavery" and a "Contract Job" is the amount compensation paid for the work done.

There are many companies which does worse that what Slavery does, in the name of employment and are legal (famous example being black company/black corporation in Japan, who heavily exploit their workforce while providing very little compensation like slavery, and one of the major cause of high suicide & death-rate of office workers in Japan).

Also, i am in no way promoting Slavery (like many would assume from my comment), because what i am talking about is fictional plot here, why compare to real life.

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I care about Ost. And not just because of the voice, she's a pretty fun character who has proven this week she can be badass too. The others, I definitely don't give a damn. In fact, I wish Rishia would get lost somewhere. There's pretty much nothing to like about her. Her story feels like it was lifted straight out of a hentai doujin. I'm not sure what these type of stories are called, it's the ones where the girl is so desperate to get the person she likes to notice her that she somehow ends up getting gang-banged by other men. The slave contract with Naofumi is the gang-bang. No self-respecting girl would have done that.

Getting a magical tattoo that makes you stronger is like a gang bang?

Originally Posted by Huh...?

People do various things for money and power, so it isn't odd that she agreed to become a slave just to get powerful, even if its humiliating (though considering the societal structure of the plot, that doesn't seem an issue).

Different place have different understanding, and its not like slavery is illegal in that Kingdom, and they are doing something wrong (never compare/connect Fiction with real life aspect, it destroys the story).

While everyone is making a fuss about a girl becoming a slave.
To me its nothing more than a "part-time work contract to gain work experience", considering i know Naofumi isn't the exploitative type.

I mean, the only difference between "Slavery" and a "Contract Job" is the amount compensation paid for the work done.

There are many companies which does worse that what Slavery does, in the name of employment and are legal (famous example being black company/black corporation in Japan, who heavily exploit their workforce while providing very little compensation like slavery, and one of the major cause of high suicide & death-rate of office workers in Japan).

Also, i am in no way promoting Slavery (like many would assume from my comment), because what i am talking about is fictional plot here, why compare to real life.

I don’t understand why people get hung up on this ‘slave’ thing. Who exactly has a bona fide master/slave relationship with Naofumi? Who does he treat like his literal property? Who isn’t free to leave whenever they want? Who is exploited for labor without due compensation?

The only reason Rishia takes the slave crest is it makes her stronger. The only restriction he sets on the crest is “don’t lie to me”, because at least one setting needs to be enabled. How awful..

For all practical purposes it’s just a power up item.


If I didn’t know any better I’d draw the conclusion that people don’t understand what real slavery is, and people take issue with the mere name of the plot device.

Is someone who uses a knife to make food immoral because some people use knives to kill?

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Dengar

Getting a magical tattoo that makes you stronger is like a gang bang?

If Naofumi wasn't a really nice guy but actually a bastard pretending to be a good guy to trick her, yes. It's the only difference between those doujin plots and her story in the anime. She is very lucky.

Anyway, bottom line is that I don't find anything to like about her. She is a doormat and she's completely useless. The only thing she did in the episode was buff Raphtalia and Filo, something a lot of people could have done.

[Frontier]

I think the problem is the show is basically trivalizing the slavery aspect like it's a gimmick now and we haven't gotten any of Rishia's backstory or what she brings to the group other than the cute klutzy girl stereotype.

[Estzero1]

Thx Huh...? & Dengar, as being people who get it. That BS some people trying to write can be tiresome and irritating. This whole debatte is useless to begin with. I mean, has there ever been a MC who has exploiding the slavery thing. No one would come to my mind at least.

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by Kanon

If Naofumi wasn't a really nice guy but actually a bastard pretending to be a good guy to trick her, yes. It's the only difference between those doujin plots and her story in the anime. She is very lucky.

Anyway, bottom line is that I don't find anything to like about her. She is a doormat and she's completely useless. The only thing she did in the episode was buff Raphtalia and Filo, something a lot of people could have done.

But Naofumi is that kind of trustworthy guy though. So it shows that he has earned her trust.

I know that won't make her any more likable in your eyes, and I don't expect you to like her, at least for now. I'm just saying.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I think the problem is the show is basically trivalizing the slavery aspect like it's a gimmick now and we haven't gotten any of Rishia's backstory or what she brings to the group other than the cute klutzy girl stereotype.

Effectively, yes. The Slave Seal giving you buffs means it's practical for a hero to use it, which feels like the author uses to justify its continued usage. But first impressions stick and he did use it to shock her, so we know full well what its capable of. That stigma doesn't go away, especially when its still the same tool but he isn't using it to its fullest capability.

Personally, after Raph had it removed the first time, him not letting her get it reapplied would show he would be willing to open up and trust her unconditional as repayment for her loyalty, since even if he turned off most of the functions the slave seal requires at least one of the conditions to be active and so they cannot lie to him. So even if he says he does trust her, that trust is based solely on the fact that he knows that mechanically they can't turn on him. And again, at the end of the day, he can always just flip it back on if he wants.

So its basically whatever freedom he allows her to have, so while they might be trusting him not to do that, he's still the one in charge.

As for Risha, the anime skipped her backstory. In a nutshell, she's effectively Itsuki's version of Raph.

[grecefar]

That is one mean turtle, I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

[Huh...?]

Originally Posted by Frontier

we haven't gotten any of Rishia's backstory

There is nothing special about her backstory, which i think was already covered in Season 1.

A girl, whose family was forced into debt, and just before she was forced to become a slave as a collateral, Bow Hero comes in and saves her like a Knight, which is why she is adores him.

Strength-wise, she is weak as a child because she was forced to use weapon she wasn't good at just to fill in the roles that Bow Hero was weak at, and then gained exp in a rush to level-up before any proper training (which is bad, considering her age and skills before joining Bow Hero's group).
She is also mentioned to be a "jack-of-all-trade", and had been said to have talent in a lost Martial Art.

Originally Posted by Estzero1

This whole debatte is useless to begin with.

The only reason this whole Debate occurred is because Shield Hero S1 was a popular/controversial Series, so had a lot of main stream media coverage in the West.
And because of that, supposedly the Author should have changed the key element of the Series, as West doesn't like Slavery aspect in non-American stories (even though popular American Fictional Drama Series had them, and no one complained about them)

I mean, Shield Hero isn't the only Series which utilizes the "Slavery" aspect.
Almost 90% of Isekai genre Series have Slavery aspect in one way or another, because they are usually based in the Middle-Age time period setting (and slavery was common at that time in real life).

[Twi]

I'd say that's actually pretty special for a backstory, because it explains why the girl is in love with him. Her family was being exploited, their people suffering because of their neighbors, and he just swooped in and resolved the problem. Murder or not... he has probably the highest bodycount as far as heroes go.

It also shows that for as many problems that Itsuki caused with the whole revolutionary issue, he also did some good. It's not black-and-white that Naofumi had to clean up all their messes and they were incompetent, it's that they did a lot of things to affect the world with some net positives and some negatives that had to be addressed because they failed to notice them.

[velvet nightmare]

I don't know if it's just me, but the story is starting to get really wacky, and frankly, stupid.

There's just so many immersion breaking elements here:

• The 'boss monster' is a turtle with a mountain (with houses on it) on its back that can shoot out pink thorns
• Rishia needs to wear a chicken suit to function effectively in battle
• the heroes not working together despite the beating they received at the end of S1

is it just the anime embellishing in its interpretation of the source material? or is it just really this ridiculous.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Her story feels like it was lifted straight out of a hentai doujin. I'm not sure what these type of stories are called, it's the ones where the girl is so desperate to get the person she likes to notice her that she somehow ends up getting gang-banged by other men.

It's usually under the NTR category .

[wissenschaft]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I think the problem is the show is basically trivalizing the slavery aspect like it's a gimmick now and we haven't gotten any of Rishia's backstory or what she brings to the group other than the cute klutzy girl stereotype.

People either accept that the slavery aspect is nothing but a Gimmick or this isn't the show for them. Its just how it is.

[Huh...?]

Originally Posted by velvet nightmare

I don't know if it's just me, but the story is starting to get really wacky, and frankly, stupid.

There's just so many immersion breaking elements here:

• The 'boss monster' is a turtle with a mountain (with houses on it) on its back that can shoot out pink thorns
• Rishia needs to wear a chicken suit to function effectively in battle
• the heroes not working together despite the beating they received at the end of S1

is it just the anime embellishing in its interpretation of the source material? or is it just really this ridiculous.

As far as i remember, except the "pink thorns" part, the rest of the stuff are same as in the Light Novel, and the reason behind them is explained as well.

• Rishia wears that outfit, not primarily because of the stat boost, but because she doesn't like people looking at her when she is sad and crying.
  Naofumi allows her to continue wearing it because of her low stats (even though she has a high level, which was caused by unbalanced level-up of Rishia when she was with the Bow Hero).
  
  
• The Anime only hinted it, with a small dialogue from Naofumi, but the reason the other Heroes didn't help out is because in the Game they played, there was a Event with a "Tortoise", which supposedly they could easily defeat at the level they were at, and gave out strong gears which they believed would help them be on top above Naofumi. Which is why all of them acted separately.
  Keep in mind that the other 3 Heroes still believe that World to be a Game World. So believe all the Events happening are meant to happen, including their defeated at the end of Season 1. They considered that the loss they suffered at the hand of Glass & then at the hand of L'Arc & Co was meant to be as a fixed event, and that Naofumi won them because of some cheat.