Tate no Yuusha/Shield Hero Season 3 Anime Episode Discussion

[Stark700]

The Rising of the Shield Hero is getting a second and third season according to the official Twitter account and news from the Crunchyroll Expo today. Both are in production.

https://twitter.com/shieldheroanime/...56434926014465
https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-ne...oll-expo-panel

[SidVicious]

First episode is out.
Looking good...for now.

[grecefar]

yeah, this chapter was good and the opening looked good too. Makes me think that this season can make me forget the second one.

[Frontier]

Shield Hero returns with a third season and a new MADkid OP! I feel like this is definitely an improvement from the season 2 OP with some beautiful animation and plenty of action as we get Naofumi's journey along with his companions and Melty, Eclair, new waifu's, blind martial arts, Naofumi helping girls through their emotional trauma, the Three Stooges' backstories, Bitch preying on Itsuki, and even more danger .

They managed to stop Kyo and prevent the Phoenix Guardian Beast from awakening too soon, but political tensions are mounting and the good ol' Three Stooges have gone awol. As has Bitch, which is probably even more concerning. But right now Naofumi's main priority is building up his village and getting people from Raphtalia's village back .

Melty! I missed her. Even if this seems like the most screentime she'll get for a while .

I love how the queen still doesn't immediately call her daughter a "bitch" but corrects herself. Also scum is the staff vassal hero? No wonder this country's been so screwed .

Poor Raphtalia thought Naofumi was complimenting her appearance but he just cared about the stats of her outfit. At least she enjoys how chummy he and the blacksmith are with each other .

I wish Naofumi didn't have to keep doing business with the slave merchant, but I guess it's good to know that the rest of Raphtalia's village has been sold off and Naofumi frees the rest of the slaves .

You're telling me that the slave merchant is basically just Officer Jenny/Nurse Joy from Pokemon ?

That's kind of rough that now they're using Naofumi's quest to buy certain slaves as a marketing gimmick to sell more slaves. And now he needs money just to buy the ones he needs. Guess that's a good excuse to get involved in an underground fight club .

An Ami Koshimizu waifu in a provocative outfit with underboob? You've sold me again, show .

This Fohl kid looks pretty strong and agile for his age! Even if he's stuck throwing fights .

What stellar "acting" from Naofumi's team. Even Filo is kind of thrown off by it .

[stray]

I was expecting to see more of the heroes but... apparently not yet...

[belatkuro]

>Team Rock Valley
>岩谷(Iwatani), literally "rock valley"

Ok.

[frubam]

Compared to s2, a definite improvement. Story moved at a really nice pace, never feeling like it settled down anywhere. No animation downgrades, and the story arc seems like it'll be interesting. Was skeptical going in, but I'll be waiting eagerly for the next episode =03.

Anyone else think the slave seller is the same person, even though he stated otherwise?

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by frubam

Anyone else think the slave seller is the same person, even though he stated otherwise?

I don't know if it's funnier that way or if he has entire family of Nurse Joy-esque lookalikes who all sell slaves .

[magnuskn]

After S2 seemed to be more of a "let's get this boring shit out of the way" kind of season (seriously, it wasn't really good), this is a pretty solid start to the new story arc. Let's hope this keeps up in quality.

[Dark Wing]

Yea we're finally getting back on track.

[Huh...?]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/2vjoMYD4oZM

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[BWTraveller]

One thing I like is that this directly addresses something I've often seen people say when they want to talk crap about this series: the slavery issue. There's room to argue about the purchases leading up to this point (especially since, as I recall, while he purchased villagers he removed their crests and only offered to make them his slaves if they wanted the levelling bonus in order to fight). But I've seen a number of people act like he should have done "more" because he's "responsible" for the uptick in slavery. Thing is, as is mentioned here, it's not like he was trying to do such a thing. He tried to buy all the old villagers to bring the village back together and because it made sense to restore the village with help from people that already knew the land. He didn't and to this point still doesn't have the time, money or any other resources he'd need to be able to lead a serious war on slavery beyond the Queen's own action of illegalizing the institution. Did his actions have negative consequences? Yes. Does that mean he's a crappy hero or that he's a bad person if he doesn't do the impractical in a logically futile attempt to undo it? No. If anything, I'd say this makes him more realistic. This is no Mushoku Tensei, but it's a pretty darn good series all the same.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

One thing I like is that this directly addresses something I've often seen people say when they want to talk crap about this series: the slavery issue. There's room to argue about the purchases leading up to this point (especially since, as I recall, while he purchased villagers he removed their crests and only offered to make them his slaves if they wanted the levelling bonus in order to fight). But I've seen a number of people act like he should have done "more" because he's "responsible" for the uptick in slavery. Thing is, as is mentioned here, it's not like he was trying to do such a thing. He tried to buy all the old villagers to bring the village back together and because it made sense to restore the village with help from people that already knew the land. He didn't and to this point still doesn't have the time, money or any other resources he'd need to be able to lead a serious war on slavery beyond the Queen's own action of illegalizing the institution. Did his actions have negative consequences? Yes. Does that mean he's a crappy hero or that he's a bad person if he doesn't do the impractical in a logically futile attempt to undo it? No. If anything, I'd say this makes him more realistic. This is no Mushoku Tensei, but it's a pretty darn good series all the same.

To be honest I've just accepted in humorous fashion that he'll always have to keep working with slave peddlers one way or another .

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Frontier

To be honest I've just accepted in humorous fashion that he'll always have to keep working with slave peddlers one way or another .

And honestly, I think this is the underlying issue that people with the "slavery issue" have for this series: that it's not really treated that "seriously" by the author and they rationalize it away with "he's trying to do good despite an evil system." Some aspects of it are a bit fetishized, like the power fantasy of Naofumi ordering the slaves around and them experiencing momentary pain ("for their own good"), or how they put Raftalia's slave crest on her breasts (and how she turns her slavery into a pride point). It's not necessarily that the in-lore rationale is purely unbelievable, but most of the complainers tended to dislike the author for including this element in the story at all in this way. For a lot of people the issue of slavery is still too real/recent to be given such a treatment, and it makes the author come across as particularly insensitive to those people. (This is honestly similar to the issue people had with SAO and its use of sexual violence as a trope, which in that case the author actually apologized for.)

Also, by framing it in this way, the author was perceived by some as writing a story to appeal specifically to people who might legitimately think that slavery is okay (and other such views), or at least not doing more to make clear he doesn't agree with that. So I think the show also got tainted back in the day by some of its more outspoken fans who seemed overly eager/willing to defend slavery (and, really, no matter the context, some people just don't want to hear any such discussion ever, since it crosses a hard line for them). Part of the strong reaction was because people wanted to expressly disassociate themselves from "those people." (Also partly because some of the more vocal critics were speaking in their "real names," whereas a lot of anime fans can just go by pseudonyms, like here.)

In the end, I kind of see what I think the author was trying to do with this topic, but I do also think it's a bit sloppily done (just like the SAO example). In some ways the author is trying to have his cake and eat it too by saying on the one hand it's bad but on the other fetishizing it and making use of it in the plot. It's not treated seriously enough to be actual social commentary, and is recurrent enough to be a theme. But anyway, I think overall the work is defined by more than this one issue, and appreciating this show doesn't necessarily mean you agree with everything portrayed. And in fairness, sometimes anime fans can be a bit quick to go into "defender mode" for their favorite show without further considering other peoples' perspectives or how that defense could be received. At this point, though, I feel like people still sticking around to s3 have already accepted this issue for whatever it is and moved on either way.

[magnuskn]

Although I fricking hate it (same as the unnecessary slavery stuff in Mushoku Tensei), the setting otherwise is interesting and fun, so I stay around. Well, I could do without the really juvenile renaming of the king and Melty as well.

[Twi]

It's not helped by the fact that Naofumi had an out. When the crest was removed from Raph the first time, the author had her go out of her way to get it again. A lot of people, even me, were willing to give him a pass before then since we could assume it was a one-time thing and he moved past it.

Then he got the slave owner's shield and you realized that it wasn't.

Add that in with years of a stupidly high amount of Isekai fetishizing it and that only makes things worse.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Well, I could do without the really juvenile renaming of the king and Melty as well.

That is true. It's so supremely childish that it breaks the fourth wall and you can just imagine how this is pure wish fulfillment for the author. (Or if not, then the author is assuming it'll be wish fulfillment for the audience, which honestly isn't much better.) This was definitely another thing the show got strongly criticized for in the first season (this aspect feels designed to appeal to young guys who feel spurned by women, along with the fact that the main women he's close to are all slaves so present no risk of betrayal), and not without reason. There's always this sort of undercurrent of (what feels like) the author's own personal grudges and unresolved issues that seep into the work. Anyway, it's certainly "problematic," but as you say the setting is otherwise interesting and fun, so it's possible at least for some to look past it. I'm not necessarily trying to re-legislate all the show's "flaws" here, but at least I think it's not bad to acknowledge it and that the author hasn't really done anything to "address it" (and sometimes leaned further into it) -- so it just sort of "is" at this point.

Originally Posted by Twi

It's not helped by the fact that Naofumi had an out. When the crest was removed from Raph the first time, the author had her go out of her way to get it again.

Well, yeah -- the author is making it as though her "voluntary" enslavement to Naofumi is a sign of her love for him, which is twisted. In a more serious work this might actually be fodder for some deeper commentary (like after the horrors she's seen of slavery, this is her way of reclaiming it or something), but the author really doesn't have enough gravitas to actually make this any kind of serious commentary about it (and clearly wasn't even trying by having the seal painted right on her breasts...). It's definitely pandering to a fetish. But again, not trying to re-legislate it at this point. If I had to talk about all the problematic aspects of all the anime I've watched, we'd be here a real long time...

[Frontier]

Figures Team Rockavalley would seem so powerful that most of their competition would forfeit rather than fight them. I mean, do you see Filo with that mace? No one wants to be on the wrong end of that .

Of course clearing the tournament isn't the only thing going Naofumi's way when he's got Miss Underboobs Onee-san Nadia chatting him up over drinks and walking the night with him, even to the point where they fend off thugs. Nadia has lightning magic! And I think she actually likes him! Too bad he doesn't respond well to flirtation or intimacy (probably because of Bitch) .

Oh hey, the merchant guy! I mean, Naofumi doing more business with him feels better than his continued business with the slave merchant and his family .

Of course the championship bout would come between our group and Nadia, who realizes what they're trying to do by fighting in the tournament, and her reasons for fighting aren't so different. Though while Nadia is powerful enough on her own she also has the sponsors backing her up and know she fights best in her element...a water field where she can transform into her Killer Whale Demi-Human form. Kind of a big change, but her boobs are even more pronounced .

But Nadia isn't just Nadia but also Sadeena! Someone Raphtalia seems to know well and who was a big sister to her! Perfect excuse for Nadia to make a show and let the trio win the fight! As long as the slaves get bought and freed thanks to Naofumi, it's all good .

Or at least it would if the sponsors didn't want it to end in their victory and throws in a Murder Clown to try to defeat them, and she (they?) are surprisingly capable. It took Nadia and Naofumi powering up Raphtalia with the speed and strength of lightning just to land a good hit...but the Clown escapes with substitution jutsu. And it seems like the Clown recognizes Naofumi as a Hero and doesn't think he's ready to face the "other world?" Is the Clown referring to the world of the other heroes or something else ?

Thank goodness for friends in high places as the slave merchand and normal merchant guy help Naofumi and Nadia collect their winnings. And now it seems like Nadia is officially joining the party. Is Raphtalia ready for her big sis to keep flirting with her man ?

Oh yeah, Fohl was a character in this. Seems like he's working to take care of his sister who is badly wounded and they're stuck in the slave pens .

The ED was pretty nice and pleasant, with sketches of the cast. I love how the Three Stooges' weapons show up in place of them .

[scififan]

The killer whale's chain lightning attack is strong. The clown's attack is pale in comparison.

[grecefar]

That was a twist, nadia being a killer whale demi human. No wonder she is so strong.

Good chapter, those were pretty cool fights.