1) Spoilered OP, why?
2) I'm going to make/repost an effort post of mine from a while back but it will take time to compile.
>>35771.) because I'm retarded
>>3578I think if you ask the mods could unspoiler it for you
Elaborate
>>3571The anime and manga had something going for it, but it drops the ball. It's a narrative clad in a bourgeois revolutionary doctrine. The setting is feudal and that impacts the MC by influencing the decisions he makes. He's there to rock the boat, though not by his own volition, so his mere presence threatens the existing order. The shield hero is a heroic archetype caught up in the role of a scape goat. They will always inspire the masses (or beastmen) to revolt, so the monarchy accounts for that. It doesn't particularly matter what the shield hero does, however it just so happens that the shield hero is a merchant. Historically, the move from feudalism to capitalism was progressive, but in retrospect it becomes a fantasy when depicted in any other context. The MC is this self-centred misanthrope whose actions are a means to an end. He trades, buys slaves, and takes advantages of poor villages not in the best of conscience, however he always does in his ethical framework. He has taken his alienation and channeled it into a position of power. It's all about turning your weakness into strength.
Describing it in this way, there's a premise that can be done justice, but I dropped the series and others I have talked to have done the same. It isn't just a problem with the anime, but the manga also suffers from some problems too. It's very obvious that the waifu bait is a key part of the series, but it wasn't properly contained. The fact that Raphtalia went from a loli to a full blown woman was bullshit. It skips character development and the change is jarring. Fillia is forgettable. The tone gets watered down. That's all obvious. My problem is that the conflict with the monarchy is too contrived. Once the queen was revealed I dropped it because the lure of a conspiracy just disinterested me and by then the show's edge was gone.
>isekai
Into the trash it goes.
>>3579As far as I'm aware, we can't unspoil files, only spoil them. Just make another topic and we can delete this one.
>>3589Thank you youtubers for giving birth to thousands of pseuds like this that MUST apply their surface-level knowledge of political theory to all media they consoom.
>>3636Political analysis of media is something everyone does, whether it is correct is another matter, but that's why this is a thread and not a thesis paper; people write out what they think and discuss. If you're not interested, DON'T READ IT. It's not that hard to hide a post and ignore it.
<Muh youtubers
People have and did do this on /a/ long before weeb youtubers were even a thing.
>>3571Way too edgy in some ways, not edgy enough in others
Having had a year or so to ruminate over thsis show and read some fanfics as alternate takes I have to say that Shield hero is an interesting show but like Arifureta undermines its dark, gritty premise with cutesy shit and stalled character development after the initial character arcs.
>>3571>Is it just Ayn Rand for weebs or is there a redeemable message in it? It's Randian but has some interesting and redeeming aspects, overall a mix of good and bad in a mediocre worldbuild (that fanfics seem to expand much more).
finished watching shield hero (why did they name it the rising rather than the ascent?) a couple of weeks ago, and i have to say that while its world and ideas are weird, like for example how did a matriarchy even have the right to form if physical differences between men and women still exist in a medieval society, i like the story and the characters too much not to be excited for the second season. i'm looking forward to naofumi and the other heroes' growth, and i'm curious whether raphtalia gets over her separation anxiety enough for her to finally take the slave crest off. i also wonder how shield is going to manage his region, and why are the waves a thing in the first place.
>>13807>(why did they name it the rising rather than the ascentAmericans don't know what "ascent" means
>>13820>>13807Because shitty LN translations are par for the course.
>>3571Found the LN on Baka Tsuki. It's pretty mid tbh. I think if it was just an Isekai and not a GAMING Isekai I'd be more invested.
>>3571TBH the first season is the only good part. I will give it credit as it did keep me a bit interested. The concept of an isekai hero being hated since the others are preferred is interesting adding in the false rape and criminal allegations. After the said rape allegation and its villain gets resolved though it kinda falls off hard. Just becoming a meandering plot while his two slaves want his cock..
I'm reading through it now, on chapter 80 something, and man, Naofumi is such a bitch. One bad experience and he becomes a perma edgelord loser.
>>9672>undermines its dark, gritty premise with cutesy shitWhy does this seem so common in modern anime? I blame Elfen Lied
Shield Hero like most isekai is the pathetic fantasy of a misanthropic outcast: me and my harem are special and morally righteous and get to have good times, everyone else is a stupid degenerate and deserves gratuitous suffering even if I pretend to show occasional sympathy. It's not politically fascist but it reflects a mentality common to every committed fascist: there's me and my community and then the rest of the world, and the fact that we'll build our clean homestead atop a graveyard of undesirables is not an unfortunate truth but part of the appeal. The fact that this sentiment resonates with so many weebs is why it's acceptable to shit on them
>slave owner/trader
>capitalist
>class collaborationist
>misanthrope
>transphobic
>doesn't trust people he can't violently and arbitrarily punish
what exactly makes him a "hero" again?
>>25318In that kind of story being the Hero isn't fitting the moral criteria of an hero but an axiomatic essential quality of the character. He's the Hero which makes him ontologically good and vice versa.
In other word Isekaishit not beating fascist allegations.
I guess to Naofumi's credit he doesn't a) use his slaves for sex and b) seems repulsed by the idea of any sexual relationship with Filo or Raphtalia, but that's also such a low bar, and might be more him being traumatized than any kind of actual principle.
how much of naofumi's character is explained by him being a 20 year old virgin
>>13807Uhm sweetie matriarchy already did exist in primitive communism and we know this because of Greek religion and shit. read Engels.
>>3571It flagrantly lifted a bunch of its plot, especially the beginning, from the Count of Monte Cristo.
The problem is that it doesn't know what made the Count of Monte Cristo tick. We don't follow the count because we think he's a nice guy and want to see him live his best life, we follow him because we want to see his elaborate revenge plots unfold and the lengths he goes to to see them through, and probably a bit because we want to see the bastards that wronged him get their comeuppance. We want to see what a guy who is completely unfettered will do get some payback. And the books are very clear that the Count is not a nice person (anymore) and you're not supposed to idolize him.
The slave daughterwife is weird in both, though.
It also doesn't recognize its own advantages. The Shield is an interesting item in that its completely support focused, and Naofumi has to depend on his allies to do any actual damage… until he suddenly unlocks a demon shield that does more damage than any other weapon. It's interesting to see a guy who is supposed to be a hero, but has to resort to extremely questionable means to get anything done because he's been falsely accused of a crime and the church in the land he lives in denounces him as a demon… until he just leaves the city and works as a legitimate traveling merchant and odd-jobber with people who aren't as propagandized against him and no longer has to deal with the sleazy underworld (except he still buys slaves because its probably someone's fetish). It's interesting that he has to fight for a people who hate him… until the Queen comes home, the people slandering him were outed and everyone loves him.
And what you're left with is just another isekai with an overpowered Mary Sue protagonist who still enslaves people even though he doesn't need to anymore because… uh… the slave crest boosts their power or something.
>>25342>It also doesn't recognize its own advantages. The Shield is an interesting item in that its completely support focused, and Naofumi has to depend on his allies to do any actual damage… until he suddenly unlocks a demon shield that does more damage than any other weapon. It's interesting to see a guy who is supposed to be a hero, but has to resort to extremely questionable means to get anything done because he's been falsely accused of a crime and the church in the land he lives in denounces him as a demon… until he just leaves the city and works as a legitimate traveling merchant and odd-jobber with people who aren't as propagandized against him and no longer has to deal with the sleazy underworld (except he still buys slaves because its probably someone's fetish). It's interesting that he has to fight for a people who hate him… until the Queen comes home, the people slandering him were outed and everyone loves him.An isekai abandoning what's distinctive about its premise almost immediately for the sake of power fantasy? Say it ain't so
Just finished S3. S2 was unbelievable slop compared to S1. S3 is a pretty big improvement, but I feel like character development for the main cast has utterly been forgotten in favor of the new characters that they centered the entirety of the arc around.
Naofumi, the MC, for example, has had practically no major character development since the end of S1, and the only thing thats happened with Raphtalia is that she no longer has the slave crest, but still serves Naofumi in every aspect of her life and she uhhh..got a new sword. Thats it.
Also, bringing back "Bitch" and making her a major character again was kind of a lazy idea. It was a bad Count of Monte Cristo at the start, now……I have no idea. The next two arcs won't even have anything to do with the main driving force behind the story in S1, that being 4 people summoned to stop the "waves", which progressively get more dangerous.
Now the waves are halted, because two consecutive spirit beasts are being awoken, and they wrote all of S2 to focus on the fucking turtle, S3 will be about Naofumi in that worlds version of Japan fighting off some ninja faction that just happens to be immune to heroes abilities, and S4 will be the phoenix, its like the underlying premise is dead, basically.
Also the continued obsession with slaves, and Naofumi having no issues with the slave merchants and being more or less happy to do business with them is……interesting. Not really sure what thats about, pretty sure the creator has some type of slave fetish like the other anons pointed out.
>>25341i'm not gonna read angles but i do agree that i said something stupid from the perspective of the things i've read and found out since
You can't say this bland isekai is just fucking boring and retarded, you have to say it's "capitalist" or "randian" or "rape incel fantasies" (isn't the male MC the one that gets raped anyway?) or else leftoids won't take you seriously it seems.
>>25352Prove that it isn't any of those things then.
>>25353Pretty sure you have to prove they are in the first place, but that would require you to actually read Marx instead of doing the "cultural criticism" bit that pseuds that confuse philosophy for communism do all the fucking time.
>>25352>(isn't the male MC the one that gets raped anyway?) Nah, he gets accused of rape and from then on is a sexless loser.
>>25352>>25373I think you have this confused with Redo of Healer
They're kind of similar in that they're both fantasy stories that have plots that were "inspired" by the Count of Monte Cristo, but beyond that they're very different.
Rising of the Shield Hero is an isekai about a boy from Japan who is taken into a fantasy RPG world where there are four heroes, each given a special magical weapon, the Sword, the Spear, the Bow and the Shield. The protagonist gets the Shield, which is unfortunate because it's support focus means it's dismissed by the other Heros as the worst of the bunch. Even more unfortunately, the local church in the town he has spawned into condemns the Shield Hero as an Anti-Christ figure and are actively plotting to defame him and get him killed, and to that end they have rigged his party to be a honeypot trap to get him falsely accused of rape (which carries the death penalty in that country), which goes off as planned, but the protag gets loopholed out of an execution because he's still a Hero and the Heroes can't be executed while there monster incursions happening. So he becomes a pariah who can't do anything and is basically locked out of all services, which is especially bad for him because the Shield is supportive in nature with little damage making him extra dependent on allies. So he winds up having to use the sleazy underbelly of society and buys slaves who are forced to do his bidding. It's an interesting setup that is almost immediately sacrificed on the altar of wish fulfillment power fantasy.
Redo of Healer is a dark fantasy story and not technically an isekai, even though the fantasy world it takes place in operates on RPG rules for some inexplicable reason. A peasant boy gains the power of the Healer and goes to the local castle to aid their heroes, only for it to be learned that he has magical semen that helps you level up past established level limits, so he's thrown in the rape dungeon where he is then drugged and repeatedly raped for his magical 1up seven for four years. Also, being a Healer sucks because you basically have to take the person's pain into yourself, so he's also being tortured while he's being raped. That is, until one day when he takes an opportunity to betray the Heroes and turn back time four years to before he was thrown in the rape dungeon. And so he begins to plot his revenge against the Heroes, the first step of which is… to get himself captured drugged and raped again but this time he's just pretending okay. He hatches his master plan of just staying in the rape dungeon a few months before braking out and breaking a bunch of the princess's fingers (the princess is one of the Heroes and was particularly nasty to him) and then raping her and then putting a spell on her that wipes her memories and makes her his obedient girlfriend/sex slave. Then he escapes the castle with the brainwashed princess in tow to further his revenge plot on the other Heroes. It's basically porn and not very good.
>>25376God, that sound like Goblin Slayer-tier dogshit.
>>25377It's designed to be uberedgy slop, which has a certain kind of appeal. Personally I like stories with villain protagonists. Naofumi kind of tries to act like one but imo he's too much of a pussy to commit to the bit.
>>25385Egdy has its appeal, slop does not. Or I guess it does to some people, but I reserve my right to critique. Edginess is supposed to be violation of conventions, but fetishistic power fantasy is ironically the most conventional kind of clique in the industry.
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