It’s been more than one year since January 2019 and it has grabbed a lot of attention from fans because of its compelling story and debatable plot. And now when the Manga Entertainemnt has made the first part of the anime on home video, I will be reviewing it to see if it’s worth your time and money.
The story revolves around the protagonist Nafumi who is a 20 years old, carefree college student and lives his life peacefully until he finds a strange book in a library. He suddenly finds himself dragged into the book while going through its pages and ends up in a different world with three other individuals, Itsuki Kawasumi, Ren Amaki and Motoyasu Kitamura.
They are told that they are summoned to the kingdom of Melromarc to have the four great weapons Bow, Sword, Spear and Shield. Naofumi is handed over the shield, while Motoyasu, Ren and Itsuki are the Spear Hero, Sword Hero and Bow Hero respectively. Being the four cardinal heroes they are tasked to save the world from “waves of destruction” which causing destruction to the land.
Naofumi soon realizes that he is being treated differently compared to the other heroes. The rest of the heroes soon get alliances to embark on adventurous journey, but Naofumi gets no one and had to asked to give him a partner to accompany him. But unfortunately, the only one person who accompany him in his journey betrays him. She robs him and falsely accused him of her rape.
No matter how much Naofumi objected, there was no one to trust him and was left alone by everyone including the rest of the three heroes. He was hated by everyone. Being alone, he had to purchase a slave to accompany him and assist him in his quest as being a shield hero, he can’t fight himself. Even after facing all hatred, he doesn’t lose hope and makes his way forward to complete his mission. He may have act coldly; his kind nature remains intact.
At the beginning of the series, Naofumi has to face a lot of hardships and the first few episodes are bit dark as we witness people around him being unfair to Naofumi but nothing seems overly fantasize. After few episodes as the story progresses Naofumi seems to get out of the darkness as Naofumi gets closer to his companion who trusts him. Later there is also some interesting things that happens from other heros’s side, even though they are against Naofumi.
The breathtaking animation of the series is the outcome of the studio Kinema Citrus’s marvelous efforts who have previously animated some well-known titles like Made in Abyss and Black Bullet. The movement during the action scenes is neat and smooth wile the character design is gorgeous and appealing to the eye which complements the isekai genra. I also like how the animation worked with the emotional and mental state of Naofumi as it was quite dark and gloomy in the first few episodes when Naofumi was going through hard times but when things started to change in his life, it began to brighten up gradually. It’s something that you may not notice while watching it for the first time but small details like these are quite intriguing.
Talking abou the music and soundtrack of the series, it can easily be said that Kevin Penkin has surely worked very hard and done great job in composing some unforgettable tracks. It is suitable for a fantasy and isekai action series. The Opening theme titled, Rise, performed by Madkid is good but the ending theme titled “Kimi no Namae” by Ciai Fujikawa is impressive and dramatic and is suitable for the emotional side of the series.
The voice actors have done a tremendous job in making these characters livelier. Kaito Ishikawa (Tenya Iida in My Hero Academia) in Japanese and Billy Kametz (Anai in Aggretsuko) in English have voiced Naofumi and played both gloomy and lively side of the protagonist very well. Although Japanese voice cast have done better job compared to the English as I like Yoshitsugu Matsuoka who played the role of Ren but both versions are good in terms of voice acting.
Manga Entertainment has brought The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 1 Part 1 in UK. It can be purchased in Blu-ray as well as DVD. It contains all 13 episodes in subbed and dubbed version along with the opening and closing themes. The limited edition contains some extra stuff like 4 metallic art cards, 3 metal keychains, 120 page art books, fabric poster and 3 vinyl stickers.
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 1 Part 1 starts off with a gloomy and dark story but as the story progresses it takes an interesting turn in an isekai fantasy world. How long you will be able to put up with the series, it depends on how you sympathize with the protagonist in the start. But if you are into isekai series in a fantasy world where protagonist starts off weak, this series is highly recommended for you.
