So it’s been a week since the last episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero took place and funny enough, it matches the time period in the anime too. Aside from Iwatani Naofumi gaining a butt load of skills, Raphtalia has grown up rather quickly too. Must have something to do with her been a demi-human.
Anyways, aside from the quick interaction that Iwatani Naofumi had with the rest of the heroes, to which they still believe to be trash, the wave ended up happening a lot sooner than I expected. I assumed that we wouldn’t be seeing the Wave of Catastrophe till the last few episodes of the season. It only dawned on after the waves, that this is just like waves in MMO and other games, in which you have to clear out a certain amount to succeed.
Since Iwatani Naofumi had no means of offensive abilities, it was interesting to see him still risk his life to save the very village that had ousted him. Thanks to his bravery though, the villagers began changing their minds and have decided to fight along side him.
Unfortunately, the knights of the kingdom didn’t care whether the villager nor the Shield were safe and launched a flaming air strike at the entire village. Funny enough, while Iwatani Naofumi was prioritizing the safety of the villagers, the other heroes went straight for the boss, which ended the first wave but showed more of their mindset in the process. We’re seem the getting more and more corrupted by this world. In hindsight, it makes sense since the shield does the protecting. Now what I’m pondering now is the waves and the dragon hourglass. Is there really an end to these waves? I mean, the dragon hourglass literally just flipped over to restart the can’t down, which to me would imply that there’s no end to these waves. Like how some games have waves that are survival waves, rather than a set waves. Could the kingdom know something that they’re not letting on?
Anyways, overall I thought the episode was great. It added more character to Iwatani Naofumi and Raphtalia and really illustrated the dynamic between them and the rest of the heroes. OK, to be more precise, it’s the Spear guy that’s the most corrupted. The rest of them seem to be OK, for now.
