The Rising of the Shield Hero (Episodes 9-12) – The Making of a Hero!

The second Wave of Catastrophe is approaching and Naofumi is doing what he can to prepare, but then the King gets in the way and he’s forced to choose another direction. Will they even be able to stop this one?

The Rising of the Shield Hero (Episodes 9-12)

Episode 9 – Melty

Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo find a human child playing with some Filolials. As they’ve just finished their quest, Naofumi lets Filo play with Melty. Later that evening, Filo comes back to their room with Melty in tow and asks that Naofumi take her with them to the Capital. Apparently, Melty was separated from her bodyguards and needed to get home. She’s sure her father will pay him a handsome reward. However, once back at the Capital, Naofumi has a confrontation with the church, is chased by a guard, and is attacked by Motoyasu. That’s when he learns that Melty is actually Myne’s little sister and the heir to the throne…

Episode 10 – In the Midst of Turmoil

While attempting to upgrade Raphtalia and Filo’s classes at the Dragon Hour Glass, Naofumi is informed that the King has forbidden them from upgrading anyone in the Shield Hero’s party. Furious at the crap he still has to face, Naofumi visits the slave trader to see if he can get some information about how to upgrade. He tells them that every country has a Dragon Hourglass, but it would take too long to get there with the next Wave of Catastrophe imminent. Naofumi continues to trade and ends up helping a group of refugees who were displaced by Itsuki’s meddling. Finally, Naofumi adds a group of guards and mages to his party just in time for the Wave!

Episode 11 – Catastrophe Returns

The Wave of Catastrophe has begun, transporting the heroes and their parties to its location. Naofumi and his party protect the nearby village and soon discover it’s not as helpless as they thought. The old lady, Naofumi gave medicine back when he had only just begun trading was once an adventurer and she knew how to handle herself. The longer the wave continues the more deadly it becomes, so Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo go to assist the other heroes. They’re too busy arguing about what to do that nothing is getting done. Finally, Naofumi puts them on the right path and brings out the final boss. However, their only hope of defeating it is for Naofumi to use his Rage Shield and it is terrifying. As soon as they think they’ve won, another Soul Eater appears but is instantly killed by a mysterious woman named Glass. She’s impressed with Naofumi even as his enemy!

Episode 12 – The Raven Invader

Glass has introduced herself and is keen to fight Naofumi, although he doesn’t know why. She calls the other heroes his servants which causes them to attack. They needn’t have bothered as she takes everything they throw at her without so much as a hair falling out of place. Before they can regroup, she takes them all out with one attack, leaving Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo. They try to attack, Naofumi even uses the Iron Maiden, but it barely scratches her. When a countdown appears, Naofumi and Raphtalia jump on Filo and run. When the wave ends, Glass is gone, but she promises to be back. The King summoned Naofumi and demanded to know his secrets, but Naofumi wasn’t in a giving mood. He leaves and heads for another nation to upgrade Raphtalia and Filo’s classes. On the road, Melty catches up with them, but then she’s attacked by her own men, forcing Naofumi to step in.

The Making of a Hero!

The idea of what makes a hero is a fascinating topic that I’ve delved into before with other shows. One of my favourites was when I looked at Isabella from The Promised Neverland. That was before the disastrous second season. We’ve all probably grown up on stories of heroes and heroines and have a pretty clear image of what we believe them to be. There’s a way we expect them to act. A lot of what we’ve been told is garbage.

It’s easy to be a hero when you have nothing to lose. Lots of heroes are overpowered in one way or another and that takes away the danger. If there’s nothing to be lost, is it still considered heroic to act? Maybe, but it’s not as heroic as someone who has everything to lose but still decides to act. This is one of Naofumi’s defining traits. We’ve seen it time and again where he has nothing to gain from a conflict but will do what he believes is right.

Sometimes, that is to walk away such as the challenge from Motoyasu. Unfortunately for Naofumi, the King intervened and forced the issue. We’ve yet to see the other heroes do anything that helps anyone but themselves. In fact, they often cause more trouble as they act without thinking about the long-term consequences.

We saw it in the second Wave of Catastrophe when Naofumi arrived to help. They were all busy bickering with one another and his presence just gave them someone else to channel their rage and annoyance at. Naofumi does not like them. He’s made that perfectly clear, but he accepts that they need to work together to defeat the waves. Just by accepting that they need to collaborate rather than focusing on their differences makes him more heroic than any of them.

Glass saw it too when Naofumi activated the Rage Shield. She could see what it did to him, the inner turmoil and burning hatred, but he used it all the same. He knew the cost, he’d seen what it did to Raphtalia when he lost control, but it was their only choice. I think that Naofumi would sacrifice himself for his companions. If need be, I think he would do it to save everyone.

Do you see Motoyasu making a sacrifice for anyone? I certainly don’t and while we’ve not seen enough of Ren and Itsuki, they certainly haven’t shown anything that would warrant the title hero. These guys are hopeless and that’s a shame because they need all four Cardinal Heroes to win. The real question now is what are they trying to win? What are the Waves of Catastrophe? This one ended when the time ran out and not when they defeated the boss.

One of the defining traits of a hero for me is that a hero does what needs to be done. Sometimes what needs to be done and what everyone else wants are not aligned and this will make the hero look like a villain. A true hero will see that and do it anyway. They will be willing to take the weight of that decision and carry it. With Isabella, my theory was that she was trying to get close to the person in charge so that she could lead a change, but to do that, she had to make horrible choices and was viewed as a monster.

Naofumi has made some questionable choices, but he’s always made them with the best intentions. When others need help, he makes a thing of asking for money or compensation, but he generally has no real intentions of fleecing people. He accepts what they are willing to give but often uses it to further help them. We saw that with the soldiers that wanted to join him. He made them overpay for a trinket, but in reality, he wanted to see that they were sincere and told them to use the money to upgrade their equipment.

The way that Naofumi has been treated by the King from the very beginning should have been a red flag to the other so-called heroes, but they were too busy accepting the praise they hadn’t earned to do much about it. Ren and Itsuki did stand up for him a couple of times, but I don’t think they’ve done enough. Certainly not enough to be considered a hero.

I’ve just about made it to the halfway point of the season, so there’s still a lot to talk about. I’m looking forward to getting more answers and probably a lot more questions. I really enjoyed the series the first time I watched it and I’m loving it, even more, this time. Watching with a more analytical mindset is allowing me to see things I didn’t notice or focus on before. This really is a great series and I can’t wait for season two.

Other Posts in the Series

Series Information

English Title	The Rising of the Shield Hero
Japanese Title	Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari
Genres	Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Isekai,

Anime

Season One

Season	Season One
Released	Winter 2019, Spring 2019
Animation Studios	Kinema Citrus
Episodes	25
1-4	The Fall of the Shield Hero!
5-8	It’s Definitely Not a Game!
9-12	The Making of a Hero!
13-16	Lies, Disinformation, and Deception!
17-20	Strategy and Tactics 101!
21-25	Heroes from Another World!

Season Two

Season	Season Two
Released	Spring 2022
Animation Studios	Kinema Citrus, DR Movie
Episodes	13

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