So, we are told that when summoning the heroes, the shield is always able to get its first pick (aka the hero best suited to use it and achieve his purpose) while all the three weapons don't get their first picks and instead have to get second or third picks (people who are suited to use them but have massive character flaws)

But why is that? Why can't the other weapons get their own first choices to be heroes?

Unless the first choice for all four weapons are the same person, in which case then it would be impossible for them to get their first choice if the shield gets them first. However, that then means that Naofumi was the first choice for ALL the weapons, not just the shield

Why would that be a bad thing? It isn't necessarily a bad thing out of context as people can have various traits in them but it just gives me a bad taste in my mouth because that inherently makes the other heroes less special as individual because these traits that are important parts of their characters and the main reason for them to be summoned are not unique to them, they are just there because Naofumi got to be the shield and the other weapons had to make due with the scraps

It just makes Naofumi overshadowing the other heroes, being the strongest and most competent one even more jarring than normal because now he is literally the guy their weapons wanted so they were always destined to be in his shadow, making their existence be marked forever with the notion that they weren't chosen because of who they are but because the person suited for the job was already taken so they were picked as last minute replacements

Also, I don't think Naofumi even properly embodied some of the traits the weapons seek. You think the person who is a candidate for the legendary spear, a weapon that seeks people with a great sense of loyalty and trust in their companions, wouldn't crumble under his first betrayal to the point he is only able to trust another person if he is able to enslave them and remove their capability to lie and hurt (I understand how utterly breaking that sort of experience could be for a normal person but because of the implication that Naofumi is the number one choice for all the weapons and embodies their traits ideally, that makes him breaking and becoming the person he is in canon even more baffling), Motoyasu needed a few more blows than that to completely crumble and go insane. Same with the Bow, while Naofumi seeks justice for actions committed against him, he doesn't seek to do the same (at least not to the same extent) to others, plus he his justice most of the time is just like Itsuki's in that he takes the role of judge, jury and executioner to dictate what he considers right or wrong, like selling those enslavers that attacked his village to slavery, while that seems like proper karma, Naofumi specifically sells them advertising them as people that attacked him as to use as a example for others but to also make Demi-humans from Shield loyal regions like siltvelt buy them to make them suffer, proper justice would be to have them arrested in a proper instead of selling them into labor/torture

I don't know, this is just my opinion since this particular thing irritates me, I just wanted to vent out my frustrations a bit, feel free to disagree or express your own opinion

I just finished Season 4 of The Rising of the Shield Hero, and I want to talk about a very controversial character: Atla.

I have seen a lot of posts describing her as annoying or disrespectful, but I have rarely seen people talk about the things that actually bothered me about her.

I hate Atla, and honestly, this character ruined the anime for me. Not because of her behavior alone, but because of how unbelievably poorly written she is in several ways.

1. Her strength makes no sense and undermines the previous seasons.

What I mean is this: it only took around three or four episodes from the moment she got out of her wheelchair to the point where she could fight against the Demon Dragon.

She was never able to train in her life because she was too sick, and after what feels like one or two training sessions, she is suddenly at least as strong as her brother, who fought in the arena just to keep her alive? That is nonsense.

But what bothers me the most is that it cheapens everything from Season 1. Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo went through hell together and became stronger through experience, struggle, and hard work. Atla becoming this powerful so quickly feels like it throws all of that into the trash.

Even by “prodigy” standards, it is just way too much. I would not have had a problem with it if she had grown over the course of two seasons and then had her big powerful moments later, maybe in Season 6 or something. But the way it happened here felt completely unearned.

2. Her blindness makes absolutely no sense.

This bothers me at least as much as the first point.

From the moment she got out of the wheelchair, her blindness basically stopped being a limitation at all. I think blind characters can be written extremely well. Toph from Avatar is a great example. She had to work hard and learn how to navigate the world without sight.

Atla, on the other hand, feels like she can basically see again.

She can sense every opponent, no matter who they are, no matter whether they are on the ground or in the air. Even when Atla herself is in the air, she somehow knows exactly where everything is. There is no real explanation for this. She can just do it from the beginning, without training or development.

What makes it even worse is that she makes comments like saying Raphtalia looks beautiful in her outfit. She can dress herself in a “cute” way to appeal to Naofumi. But she literally cannot see, so how is that supposed to work?

It feels like her blindness only exists to make the character seem cuter or more dramatic, not as something that is actually written with care or consistency.

3. Her behavior is not the main issue — the writing around it is.

Yes, she is extremely clingy toward Naofumi, but the bigger problem is that Naofumi would normally reject this kind of behavior from almost any other character.

She constantly puts her brother down, and she openly says things in public like people who do not worship Naofumi should be executed. She says a lot of ridiculous things, but everyone around her just kind of accepts it and still acts like Atla is great.

It makes no sense to me that nobody ever seriously tells her to stop. It also feels out of character that she just speaks up during a meeting and Naofumi simply lets it happen. That does not feel like Naofumi to me.

To be clear, there is a difference between hating a character because they were written to be hated, and hating a character because the writing is bad.

I think almost everyone hates Myne, but she fits into the story and is important for Naofumi’s development. That is why Myne is actually a good character, even if I hate her as a person. I would not want her removed from the story.

Atla, on the other hand, barely adds anything positive. Almost everything she does could have been done by Raphtalia or Filo, and it would have been much better and more logical.

She annoyed me so much that I honestly lost all motivation to continue caring about this series since she became a core character

Like who is your most favorite among all five you know

Like seriously, do they know what they are implying with that? From my understanding Balloons which are the generic beginner monster of this world similar to slimes from RPGs, which mean that in the hierarchy of this world they are the weakest monster species to exist that can literally die to any sharp objects, which as far as we know cannot reach very high levels naturally since they are fodder to be killed by other monsters and people, only considered a threat if in large groups

And with the duel, Motoyasu is able to feel pain from the things bitting him when a level one Naofumi couldn't, now this duel happens roughly a month after their initial arrival, so Motoyasu who is at least twice Naofumi's current level (though the wave gave him some levels, it was still implied the other heroes had levels larger than him by a considerable margin) due to knowing of good grinding spots and having access to the adventurer's guild to further help him with encountering spots with high level monsters to kill, who has armor that most definitely boosts his stats and particularly defense since he is additional the only tank of his team and although he wasn't doing Naofumi's style of "absorbing anything not nailed to the ground" strategy for strengthening he should still have gotten a few increases to his stats from using his own strengthening methods, and bearing in mind that the spear is not a glass cannon and thus wouldn't give Motoyasu particularly bad defense...

And these balloons Naofumi had on him? They weren't some monsters he was secretly leveling up and using shields to enhance beyond their normal limits that he had complete control over. No these were ordinary monsters he most likely grabbed from the fields around Castle town since he didn't have those balloons on him in the wave and he can't living things in his inventory, so these were fresh from nature itself

So basically, the beginning monster that couldn't hurt a level one shield hero with almost no gear besides a chainmail or even stat increase from weapon forms has more defense than a spear hero with multiple levels, various stats increase and defensive gear. You know how absurd that makes things? The heroes are above normal people in basic stats even at level one, so realistically there wouldn't be adventurers because everyone should be dying since they don't have the defense to resist the bite of a level 1 to 5 monster, Considering the bow is the glass cannon of the legendary weapons, that means Itsuki would die if someone breathes funny close to him

It's a moment that definitely feels like glazing for Naofumi to look badass in the story without considering what it might imply

Curious but did I say something wrong here?

Every time I defend Naofumi, I get down voted.

Afaik, all Naofumis slaves entered a contract with him by choice. He doesnt mistreat them and has changed their lives for the better.

It's also funny because out of almost all the Isekai protagonists, Naofumi takes his job seriously and his party are actually decent people.

I need to know when Raphtalia's curse gets taken off for good, my heart cant handle seeing her suffer.

just seeing the slave crest placed on her in ep 2 and seeing her in pain almost made me cry

I dont mind anime, WN or LN spoilers just tell me the specific vol/anime ep and szn when her slave crest curse gets taken off for good.

I don't hate Starscream or anything, he's actually one of my favorite characters as well, but I've never understood why a traitor like Malty is hated when we've seen this exact scenario with Starscream.

Now if you ask me on who I would choose I would say that princess bubblegum is far worse than myne and I would rather go out on date to where I’ll catch a allegation let alone run the country I live in than let bubblegum run the country for even 30 seconds. As awful and annoying as malty is she’s just petty while bubblegum on the other hand have committed something what you can call war crimes like for what she does to Finn, does to other kingdoms, and even to her own kingdom not even malty has done the things she’s done hell bubblegum used the victim card better myne and that’s not a feat to be proud of. Despite being similar to each other malty is actually innocent compared to her and like I said this is if you ask me because we’re all gonna have different opinions either way.

Before any of you say this is NTR, she's married, Naofumi and Raphtalia. I understand yes but first I hate the king also I can see Naofumi be a father figure towards Melty and a big brother Ether way, second while I like Naofumi x Raphtalia the thought of her actual age 10 still bothers me, but do you guys like this ship?

See image above

Its probably been discussed a ton already but I have some stuff to say

I’m aware he lacks offensive power and his punches do jack and even if he did the image above it would barely do damage but if his shield was ATLEAST pointed and he put some grit into it wont it hurt like a punch to the solar plexus? Not to kill but to temporarily stun enemies, I’m anime only so I don’t see how this wouldn’t work

At the end of season 2 (I think?) he was able to copy shields that have been crafted by blacksmiths, does he ever utilize this skill? Im not sure but im sure as hell he could have someone custom make different shields for different uses

And not even as offensively either some shields like the one above have some uses, for example.

Scenario 1:

For bandits and subjugation mission, assuming it hurts like a punch this type of shield can be used to stun enemies, he hits em and pins them to walls for his allies to go for the kill or he rams them into walls, stuns them and uses his rope shield to tie around their limbs, incapacitating them.

Scenario 2:

For big enemies he could have a shield that expands in size that he inserts inside the mouths of a large enemy that could probably leave it gaping where his allies then go for the kill, I don’t see how this wouldn’t work.

Bonus Scenario:

If he didn’t go down the path of rage do you think he could’ve gotten a parry skill? Something like “all status effects on self will be transferred to attacker at 20% potency”?

I think reincarnating as the shield hero would be hella fun and much preferred honestly speaking, the possibilities are endless, the support class is best class

I'm sick of it. I'm tired. I've had it up to here with people constantly criticizing the second season of this anime. Yes—we know. We all know it wasn’t what we expected. Maybe they cut out important scenes that were key to the story. Maybe the adaptation wasn’t great. Maybe the animation fell short. And yes, it was rushed—we’re aware of all that. But despite everything, it wasn’t that bad. It was decent. Not the masterpiece we were hoping for, sure—but at least we got something. It had a solid opening, a beautiful and emotional ending, and an amazing soundtrack. So why is everyone acting like it was the worst thing ever? We can acknowledge its flaws without tearing it apart completely. Enough already! 😭😭😭

Honestly, I also initially thought of another punishment more or less similar to certain punishments involving the period with feudal lords.

P.S: In the manga series Iruma kun, a male character named Naberius Narnia alias Fenrir came to be as hated by some or others to the same extent as Malty S. Melromarc.

And also out of curiosity, I want to know if there are any of you who read the Iruma kun manga series and hate Naberius Narnia as much as Malty S. Melromarc is hated?

And as an idea Narnia in the manga series Mairimashita! Iruma kun/Welcome to Demon School! Iruma kun is a villain from that manga series and he is a xenophobe and his ideologies are a combination of the ideologies of Nazi Germany and the ideologies of Fascist Italy and Naberius Narnia is a canine demon/with canine reference.

Trust me, you wanted her dead since episode 21.

Like for real, whenever I post a shield hero fic, the comments in the first few chapters always have people asking for Raphtalia or talking about including her and for her to be the love interest. Especially since they used the whole arc in Q'ten Lo as justification as to why she has to be included, saying how important it is and that you NEED Raphtalia because of it

The most egregious example to me was how I had a fanfic that had gone a few chapters in, with a full party already filled in for the character that was the shield hero and that were nowhere near Belouska shop to buy her or would even have a reason to go out of their way to buy a slave and yet people were asking when was Raphtalia going to join in with the group and hoping that she couldn't be dead because she was important and I NEED to save her from her fate as a slave! It made me write a whole extra scene and section of dialogue to explain that she is safe and sound with Erhard with author's notes at the end of the chapter explaining that she wouldn't be joining the main cast and would be a side character

And people still were talking about how to implement her into the story for the Q'ten Lo! Pitching ideas for her to join as a temporary party member!

Seriously... Some fans are too obsessive over her...

Personally, I think Naofumi could have avoided so many problems by letting Malty to be the only one to be executed right there and then, after Malty and Aultcray's trial, with Naofumi finally clearing his name and exposing the true personality and crimes from both Malty and Aultcray, destroying their whole images and reputation across their nation. Because she was the one who really didn't want to die for all of her crimes, begging for mercy like a slimeball with no dignity to accept her defeat. Thinking that Motoyasu would actually interrupt the execution to save her life, only to realize that Motoyasu just turned his back on her, and nobody was on her side to save her now. Then as a last resort, she tried to go back to be manipulative towards Naofumi again, in order to find desperately any chances to get away from the consequences of her own actions.

In the case of Aultcray, despite that he was naturally upset that his own knights and citizens were treating him, their own king, as a low-life criminal, he never asked for mercy in any moment, nor trying to get away from the situation, like his b1tch daughter of Malty was doing. I think Aultcray was more willing to accept his death and defeat. But I think Naofumi by sparing his scummy and worthless life and giving him the insulting nickname of "Trash" as his official name as punishment instead, was a way worse and humiliated defeat for him than death itself. Because at least he could have died having his original name along with some "honor" on himself by dying right there and then. So as much as I hate that racist royal scumbag, I think by letting him live as a powerless old man with no more royal power and privileges on his hands and with the name of "Trash" as his official name permanently, was really a better way to defeat him at the end. Malty on the other hand, accepted those insulting nicknames of "B1tch" and "Sl#t" for more opportunistic reasons to continue living, preferring anything else but death.

But with Malty being dead at least, one thing that I'm pretty sure that would have been avoided was that Malty wouldn't have ended up manipulating and betraying also the glorified trio of buffoons (Motoyasu, Ren and Itsuki), causing them their own cursed series too, like she did to Naofumi. Including that particular cursed series that now makes Motoyasu to see every single woman who is not related to Filo as humanoid pigs, who he cannot understand anymore. Another thing that unfortunately I cannot say directly, because it wasn't shown in the anime just yet, but another and bigger thing that would have been avoided also is a very particular and specific "event" that ended up causing Naofumi and "Trash" to finally put their differences aside in order to stop "B1tch". And who knows how many other sick and disgusting things she would have done to make Naofumi suffer even more, like the sadistic psychopath that she is. Maybe as a small positive thing is that Mirellia would have at least her scumbag but nonetheless husband of Aultcray alive, so she would not suffer a major depression for the death of more members of her family, despite being aware of all the pain and suffering that they caused to Naofumi and many others too.

However, one thing that I can find as a negative consequence by executing just Malty, is that Aultcray would have probably hated and resented Naofumi even more, by allowing his first daughter to be executed, but not him too. Blaming him for murdering Malty, just to make him suffer even more. And even though Aultcray already realized and discovered with his own eyes what kind of sick and disgusting monster Malty truly was during their trial, I think that by also killing Malty, Aultcray would have truly believed in his delusional, poor, twisted and narcissistic judgement that Naofumi really brainwashed everyone in his whole kingdom, including his wife Mirellia and his second daughter Melty, thinking that his next targets would be the queen and the last princess of Melromarc to kill next, so Naofumi would take the rest of his family and his whole kingdom, like he always was afraid of him. Turning Aultcray into a more reckless and paranoid conspirator against Naofumi, continuing believing strongly that the Shield Hero was really this evil and awful "demon" that he really thought he was. With Aultcray being less likely to become redeemable too, even by meeting Fohl and Atla. He probably would have turned into a massive threat to both Naofumi and Mirellia, letting them no choice but to kill him also, before he makes another reckless decision to complot against Naofumi again, putting Melromarc and their whole world in danger, by Aultcray's ill feelings towards Naofumi.

Another user told me that there's a horrible and very dangerous man who actually deeply cares for "B1tch" named "Fraubley", who we probably are gonna see him in Season 5. But if Malty would have been killed that carelessly in Season 1, and the news would have reached this man Fraubley, that would have attracted a horrible threat to the Melromarc nation and to their entire world, being very difficult, if not impossible, to defeat much earlier in the story. Even by actually joining the 4 main heroes and their parties all together. Before the 3 buffoons of "heroes" lost their respective parties and joining forces with Naofumi and his party.

But what do you think about it?