Critical reviews - Team RWBY

This is an anime i've been following a little after it had originally released. It's . . . different. So i'll talk about it by splitting things up and giving an analysis of the characters, my theories and what we're going to see/will happen. So, spoilers ahead, don't blame me if this is too much writing for you :P

 Ruby Rose

The trailer for Ruby depicted that she had lost someone important to her, which, soon after the series begins we discover is her mother. Ruby's theme song currently is 'Red like Roses'.

The first part of the song goes like this:

Red like Roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest.
White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test,
Black the beast descends from shadows,
Yellow beauty burns Gold.

Now that i know the basic theme of the series, and whom the team is comprised of, along with their colors, i find it amazing that all of team RWBY's colors turn up.

The song just barely touches on Ruby's relationship 'someone' who is dead. What we do know is that Ruby is still kind of effected by it, but not exactly how.

In any case, during the first part of season one, Ruby is sixteen, while everyone around her is two years OLDER. Ruby is portrayed as introverted, enthusiastic, slightly childish and immature and is trying her best to prove herself and why she's there, in Beacon, two years earlier than she should be. Now, i kind of understand what Ruby must have been going through. She was excited about where she was, however . . .

From the way she's introduced to us, from the way the series begins, i should have known better. I should have known how the series had already 'planned' it's dark turn. Pay attention to the beginning of episode one and you'll know what i mean.

Honestly speaking, that was awesome. I also don't own the GIFs. All Borrowed.

In any case, with just this at the beginning, one can say that this is going to be sort of shounen-y, which it is and isn't.

RWBY has managed to combine some form of action scenes and battles and so on while also developing the characters. Certainly not an easy task, they've done it kind of subtle-y and kind of in your face - what just happened? But nonetheless, in terms of character development itself, i thought it was beautiful, simply because when you have an action type manga/anime, you can expect there to be zero character development.

Another interesting aspect of the anime, is that all the characters have some part of their weapons transform into some form of gun.

They tend of use the recoil of the weapon to reposition themselves. This repositioning is in my belief used best by Ruby. And the reason why i say this, is because her semblance, is speed and her weapon is crescent rose. A sniper rifle cum scythe.

Flash anyone?

Just kidding. Anyway, Ruby uses the recoil obviously like the other characters, but also sometimes uses it very differently from the other characters. One example would be when they defeat the giant bird grimm (I just like calling it that), there are many other times, when we see Ruby use her semblance like in season 2, during the food fight. More on that later.

Now, somewhere after the first arc, which could be considered the Ruby Weiss arc, we find that Ruby tries to be more responsible, but by the second season, we that there are still places where she is immature, though she tries to be a good team leader. Which is great, Ruby doesn't suddenly grow up one day after a conversation with Ozpin. She takes time to grow into her role and while in certain episodes it may seem that she hardly has any character development, we do find that we are given a little more background about her.

Red like Roses part 2 goes like this:

I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute,
Couldn't bear another day without you in it,
All of the joy that i had known for all my life,
Was stripped away from me the minute that you died,
To have you in my life was all i ever wanted,
But now without i'm a soul forever haunted,
Can't help but feel that i had taken you for granted,
There's no way in hell that i can ever comprehend this!

I wasn't dreaming when they told you were gone, I was wide awake and thought they had to be wrong,
How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay?!
Now I'm stuck inside a nightmare every single f'ing (fucking) day!

it's like a movie, but there's not a happy ending, every scenes in black and there's no pretending,
This little fairytale doesn't seem to end well,
There's no knight shining armor who will wake me from this spell!

I know you didn't plan this,
You tried to do what's right,
But in the middle of this madness,
I'm the one, you left to win this fight

Red like roses, fills my head with dreams that i dream,
Always closer, to the emptiness and sadness that has come to take the place of you!

I know you're broken by anger and by sadness,
You felt i left you in this world that's full of madness,
Wish i could talk to you if only for a minute,
Make you understand the reasons why i did it.

I wanna tell you that you're all that ever mattered,
Want you to know that for eternity i'm shattered,
i tried so hard just to protect but i failed to,
And in a prison of abandonment i've jailed you!

I never planned that i would leave you there alone,
I was sure that i would see you when i made it back home
And all the times i swore that it would be okay,
Now i'm nothing but a liar and you're thrown into the fray!

This bedtime story ends with misery ever after,
The pages are torn and there's no final chapter,
I didn't have a choice, I did what i had to do,
I made a sacrifice, but forced a bigger sacrifice on you!

I know you live a nightmare,
i've caused you so much pain,
but baby please don't do what i did,
I don't want, you to live your life in vain.

Red like roses fills my head with dreams that i dream,
Always closer to the emptiness and sadness that has come to take the place of you

You're not the only one who needed me i thought you understoo-
You were the one i needed and you left as i always feared you would!
Would i change it, if i could?
It doesn't matter how,
the petals scatter now,
Every nightmare just discloses,
It's your blood that's red like roses
and no matter what i do,
Nothing ever take the place of you!

Talk about dark and spine chilling. What makes it chilling, is that Ruby though she seems happy and enthusiastic and everything, is really actually sad. And we never really see that, which is beautiful and also strange. We finally do see her talking to the grave at the beginning of season 3. She has not replaced her mother, but she has made friends. This is very interesting, because she never mentions her friends before Beacon. Did she not have friends? Or was it simply difficult for her until then to kind of let go of Yang and become friends with other people whom she didn't know? Those questions are answered by the end of season 3. I have a few speculations, which i'll explain when we come to team JNPR.

In any case, Ruby's growth up until Season 3 is in a 'comfortable' environment', safe even you could say. She hasn't been bullied so far, the few real confrontations she's faced have been against Weiss, who didn't believe she was worthy of being team leader, who them go on to becoming friends and maybe something more. Then, there is the confrontation between her and all the bad guys - no real development here, but she does what she believes is right, what she can do with her own power at this point. Towards the end, she has to confront loss and death with Prhya's death and then try to give her sister whom she relied on so much till now, space.

By the end of season 3, we find that Ruby is leaving with what remains of team JNPR, because team RWBY has been scattered. Ruby will now in season 4 probably get some hardcore growth, if not closure. I don't believe we'll really say we can see or hear about closure until petals stop following Ruby whenever she dashes. And i say this because of Red like Roses part two.

In terms of what a main character is like, for a female protagonist, Ruby is certainly different. Though she has a few cliches, they don't overpower her as a character on the whole. Ruby is sixteen, younger than everyone at Beacon, so it's fine if she's slightly immature and reckless, headstrong even. This we later find out, is probably because of the amount of time she's spent with her uncle, Qrow.

Given responsibility of team leader, slowly made her grow out of that, but not really. She's an introvert (cliche #1), but is able to become friends with Blake and Weiss eventually, along with Jaune. Interestingly enough, Ruby is a weapon maniac - she loves any and every weapon, though she doesn't go all ga ga over them. Lastly, your main character's semblance is speed. I just. sigh. Also, now that i remember, Ruby isn't portrayed as being super powerful or anything of that sort. In confrontations with enemies where she doesn't have her weapon, she tries to defend herself and also tries to trick them and run away, but isn't shown as extremely powerful without a weapon. Balanced protagonist. Interesting.

Anyway, she has one other speciality, which was pointed out in season one, but only given answers to it in season 3. Silver eyes. They can paralyse Grimm it would seem. It would also seem to be hereditary, but we can't say for sure.

But, this trait is also apparently very rare, because Ozpin makes a note of it, he also follows Ruby's progress everywhere and team RWBY is given opportunities none of the others are really given, which is interesting. It's almost like Ozpin is rushing Ruby into growing up and into whatever destiny has laid out for her. But at the same time, he also in the beginning of season 2 says "They're still children"

It's as if he knows that something terrible is to happen soon, which is why he gives Ruby or rather team RWBY free passes to do whatever they want - almost. Why? Why is team RWBY so important?

Weiss Schnee

Weiss is the heiress of the Schnee corporation it would seem, because her eldest sister has managed to escape this responsibility by joining the army - the defenders? Whatever. in any case, Weiss looks up at her sister and tries to aim to be her, but soon, she realizes that because she has the Schnee name, people will always tell her that she is good at everything. She has been looking for acknowledgement of sorts from her father as well as her sister.

During the first arc, Weiss comes out as extremely irritated, snobbish and borderline bitchy. But she also has these moments when she' kind of fun, comical even - when she drops the act of being the snobbish princess. This happens randomly - when she's flustered or when she's extremely enthusiastic about something.

However, Weiss is themed around 'loneliness' and somehow with it, an inability to do the things she really wants to. Her song is 'Mirror Mirror' and part one is like this:

Mirror, tell me something, tell who's the loneliest of all.
Mirror, tell me something, tell me who's the loneliest of all

Fear of what's inside me, Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?

Mirror mirror what's behind you?
Save me from the things i see
I can keep it from the world,
Why won't you let me hide from me?

Mirror mirror, tell me something, tell me who's the loneliest of all?
I'm the loneliest of all.

Now the reason for Weiss' loneliness is probably because as she grew up with the Schnee name, she didn't really have anyone she could truly call her 'friend'. Because of this, she acts snobbish and princessy, demanding even, because that;s how she's treated herself all her life and she doesn't really know how else to treat people.

The first person she really managed to treat differently is Ruby. Weiss was probably frustrated simply because she was used to everyone calling her number one. She was used to everything being handed to her on a silver platter. Ruby wasn't an eyesore, but with great power, comes great responsibility. Weiss couldn't see why Ruby was made team leader when she didn't seem to have the qualities necessary. Weiss then comes across as childish throughout the whole arc.

The second part of the arc though, is between Blake and Weiss. Weiss has a very clear prejudice towards the faunists, but more specifically, towards the White Fang, because her family and her company has been put in danger time and time again because of them. I think Weiss hates the White Fang more because the tension the White fang created for her father caused her to grow up in a dysfunctional family. note, that we know nothing of Weiss' mother.

Now, in the second season, we're given a little more background on blake, but also Weiss. Weiss has every reason to hate Blake and the faunists and the White Fang, but she seems not to want to let go of Blake as a friend and so ends up saying 'I've had some time to think'. Personally, i believe that this is Weiss saying that your past is yours as is mine, but i won't let that get in the way of our friendship. Weiss probably still hates the White fang, but now probably, only for the violent gang it's become today. Her understanding of Blake and faunists in general seems to have changed, though perhaps not openly.

Also, around this time, we have Neptune introduced almost as a love interest for Weiss. Neptune though, is afraid of water. Thank god he's in love with the ice queen then. but somehow, because of the way Ruby and Weiss have been interacting, i question Neptune. Secondly, it would be cool if there were lesbian relationships.

More onto the point of WhiteRose though. Well, Weiss' sister says "Thank you for taking an interest in my sister"

Ruby is course as confused as we are and seems to want to turn to Weiss and go all. What? In any case, Ruby also tries to 'polish' her vocabulary in front of Weiss' sister, as if to impress her. Why? Ruby doesn't have anything to prove to Weiss' sister, so why is she trying so hard?

In any case, in season 3, we see that Weiss is facing problems from home. Her money's been cut off and she now will need to rely on herself and her friends. But Weiss being the proud girl she is, refused to tell anyone about it. As a character, we find that Weiss has begun to learn of teamwork. Team attacks are different - like iceflower and checkmate. by teamwork, i mean that compared to season one and two, in season three with the arena battles, Weiss generally guards everyone's backs and also makes sure there is good placement for finishing moves and so on. Weiss is a great support type character xD

So, Weiss is now left with two choices. Figure out her destiny like her sister or go back quietly, with her dad. Obviously, Weiss chose the later. Which is why, 'Mirror mirror' part 2 is so important.

Who am I to complain?
My life's been spared so much pain.
Born with all that i need, My comfort's all guaranteed.

So what's the problem?
What's keeping me? From moving forward, It's hard to see.

I should be free now,
I should be fine.
But the life i've fought for,
Still isn't mine.

Some believe in fairy stories,
And the ghosts that they can't see.
I know that i could do so much,
If i could just believe in me.
Mirror, mirror, tell me something,
Can i stop my fall?

Years of scorn will leave you cold.
Forget your dreams do what you're told.
When disapproval is all you're shown,
The safest place becomes alone
And isolation's the price you pay,
And every friendship is pushed away.

But bit by bit now,
A step each day,
I'm slowly starting,
To find my way . . .

Some believe in fairy stories,
And the ghosts that they can't see.
I know that i could do so much,
If i could just believe in me.
Mirror mirror, I'll tell you something,
I think I might change it all.

You would think that this is Weiss' moment. Not really though. She's only just found her strength, her goal and most of all she's sure now of what she wants to do. She couldn't summon until she reached a decision, but once she did, it seemed that Weiss became an OP character. Before this, Weiss was only able to use her semblance glyphs. The beautiful shiny patterns that appear whenever she uses her power. This is why Weiss does not have a gun type weapon. She simply has her sword - Myrtenaster.

In any case, before we can really truly feel her resolution, Weiss has been shipped off with her father.

But, if we're to go by the song, for Weiss, things will hopefully change 'soon'. And it would seem, she's going to do it with her own hands.

Overall, as a character, Weiss isn't an introvert or a tsundere or anything, she simply doesn't know how to deal with people in general - like Ruby. Neptune however, she showed an active interest in, but after he rejected her, i'm just wondering what exactly is going to happen to her romantic life. Weiss though she seems to have everything she wants and needs, isn't exactly 'daddy's daughter'. Which is very interesting. Weiss also seems to come from a slightly dysfunctional background, like Ruby and the others.

However, unlike the others, Weiss seemed to be hiding her resolution behind 'As a Schnee it's my duty'. We've never really heard or seen Weiss' own resolution like Ruby's. Weiss has also warmed up to Ruby far more than during season one, meaning that Weiss is beginning to see Ruby in a different light, depending on her, though only subconsciously. Weiss' growth as a character i think can really be expected only during season 4 onwards, because in the past three seasons, we see that while there is some growth, it isn't exactly extremely obvious like Ruby's or Blake's. Instead, it seems more like they're laying groundwork for Weiss' development as a character. And most of this groundwork was laid down during season 3. Lastly, Weiss has been portrayed as a slightly more mature character than the others in team Ruby, which is probably why all of the character development that will change our views and perspectives of Weiss will happen only in season 4.

Blake Belladonna

Blake is a faunist. She is basically a kitty and she wields Gambol Shroud. Now that i've got that out, from the trailer, right in the beginning Blake tells us what she feels. At the end of the trailer, she leaves who is presumably her lover - Adam.

Why do i think this? Well, the thing is, during the fight with the spider bot, when Blake is knocked down, Adam tries to buy time for her and looks at her. LOOKS. Because he turned away, he got whacked by the giant spider, but now Adam is more concerned about Blake because of where she is. He picks her up and moves out.

He has enough trust in Blake though, to ask her to buy time for him. Adam also warns her to get out of the way. That was not comradery. It was concern. blake was also looking for his directions. However, as blake explains later on, the reason she left the White Fang was because she could no longer stand their means. She also loved Adam at one point. A lot of things she says are in references to her experiences with him. Blake loved Adam in her own way, however, she found out that Adam had 'changed'. He was no longer reachable. She could no longer touch him, which was why she chose to leave the White Fang AND Adam.

Adam of course we later find out, doesn't really take this well. Blake's theme song 'From shadows' goes like this:

From shadows,
We'll descend upon the world,
Take back what you stole.
From shadows,
We'll reclaim our destiny,
Set our future free,
And we'll rise.
And we'll rise.

Above the darkness and the shame.
Above the torture and the pain.
Above the ridicule and hate.
Above the binding of our fate.

Born with no life,
Into subjugation.
Treated like a worthless animal,
Stripped of all rights,
Just a lesser being,
Crushed by cruel, ruthless Human rule.

When it started,
All we wanted was a chance to live our lives,
Now in darkness,
Taking everything we want and we will rise.
We'll rise.
We'll rise.

Now the whole song suits blake, and it's pretty dark. It talks basically about all the faunists and generally how they're treated throughout the series. Blake though seems ashamed of her heritage. She wears a bow that covers her kitty ears and seems to be pretending that she's something she's not. All of blake's dialogues now that i think about it are kind of related to the song. About the way she and her 'people' were treated.

Blake tried everything to help improve the faunists image however, as she said, the only time their image of the faunists changed was when the White Fang became violent. She hated it, but could do nothing about it. Adam's wishes she couldn't stand by and so left.

All of Blake's dialogues which are few, she always seems to be bordering on pessimistic. Her words are always tinged with the darkness from the way she was treated as a child. Blake has been trying to escape her past, she has been trying to escape a lot of things, which is also why she hates her semblance - she leaves something behind to run away.

In my opinion, her semblance is beautiful. To be able to leave behind something, even a cop of yourself is beautiful in it's own way. However, blake simply feels that her semblance is cowardly. And as blake says, she tends to 'avoid' her problems. When things got bad with Adam, she ran away. When things got bad with her team, she ran away.

However, because she ran away, she also grew when she came back to the team. Blake didn't exactly go back to the team and apologize. Instead, the team ended up coming to her and kind of telling her that they were fine with whoever she was, is. So Blake instead of running away, begins to form a deeper bond with team RWBY. Blake's basic personality doesn't change. She's still extremely serious, and only tends to give out her opinions when asked or when the situation calls for her to speak up. She likes books and seems to read far more than the rest of team RWBY and does research far far differently than yang. If there are any comical moments with Blake, it's because she a cat.

But then, we have Sun introduced as a love interest and you're like. Okay. Fine. I can deal with a . . . Monkey. Hello Monkey King. Right, This would also probably be a good time to mention that all the people in RWBY are chosen from some sort of fairytale. Ruby is Red riding hood from Red riding hood. Weiss is Snow white from Snow white and Blake is the beast from beauty and the Beast.

Now, Sun in my opinion was brought in because they needed someone to take care of blake and bring her to her senses after she ran from team RWBY. He does a pretty good job at beating bad guys up. In any case, Blake and Sun go to the dance in Season 2, where Ruby discovers someone breaking in and so on, but really, nothing much happens.

I know that there are Bumblebee sippers out there, but really, i don't know how well that would work. Firstly, to me it seems like Sun was a replacement for Adam. He's a pretty cool replacement. Yang in some ways has a few of Adam's traits. Maybe this is why Blake might be kind of sort of attracted to yang and also why in season 3 she doubts Yang. Blake is not sure if she's about to see a repeat of her past, which is why you can see why i'd say there's a slight chance but not really.

Now, Blake almost seems naive before 'From Shadows' the full version came out.

Born with no life,
Into subjugation.
Treated like a worthless animal,
Stripped of all rights,
Just a lesser being,
Crushed by cruel, ruthless Human rule.
When it started,
All we wanted was a chance to live our lives,
Now in darkness,
Taking everything we want and we will rise.
We'll rise.
We'll rise.

From shadows,
We'll descend upon the world,
Take back what you stole.
From shadows,
We'll reclaim our destiny,
Set our future free,
And we'll rise.
And we'll rise.

Above the darkness and the shame.
Above the torture and the pain.
Above the ridicule and hate.
Above the binding of our fate.

Call us liars, degenerates and killers,
Psychos, heartless, insane criminals
Stupid mutts and nothing but pure evil
primal, bloodshed, that's all that's left to do.
We're misguided,
Treated us like criminals and we should hide
Born indicted,
Tired of being pushed around and we will fly,
We'll fly
We'll fly

From shadows we'll descend upon the world,
From shadows we'll reclaim our destiny.

The second part that was added is pretty chilling, but does refer to everything the White Fang does under orders from Cinder. They tried peaceful methods, but that didn't seem to work. Which was why they resorted to violence and Grimm. By the way, do you get Grimm training manuals?

Ahem. So, during season three, which i would say is the Yang Blake arc, Blake seems to reveal her insecurities instead of running. She tells Yang what she actually thinks, whereas she had done the opposite in season 2. At the end of season three however, Blake is confronted by Adam. Adam . . . is now basically just a bastard in my opinion.

Now, a lot of people have said that Adam landed the finishing blow on Blake before she could escape and found out it was a copy was lot convenience. Yes and no in my opinion. Firstly, this is Blake's ability. Her semblance. Blake needed to escape with yang and the most obvious distraction was her copy. Secondly, to me, Adam seemed kind of disappointed.

Right at the end of season three, we find out that Blake once more ran away. This you can't blame on Blake. She was forced to face Adam, someone she had avoided and she like the others didn't have a clear reason 'why' she chose to be a huntress. The simple matter to blake was, that this was a better path than following the White Fang.

Now, Blake's running off in this case is not in my opinion 'avoiding' the problem. Blake ran because she felt that if she remained close to the others, she would endanger them. Which is true. Adam already threatened her friends in front of Blake herself. Rather, he threatened Blake that way.

Overall, Blake only partially developed as a character. To me, she kind of reminds me of a pet cat. Comfortable until their owner turns violent and then avoiding the issue altogether. Running from home, returning to the place where they believe they've found a new home and then running off once more when it seems that danger is imminent. In certain ways though, blake resembles the beast as well, insecure in her position of the world until a 'space' or 'place' was provided by team RWBY. But, her outlook over the White Fang, and people did change.

She wasn't as pessimistic anymore, instead finding solace in books or research and showing how determined she could be when pursuing the White fang, to 'right' her wrongs. Blake eventually took what yang says to heart and realizes that always actively pursuing leads at the cost of sleep and health wasn't good and so kind of took a step back. Blake began to trust team RWBY at the very least after everything that happened in season 2.

I believe though, that this like Weiss is going to serve more as groundwork for true character development come season 4.

Yang Xiao Long

Yang just so happens to be Ruby's older sister and is obsessed with finding her mother. Though Yang says that she became huntress because she wanted to see the world and enjoyed adventure and so on, i personally believe that she hoped to use this opportunity to find her mother. Simply because she had no information as to where her mother was.

Now, in yang's trailer, this obsession is shown along with her recklessness (i think it's a family trait now). her semblance seems to be something akin to 8 times down 9 times up. Or that she gets stronger with every hit - like she absorbs that energy and retaliates with it. Whatever it is, it's hard to explain. I like the simple explanation they provide in the game however - 'Second Wind'

Now, Yang's theme song is 'I Burn' (why am i not surprised?)

Come at me,
And you'll see,
I'm more than meets the eye.

You think that,

You'll break me,

You're gonna find in time,

You're standing too close to a flame that's burning.

Hotter than the sun in the middle of July.

Sending out your army, but you still can't win;

Listen up, silly boy, 'cuz I'm gonna tell you why...

I burn!
Can't hold me now,
You got nothing that can stop me.
I burn!
Swing all you want.
Like a fever I will take you down.

Reign supreme?
In your dreams;
You'll never make me bow.
Kick my ass?
I'm world-class,
And Super Saiyan now.

You're starting up a fight that you just can't finish;
Watch the little hearts while they scrape you off the floor.
Bringing out your rockets? Well, shoot 'em up, baby,
High as you can go, but I'm the one who's gonna soar.

I burn!
Can't hold me now,
You got nothing that can stop me.
I burn!
Swing all you want,
Like a fever I will take you down.

It doesn't have to be this way;
Let's kiss and make up, then you'll learn
You can fight your life away;
I get what I want, so don't bother and just watch me burn.

Hotter than the sun,
Feel my fire;
Pyromaniac: my desire.
Thought that you could see the truth,
'Til I just burned down the booth.
Human Torch can't fuck with me;
Strike 'em quick, lightning fast;
Melt them bitches down to ash.

Gasoline, kerosene;
Strike the match, ignite the scene.
Shit will never be the same;
Feel the fury of my flame.
Beg for mercy: it won't help;
Embrace the ending you were dealt.
Seems you fucks will never learn;
Now sit back and watch me burn.

I burn!
Can't hold me now,
You got nothing that can stop me.
I burn!
Swing all you want,
Like a fever I will take you down.

I burn!
Can't hold me now,
You got nothing that can stop me.
I burn!
Swing all you want,
Like a fever I will take you down.

There's nothing really cold or disturbing about Yang's song, though it does seem ironic once you reach season 3. In any case, right in the beginning, Yang abandons Ruby to go with some friends that we never see again. Who were they?

But this was necessary, so that Ruby could meet Weiss and Blake. Yang we soon learn has a soft spot for her sister. Like . . . bordering on obsession maybe? Well in any case, it's nice to see sibling love instead of rivalry. Yang though hot headed, worries about Ruby, but also admires her spirit. To a certain extent, it seems as though her love for Ruby is tinged with protectiveness, from her inability to save her sister a long time ago when she was looking for her mother.

Which is why, we find that when yang is doing her search during her trailer, despite being better equipped - Ember Celica, despite being a better fighter, Ruby comes by only later and asks what's going on. Yang seems to feel guilty about the whole ordeal and so she keeps it a secret from Ruby probably because she finds it easier. 

Throughout the series, we find that Yang is easily incited - abuses, boob jokes, butt jokes and so on. However, Yang also has overwhelming self confidence and esteem. She won't back down from a fight she knows she can win and will not deal with people trying to hurt her team mates or loved ones. Yang is also always up for a fight in general. Yang seems to have more of a playful personality than Ruby in my opinion, coupled with puns. Really . . . bad puns.

However, in terms of character development, in season one, yang is portrayed as the loving sister who won't be or can't be stopped by anything, in season two, we see that at one point she was very foolish and so now makes sure to try and keep Ruby safe while following her heart's desires.

Now, i find this funny and ironic because Yang's mom is always watching over her. In the yellow trailer, you'll notice a raven. What was her mom's name? Raven. During the rest of the episodes, somewhere in the background, you'll notice a raven.

Now in season two, towards the end, her mother saves her and also happens to say in a dream that yang is having "We need to talk".

BUT. BUT. Her mother also says somewhere else that she won't or can't protect yang. This is very interesting, because towards the end of season three, when Yang sees Adam hurting Blake, she rushes in without thinking. By the way Adam swung the sword, he intended to chop Yang in half. But she didn't get chopped in half. Why? 

There is a slight chance that Raven provided what little help she could in that moment, which only led to yang's arm being cut off. Blake escapes with her, then apologizes and leaves yang. Now, the last episode, when we're shown Yang, we find a very subdued, confused, sad, miserable Yang. Even her love for Ruby doesn't come through because of the trauma she's facing physically and mentally. Yang's outfit has also taken a drastic turn. Where she previously used to wear revealing, flattering outfits, now we find that she's well covered up.

AND there is a goddamned Raven outside her window. Would anyone like to take note of that? Anyways, Yang didn't exactly develop as a character, but instead we're shown how she became the person she is today, which is also pretty cool. Lastly, Yang, is Goldilocks.

Now, I'm actually pretty excited to see how Yang goes on with life come season 4.

So, i think next i'll try working on team JNPR, then maybe the villains.

Add some spice to your life

I'm sure a lot of you would have heard how cinnamon or nutmeg or a few spices can change any dish for better or worse, depending on the quantity you've used. The same is well and true for desserts.

Or even something as simple as milk. Hot milk with an inch long piece of cinnamon and some sugar is an absolute delight just before sleeping at night. Whenever i've had it just before bed, it puts me to sleep pretty well.

There's no real preparation for this though. You heat the milk, pour it into a cup, add the sugar to your liking and drop your cinnamon stick into it. The aroma is far better than that of milk and the flavor too settles your stomach.

Of course, if you're not too fond of sugar, you could try the same with chocolate. I've tried making this milk with dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. Honestly though, with cinnamon, the white chocolate tastes best. You should also add at least one and a half times the amount of chocolate you would normally put in because otherwise you can't really detect the flavor of the white chocolate.

Some other exciting things to do, would be to make Chocolate lava cakes! These are pretty easy to make and you would only be dirtying two vessels tops to get the batter ready, and you'll require at least six ramekins.

And i've looked through a few of these recipes and made some adjustments of my own. With my recipe, you should be able to actually taste the chocolate in the cake instead of just sugar as well as any kind of spice that you add.

So, without further ado:

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
120 gms chocolate (sweetened cooking chocolate)
120 gms butter (salted - i use Amul)
1 cup flour
pinch of nutmeg (trust me, less is mroe with this)
pinch of cinnamon (if you don't have powdered cinnamon, simply use a very small piece - about 2 cms x 0.5 cm should do. anything more is overkill)
Milk (keep about 1/2 a cup, you may not need it)

Take out a saucepan and half fill it with water. Put it on the stove to heat it up. This will be your double boiler.

In a smaller vessel, measure out the butter and the butter and the chocolate. When the water starts boiling, hold this vessel just above the water and stir the mixture with a spoon. The reason why you should hold it above the water instead of letting it contact the water is because if it is in contact with the water, the chocolate at the bottom solidifies and burns.

Once your chocolate and butter has melted, set the vessel aside and leave it to cool. Remember to stir the mixture every once in a while though, so that the chocolate doesn't solidify on the sides of the vessel.

In the meantime, powder your sugar with the pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon (powdered or not - the mixer will powder your cinnamon for you) and place it a vessel. Crack two eggs over the sugar and bring out your hand mixer. the reason why i've asked you to crack the eggs over the powdered sugar is so that the sugar doesn't fly out of the bowl when you try to beat it.

Note that you could beat this by hand as well, however, you would require several people to help. With the hand mixer, you beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture takes on a white color and the goop gives some slight resistance when you simply try to push the goop around with your hand mixer.

By this time, your chocolate and butter mixture should have cooled, so you simply pour this mixture into the egg mixture and beat it in with the hand mixer/whisk/whatever you're using.

Once this is done, dump your flour in and beat it in. Once completely blended, check if the mixture 'flows' on it's own. If the mixture is pretty solid, add some milk. Once the batter has the ability to 'flow' on its own, and by this i don't mean it's extremely runny, it should at least be a sludgy gloop, prepare your 6 ramekins by lining it with either oil or butter (i've found oil works better) and then pour your batter into the 6 ramekins.

If you don't plan to bake all of the cakes at the same time, remember that you can stick any extra in the fridge till you want to eat it. Note that this is safe only upto 3 - 4 days because of the raw egg in the mixture.

Once you're ready to bake the cakes, preheat the oven to 230C and then place the cakes in, reset the temperature to 200C and bake it for about 10 - 12 minutes.

After the 10 - 12 minutes are over, to check if your cake is too runny or not, with a thick hand towel/dish towel/oven gloves, pick up one ramekin and tilt it sideways. If liquid immediately runs out on all the angles you've tilted it at, give it another 5 minutes or so.

Also I've noted that different people like this cooked to different consistencies. Try baking it a little less or a little more to see what you like best! This recipe i've tried on both dark chocolate as well as white chocolate and the white chocolate turned out extremely well!

Now, the reason why this recipe you'll like better is because for one, the taste of raw egg doesn't come through very strongly. Two, you can taste the flavor of the chocolate instead of a sugary mess. Three, the cinnamon and nutmeg add this exotic taste and aroma. They just uplift the cake to new levels.

So, bon appetit ~

If you guys like my recommendations, i'll be sure to try out more new recipes and post them :)

Critical reviews - The rising of the shield hero

I noticed after watching a few videos on youtube that i never really try to break down the manga from the beginning, that i don't mention its plusses or minuses, areas where things could have been written differently or even adding gifs to show what i love and hate about the anime.

So, this time, i'll try doing a super detailed review of a manga that i recently found.

This one is called: The rising of the shield hero, it's on going, and is mostly in black and white. A fantasy oriented manga, for those of you not found of fantasy, i would still advise it as a read simply because of the development so far.

Now, how we're introduced to the protagonist is via a plot that had been hatched by the princess to make sure our hero was in trouble. And the author makes sure we know that she (i think, i don't know!) is talking about an extremely overused premise, mocking it and thereby opening it up without the use of a few cliches which become humorous with the hero's thoughts.

Now, interestingly enough, instead of the protagonist being wanted, needed or loved, our protagonist is faced with extreme prejudice. The shield hero is looked down upon and thought of as evil.

His 'team' is thought of as the 'losing' team. This is actually extremely unfortunate for anyone who is just starting any kind of game. Without help in initial levels, one is kind of doomed.

You need a party to be able to take on bigger and stronger monsters and having a defense type would help the party a lot - if they make sure no one gets a single scratch, bosses of much higher levels can be taken on, meaning bigger and better rewards.

Secondly, to me, it seems like the 'shield' hero is an extremely useful support type if you're saying that you're facing 'waves' of calamities - support or healing types become extremely important in these kinds of fights.

But what doesn't sit well with me is that he is an otaku who hasn't played games. To me it doesn't really make sense.

But fine, i'm sure there are 1% otakus like that, in any case, despite that being the fact, why does he not have any idea of the VRMMOs? Surely people talk, it should at some point have reached his years, i find it odd that he has no knowledge about this whatsoever.

Now, the other thing that bothers me is how trusting he ends up being. I get that you have only one person on your team, but when the king himself gave you a very cold greeting, unlike the other heroes, you should have clued in, at least a little.

I suppose he must just have been relieved to see that someone was willing to support him, but when all the heroes chose the 'sword', 'lance' and 'bow' over you, should you not be suspicious at the very least?

And this panel . . . gives us a big hint about what's in for him, leading to the next chapter that explains our beautiful heroine's plot em, evil scheme. Honestly speaking though, at this point i didn't exactly feel bad for him, in fact, i actually found it kind of funny and sort of thought 'serves you right'.

But at the same time, this built a sort of love hate relationship towards the character for me. He was an idiot, but he was also new - he deserved to have someone help him, and the fact that he's being introduced as some sort of bad guy, even though he isn't and we know next to nothing about him other than that he's an otaku, is very interesting.

Showing him to be a character you refuse to like initially, is a very interesting way of building a manga around him.

Honestly speaking, i like it, the fact that you don't like the hero initially, that you even border on hating him even, it sets the stage for change at a very high place and the author makes sure that you stick around to see what he decides to do.

If he mopes, you'd obviously hate him even more, but moping and self pity would be the right kind of emotion right after you have been unjustly accused of being something you're not.

So, now we're back to square one. Our character doesn't have gear, most certainly no money and even worse no weapon. How exactly is he to survive in this place? After all, you need currency and any and all games make sure that buying things are quite hard for any character that just started.

So after this, the hero is thrown out, but instead of moping, he turns to rage. You kind of dislike him even more after that, but yes, you also agree with the emotion completely. Now at this point, you would think he's at his lowest, but no. He's thrown out the castle without equipment, without anything but his legendary weapon, most certainly has no friends or comrades, but even worse, the townspeople hate him.

And it comes as no big surprise that the one man that saw him with his partner would personally come to pummel him, but after one look at him, this happens.

Now, normally, people would cry in relief, it's almost like kindness at this point, but our hero simply says 'I'll pay you back'. He's lost all hope, he's in a world he knows nothing about and has no one he can even turn to, and i like this development. This is very different from what any other mangaka would do. Our hero accepts this kindness matter of factly and continues in his businesslike manner.

He knows in fact that the man is being kind to him, but because he can't trust anyone anymore or rather, can't afford to trust anyone anymore, he refuses to show weakness.

At the same time, while he's kind of fallen into a pit of despair that he can't seem to escape from, he doesn't wallow in misery, but instead begins to use his wits.

This is excellent development for a character who has fallen so low that you would think that he can't do anything by himself, but the fact that he knows that the townspeople would try to take advantage of him, the fact that he's prepared to be discriminated against for simply being the shield hero, gives us great insight into his mind.

He has prepared and probably even resigned to himself to the fact that he is going to need to look over his shoulder at all times. This makes one sympathise with the character, you can understand what is going through his mind, but you still don't love the character, instead you have a sort of sense of respect almost for him. He's been falsely accused of being a rapist and that does get him down, but he refuses to simply roll over and die. He's made a resolution to get out of this better than ever, which shows that he is mentally strong.

And i believe, this is where officially your love for our protagonist begins.

And now, enters Raphtalia and this shady merchant. We have reached the black market. Now obviously, with the shield hero where he is, you kind of begin to hate him once more - disgust does crop up, simply because he is willing to buy a slave, he's not even thinking about whether it will be human or what kind of animal it will be.

He has reached a situation where anything that will put him in a better place will be accepted and used. Raphtalia is a raccoon demi human. She's actually quite adorable and i can't exactly name the reason why he chose her when there were better options, but in the page before, we're clearly shown or rather told how torn up he is that the slave he's selecting is to be a girl. He puts on a brave face however and chooses her.

And this is despite the objections voiced by our shady merchant. The merchant believes him to be the perfect customer and he probably is, but there is also almost some amount of concern shown by him, as if he is beginning to understand that the charges placed on him were false. But at the same time, an opportunity is an opportunity. A satisfied customer is more likely to come back and so he tries to persuade our protagonist that she is not the best choice.

But the reason why he ends up choosing Raphtalia is provided on the last page of the chapter 'If i end up making that woman my slave'. It's dark and quite terrifying, you like Raphtalia don't know what to expect from him. Personally, i was kind of concerned for Raphtalia because of the turn his dark thoughts took.

I also at the same time felt sad for Raphtalia. And the whole scene of him caring for Raphtalia is not only endearing, but also shows us that even if he doesn't trust anyone, he isn't heartless. He understands very well that if Raphtalia was sold a slave as a child, she most certainly would have a harsh past, he also sees her as a child and not a slave when he's not on field. He buys her a ball, makes sure she eats a good food, makes sure she's always clean and treats her well, but at the same time, he is also extremely firm. It almost seems at times that he wouldn't mind bringing her pain by forcing her to obey an order that she does not want to, yet he doesn't take advantage of this, ever.

He has chosen to stand on his own two feet, decided not to even bother trying to clear up the misunderstanding that the false charges brought against him, but instead chose to care for raphtalia, while using her as his stepping stone to get to a higher level, to stand a better chance of surviving the wave and maybe, just maybe somewhere in the back of his mind he hopes to 'protect' those worth protecting is he ever finds someone like that. You can't help but feel sorry for our hero and once more you begin to love him and admire him, but you still dislike his character as a whole.

And maybe this is because of how he was introduced to us and the kind of situation he's stuck in.

In fact, in this page, he doesn't order Raphtalia. His choice of words is very strange, but also interesting. He cares for Raphtalia in his own way, he sees himself in her, both forced to fight a battle they don't want to, both forced to live in this world that discriminates against them, hates them and would rather see them dead. He understands how she feels and he doesn't hold it against her.

Instead, he's giving her a choice, a hard one nonetheless, but it is a choice. Stay and face her fears, fight for him or give in to her fears and return to the slave market. Raphtalia's tipping point though is when he says that he's the shield hero and will fight the calamity - the waves. This is very interesting. She doesn't seem to look at his kindness as a benefit, but instead forced herself into action after he mentioned he was the shield hero. Obviously, we want a background story now - Raphtalia's past, how she ended up a slave and what happened to her then.

And we are given just that, except, we're given her nightmare. But somewhere in the back of our mind, we did want to know what her nightmare was. How her parents died and we're given exactly what we asked for. It most certainly did not make us feel any better asking though.

And even better, after the nightmare, we didn't really want to ask about her past anymore, but instead we're given something even better. Now in terms of character development, for us it seems a little sudden, but for Raphtalia, this is a perfect opportunity. She has lived with this nightmare for a very long time and this would be the perfect time for Raphtalia to 'grow up' to get over it, to finally be able to say that she is stronger than this traumatizing memory of hers. And so she takes her first step to getting over her fears.

And we finally see her as a child, who having taken a step towards facing her fears, is now facing one that we all fear. Being left alone. I actually felt quite emotional when i saw that scene, the poor girl begging the shield hero not to die and not to leave her alone. And you can imagine what she must have gone through after her parents died. Not a friendly soul, being sold off time and time again as a slave and now having to fight something she never wanted to face. It is beautiful character development in terms of emotion as well as growth.

And this marks the beginning of comradery and friendship between Raphtalia and Naofumi.

Now, while this is a great conclusion to the chapter, we do want to know what the other three heroes are doing. And we get a side chapter. It's perfect timing. It's actually kind of scary. In any case, we hear the story of how they landed up and honestly . . .

Now of course, you've had enough of these guys, so you're like, what's going on with Raphtalia and Naofumi?

My jaw dropped let me tell you. The author knows exactly how to keep you hooked. what's funny though, is that Naofumi hasn't realized that Raphtalia has grown up. It's kind of funny in a way, and then kind of concerning. Do they still share a bed?

Anyway, instead of discussing this like they should be, we instead move on to the topic of Naofumi not looking heroic enough. I . . . i kind of facepalmed. But then, i did agree that he needed a change. I also realized that in the time Raphtalia was introduced, Naofumi didn't exactly have any real development as a person. He's kind yes, but he still doesn't trust anyone and he hasn't even noticed that Raphtalia's all grown up, meaning that he still doesn't 'see' her.

Also, a change in clothing would in a sense signify a beginning towards change for the character, so considering development in terms of manga, it's pretty fast paced.

Everything that has taken place so far has happened in the span of 5 chapters. If that doesn't amaze you, i don't know what will.

Now, in terms of character development via change in costume, i am perfectly right ~

What we had been waiting for since chapter one.

Now of course, with everything that's happened, you'd just started thinking oh, look, everything's going to go well for our hero!

But instead, he's faced with 'old friends' and is once more shame faced and basically degraded and treated like trash. And poor Raphtalia stands and waits for some sort of conclusion, a clue even to go on.

But, Raphtalia can't make any kind of obvious connection to a crime and Naofumi, because Naofumi never tried to do anything to her, nor did he commit any kind of crime and he most certainly did not try to commit a crime.

So filled with only good thoughts about Naofumi, Raphtalia can't even begin to imagine him in bad light.

But because Naofumi met with them again, he's reminded of everything he's accused of and goes right back into that slump we remember seeing him in a month back.

Even Raphtalia seems unable to get him to snap out of it. And so, in this way, the wave begins.

Now of course, temporarily this breaks him out of his dark thoughts, because he's now more concerned about the wave. As soon as he realizes of course that the village he had been working around was in danger of being caught up in the calamity, instead of going to fight off demons like the other three heroes, he decides to protect the villagers and evacuate them.

Which gives us insight into his thoughts - if i can't fight, i will protect. This is great in terms of learning who the person is behind the mask of the hero. Now in the middle of the fight, he begins to feel hopelessness set in as he watches knights trying to hold off the demons, but its obvious they're struggling and as these thoughts of despair hit him, he again questions why he's trying to save the people who treated him like shit.

And it's almost like Raphtalia comes in to save the day, like a ray of hope.

And honestly let me tell you, while Raphtalia can be like a little kid sometimes, she is in my opinion one of the best female side protagonist characters i've seen so far. Now, a little after this, we clearly see Naofumi's hate for the knights that came to 'save' the village, but soon after the wave ends and the one question that Raphtalia asks is if she did enough to save kids from becoming like her.

And this reminds us that while Raphtalia's grown up, she wasn't exactly 'grown up' till now - she was a child who had her parents killed before her, and was sold off time and time again as a slave. Her only hope is to be able to help Naofumi and thereby help save as many people as she can.

She's still pure, innocent and to a certain extent naive and it would seem that her current truth and way of life is following Naofumi.

Shortly after this, they're attending a feast, prepared to thank and congratulate the heroes. Of course Raphtalia is bouncy and like sunshine, unlike some depressing person stuck in his dreary thoughts and basically hating every second of what he's doing. Raphtalia of course does her best to cheer him up and offers him food, something that looks great, but he takes a bite of it and immediately says that it tastes terrible.

Obviously the question of what and why comes up. But before we can get an answer, we're faced with another situation! Yay. NOT.

The 'lance' hero just found out that Raphtalia is a slave and therefore challenges the shield hero to a duel. At this point you're just sighing and generally feeling terrible for him and wondering what's going to happen now because he's obviously going to lose Raphtalia.

But in the back of your mind there's this niggling doubt and you're waiting and hoping to see his craftiness. And the author rewards you.

I actually laughed a lot when i saw this page. It was just plain funny. But i also had a question. If the heroes have good equipment, shouldn't the lance hero's equipment reduce the damage to 1 hp or something? But i suppose pain is an entirely different matter right?

As if that weren't enough, we already knew that the shield hero had several different types of shields he could unlock, so the pages after this of the entire duel are entertaining and also extremely sly and crafty. And you would expect his win, but then . . .

Did i mention i really really hate princess Mein? And honestly speaking, she puts up a great act and makes you hate her as much as she deserves to be hated. She gets in the way every time when you think things are going well for Naofumi.

So obviously, he lost the duel.

And interestingly enough, in the depths of his despair, he unlocks a restriction 'the curses series'. But as usual, we're not told what we really want to know about, but instead hear Raphtalia scold them for having 'saved' her.

She had been happy, she didn't want to be saved.
And of course, she tries to go to naofumi who has officially reached the depths of despair and darkness and does not know of any good in the world who rejects her, but then, she says.

"You didn't do it"

And i mean, honestly i'd rather say how cliche and everything, but the development of the friendship and to a certain extent Raphtalia's love and devotion for him was pretty obvious.

But at the same time, i realized that those words were exactly what Naofumi wanted to hear. He hoped and wished and probably cried somewhere deep down inside hoping for a person to acknowledge that he wasn't a rapist, that he wasn't evil.

And that is how he acknowledges that Raphtalia is a woman in body, though still a child mentally. It's adorable and heartwarming.

Now of course you're kind of waiting for this moment to be shattered by the lance hero, but instead people simply choose to leave them alone.

Which is something you're thankful for. So after their beautiful heartwarming moment, Raphtalia is given her slave mark back and Naofumi chooses to buy a monster egg from our shady dealer.

Interestingly enough, Naofumi is willing to raise the monster up even it is some sort of low grade monster. And goes on to mention that he feels like he's changed.

At this point, they mention food and Raphtalia, smart little girl that she is pulls out sandwiches from got knows where that she had saved from the banquet earlier.

He also goes on to mention that he was surprised that the sky was so blue and of course, the egg cracks.

And you now know what to expect in the next chapter! A new character ~

Of course before you get to see the monster in the egg though, first we're shown that Naofumi acknowledges raphtalia, appreciates her and now feels even more responsible for her. Now honestly, i do like both the characters, but seeing them together after Raphtalia grew up and they fell in love . . . would feel really cliche and i'd be sorely disappointed.

In any case, Naofumi now seems to think that a world in which raphtalia lives in would be worth saving and so they begin their journey from the castle with many people's gratitude and books.

Lots of books and letters. Lots and lots of letters. Alphabets . . . in any case, raphtalia agrees to teach him and learn with him, so they begin their education on grimoires and potions and what not. At some point, Naofumi falls asleep and we welcome our new character upon his awakening.

It a bird. A tiny adorable fluffy puffy cute little bird! And it's a philorial and it happens to like pulling carts. Convenience much? So of course, they begin leveling the bird up.

And in a day . . . the thing looks like it's fully grown. I just. Waaaaaaaaay too much convenience. And after that, the lance hero and the annoying princess Mein appears. And after receiving some order from some shady ninja like women, she challenges the shield hero. To a race.

Anyone else think there's too much convenience here? But the chapter has its benefits . . . just read it.

In any case, he wins the race thanks to his bird ahem philorial. And then they retire for the night. The next day . . . well. We find out that the philorial might actually be a king or queen philorial and of course, as if that weren't enough, he takes the bird to our shady dealer who wants to experiment on it when it turns into a girl.

You know, i was just beginning to think this wouldn't be a harem manga . . . but . . .

Anyways, just when you think you can't handle anymore of this nonsense, we're given a look into Raphtalia's past. After the village was destroyed, slavers came in and took them under their wing. And by wing i mean manacle and by manacle i mean dungeon. Raphtalia's friend dies just when she promises that she would make sure that they both saw their villages flag again and after this, she cries when the slavers tell her that their village doesn't exist anymore. To the young Raphtalia, it felt like everyone in the world was condemning her and so she refused to smile, to her it felt that if she laughed, she would only be condemning her village.

Now you're feeling all emotional and then we're onto a chapter about Firo. The bird? The bird that turns into a naked girl with wings? And she's convinced that her master is her father. That's slightly messed up and i won't explain why either. In any case, Firo is headstrong, literally, yes, literally and charges into any situation.

No surprise there, she wasn't given any time to develop her conscience/mind/thoughts . . . you get my point right? But, turns out, she's smart. Really smart. She also happens to know monsters weaknesses. This is all interesting of course, because it would seem that despite being a bird, Firo is naturally a hunter. She can also be considered a demi human in a way, but she's actually a monster.

And the entire chapter was for clothes. i felt cheated somehow. But overall, it was an okayish chapter i guess, because at the end of the chapter, we finally get some insight on Naofumi's thoughts about his harem - they're his daughters. I wonder how long he'll take that stance.

In any case, after this, they begin their journey as travelling merchants. They accept whatever job they can and do the best they can but only by accepting payment in advance. Naofumi believes that no one would be happy once they learnt that they were helped by the shield hero. But as the chapter progresses, we find out that Naofumi ends up in places where people are dying because of the mistakes of the other three heroes. In a sense, he is cleaning up after them.

Now at the second village he goes to, there is a plague caused by a dragon. Or rather, the dragon's corpse. And Firo . . . gets eaten. Naofumi is crushed by the guilt and sense of despair that this brings and activates what we wanted to know about for a long time - the cursed shield!

Now of course, despite the fact that he was angry and kind of under the influence of the shield, he steps in front of Raphtalia to protect her. He then sets the dragon on fire. But the cursed flame ends up burning Raphtalia as well because she tries to stop Naofumi from going out of control and losing it.

Looking down at her burnt form does bring him to his senses, however . . . there's still the threat of a zombie dragon.

Now something that i find interesting, is that initially Naofumi says he doesn't play games, but then, during two conversations, one when he's with Firo and the witch, he says that he played a game once this being tricked by an apparition was something that happened. Just before the fight with the dragon, he says that in games the zombie dragon is far harder to defeat than the actual one.

Is that a mistake . . . ?

In any case, while we're sitting and stewing in despair over what is going to happen to Raphtalia, we're given a different look into one of their travels, where naofumi threatens a band of thieves and gives them to the watch and makes sure he gets a reward for all his hardship, caused by the merchant travelling with him. While its a cute chapter that gives us insight from Raphtalia's point of view, and how different Naofumi is now, in that he threatens to make sure he gets what he wants but at the same time, its more like he knows and understands what he needs to do in certain times so long as people don't know that he's the shield hero.

And the return to the zombie dragon yay ~

NO. Booo! I just. The whole chapter just. ugh. See, i liked the fact that Firo could have died at that moment. I also liked the fact that it seemed like they were about to die. But they didn't. Instead, Naofumi just about manages to break away from the dragon and Firo eats something she shouldn't have and spits it out and so the dragon kind of sort of officially died.

Now, Raphtalia is injured quite badly, she has burns that was caused by the cursed flame from the shield, but she plays it off because she knows that otherwise Naofumi would only receive more hate. Firo on the other hand is perfectly okay. Is Firo invincible? Maybe. Is she OP? Hell yes!

And after minor treatments, we're introduced to more philorials and a girl. Now honestly, i'm kind of not excited about a new character after Firo. Firo was well, i mean, i get she's a kid and all, but Firo just doesn't sit well with me. Firo is OP, she's childish, demands attention, will eat anything and is just kind of like a character made to bring in jokes. Which is kind of disappointing. Does Firo have a lot of potential? Yes. But do i like the way her OPness is displayed, no.

Lastly, i wouldn't have minded the manga taking a dark turn, Firo dying, Raphtalia gravely injured, unable to wake up or something, maybe even dying and then seeing what our hero would do would be kind of amazing, but no. It's like things have to go well. If one of the lead characters died, one would believe that the shield hero was in actual danger every time he was attacked, but considering what you did with Firo . . .

Sigh. in any case, let's move onto the next chappie.

So Firo becomes friends with this girl and they're both really happy, the girl seems to be someone of high birth, but no one is really sure how high. in any case, she just so happens to be travelling to a town near the castle, the same place the shield hero is going.

Convenience~

Anywho, they arrive without incident and buy some holy water for Raphtalia's wounds while Firo is sent off as an escort with their new travelling companion. At this point, all of a sudden a guard starts chasing them. They split up and now the lance/spear hero finds him and they are now engaged in a duel despite the prior guard trying to stop the duel.

And our precious little high born shows up. Turns out she's a princess too. Why am i not surprised?

She manages to call off the duel and the nonsense, Firo kicks the lance hero and we're all happy. NOT. Ahem so after the great revelation, Melty (the poor kid at least she was princess so she couldn't be teased) and Naofumi's squad regroup at the blacksmith's place. They have a one sided argument and Firo is no longer permitted to be friends with Melty. Soldiers then come to pick her up and in the midst of this, the soldier that previously protected Naofumi asks him to let them come with Naofumi during the next wave.

Obviously Naofumi cannot afford to trust people as he did initially, so instead he says that if they buy an accessory off him at 150 silver coins, he would allow them into his party. In the meantime, he chose to gather information before he came back. When he did though, he was surprised that they had come back with money. So, he gave them the accessory and partied with them.

Naofumi then goes to a village nearby and finds out that people were sneaking across the border because of a famine and couldn't get any food. He also knows that the archer hero has a sense of robin hood justice, but doesn't really seem to understand the way the world works.

Naofumi then tells both the sword hero and bow hero who appeared before him that he had nothing to do with any of their mistakes. The bow hero was foolish and the sword hero should have made sure to have gotten rid of the dragon corpse.

By this time, the next wave starts. Our three idiotic but gallant heroes charge in while the shield hero makes sure the people are evacuated from the nearby towns. Three hours are up, but it seems that they are no closer to seeing the end of the wave.

So the shield hero charges in and tries to unite our three galant idiots who were trying to fight three different monsters that they thought was the boss. naofumi manages to draw out the boss, but they don't seem to stand a chance, which is when he looks to Raphtalia for help and activates the cursed shield.

But then we get a side story about Naofumi's armor and Firo's lack of knowledge about 'indecent' things.

And now we go back to the wave. Now enters Naofumi's crazy dark thoughts, he just about manages to defeat the monster, when a super high class monster steps in. Are they all doomed? NO!

Well maybe. She introduces herself and asks for Naofumi's name. Then the fight officially begins. Of course in one strike of our magical demon lady, everyone is swept off their feet and lose consciousness, which is kind of disappointing honestly. But then, she attack Naofumi and is amazed that he can withstand her blow. Firo and Raphtalia then attack, but it's not good.

Just when you think things can't get worse, our demon lady Glass asks if naofumi is insulting her by not using the flame shield. Naofumi obviously confused because he's too tired to use it gets up and takes a potion from an unconscious Mein. At this point, i just kind of face palmed because Glass just waited for him, like she didn't think it would be fun to rip him a new one and be done with it. Glass is weird.

Secondly, who waits for their enemy?! Like who waits for their enemy to use a health and or recovery potion and don't give me that chivalry crap! This is a demon and she was patiently waiting for naofumi to simply drink the potion? I just . . . sigh.

Anyways, naofumi then activates the cursed shield. the fight is now on. Of course our pretty demon lady is super OP so Naofumi doesn't stand a chance despite his strongest attacks and so just barely manages to flee. After the fight ends, Naofumi doesn't bother to help the other heroes, but instead chooses to help out somehow at the village nearby that was destroyed because of the demons.

Of course, at this point, we're shown the preference of the other heroes in terms of care and treatment, tonality of voice and so on. Naofumi then ends up in the place where he's been asked to explain how he got far more powerful than the other heroes.

And then this happened! I was sooooooo happy, even though i knew it was going to come back to bite him in the ass but whatever. This was totally necessary :D

In anycase, after this, he's basically thrown out of the room, banished from the kingdom blah blah blah, Melty follows him and he's once more framed, this though for assassinating royalty. So now they're on the run with Melty.

Stupid girl. Sigh. In any case, they're cornered a little after they try making their escape and are told to hand Melty over. Melty says she's fine but then her sister . . . yes, her sister sigh. Says that Melty was brainwashed.

And you're like ooooookay. So now, we've got a hero fugitive, a princess fugitive, a demi human slave as well as a demon slave on the run. How did i not see this coming? NO really.

Just. Ugh.

Anyways, obviously our deviously crafty princess Mein gets her way and our poor heroes (not the three revered ones) are on the run. Oh right, you were expecting them to run away on Firo right? Welllllll . . . Firo has been restricted from using her power thanks to who? OMG you guessed it! The idiotic imbecile of a hero - lance. Yay. NOT.

SO obviously our heroes are trapped, Mein has made sure to use some flashy magic, the heroes suspect her, but don't know who or what to believe. By this time, Raphtalia comes up with a plan, cause Mein to pass out, the soldiers - reinforcements arrive and begin to attack all of them. By this point, Naofumi is faced with the fear of loosing both Raphtalia and Firo, hates the fact that no one can seem to use their our brains to figure things out, but most of all that they won't listen.

And guess what? The curse shield evolves :D

And kabooom! ANd thanks to our blacksmith's efforts, Firo and Raphtalia aren't injured, Melty was never in the way, they all run off towards a voice that calls them - the queen's body double or rather, one of the shadow ninja lady thingies. peoples. whatever.

Now, thankfully, they are equipped, and now given information on the queen's whereabouts. And they head in the opposite direction of where they should have been going. Which is kind of annoying, but okay, we can't see the demi human country just yet. fine. Don't give us a chance to see what the place where Raphtalia came from looks like :'(

Meanie. (sits in a corner and cries)

Okay. Sooooooo our heroes begin their journey and find a nice cozy spot in the forest to rest . . . when

Somehow, we should have know that she wasn't going to let things go that easily. Mein is a dick to forests. Also, how deforestation truly began! The back story ~

Now, we've been given a hint. That mansion is important. but then, after another view into Raph's nightmares, we get this.

And we're given the ominous notion that we're finally going to see the end of the backstory of Raphtalia as well as maybe to the promise she made to Liifana chan. But honestly, before all that you know you're going to see the suffering and the ugly side of the war.

But before that, let's do a recap and figure out why and how our heroes ended up in that mansion :)

Oh oh and THEN we'll continue by explaining what the shield hero should be doing now. The group then makes their escape thanks to a maid's help and oh wait.

OK . . . confirmed conclusion to Raph's past. Confirmed conclusion that this guy is a bastard. Now let's see what level bastard he is.

Bastard, please die.

And to lead the assault, we have - Raph. What the?! Firo??

But Firo was . . . you know bound? Prevented from using her power? In any case, Raph's shown Naofumi where the other child slaves would be, but he says they can't go save them just yet. Naofumi at least show some remorse even if that is the right thought. please?

And then convenience. Because instead of having our hero run around, let's get on with by having someone spit out the knowledge. So they find the noble, and confrontation. NOT. Instead, in a split second, Naofumi saves Melty and Raph stabs the guy. Presumably kills him too. Yay! Go Raph! The bastard deserved it and you get your revenge and wait why did that feel like it just took a dark turn somewhere?

In any case, before she can officially give the finishing blow, our guy takes out a whip and in the tussle that takes place next, Raph tackles him out of the window. Note that he falls from at least the second story. He was also stabbed before. Counted officially as dead now. 'probably'

They then head to the basement where Raph goes to the cell where she and Liifana chan were staying. I'm not really surprised that she remembers the cell properly. What surprises me more is the fact that Liifana's bones are still there. Honestly, i don't think they would have let Liifana's body just rot there and make the place smelly. they'd have gotten rid of the body.

But storyline storyline . . . so, she wraps up the bones and carries them over to where Firo leads them in the dungeon - another cell with a boy in it. This so happens to be Keil kun, another friend of Raph. Obviously, Raph is overjoyed at having found a long lost friend, but he doesn't exactly acknowledge her. He says everyone is dead.

So Raph asks for a little time and speaks to keil about everything she remembered about him. And somehow, after these few sentences, he believes that this grown up Raph is the same Raph he once knew. I mean, yes, touching, but, i don't know if someone who was tortured for as long as keil kun was would ever grasp onto this tiny ray of hope.

After freeing Keil, Melty expresses her distaste over everything that was going on. I get that melty was to certain extent a sheltered princess, but i don't exactly find this convincing as character growth. It seems to me more like she's learning and coming to terms with how rotten her country is on the inside.

They make their way outside, but cautiously, because they've noticed how quiet it is and then . . .

Okay. Bastard, why couldn't you have died before? Secondly, if he didn't want to die by raph's hand so much, why hasn't he drunk a health potion yet? Lastly, how has he ignored his pain from having fallen from the second floor and probably dragged himself across to the monolith? And then, he had to perform a summoning spell too right? How did he even have the energy to summon a spell from his brain after all that?

I just. NO.

In any case, Firo and the 'dinosaur' (sigh) are resonating for some strange reason, the dinosaur attacks, they all run for cover. Now, Melty wakes up and notices the pile of bones and picks them up and calls for Raph. By then the nice guy who was protecting them appears and i just want to know how in the seven hells did he escape? Presumably, he was chained somewhere? SO why is he making an appearance now?

Raph is with Keil and Melty hands over the bones to Raph, which makes her very happy. Our shield hero now returns and we are given a very small explanation.

"I'm only here because shield hero sama healed me"

When did he even find you?!

In any case, Firo attacks the dragon. OP and headstrong. Sigh. Dragon takes 0 damage. Firo takes 5 damage. Of course, Raph points out that the dragon is only targeting Firo, so Naofumi decides to sue Firo as a decoy and lure the dragon away from the town.

Melty finally begins to understand her responsibilities and falls into it and decides to go with Naofumi because she feels she can help somehow, even if only a little. In the midst of their escaping, our little lord chooses to help fix the town despite the protests of his subordinates. And Keil kun calls out for Raph. I have a feeling that he's going to be joining their already weird bandwagon.

Super OP battle now begins!

All four teammates attack. Dinosaur takes zero damage. In the midst of this, Naofumi decides to use his shield, when a voice tells him not to. Then they find themselves trapped in a magic fog - something like the loop card (only card captor sakura fans will get this reference) and out of nowhere lots and lots of philorials appear and then we have a giant bird.

Giant bird vs T rex. T rex attacks. Giant bird takes 0 damage. Giant bird then retaliates. One hit K.O.

OP!!!!

Well whatever, giant bird then turns into pretty girl like Firo and asks them to come with her so that they can have a conversation. And that's where we are so far.

For all those who have made it this far, congratulations. The next anime review i do, will be much much longer. Be prepared! Muahahahahah

Ahahahah

haha - ha.

K i'm done. SO tell me what you think, If i've missed anything, any mistakes and so on.

Overall, the manga is worth a read. If it brings in cliches, it generally mocks them, some it makes far more touching and beautiful and the character our protagonist is very different from majority of the heroes we're shown. Which is great.