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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 . . .
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 ~
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 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 . . .
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.
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
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment