The Rising of the Shield Hero Episode 12

The Rising of the Shield Hero Episode 12

The Raven Invader

This week we get the climax of the second wave, and well, there wasn’t really that much of a climax. Glossing over the fact that once again the soundtrack to this series detracted from the action, the action we got wasn’t very good anyway.

I’ve complained plenty about the lack of meaningful conflict and well-choreographed action in TenSura, but Shield Hero honestly isn’t all that much better in those regards. I do think the characters and plot are better overall in Shield Hero, but the action is lacking and, as I mentioned way back at the start of this series, the conflict is forced.

Luckily, while the first half of the episode was lackluster, the second half really picked up the slack. But, before we get into the good stuff (theorizing), we need to take a moment to look at the bad and attempt to salvage it.

Shield vs. Fan

It’s time for Naofumi’s fight against Glass, and as expected he doesn’t fight along. Just as I predicted in last week’s review, the other three heroes don’t take kindly to Glass’ comments about them not being heroes, and instead being Naofumi’s sidekicks.

All three of them get blown away by a single attack from Glass after their attacks do no damage to her. But, once again we see that the attacks from these heroes are oddly synced up. During the fight against the Soul Eater, they all used lightning-type attacks, and this time they all used meteor-type attacks.

Is there a reason they all keep using the same exact attacks as each other? I can’t quite figure it out, but my guess is that there isn’t.

So, now that we’ve established that Glass is powerful by having her easily defeat the three other heroes, it’s time for Naofumi and his party to take her on. Despite using multiple shields, skills, and even his iron maiden trump card, our hero still can’t seem to scratch Glass.

Naofumi's Iron Maiden skill from the anime series The Rising of the Shield Hero
Naofumi’s Iron Maiden skill

Not even the combined efforts of Raphtalia, a berserking Filo, and Naofumi with his rage shield are enough to stop her. I can only assume this has to do with her level being much higher than theirs, but since we, and Naofumi, can’t actually see her level, this is merely speculation.

In the end, despite being able to block most of Glass’ attacks, Naofumi opts to retreat. Raphtalia uses some light magic, and while Glass is blind, she and Naofumi hop onto Filo, who runs off into the sunset.

I found it particularly entertaining that the other three heroes and their parties were left behind to die without a second thought. For some reason I don’t think Naofumi would actually ditch them like that in that kind of situation, so my best guess is that this was a plot hole and those heroes were temporarily forgotten by the screenwriter.

The Waves

Alright, so the fight wasn’t really all that entertaining, but we did learn some interesting information from the end of it.

The first thing is that each wave has a time limit, and will conclude at the end of the allotted time despite the outcome. The second is that Glass is connected to the wave somehow, which I figured was a possibility before, but now I’m pretty confident that’s the case.

So, going back to the first point, why does it matter that the waves have time limits?

As Naofumi puts it, these waves are supposed to be cataclysmic end-of-the-world events. As such, they shouldn’t be on a timer and end simply because time runs out; that’s not how calamities work. From this we can then infer that these aren’t actually end-of-the-world events, but rather something different.

If that’s the case, just what are they? Glass gives us a hint just before she leaves by saying that she, and some unknown people on her side, have won this round despite time running out. So, are these waves actually an attack launched by another nation or world? My bet is yes.

The fact that Glass returns into the portal which the monsters of the wave come out of proves that she and them are connected despite her defeat of a Soul Eater previously. And, the fact that she plays by the rules of the wave show that her goal isn’t simply to destroy the world.

She and the monsters of the waves may originate from a distant kingdom or other world, but that still doesn’t really explain how the waves function. Why is there a set time limit, and why are the heroes of Melromarc automatically transported to where the battle is going to take place?

Maybe this series is actually a spin-off of Fate in which people from various versions our world are summoned into another world to fight to the death as servants.

Assassination Plot

And, now we get to the really good stuff, the assassination attempt on Melty by one of the royal knights. Who could have been behind this heinous crime and why did they attempt to take the crown princess’ life?

Well, this may be unsurprising, but my guess is that Melty’s sister, Myne, is the one behind the plot to take her life. She has plenty of motive, and as we’ll see, there may be more going on in the background of the royal family than meets the eye.

As for why Myne would want to take her younger sister’s life, the obvious reason is because her claim to the throne was “stolen” by Melty. Based solely on birthright, Myne should be the next ruler of Melromarc, but due to her impulsive personality, she lost this right to Melty.

So logically, if Melty is killed, then the title of crown princess would transition back to Myne, assuming her role in the plot isn’t discovered.

Aultcray and Myne Melromarc from the anime series The Rising of the Shield Hero
Aultcray and Myne Melromarc

However, there may be more going on than meets the eye. That’s right, the royal family of Melromarc are actually Transformers ruled by Myne. Now, this is just my theory, but hear me out.

Despite seeming to favor Melty over Myne, the King goes along with Myne’s plans to bring down the Shield Hero without any real reason for doing so. And, the one person who could overrule the King, the Queen, appears to be under house arrest in a distant castle.

So, who really holds all the power in the royal family and the kingdom? Myne.

We also know that Myne is fairly skilled in magic, and excels at manipulating people, so what if the King is actually under one of her spells? I get a real King Theoden and GrÍma Wormtongue feeling from the relationship between the King and Myne in this week’s episode. I mean, just look at their body language in the picture above.

Conclusion

So, what are your thoughts on this episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero? What do you think of the origin of Glass and the waves? Do you think Myne was behind the attempted assassination of Melty? And, do you think Myne is really ruling the kingdom from the shadows?

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My review of the next episode is available here.

5 Replies to “The Rising of the Shield Hero Episode 12”

  1. I’m still laughing loudly at those who called this story a good example of isekai when it’s the same trash of self-insert that only this time is totally manipulative. Look:
    First, the false rape accusation.Then, the hypocritical condemnation of slavery. And finally, the mistaken, arrogant idealism of the other heroes. The satisfaction of watching this series is all about the payoff of Naofumi getting his moment to call out everyone that’s done him wrong, and show that he was really their superior all along. A proof of this is the scene of naofumi facing the king where gets a bit of power and he starts talking shit, becomes an arrogant, if we consider his situation This does not make him a brave man but he makes in being a total dick. His situation is already bad enough. Maybe he think that his actions couldn’t hurt, because they already hate his guts. But from my perspective, he’s just lashing out like an immature teenager
    In other words, it’s just another self-insert power fantasy disguised behind the “original” concept of a “weak” MC. But that weakness was a red herring. Naofumi was the gary stu in the sense that his character was contrived to have the moral and intellectual high ground while the rest only sank in their own stupid and filth(even one was made pedophile), he is the one who solves all the problems (the zombie dragon and now practically defeated only the wave), he is the only one that receives strong abilities and the others heroes do not (What happened to the fact that Raphtalia would be his sword? Now he ends up fighting only LOL)

    1. I get were you are coming but I think you are going too far. Every story is manipulative. It is never hidden that Naofumi perception of being weak was going to change (The title is “The rising of the field hero”)

      I wouldn’t call Naofumi a gary stu. Naofumi rage is understandable but the show is not pretending that is not a flaw. From Melty perspective Naofumi is just as foolish as her father and she have a point. The other hero are inferior to him at the moment but the possibility of them changing for the better is not close jet (specially with the sword hero).

    2. But that was know, the anime at all times highlights its virtues, as it was chosen as one of the heroes of that world it is obvious that it is special always has the right tool and power to solve any situation, only that here the characters decided to fuck to his own savior instead of cooperating with him.

  2. I think you are right that the other heroes were temporarily forgotten by the screenwriter. But it wouldn’t be too hard to justified. Naofumi and his party couldn’t stand against Glass anyway and a line of “I have no choice” or “their best change is that she chase me” could be enough.

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