The Rising of the Shield Hero Episode 25

The Rising of the Shield Hero

This week marks the final episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero (season one). I’m sure there’s going to be a second season, but honestly, I wouldn’t be all that upset if there wasn’t. I enjoyed this series a decent amount while watching it, but it’s not one I would call good.

However, today’s review isn’t about the series as a whole, it’s about episode 25. The episode skips the usual intro and instead begins right in the middle of Naofumi’s fight against the Fan Hero, glass, which began in the previous episode.

Sure, this counted as a fight, but I don’t think it was a very good or engaging fight. I never really thought that Naofumi and his party were in any sort of trouble even when it was the four of them up against Glass, L’Arc, and Therese. Those are some strong opponents, but Naofumi’s party is fairly strong at this point too.

I just really wish that Melty was an official member of the party so we could know what her level and stats are like. In my review of episode 22 I broke down Raphtalia and Filo’s stats after they upgraded their classes at level 40, but we never got the chance to do the same for Melty.

Then, Melty left the party to fulfill her duties as the crown princess, so she missed out on the double XP event in Cal Mira. At this point it looks like Naofumi is level 73, Raphtalia is 75, and Filo is 76, but how far behind is Melty? Surely she hasn’t been able to keep up with the rest of them, right?

Hero vs. Hero

During their fight against the heroes from another world, Naofumi chooses to split his party up into two. He decides to fight against Glass on his own and leaves Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty to take on L’Arc and Therese. There seem to have been two reasons for him doing so:

1. He and his party don’t really have that many combo attacks so there isn’t necessarily an advantage for them if they stick together. However, L’Arc and his companions seem to be much more coordinated, so splitting them up likely makes them less effective.
2. Naofumi wants to question Glass about her origins, and since she appears to be the leader, hopes to negotiate a truce with her.

While the first reason for splitting up works in his favor, the second doesn’t. Glass refuses to call off their attack and insists that either she or Naofumi has to be defeated here and now. Little does she know that Naofumi is completely capable of killing her thanks to his level-ups.

However, Naofumi doesn’t really want to kill Glass, though he decides he has to in the end (but still doesn’t). It turns out that Glass, L’Arc, and Therese are fighting to save their own world much like Naofumi is fighting to save the one he’s now in (sort of).

The main difference is that as far as we know, Glass and her companions are originally from the world which they’re trying to save, while Naofumi was summoned into his. This causes him to think that maybe he shouldn’t stop Glass since she’s fighting to save her world.

But, just when he’s considering his own defeat, he remembers that Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty all live in this world, so he can’t just let it be destroyed. In the end, the timer on the wave runs out before one side can win.

Lecia

I don’t believe I mentioned Lecia in my review of episode 22 when I first noticed her, but I’m sure I posted about her in Discord at one point. Lecia is the green-haired girl who was a member of the Bow Hero, Itsuki’s, party. Magic seems to be her strong suit, but even so, she’s not on the same level as Naofumi’s party.

So what I wanted to mention about her back in episode 22 when I noticed her at the celebration for defeating the Pope is that you can tell by her character design that she’s going to be someone important. She has a decently complex outfit, and her hair color is distinctly different from any of the other major characters.

Yes, Naofumi’s color is green just like Lecia’s, but Naofumi’s other color is black. So if Lecia becomes a member of his party, which it seems like she’s going to, Naofumi will be black, Raphtalia is red, Filo is blue, Melty is purple, and Lecia is green. They all have their own distinct color palette.

And if you don’t think that’s how you can tell when a random character is going to turn out to be important, then you just need to watch more anime. Not every series color codes main characters like that, but enough do to the point that it’s a well-established practice, especially in fantasy series.

So, yeah. I just wanted to mention the fact that I knew Lecia was going to join Naofumi’s party, or at least be someone important, all the way back in episode 22 because of her character design. Honestly, she has a more distinct character design than her patron hero, Itsuki.

A New Hope

At the end of the episode, Naofumi finally decides on what he wants as his reward for defeating the Pope. He wants to be granted lordship over the demi-human domain in which Raphtalia’s village once stood. And, as most things are, this is significant for a number of reasons.

The most obvious reason is that he wants to rebuild Raphtalia’s home village as a way to thank her for all that she’s done to help him along his journey. However, Raphtalia instead sees this as Naofumi attempting to set her up for the day when he’ll eventually return to his own world.

But as it turns out, Naofumi no longer plans to return to his own world, and honestly, why would he? Yeah, he probably left some friends and family behind there, but he has new friends and family now, and his life is definitely a lot better as a lord and hero in this world.

The second reason this is significant is that the Shield Hero is the patron hero of the demi-humans. So by setting up his own domain to include the demi-humans rather than the humans, he’s sending a powerful message to both Shieldfreeden and Siltvelt, that the current Shield Hero is on their side.

Finally, with a domain of his own, Naofumi can begin to build up not only a base of operations but an army as well. If he’s going to have to bring down the world that L’Arc and Glass are from in order to save this one, he’ll need an army to do so. Or, he could just use this army to protect this world without destroying another.

Unfortunately, I don’t really care about Naofumi building up his own domain because I don’t want it to turn out like That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.

Conclusion

So what did you think of this final episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero? Were you surprised by the fact that Naofumi has decided not to return to his homeworld? And did you recognize that Lecia was going to turn out to be an important character? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Season 2 Episode 1 is available now.