The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 10

Confirmation About L’Arc’s Party

As expected, Raphtalia ends up with L’Arc’s party in The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 10. They’re all locked away in a prison known as the Prison of Exhaustion. Here, the prisoners have their energy sapped away so they can’t escape.

But, the Prison of Exhaustion doesn’t stop prisoners from using their skills. So, Raphtalia is able to turn invisible and grab a power talisman from a guard so the group can escape. I kind of expected it to be more difficult to escape.

Why bother explaining what the Prison of Exhaustion is if we’re going to leave it a few minutes later? I doubt it’s a location we’ll be heading back to now that we’ve left. L’Arc’s party could have run into Raphtalia as she was being transported there and saved her. That would have had the same result.

In this episode, we also got confirmation about L’Arc’s party not being all Vassal Heroes. In my review of Episode 9, I pointed out that it was never actually confirmed that Therese was a Vassal Hero. And in Episode 10, it’s confirmed that only Glass and L’Arc are Vassal Heroes. Therese is a Vassal groupie, I guess.

If you didn’t catch this confirmation, Glass refers to Vassal Heroes like herself and L’Arc. She leaves out Therese, even though she’s present. So, that makes it pretty obvious that Therese isn’t a Vassal Hero.

Both Glass and Therese got some extra characterization in this episode, too. We got to see a soft, timid, and embarrassed side of Glass, which I liked. And for Therese, we got to see that although she has a lot of gemstones (as a Jewel), she doesn’t like to part with them. She also carries them somewhere.

Katana Vassal Weapon Selection

I was under the impression that there was already a Katana Hero. In Episode 9, there’s a wanted poster that says the Katana Hero escaped. But, we now know that the events of Episodes 9 and 10 are concurrent, not consecutive. So the Katana Hero the poster mentioned is Raphtalia.

But, before Raphtalia became a Hero, we got to see the Vassal Weapon selection ceremony. As it turns out, becoming the Katana Hero is the same as becoming the King of England. All you have to do is pull a sword from a stone.

Kazuki, the minor antagonist who was working with Kyo, was set to become the next Katana Hero. Or, at least, he was set to attempt to become the next Katana Hero. But, he never got the chance because the Katana Vassal Weapon selected Raphtalia. She didn’t even need to pull it from the stone — it teleported to her.

What I like about Kazuki missing out on the Katana Vassal Weapon is that it chose Raphtalia, so it belongs to her. It doesn’t matter that Kazuki was “supposed” to be the next Katana Hero. What matters is that Raphtalia is the Katana Hero.

It’s like when people cry about having an NFT stolen. If someone stole your NFT, it’s not your NFT anymore. Sucks to be you. Whoever’s currently in possession of the NFT owns it. And the same goes for Vassal Weapons. Raphtalia owns the Katana Vassal Weapon now.

I guess now’s also a good time to ask, what’s the difference between a Cardinal Hero and a Vassal Hero? Have we actually gotten an explanation for that yet? Are Cardinal Heros all summoned from another world? Are no Vassal Heroes summoned from another world?

The Katana Hero

What are the implications of Raphtalia becoming the new Katana Hero? Does this mean that she’s connected to this world now? Of course, she can still go back to her old world. But will that world consider her an otherworlder now? Will she keep her levels?

If Raphtalia goes back to her own world on a permanent basis, what does that mean for the world we’re currently in? Does that world lose one of its heroes forever? Or will the Katana Vassal Weapon somehow go back to its original world once Raphtalia dies?

It’s also possible that the Cardinal, Vassal, and Seven Star weapons all have the same origin. They might not have a specific world in which they belong. That could explain why there’s no overlap between them across worlds. Like, this world doesn’t have its own version of the Shield Cardinal Weapon.

Another important detail I need to bring up is that Raphtalia is no longer Naofumi’s slave. Does this mean even if Raphtalia wanted to be his slave again, she wouldn’t be able to do so? Is it possible to enslave a hero? I don’t see us getting answers to those questions. But, I’d like to find out.

This also means that Naofumi only has one slave now, Rishia. Forget Kazuki, Naofumi’s the one who lost the most from Raphtalia becoming a hero. At some point, Naofumi’s going to release Rishia too. Losing her as a slave isn’t as big of a deal as losing Raphtalia, though.

Before concluding this review, I also need to mention the best part of the whole episode. Of course, I’m referring to the shrine maiden stripping Raphtalia. I may not like The Rising of the Shield Hero, but I can admit that part was good.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 10? Do you prefer Glass with her hair up or down? Do you think Naofumi’s other party members are going to become heroes? And, should Raphtalia stick with her shrine maiden outfit, or go back to her old armor? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 11 is available now.