The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 3

The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 3

The Spirit Tortoise Awakens! (again)

It’s time for another review of a bad Shield Hero episode. The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 3 may have had some action, but it was still bad. The animation, characters, and plot aren’t good enough for me to care about what’s going on.

Speaking of animation, they used CGI for the Spirit Tortoise. It’s not the worst CGI I’ve seen in anime by any means. But it doesn’t look good. And considering the Spirit Tortoise is a big deal in this season, it should look a lot better than it does.

Now, I know nothing about the source material of this series. But, I have to say, this doesn’t feel like important content. I may not remember exactly how the first season ended. And yet, I’m pretty confident in saying that it didn’t set up anything to do with the Spirit Tortoise.

The Spirit Tortoise from the anime series The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 3
The Spirit Tortoise

Here’s a question for anyone who’s read the light novels. Is the content of this season anime-original? Or is there actually a Spirit Tortoise arc in the source material? I thought we were going to get content with the Seven Stars Heroes, or whatever they’re called.

Yes, the leaders of the various countries mentioned those heroes in Episode 2. But, I didn’t get the feeling that was because they were going to be immediately relevant. Remember, they told Naofumi that those heroes are currently away in other countries. They could show up toward the end of the season, though.

Anyway, back to the Spirit Tortoise. It’s woken up and begins heading toward where the countries have their armies amassed. The trap they laid for it didn’t work as planned. But, in the end, they were successful in immobilizing the behemoth. Now they only need to kill it.

The Battle Begins

Somehow, the battle against the Spirit Tortoise wasn’t what I had expected. As we know, the plan was for the combined armies to lure the Spirit Tortoise into the trap. Once there, they would immobilize it and Naofumi and his slaves would behead it somehow.

But, the Spirit Tortoise also has familiars to worry about. To protect the soldiers from these familiars, Naofumi uses a skill to attract them all to himself. His plan is to lure the familiars away and then slaughter them all with the help of his comrades.

Those parts of the battle make sense. What I wasn’t expecting is how the Spirit Tortoise itself would fight. I guess I never thought about that. The primary way the Spirit Tortoise fights is by summoning familiars. Aside from that, it crushes things by stepping on them.

Ost Hourai using gravity manipulation magic from the anime series The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 3
Ost Hourai using gravity manipulation magic

This should have been obvious. But, I wasn’t expecting the Spirit Tortoise to use its body as a weapon. I don’t know why, but I was imagining it using various magical attacks. You know, like firing an energy beam out of its mouth or something like that. This is a shounen anime, after all.

Now, the Spirit Tortoise does use other magical attacks besides summoning familiars. But, it only does so after the armies are able to immobilize it. If the Spirit Tortoise can no longer collect souls the old-fashioned way, it has a backup plan. It turns itself into a giant Needler from Halo.

When this happened, I thought that the giant pink needles were going to start hitting cities. But, that’s not what happened. Instead, the needles targeted the remaining soldiers on the battlefield. It’s unclear what the range of this attack is. It’s possible the cities are out of range.

Tortoise-Slayers

With the help of the whole gang, the Spirit Tortoise was finally beheaded. But, it should come as no surprise that this didn’t kill it once and for all. We’re only on Episode 3. There’s no way they’d kill the Spirit Tortoise already.

But, the reason we know the Spirit Tortoise wasn’t killed is that Ost Hourai is still alive too. As a familiar of the Spirit Tortoise, she’ll disappear when it’s killed. Or, at least that’s what we’re led to believe. I have my doubts. I’m betting Naofumi will figure out some way to keep her around.

Look, all I’m saying is that if Naofumi happens to make her into one of his slaves, she might survive. And, if she becomes his slave, he might also gain a shield that allows him to manipulate gravity too. I don’t know how he would, but it’s possible.

The Spirit Tortoise being beheaded from the anime series The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 3
The Spirit Tortoise being beheaded

So, now that we know the Spirit Tortoise still lives, what’s next? The legend said that it would die once decapitated. As we saw, the legend is wrong. Or, it could be that the legend didn’t tell the whole story. What if decapitation is only the first step?

I said this in my review of Episode 2, but I’m convinced that they’re going to end up inside of the Spirit Tortoise. Now that its head is off, they don’t need to worry about getting chomped. They can slide down its throat with ease.

Once inside the Spirit Tortoise, I’m assuming they’ll have to make their way to its “heart” to destroy it. It might not have an actual heart, though. There could be a giant mana core in its center or something. Either way, they’re going to have to destroy it from the inside.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 3? Are you enjoying the season so far? If so, what is it that you like about it? Let me know in the comments.

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3 Replies to “The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 3”

  1. First, sorry for my bad english. Spirit Tortoise arc was in LN, WN and manga, but in anime many things was cut. Just like Rishia backstory, Eclair backstory, all about Hengen Musou stile and Ki as new game resource. Spirit Tortoise art was not as good as first one or lasting, so it’s not a big deal, but they put about 100 pages of LN and 2-3 toms of manga in just 1 episode. It was a terrible choice, but after they put full 5 part of LN in 3 episodes of 1 season they has no over choice!
    Long tory short:

    There are more spirit beasts like Turtle and each presents a Holy Hero (guess, which beast Turtle is).
    Rishia backstory explaines her personality, she was saved by Itsuki and (technically) become his slave. Love is a b**ch. Itsuke fully ruined her build up as Mage and make her a terrible Swordsman.

    Rishia is smart, well-educated (like Hermione) and can cast magic with any element (btw no one else does it, ever Heroes, everyone has 1 or 2 element spels like Melty (water), Queen (ice) Raphtalia (shadow and light), Filo (wind)). Rishia is like Universal Mage in DnD: no advantages and no disadvantages. Plus, she has great potential in Hengen Musou stile (Monk Granny ever named her “True Successor”, like Kenshiro in HNK). But Itsuki is a d**khead and egoist, so he make her his servent and kick of out of his party, then she took some faim, helping Naofumi. Too bad they cut it. You dislike Motoyasu in season 1? Trust me, Itsuki can be shown MUCH worst in season two!

    Eclair was in jail all 1 season, her father was a lord of Raphtalia’s village and died on wave 1 (with Raphtalia parents). Eclar is class swordsman. She beat Raphtalia and almost beat Ren (but he cheated). Her duel with Ren was cuted. Too bad(((

    Can tale you about Ost, BIG SPOILER. Just tell: she was first, but not last. And she is not lieing or something. Just see her clothes close and you will know many things (I read your posts, you are smart).

    1. The fact that all of the character introductions were skipped in the anime makes a lot of sense. Well, skipping the introductions doesn’t make sense. But, why I had no idea who some of these characters were at the start of the season now makes sense.

      I don’t have high hopes for the rest of this season (or Season 3). The only reason I haven’t dropped the series is that I’m reviewing it weekly.

      1. Just give it a try. Depent on trailers, they put all Rishia’s backstory in flashback and they show some Eclair backstory in 2 episode. They try to put 6-8 parts of LN in 13 episodes, so they now has 3-4 episodes for 7 part (turtle arc) and 6 episodes for 8 part. Not a worst-case scenario. If you like L’Arc and Glass))) And MOST impotent: they give you BEST MASKOT EVER))) Trust me, you did LOVE her and her true soul))) No spoilers))) BTW: they can put duel Eclair vs Ren after turtle arc.

        I like your predictions, they are very accurate))) so I can’t tell you much, cause of spoilers)))

        I just say: I didn’t Rishia at start, but i really love her in the end. Remember – Kenshiro from HNK 😉

        P.S.: Naofumi get Raphtalia’s village ONLY in 10 part of LN, and they still put it in end of season 1 (end of 5 part of LN), so they.

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