The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 8

The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 8

New Races

The best part of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 8 came toward the beginning of the episode. We learned about 3 new races that exist in Kizuna’s world, but not the world Naofumi’s party comes from. And, we’ve actually seen two of these races before.

First up, we have the Grass People, or Grass for short. Kizuna describes them as Demi-Humans like Raphtalia. But, as we can see, that’s not a very accurate description. Naofumi instead says that they’re more like Elves, which I’d have to agree with. They have light skin, light hair, and pointed ears.

Second are the Jewel People, or Jewels for short (none of these races have creative names). The Jewels look like humans, but they have large jewels embedded in their bodies. We see one man with a jewel in the back of his hand and one woman with one in her forehead.

Spirit People from the anime series The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 8
Spirit People

What makes the Jewels interesting is that Kizuna reveals that Therese is one of them. I’m guessing she has a jewel in her forehead, which could explain the headband she wears. But, Therese isn’t the only character we already knew from one of these races.

The final of the three races is the Spirit People, or Spirits. Glass is a member of this race. What’s unique about Spirits is that they don’t have levels. Instead, they use soul power (SP), which refills over time. The more soul power they have, the more powerful they are.

If L’Arc is a Human, Therese is a Jewel, and Glass is a Spirit, does that imply Kyo is a Grass? He does have light skin and hair. We didn’t see if he has pointed ears, though. But, I have to assume there was a reason for including the Grass here.

The Fraud Hero

As Kizuna explained, the one weakness of Spirits is that they have no way to restore their soul power on demand. Healing and mana potions don’t work. And magic is less effective on Spirits than on other races, so they can’t swap MP for SP either.

This information gave Naofumi an idea. He remembered that during his fight against Glass, L’Arc gave her some sort of potion. And, I don’t know how, but Naofumi happens to have one of these potions saved within his shield. It’s an SP potion.

Before getting into what Naofumi does with this SP potion, I need to explain an issue I noticed with it. As far as I can remember, SP isn’t a thing in the world Naofumi’s party comes from. But, I should mention that Naofumi has a third bar of something displayed below his HP and MP on his HUD.

Naofumi, Raphtalia, Rishia, and Kizuna putting on a fraudulent auction from the anime series The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 8
Naofumi, Raphtalia, Rishia, and Kizuna putting on a fraudulent auction

But, anyway, that’s not the real issue here. The issue is that Kizuna says SP potions don’t exist in her world. That means SP potions must come from Naofumi’s world. But, as we saw, items have different effects across worlds.

What does this mean? The potion from Naofumi’s world that recovers SP shouldn’t recover SP in Kizuna’s world. We saw Naofumi and Kizuna experimenting with different items and finding this out. So, what are the chances that the SP potion works the same for people in both worlds? It seems a bit too convenient to me.

Plot convenience aside, Naofumi decides to sell SP potions to Spirits to make a quick buck. He can generate infinite amounts of these potions at will with his shield. But, he acts like they’re a rare commodity so he can sell each individual potion for more.

Bye, Raphtalia

At the end of the episode, Kizuna touches the Dragon Hourglass to teleport the party. The plan is for her to teleport herself, Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Rishia to another city. They could have walked to that city, but teleporting is faster, you know?

There’s one little problem with this plan, though. After the teleportation process begins, Raphtalia gets kicked from the lobby. And by kicked from the lobby, I mean she’s no longer getting teleported with everyone else. This is an issue because only Kizuna can activate the teleportation and she can’t stop it once it starts.

Oh, also a group of enemy soldiers is surrounding Naofumi’s party. So once Kizuna, Naofumi, and Rishia teleport away, Raphtalia is going to have to fend for herself. Under normal conditions, that wouldn’t be a problem. But, right now, Raphtalia is at a very low level.

Rishia and Naofumi about to teleport away without Raphtalia from the anime series The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 8
Rishia and Naofumi about to teleport away without Raphtalia

What should be obvious to everyone is that Raphtalia won’t die here. Without her, what does Shield Hero have going for it? She’s the most popular character by far. But, it’s unclear what Naofumi & co. can do to save her. My guess is that they won’t save her — at least not yet.

Upon arriving at their destination, Naofumi’s going to tell Kizuna to take them back. He’s going to want to save Raphtalia. But, there’s going to be some reason why they can’t do that. The Dragon Hourglass might need to recharge, or something. Or, Kizuna will convince Naofumi to trust Raphtalia.

Regardless of how it happens, I’m predicting Naofumi, Rishia, and Kizuna move on. They still need to find Filo and defeat Kyo. So, what about Raphtalia? She may get saved by L’Arc, Therese, and Glass. That would be an interesting development considering what we learned.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episode 8? Which of the three new races do you find most interesting? Do you have any idea why SP potions work the same in both worlds? And how do you think Raphtalia is going to escape? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 9 is available now.

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