Some see The Rising of the Shield Hero as an excellent fantasy tale filled with exciting adventure and complex characters. Others see it as a sexist power fantasy with subtext that conflicts directly with progressive thinking. But here’s the thing: neither side is wrong.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
Naofumi, the titular shield hero, is summoned to a fantasy world from a world much like our own. He’s told that he, along with the other three heroes, is supposed to defeat the waves of monsters that appear at specific intervals across the country. If he doesn’t, the fantasy world will be lost and he will never return to his own world.
However, from the start, something is off. The King ignores Naofumi at best and talks down to him at worst. The other heroes likewise treat him as inherently useless as they all have offensive weapons while all he can do is defend. And when it comes time for companions to choose their heroes, he is left all alone—at least until a single woman takes pity on him and joins his party.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
But even this is just a trick. In the middle of the night, she steals both his money and belongings—and frames him for an even bigger crime. From that point on, he is treated as guilty by the King, the other heroes, and the population at large. The only reason he is left alive is because he is still needed in the battles to come. However, socially, he might as well be dead. Despite doing nothing wrong, he is treated as a pariah.
This situation makes it easy to root for Naofumi. He is treated horribly through no fault of his own and no one wants to see an innocent harmed for no reason.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
But more than that, he is especially easy to identify with if you have any experience with being bullied in school or in your working life. Being treated as the “other” just because you’re different from the supposed norm or being blamed for things that you didn’t do are among the most basic forms of bullying after all.
Seeing this unfairness, we, the viewers, want him to win. We want him to save the world, clear his name, and get payback on the ones who wronged him. It’s cathartic because, by proxy, he’s getting the revenge that anyone who has ever been bullied has fantasized about getting.
The first reason for controversy comes not from the general idea—i.e., being framed for a crime that he didn’t commit—but from the specific crime he is accused of: rape.
In a vacuum, it’s easy to imagine how this idea came about. What the anime is trying to do is to elicit an empathetic fear within the viewer—the fear of being accused of something you didn’t do and being unable to prove you’re innocent. And socially, what’s the worst possible crime to be accused of—even more than murder? Rape.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
For those with poor social skills, being considered a creep by accidentally overstepping the social norms for physical contact is a very real fear. Then add in the idea that someone might actually label you as a rapist just to torture you, and you have an easy tool to elicit an emotional response.
Of course, this is a statistically unfounded fear–and herein lies the problem. The chances of being sexually assaulted are exponentially greater than being framed. False sexual assault claims only account for between 2% and 10% of all claims. At the same time, a staggering 65% of all sexual assault cases are never even reported to the police.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
Why exactly so many cases are unreported leads directly into another part of the controversy. Without anything in the way of evidence, everyone just believes Naofumi’s accuser. To say this is not how it works in the real world would be an understatement. If you’ve ever been sexually assaulted and then told someone–only to have your attack either questioned or flat out disbelieved–you’re going to find this aspect of the anime pretty damned insulting. And while things may be different in a matriarchal kingdom like that seen in The Rising of the Shield Hero, the whole scene seems naive at best and purposely ignoring an abhorrent real-world problem at worst.
One of the most interesting aspects of The Rising of the Shield Hero is the psychology of the main character. Despite the betrayals he has faced, Naofumi is still committed to saving the Kingdom–and not only so that he can go home. Time and again he puts himself in harm’s way to save innocents despite knowing what they believe him to be.
And then there’s the subtext.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
But while he may be the hero of our story, it’s clear that he is broken. Due to the false allegations laid against him–and how no one believed him at all–Naofumi has extreme trust issues. This is especially true when it comes to beautiful women like the woman who duped him.
Yet, he has to learn to trust again; the world can not be saved by him alone. The four heroes have to unite for humanity to have a chance at victory. However, all he feels is rage towards the other heroes. So when it comes to his ultimate goal, he is his own worst enemy.
But this isolation has more immediate effects. As the shield hero, he is not able to even equip any other weapon. It is incredibly difficult for him to level up without a party to support him. Of course, thanks to the accusations laid against him, no one would dream of partying with him.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
So, in order to be prepared for the incoming wave, he has only one choice: to buy a slave. And for him in his broken state, this is perhaps the only kind of partner he can work with: one who, compelled by magic, is literally unable to betray him.
It is through this slave, Raphtalia, and the others they meet along their journey, that Naofumi is able to start to let go of his hate and begin to trust again.
From the viewer’s side, just as we want him to get his revenge, we also want to see him heal. After all, we can see that his hatred will not only lead to his own destruction but that of the fantasy world as well.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
That said, it’s pretty easy to see what The Rising of the Shield Hero is at its most basic level: a male power fantasy–one that seems aimed directly at the stereotypical, lonely otaku. By empathizing with Naofumi, you too become a hero, go on numerous adventures, and are the sole smart man in a world of idiots.
But better still, with little to no effort, you get the girl of your dreams: a girl that is unable to betray you or leave you. It’s the fantasy of magically receiving unending, unconditional love–albeit by reducing a woman to a piece of property.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
Nothing really changes the fact that our hero is quite literally a slave master. Yet while this would seem to be a non-starter for a “hero,” slave-owning heroes in fantasy tales are becoming a trope all their own in recent light novels, manga, and anime. That said there’s usually an “excuse” to make this act more palatable.
But in The Rising of the Shield Hero, Naofumi doesn’t buy Raphtalia for the sole purpose of freeing her–only for her to reject being freed. Nor is she is slave through some kind of magical mistake that neither he nor Raphtalia knows how to undo. No, Naofumi buys sickly child Raphtalia to be his sword–to be his disposable tool and fight for him in battle.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
Yet, it gets more disturbing: when Raphtalia refuses to fight out of fear and her own past trauma–understandable given she’s literally a young child–he compels her with the magical slave seal, leaving her writhing in pain until she complies. Beyond this clear physical abuse, he threatens to throw her away–i.e., give her back to the slave dealer–if she is unable to fight as he desires. So there’s more than a bit of emotional abuse as well.
Of course, in the end, it’s “all okay” because she thanks him for forcing her to face her fear–and he does stop hurting her (though it’s not like he needed to continue as she’s already been molded into the kind of person he wanted her to be). And regardless of her after-the-fact permission, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do some horribly immoral things to a child.
Image source: TVアニメ『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 on Twitter
In the end, you alone have to decide if being accused of one horrible crime justifies or balances out Naofumi actually doing several others.
And really, the same judgment has to be used for the series overall. Is it a fantasy tale filled with relatable, complex characters and a grand adventure? Yes. Is it a sexist power fantasy with disturbing subtext when viewed with progressive eyes? Also yes.
You alone get to decide whether the enjoyment you get from the story is worth the troubling subtext. But at the same time, so does everyone else.
The Rising of the Shield Hero can be viewed with English subtitles on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Aniplus (Asia).
Nice recommendation, I’ll be sure to support the author by buying his books.
You forget to mention that the accusor is the countries princess. So why wouldn’t what she say be taken for the truth? Additionally, he was accused of attempting to rape the princess, but she was saved by the spear(?) hero.
This is also written by a Japanese author, where even rumors of allegations such as these would be enough to ruin someone’s reputation.
There’s more that’s revealed later, I have no idea how much the show covered, so I don’t want to post spoilers.
While as a reader of the manga I was aware that she was the princess, at the time of writing, this had not yet been revealed in the anime and I was trying my best to avoid spoilers.
YES! This were exactly my thoughts when reading the manga! I have looked online about this topic, and haven’t found almost any articles with this point of view, so this piece of writing was a pleasant surprise.
Honestly, I felt uncomfortable at some point when reading it, I mean, I think that we are able to forgive some things that we might stumble upon in manga for our cultural differences, but somehow this subtext seemed a bit much… I decided to stop reading it,
Its a shame because I really like the adventure genre, but sometimes the “cringe” was too much for me.
Thanks for the article, I really enjoyed it.
I personally disagree with the statement of ‘standard power fantasy’. I see it more as a political reference just showing what can happen when a someone is accused of rape. Of course I do not think every accusation is made up, however there have been several cases, like with Neil Degrass Taison (sp?) Where someone leveled an accusation against him and his name was mud for a while, even though the claim has been proven false. I like Shield Hero because I find it interesting that the story is NOT focusing on a stereotypical male power fantasy where a boy just drops in from another dimension and is not suddenly an all powerful badass whom all the women are instantly in love with.
There is no denying Naofumi did some terrible things in response to what happened. I am not saying they are right in any way, even if Raphtalia has forgiven him for it. There’s an argument to be made saying that he had no choice, and slavery is apparently legal in that country, even if the nobles frown upon it, but I think the fact that Naofumi is making some bad decisions makes him more human instead of of some magical wonder child who just has everything fall into place for him.
I have not read the manga and only watched 12 episodes of the anime; however when talking about his early treatment of his “slave” I’m reminded of the intro to the anime. This us when he is relating his current situation and how it came about. Specifically his mention of saving his little brother from taking the wrong path, since it gives no other details its quite possible it to a lot of “tough love”, in that light his treatment of the young demi-human is not so cruel.
In the WN it has a bit more detail to it, mainly that his brother was being stuck with all the responsibility in the family after Naofumi had failed to live up to it by becoming an Otaku (Better than most Otakus pictured in this kinda stuff, he was not a shut in)
His brother wasn’t handling the stress that the family was putting on him and Naofumi could see that he was approaching burnout, so he introduced his brother to visual novels as a way to relieve stress.
I think that the subtext is even deeper than that. The hardest part for us about what he is going through is that he purely feels alone. He treats everyone he meets harshly from the beginning due to heresay, and rape is used here but many other things could’ve been used. It comes down to the concept of isolation. The concept of being alone. Any singular person has a breaking point and that is what he was pushed towards. But to say this is some sort of power thing seems a little incorrect to myself. Not that I’m saying slaves are good by any means. Yet from even the very beginning he treats her well beneath the surface. Before they went to level up the first time he bought the nice meal for her even though he took the cheapest meal for himself. Because from that moment on he realized he hadn’t bought a tool. He had taken responsibility for another life. Though he can even be quoted saying it was out of selfishness after the duel I truly believe he was lying. He slipped up when buying the dress for filo. She asked what raphalia was to him and he said she was more of a daughter. He does what ever he can in any situation to make himself viewed as less of a hero. It seems he despises the hero title due to what happened with his very first party member. Assuming people should be trusted because you are a hero is stupid. Just as assuming people should be trusted because they are labeled heros as he points out with the whole seed fiasco. He found out rather quickly what many find out and that is trust is earned. But he took the lesson too hard. When he compelled raphalia to fight in the cave, it was because it was a life or death situation for her. He likely would have died too but at that point he hadn’t cared. He was taking responsibility for the life he had acquired vs discarding the “tool”. That is why he told her to run in the end. At the moment that is when she decided to fight for him. Not because she was going to die but because the first person to really care about her since her parents were slaughtered was about to die. She recognizes in that moment the one thing he doesn’t want anyone else to recognize. He is truly a hero. He constantly rationalizes what he is getting out of something out loud so that he may get people to stay away from him. He doesn’t want what happened at the beginning to happen again. Even from the very start he explains that he took responsibility for his brother. He rationalizes at that point he gets paid for it so he doesn’t have to work. But we all start to realize throughout this he innately wants to be alone. He despises any recognition of the things he does because he hates himself. He doesn’t see in himself what people like raphalia sees. She recognizes at the duel that she isn’t just his sword against monsters. She has to fight him for himself. She seems to understand what he feels and she fights as hard as she can to remind him what he is. And tho sometimes she reminds him to act accordingly she still sees the hole he in when it comes to his mental state. It is unclear to me whether she realizes it yet but I truly believe she is saving his life not from just the monsters but from his own inner demons. She is in fact keeping him human and I think the first time he activated the rage shield against the dragon was a very good representation of that. Some may say he morphed her into the person he wanted her to be. Yet I believe that this was the person she was meant to be. At the end of it all she will have saved countless lives. Though it seems unfair she is being used to fight, the recollection she has about her parents telling her of the first shield hero almost seems like foreshadowing. Not for us but for her and for her own story/destiny. Fate isn’t an excuse for slavery. Yet from the very first moment she wasn’t treated as a slave beneath the surface. In fact she was treated as his own hero. To say that he was chosen fairly as the hero but she wasn’t chosen fairly as one is a little crazy. If you think about it he had even less of a choice than she does from the very beginning. She could’ve went back to the slaver. Or she could’ve left him in the cave to die and she would be free. In reality everyone has their own rule to play. I’m excited to see the next episodes for sure. But make one mistake the concept of him being a hero is the most true. It takes a real hero to go against the grain, save people every single day, think actions as well as consequences to them through, and shoot down your own image as a hero regularly. He makes himself seem selfish, though he is not, and that is the most unselfish thing of all. He doesn’t just do the random hero things that give tons of credit and praise. He follows things through to the end. All while struggling to believe he isn’t enough. Which is what being picked as the shield hero represents in my opinion. Giving substance and a physical aspect to the fact he doesn’t feel like he is enough. As such the shield isn’t perceived to be enough. Yet, the shield offers the most protection against evil. Just my thoughts personally but I really do believe this represents our own mental shortcomings at the deepest level I can dig.
Love your summery, makes it sound less demonizing.
I can see your point of view but don’t forget that a) Raphtalia’s previous owner was a person who torchoured her, b) even though Naofumi bought her as a “slave” he takes care of her much better than most other owners and obviously the slave masters and C) In the world of this anime we can see that slave ownership is not like in ours, if it was normal to own slaves back then then obviously Naofumi would take advantage of it since he had to survive. So does the crime against him justify his actions? That’s not what I am saying but he has to survive. so he buys a slave and he gives her a much better life than what she would have otherwise.
Casey, you have given a more adult insight to this anime and should be commended for it. Have worked all my life in some tough places, when the chips are down and your isolated, you do what you have to do to keep your sanity and self preservation.
Good job ?
What you is true to a degree and others have made some great comments. I think there’s a lot of layers and different nuances here, too many to list. He gave her medicine and treated her well. He initially wanted to buy a monster slave but took pitty on her and brought her instead. How the relationship grows is interesting.
Would they not of both died during the fight
Had he not compelled her? Did he fully realize at that point her psychological state? I need to re watch. I do wonder what would of happened had he freed her immediately. I had mixed emotions when she asked for her slave mark back. Felo took one too /:
So far , at least as far as i have got he has treated the female characters more like daughters or good friends/sisters. I am interested to see how that goes. He turns down a bed invitation at one point- but i am not sure if he understood or not.
The show actually has quite a few interesting female characters with a lot of strong points and growth and they all teach him something and are key to his success. The show also seemed to take the piss out of lolicons at one point.
I also felt disturbed and conflicted yet i carried on watching… it’s a tricky one.
As for stats around false accusation and various debates around that subject there are a lot of variables and elements. Something i have been reading on that i find a most difficult subject.
On one hand rape culture appalls me of course and we need to improve rates of people coming forward and conviction rates.
Ensure proper pastoral care for all. It varies a lot per country. We must take accusers/victims seriously. On the other hand i have seen the damage the media can do/social media and i have encountered several cases of false allegation and seen the damage it can do. Also read many articles about false allegation used as revenge. I was once told guys who worried about that are usually the ones who would never dream of it and while there is truth to that, there have been growing cases of false allegation used for manipulation or revenge.
The Rising of the Shield Hero is a manifestation of extenuating circumstances. At what point does good become evil and evil become good? My philosophy in life: “Life is not a black and white sketch, it’s a beautiful mural of shades of grey.”
Hey, I just wanted to say that this is a great analysis of the series. I really enjoy the show but some of the subtext definitely leave a bad taste in my mouth, like a lot of other shows that I watch. I still find the darker choices a character or even a protagonist makes gives them a deeper personality overall. While admittedly not as bad, Naofumi’s imperfect character reminds me of how I felt siding with the protagonists of Breaking Bad and, more recently, Barry. I appreciate when rooting for the protagonist of a show is more complicated than it is on paper.
probably a bit late to the party on this one but isnt the things you noted what makes the show more interesting? he is an antihero, he is a bastard, he is a bad guy, but that doesnt mean he is a bad, guy. i swear people have forgotten what made Wolverine, Venom, Punisher, Vegeta, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Killua etc etc etc etc interesting characters in the first place, sometimes more interesting than the standard whitemeat never do wrong heroes or protagonists of the same stories,
This is a VERY well-written article. The Shield Hero fandom is a little cranky about how SJWs aren’t crazy about the show, but I think that has more to do with attitude. Your writing shows where the progressive movement is coming from and what they’re seeing without the judgemental or disdainful attitude that emerges so often. You’re respectful of both sides of the debate, highlighting what fans see in the show and what critics see in the show, while pointing out that they’re not necessarily mutually-exclusive viewpoints. Additionally, and I think this is a lesson fandoms in general need to learn; you point out that it’s perfectly fine to be a fan of something while also being critical of it.
The reason I didn’t immediately fall in love wasn’t because of anything mentioned above. Of course it’s sexist, most animes portray women in that light. Bitch-sensei from Assassination Classroom, Fairytail, Yaoyorozu from MHA (not to mention Mineta… jeez). But for RSH, what bothers me is how fast paced it is. He changed from a confused college otaku to a hardened hero in ONE EPISODE. There was no transitioning fear/confusion. He didn’t make a single misstep in his transition to a hero. He immediately gained bartering skills(the slave owner), lost all amicability (rude to his slave and the guy at the weapons store), quickly was able to defeat monsters with his sword (that level 15 dog?! What?!) and almost immune to pain (pulled out porcupine needles with minimal effort, in a completely manly way)!! I mean as an otaku who blushed when a pretty girl smiled at him, I find it hard to believe how he changed in that short time.