©Aneko Yusagi Seira Minami/KADOKAWA/Shield Hero S4 Project
It’s a shame the series couldn’t deliver on more action or engaging choreography during this anticipated conflict. I had a feeling that most of the episode would be taken up by the fight between Jaralis, his warrior and the tiger siblings, but I also didn’t anticipate just how slow the fight would feel. The action barely had any real weight behind it; there were only maybe two genuinely impressive animation cuts throughout the entire episode, and you never really get a sense of how strong all of the characters are. That’s a problem considering that the whole point of this episode is to uplift the white tiger siblings and show off the results of their training, which has been going on since last season. I knew that Atla was a talented fighter, but the show never really went into exactly how. Her opponent makes a comment about how she has royal blood in her and I’m not really sure if she’s a skilled fighter because of her bloodline. I hope that’s not the case, because there’s already a lot of social commentary going on revolving around the beastmen and how some of them look down on others, so emphasizing their bloodline feels a little counterintuitive.
Again, maybe that would also explain the powerup Fohl gets. I like that there was a little bit more of a backstory into their family history. I called it immediately with regards to how their dad actually died, and that fills in some gaps regarding how the siblings ended up in the state that they were in when Naofumi found them. It still feels weird that the king isn’t here to witness any of this. I feel like a lot of this emotional weight would be stronger if he was present to actually see how these two are trying to rise above their shitty circumstances, especially when he wasn’t there to help them when they were by themselves. I feel like that’s the main thing that is missing from the story, and I’m not really sure how you rectify that down the road. What the show is doing here is OK, but it still feels like some good bit of emotional content is missing that could really hit home. I’m just not sure why I should care about these two.
Also, regarding Jaralis as a villain, I honestly feel let down that he is just sort of a prideful coward. I was hoping to get a little bit more about what exactly he was trying to accomplish. Maybe there could’ve been a good parallel between him and the white tiger siblings in a thematic way. But ultimately it just boils down to Jaralis hating their father because he was a good person and Jaralis is not. It was also hilarious when Naofumi pointed out that it was weird that Jaralis was monologuing about his horrific deeds when he really didn’t have to. Even if his excuse is that he’s throwing everything away for the sake of power, he could still have done all of his action without revealing his treason and war crimes. It’s fine for what it’s trying to do, but ultimately it just feels like the show took a totally simple story and decided to tell it in the most boring way possible.
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The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4 is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
Episodes 1-2
Episode 3
Episode 4