The Rising of the Shield Hero, Volume 1: The Manga Companion

盾の勇者の成り上がり [Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari] Manga #1

by Aneko Yusagi, Aiya Kyu (Artist)

Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharismatic Otaku who spends his days on games and manga, suddenly finds himself summoned to a parallel universe! He discovers he is one of four heroes equipped with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from its prophesied destruction. As the Shield Hero, the weakest of the heroes, all is not as it seems. Naofumi is soon alone, penniless, and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he is left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Shield Hero and save the world!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Magic, Japanese Literature, Comics

168 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2014

About the author

Aneko Yusagi (アネコユサギ; Yusagi Aneko) is a japanese creator.

Reviews

[Coyora Dokusho · Rating 4 out of 5]

It amused. I really like the hero's internal monologues and the adorable characters.

[haven ⋄ f (hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was sad but good.

According to my friend who had watched the first season of this anime, the manga cut out a ton. But they said it was tastefully done.

The story is a very serious one. I was a little shocked at the incidents because of how the story was set up in the beginning and how it changed. It was well done, but I’m not sure how long it can last.

I really like the art style. It’s the style that I find enjoyable. It was good from almost every angle.

One aspect I really liked about this was the legitimate otaku-ness. The main character in this iseki is an otaku. And he behaved like it, especially in the beginning. I don’t think that it will majorly impact the story any further but we shall see.


Not for everyone but worth a shot.

[Teeny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this mainly because

1. I'm interested in seeing how the anime is but heard it was controversial so I wanted to see what it was.


2. I was lead to believe that this was the most sexist/misogynist/trashiest thing EVAH; MC gets accused and framed by his companion(and robbed) but.....it ain't that bad. Maybe the anime is more explicit or the novels?

3. Or is it the slavery thing that makes people uncomfortable? Because....he buys Tanuki girl to set her free and train as his warrior since...well he's a shield.

[Bryan Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its nice to put a picture to the story, i read the light novel and then i read over this in about 10 mins.

[Shabbeer Hassan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting isekai series with a similar overall plot structure but rather dark undertones. The anime is rather good too!

My Rating - 3/5

[Quentin Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, for volume 1 and it gave a lot of detail and the relationship between Naofumi and Raphtalta is so wholesome. Though I feel for Naofumi as he was blamed for a crime he never did and that just upset me so much. I can proudly say I hate the king and Myne, the are most mean and dumb people ever, like how do you falsely accuse a person who supposed to help save your world.

[Elyia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars

Talking once fixes PTSD 😍🥰
And pacing is for the gays 😘🥵🏳️‍🌈

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE the anime version of The Rising of the Shield Hero. The manga is good but the editing is pretty much nonexistent. There are a lot of typos in this book, even misspellings of the main characters' names, and the text isn't formatted to fit inside the speech bubbles. It's not even just that the dialogue is too lengthy or that the font is too large, but it just isn't centered so there will be ample white space in the bubble but the text is breaking through the speech bubble walls. I've never seen anything like it. Anyway, if you like isekai, this story is fantastic, but you might want to read the light novels or watch the anime first because the lack of editing made this manga feel like it's of poor quality.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh look, rando otaku fell into an Other World!
Even tho he was at the library and a book landed in his lap, this World is a magical video-game styled place (because reasons! How else to show growth 'cept meaningless Lvl Up stats)
Where he is then accused of hideous crimes, robbed, blah blah blah...

This is somehow the grossest of the boring average nerd isekai fantasies - the loser buys a trauma-filled panic-attacks prone demihuman slave-girl, forces her to learn fighting because he needs someone else to fight for him .... the plot gets worse the more try to put it into words!

Listen, there's better isekai out there; ones that aren't hateful, misogynistic and even they're full of tired vidya mechanics

[Eric Dollinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too little detail in this first volume, I felt like there was barely any backstory for the characters or the setting. The general premise of 4 heroes transported into a fantasy world to save it is interesting enough but that’s basically all you get.

I know this was adapted from a novel, and has an anime, but the manga leaves a lot to be desired.

[libraryofthecrypt · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

This was for the most part pretty okay. I feel like I should at least try another volume before I decide if I want to drop this or not but at the same time I couldn’t really care to do so.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unerwünscht zu einem Helden gemacht zu werden, den niemand mag und dann noch offiziell diffamiert zu werden, passiert unserem Helden.

[Mimape · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely amazing.

[Lucinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Naofumi, poor Raphtalia

[Dinko Hristov · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE WITCH

[BookishBenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first ever manga! I really enjoyed this, way more than I expected too. It took me back to being a kid reading Spider-Man and that for me is a joy in itself. I will definitely be reading more Manga from now on.

[Puugu Menikheim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main character suddenly finds himself in a fantasy world, where he is cast as a hero, albeit an unpopular one. As he tries to find his way in this new world, he encounters unexpected challenges, betrayals, and makes a new friend. Looking forward to the next volume!

[Elinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très sympa ! Plutôt original finalement, avec des personnages assez attachants... une lecture agréable !

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, this was absolutely appalling.

The bare bones of this manga could have been a good story--a guy travels into what is essentially an MMORPG and gets stuck with a not-so-great role. He has to level up and figure out how to level up his somewhat useless weapon.

This idea goes sideways fast with a false rape allegation, the hero justifying who he need to buy a female slave (with disturbing logic) and then his emotional cruelty to her. But, hey! We are readers are supposed to be a-okay with that because he at least treats her better than her previous "masters".

1,000 thumbs down on this one.

Content Notes:

Profanity/swearing: Yes: Hell = 5, Damn = 8

Sexual references: A woman accuses the main character of rape and frames him for it. When he buys a slave girl he justifies it by saying "She's skinny and shaking in fear...even if she is a demi-human her face is good enough--like a normal person. I can imagine that I've made that woman [the one who framed him for rape] my slave..."

Religious References: None

LGBTQ + rep: Not specified

Other things to know: The main character is cruel to the Raphtalia. The mark on her causes her pain when she doesn't follow his orders and he says he will return her to her cage in the slave market place if she doesn't kill things for him.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein vielversprechender Start. Ich werde es auf jeden Fall weiterverfolgen :)

[Sheepy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've watched the anime religiously, so reading the manga was a no brainer!
Love it so much
🐑

[Carla Parreira]

A história é de Iwatani Naofumi, um jovem convocado para uma dimensão medieval fantástica ao lado de outros três rapazes. Juntos, eles formam um time de heróis para salvar essa dimensão de uma série de ondas mágicas que, segundo as lendas passadas de geração em geração, assolam seus moradores. Cada um dos heróis é especializado em uma arma diferente, como lança, espada, arco e, no caso de Naofumi, um escudo. No entanto, a diferença entre ele e seus companheiros reside no fato de eles afirmam ter experiência, enquanto Naofumi não. Esse é o motivo inicial para que todos ao redor o qualifiquem como inferior aos outros pretensos heróis, com seus colegas o menosprezando, além dos moradores da cidade e mesmo a corte real. O que se soma ao fato dele só poder utilizar um escudo, que não é uma arma ofensiva, ampliando ainda seu status de dependente. E as coisas ainda pioram para ele: quando o rei disponibiliza auxiliares para ajudarem os invocados a adquirirem experiência e poder, de modo que estejam mais preparados para enfrentar as ondas que surgirão, apenas uma menina se prontifica a acompanha-lo, já que todos os outros acreditam que ele não é capaz, preferindo os demais heróis. No entanto, essa auxiliar, na verdade, fez isso apenas para enganá-lo, acusando-o de estupro, o que é um crime grave naquela autointitulada sociedade matriarcal, manchando sua imagem perante todo o reino. Essa sequência de acontecimentos injustos mexe com o emocional de Naofumi, que passa a adotar uma postura mais sombria, negativa, pessimista e agressiva perante sua situação naquela outra dimensão. Ele que, antes, enxergava aquele reino de videogame de forma mais aberta a possibilidades heroicas, agora, converte-se num anti-herói macabro, que vê na compra de uma escrava algo aceitável, como uma consequência do que o transformaram.
*
Melhores trechos: "...Resumindo, eu sou o parasita inútil da família Iwatami... O Balão Laranja estava mordendo meu braço, mas isso não tinha efeito nenhum... Eu não tinha ideia do que estava acontecendo. Tudo que eu sabia era que eu estava sendo tratado como um criminoso enquanto o verdadeiro estava andando por aí livre... Coisas aconteceram e assim vai. Eu fui abduzido enquanto estava sendo arrastado através das paredes do castelo, e dentro da câmara de audiência, os cavaleiros estavam com suas lanças apontadas para mim... ―Você cometeu brutalmente um estupro contra minha querida compatriota, vilão! Se você não fosse um herói, eu iria executar você no lugar! (Rei) ―Isso é um grande mal entendido! Eu não cometi nenhum crime! (Naofumi)... Eu estava bem confiante que, apesar da minha falta de poder de ataque, eu podia ir golpe contra golpe e superar qualquer um em uma luta. Infelizmente, pulverizar pessoas nunca irá convencer elas à acreditarem em mim. É por isso que eu escolhi focar em juntar dinheiro para qualquer ocorrência futura. Apesar que, aliviar minhas frustrações nos balões ajudou a limpar minha mente... Se o valor das ervas fosse maior do que o valor dos remédios, então não fazia sentido as pessoas produzirem elas... Eu vim para este mundo, eu aprendi que chantagem era uma parte importante da negociação... Deve ter sido porque ela estava contentemente dormindo contra minhas costas. Pode ser um trauma, mas parece que ela vai ficar bem se tiver o calor de outra pessoa do lado dela enquanto ela dormir... Pelas primeiras palavras carinhosas que eu recebi desde que vim para esse mundo, eu comecei a chorar sem controle. Apesar de que eu senti que eu não deveria chorar não importa o que, eu não pude parar as lágrimas de caírem..."

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this some time ago out of the usual sort of "I like this series, so I'll get everything I can of it!" enthusiasm, but especially since shelf space is at a premium at my house (even if I magically clear out my To Read list), I couldn't honestly justify keeping it around.

For one, the art is *good* but not quite as nice as even the light novel's, since that only had to make a handful of illustrations—actually, it didn't even need to do that, but the odd splash illustration is a staple in many light novels for whatever reason. (I'm not saying I DON'T like illustrations in light novels, for what it's worth!)

For another, both the light novel and anime include a number of things that got cut for the manga, for page count issues or whatever, so the manga feels incomplete, inferior. Yes, it touches the major points, but I prefer the more complete versions, except where the story goes on forever only to amount to piddling around.

So, it's okay but after so many volumes I just realised I don't actually like the series THAT much, particularly given its fixation on trying to justify slavery EVEN THOUGH it's a beneficial "attribute" Naofumi can apply to his friends, who he only trusts now because they have proven themselves while having the slave "attribute."

Ugh.

Apply this review to about the first twelve volumes of manga or so—I don't remember how many I read or when, but my opinion is about the same for all of them. At this point, I'm only watching the anime, and only because it's updating and something to watch over Wi-Fi at the gym.

[Wesley R · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books is called Rising of the Shield Hero by: Aiya Kyu. The main theme of this book is to never give up because even after the main character was betrayed, framed and at his lowest he kept going. The genre of this book is manga(Japanese comic). This book takes place in a different world where four heroes are summoned to fight off the evil waves(a great summoning of monsters) and almost immediately the shield hero is betrayed by the first princess and alone. Not being able to fight or equip a different weapon other than a shield he finds a companion named Raphtalia to help him fight and they begin to level up. The book seemed very short but it was amazing and one of my favorite manga I have ever read. It was very fast paced like at the end of the book where they were being attacked by a great monster. I wondered if they would survive and I couldn’t stop turning pages. This was something I really liked when reading. It really made you want to keep reading. The only thing I don’t like about it is that since it is manga basically the second the main side character was introduced it ended. The people who would most definitely enjoy this are 12+ year old's and manga readers who like fast paced books. The reason why I would say it would be 12+ is because there are some things like blood and torture that would be better for older audiences.

[Nav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yikes! Plenty of other reviews will cover the whole slavery thing and weird way the main character decides he hates all women for a bit after a fake rape accusation (even though the king, a man, also knew and helped the woman get away with defaming him). I, too, found some of his actions contemptible and it is a little eyeroll inducing how, of course, everyone against him (mostly the other heroes) seems to turn out to be some flavor of stupid or corrupt (or both). However, the premise of being summoned a purpose to a hostile environment is an interesting take for this genre and the protagonist does take with a will to turning lemons into lemonade.

For me? It was the complete lack of cooperation between the heroes that is worthy of note. It’s well done because the conflict reads as realistic (they all want to be the big damn hero by themselves and according to their version of what looks heroic and damn what’s good for the world they now have to live in), but it may give you, like it did me, war flashbacks to group projects with egotists or simply any project without a shared, unified vision or even just having to work with assholes.

[Kino · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recommend this to people who like modern isekai/litRPG and fantasy stories. Don't let the 2 stars fool you, the series as a whole is quite great.

This is 2 stars because of just poor writing on the first 5 books, I suggest you watch the anime (or read manga) to skip this part. The writing exponentially gets better from book 5 to 6 and at around book 8 I think it gets even better.

This series does belong in the "isekai" genre but it's very good at balancing the various tropes so unlike most isekai stories, this doesn't turn into a cake that's too sweet it becomes inedible. I suggest you watch the anime, if you like that then go and read book 6. If you really like it then read from the start since they're light novels and that format is very short.

This is one of the better isekai stories. In the west it's equivalent to litRPG. I'd say in caliber this is equivalent to Viridian Gate Online though that series in undoubtedly better written since the first 5 volume of this series is really poor.

[Natali TabaiBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ya me habia leido la novela respectiva a este arco asi que queria ver como se habia trasladado la historia al manga y la verdad, prefiero la novela.
Entiendo que es dificil por ahi transmitir todo lo que Naofumi siente al ser llevado a un nuevo mundo, co ngente queno conoce, que no lo apoya y encima al final es traicionado por la unica persona que parecia querer llevarse bien con el... Es horrible. Pero sin embargo creo que en la novela todo este drama es mejor tratado que aca en este tomo, obvio que falta mucho contenido y que por lo general no esta mal el manga, pero gustos son gustos.
Raphtalia es un amor aca y en la novela, y el poder ver directamente en dibujo como se desenvuelven las cosas es diferente a mi imaginación.
Voy a tratar de seguir la historia a ver como Naofumi sigue en su camino y el mundo en su contra. Odio a la perra de Mein, aca y en cualquier formato de esta historia que quieran hacer.

[Drine Psylook · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai apprécié le héros au bouclier, bien mieux après le second chapitre. Il se montre naïf et fait confiance bien trop facilement, ce qui a fini par le perdre… le pauvre en prend plein la tête. Suite à ça, il devient sec, intransigeant et limite mauvais – bien plus intéressant à mon sens. Mais il a un bon fond et sa relation avec Raph est touchante.
Les dessins sont super beaux, j’ai pris plaisir à les détailler. Je déplore juste que la couverture ne rende pas honneur aux illustrations à l’intérieur.
C’était une lecture inattendue. Le visage des héros n’est pas celui qu’on a l’habitude de voir et je pense que les prochains tomes me surprendront tout autant.
C’est un coup de cœur pour ce premier tome.
https://psylook.kimengumi.fr/2023/08/...

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best Isekai's that I've read, it takes all these tired tropes and breathes new life into them. Like he's reborn into a new world completely clueless so the locals take advantage of him , one of them even accuses him of rape, I had heard this before but the way it played out as excellent.

He's overpowered but the only ability he can use is he shield, he cannot use any weapons with it or attack so he has to find a party member to support him. Which is extremely difficult due to everyone hating his guts, so that's how he meets a certain someone...

As I've said this is fantastic, if you want an Isekai that's a breathe of fresh air, this is a must read!

[Nix Buttons · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched the anime (first season) some time ago and though it has been a while and thus I can't compare it to the manga, I do have a positive impression of it.
The manga isn't bad, but it feels flat. The story is really interesting, I have been entertained by it so far (15 volumes). However, the emotions aren't presented well, I don't empathise with the characters at all. Honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with stopping at this (or any) point and simply not continuing.
An entertaining read for some light fare, not something if you want deeper emotions. (Side-note: it's not a harem situation, only one of the female companions has a romantic interest in the MC and the MC has no romantic interest at all)