The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 01

The Rising of the Shield Hero (Light Novel) #1

by Aneko Yusagi

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: Light Novel, Fantasy, Manga, Fiction, Adventure, Magic, Anime

278 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2013

About the author

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

Reviews

[MC · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a great many stories out there with the premise of the protagonist being transported to another world. It's almost something that is no originality at times, like a "ho-hum" premise. I don't agree with this attitude, mind you, but it is prevalent enough too have caused some writers to try to be creative. Such an effort have produced some unique twists on the premise.

For instance, in the story Re:Zero, the protagonist is sent to another world with very little fantasy world capabilities beyond his intelligence and the power to die and start over from a save point. Also, the story has other dark turns by deconstructing many of the elements from this type of genre.

The Rising of the Shield Hero is no different in the notion of having a different approach to this scenario. It is about young men taken and sent to be the heroes of a land in danger. Three of these heroes have something special in their backgrounds that can help them succeed. Our protagonist, Naofumi Iwatani, however, does not. Beyond this, the other three heroes are complete man children. Meanwhile the main character is one who begins kindly but becomes - at least on the surface - kinda mean. He has a valid reason for how this happens, though not for why he does some of the things he does. This reason is the unique turn this tale takes.

As a story begins, the two words to describe Naofumi are "idealistic" and "geeky". He is cheerful and kind. Then the fantasy world stomps on him mercilessly. He is accused of a horrific crime, had his name run through the mud, tricked and stolen from, and stripped of everything but the bare necessities needed to perform his role as a hero. Because of this, he turns into a snarky, somewhat amoral, young man whose main goal is to survive and protect himself. The world or the needs of others be damned. At least, that's how he seems, but inside he is a hero, whether he realizes it or not.

As the people in this new world continue to be cruel, Naofumi eventually finds those that truly love and trust him. Unfortunately, he is unable to recognize this given the trauma and emotional whirlwind he is suffering under. Despite this, he is a good guy and with the very selfish actions of others, including the other heroes, he might be the only hope of the world that summons and yet spurns him.

As one can clearly see, the story is actually quite intense, and a nice spin on what many see (though as I stated, I don't agree) as a tired genre. Along with this twist, the story has some pretty good characterization. For instance, Naofumi and Raphtalia are nicely fleshed-out characters. You can get an understanding of what they're thinking and why. For Naofumi, this is incredibly heart-wrenching, and yet also incredibly funny. He really puts forth the tropes of the sour and snark knight.

The villains and other antagonistic characters are shown in their full evil, and there is no backing away from how bad they are, especially in the two side stories. At the same time, there is also not any overly dark focus on the enormius evils some do. The dark is shown but not wallowed in.

Despite all the the above, in the end, many of the tropes of such "hero summoned to another world" tales are played straight. And Naofumi, for all of his bitterness, cynicism and so forth, is a genuine hero.

I have to say that the world-building was also good. The author manages to design some pretty neat ideas for the world based off of it being like a game, thus showing both a good imagination and a deep knowledge of RPG's. This all added to the fun flavor of the narrative.

The Rising of the Shield Hero is an interesting story of redemption for a character who is truly harmed, and thus almost turns bad, but despite all that is a true hero.

I Highly Recommend this book.

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Rising of the Shield Hero was frustrating, to say the least.

False accusations of sexual assault are used as a crutch to move the plot and character development forward, and it's handled with all the gravitas of a throwaway plot line. Slavery is also used as a plot device, and while I can't say it was used particularly well, I also can't really say it was as brutally mishandled as the false sexual assault claim.

Story-wise, it's a semi-interesting if cliche isekai. Individual parts have been done better by a lot of other light novels I've read, and the world building in general feels lazy. For example, despite Naofumi being teleported in via book, the world acts like a video game. It's an odd disconnect and other than to give the other heroes a leg up over him (the world is like a game in their versions of Japan), the "game" aspect of the world seems to only exist to be short cut in world and character building. No need for a training montage or explanation when you can poke a bunch of slimes to death for EXP, right?

The charm really comes from its (main) characters and the times where the world breaks from its game skeleton. Naofumi loses faith in humanity to an extreme extent and becomes withdrawn, but he still somewhat takes his duty as hero seriously. He's still trying to raise capital and levels in an attempt to be ready for the "wave" of monsters coming, if only so he doesn't die. He's so determined not to be betrayed again, he buys a slave. There's not a deep dive into his character, which is a shame, but it's enough to pass. There's also a bonus story where we see Raphtalia's past, and that was an excellent look into her mind, as we saw more of her thoughts and feelings. I'm guessing that the difference is that Naofumi's pretty much shut down personality-wise for much of the book, so there's just not that much to look into.

As for the times where it breaks game logic, I loved the creative use of high defense and monsters. It's that kind of game-breaking logic that makes this world seem anywhere near real.

Sadly, though, while its main characters Naofumi and Raphtalia are well put together, I can't say the same for the others. We don't see a whole lot of the other heroes or their parties, and the handful that we do can be summed up in one word. Myne, to use Naofumi's words, is a bitch. That's really all she is. Even in the bonus story where we see her from a character who likes her's point of view, she's still a bitch.

If I was going on this first volume alone, I'd be considering just stopping with this volume and not continuing. For the most part, it feels derivative and there are other series that do all its tropes better. There were points, though, that I was getting into it. Sure, others have done it better, but it was still entertaining. Then something would happen that would make me grind my teeth in anger again.

I've been told that The Rising of the Shield Hero gets better as the series progresses and gets away from its more problematic elements fairly quickly, so I'll give the next volume a shot and go from there. If nothing else, it's a quick and fun read when you aren't getting mad at certain elements.

[Reiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naofumi Iwatani, he's an otaku. Spends weeks on games and reads mangas. Then suddenly finds himself in another dimension/world or universe. He finds out that he is one of the four heroes summoned to stop this alternate place from destruction. He is the shield hero and is the weakest from the four, he then is alone and is betrayed. Filled with anger and frustration, no one to turn to he has to face destruction alone. But is he really alone? I really love this book, he goes on adventures to level up and finds ways to fight other than using his shield. Plus he's a shield hero, most main character would have weapons that they can fight with, but a shield? That's something new, the book also includes extra chapters even though those pages aren't included in Goodreads. It's still fun to read from other characters perspective when the book is written in first person. I also love this book because it's also a manga and an anime, so If I'd buy the book I could watch the rest. I would recommend this to people my grade who love unique books that are fantasy and adventure. When reading this book it really made me feel Naofumi's emotions of his anger, the emphasis in the words. It felt like I was him from the way he expressed himself, when he finally learned a big lesson you could feel the weight lift from his shoulders. All his anger disappears, all these emotions we've felt before and through this book, it really got to me.

[Merk · Rating 5 out of 5]

"He was clumsy and rude, but he was a good person.
His eyes were dark and filled with hatred and sadness.
He was violent, angry and vulgar. He was scary.
But he understood pain, and at his heart he was kind.
Yes, he is the person Rifana and I longed for... the Shield Hero."
-Raphtalia

Were you expecting another generic fantasy harem with the done-to-death "ordinary guy transferred to an alternate world" premise?
The "alternate world" part is true, but "generic fantasy harem", The Rising of The Shield Hero is anything but.

I'll admit, One Peace Books' synopsis makes it sound as if the word "generic" was invented for series like these; it simply does not do The Rising of The Shield Hero justice. The Rising of The Shield Hero is neither Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon , Sword Art Online , Accel World nor Log Horizon.
You will neither find an obligatory harem, a stupidly dense/overpowered protagonist nor a godly tactician here (as of volume 1, anyway).
Instead, you will find an averagely intelligent human being, who is also pretty pissed at everything. So before you scream "generic", bear with me.

Naofumi Iwatani is a college student and one day, through means which are still a mystery, he was summoned to an unknown world. The first 6 chapters are relatively slow and uninteresting; they mainly serve to introduce the basic characters and setting for the story. Up to this point, there is really little to distinguish The Rising of The Shield Hero from its peers. However, chapter 7 is when those similarities come to a grinding halt. What sets it apart is its eerily human protagonist, unique plot progression and character development. Naofumi, who appears to be an uninspired goody-two-shoes, transforms into a walking mass of malice and anger. He despises the world which summons and grossly tramples upon him. Chewed up and spat out by the world, Naofumi is left with only his shield, his wits and his rage. The reader, to some degree, will sympathize with Naofumi: he has every right to be angry, to loathe the world after how it treated him. Throughout the story he can come across as morally ambiguous at best, morally defunct at worst; his actions do not agree with his words. One thing that is apparent though, is that no matter how much he wants everyone to drop dead, at the core of his being, Naofumi is still a good person. His character was executed in a such a way that even while blinded by hatred, traces of the former kind person he once was still shines through.

For the sake of not revealing too many elements of the story, Naofumi is all I can write about. The entire story is told through his cynical and bitter perspective; he is the highlight of the story for me. That is not to say though, that Naofumi is the only well-developed character, or that the rest of the story is non-existent. There are plenty of other characters with various pasts, motivations and personalities that are distinct from one another. I daresay its characters is this novel's strongest point: they are realistic and relatable. Readers will definitely find that some characters resemble those they already know or will know in life. The plot is not lacking either; it moves at a relatively fast pace, fast enough to keep you reading. There is also a fair amount of world building and action. If the first volume doesn't intrigue you with its world and story, it will make you sympathize deeply for its well-developed characters (especially the protagonist). However, I am aware that such a protagonist is not for everyone; I can imagine many being put off by Naofumi's pessimistic and scornful disposition. I'll also acknowledge that some plot points may make certain readers uncomfortable, due to the moral implications that they bring. Rest assured though, that many of these issues will iron themselves out by the end of the book; readers will find themselves sympathizing heavily with Naofumi, in spite of themselves. Volume 1 manages to wrap itself up with a heart-wrenching and satisfying climax: the kind where cascades of emotion come crashing down; the kind which resembles the vertical drop after a long ride up a roller coaster hill; the kind that haunts your mind and makes you want to go back and read it over a few more times just to soak up every last drop of emotion that oozes from each sentence. As a bonus there are two extra chapters at the end which provide greater insight into the personalities and backstories of two major characters of the story. One thing to keep in mind though, is that the author is an amateur. The Rising of The Shield Hero originated as a web novel, which the author updated with chapters every single day for the past few years until a publishing company picked it up. Therefore if the writing seems amateurish in this first volume, the author will most likely improve in the later volumes.

Complimenting the story are great illustrations and character designs. Even by light novel standards, the illustrations are very well done and impeccably depict various scenes. What I liked the most was how they perfectly captured Naofumi's facial expression: you can feel his anger seeping through every corner of his perpetual frown, through every nook and cranny of his dark, glaring eyes.

Now, onto the quality of the translation and publication itself. The book had 300 pages but each page was smaller and had less words than books by other light novel publishers. However, I researched and found that the original Japanese tankobon had the same page count, so I'll assume that One Peace Books' is not at fault here. There were some typos and questionably worded sentences I noticed throughout the book. Furthermore, dialogue can get confusing sometimes when there are three or more characters talking at once. Although I am disappointed to say that One Peace Books' translation is mediocre at best, it gets the story across. It wasn't anything bad enough to ruin my enjoyment of the story, although I really hope they step their translation game up in volume 2. However, as stated before, this was written by an amateur author so some kinks in the writing quality here and there might entirely be One Peace Books' fault. On a side note, the quote at the start of this review is a direct quote from their translation which I particularly like.

I look forward to volume 2 of what seems to be a deeply promising series with a protagonist one just can't hate.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Naofumi Iwatani is an otaku college student. His life, up to this point, has been pretty easy - his parents haven't put much pressure on him, and his otaku interests actually managed to keep his brother from becoming a full-blown delinquent. He's in the library one day when he spots a book call The Records of the Four Holy Weapons, which mentions four different heroes: the Sword Hero, Spear Hero, Bow Hero, and Shield Hero. Shortly after finding this book, Naofumi is magically summoned to another world where he is one of those four heroes...the worst and most useless one, the Shield Hero. He can only defend, not attack, and his magical shield won't permit him to carry any additional weapons. He can't even team up with any of the other three heroes, because their weapons cancel each other out.

Because he's so weak and knows even less about this new world than the other heroes, he has trouble getting anyone to join his party, and what help he does receive turns out to be a trap. Is there no one in this horrible world that he can trust? Somehow he has to survive the waves of enemies that he and the other heroes have been summoned to fight, so that he can hopefully figure out a way to return home.

This was my first experience with this series, although I've read about some of the controversies surrounding the anime. I found this first light novel volume at a used bookstore a while back and figured I'd finally read it and see what the series was like for myself.

Hoo boy, is misogyny baked pretty deeply into this. Just as he's getting started in his new life, Naofumi is betrayed by an attractive woman who robs him blind and then falsely accuses him of rape. Everyone instantly believes her and casts him out, while she teams up with the Spear Hero, a ladies' man who ended up in this new world after one of the many women he was dating killed him in a fit of jealousy.

Rather than just being angry specifically at the woman who betrayed him or more generally at the royal family that summoned him only to set him up for failure, Naofumi instead began to hate all women. One woman betrayed him, so the entire gender was evil. Never mind that the other heroes, who also turned on him at the drop of a hat, were male.

Although his defensive capabilities were high enough that he could fall asleep with monsters chewing on him and not feel a thing, he had zero attack capabilities. He couldn't afford to hire anyone, and even if he had the money, he didn't trust other people. So he turned to slave ownership. It took him no time at all to justify this move as a perfectly fine and correct one.

Slavery was legal in this country, and magical contracts made it impossible for slaves to harm or betray their masters - if they tried, they'd die. He couldn't afford much, so he ended up selecting Raphtalia, a sickly raccoon-type demi-human child. He needed someone who could fight in his place, so he had to take reasonably good care of her, but his hatred of women was such that he figured he'd be fine with it if she died, since it would be like getting to see the woman who betrayed him dying.

I think readers were supposed to see the things Naofumi did for Raphtalia, like feeding her decent meals and giving her a ball to play with, as signs that he was really a decent guy at heart. But if that's supposed to be what a "good guy" is like, that's a very, very low bar to clear. Good for him for...actually feeding his child slave and not beating or raping her. He still had zero qualms about buying her in the first place, and it never once bothered him that he had the power to kill or harm her at any time (in fact he considered that a plus, since it meant she couldn't turn on him). She was a tool that he treated well primarily because it would have cost him precious time and money to replace her.

When Raphtalia could have chosen freedom, she instead ran back to Naofumi's side and offered to do the magical slavery contract with him again, if that's what it would take for him to be able to trust her. She even considered the contract that bound her to be a good thing - it forced her to fight when otherwise she would have been too scared to do so. I assume readers were supposed to find all of this heartwarming and wonderful - Naofumi had finally found someone truly loyal, who trusted him so much that she'd literally put her life in his hands. By becoming his happy slave. Again. And there was no "what am I doing/what have I done?" moment on Naofumi's part, no realization that he'd become a horrible person who'd decided that slavery was fine, actually.

While I was reading, I found myself thinking that I'd encountered something a little like this book before - Fuyumi Ono's The Twelve Kindgoms: Sea of Shadow, another isekai fantasy in which the main character is forcibly transported to another world to fulfill an important role, only to find themselves betrayed to the point that it's difficult for them to trust anyone. Except that Yoko didn't hate an entire gender after she was betrayed, and there was no romanticized slavery. Yoko's version of Raphtalia, Rakushun, didn't have anything binding him to her. Becoming closer to him and being friends with him involved taking risk and allowing herself to be a little vulnerable.

This could potentially be a decent series if Naofumi, like Yoko, eventually grew and became a better, stronger person. Unfortunately this first volume, at least, shows no evidence the series might go in that direction. Naofumi wallows in his hatred of women (it probably doesn't help that the betrayal somehow literally took his sense of taste away), and it takes him a mere 20 pages after being betrayed to turn to slavery as a solution to his problems. Judging by other things I've read about the anime and reviews of some of the later light novel volumes, there's worse to come. Despite my mild curiosity about the sorts of shield abilities Naofumi will discover, I'm probably better off stopping here, so I'm glad this is the only volume I own.

Extras:

Three full-color illustrations, and several black and white illustrations throughout. Also, character design sketches for both Naofumi and Raphtalia, and a couple bonus stories. The first bonus story focuses on the Spear Hero, who's so sure of his appeal with the ladies and overall knowledge of this world that he doesn't even realize that the same person who betrayed Naofumi is now using him. The second bonus story focuses on Raphtalia and tells readers her entire horrible backstory, including the bit where one of her owners paid for her and another girl just so that he could get his kicks by beating the two of them every day. I suppose I should be happy there was no rape (or there was and I blanked it out - Raphtalia's story was awful enough, even with Yusagi's amateurish writing, that I opted to skim most of it).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this manga is cute. It somehow resembles Re:Zero Kara Isekai Seikatsu wherein they are summoned to another dimension. Of course they are different in many aspects.

Naofumi learned his lesson: to not be too good to everyone, to not trust anyone that easily. The things that happened to him are such a mess but he worked it out. He learned from them and now working out his life for the better.

I think this will be good. Fingers crossed.

...raphtalia is so cute.

[Lazybee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only thing I liked in this book is the attitude of the protagonist. He have a nasty personality.

[Eric Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the Anime based on this light novel series. The hero from another world genre is pretty huge in Japan, and a lot of them have the same problem. The hero is almost always stupidly over powered. What's the point if the hero of the story doesn't have to work for anything, and can always beat the bad guys without any trouble? Shield Hero didn't fall into that trap, which is probably why I liked it so much. The hero of this story starts out extremely weak, and goes through some serious emotional abuse that he never really gets over. He slowly works his way up from nothing, learning abilities and growing as a human being until when he actually does become powerful, it feels very earned. And when he gets access to supreme power, it comes with serious drawbacks that make it only a last resort to fall back on. As Brandon Sanderson says, it's not what you can do with supreme power that makes an interesting story, it's what it costs to use it. It's a great story with really good character work that I really, really enjoyed.

So, when I saw the books on a shelf at Barnes and Noble, I grabbed the first one. The anime is pretty faithful to the first book, but the book has a few parts that add greater insight into characters and what motivates them that the anime cut for time. I quite enjoyed it, and will definitely be picking up the next one the next time I have a few extra bucks.

There is one problem. I don't think anyone proof read this thing before they printed it. There are quite a few spelling and grammatical mistakes that have nothing to do with the writing itself, and everything to do with laziness in the localization. If that's something that annoys you to the point of it becoming unreadable, you may want to pass on this one.

[Tabby · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up
Didn’t like the main character that much bc he’s a little misogynistic but Raphtalia was such a cute character I loved her! I have the second and third novel so I may read those but I probably won’t be buying anymore from this series

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was my first manga and, I gotta say, I quite liked it. It was a good one. I'm not much of a gamer (and by "not much" I mean not at all), so it was a little hard getting into the story at first. But after a few chapters the plot itself, plus the MC's personality, got me seriously hooked. The Hero is kind of an underdog and who doesn't like those, right?
Also, the whole thing had a darker undertone to it, which I did not expect, but definitely appreciated.

Overall, I had a very good time reading this.

[Drake Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was interesting. I found that it was engaging the whole time. I understand the struggle that the main character had. Being betrayed can hurt you and make you see the whole world differently. I found the story was compelling. I look forward to reading the other books.

[Wylan Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es la primera vez que me compro un manga a raíz de haber visto un par de capítulos del anime, y es que por fin he encontrado un manga/anime que llama verdaderamente la atención. Y como no, ha tenido que ser un manga donde la fantasía es la protagonista. El primer tomo abarca poco de la historia, pero ya tengo muchas ganas de continuar con la historia.

4⭐.

[DarkChaplain · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rising of the Shield Hero's first volume suffers from many of the all too common problems of light novels, and English translations of them in particular: often stiff translation, mediocre to poor prose, an overreliance on dialogue and internal monologues that tend to state the obvious over and over, or in places even contradict one another, and a serious lack of descriptiveness - and when it happens, it feels out of place in the narrative.

On the flipside, the story itself is compelling enough to make me look beyond the flaws of the format, or the often amateurish-feeling quality of the translation and editing errors. While reading, I certainly kept running paragraphs through my head, thinking how clumsily the story was told, how sentence structures felt unnatural and bumpy, but I also enjoyed the swift pace of events, the show of internal conflict in protagonist Naofumi's first person narrative, and the character dynamics worked well for the pilot of a particularly long light novel series with 21 volumes released or scheduled, based on a web novel publication that wrapped up even further ahead.

The story presented here went through the beats of what it needed to, rounded off the characters it introduced enough to appeal in multiple ways, and concluded in a way that, while anticipating its many sequels, felt like a satisfying whole for the time being. It manages to wrap up a full character arc for the main duo, give some answers and raise some new questions, without feeling too contrived. It really is just let down by its weak prose and format-, and indeed, genre-induced rudimentary fleshing-out of the setting.

It relies heavily on established Isekai-tropes, and effectively enough, but as is usually the case in the genre, those tropes are generally used as shortcuts to skip exposition and hand-crafting the overall setting. The appeal, in the end, comes down to the characters and their utilization in the overarching plot. Luckily, it succeeds here, with dilemmas that are both relatable and hard-hitting.
Whether or not I'll jump on volume two anytime soon is questionable, as there's only so much time and attention to go around, especially when it comes to committing to a series with currently over a dozen translated volumes on the market, but I'm certainly hoping so.

[Blak Rayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the anime, so I purchased the novel series. I have the first 18 volumes. But I believe there will be more. This is a light novel, so it made for a fast, enjoyable read. This dark fantasy (isekai) is very much character driven, the setting wonderful, and all the magic and abilities straight out of an RPG. There are also beautifully drawn images, which help to cement the look and feel of the characters and their world. Naofumi and Raphtalia really make a great pair.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 2 out of 5]

The setup for this story was painful. It suffers from all the worse tropes and didn't do much to get me excited about the world or story. Raphtalia is easily the saving grace of this story so far and Naofumi became a compelling character towards the very end. The last few chapters of this book showed more promise and I am willing to read the next volume to see if the main cast can get this story going in a more positive direction.

[Belleza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't feel like a real book like some other Japanese light novels I read, but it was entertaining. Would have given it three stars if it weren't for the bonus chapter from Raphtalia's pov.

Not worth the 13 dollars imo, but I quite liked the anime so I'll give the next books a shot.

[Glasdow Teacosy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let’s separate the controversy from the story for a moment and focus on the story.

The Rising of the Shield Hero by Aneko Yusagi seems at first like a typical light novel (LN) about a Japanese fanboy who has been transported to a fantasy realm. These stories usually start in a similar vein. "Gosh, I'm lucky to be an otaku," the boy thinks. "Look at my otaku life. I think I'll leave my apartment to visit the store/library/museum/etc. Hey! What's that?" And then suddenly the boy is transported to the fantasy realm. There is almost never any time spent on explaining the transportation. It just happens. Then the story sets up its world's particular gimmick, and the plot commences with the otaku smartly utilizing his superior intellect to game the world, usually surrounded by incredibly intelligent, skilled, and beautiful women who like to hang around socially inept losers for some reason. Fortunately, they inspire the hero to greatness, and he becomes the savior of the world.

This may sound like I am knocking the genre, but with every successful story, there are always other stories that riff on the theme, and tropes emerge. Sometimes, the trend inspires so many similar stories that it becomes a genre of its own, and very often, the stories are enjoyable, especially when the tropes are mocked or flipped around.

This LN follows the "transported into video game" trend, but with some unique differences. The main character, Naofumi Iwatani, is the only hero of the summoned four who is unfamiliar with the fantasy world they are now in. The other three heroes all played video games that were similar to this world, though each is from a different parallel Japan. This gives them an advantage that fits in with the prophesy. The other advantage they have is they were selected to wield the sacred sword, spear, and bow. Naofumi was chosen to wield the shield, a defense-only weapon, and one not respected by the kingdom he has been forced to save. Another difference in this story (though similar with Sword Art Online Alicization), is that the world operates exactly like a video game. The characters have head-up displays with access to menus and help screens, forests are populated with monsters for leveling up, and some peoples, like the Demi-human Naofumi has as a companion, age and mature by leveling up through combat (Raphtalia at level 100 may not be as kickbutt as we might hope).

Naofumi is looked down upon for being the Shield Hero (though this is never properly explained), framed for a crime that he didn't commit, robbed, disgraced, and kicked out of the castle, and then forced to level up on his own without help, practically guaranteeing his demise when the waves of evil swarm the land in a month's time. This is where another difference sets this story apart. Naofumi becomes jaded and cynical, full of petty spite. He treats people cruelly, as if the people of the world are NPCs in a video game. This story is about his transformation from bitter otaku into an inspirational hero.

Too bad the writing is so amateurish. These story twists are excellent variations on the genre and explored with creativity. Unfortunately, the writing style is hampered by short, perfunctory sentences with sparse non-descriptive details. It began life as a web novel and doesn't seem to have been rewritten to match the skill level of later chapters. This is an all too common problem with light novels that came from the web. Although the story is told in the first person, Naofumi is often written too cavalier and unaware of the events going on around him. Time and time again, he is written as an idiot so that there could be a plot development later. After all, if he knows something, the readers knows it. To keep the reader in the dark, the author superficially blinds Naofumi.

Despite this, the story resolves well, rewarding the reader for having faith in Naofumi's character arc. He grows and softens. He becomes mindful of others, and exemplifies true leadership on the field of battle. He is heroic and daring. He becomes an interesting character, redeemed by the faith of his companion.

Which leads us to the controversies.

I watched the first episode on Crunchyroll, and couldn't understand why people were so upset about it, so I sought out the book to gain greater insight on the issue. This gave me more info than the one episode that is currently available. It seems people are upset about two plot elements. The first is that Naofumi is falsely accused of rape. The second is that Naofumi purchases a slave.

The rape issue is a touchy subject for many people, but I disagree with the outrage in this particular case. Rumor and false accusation is as old as humanity. Weak people are preyed upon, taken advantage of, and discarded while unscrupulous people profit. The issue here is that some people don't believe women should be portrayed as liars. I wish I shared their optimism, but I've experienced too much duplicity by both genders to believe that one is more moral than the other. In this story, as in life, sometimes men are falsely accused of rape. It is disappointing behavior, and makes life difficult for true survivors of sexual assault. Yet authors should be free to create characters that make bad decisions. The false rape accusation in this story sets in motion the events that lead Naofumi to make his own, truly despicable decision.

The slave owner arc is a difficult one. The scene where he buys the slave, his thoughts as he justifies the action, and the projection of his hate for the woman who betrayed him onto the ten-year-old slave girl is reprehensible. I can't describe adequately enough how uncomfortable the scene made me feel and how highly I disapproved of the decision. It was hard reading. However, those who are upset seem to act as if merely writing about Naofumi's decision is an endorsement of that decision—as if Naofumi's justifications were promoted by the author as a pro-slavery argument. No characters in the book, aside from the slave trader, approve of Naofumi's decision. It is never portrayed as a noble or virtuous decision. Yet, Naofumi desperately felt it was his only solution.

Surely Yusagi could have written a different scene. He could have avoided the entire benevolent slave owner arc by having Naofumi come upon Raphtalia in distress from a different and oppressive slave owner. Naofumi could have rescued her—freeing her from slavery—and nurtured her to health as a Good Samaritan. Instead, Yusagi chose to write Naofumi as the lowest scum with the darkest, most revolting thoughts I have had the displeasure of reading in a long while. Yusagi wanted his anti-hero to be portrayed in the worst light possible, thus making his redemption a stronger arc in contrast. Yet, redemption seems to be a theme that is unpopular in today's online environment. Characters are not allowed to be lowly. They must always be virtuous. They must always be woke. Society, it seems, has no taste anymore for anti-heroes.

SPOILER

This story ends with Raphtalia's freedom and her choice to remain as Naofumi's companion, triggering his cathartic tears and closing the chapter on his darkest days. He no longer sees the people as NPCs. His faith in mankind, especially women, has been restored. I have no idea if his decision to own a slave has any ramifications in the next volume. Will he regret his acceptance of slavery as a necessary evil? A good author might choose this angle to develop. LN tend to have very superficial character development, however. Past experience tells me that the topic will be dropped to make way for the romance. Yet this story has defied my expectations. I am interested to see what growth is in store for the Shield Hero in future volumes. We still need to learn why the king detests the Shield Hero so much. We know that the Demi-humans foresaw the Shield Hero as their liberator. Perhaps Naofumi is also foretold to dethrone the short-sighted king.

I originally gave this book ★★★☆☆, but after writing this tome of a review, I've decided that I cared for the story much more than I realized, even if parts of it shocked and offended me. I have upgraded my rating accordingly. The writing truly wasn't the best, but since I can't leave a ★★★½☆ review on GoodReads, I've rounded up to ★★★★☆.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tras estar enamorada del anime, decidí meterme en el mundo de la novela ligera —propósito que ya hace varios años quería cumplir— con Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari.

Debo decir que al haber leído una traducción fan en español bastante... malilla, cosa que realmente tampoco puedo quejarme porque al fin y al cabo es fan, siento que no he podido disfrutar lo que debería de esta primera entrega. Sin embargo, ya hablando del "contenido" debo decir que esta primera experiencia ha sido muy satisfactoria y estoy deseando leer el segundo aunque, eso sí, en esta ocasión iré a por el inglés de cabeza.

Así que, desde aquí, recomiendo a todo fan del anime que se atreva a darle una oportunidad a la novela ligera.

[Thakzhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a fan of the anime, but since it's not finished yet, I started reading the light novels.

I have to say, in the first part, I had difficulties with reading the book, because I already knew the story. But as soon as the betrayal-part came, I was absorbed by the book and finished it within 2-3 days. With this book, you will get a deeper understanding of the thoughts of the characters than from the anime.

[tankbredgrunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and quick read. I’m interested in where else the series could go so I’ll be giving #2 a try. Naofumi’s a bit of a dick though. Regardless of his situation he doesn’t treat people well, which was grating. Plenty of room for character development I guess!

[Alexia Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une saga que je vais suivre

[Chafic (Rello) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guilty-pleasure, easy read - just a fun bit of fantasy fluff to tide myself over in between books.
Watched the anime already, loved it - and can't wait to catch up to the current arcs.

3.45 / 5

[Mahesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, just wow, Amazing.
This connected with my soul. I cried when the MC sobbed when the cute racoon girl assuring him that everything is going to be okay.

Finally, after Goblin Slayer, I found a light novel, I deeply loved!
Going to cherish the moments I spent with this series!

[Luna Lectora · Rating 4 out of 5]

No pensé en leerlo, pero luego de ver la primera temporada del anime me dije: Leelo.
Y aquí estoy conociendo a ese Naofumi que se decepciona de muchas cosas sin embargo que encuentra una pequeña esperanza.
El resto de héroes, son bah!
A por los otros.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Recommend reading

Great read. Reading the series after watching the show. So good to get extra context that was missed in the show. Love the detail added. Can't wait for the next book.

[Sean O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is yet another addition to the geeky-loser-gets-trapped-in-an-RPG-inspired-fantasy-world-where-he-becomes-a-super-awesome-hero genre. When SAO popularized the trope, there was at least a vaguely plausible explanation for how it happened and why the world operated according to artificial game mechanics. When Log Horizon took the idea and ran with it, the lack of explanation was a deliberate part of the mystery. But now we're onto third order imitations, the trope's become so codified that authors aren't bothering to explain it. Just like people in zombie movies know the rules of zombie movies even though it doesn't make any logical sense that the rules of zombie movies would apply to the zombies they're encountering, now the fact that parallel universes operate exactly like an RPG is taken for granted by authors.

In Rising of the Shield Hero, the characters who get sucked into the alternate universe are so accustomed to the concept that they don't even need it explained to them -- they immediately assume that they're there as heroes of destiny who must defeat some evil force before they'll be allowed to return home, because of course that's how it always works. As such the opening chapters of the book proceed in a downright sketchy manner, with the author assuming the audience understands the situation as well as the characters and not bothering to fill in the details beyond what's specific to this universe.

Each of the four heroes summoned to this universe is granted a legendary weapon -- one receives a sword, another a spear, and a third a bow. The main character, however, is stuck with a shield. Its powers are nerfed to the point that it takes him an hour to club a level-1 monster to death with it. Everyone else figures Naofumi, the Shield Hero, is going to be totally useless, and one of the other heroes frames him for a crime in order to steal Naofumi's money and equipment.

Left penniless, bitter and armed only with his shield, Naofumi has to claw his way up from nothing. This is where the story does separate itself from others in the genre. Rather than being a Gary Stu like Kirito, Naofumi really sucks, and his response to his situation is morally ambiguous. Perhaps a little too morally ambiguous. Once he saves up some money, he goes out and buys a slave. He can't afford much, so he ends up with a sickly little girl. He does feed her and get her nice and healthy, but he does so with the intent of turning her into a warrior companion. And if she dies, he can always get a new slave.

Now maybe there's a cultural difference at work here. Japan doesn't have the same relationship with slavery as the US, so maybe over there this whole concept doesn't have quite the same baggage, but as an American I can't help but read the book with a sick feeling in my stomach the whole time.

The writing is downright amateurish. This was first published as a webnovel and at times it reads more like a blog post than a novel. Several characters, notably the weapon shop owner who appears repeatedly throughout the story, never get names but are simply referred to by job-descriptors, almost as though they really are NPCs in games. On the positive side, though, this does make for much clearer writing than some other LNs I've read. This being One Peace Books, the proofreading leaves something to be desired (the word "adventurers" is misprinted as "adventures" several times, for instance).

[Gino Gussio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells so much more than the anime or manga does. Plus seeing things from Naofumis POV really helps you feel the despair that he feels, as well ad the love when Raphtalia promises to be by his side. Wonderful start to an amazing series.

[Arthur · Rating 1 out of 5]

I write this review as a warning to any who are about to begin reading this series. The series actually starts out good, but it will get progressively worse and by volume 8 I could not continue reading it as I felt like torture.
My number one reason would be power ups because of emotions, some characters can go super saiyan 2 just because they are angry and their emotions get riled up and there is no good explanation given for it. One character that is completely useless in battle, like she can't even handle the monsters summoned by the boss suddenly becomes op because of her sense of justice and starts beating down the boss by herself, after the fight she becomes completely useless once again,this emotional power up happens two more times in the story and she only becomes useful at those times, only after the third power up does she become useful in the long term, this could have been attributed to character growth but it was really poorly written.
The second reason would be, the characterization of characters other than the MC is mostly one dimensional and bland. Raphtalia was an excellent character in the beginning but later on after the introduction of a great many others her prose and overall character just turns one dimensional.
Most of the characters introduced later on are unbelievably stupid, the author has a thing for creating annoying and stupid characters. The heroes other than MC are all extremely childish and their character development is unbearably slow, even after they do develop they are pushed to the sides and don't contribute much to the story. There are no smart characters in the story, ever.
The queen of Melromarc is supposed to be an intelligent diplomat but through her dialogue, ideas she comes up with, and overall character depiction she comes off as average at best. The author repeatedly stresses that she is smart and a diplomat but there is never anything to show for those statement.
Finally if you enjoy good fights then this book isn't for you.
The fight scenes drag on for unbearably long, the characters talk to each other casually as if there is no fighting going on. The antagonists very graciously stand around and do nothing as the MC talks to his teammates leisurely for long periods.

This review is for the overall book upto volume 10. The first three books were actually enjoyable but I wouldn't recommend getting into it only to be so sorely disappointed later on.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe this is my first time ever reading a light novel, so I'm not sure what's par for the course versus what's unique about this book series (and what got lost in translation), but...

Hopefully I'm vague enough about things that nothing is a spoiler.

I loved season 1 of the anime, I think the ideas behind this story/universe are great thus far, but as for the actual writing... It feels pretty poor. Part of it is how the dialogue is done. There's no dialogue tags and it's all broken up from the action, giving almost no clues as to who is speaking. Sometimes I would go into a dialogue exchange thinking I knew who was talking, only to pause partway through and realize I had it wrong, which then meant I had to read it again with the new understanding.

It became a little bit easier as I got used to the structure of the book, but it was still confusing at times when it really didn't have to be.

Also, the action writing was kind of eh... Most of it was so short and sparse and very little description is given to anything. Maybe this is where the 'light' in 'light novel' comes from, is this more sparse style of writing. As for the actual fight scenes... Short and sparse often works best, to keep the tension up, but I actually almost never felt tension in the fights. I'd say this has more to do with not having a clear sense of the choreography/danger rather than the constant thoughts, as I'm used to how much thinking characters do in anime fights.

I did like the two bonus stories at the end, other than I have a major complaint about the second one that comes back to this sparse style. The first story's title made it clear whose POV we were in, and the when of it was given by the second page, so that was easy enough to piece together. The second bonus story, however, has a title that makes you think it's going to expand on Naofumi's and Raphtalia's first lunch together, only to be Raphtalia's backstory instead. So, I was fairly sure I was in Raphtalia's POV, but that wasn't confirmed until SIX pages into it. Yeah, I figured it out before then, but that was only because I had seen this animated. If all I had was this book to go off of, it would have taken me much longer to figure it out.

So, a lot of negatives, but it can mostly be boiled down to the sparse writing of the novel. The physical book looks decently sized, but it's deceptive both because there's a lot of wasted space at the top of each page and because almost every sentence gets its own paragraph. A lot does still happen in this first volume, but it could have been more detailed. I know manga/light novels are churned out at a much faster rate in Japan, which likely plays a huge role in the sparse writing, but... It really hinders this book. At the very least, let me know who is talking!

As for the actual story, this volume is great at setting everything up for the series, covering a lot of ground and ending with almost a fresh start for the next volume and beyond. The first episode of the anime is rather dark, but actually reading some of Naofumi's thoughts in this volume... Wow. I think part of it is that the ambiguity is removed. While you get quite a few thoughts from him in the anime, it's not the same as being in his actual POV. There's still a moment or two showing he could potentially care, but there's also several moments where it's clear he really couldn't care less.

This is one of those controversy things, of how the male characters act with women, but I do think Naofumi has a realistic response. Is it right? No. Does the author paint it as justified? I don't know. Naofumi certainly thinks it's justified, but I don't get that message from the author, even with how the character arcs play out in just this volume. Even with the questionable stuff in one of the side stories, it's clear the character isn't in the right for how he treats women. That's all I'm going to get into it for now, as we'll see how this topic evolves as I read more of the volumes.

I do really like that this first volume covers quite a bit of ground with his character arc, as well as Raphtalia's. It's just the right amount to establish what they've gone through and where they're now going.

For the main story and worldbuilding, it is done really well. Each event flows naturally to the next, and it's easy to see why Naofumi does and acts the way he does. The introduction of Raphtalia is the moment the story really changes, though it continues to do so at a natural pace. There's never a boring moment, even in the slower scenes when not as much progress is being made. Rather, there's the constant question as to how Naofumi is going to continue surviving and how he's going to overcome the disadvantages that have been heaped upon him.

The slave stuff is a little... questionable. It makes sense in the beginning, but it's always rubbed me the wrong way past that. There's a reason it's one of the biggest controversies about the series and I really wish it had been dropped after it was no longer necessary.

As for the two side stories, I really enjoyed the first one. In some ways, it makes me hate Motoyasu all the more, as he's behaving in a disgusting way (yet he does think Naofumi's supposed crime is WAY too far). In other ways, it makes it clear how little he actually knew about the schemes going on. Some of this is seen in the anime later on, but it's different to actually read it from his POV.

With the second story, I don't have a ton to say, as I already learned it from the anime, but it is interesting to get the detailed backstory for Ralphtalia so soon. My favorite bits, though, happened once Naofumi entered the picture. I loved seeing her POV for those moments, seeing her exact thoughts behind why she acted the way she did and for what she thought of Naofumi in general.

With the earlier bits of her backstory, it felt odder reading it than it did watching it. I don't know if they changed things that I'm not remembering or what, but she almost seemed to act too old for her age. Or, maybe it was that others who should have taken charge didn't, leaving her to be the leader. Yes, she can inspire everyone, but then nobody else seemed to take charge. It was a little odd. Or maybe it's just me.

Overall, the story, worldbuilding, and characters are all great, but the writing is just so poor and the dialogue is often confusing. I'd rate the great things at 4.5 stars but the writing at 1 star. Like I said, I did get used to the sparse writing style as I read, but that doesn't make it good.

I'm still going to keep reading the series, as I want to know what the anime skipped over (at least three volumes of content, from my understanding), but the prose reads more like a first draft while the story, worldbuilding, and characters have more work put into them. If you can get past the poor writing, the rest is enjoyable.

There are the controversies, but I think the only one that's a real problem is that one line right near the end, with the slavery issue. It's a weird choice that really didn't need to be there and makes zero changes to anything moving forward that I recall/know of. It's there just to justify Naofumi's decisions.

[Brian Wilkerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I really liked the anime, and I had heard that a lot of stuff had to be adapted out in the making out of. Lore, world building, the inner thoughts of the protagonist, etc. had to be left out. So I looked into the light novel, and I enjoyed it.

As the book opens, the plot is ostensibly about this kingdom summoning four heroes from another world as part of preparing for the Waves of Destruction, this apocalyptic event. Except, that is not really what the plot is about. The plot is really about Naofumi surviving a much more mundane threat between each Wave, the treachery of his fellow humans.

The book starts out pretty lackluster and generic. Naofumi is this perfectly ordinary otaku college student who is abruptly summoned to another world to be a legendary hero that has to save it from doom. He gets a special item, and a really cute girl joins his party. Then he sets off for a fun adventure! Except not really.

The plot only truly starts at chapter 7: "A backstapper named land mine". This is the infamous plot twist that you have most likely heard of if you have heard of the series at all. After this happens, the story gets truly interesting. World building picks up, lore on and mechanics of the Legendary Shield expands, and Naofumi's characterization gets deeper than "nice guy otaku". This switch is necessary.

A trope can only be properly subverted if it is first played straight, otherwise it has been averted and its absence is only noted by the reader's mind. So it is necessary to introduce Naofumi and the other three as generic in order to set the contrast, both between the innocent Naofumi and jaded Naofumi, and also between jaded Naofumi and the other three heroes, who appear to be more typical isekai protagonist types.

What follows is Naofumi's attempt to simply make a living for himself, getting enough money to buy food or hunter/gather food himself. He has to teach himself how to use his Shield, how to navigate the town's economy, and how to fend off people who think he is an easy mark. It is not glamorous or heroic but his personal narration makes it interesting, which is likely why the anime skipped forward to Raphtalia's introduction. It is hard to make "a character thinking" interesting in a visual medium.

Speaking of the 2019 Crunchyroll Best Girl, Raphtalia's introduction makes the story even better. Now Naofumi has someone to interact with on a regular basis in addition to his private monologues. Raphtalia is intensely sympathetic, a little girl who has been enslaved, has been mistreated by prior masters and is currently sick and experiencing night terrors. Naofumi buys her to wield a sword in combat, because his Legendary Shield forbids him from using any other weapons. So Naofumi protects her with his shield while training her to use a sword.

Now this here is an interesting point between the two versions, anime and light novel.
In the anime, we don't see Naofumi's thoughts, so what we have is essentially Raphtalia's viewpoint. She is purchased by yet another master but, unlike her previous one, this new one treats her very well. He buys her food when she is hungry, protects her from monsters in the field, prioritizes her equipment over his own, makes medicine to cure her illness, comforts her when she has nightmares, and even buys her a ball to play with for when she is done with her daily work. It is little wonder that she becomes so devoted to him so quickly.
In the light novel, by contrast, we have Naofumi's viewpoint, and it is a pragmatic one. Everything he is does for Raphtalia is about protecting his investment. She is no good to him dead, after all, and he doesn't have enough silver for a replacement slave. There is still the issue of the toy ball, though, and he admits to becoming fond of her.

It came as a surprise to me that the Wave of Destruction was not the climax of the story. While it is a high point, what happens afterward is the true climax, and it is more fitting with the book as a whole and provides far greater catharsis.

Now a note on the battle sequences. There are certain segments during the Wave of Destruction that appear to have been created for the anime to make it more engaging because I did not see them in the book. The book's event is good, don't get me wrong, but I think the author is more interested in "Naofumi the merchant" than "Naofumi the warrior". The duel at the end of the book is also somewhat disappointing, effectively only showing Round 1 and then skipping to the conclusion.

Also included in the book are two bonus chapters featuring Raphtalia and Motoyatsu, the Spear Hero.
Raphtalia's chapter shows what her life was like before meeting Naofumi, which is only hinted at in the main narrative. It makes her even more sympathetic than before, as well as a deeper character.
Motoyatsu's chapter is like a fun-house mirror. It is presented in his perspective, which sounds like a happy and pleasant thing on the surface, but scarcely conceals what is really going on. He is basically using his status as a Legendary Hero for ego-stroking, and ignores anything that does not fit his rosy image. One scene in particular can hit really hard in the feels when the pieces come together.

Finally, a note on the wordcraft of the story.
This story is written from Naofumi's perspective, so anything that he doesn't notice or doesn't feel important enough to describe or explain is not described or explained. If he doesn't realize a condition is in effect immediately, he will say something retroactively. This second part might be a remnant of the story originating as a web novel.

Next, the dialogue does not always explicitly indicate who is talking. This may be confusing if you are not expecting it. It is a little confusing at times, but I do not see it as a problem. Why? Because whenever it happens, one can infer who said it based on what is said.
The king speaks differently from the slave owner, and Naofumi speaks differently from the vendors he talks to . So one can tell who is speaking based on context. I think this is a side-effect of translation from Japanese to English, but I do not know for certain. Also, since the other three Legendary Heroes tend to appear as a group, they are effectively a cast herd, so it doesn't matter which of them said which thing, because it is appropriate for any of them to say it. Even so, one can spot differences and infer as time goes on.

Trickster Eric Novels gives Rising of the Shield Hero volume 1 a B+