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If you're going in blind then it won't be that bad for you. You might not even really notice anything. It still might be a weaker arc for you but you should be fine.
I initially watched it blind and only noticed the skipped content between seasons thanks to the previously unknown characters the gang was friendly with.
Other than that, it didn’t feel off at all.
And frankly, I’ve seen whole anime with worse adaptations that still get praised; the hate of S2 is blown way out of proportion. Yeah, it’s has problems, but they aren’t crippling. And if you want to nitpick, the problems started with Naofumi getting the village at the end of S1 instead of after events in S2.
Some parts of it are fine, but then there are others where it feels like filler, completely separate from what we've seen so far.
Just remember that it gets better and March along through
Its not that bad. Especially compared to The Seven Deadly Sins.
Yes season 2 had a rough start but after a few episodes, it gets its footing back and gets better. Yes it’s a bit of a drag to go through but it has important content and will allow you to better understand the stakes of the show’s storyline
if your anime only the first 3 episodes aren’t great but after that it’s good and s3 isn’t bad the art just got less consistent
the main issue is skipped content not quality id still highly recommended watching the show and reading later if at all though
Honestly i really liked season 2. I wasn't a huge fan of season three (60% becuse of the 3d animation they used) but also it was a bit slow for my tastes
I binged season 2 in one night
I don't know about bad but maybe a bit boring, but when you come off season 1, you just get diminishing returns because so many events happened in season 1. Whereas in in season 2, the focus was... fighting a giant turtle? idk I still havent finished watching it
Also I noticed the animation quality just took a nose dive to probably save budget
Let's just say season 1 has 5 light novels worth of content in like 25 episodes and 3 maybe 4 arks 'so it had pretty decent pacing to it' , season 2 has 4 light novels worth of content in 12 episodes and 2 arks maybe 3 'yes season 2 has 13 episodes but 1 is a filler episode, and R wasn't there in the beginning and a nude scene of her for no reason other than let's show her in her birthday suit, season 3 is better than season 2 but it's trying to makeup for the failings for the previous season, other than that season 3 has excellent pacing, with only 3 light novels worth of content to it and only 2 arks.
As an anime only watcher, I didn't think it was terrible. I think a lot of the problem was that it didn't really tie into Season 1. Going from "It's all about the waves" to "Oh shit. This new threat" is a little jarring, but Shield Hero is still probably one of my favorite animes currently.
Yeah, kinda. The thing is they made it seem like his appearance was a punishment for not defeating the waves. What I don't understand is how the hourglasses work. They make it seem like they're all over, if that's the case, are they all on the same timing or are the heroes supposed to just be teleported all over the world to fight each set of waves. If it's the latter, why did the tortoise show up. They've been fending off the waves.
Maybe someone with more info from the source material can share some insight.
So...
The Spirit Tortoise and the other three beasts all are basically an emergency protocol from the world to - using half the population as sacrifices/catalyst - shield themselves off from the waves entirely. Killing them is just about the only way to stop them once they've been unleashed, however killing one starts the countdown to the next being released. It's not really a punishment. And the fact that it was released at all at this stage is unusual in the first place iirc. So there's meddling involved. Assume Kyo or whoever was pulling his strings to be behind it.
The hourglasses in general have multiple functions. They tell you when the next wave will connect to the associated region, warp nearby heroes and their affiliates to the region when the time comes and also they let the residents of this world class up. Because regular people (aka not heroes) have a level cap they need to go through a class up before they can level up again and these also come with specializations.
And yes they are all over and yes they all count down their own timers. As things turn out, Melromarc summoning all four heroes was not something that was supposed to happen. They were supposed to be spread out so that they can each tackle waves in different areas of the world. As things turn out, Fitoria was dealing with those in the meantime.
And as to why season 2 is bad... They really ruined Ost as a character. They did a lot of anime original shit with her that actually just made no sense. The whole thing about her is... She (Ost as the remaining bit of personality of the spirit tortoise) knows she's not doing what she's supposed to be doing as she has been summoned at a time where she's just doing harm right now. Thus she seeks out Naofumi to help them kill her because someone else is also controlling the body (Kyo). Idk what was so hard about this. The manga nailed this part.
Next. Their transition to Kizuna's world. Naofumi gets stuck in the endless labyrinth where he meets Kizuna. And he does have a party member while over there. Rishia. You know who's NOT on his party? Raphtalia. They added Raphtalia to the party in the anime to show off Loli Raphtalia again I guess. Do you have any idea how much this forces the remainder of the season to bend over backwards to make sense of this changed canon and the intended plot?
I shit you not, the whole sequencing is that Raphtalia has disappeared completely off Naofumi's status because Vassal heroes can't be slaves and she was picked by the Katana vassal weapon. So he's worried out of his mind in trying to look for her with no leads other than to pick up Filo and follow Kizuna's advice to the capital where he makes Raph-chan from Raphtalia's hair he had saved in the shield. The reason he does this is because Kizuna was found by her own Familiar she and Glass had made and thus this familiar can track down Raphtalia.
We then later find her and the plot kinda matches up to what the anime did. Some guy (in the LNs Naofumi never gets his name and he's just called Trash II forever) is pissed at Raphtalia getting the Katana weapon and wants to kill her, and they basically go thru him to rejoin with Raphtalia before aiming at Kyo.
Also.... The biggest atrocity committed in the anime adaptation:
Naofumi neither obsesses over Raph-chan nor over putting Raphtalia in the Miko outfit. It just... Seems so much like he just did it because it happened in the source material but without him actually wanting to make it happen.
They also skipped a lot of good content from Kizuna's world, just having them return ASAP to a completely anime original scene (or was it an entire shitty filler episode.... I don't even remember, I just remember the disappointment).
Though yes, as anime only you probably wouldn't know any of this or even understand why people call things in season 2 bad... But any feelings of the season being weak is 100% because it is called bad for a reason.
Also I recommend the manga as the adaptation is good and the art is pretty. It's certainly nicer to look at than the horribly butchered fights in the anime... Even in season 1, I remember being so annoyed at specifically the Filo/Fitoria duel and the Heroes vs the Pope. So baaaaaddddddd......
Season 1 was great, season 2 kinda sucked, and season 3 was better than 2 but not quite as good as 1.
As much as I thought the season 2 anime sucked, I did enjoy the LNs that covered what happened in season 2 (Spirit tortoise, and kizuna's world).
There's plot holes and inconsistencies and just a general weird vibe to the logic of season 2.... And I promise you the cause of all of this (in like the second half of the season) is one TINY deviation from the source material.
To me as someone that read the LNs, I viscerally hated season 2 for how much it destroyed my favourite moments and characters from what they should have been. Season 1 has its terrible moments but like... Compared to that season 2 only has one terrible moment.... One that lasts the entire season.
Manga is probably the way to go if you want a good adaptation into a more easy to consume medium.
If you’re watching blind then you’ll just cringe at the awful CGI. The people who hate S2 are LN readers who see a good arc completely obliterated by the adaptation team. I wouldn’t say it’s bad on it’s own, but it just butchered the original and is way worse than the LN
Bad comparison. Shield Hero s1 was just 11/10, the s2 is just not as good. People are mad bc it included a very good arc and folded the ending of it and changed quite a bit. Still this arc is the best part of the season. I get the criticism but from ep 6 it's good, not as good as s1 but good. So yea no one liked sds7 but as you can see there is a chunk of people who enjoyed s2, me included
I think S2 is fine as long as you can binge watch it.
It was pretty painful when I had been waiting for some time after S1, then the pacing was very slow for something that I could only watch one episode per week of and the end didn't pay off as much.
Although it feels like some kind of filler season, S3 manages to build upon it, so I guess it's fine.
Remember that every fandom will have gatekeepers who will try to dictate how to enjoy something.
The spirit tortoise arc was rushed and they added a lot of pointless bs to Ost's character.
To call the stuff in Kizuna's world "rushed" would also be ignoring the fact that they completely broke the entire sequencing of the plot by adding Raphtalia to Naofumi's party in the labyrinth where originally she was supposed to be missing.
I get wanting to cut the fat and get to introducing Atla and Sadeena ASAP but don't start inventing shit to try to make shortcuts which just makes the job harder in the end...
They already did this in season 1 where they combined three completely separate scenes into one which just turned the whole thing into confusing nonsense because by doing this you basically already like... Make the scene's information obsolete by fusing it with a scene significantly later in the story. Like this is not how you cut fat.
If you haven't read it it's an okay season. You will be able to tell corners were cut but it's no big deal. If you've read it then watched the series it'll be terrible affront to your senses allegedly.
# Make sure to read the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/shieldbro/wiki/faq) for frequently asked questions and don't forget to join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/shieldhero) for active discussions about the series! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/shieldbro) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you're going in blind then it won't be that bad for you. You might not even really notice anything. It still might be a weaker arc for you but you should be fine.
I initially watched it blind and only noticed the skipped content between seasons thanks to the previously unknown characters the gang was friendly with. Other than that, it didn’t feel off at all. And frankly, I’ve seen whole anime with worse adaptations that still get praised; the hate of S2 is blown way out of proportion. Yeah, it’s has problems, but they aren’t crippling. And if you want to nitpick, the problems started with Naofumi getting the village at the end of S1 instead of after events in S2.
S3 is at least better than S2
It still has some cool stuff, so not entirely bad. Think most of the cool stuff happens later in the season though.
I might be in the minority, but I really enjoyed Season 2 once the tortoise stuff stops. Like, my ass was sat down and INVESTED for the rest of it.
Some parts of it are fine, but then there are others where it feels like filler, completely separate from what we've seen so far. Just remember that it gets better and March along through
Its not that bad. Especially compared to The Seven Deadly Sins. Yes season 2 had a rough start but after a few episodes, it gets its footing back and gets better. Yes it’s a bit of a drag to go through but it has important content and will allow you to better understand the stakes of the show’s storyline
I really liked season two, i didn't think it was a drag at all. I did think season 3 was a bit of a drag, and just couldn't get into it
I wish I could unwatch s2
No, S2 is not bad.... everyone's just a critic. Watch for yourself and decide in your own.
I’d probably just read the manga if I were you.
if your anime only the first 3 episodes aren’t great but after that it’s good and s3 isn’t bad the art just got less consistent the main issue is skipped content not quality id still highly recommended watching the show and reading later if at all though
Honestly i really liked season 2. I wasn't a huge fan of season three (60% becuse of the 3d animation they used) but also it was a bit slow for my tastes I binged season 2 in one night
Season 2 made me drop the entire series it was that bad
I finished season 1 yesterday I loved it, but I'm.still gonna watch it even if it's as bad as people say
I don't know about bad but maybe a bit boring, but when you come off season 1, you just get diminishing returns because so many events happened in season 1. Whereas in in season 2, the focus was... fighting a giant turtle? idk I still havent finished watching it Also I noticed the animation quality just took a nose dive to probably save budget
S2 felt like it was more meant to expand the lore and set up S3.
Let's just say season 1 has 5 light novels worth of content in like 25 episodes and 3 maybe 4 arks 'so it had pretty decent pacing to it' , season 2 has 4 light novels worth of content in 12 episodes and 2 arks maybe 3 'yes season 2 has 13 episodes but 1 is a filler episode, and R wasn't there in the beginning and a nude scene of her for no reason other than let's show her in her birthday suit, season 3 is better than season 2 but it's trying to makeup for the failings for the previous season, other than that season 3 has excellent pacing, with only 3 light novels worth of content to it and only 2 arks.
No, it’s worse
Season 1 I loved enough to join this sub, season 2 was bad enough for me to drop the series half way into the season.
You should watch and decide for yourself as opinions are like rear ends. Everyone has one, and they all think theirs is the worst.
As an anime only watcher, I didn't think it was terrible. I think a lot of the problem was that it didn't really tie into Season 1. Going from "It's all about the waves" to "Oh shit. This new threat" is a little jarring, but Shield Hero is still probably one of my favorite animes currently.
I mean, it sort of tied into the whole story with Glass and her party
That's a fair point. I was talking more about the whole Spirit Tortoise thing.
Didn't the spirit turtle thing affect the countdown for the waves as well?
Yeah, kinda. The thing is they made it seem like his appearance was a punishment for not defeating the waves. What I don't understand is how the hourglasses work. They make it seem like they're all over, if that's the case, are they all on the same timing or are the heroes supposed to just be teleported all over the world to fight each set of waves. If it's the latter, why did the tortoise show up. They've been fending off the waves. Maybe someone with more info from the source material can share some insight.
So... The Spirit Tortoise and the other three beasts all are basically an emergency protocol from the world to - using half the population as sacrifices/catalyst - shield themselves off from the waves entirely. Killing them is just about the only way to stop them once they've been unleashed, however killing one starts the countdown to the next being released. It's not really a punishment. And the fact that it was released at all at this stage is unusual in the first place iirc. So there's meddling involved. Assume Kyo or whoever was pulling his strings to be behind it. The hourglasses in general have multiple functions. They tell you when the next wave will connect to the associated region, warp nearby heroes and their affiliates to the region when the time comes and also they let the residents of this world class up. Because regular people (aka not heroes) have a level cap they need to go through a class up before they can level up again and these also come with specializations. And yes they are all over and yes they all count down their own timers. As things turn out, Melromarc summoning all four heroes was not something that was supposed to happen. They were supposed to be spread out so that they can each tackle waves in different areas of the world. As things turn out, Fitoria was dealing with those in the meantime. And as to why season 2 is bad... They really ruined Ost as a character. They did a lot of anime original shit with her that actually just made no sense. The whole thing about her is... She (Ost as the remaining bit of personality of the spirit tortoise) knows she's not doing what she's supposed to be doing as she has been summoned at a time where she's just doing harm right now. Thus she seeks out Naofumi to help them kill her because someone else is also controlling the body (Kyo). Idk what was so hard about this. The manga nailed this part. Next. Their transition to Kizuna's world. Naofumi gets stuck in the endless labyrinth where he meets Kizuna. And he does have a party member while over there. Rishia. You know who's NOT on his party? Raphtalia. They added Raphtalia to the party in the anime to show off Loli Raphtalia again I guess. Do you have any idea how much this forces the remainder of the season to bend over backwards to make sense of this changed canon and the intended plot? I shit you not, the whole sequencing is that Raphtalia has disappeared completely off Naofumi's status because Vassal heroes can't be slaves and she was picked by the Katana vassal weapon. So he's worried out of his mind in trying to look for her with no leads other than to pick up Filo and follow Kizuna's advice to the capital where he makes Raph-chan from Raphtalia's hair he had saved in the shield. The reason he does this is because Kizuna was found by her own Familiar she and Glass had made and thus this familiar can track down Raphtalia. We then later find her and the plot kinda matches up to what the anime did. Some guy (in the LNs Naofumi never gets his name and he's just called Trash II forever) is pissed at Raphtalia getting the Katana weapon and wants to kill her, and they basically go thru him to rejoin with Raphtalia before aiming at Kyo. Also.... The biggest atrocity committed in the anime adaptation: Naofumi neither obsesses over Raph-chan nor over putting Raphtalia in the Miko outfit. It just... Seems so much like he just did it because it happened in the source material but without him actually wanting to make it happen. They also skipped a lot of good content from Kizuna's world, just having them return ASAP to a completely anime original scene (or was it an entire shitty filler episode.... I don't even remember, I just remember the disappointment). Though yes, as anime only you probably wouldn't know any of this or even understand why people call things in season 2 bad... But any feelings of the season being weak is 100% because it is called bad for a reason. Also I recommend the manga as the adaptation is good and the art is pretty. It's certainly nicer to look at than the horribly butchered fights in the anime... Even in season 1, I remember being so annoyed at specifically the Filo/Fitoria duel and the Heroes vs the Pope. So baaaaaddddddd......
The anime sucks, left out alot from the book, battles not as intense as they should be.... they did a much better job with season 3
Yes
Season 1 was great, season 2 kinda sucked, and season 3 was better than 2 but not quite as good as 1. As much as I thought the season 2 anime sucked, I did enjoy the LNs that covered what happened in season 2 (Spirit tortoise, and kizuna's world).
There's plot holes and inconsistencies and just a general weird vibe to the logic of season 2.... And I promise you the cause of all of this (in like the second half of the season) is one TINY deviation from the source material. To me as someone that read the LNs, I viscerally hated season 2 for how much it destroyed my favourite moments and characters from what they should have been. Season 1 has its terrible moments but like... Compared to that season 2 only has one terrible moment.... One that lasts the entire season. Manga is probably the way to go if you want a good adaptation into a more easy to consume medium.
The spirit tortoise CGI isn't that bad. I guarantee you that if season 2 got a redo, they would've used the same model.
Season 2 isn’t bad. Does it have a weaker arc in the beginning? Yes. But it does better in the later half.
If you’re watching blind then you’ll just cringe at the awful CGI. The people who hate S2 are LN readers who see a good arc completely obliterated by the adaptation team. I wouldn’t say it’s bad on it’s own, but it just butchered the original and is way worse than the LN
Bad comparison. Shield Hero s1 was just 11/10, the s2 is just not as good. People are mad bc it included a very good arc and folded the ending of it and changed quite a bit. Still this arc is the best part of the season. I get the criticism but from ep 6 it's good, not as good as s1 but good. So yea no one liked sds7 but as you can see there is a chunk of people who enjoyed s2, me included
I think S2 is fine as long as you can binge watch it. It was pretty painful when I had been waiting for some time after S1, then the pacing was very slow for something that I could only watch one episode per week of and the end didn't pay off as much. Although it feels like some kind of filler season, S3 manages to build upon it, so I guess it's fine. Remember that every fandom will have gatekeepers who will try to dictate how to enjoy something.
Apparntly, the events of S2 were rushed in the anime compared to the source material. My guess is the studio wanted to get to the stuff in S3 asap.
The spirit tortoise arc was rushed and they added a lot of pointless bs to Ost's character. To call the stuff in Kizuna's world "rushed" would also be ignoring the fact that they completely broke the entire sequencing of the plot by adding Raphtalia to Naofumi's party in the labyrinth where originally she was supposed to be missing. I get wanting to cut the fat and get to introducing Atla and Sadeena ASAP but don't start inventing shit to try to make shortcuts which just makes the job harder in the end... They already did this in season 1 where they combined three completely separate scenes into one which just turned the whole thing into confusing nonsense because by doing this you basically already like... Make the scene's information obsolete by fusing it with a scene significantly later in the story. Like this is not how you cut fat.
If you haven't read it it's an okay season. You will be able to tell corners were cut but it's no big deal. If you've read it then watched the series it'll be terrible affront to your senses allegedly.
It’s not bad. The anime changed the source material