Highlights
- Naofumi's peaceful days as the Shield Hero involve being a leader for his people and addressing various issues in his territory.
- Rising of the Shield Hero has shifted its focus from action to slice-of-life and drama, providing a balanced storytelling experience.
- The current calm period in the series is actually a setup for an upcoming massive battle, building anticipation for action-packed episodes to come.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Rising of The Shield Hero Season 3, Episode 7, “The Girl and the Dragon”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
From hunting low-level monsters with little Raphtalia to fighting against the colossal Spirit Tortoise. From trying to find a way to escape a dimensional labyrinth to traveling across different countries in another world. Naofumi has done so many remarkable things during his short time as the enigmatic Shield Hero.
And now, roughly a couple of months before the scheduled appearance of the next Guardian Beast, the Phoenix, Naofumi finally has some relatively peaceful time on his hands. A period when there’s no critical danger happening around him. So in a downtime like this, what does a day in the life of a hero look like?
A Hero’s Peaceful Day
In a peaceful time like this, Naofumi can shed his responsibility as a hero and focus on being a good leader for the people who live in his domain. Sure, his territory may only be the size of a small town right now and his people consist mostly of demi-human orphans, but that doesn't mean he can have leisure time. On the contrary, there are so many things that require his attention.
A typical day for Naofumi begins when he wakes up in the morning and finds Atla sleeping beside him. Since they save Atla and her brother from Zeltoble, she seems to consider Naofumi as a father and wants to be by his side at all times. At this point, Raphtalia will usually reproach Atla and tell her not to bother Naofumi so early in the morning.
After such a hectic morning, Naofumi will usually spend quite a lot of time in his office either with Melty, Raphtalia, Eclair, or Sadeena. They will discuss any pressing issues regarding their newly rebuilt settlement, such as food supply, security, the health of the children, etc. This meeting goes on until lunch. By the way, since Naofumi is the best cook in the entire village and the kids love his food, he always ends up cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner for everybody.
Once lunch is over, Naofumi will go around the village to see the progress of the children’s training, and the state of the village's rebuilding effort. He will also talk with some of the residents, and deal with any issues and unexpected situations that may come up. In this episode, Naofumi reluctantly welcomes two new residents to Lurolona village, an alchemist who specializes in monsters, and a baby dragon.
This is pretty much what a typical day looks like for Naofumi these days. It may not be as exciting as fighting against a horde of interdimensional monsters, but it is still quite a hectic day nonetheless.
Less Action, More Drama
For a couple of episodes now, Rising of the Shield Hero has been focusing on the slice-of-life aspect of the series, such as the peaceful day shown in this episode. As a matter of fact, the last big action sequence happened back in episode 2 where Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo fought against Sadeena at the Zeltoble Coliseum.
Several short skirmishes happened after that, such as when a group of demi-human slave traders infiltrated Lurolona village, the fight with hunters from the other world, and also that brawl with Ren and Motoyasu. But for the most part, there is noticeably less and less action from the second episode onwards in favor of more drama and slice-of-life. This might seem like a boring detour to some viewers, but having slice-of-life moments like this is actually a good thing.
At its core, Rising of the Shield Hero is an action/adventure series. However, that doesn't mean it has to bombard the audience with one battle scene after the next. Because no matter how good the actions might be, everything will get boring after a while. That’s why good storytelling practice dictates the need for an ebb and flow. A slow-paced drama to balance the high-paced action. So a downtime like these recent episodes is actually good for the series as a whole.
The Calm Before the Storm
Continuing from the previous section, there is actually another valid reason behind this downtime, and it is one to be excited about. As mentioned earlier, the second Guardian Beast, the mighty Phoenix, is due to awaken soon. That’s why Naofumi has been working hard to increase the combat prowess of the demi-humans in his domain, gathering strong fighters like Sadeena, and most importantly, finding and joining forces with the other legendary heroes.
This means everything that has happened since the beginning of season 3 is nothing more than a giant setup for a massive battle that is about to happen soon. In a way, it’s the moment of calmness before the upcoming raging storm. So if you tuned in to Rising of the Shield Hero mainly for the mind-blowing action sequences, worry not because this series will fulfill your desire soon.