Highlights
- The third season of The Rising of the Shield Hero will focus on Naofumi rebuilding Raphtalia's village, shifting the story from action and combat to slice of life and city building/management.
- Naofumi will rely on demi-human slaves from the slave market to help with the construction, leading to heartfelt and wholesome moments as he saves and guides the demihuman kids.
- The story will introduce a new country called Zeltoble, where Naofumi and his friends will encounter a seedy underworld and witness intense battles in the infamous Colosseum, adding action, political intrigue, and betrayals to the plot.
The second season of The Rising of the Shield Hero may be shorter than the first one (13 episodes compared to the 25 episodes of season 1), but it was filled with electrifying action sequences. The story focuses on the struggle of Naofumi, Raphtalia, and their friends to defeat the true mastermind behind the Spirit Tortoise incident, a wicked man named Kyo. It was truly an exhilarating adventure from start to finish.
And now the third season is finally upon us. The second season of The Rising of the Shield Hero adapted chapters 43 through chapter 88 of the manga. This means the third season will adapt the story from chapter 89 onwards. With that in mind, here are some of the things that you can expect to see in the new season of The Rising of the Shield Hero. By the way, to avoid spoiling the story, we’ll only be focusing on the early parts of season 3.
City Building/Management
After such a fast pace and intense adventure in the second season, the story will slow down significantly in the third season. Now that Naofumi and the others managed to defeat the greatest threat to humanity, it is finally time for him to focus on himself and his followers, particularly Raphtalia and Filo. So he will focus all of his attention on tackling the difficult task of rebuilding Raphtalia’s destroyed village. This means for a while, the story will shift its focus from action and combat, to slice of life and city building/management.
The decision to rebuild Raphtalia’s hometown, the Lurolona Village, comes from the agreement between Naofumi and the Queen of Melromarc. After all, he wants a territory that is located far from the racist people of Melromarc. Since Lurolona is a demi-human village, there are little to no human settlements around it, which makes it the perfect place for Naofumi.
Not only that, the Shield Hero has always been the only one among the four heroes who is beloved by the demi-humans, so in a way, there's no person better than Naofumi to work on this long-abandoned project. That is why the Queen agrees to grant this territory to Naofumi. Last, but not least, it is Raphtalia's birthplace, so of course Naofumi will do everything he can to rebuild it. So begin Naofumi’s long and arduous journey of rebuilding and managing the territory that will hopefully become a safe haven for every demi-human in the country.
Hunting for Demi-Human Slaves
Bringing Lurolona village back to its glory is no easy task. It requires time, money, and labor. Naofumi has all the time in the world and as the hero who has saved the world numerous times, he is wealthier than most nobles in the country. The only missing variable is labor. The people who do the actual construction work.
Since no human from Melromarc wants to be involved in the project, Naofumi can only rely on the strength of the demi-humans. Unfortunately, there is only one place where you can find lots of demi-humans in Melromarc, the Slave Market. That meant having to visit the shady slave trader and purchase every demi-human that he owned.
Th story will be quite heartbreaking and rather wholesome at the same time. After all, this is the part where we’ll see our reluctant shield hero save and guide the disheartened and scarred demi-human kids so that they will regain their long-lost confidence and obtain the drive to rebuild not only the village but also their lives.
The Seedy Underworld of Zeltoble And Its Colosseum
Although working together with different demi-humans to rebuild Raphtalia's village is certainly a wholesome and refreshing direction for this series, it’s not The Rising of the Shield Hero if there's no action, political intrigue, and betrayals. That's why about partway through the reconstruction effort, Naofumi and his loyal followers will travel to a new place that we have never seen before. A country of Merchants and Mercenaries called Zeltoble.
Zeltoble is a place where you can buy anything as long as you have the money to pay for it. From rare items to deplorable objects, everything can be bought and sold in this country. Needless to say, this also includes demi-human Slaves. However, unlike the country of Melromarc, the scale of the slave market in Zeltoble is way beyond anything that exists in Melromarc. And that is the reason why Naofumi decided to visit this vibrant and depraved country.
Naofumi and friends will visit all kinds of places, meet different kinds of people, and do all sorts of things in Zeltoble. The most interesting one of them all, however, is when they enter the seedy underworld of Zeltoble, and witness the battle to the death that happens within its infamous Colosseum. There will be cunning and underhanded tactics, betrayals and deceptions, and exciting action sequences.
So if you like a cocktail of heartwarming stories, a thrilling journey into the depth of depravity, and brutal battles filled with ruthless and colorful attacks, then you should watch the third season of The Rising of the Shield Hero. The new season of this series will premiere on October 6th.
The Rising of the Shield Hero is available to stream on Crunchyroll.