Rising of the Shield Hero is a 2019 anime series by Studio Kinema, who made one of my recent favorite anime series, Made in Abyss. Knowing this going in I was already excited. I know there are plenty of anime series that involve normal people entering fantasy universes so that tempered my expectations slightly, but I had faith that the studio would provide something at the very least entertaining, and I definitely got more than just that.
The series follows a young 20 year old college kid Naofumi who while reading a book gets sucked into a fantasy world with 3 other people Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki. The 4 are given the roles of legendary heroes, the other 3 are the Sword, Spear, and Bow heroes. Naofumi is given the role of the “Shield” hero, the only hero with solely defensive capabilities, and the least popular of the 4.
The other 3 take quite easily to their roles. They build parties and begin to acquire experience. This is not-so for Naofumi, who at first finds a companion, only to be betrayed by her and accused of rape. And that accusation rings out across the land, and no one believes he is innocent. Since slavery is legal in this land, he buys one (ugh that was a hard element to gel with) and uses it to help him on the offensive front, and to level up.
Early on the series is bleak, but it gets more light-hearted as it goes on, and Naofumi adjust to his role in this world. The animation by Studio Kinema is quite solid, looks very nice, and is easy to make out the details even in the more action heavy moments. The score sounds similarly fantastic and truly fits the tone of the show.
Funimation presents the first season of Rising of Shield Hero across 2 sets of Blu-ray/DVD combo packs (S1 Parts 1 and 2). Part 1 also has a limited edition hardbox version with art book available. The series is presented 1:78:1 with a 1080p AVC encoded transfer. Everything looks quite solid here with excellent color and detail. Audio is presented with English 5.1 and Japanese 2.0 sound. Again everything sounded excellent and without issue. Extras include promo videos, TV spots, and clean opening and closings. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.