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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari
The Rising of the Shield Hero
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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 盾の勇者の成り上がり

Information

Type: Light Novel

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Aug 22, 2013 to ?

Genre: Fantasy

Theme: Isekai

Serialization: None

Authors: Aneko, Yusagi (Story), Minami, Seira (Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.96¹ (scored by 16,332 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #871²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #359

Members: 46,611

Favorites: 1,751

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 16 / 17

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Nov 15, 2014

sliceranon

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

First review was taken down so figured I would try again.

This is a really good series and I highly recommend it, "why?" because it has unique twist to the transported to another world story that you can’t help but feel drawn to and it has amazing characters that you will appropriately hate or love depending on the authors intention. I can't recommend this enough for I truly love reading this and I feel anybody could pick it up and love it with its high amount of detail and unique twists so hope on the shield hero express and try it out.

Rough outline- A random ...

May 14, 2015

MainReaper6666

Recommended

Preliminary (75/? chp)

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari is something like a mix of akame ga kill, Sword art online/Log horizon, Dungeon Ni Deai Wo Motomeru No Wa Machigatteiru Darou ka and a main character that you can't dislike (almost like in Yahari ore no seishun love comedy wa Machigatteiru). Plot is just like in some other light novels about being sent to another world and that's the part that really grasped my heart, that the main character is just (more or less) like a normal person. You can see that he's not a hero type but yet, he's getting popular with everyone even after being framed and ...

Jan 29, 2015

metafalica

Recommended

Preliminary (236/? chp)

Tate no Yuusha has become tied with Sword Art Online as my favorite Japanese Light Novel as of writing this review.

The basis behind Tate no Yuusha is fairly simple. Four heroes are summoned from different Japans in order to fight against the invasion of monsters from something called the "Wave." At periodic intervals marked by a special hourglass, the monsters will attack and it is up to the four summoned heroes to defeat the monsters. However, what separates it is the fact that the main character, Naofumi, is rejected as a hero and quickly chooses to become an anti-hero due to circumstances. We also see ...

Mar 14, 2019

NoGround

Not Recommended

Preliminary (13/? chp)

This is probably the most horribly written light novel I have ever had the chance to read. The issue stems from it's extremely strong start, up until volume 4, then the plateau up until volume 8, and then the sharp drop-off in quality as you slowly begin to not only see the faults in this book series, but see them repeated over and over again with absolutely no progression in the story past volume 4, or at least it doesn't feel like there has been any meaningful progression for the past 9 volumes, even if there is it's so weak that it's nearly impossible to ... catch.

Let's start with the biggest offender: action scenes. Almost half of every volume is combat, but unfortunately it's completely terrible. Each enemy is stronger than the last, or the main characters have a stupid curse or something is happening to make them weaker. On top of that, every enemy goes through 3-4 different phases and refuses to give up in the most boring way possible. It's so anime and is absolutely horrible on a written medium. You can skip half of each volume in action scenes and miss absolutely nothing in terms of plot relevance. On top of all this, every action scene plays out the same way, over and over again: Naofumi is kicking ass. Enemy pulls out some item or some technique that makes him weaker. Naofumi's party gets through it. Enemy yells "I'm not done yet!" x3, Naofumi's party hits this guy a billion more times. Finally goes down yippy yay that's the 5th antagonist in 3 volumes that have just been killed off after being introduced not even 50 pages ago!

Second point leads from the first. Antagonists. Either they are dumb as bricks (the other heroes), or so eye-rollingly bland you just can't wait for them to be dealt with. Either that or they're just creepy or maybe they don't even have a personality, like the final antagonist from Volume 13. On top of that, their motives are all completely shallow and are just there for Naofumi and his OP party to beat up after anime-style fighting the same way you've read 50 previous times. Either way, Naofumi's enemies are boring and one-dimensional.

Next up is the MCs group. All character growth has completely stopped, and on top of that all the characters are shallow. Atla, a relatively recently introduced character is consistently violent and just annoying but the author is trying to create some kind of romance rivalry with Raphtalia or something? It's not like either one says anything more than one-liners at any point in time, nor does anyone else. I find myself getting annoyed with the amount of characters and their obnoxious habits or ridiculous behavior. There are also so many characters now that the author doesn't have the skill level to juggle properly, and they are, on top of it, all stereotypes or cliches from Japanese Media. It's just "yandere #11" that you've already seen and there's no progression there. And I don't even want to get started about the actual good characters, like Melty and Filo, that just get abandoned for almost entire volumes and replaced by characters I honestly couldn't care less about but the author seems to want to force them down my throat. It's just awful.

Now we have Naofumi himself. The first person perspective eventually becomes a crutch to get the author out of writing anything complicated, since he uses it as an excuse to ignore important details, entire conversations, or just anything he wants. I'll give it to him, though, it's consistent to the point where it is now an obstacle to the story instead of the good trait it was in the first 4 volumes. Naofumi's personality and obsession with his pet, which literally comes up every 15 pages as a way to relieve his stress with the other characters, is just as infuriating as the characters he's ignoring.

Finally we have plot. Since volume 8 the story has gone into a lull. The author has spent 5 volumes covering about 2 months worth of time in Naofumi's world, and this is where all these problems stick out like a sore thumb. I'm not excited for the rest of the story anymore, if between each big event we have 6 volumes of trash to take care of every time.

So yeah, I thought it was great until it was obviously awful.

Feb 23, 2015

MadDanchi

Recommended

Preliminary (16/? chp)

Mod Edit: This review may contain spoilers.
--------------

When I first read manga I was mad when read both ch 1,2 and I really hate the king and draughter and three heroes and don’t get me start on spear hero but want get better understanding of why is so good I start read Light Novel first Volume and it’s really good and here’s why

The story start were this four boys summoned to another world to become one of the four heroes stop this great evil that was attacking people. so here we have mc who’s Shield Hero who got along with other three hero’s but when others ...

Jul 31, 2015

Impasse

Recommended

Preliminary (378/? chp)

Update as of 5/2023

Story 8/10
The plot is similar to the famous ( or maybe infamous to some ) Sword Art Online and Log Horizon. Although it is only up to the point wherein the protagonist gets stuck in a different world or gaming world. But the similarities end there. What makes this novel distinguishable is that the flow of the story has the capability to make the reader to read continuously due to its interesting world building potential. Some time transitions made me a little bit uneasy because there were not that much information given in the said transition (or this might just be ...

Jan 14, 2019

Hitman00770

Recommended

Preliminary (215/? chp)

This is my first review ever. Also this review is for the light novel (not the web novel). NO SPOILERS.

I started reading the light novel the moment I finished watching the first episode of the rising of the shield hero and all I could say is wow. It was really nice reading the light novel.

Story 10/10 Enjoyment 10/10
The beginning was as usual where the a guy gets summoned into another world, but as it progressed, our imagination will be different from what would happen. We might expect the MC to be the strongest, but that won't be the case, so you can expect a ...

Jun 6, 2015

OtakuMangaGamer

Recommended

Preliminary (14/? chp)

Great story if you one of those people who enjoy mmorpg type of manga. The story begins when the main characters gets traps in this mmorpg type of world in where he becomes the hero of shield, so in order to get out of this world and return to his, the main character need to complete the game. A long the way the main character begins finding new friends and people who will help him or try to defeat him so they can become the hero of this world. The art of this manga is really well made, in where the environment and the characters ...

Dec 26, 2018

Small-Sailor

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (10/? chp)

Read the first vol of the Light Novel and didn't continue.
Went and read the manga adaption and fell in love.
DONT READ THE LN! IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, THEN READ THE MANGA

The short version- The writing is abysmal and reads more like a shitty first draft of somebody who has never read an actual novel in their life and only reads manga.
The manga, thankfully, translates the story much better because of this and is overall a much better experience.

The full version-
As I said above, the LN reads like a poor attempt at a script for a manga. Its riddled with tropes unacceptable in the writing ...

Jan 31, 2015

ap1001

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (101/? chp)

A power fantasy work, not bad but if you see this kind a lot if you spend some time reading web novels. Old fantasy "goes to another world" trope, the MC getting framed and having multiple summoned heros was a interesting spin, but the writing, character and plot is pretty generic. For example, the king and the princess framing the MC for a really idotic reason (he uses a shield so he must be evil, cause religion lol), and the other heros are incompetent idiots. The supporting characters are either shallow or stupid having little character, and despite the MC suppose to be the underdog ...

Mar 9, 2019

DaveHs

Recommended

Preliminary (13/? chp)

This novel when I read it I loved it, I started to follow it through the anime and then I found myself reading all the volumes of the light novel translated so far (13 in English), this story completely captivated me, I love it and I strongly recommend it, not I can wait until they translate more volumes of the novel I can not wait, I want to know what happens to Naofumi and Raphtalia.

Each character has its charisma, naofumi is the closest thing to the personality that someone would acquire when going through something like betrayal as soon as they reach a place, but ...

May 3, 2016

Suzu-kun22

Recommended

Preliminary (43/? chp)

Well, so far I can just say that this series is WAY better than what I've watched of the SAO series and if they ever made an anime out of it, I would totally watch it.

Art: The drawings are BEAUTIFUL, I only wish there were more so I could enjoy them on a more constant basis. The writing quality is... well... it's not the best. There are a number of typos (though that may just be the English publishers). But at least it's not unreadable.

Story: The story is fairy average. Some otaku gets dragged into another world, and he's kinda upset about it. Though ...

Aug 29, 2015

appido

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

I have slightly updated this review since I have now finished the entire series. It is based on the web series and only contains a couple very minor spoilers that won't ruin anything.

Story???

The protagonist is mysteriously summoned into the world of a book he is reading to be 1 of 4 legendary heroes that will save this other world. Cliche right? Well it takes a an interesting turn almost immediately after he arrives when he finds himself as the hero of the shield, viewed as the weakest of the 4 heroes. He is discriminated against and starts to hate this new world he ... has come to. You watch him go back and forth between being a villain and a hero as he struggles about what to do. All the while this new world is being invaded by an unknown force and battling with various political conflicts.

Setting???

The setting is a time of kings and knights with no modern technology. However, there's magic and the world itself runs like a video game. Very similar to sword art online, the characters learn new skills, earn exp, and level up while fighting monsters and other enemies that appear.

Characters???

There is a wide variety of characters in this novel but it can be summarized quite easily like this:

1) People who hate the hero- People so absurdly stupid that you can't help but hate them.
2) People who like the hero- Interesting and well thought out characters that have good character development

The hero and his circle of companions are really interesting and it's very easy to like them. However, while a couple of the "bad guys" are interesting, the majority of them are so over the top stupid that it can't help but bug you.

Additional Comments???

This is your typical harem where all the heroes companions are girls and fall in love with him. However, they're also all 10-12 years old. Not to mention the hero takes being obvious to the next level. Although it does follow a harem like formula, the heroins aren't over the top so a person who dislikes harems shouldn't have a problem reading.

The first 5-6 volumes of the web series are very good but around volume 7-8, it starts getting way to ridiculous. At one point one of the heroes uses a penis shaped spear and a flock of girls turn their eyes in embarrassment. If you can make it through some of the ridiculous stupidness of these couple volumes then it does get a lot better starting from the end of volume 10. Volume 12-17 are very good but almost feels a tad bit rushed. The last 5 volumes or so is almost nothing but fighting the entire time. Even still, it's pretty good. I strongly suggest suffering through the crappy volumes 7-10 to read the later volumes.

Oct 3, 2015

ShipwreckSailor

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

This story though.
So much epic.
The entire story is a bumpy ride of trials, emotions, and survival with no end to the hero's' efforts in fighting along the fine line of right and wrong, good and evil. With comedy thrown in at every turn to go along perfectly with the protagonist.
In this story I don't sit back and think... "what the heck!? This would never happen."... or ... "yeah, right. Sure."
When I consider being summoned to a new world and being loathed from the get go, this author has done a beautiful job of how I imagine it would go. Or at the very least, the ... story has convinced me in believing that this is how it should go.
In this novel, the hero and those around him do not seem indestructible because they aren't. This isn't Game of Thrones in which everyone you love dies, but neither is it some teeny bop story with a writer too worried about losing fans to put the fear of losing a character in their readers' very soul.
"I've been summoned as the hero and in one move I'm going to blow you away because you're in my way," does not exist in this story. Effort is needed for success and effort is given. There IS a harem, but there ISN'T and this is my most favourite part about this story. There are plenty of women to choose from but they're not blatantly drooling over the protagonist like some teenager-going-through-puberty's wet dream.

My complaints: Some characters I had difficulty understanding. I'm not sure if it's just Japanese standard or if it was lost in translation but I feel the author could have done a better job conveying a handful of the characters' personalities, attitudes, or reasoning a bit better. There are scenes with a bit too much dialogue. Other times, I feel quite unintelligent as they explain some mechanic or another of the world which results in being practically unnecessary information later on. That last part might just be because I am unintelligent, but I'd rather think I'm not. There also seemed to be a bit of conflict recycling going on throughout the story to the point where you good expect what was going to happen for the next 5 chapters. But even then, there were still parts of those 5 chapters which kept you reading to avoid risking some growth period for the protagonist and the others in the story.

Sword Art Online introduced me, properly, to the the 'Entering another world' theme which I don't know the proper name for, or if there is one. But Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari has successfully hooked me on the theme with this story and I will eagerly hunt down other stories like it to satisfy my newfound craving.

Aug 16, 2021

jonunderw00d

Recommended

Preliminary (11/? chp)

This is my first review for the The Rising of the Shield Hero (TRotSH) LN. This is also the first LN I've ever read. I'll be updating this review as I progress through all the volumes.

Disclaimer: I've watched the first season of TRotSH anime before getting into the LN, so I'm reviewing this LN mainly to compare it to the anime. If you want my review of the anime, go ahead and click on my profile and read my review.

TRotSH is basically an Arthurian tale of heroism, but set on a parallel world. The synopsis of the LN and the anime should cover the ...

Jan 10, 2024

JuJuBeans1

Recommended

Preliminary (1/? chp)

An extremely good Isekai manga the stands above the rest.

In a sea of low standard garbage shlock that is the Isekai light novel genre, The Rising of the Shield Hero, stands out by being just genuinely well written. Which after reading and watching a lot of Isekai, I can assure you is very rare in this field. Shield Hero gets pretty much everything right.

The characters are well written and very well defined there is hardly any anime garbage fan service. Every character serves a purpose and shockingly, most of them have character development, the characters actually have arcs and drastically change to unrecognizable ... states from volume one. Completely abhorrent villainous characters when we first meet them, well get actual back story and have reasons as to why they're that way, hell even one of the main villains end up making a complete 180 and becoming a genuine nice character that becomes very helpful over16 volumes later. The main character is the best of them all. He is not a self insert, harem gathering, chode that becomes invincible. He is a mature adult who gets thrust into a unworldly situation and tries his best to live his new life. While pretty much every Isekai just completely ignores aspects like " How does the main characters understand this other dimensions language?" The answer? The main character studies it. He realizes it is a massive problem and concludes with logic and reason he needs to be able to read the language in order to live. He needs to study and learn from books to improve his skills with medicinal herbs, with trading, when interacting with people. He does this for several volumes and ends up teaching other people what he studied. He is just genuinely likeable guy who tries his hardest and worked for everything. As the title suggest, he rises up from literally nothing. He does not get random plot armour to instantly get pasty road blocks. He slowly but surely gets more powerful by learning and building up an empire of people who will back him up whenever. He does not have any love interests or constantly make inappropriate comments about the girls he finds. He just treats them like people. He makes mistakes and learns from them like anyone else. The author knows how to write a good character as the 3 characters who gets Isekai'd with him are the cliche anime garbage mc shlock that every one hates. The author knows that is bad writing and intentionally wrote those character to contrast with the main character. Villains will becomes allies, allies will become villains, side characters will gets full fledged back stories, every character is connected and has interesting relationships with others completely separate of the main characters. Characters are actually foreshadow and planned out ahead of time. You'll get a hit of a character and 3 volumes later you're like " wait a minute, is this who I think it is?"

I've been gushing about the characters because I believe that is the strongest aspect of the series. However that is not to diminish the other aspects of the story. Such as the fantastic world building. In such a wide genre as Isekai, where it is literally a magically fantasy land, series hardly ever take advantage of it. Shield Hero knows this, and makes some wonderful world building. The world is properly defined, with unique creatures, land marks, culture, different countries, different types of magic and weapons, different languages. This is such a simple thing that most authors completely forget about, but Shield hero doesn't. It uses this to create a grandiose adventure through ever changing landscapes and environments. You'll travel around the world with the cast meeting new and interesting things each volume. It keeps everything fresh and well paced. You never feel like you're stuck somewhere boring because something is always happening, the environment is always changing. The main characters is a wandering traveler. He will get his epic moments against impossible obstacles with huge magic spells and protecting countries. However, you'll also get get quaint moments where he does nothing more then wander into a small nameless village, meet people there, solve their problems, and get a nice story arc out of it. It allows us to see much more of the world seeing the extremes of fantasy castles to small poor villagers. Making us understand this places problems as a country. Not something just used to make up a plot for the story.

The only major negative I have is the lack of compelling stakes. In total, over the 20+ volumes, only one important character died. Obviously not everything has to be related to a character dying and the in moment stakes are satisfying enough for the current plot, but there is no real end goal. There is no over arching villain expect some vague evil god introduced 20 volumes in. Characters gets captured and defeated but we all know everything is going to be fine in the end. When the series started with this pessimistic theme where the main character could barely scrape by living through a single day and the entire world was against him, it was interesting to see it would play out. How this evil environment affected this character and how we would survive in this world. Naturally he develops as a characters and gets past that. We are now at the point where the main character journey is practically over. He is the strongest person around, he a cast of invaluable friends he would lose life and limb for, he got past all his major hardships, he learned everything there is know and honed all of his skills, he bought a land built a house and small town where everyone he liked in the past gathers to help him build a peaceful empire, he has the favor of the government and mystical beings. There really is no where for him to go. He completed his hero's journey. The plot has to be sorta of forced on to him for something impactful to actually happen. With no major ever lasting villain or obstacle to over come the latest volumes have become kinda stagnant, a lot of it is just slice of life while something completely random and arbitrary happens to force a plot to happen.

This story defies cliches and bad writing tropes that so many other series fall into and just ends up being a well made story first and foremost. I highly recommended reading it. I believe once this story is finished this will end up as quite possibly the peak of this genre. Aside from Re:Zero nothing even comes close to how well crafted this story is.