In the anime fandom, the generic D&D MMO clone "Rising of the Shield Hero" has incited flame wars because it reads like an incel revenge fantasy. Aside from that it isn't noteworthy at all and the controversy was probably manufactured deliberately to get views. More information after these paid advertisements.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BestOfOutrageCulture/comments/ae2woj/antisjws_defending_a_shitty_shitty_anime_rise_of/
Honestly, I wanted to watch it because the MC is apparently misanthropic (like myself) but now my potential enjoyment is prematurely soured by the political screeds from both sides of the spectrum.
(For those wondering why I have been absent for a month, I was hit by a careless driver. I am still recovering.)
I didnt know they made it into a series. I followed it to the end when it was a webnovel and its pretty darn good overall.
I've seen a few bitching and moaning about how misanthropic the hero is. But this keeps ignoring a few facts.
A: He was ruthlessly betrayed and then accused of rape. Which marred his outlook on the world and its people who consistently treat him like dirt.
B: He purchases Raftallia iniially because he needs help seriously and initially has some bad thoughts regarding her because of how he was treated. But surprisingly gets over it, cures her of illness, and she becomes his closest and practically only friend and it is in large part his concern for her and how badly she is treated that he finally throws off part of his dark mood and really sets out to be a hero.
and so on.
There's no controversy mentioned on the Wikipedia page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rising_of_the_Shield_Hero
Sounds dorky to me, but I'm not the anime audience. I'd be interested in opinions by people who have read/seen the actual product.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1071092(For those wondering why I have been absent for a month, I was hit by a careless driver. I am still recovering.)
Get better and sue the bastard!
As someone who's had the luxury of multiple car accident recoveries, my #1 advice is do your rehab 110% because the pain is very worth it long term.
Before the anime or manga the complaints were fairly minour and you could usually tell most were idiots who didnt actually read the book. They just hated it because someone told them to. Much like any given moron who spouts off about Starship Troopers being fascist etc ad nausium.
I had a glance at the first episode and have to say they did not get his likeness quite right, nor the king... Otherwise seems to be following the book well enough so far.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1071092In the anime fandom, the generic D&D MMO clone "Rising of the Shield Hero"
Sorry. No. Shield Hero is neither an MMO setting nor is is D&D clone.
Spoiler
The weapons work have built in systems to help the user and if I recall correctly it takes the game form because thats what the users were thinking of in part. Essentially part of their power is based heavily on the belief and expectation of the user.
I read ahead and, spoiler alert, the princess is punished by
Spoiler
being legally renamed to "bitch/whore" by her mother the queen and sentenced to being raped to death by a monster resembling Jabba the Hutt while being magically filmed for the kingdom's entertainment.
Dear God, the people complaining have a point. That genuinely reads like a #HimToo revenge fantasy. By what warped line of logic is that a remotely appropriate punishment for turning someone into a social pariah? A visit to Madame Guillotine is perfectly serviceable, thank you.
The silliest part is that the rape accusation could have been easily replaced without affecting the story at all. Then nobody would be complaining the show is misogynistic or congratulating it for ham-fistedly showing how false rape accusations hurt men. If the Shield Hero was raped by the princess the plot would probably have turned out the same, and that would have better explained his sudden descent into misanthropy given that all the other slights against him were cut for time. And her subsequent punishment would have made more sense.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1071147I read ahead and, spoiler alert, the princess is punished by Spoiler
being legally renamed to "bitch/whore" by her mother the queen and sentenced to being raped to death by a monster resembling Jabba the Hutt while being magically filmed for the kingdom's entertainment.
Dear God, the people complaining have a point. That genuinely reads like a #HimToo revenge fantasy. By what warped line of logic is that a remotely appropriate punishment for turning someone into a social pariah? A visit to Madame Guillotine is perfectly serviceable, thank you.
The silliest part is that the rape accusation could have been easily replaced without affecting the story at all. Then nobody would be complaining the show is misogynistic or congratulating it for ham-fistedly showing how false rape accusations hurt men. If the Shield Hero was raped by the princess the plot would probably have turned out the same, and that would have better explained his sudden descent into misanthropy given that all the other slights against him were cut for time. And her subsequent punishment would have made more sense.
Nice try at taking that out of context cupcake. But I actually read the whole book. So you fail miserably. You obviously just cherry picked what suited your little narrative screed.
Spoiler
That bit you noted comes after said princess has tried to murder her own sister and take over the kingsom with effectively a mind control virus in the form of a magic weapon. I'd have to re-read the set but I believe it was her mother, the queen who actually sent her off. And set up a series of gruesome executions of the traitors as shed pretty much had it with the princess at that point after having given her multiple chances to to reform. And renaming her was part of that as a concession to the alternative of having her executed at the time for, trying to kill her sister. The creep she gets sent off to os the king of a powerful nation and I forget the particulars but I believe it was done to keep him at bay and as execution for the princesses deeds. The reason it was recorded is a bit convoluted. But suffice to say it utterly sickened Naofumi I believe.
Assuming the amime actually follows th whole book, which I doubt it will as there was ALOT going on. Then expect the nuts out there to freak out and bitch incessantly. Probably without ever having watched it.
As for the slave thing. Initially it is a safety. He doesnt like it but his back is against the wall initially.
Spoiler
Fairly quickly it becomes a non-issue and and Raphtallias gets forcibly removed and she actually requests it be put back on her. With Firo its initially because shes a monster, an actual monster., a birdbrain and prone to acting up. This too becomes effectively a non-issue and is used more as a discipline measure when she gets out of hand. Aaaaand eventually Naofumi unlocks a skillset that allows him to share EXP with everyone linked to him. So eventually followers start getting a slave seal to take advantage of that. No one is a slave. Eventually he actually sets up his own town as a refuge. and so on.
I wont say that ones taken out of context since at a glance it does look suspicious without the full details.
Quote from: Omega;1071151Nice try at taking that out of context cupcake. But I actually read the whole book. So you fail miserably. You obviously just cherry picked what suited your little narrative screed.
Spoiler
That bit you noted comes after said princess has tried to murder her own sister and take over the kingsom with effectively a mind control virus in the form of a magic weapon. I'd have to re-read the set but I believe it was her mother, the queen who actually sent her off. And set up a series of gruesome executions of the traitors as shed pretty much had it with the princess at that point after having given her multiple chances to to reform. And renaming her was part of that as a concession to the alternative of having her executed at the time for, trying to kill her sister. The creep she gets sent off to os the king of a powerful nation and I forget the particulars but I believe it was done to keep him at bay and as execution for the princesses deeds. The reason it was recorded is a bit convoluted. But suffice to say it utterly sickened Naofumi I believe.
Assuming the amime actually follows th whole book, which I doubt it will as there was ALOT going on. Then expect the nuts out there to freak out and bitch incessantly. Probably without ever having watched it.
EDIT: The queen was literally advocating Hellraiser-style gore-porn as punishment for generic villain plots. What do you mean I took it out of context?
The punishment doesn't fit the crimes. It makes the kingdom look like a shithole deserving of genocide. Westeros looks civilized by comparison.
I wish the protagonist would turn evil and destroy the world, but that would require the author to have balls.
EDIT: To highlight how grimdark the kingdom is and deserving of burnination: the kingdom is racist against MC for being Asian, racist slavery of animal people, the ruling class are violent psychopaths, the populace is literally stupid enough to take the word of said violent psychos as the word of god, everyone other than MC is either evil or a doormat, it uses shitty video game rules because why the fuck be creative, etc.
I really want to see a fanfic where the MC is replaced by a chaos space marine of khorne who proceeds to slaughter or convert everything in his path until the planet becomes a demon world.
So not just cherry picking, but not even getting that right. Bavo.
Spoiler
Considering said princess and her cohorts not only killed alot of people, but also were actively interfering in the saving of the world. And the other crimes on top of that. After said princess got off the hook a few times prior? Nearly causing the death of two thirds of the PLANETS POPULATION? The queen probably went easy on them.
As for the kingdom being racist against Naifumi for being asian? Dont think so. They treated him like dirt because of the princess' manipulations to turn him into a pariah. And overall they arent racist against the demi-humans other than the king who is, drumroll please... being manipulated by the princess. They have been at war with the beast folk kingdom before and some of the citizenry do follow the kings lead in the poor treatment of beast folk. But. There are whole communities within said supposedly all racist kingdom. Only one I recall being explored any and it was being overlorded by one of the human villains till freed. Aaaand Theres poor treatment of humans in the beast kingdom too by some.
As for the heroes being villains. Sorry. Nope. They overall are not and even stand up for Naofumi a few times and are actively trying to save the world. Even Motoyasu, the Spear Hero is overall not a villain. Just way way way to trusting and easily manipulated by... yep... the princess, and her flunkies. And the princess is really good at manipulating people. They do though effectively all have breakdowns at some point before being returned more or less to normal.
And so on.
All I know is that Raphtalia is apparently being voiced by Erica Mendez, who absolutely rocked as Ryuko in Kill la Kill (greatest magical girl series ever). That alone would be enough to have me intrigued even if I wasn't a sucker for fantasy-themed anime.
(If I sound angry and bitter, it is because I have been unable to walk for the past month. If I sound crazy, that's because I am doped to the gills.)
I don't take the controversy seriously. The story was written by a Japanese woman years ago. Her upbringing was probably very different from Western standards. Although seeing the reactions from both sides was mildly entertaining.
I read/watched some reviews from months ago before the manufactured controversy (Crunchyroll clearly picked this anime to get a free ride from the #MeToo outrage). I even tried reading and watching myself. I gave up pretty quickly. It is yet another lazy mediocre fantasy harem anime with some superficial grimderp.
I have nothing against anyone who does like it. I do think you're wasting your money when you could be enjoying something better like The Prince of Nothing or The Song of Saya. Honestly, I wish it WAS a nice guy revenge fantasy like #MeToo were claiming because that would be genuinely novel in today's oversatured market. Do I have to write one myself and literally title it #HimToo to profit off the controversy? (Please don't ask me to.)
I honestly got more entertainment from reading "Snow White and the Seven Lovers." The premise of which is that young man is sucked into his sister's porn game, stuck in the body of the very female snow white, and raped by seven very male supermodels. I found it hilarious because of its self-awareness and absurdist parody. You can buy in it English and in color from EbookRenta. (Yes, I found rape porn more engaging than a wannabe #HimToo anime.)
I was so bored I even went so far as to trawl the nascent Shield Hero fanfiction.net and archiveofourown.com archives to see if any amateur writers crapped out something better than the abysmally bland canon. I was pleasantly surprised to see really sadistic stories in which Shield Heroine is a woman who adopts orphans and another in which Princess Trash Whore's alibi falls apart when the soldiers find Shield Hero in the aftermath of sex with a werewolf. Even if Shield Hero itself is mediocre and unmemorable, at least the fandom produced those gems.
Anyway, pretty much the only trapped in fantasy land animes I ever enjoyed recently are Overlord and Reincarnated as a Slime. Because the characters actually feel like people and not caricatures. On the bright side, youtube algorithms brought me Family Senki. It is basically Goblin Slayer meets Shield Hero on steroids and was written by the creator of DeadTube. DeadTube is a satire of youtube monetization... with snuff films. That premise sounds fucking awesome. Family Senki starts off with the protagonist written as an unapologetic Gary Stu who uses his mind control powers to fornicate with every woman who catches his fancy regardless of social or marital status like a Greek god. Also, an apocalypse of monsters are invading but the kingdoms are Invader Zim-level stupid and ignore the obvious threat. That premise is fucking awesome and I hope to god it gets an anime adaptation in the future.
So, all-in-all, I think my life has been positively enriched by googling Shield Hero as a gateway drug even if the thing never interested me on its own.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1071092it reads like an incel revenge fantasy.
...
the controversy was probably manufactured
er....:confused:
Quote(For those wondering why I have been absent for a month, I was hit by a careless driver. I am still recovering.)
Sorry for your troubles. :(
Wow? Box deleted his replies?
I think he did.
Quote from: Omega;1072053Wow? Box deleted his replies?
Quote from: Snowman0147;1072076I think he did.
I did due to a combination of prescription drug use addling my brain and my views flipping back and forth over time. I finally managed to settle on the centrist position.
90% of anime is mediocre garbage, but weaboos rate everything highly just because. This show is mediocre at best and gets way more attention than it deserves due to the current political climate. Some in the left thought it promoted disturbing views, which prompted some on the right to watch it out of spite or because they were victim of false witness.
Probably the most accurate and hilarious summation of the first episode controversy was this quote I read from gamefaqs:
QuoteFor at least a decade it's been a meme that those wretched feeeeemales get favored by the courts to the point where they will literally ruin your life by accusing you of rape as a joke (according to this paranoia fantasy). That was back when t hose types were calling themselves mens' rights activists.
This plays into that with every beat: the innocent guy who just wants a cute girlfriend being used, losing all his money, and being accused of rape and having his reputation ruined in the process. It even uses the classic 'society is REALLY a matriarchy nevermind that the rulers are all d00ds' angle.
Really though the guy was a total goober who mumbled to himself how much of a thot an indistinct sketch of a princess was and if the other heroes were in on it it was because he came off as a clueless buffoon.
I'm going to write unmarked spoilers now.
Shield Hero doesn't handle the false accusation well at all. Not only is it part of an evil conspiracy, but the princess is later revealed to be a demon in disguise. Every woman who isn't a literal monster or a sheep buying propaganda only ever helps the Shield Hero.
The show's own statements about a matriarchy forcing blind obedience to the women bearing false witness is invalidated by the revelation that the demon princess was using mind control the whole time. It was a kangaroo court, not a depiction of a real trial. According to the kingdom's laws, bearing false witness like that is punishable by death. If a man rapes a woman, he gets executed. If a woman lies about getting raped, she gets executed. That definitely isn't how it works in real life.
This invalidates the arguments of those defending the show's use of the "false rape accusation ruining a man's life" plot point as a realistic depiction of the modern "matriarchy." If the show was actually about depicting a strawman of a man-hating matriarchy, then it would not depict the uncorrupted matriarchy as a competent egalitarian system which rescues innocent men from the depredations of evil women.
So the show doesn't support the politics of either side. It doesn't demonize matriarchies as man-hating hellscapes and it doesn't depict non-psychopathic women as lying whores. Using it to advance a political agenda just made both sides look stupid.
The real tragedy is that such terribly written drek got popular in the first place. The hero is painfully bland and the villains are soulless caricatures.
Here's my suggestion for how the series could have been improved with a little depth: the princess was a brainwashed pawn who gradually realizes Naofumi is not a devil and from there she ultimately dethrones her father, reforms the church, institutes a democracy, abolishes slavery and generally becomes a better person from the spoiled brat she started out as. Meanwhile, Naofumi becomes increasingly jaded and deranged with the state of the horrible world around him. He absconds to the beastmen kingdom and learns the other side of the story, becoming the beastmen's messiah and living god. With the best of intentions, he starts a holy war that lasts for years and kills millions.
But that would require actually thinking through why characters behave they do and why people could fight without being evil. Not every author can be George R.R. Martin.