So I think we can tell by now that after reviewing seasons one and two of Rising of the Shield Hero that I was absolutely going to tune in to season three. In this season Naofumi the Shield Hero returns from another world back to the one he was originally summoned to only to find that the other three cardinal heroes, the Sword, Spear and Bow hero are missing. He is tasked with finding these heroes before the next threat to the world awakens which is the Phoenix. In the process of doing this Naofumi embarks on his own mission to rescue demi human slaves and provide a home for them.

One thing I really liked about the story is how it has interesting parallels to season one. Where in season one Naofumi was an outcast while the other three heroes were glorified we see the exact opposite situation here. The failure of the other three heroes to stop the Spirit Tortoise in season two versus Naofumi’s success really turned the tables on public opinion so we got to see the characters learn what it’s like to be in the others situation. Seeing how the other heroes handle this similar situation was very interesting and we got to flesh out these characters quite a bit. They struggled with their own versions of grief over their situation and it was equally amazing to see how Naofumi, unlike the other heroes in season one, worked to help them move past that grief. Now by no means did it make the other heroes more likable but honestly for the first time since the beginning of the series we got to see quite a bit of depth to each one of them and I thought it was the right time to finally flesh them out quite a bit. Plus it really shows how far Naofumi has come since season one helping people that literally drove his wrath to the extreme and yet he still has the compassion and empathy to help them and to do it as well as he did. It was a great portrayal of the strength of his character.

The season also features a slew of new characters who we find in Naofumi’s quest to rescue the Demi Humans. These new characters have varying levels of involvement in the story. For example you have a few newcomers like Rat and S’yne who make very brief appearances in the season and it’s very clear there’s something that will eventually happen that involves these characters more heavily but we haven’t gotten there yet so clearly this season is building up to something down the road. Then you have other newcomers like Sadeena and Wyndia, ironically both voiced by an actress I’m quite a fan of Alice Himora, who provide incredible moments in the season as standout characters and have incredible ties back to previous moments in the season. So their inclusion not only added wonderful characters that were fun to watch but it fleshed out previous moments that we got to enjoy in the series. Plus their stories connected to other character’s we’ve seen for awhile like Raphtalia and the Sword Hero and seeing those connections explained and how the story continues after making those connections was a great way to make the new characters lovable while also giving us more to know about well established characters. This season does a great job on building upon what we’ve already seen while providing something new at the same time.

Because the story of this season is all about preparation and investigation it’s not as combat heavy as the previous two seasons which makes for a nice way to distinguish this season from the others. Instead it’s clearly focusing on setting up something big while being entertaining. Even so what combat we do get is really interesting as the fights have a much faster pace to them making them some of the most exciting fights in the series. Now that Naofumi has a variety of characters in his party to rely on all with different skills we got to see a lot more combos as well as a lot of variations to his attack strategy making for an entirely new experience from previous seasons. They raised the bar on the presentation of these fights and I had to watch a few of them multiple times.

The story of this season ends on an exciting but admittingly weird note. I say weird not because the moment was weird but it was a little bit of a clunky rushed way to transition to the next part of the story. It was entertaining but in a series where we’re used to things being really fleshed out this does feel unusually fast. With that being said it sets up conflict for the next season that really makes me wish it would come here soon as it’s clear next season is going to feature a lot of fighting while doing some world building in the process.

Overall this is another good season and personally I think this one was better than season two but not quite up to the level of season one but as I mentioned in last season’s review the first season had over twice the number of episodes making it hard to do a fair comparison as it was just as long as both seasons two and three put together. This season does a lot to set up events to come by providing us with some entertaining new characters that really work well with the character’s we’ve already become attached to while adding more lore to the stories of everyone involved. Additionally the role reversals between Naofumi and the other three heroes were very interesting to watch as we got to see how they handled their new fame and infamy and how they have very different approaches to it. Naofumi really shows why he earns the title of hero as he protects not only the people of his village but also people that he used to have a seething hatred for. Seeing him in an emotional state where he moved past his wrath is an incredible journey that shows why he stands out from the other heroes. This season had fun combat, incredible depth to the story and is clearly setting up something to come and while I don’t know what that may entail I am eager to find out.