Well this was surprisingly not as action-packed, nor as bloody as I thought it was going to be, but I guess that’s what happens when you’re working with a shield and the one with the sword has been assigned to evacuate the villagers. Needless to say, it was still cool to see Naofumi have to think more creatively how he was going to deal with the undead monsters, unlike his fellow heroes who have flashier weapons of their own. Much of his efforts did what you would expect a traditional tank would do in a game, taunt the enemy and have them focus on him instead of the damage dealers, or in this case, the powerless villagers.
Despite all the hurt and pain Naofumi has been through, he wasn’t just going to stand by and watch a village be ravaged by the Wave. He and Raphtalia were the first and for a long time, the only ones to show up to protect both the town and its residents. Of course it would make his life a lot more easier to keep Raphtalia by his side for much of the fight, but he wanted to make sure he could save as many lives as he could, so he had her help escort the residents to safety. On top of that, Naofumi was constantly conscious about how to minimize damaging the village, but all of that effort was thrown out the window when the Royal Knights had fire rain down over the town regardless of Naofumi, the Shield Hero being present. But that wasn’t the worst part about it. It is easy to forget, but had it happened any minute earlier, the villagers who stayed to fight and protect their home would have been caught in the crossfire. It just goes to show how the Royal Knights don’t give a shit, as long as it makes their job easier. They also had the nerve to disrespect Naofumi, and Raphtalia was having none of it.
Fortunately not all the knights are assholes, there was one Captain (I’m assuming was his position) who defied orders and kept his squad in the village to support Naofumi’s efforts until the Wave was over. The villagers also restored some faith in this ugly world, having chosen to come back to fight alongside him, but were still ushered away by him because he knew they would only get themselves killed. They also were sure to express their gratitude for his efforts, which surely gave Naofumi a bit of comfort in his heart.
And that’s really what he needed after having to face the other heroes once more. It was an unpleasant experience for Naofumi. Much to my surprise, Raphtalia has not heard anything about the false rumours that have spread far and wide. You would think she would have overheard it by now with all of the towns’ gossip, but apparently not. Regardless, Naofumi doesn’t want to talk about it, simply because he doesn’t think anyone would believe what he says.
Speaking of Raphtalia, she has grown up quite a bit since we last saw her, which surprised me because I wasn’t expecting her growth spurt to happen this soon, much less in a week time since the coal mine fight. Regardless, she has grown even cuter with her bossy personality of looking out for Naofumi. His whole reaction to her growth is pretty funny too, considering he is pretty apathetic about the whole thing.
In all, I honestly found this episode to be underwhelming, especially when we consider the scale of the Waves we have seen from Raphtalia’s flashbacks. But in some ways, it seems some of the worst of the spawns were outside of the village, such as the beast the other heroes had faced and defeated looked a lot more terrifying and dangerous than some of the ones attacking the village. Then again, it makes me wonder about how many actually spawned over there in comparison to the numbers Naofumi had to face.
The episode adopted the light novel accurately with tiny missing parts here and there mainly about the villagers being murdered and trying to escape. However, while I was reading this chapter in the LN, I got the impression that the plot before and after the very first wave is about Naofumi and Raphtalia’s maturing relationship. Primarily, it’s about Naofumi’s trust issues which are I think what the director was going for here in the episode.
I can tell you however that this first wave that the heroes experience is more like a skirmishing attack compared later waves. If later waves attacked at this time line, the heroes would have been overwhelmed and killed along with their war parties.
Then again, If I haven’t read the LN, and given the apocalyptic description of the waves in the first episodes, I can’t blame you for being underwhelmed because I am sure that I will be the same.
In another note, those CG hornets would have looked better if they made them static with flapping wings in many scenes. They are quite distracting.
Yeah that’s definitely what was missing. Since we didn’t actually witness any villagers getting killed, it certainly water down the impact of the severity of the invasion. An implication of their death as the shot pans away would have been fine as well.
Okay that makes more sense about the first wave. I did wonder about that considering the whole skill level crisis. I decided it’s probably better for me to hold back from completing the first novel (the only volume I own at the moment) for the time being for the surprise factor. I’m always torn whether or not to binge read the an adapted series when its available.
I’ve experienced in watching anime that reading in advance with the manga or light novel absolutely ruins my entertainment of watching the anime.
Now, it is different when I read the manga or light novel FIRST then watch the adopted anime on a weekly basis. In this case, it is fun to watch since you see in motion still panels of the manga or your imagination come to life. It is completely different when I watch the anime first then read the manga or light novel because the eagerness to see what happens next is unquenchable.
So I would recommend, not reading in advance.
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