Well things certainly taken an interesting turn with the introduction of Melty, the second princess of Melromarc who surprises us being the first in line for the throne. And I maybe this might be premature of me to say this but: THANK FREAKING GOD. This kid got more sense and poise than her elder sister, Myne (who has been labeled as a problem child since they were young).
Naofumi and the others found her playing with some filolial, (because she’s obsessed with them) and she and Filo quickly became friends. Later she comes to Naofumi asking since he was on his way to he Capital, if she could tag along with them since she had been separated from her guards.
Now I don’t know about you, but when I first heard of this I thought to myself, “Seriously, how the hell did her guards lose her? Like did they seriously go back to the capital without her? How incompetent are they?!” And frankly, when she claimed she had no idea Naofumi was the shield hero, even I had my doubts, “Really girl? You had no idea?” Though to be fair, if she did know, she probably would have brought up the matter she had wished to discuss with him in the first place, but I digress.
By adding Melty into the mix, it gave us the opportunity to gain a bit more insight to Myne’s twisted complex in terms of using Motoyama to push people around. I swear she must carry that scroll on her just about everywhere to enable him to fight Naofumi at every opportunity they get. She has shown us she appears to be on bad terms with her mother, as she grew irritated when Melty brought her up. This makes me wonder if her father (the King) tries to appease her complex by spoiling her and abiding to her demands. Regardless of the reasons for doting on her enough to agree to frame Naofumi for crimes and injustice he did not commit, he is nothing more than a fool.
On the flip side of things, we are seeing how the Queen and Melty are both on Naofumi’s (the shield hero’s side). What’s also interesting was the Pope of the church’s stance towards him (though to be fair, I don’t really trust him either, he seems shady in his own way). Aside of having recognized how much Naofumi have helped and saved people of the land, or having proved first hand he is a kind man at heart, it makes me wonder more about the reason why they have uttermost trust in the Shield hero to begin with. Naofumi knows very little beyond what Raphtalia has told him and what he has heard about previous Shield Heroes. It’s a curious thing how most people consider the Shield Hero to be the weakest of the lot, while others recognize him as the most helpful/powerful. This particular thought stood out to me when I noticed after Naofumi had grumbled about the lack of a Shield being represented at the top of the church’s exterior, it appears the shield (if that’s really what it is) may have in fact been inside the whole time. This makes me wonder even more about the Shield Hero’s true reputation and power, in comparison to the likes of the other heroes.
However since Melty has revealed she is part of the royal family, naturally Naofumi is on guard and I don’t blame him the slightest. In fact, his reaction is completely justified. He has already been screwed over by the royal family two times, it’s no wonder he wants nothing to do with them. The lengths he had gone to try and not draw attention to himself while he was in the capital (to the point he snuck in) tells you the whole story. It’s like walking into a lion’s den. His only sanctuary are the boss’ armour shop (which has turned into his makeshift headquarters for meetings), the herbs and magic shop where he’s on good terms with the owners. So Melty has a lot of work cut out for her to restore his trust, at least in her and her mother who have proven (so far), to be on his side.
Lastly, Raphtalia, Filo and Melty together are all such a riot and I love them for it! They are absolutely hysterical! I died when Naofumi and Raphtalia genuinely though Filo ate Melty. Frankly I probably would have thought the same after hearing Filo muse about how tasty everthing looks (even towards he own kind)! Naofumi was basically like, “GIRL THEY ARE YOUR OWN KIND. DON’T BE A CANNIBAL!” Filo’s hunger seems to have no bounds, and I am absolutely here for it. Also, I will never get tired of Filo kicking Motoyama’s ass, especially after he called her fat. HOW DARE HE! SHE’S FLUFFY NOT FAT! (In the mean time, we discovered that Motoyama’s fetish is blonde angels girls from whatever game he used to play.)
Myne’s pure evil; driven by instinct to commit betrayals and similar. The source WN gives a cosmic reason for it at the very end, but I don’t think the anime will get to reach that point.
The King’s foolishness also gets explained later.
Spoiler
apparently it’s past trauma. He lost a family member to a 3rd party that historically supported the Shield Hero, and since he can’t get back at the 3rd party he chose to hate on the Shield, regardless of who holds the title. (Plus Myne enabled his anger).
PS. I think you’ll like the Queen when the plot introduces her.
Oh yeah definitely, she’s evil as one could get! Thank goodness they were at least sane enough to recognize she was not fit to lead! What a catastrophe it would be if she were in control!
Quick note! You almost got the spoiler tag right, you just need to close the space. So instead of < # >, when you are typing it, it should look like this <#> The gap exists in the sidebar because if i don’t do that, there’s no way for me to provide the code without an image. But an image is available in the comment section policy page if you ever need a better reference! ^ v ^ /
Something to add; I notice how Naofumi fits the general trope of a character being wholly defined by whatever suffering/betrayal they’re gone through. In this case, Naofumi’s personality getting twisted into becoming bitterly cynical and suspicious after Myne’s set-up of him – a broken mirror.
I don’t know if you’ve watched the recent Dororo anime or episode, but it’s interesting to compare Naofumi with the titular Dororo, whose personality still remains relatively innocent and pure despite their many sufferings in ancient Japan; their suffering hasn’t irrepably warped their outlook…yet.
Granted, Tezuka Osamu had his own message there, and Aneko Yusagi has their own message to tell.