「暁の子守唄」 (Akatsuki no Komori-uta)
“Lullaby at Dawn”

Well the season schedule let the racoon girl out the bag, but that’s right boys and girls, Pancakes is here to give the masses what they love and cover Shield Hero until the end. Not like I’m complaining about scribbling myself in for two seasons mind you (Zaiden is being a bae by helping cap for my lazy overworked ass), because as anyone who’s remotely familiar with this series can say the fun here hasn’t even started yet. Redemption, salvation, happiness? Just wait until the coldest of dishes finally enters the picture.

Given how Naofumi has been treated up until now the events of this episode shouldn’t prove that surprising, but damn did it still ever make an impression. We all know that Malty is the true antagonist of the show for example, but the depth of her invidious machinations and hold over people really made itself felt here, with not only the king (and by extension the nobility) being shown as under her thumb, but Motoyasu too seemingly swayed by her every utterance. And the other heroes? Still unwilling to make a move until it shows themselves in a good light. Naofumi is simply the scapegoat for these various actors, the one poor sod who you can pin the blame for anything and everything on because hey, he’s the Shield Hero and no one is about to come to his aid. He despairs so others can claw their way up through various schemes, but as Raphtalia heartwarmingly showed, those tides are slowly turning. When you reach rock bottom you can only go up, and Naofumi has the best possible (and gosh darn cutest) help around to aid him in that endeavour.

The real mystery right now of course is what those schemes and plans are—i.e. Malty’s whole shtick against Naofumi—although answers continue to remain ever elusive. While easy to assume the girl just hates Naofumi or wants to ingratiate herself with Motoyasu, I doubt that’s all there is to her games. Take Raphtalia, why bother freeing her if the goal is getting with Motoyasu when the guy is trying to sweep Raphtalia off her feet—that would give princess unwatned competition. Why not just leave her a slave and eliminate the need for the hypocrisy surrounding the use of demi-human slaves (and seriously, what rank, ironic hypocrisy it was). Your guess right now is as good as mine. I am confident Motoyasu is not party to those plans though, he has proven himself too damn gullible and single minded to be the end goal in Malty’s scheming. The Spear Hero is just a pawn in an even larger game, and much like Naofumi I expect the guy won’t find out what it is until the brown stuff hits the rotary device.

It may take a while to finally learn the truth considering the second wave is quickly approaching, but you can bet it will prove explosive. After all if Naofumi’s curse unlock is any indication, there’s a hidden side to our heroes’ powers certain to upend everything they thought they already knew.

61 Comments

  1. Cliche… but I’m glad Mai followed Sakuta to another world. 😀

    But yeah Mien/Malty/Bitch really knows how to twist things around and get away with a lot of BS. The king too needs a good kicking in the balls for the weak accusation and judgement he passed on Naofumi. Can’t wait for justice to be served to both of them.

    Motoyasu though is just a virtue signaling idiot that really gets over emotional and doesn’t care for the consequences. It’s nice to see Raphtalia telling him off.

    Can’t wait till next week to see the oversized Chocobo.

    Nork22
    1. Yeah… but:

      Neverland is more cliche for being just another prison break show with children and monsters,

      Dororo is more cliche for being a “finding your true self” through discovery show,

      Kaguya-sama is more chiche for having dense characters with with romantic aspirations,

      Slime is more cliche for just being any other isekai only this time, with a blob main character who always gets what he wants,

      Truth is, you can use the overly used word of cliche to rob yourself of enjoying what your watching or just annoy others. Because really, where have you seen a show that no other form of motion picture has not done.

      Nathaniel
      1. I think you misunderstood, and probably not the right word I’m using to convey my joke.

        I’m jokingly referring to everyone knowing about the seiyuu connections, how Mai has once again saved Sakuta in this isekai world.

        Nork22
      2. i read the manga ahead, and i did not liked what i saw. So i think i really stay out of this.

        because..
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Worldwidedepp
      3. @Worldwidedepp

        I have read the first four LNs and have read through to the latest chapter of the manga. If you really have read the manga, then you should know that there are subtle differences between the anime and it that changes the whole narative presentation of the plot. The primary circumstances are mostly the same but in the anime(so far), humour(which happens a lot in the manga) is non-existent which is instead taking a darker/crueler route.

        As for the other heroes, well they will get much stronger, as is Naofumi. One synnopsis I read of the later LNs volumes reveals that one of the heroes is gets a type of time manipulation power. And no, it’s not Naofumi.

        Note that the LNs are the pilot version of Tate no Yuusha and the anime and manga are adopting it. Both are presenting the narrative differently.

        Dani
      4. i am struggling…

        its like the end of Overload 3 season.. i fear he turn into Imperator Paladin and such…

        in the past mangas, Animes, Games was like this comic strip. Just exchange the “Game” for “Manga or anime” and you get my point.. Well with being an “grown up” fan, this has changed with time

        https://www.nerfnow.com/comic/2493

        not exactly, but the gist somehow

        Worldwidedepp
    2. Damn, embarassing, I didn’t know that he’s voiced by the same seiyuu that is also lending Sakuta his voice. I always love those “seiyuu pairings”, especially when it’s 2-3 series in a row.
      So this time Mai actually managed to help him out. Good for her, with no Minori Inase voiced character in sight that could get in her way this time. 😀

      boingman
  2. By this time, Naofumi really should have wised up and simply disregarded the reward. Malty and the King have already proven to be conniving, malicious and hate his guts personally. No way should he ever set foot into their castle.

    I really cannot blame the court for acting the way they do; the King and First Princess are standing right there after all. However I can demean the King for being a complete idiot. There are only four Heroes to fight the Waves. By disdaining one, you are weakening the overall war effort. Worse, the Shield Hero is best used as a force multiplier rather than an attacking unit. Logically you would attach your squishier combatants to him and have him protect them so that they could contribute to the battle more effectively. For example, your entire spellcasting corps. Instead they stake it all on the other three heroes who are pure offense. What happens when they tangle with someone capable of dealing a crapton of damage at once? Hope that the Heroes don’t die?

    Any semblance of fairness was naturally out the window the moment Motoyasu issued his challenge. To be fair to him, the Spear Hero is not necessarily evil. He is more of a useful idiot with delusions of being an actual hero. No honourable warrior would issue a duel where he was all but assured of winning. No honourable man would ask another to duel him without any sort of real victory condition. Maybe it was spurred by righteous indignation but he basically asked a guy to give up his (legally owned) slave in a duel where he knows his opponent cannot wield a weapon and offers nothing for the victory. I really don’t blame Ren and Itsuki looking at him kinda funny at the end.

    I think this shows that the Sword Hero and Bow Hero do at least have an inkling of fair play in them. They really had nothing to gain by calling Malty out, it certainly did not make the audience think any better of them. When you are enough of a jerk that other jerks are put out by it, you really should give your behaviour some thought.

    Naturally Raphtalia comes to Naofumi’s rescue. The Shield Hero had fallen all the way down, as the man said, no where else to go but up.

    Mechamorph
  3. I don’t really think that Motoyasu is as bad as how hes portrayed. He is arrogant and proud but also pretty naive and has (too) high morals. He’s getting played very good. I hope he will get some redemption when malty is getting exposed. He seemed to doubt his action after sword and bow hero confronted them in the arena.

    The level difference between the two heroes was a bit wierd, I hope Naofumi can close the gap some time soon.

    maduk
    1. Nothing strange with the level difference. Direct kills give more exp and he’s got a larger party than Naofumi. Don’t forget, he just gave the killing blow to the final boss in the previous episode.

      theirs
    2. In addition to the whole killing blow exp bonus thing, the other three heroes also had a headstart of an unspecified length, a couple days at most. By the time Raphtalia finally got to anywhere near a respectable number of kills per hour, the other heroes were likely already several hunting grounds ahead. And that’s assuming they weren’t power-leveling, which they probably did because they’re gamers. And they’ve also played a game in their respective home worlds that’s basically identical to this world, so they also know where all the best leveling spots are.

      Hanabira.Kage
    3. I’m not sure he’s doubting things yet, if anything it looked like he doubled down on his original opinion. The guy is too eager when it comes to “helping” girls that I wager his morality isn’t as straight laced as it seems.

  4. This episode stirred alot of emotions in me which was unexpected as that rarely happens nowadays…Really felt it for Naofumi through the bad and the good here. He literally has the whole world against him barring Raphtalia and she played a crucial part in stopping him from drowning in misery. Great episode. The mysteries deepen.

    Kurik
    1. He actually has more supporters than he realizes / or wants to admit to himself.

      W/O any LN / Manga spoilers, think about it – the guy who has been selling him
      weapons / armor, the guy who is buying his medicines, and others, and the slave trader —
      are all supporting him. Not falling all over him, but definitely supporting. This is
      the most annoying part of this character’s development, called the “Re:Zero” syndrome.
      In other words, “woe is me.” I can’t wait for the story to begin to progress past this.
      And yes, I believe Naofumi has a little bit of masochist in his personality which allows
      him to be an easy target.

      mac65
  5. https://randomc.net/image/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari%20-%2004%20-%2036.jpg
    I’m wondering if Naofumi has suffered so much trauma it’s affecting his mind. He literally did not recognize Raphtalia, he only remembered her as a child from weeks ago.

    https://randomc.net/image/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari%20-%2004%20-%2023.jpg
    As for the king and Malty, it’s gone beyond simple “rolling the naive guy”. There’s something behind the Shield Hero history we’re not being told. Plus, it’s stupidity to get rid of your defense and concentrate only on offense for the Waves. At this point Naofumi could leave the kingdom and go to another kingdom and face better treatment. A group of well-trained soldiers would be better “swords” for Naofumi than the Other Three. At first I thought the Other Three would be neutral towards Naofumi, but to actively join in the new false accusations, just to take whatever Naofumi’s made for himself in this fantasy world, now they are acting like enemies.

    jhpace1
    1. >I’m wondering if Naofumi has suffered so much trauma it’s affecting his mind.

      Yes. Him being unable to taste food and failing to her register Raphtalia’s puberty was due to his PTSD. Show Spoiler ▼

      Bob
    2. Naofumi has no reason to believe that any other country in this world (if there even are any; literally no one’s told him anything) won’t treat him as terribly as this one. That’s what’s so fucked up about his situation, he’ll get fucked if he stays, but he can’t be sure he won’t get fucked elsewhere either. And he’ll probably have to walk too because the carriages probably won’t take him. And he’s still going to get teleported back here whenever a wave hits, and he’ll have to walk back again.

      Hanabira.Kage
  6. Shield hero as a character (not Naofumi) is a terrible design, no MMO or RPG i played or ever heard of had shield just be shield, there is always offensive capability to a shield, especially if it’s class locked, be it shield that absorbs damage and expels it as magic explosion, shield reflecting damage back, shield spikes, shield bash. I can’t help but to think author dialed scale a bit too much on the “useless shield” factor when he created the story.

    Poring
    1. You have to remember that currently Naofumi is being told this, and everything your saying while kinda true, he needs time. The other heroes have the huge advantage of being able to attack and have knowledge of a game world similar (of course this can be a downside as well). Basically he needs time to unlock his abilities.

      Tegual
  7. I’m honestly just waiting for this show to move past wish-fulfillment and get on with whatever story it’s going to tell. Like, Naofumi, dude, you should really learn by now not to fall for these things. It’s almost as if he’s subconsciously running towards self-incriminating events just so he can score with Raphtalia.

    I hope that now that the other two heroes noticed how Naofumi was set-up, we’d have less of this cringey chuuni writing and more world-building and character development– especially on the part of the other heroes.

    Beedle
    1. I’m confused as to what you think he fell for here. Raphtalia was taken hostage, if he’d said no it was pretty clear Bitch would’ve had her taken her away anyway, so he should’ve abandoned her to avoid the duel?

      Or are you talking about how he should’ve said “I’m not going to get a reward anyway, so screw it” and avoided the party all together? Cause that I agree with.

      Aex
    2. How is this anime wish fulfilment?

      there is no fanservice, romance, or easy gains for Naofumi. Rapthalia’s loyalty to him is earned not given. Bunny Girl and Slime are wish fulfilment shows if your into that sort of thing.

      choco
    3. Agreed with choco, Shield Hero isn’t really wish fulfillment at this stage. Setting-wise the show can be called that, but Naofumi hasn’t had an easy time of things so far and when it comes to wish fulfillment you usually have things go the protagonist’s way in all areas pretty quickly. That may change in the future though, we’ll have to wait and see.

  8. https://randomc.net/image/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari%20-%2004%20-%2023.jpg
    First hot girl in an anime who I don’t want to show up too often. First time for everything I guess. What’s her problem anyway?

    https://randomc.net/image/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari%20-%2004%20-%2037.jpg
    Since she ages depending on level, what’s the formula? Level 18-21 looks exactly the same, but wouldn’t it be worrying if she looked like her level at 100? Reminds me of a game where I was so busy leveling and ended up looking like an old man. XD

    https://randomc.net/image/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari%20-%2004%20-%2040.jpg
    First signs of things getting good for Naofumi. Bless his tortured soul.

    theirs
    1. With demi-humans the rapid growth only happens in children, so since Raphtalia’s 20ish physically now she’s back to ageing normally. That it only happens in kids is the key, and since she’s physically not a kid anymore, it’s stopped.

      The kid part is mentioned real quick at the end of the episode.

      Aex
  9. Well the season schedule let the racoon girl out the bag, but that’s right boys and girls, Pancakes is here to give the masses what the love and cover Shield Hero until the end.

    I’ve read this several times, and I still don’t get it. What is it supposed to mean?

    David
    1. “Letting the cat out of the bag” is another way of saying some told a secret. We weren’t sure who would be covering the show from Ep.4 on, but the Winter Schedule told us before this post. Since Raphtalia’s a racoon instead of a cat, Pancakes switched things up.

      Aex
    2. Haha yeah mostly down to my terrible half asleep typing skills.
      Probably could have toned it down on the idiom too for the sake of better understanding, but I thought the opportunity was too perfect to pass up 😛

    1. The show emphasized hard on the saying “it tastes best when it’s filled with love.” Since no one liked Naofumi, he doesn’t feel the taste from their food. But the food at the end of the episode was made by raphtalia, so he clearly felt the love from her and thus, he came to like the taste of it. Hope you understood. Sorry for my poor English.

      Atsu
    2. Simply put, it was due to depression and stress. They are implying the the psychological trauma Naofumi was experiencing due to being summoned, discriminated against, falsely accused and made into a pariah caused him to be unable to taste food or trust anyone. It’s similar to how he only perceived Raphtalia as a child until the end of the episode. He had no trust left for adults and perceived her as the same child as he couldn’t cope with his only ally, even if a forced ally, physically becoming an adult: someone his trauma wouldn’t let him trust.

      Mavrick
    3. I think the issue with tasting food is a little more concrete: Namely, the loss of taste can be a symptom of depression, due to drops in brain chemicals like seratonin. In the original light novels, Naofumi was not aware of his own depression, and thus, to give a clue to the reader that this was a real issue, and just not being talked about due to unreliable narrator, tasteless food was brought in as a way to signal his current state.

      They kept it in the anime, but as a practical matter, Naofumi’s depression was much easier to see because you could actually see him, his expressions, and his reactions. The tasteless food wasn’t a necessary signpost, so may seem a bit superfluous.

      David
  10. “Motoyasu is an active threat to the concept of intelligence.” reddit comment
    I was half-expecting shield prison to be played at some moment, but to imprison him with few hungry balloons… golden!
    At least the other heroes arent as dumb and have seen the magical interference in duel
    and they seem to understand now that Raphtalia despite technically being a slave was following Naofumi willingly.
    And it was explained how raphtalia suddenly changerd from loli into jousei!
    And she acts so mature now, she admits some childish traits freely, unlike a kid who would insist at being totally grownup.
    Best episode so far!

    ewok40k
  11. Malty or Myne? I’m a bit confused..

    In the anime and on reddit, people call her Myne. But MAL and here on RandomC she’s referred to as Malty.

    What’s her actual name? Or am I misunderstanding something and Malty is a different person?

    HashiKosmos
  12. I see two sides to this episode.

    1. The majority of the heroes who are all attackers, favored by the nobles, and Motoyasu who is most favored by the king. They serve to keep the governing kingdom standing (Meaning the fat cats won’t die from the Wave). At this point Motoyasu is a hotshot since he’s getting everything with little effort. This will leave him high and dry in the future with very little to his name and he will probably feel like Naofumi now, treated unfairly.

    2. Naofumi, favored by the common folk who aided them at a time of need when the government ignored them during the Wave. Although the Sheild hero is suffering for the time being, better opportunity will be available for Naofumi in the future. At least he won’t be kicked to the curb like a dead cat which I hope Motoyasu ends up as when the Wave is gone for good.

    RenaSayers
    1. It’s probably what makes this series so interesting for me to watch right now. You can see the reckoning coming for several characters over a mile away, but what triggers it, how it unfolds, and the aftermath is something none of us can predict. Naofumi is going to get his redemption at some point, and I’ll be damned if I’m not eager to see what exactly that will end up being.

  13. Stellar episode !
    There are tons of good shows out there but if i must pick a memorable episode from all of them, this one should be included along with Re:Zero ep 15, Made in Abyss ep 13, Gurren Lagann ep 26 for instance.

    I don’t know what Kinemacitrus and Kevin Penkin will be up to in the future, but i’ll for sure follow them closely now.

    Makoto
  14. Sooo, what I got out of this episode is that, in some way, Demi Humans and the Sheild hero specifically, are vital to stopping the waves, and getting rid of him, and/or making him miserable, would basically ensure mankind and the world’s destruction, so the manipulation is happening to speed that along. The humans are stupid, and selfish mostly so they just roll their eyes and let this happen, while the demihumans are able to see him helping and defending and realize the truth above what others see.

    I also think that somehow the (seemingly) very stupid spear hero, is going to more or less end up a villain somehow, and he gets manipulated into thinking that he is doing the right thing. That last line about him still being convinced he was right leads me to think this, as he is the closest to the manipulation outside of the king himself.

    hjerry2000
    1. They are the 4 heroes, so the shield being special is not really true. All 4 of them would be special ignoring everything else. Demi-human, human, monster really shouldn’t matter either. Really what matters is how people are being influenced or manipulated.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Just think, 4 heroes even if 1 is removed then their power suffers greatly. It is more likely that whoever is manipulating everything want to weaken the ability of the heroes to fight back.

      All 3 heroes are already doing stupid things. We are about to see the stupidity of their actions over the next few episodes.

      I would say the biggest thing to take out of this episode is that everybody is being manipulated at the moment by someone else.

      Tegual
  15. If only they replaced Maye to be a guy who’s BFFs with Naofumi at the beginning, replaced the word slave to servant, this show will be having no controversies… and less popular. To be clear I don’t think this is misogynistic or encourages slavery.

    Also, since the summoning of Naofumi is similar to Fushigi Yuugi or Escaflowne, they could have rid the game HUD to have made it more immersive.

    Nitpicks.

    XiV
  16. I heard there is spin off about the Spear Hero call Yari no Yuusha no Yarinaoshi. Hope they make anime about it!!???? Also more Raphtalia!

    Also spoiler alert on Yari Yuusha No Yarinaoshi the Spear Hero has the ability to back in time and his quests are make things right and find his true love, Filo. Still hope they make Raphtalia appear in near future.

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