First Impressions / Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

「混迷の中で」 (Konmei no naka de)
“In the Midst of Turmoil”

It looks like not even the heartfelt pleas of Filo can convince Naofumi to change his mind about trusting Melty. Considering Naofumi’s struck out twice so far when it comes to trusting royalty, it’s not hard to see where he’s coming from, but that doesn’t change the fact that his personal grudges are getting in the way of his judgment. Royalty or not, that was a little girl he refused to help. However, as we soon find out, she does have an ulterior motive. It’s entirely possible that even being separated from her guards was a deliberate gambit on her part to run into Naofumi’s party and gain their trust. Now, having an ulterior motive isn’t always such a terrible thing. Since the Queen of Melromarc (Inoue Kikuko) appears to be on some kind of house arrest, it seems she entrusted her daughter with mending bridges. Despite her intentions, the revelation of her status has definitely put a hamper on Melty’s efforts. For now, the best thing to do might be to let Naofumi cool his head.

Unexpectedly, the knights from Lute returned this episode. They’re so grateful to Naofumi for saving their families during the previous Wave that they want to join him for the next one. I’d imagine this also means they’ve effectively deserted from the king’s army, as there’s no possible way he would have allowed them to join forces with the Shield Hero. For every good turn, though, comes a bad one, as it’s soon revealed that the country of Melromarc is prohibited by royal decree from upgrading the classes of the Shield Hero’s companions. Of course, this doesn’t stop Naofumi. That merchant’s soul of his is indomitable, and it isn’t long before he’s probing the Slave Merchant for information. As it turns out, there are several countries outside of Melromarc that are likely to be sympathetic to his plight. Regarding that, I’ve got good feelings about Shieldfreeden. Let’s call it a hunch.

Now, if we remember how Motoyasu caused poisonous plant monsters to terrorize a village, and Ren (Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) left a dragon corpse lying around that caused an epidemic, the chances of the other heroes being greeted warmly into the bordering countries appear to be dwindling by the day. The Bow Hero was truly the only hope left, and if I’m getting this right, he overthrew a despot without taking into account that there was no ruling structure in place to take control of the country once the alleged tyrant was dethroned. This led to the people starving due to exorbitant taxes, leaving them exactly where they started, if not worse.

Part of the problem is simply that these heroes are too strong. Completely changing the political climate of a country means very little to them thanks to the power and influence they wield. Whoever has the heroes’ sympathies could win any war, which makes them game breakers.

Imagine, if you will, that your house is on fire. The firemen rush to put out the flames, but before they get the chance, Superman punches the building into dust. “You’re welcome, citizen,” he says with his magnificently gelled hair, smiles for the camera, and then flies into the sunset. Sure, the fire’s out, so that problem’s solved, but where are you going to live?

To be fair, these are kids we’re talking about, and the Sword Hero appeared truly disturbed when Naofumi informed him of the consequences of his slaying the dragon, but only time will tell if his words have any lasting impact on him.

With the next Wave on the horizon and a new villain making her appearance, the next episode is looking to be action-packed, and hopefully, we’ll get a few answers too.

 

Preview

21 Comments

  2. The Anime did a great job of vilifying our shield hero’s instincts. And the
    Anime underscored Melty’s mission (with the flashback to her mother, the Queen) —
    to seek out the shield hero. So how did someone as important as Melty get “lost”
    and just happen to be near Naofumi’s party? So, really Melty did deceive Naofumi,
    even if her goal was honourable.

    This series is really turning out to be pretty good — hope it continues …

    mac65
    Reply

    1. Generally, Naofumi’s instincts have been on the money post-Myne. Part of why he does so much better when interacting with other merchants or the blacksmith, though, is because he needs clear motives otherwise he has trouble establishing trust. If Melty had been upfront with her reasons for joining, things might have been different, but given how he shut her down after learning she was royalty, it’s just as likely that he would have rejected her sooner rather than later.

      Stars
      Reply

  3. Naofumi understands, that royalty never does anything for free ! There is absolutely always some ulterior motives or self gain involved, even if their intentions are not necessarily evil. That’s how royalty is raised and educated . Their life is a constant state of rivalry and back stabbing the other political rivals to gain influence or etc.
    Pretty sure the Queen doesn’t hold any love for shield hero and just the fact that she understand his cooperation will be invaluable later on !
    Naofumi’s reaction to melty was right on point. If he had actually trusted her, I would have flipped my desk !

    luckyman
    Reply

    1. I actually get the feeling that the Queen is more of a “citizens first” type of ruler. She might already see that the other three heroes are just doing whatever without a second thought, so she might want an in with Naofumi since he seems to take things more seriously. Or she’s just a lot smarter than the King(not hard) and realizes that there are four heroes for a reason, so having one of them hate the country probably isn’t the best way to survive the Waves.

      But you could be right and she could just be at odds with the shady church, so she wants the hero they aren’t supporting on her side.

      Aex
      Reply

      1. As I said her intentions may not be evil and it may be for the sake of country and people, that she want him on her side. But where does that leave Naofumi ? He is still a tool in her grand scheme (Remember he is not a citizen but other worlder) and I can only hope she is the type that rewards self sacrifice and good work handsomely. Also the moment Naofumi becomes a liability to her plans, she wouldn’t hesitate to cut him down. Like what’s one person’s worth against a whole country? Like I said she I’m pretty sure she bears no live for shield hero and wants to have him around as a useful ally maybe ?
        At the end of the day the only Naofumi can look after himself in this world, that also bears him alot hate from powerful people and he needs to take every step carefully !

        luckyman
        Reply

      2. Also now that he has Raphtalia nad Filo, it’s like he is now a father of 2 children as well. If he goes down, what’s gonna happen to them. Tamest thing I can imagine is for them to becomes sex slaves to some noble, since so many noble bastards seems to be after them. Naofumi now carries the responsibility for 2 more lives as well. He must survive, even if it’s for their sake and His paranoia is well justified .

        luckyman
        Reply

  4. Like Naofumi’s pointed out a few times, the biggest problem with the other three heroes is that they still haven’t really embraced the fact that this is a real world they’re screwing with. To them it’s just another level in whatever version of the Waves game they had in their own worlds, so what they learned from that game has to be right, end of story. But, like Stars said, their ages are a definite issue, and it’s nice to see a story treating late-teens and early-twenties guys like the morons they could very well still be.

    Motoyasu’s example was a little heavy, probably because Myne was whispering in his ear, but Itsuki and Ren made mistakes that are pretty easy to understand. Get the quest, do the quest, move on. It’s gamer logic at its most basic, and the results really separate them from Naofumi. These two don’t think there will be consequences because in their games the invisible hand of the world cleaned up after them, whereas Naofumi is a jerk half the time because he’s thinking a lot about consequences.

    This episode does give us a fair bit of hope for Ren, though. Itsuki? Still a blind child.

    Aex
    Reply

    1. Don’t lose hope on Itsuki just yet. Ren’s situation is a lot more straight forward. A corpse left outside causing illness is something rather simple to understand. Itsuki’s situation is a lot more complex. The only way to believe it is from someone he really trusts or seeing it with his own eyes. Even Naofumi found the stories about him hard to believe. Probably the reason he suggests Itsuki to see it for himself.

      theirs
      Reply

      2. He should really should try his luck there. Whatever happens, it’s got to be better than Melromarc. Plus, Raphtalia’s parents talked about the Shield Hero with reverence. I’m starting to get the feeling that the nobility might not favor the Shield Hero because he has always fought for the outcasts, though that brings up a different question.

        What happened to the heroes that came before Naofumi and the others?

        Stars
        Reply

  6. Can’t say if it was on purpose, but I think how the Heroes reacted is actually linked to the game they played in their previous world. Ren’s gaming experience came from a VRMMO. So a real world situation of a corpse causing disease was probably a dose of reality for him. I assume he knows how to separate virtual and reality and the realistic situation was what shook him. Note that the quest wasn’t stolen, but was pulled because it was resolved.

    Itsuki came from console games where there are rarely any long term cause and effect scenarios. They are certainly less dynamic than online virtual worlds and I can’t say the game he played emphasised any online features. His situation might even be closer to Naofumi where things are mostly linear. Defeating evil kings/lords are actually standard fare in a lot of games. It’s actually rare having to play Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great. So his lack of foresight compared to those greats is understandable.

    theirs
    Reply

  9. Its still be more interesting if the Shiled Hero mess up and cause a time paradox, which turns out the spear hero was responsible.
    A new Crisis and only hopes are the raccoon girl and spear hero that retain some memories of the original timeline. With a mission to correct the mistakes and figure out how to work together.

    No name
    Reply

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