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「呪いの盾」(Noroi no Tate)
“Curse Shield”
For those of you who wanted to see the angrier, more hateful side of Naofumi again, I ask only this, “What have you done?”
From the start, it was pretty easy to see we were in for big things this episode. The animation quality was drastically improved, to the point where the crispness of the character designs and artistic backgrounds felt like something out of a feature-length movie.
Naofumi’s compassion for the villagers continues to win him friends among the common people, while the other heroes seem content with what is effectively level grinding. I don’t doubt that the Spear Hero and Sword Hero don’t mean to cause any harm, but as Naofumi surmised, they’re still treating this world like it’s a game. Most likely, this has to do with their vaster amount of RPG experience, whereas Naofumi really had none so he was treating these people like people ( as opposed to NPC’s ) from the get-go. Even so, with him becoming a traveling merchant and helping out the locals, he really does remind me of those Skyrim players who never complete the game because they’re too busy getting sidetracked by mini-quests.
While Naofumi certainly has grown more cynical due to his treatment, he’s also matured a great deal. This positive development seems to have stemmed from his interactions with Raphtalia and Filo. However, there are risks to entrusting the entirety of your emotional well-being to one demi-human and a bird. For example, what if one of them were to, say, be swallowed whole by a dragon-zombie?
After the Sword Hero neglected to clean up his mess when he slew a dragon, the meat began to rot, poisoning the villagers and any adventurers who went near it. Filorials just so happen to instinctively despise dragons, which led to an absolutely horrific sequence where Filo was gobbled up like a cherry pie. If you remember that near-miss when Raphtalia was ‘freed’ of her slave mark a couple episodes back, this was like that but multiplied by a thousand. We got a superb visual of Naofumi being literally consumed by hatred when he unlocked his Curse Series, before he proceeded to make that dragon-zombie wish it’d stayed dead.
His words towards the end about there being different kinds of strength and cowardice were surprisingly heartfelt and poignant. Since Naofumi wields a shield, his role is to protect, which means having the strength to trust in one’s allies. It must be unbelievably hard to see the people you care about in danger and not immediately step in, but as Raphtalia has said many times before, she is his sword. Given that seeing her and Filo in danger is what pushed Naofumi past his limit, one might even say she’s a double-edged sword.
Despite the main conflict being resolved this week, it looks like the party can’t relax just yet. Raphtalia still needs to have those curses Naofumi accidentally inflicted on her treated, and beyond that, there’s trouble brewing on the horizon.
Preview
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Nice episode, the “activation” of the curse series seemed a bit too forced for my taste. His despair and hatred kind of instantly set in despite raphtalia hugging him and standing beside him. Could be a side effect of already unlocking the series.
Would have hoped for a more unexpected scenario. The flags were a bit to visible.
Raph actually wasn’t in contact before he went raging. I’d like to remind that last time this type of thing happened (after the duel), the system already unlocked the curse series. This is just a step further and for me made sense.
The manga depicted things a little bit better this time, it highlights a bit better the despair Naofumi felt during that particular scene.
But most of the time it’s the other way around, for instance the whole episode 4: the duel and Raphtalia cheering up Naofumi was far better in the anime version.
Edgy-O-Meter, WOW!
Besides Naofumi, I don’t think all the other heroes care about what happens to the environment and the inhabitants in the area after they slay evil. They are dead in their previous life right? And these heroes will learn a harsh lesson when villages revolt against them and the King and his people abandon them.
But can you really blame the Sword hero for this? Leaving the dragon corpse actually was helping the village until the disease hit and apparently no one else knew to prepare for it since it caught the other adventurers by surprise.
I’m sorry magewolf but ignorance and not knowing are no excuse. When you take action and it affect others you are accountable even if you didn’t know. Since the Sword hero killed the dragon it is his fault for the disease when nothing was done to the corps of the slayed.
Ever killed a dragon in an RPG? With limited inventory space, most people would just take the essentials they can find and move along. Since it usually requires high levels, those essentials are usually very few. Do you ever wonder what those NPCs do with those things you left behind at the scene? From personal experience, they usually stay there for in game months/years. Unless the bloody thing respawns….
Of course you can’t take me as a standard for moral grounds. I’m one of those people that likes to enter random villagers homes and open chest/cabinets/lockers/etc just to see what loot is available and increase my (or party member) lock pick skills. 😛
Well, you could say it was helping them in the sense that it was attracting adventurers, but the villagers were aware that the corpse would start to rot over time. I think they were hoping the adventurers would take care of it except, as you mentioned, they underestimated how badly the decay would affect the area. When Naofumi asked them why they didn’t mention it to the Sword Hero, their answer was basically, “Who are we to question the heroes?” As for why they didn’t dispose of the body, they’re not equipped or trained to deal with the monsters that block the path to the mountain. Even if they did get there, the poison would weaken them since they don’t have the Shield Hero’s defenses. They’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, which would have been prevented if they didn’t hesitate to talk to Ren. Something Naofumi does is he doesn’t let the villagers he helps treat him like a savior. He’s not saving them. They saved themselves by employing his service.
It emboldens them to take care of themselves in the future, since handing their problems over to someone else is essentially what got them into this mess.
Wait for the spin off, things will be right again.
It’ll be cool if they installed a sixth hero in the another series win heart and brains.
In that case, the sixth hero would probably get along well with Naofumi
We are currently in Volume 2 chapter 11, there are 21 volumes out so far each with 20 chapters (+/- 1 chapter). This means this series can go potentially go on for 80 episodes, I’m up for it.
Sounds like about 3-4 seasons worth. I’d be down for that, too XD
– Naofumi is an “Faction” Collector with the World. Leveling is not so important for him
– the Other Heroes just want to get High level as fast as possible
In a way it’s looks like a game
also place respond my commits
Tate no Yuusha takes a lot from Dungeons & Dragons and MMRPG games. That’s why I’m thinking these heroes should have been a party from the start. The King essentially handicapped them by splitting them up and alienating their healer/support.
I read the WN too long ago to remember (years ago, so I hardly remember what happens or when), but the activation of the curse series felt non impactful here compared to whatever I expected. I think just a slighter longer inner monologue or sequence would have benefited greatly and allowed us to feel his hatred rather than him just going “hate, hate, hate”, it made the trigger for the seemingly important skill look cheap. I didn’t dislike it, but just felt it could have been an actually great scene if changed a little. Other than that, I do like most of everything and hearing indirectly every now and then about how the other heroes are impacting the world.
At the end, Raphtalia and Filo’s reactions and the whole sleeping together scene was cute, their interactions feel natural and not forced.
I am with you here in regards to the impact this episode could have had with some more introspection….I had one eyebrow raised watching him going from shock despair to instance “hate, hate, hate”. It felt rather forced as his second thought, I would think, would be to protect Raphtalia . Anywho…I did enjoy the episode nonetheless but it could have been better. He is getting more mature as well and that’s a good thing. Curious to see if all the other heroes have the cursed powers. I don’t see why not. If he can control it before they do then I can see this being a game changer at the right moment for him and the series.
I’ll agree that it felt a little rushed. At the same time, the abruptness of the transition and the inner monologue of the shield (?) gave the scene a possession-esque quality. Maybe the Curse Series/Wrath Shield has a mind of its own?
Rather than a mind of it’s own, it feels more like forcing a particular emotion to the forefront. In Naofumi’s case the Wrath Shield seems to feed his negative emotions of hatred, which makes me wonder if you can obtain something similar in the opposite direction?
Pretty soon the shield hero will become the monster of destrutuion and madness without reason or emotions but pure rage.
And so darkness will privail and the light will expire.
I wonder their is another from earth who summoned with right mind set and heart that push way Naofumi and surpass the four heroes.
age of the girls involved is making me dizzy… Filo is month-old and she acts like 7-10 years old?
Unlike humans who age with time, Demihumans and Monsters age with Leveling. While they won’t gain Wisdom and Knowledge, they do mentally mature.
so I was right by beginning to refer to my birthdays as level ups 😛
Filo is best… chestburster xenomorph.
Was ready to hear the dragon start talking in Proto-Indo-European…
All that’s left is to see just what mess the Archer caused. All of them seem to go with the standard MMORPG quest complete mentality.
That’s the problem, right? They do their thing, save the village, collect items, and then leave. None of them stick around long enough to see the damage their ‘solutions’ do. I’ve read a good portion of the manga so I actually knew about the dragon ahead of time, but the Bow Hero? I have no idea what disaster he’s going to accidentally set in motion
The stories Naofumi says he heard about the heroes in episode 6 have all come to pass so far – Spear did provide the plant, sword did slay the dragon while searching for powerful creatures to kill. So, that leaves Bow either training in the mountains, delving a dungeon, allying with another country’s resistance forces or perhaps some weird combination of all three….
Naofumi will someday fall in to evil by his actions & personality.
On the fated land, a new destruction will consumed the kingdom. Destruction will fall and light & hope will expire until anew hero arise.
At less that my prediction, beside Naofumi is an ass both personality and methods like Cartman in South Park. He’s not hero at all not like Batman maybe or my ideal hero guy.