First Impressions / Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

「紡がれる約束」 (Tsumugareru Yakusoku)
“A Promise Made”

As exciting as filolials fighting like a pair of kaiju in the forest would have been, the battle between Fitoria and Firo was nonetheless a feast for the eyes. Although I’m aware that I praise this series often for its animation quality, when the staff has lovingly detailed the frustration Firo was feeling or the occasional flickers of emotion in Fitoria, and all while depicting a fight between an immortal who looks like a child and a child who looks like a child with the utmost gravity, how can I not? This series deserves every bit of praise it gets because what it does well it does really well. As usual, Kevin Penkin’s OST was energetic without distracting from the scene, its beats lending to the choreography in the fight, and with all of these factors working together, the battle between Firo and Fitoria had to be one of the best overall in the series thus far.

But what led up to it? If I understand correctly, Fitoria’s master, a past hero implied to be a former Shield Hero, asked her to help the heroes protect the world and its people. A tall order, really, since as Fitoria explains to Naofumi, protecting the world is a much simpler task. At a certain point, the heroes will be faced with a choice – Do they protect the world and return home afterwards with their duty fulfilled? Or do they choose to protect its people, a much longer and grueling task? While Fitoria didn’t outright say, it seems that choosing the latter could very well mean that the hero never returns at all. When does something like protecting the people end? When there’s no more poverty, greed, sickness, or starvation? When the Church is no longer corrupt and the kingdoms are at peace?

How could one hero possibly be expected to create a utopia? And yet, it seems that most of the heroes wish for their successors to choose to protect the people.

At the end of the day, Fitoria is still going to wipe out the heroes if they don’t start making up and playing nice, but shows an unexpectedly kind side after both Firo and Naofumi pass her test. For Firo, it was a test of her resolve, loyalty, and potential. She’s grown enormously in every fight she’s been in, a trend which doesn’t change for her as she seems to successfully wield a spell she’s never used before in her human form, utilizing her speed and raw power to scratch Fitoria’s cheek and prove that Firo may one day be her equal. As for Naofumi, he needed to show that he believed in the strength of his comrades. Watching Firo get tossed around must have been extremely difficult for him, but if he doesn’t trust in the abilities of his party members, then can he honestly boast that he doesn’t need the other heroes to defeat the Waves? Every time Naofumi shouted encouragement from the sidelines, Firo improved, employing new tactics and taking risks. This may have been a fight Naofumi couldn’t fight for her, but let it never be said that she fought alone.

Later on, Fitoria and Naofumi spoke in private once more. She’d given him a cowlick of hers to sacrifice to his shield, unlocking the Filolial series, yet he still regarded the Rage series as his last resort. It was apparent at this point that every time she prevented him from using the Rage series, she was protecting him. If Sanity stats exist in this world, then the Rage series most likely depletes them with every use. The Barbarian Armor upgrade she gave him should protect him from its effects for a little while, but not forever. While they were speaking, Naofumi unwittingly echoed her previous master with both his words and his actions. At some point in the conversation, he asked Fitoria why she made her appeal to him – why not talk to the Spear Hero or the Bow Hero or the Sword Hero? – and she told him that she rated him higher than the other heroes since he raised the next queen, but also because she believes he’s a good person. I’d like to think that Fitoria sees her former master in him, as well, and that she moved to convince the Shield Hero because some part of her remembers the kindness of the Shield Hero who raised her. In any case, it’s clear that she has a favorite.

For now, Naofumi seems to be doing very well for himself. He’s on his way to attempt to reconcile with the two heroes he has the best chance of convincing, and with any luck Ren and Itsuki, who appear to have been investigating the origins of the first heroes when someone didn’t want them to, will still be alive and hale when he catches up with them.

Epilogue:

 

Preview

25 Comments

  1. My best guess about World vs People:

    “World” is just as advertised: keep fighting the Waves when they appear until they stop. Job done, parades, yay team, go home. “People” being a lot harder and not being included in “World” suggests to me that it might be something along the lines of finding whatever’s causing the Waves and introducing it to Filo’s stomach. Which, given how the Waves always start and how they seem to be bringing in junk that doesn’t show up naturally, could mean going outside of said “World” in some way.

    Aex
    Reply

  2. https://randomc.net/image/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari%20-%2017%20-%20Large%2011.jpg

    1st, I will say one thing about the this battle that the Anime didn’t add which was in the Manga. The line where Naofumi said “Firo! Use your head!” in the Manga panel Firo took it as actually head butting Fitoria. Then both of Firo and Fitoria were dizzy afterwards, it seems the writers took that out in the Anime after Naofumi said “Firo! Use your head!” and Firo just pushes thunder forward.

    2nd, This is a dilemma that Fitoria placed on Naofumi to save the world (meaning the entire establishment setup by the Kingdom, the consumer markets created by the Farmers, all others that produce goods and services) or save the People (As many as the heroes can save and rebuild the world) a real dilemma.

    RenaSayers
    Reply

    1. I do not believe that is the accurate interpretations of the choices.

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Chuuni001
      Reply

      2. Along the episodes is ok, but the main character is still terrible. Like the old comments Light Hero will fit in the series because his characteristics in the series are terrible so far. Will they make another spin off series of Shield Hero with a time travel thing with case of deja vu along with the spear hero????

        The justice
        Reply

    1. Those to the left of Ren are in Ren’s party, and those to the right of Itsuki are in Itsuki’s party. None of the team members in any of the other heroes’ teams have established names yet, aside from Mein/Myne. We’ve seen Ren’s HUD and Motoyasu’s HUD, and no team member other than Mein (which the subtitles spell as Myne) had their name shown. The spear girl on Itsuki’s team has had lines, though (back in the restaurant, when Itsuki made the Spiderman reference), but I never checked how she was credited.

      David
      Reply

      2. We’ve never seen Itsuki’s HUD, so there’s been no chance for interface-provided names for any of his team, and he’s never spoken or had anyone speak to him. He’s also not one of the guards Naofumi has dealt with, if that’s what you’re thinking.

        David
        Reply

  7. My guess is the whole world vs people statement deals with with the waves and not just saving the people of this world, but also the people who are “invading” through the waves.

    weasl
    Reply

  8. The fight was very cliche and very unoriginal. It’s the typical “winning through sheer willpower” against a much stronger and more experienced opponent trope. Filo’s a very one-dimensional character , so it should have shown asome quality other than strength to win the fight I also did not feel a development of his character than being an archetype of sweet and pretty girl on her so all these episodes seemed to me a fillers.
    So really the plot has not advanced much so I feel that they stretch these arcs for some reason besides retaining crucial information in the first episode, Naofumi was asking questions, While that makes sense why has Naofumi stopped asking questions? There are so many instances where he should have asked some questions, The filolial queen can jam his rage shield, says that he shouldn’t rely on that power. So she should know something about it. But he never asks anything about it to her should have asked him about the history of the previous heroes and why that history resulted in everyone looking down on him.

    Another intrigued me, the king said that the heroes cannot work together as that would inhibit their growth but Fitoria said it would instead be essential to be working together. Is this just one of the king’s way of trying to fudge everybody up? exactly what happens with the kingdom and its problem of treating the heroes? oh of course someone will come and tell me that “Next episode will explain everything!!!”

    Fede
    Reply

    2. The heroes get their exp gain nerfed when they’re together, as explained in Ep.1. That shouldn’t stop them from cooperating to defeat Waves more effectively when it’s that time again, though.

      Aex
      Reply

      1. Adding on to that, it would be a good idea to take everything the king says with a grain of salt. It might be in his self-interest that the heroes work separately. Four minds are better than one, after all. Itsuki and Ren only really started making progress – if you consider starting the investigation/realizing there was a need for one progress – once they started working together

        Stars
        Reply

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