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「尚文の凱旋」 (Naofumi no Gaisen)
“Naofumi’s Triumphant Return”
Ding dong, the witch is dead.
Well, maybe not dead, though it was a close call. Rather, she’s been disgraced and humiliated, revealed as a liar and attempted murderer for the whole kingdom to see. By royal decree, I’m not even entirely sure that I can refer to her by name anymore. At the moment, I’m leaning towards referring to her as The-Adventurer-Formerly-Known-As-Myne, but for now we’ll stick with her given name, Malty.
After nearly sacrificing his own life to take down the Pope, Naofumi awoke to what had to be the best news he’s heard since he arrived in Melromarc – the King Consort Aultcray and Malty were going to be put on trial for treason and attempted fratricide. The Queen’s Shadows have been watching events unfold just as we have, and they saw what Malty tried to do to her sister during the chaos which resulted from her accusing the Shield Hero of kidnapping and brainwashing her sister. Once on trial before the Queen, the king consort and Malty were given slave marks that forced them to tell only the truth. However, no matter how many times Malty was tortured for her lies, she continued to insist she’d done nothing wrong. Even the most deceitful person would start telling the truth after being shocked to unconsciousness the first time, yet the transition from Motoyasu asking her questions to the execution seemed to suggest that the trial went on for quite some time longer before he was satisfied that Malty truly had been deceiving him for the entirety of the time they’d spent together.
For the first time, Naofumi had those who had wronged him completely at his mercy, but instead of reveling in their deaths, he pitied them. Sure, he was angry at himself for it, but at their core, Malty is so twisted she literally couldn’t tell the truth to save her life and her father, while severely misguided, genuinely believes that everything he’s done was for the best. Whatever tragedy befell him in the past, the Church used it to corrupt him, just as they used Malty’s ambition to corrupt her. They’re not victims, per se, but they’re not necessarily evil, either. And, clearly, they have people in their lives who love them in spite of their faults. Letting them live out the rest of their days by playing the role of villain once again had to be one of the hardest things Naofumi has ever done, and he’s done plenty. Yet, oddly enough, by stopping the execution with the smuggest look on his face imaginable, Naofumi proved without a doubt that he deserves to be a hero.
Had he not stepped in, though, the Queen would have offered her life up in exchange, leaving him no choice but to accept. After all, to ignore her heartfelt plea in front of the entire kingdom would have ended in him painted as a villain once more, and this time, he would have earned it. Luckily, nothing that has befallen Naofumi has managed to stamp out the goodness in him entirely. This is largely due to all of the girls in his life (and the blacksmith), but it’s clear that Raphtalia will always be special. She stood by him from the beginning, witnessing every injustice he endured and how it wore him down, and then saw him rise again to stand proudly as one of the Four Cardinal Heroes. When Naofumi shared the news about the trial, she was the only one who seemed to fully grasp how much it meant to him to finally clear his good name.
Once the trial was concluded with the king consort and his daughter’s names changed to Trash and B**** respectively, or S*** if she wants to go by her adventurer name, the Queen politely requested that Naofumi stay in Melromarc. Strange that, considering all the damage control she had to do after her husband greedily summoned all four of the heroes when it turns out that each of the countries were meant to summon only one as a protector, but Naofumi made it clear that while he’s not unwilling to work with her, he also has no intention of abandoning the other kingdoms or of being in her debt. It’s a mature decision which the Queen respects. Plus, it means that we’ll be seeing even more worldbuilding in the future now that Naofumi is free to travel and beloved by the people. Although this series isn’t quite over yet and the Shield Hero’s journey has only just begun, I truly can’t think of a more satisfying ending.
Preview
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Reaction to Malty (and the king) finally getting their just desserts:
“YES! YES!”
Well, despite not having started watching this series, I just had to watch this particular episode as Malty’s reputation for being a “queen b***h” worse than Cersei fricking Lannister precedes her. This was almost as satisfying as Giorno giving Cioccolata that much-deserved 30-plus second (or 7-page) beatdown in Vento Aureo.
https://randomc.net/image/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari/Tate%20no%20Yuusha%20no%20Nariagari%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
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I see you have your priorities right. Hottest MILF trumps torture-cleavage every time.
I admit the queen is truly beautiful in this seen, the manga version is kinda off design….
Wasn’t Malty the only one to receive the slave mark due to her habitual lying?
I think you may be right there. When I was watching the scene, something about the way it was edited made me think the King had recieved the mark, as well. Only he’d taken it with a bit more dignity. It was a big reason why I was so impressed with his rant, since him not being shocked showed that he believed every word of it, but if that wasn’t the case *shrugs* I guess they just expected him to tell the truth, regardless
Trash Can’t recieve a Slave Mark Cause of Spoilers
If it wasn’t for the preview cap, I would’ve thought
the series had ended!
But of course nobody would be beheaded; it’s not that
kinda series. Not too bad to see the King and Malty
finally get their reckoning but I though the King reasons
would be better explained now (that he lost family members
to the demi-humans) but the story focused more on Malty’s
mis-deeds and punishment. Even the King wasn’t aware of
all of the evil she was the author.
Wonder how the final episodes will play out — will we see
a grand cooperation between all of the heroes with the
next wave?
I would have been more impressed if Naofumi got to keep the redhead as the price of her reprieve. A fox amongst the chickens, so to speak.
I think you’re right about it not being ‘that kinda’ series. It’s got the weird and juvenile sort of justice truth vibe. Not only does Malty have to testify, but shamefully it’s from the stocks, and she gets forced into slavery and marked, and there’s a lie detector, and it’s a magic lie detector so it’s guaranteed to know the truth, and not only do those inside the hall hear her lies and his truth but everyone on the street gets the live video feed, and it actually punishes her every lie, and the penalty is death. Woohoo! (That’ll show that treacherous woman. But not really.) And redemption! And even if Naofumi had not deigned to demonstrate his regal grace, there was an out so he could save his soul and keep fair Raphtalia’s love pure.
This feels like a children’s story, and Naofumi is nearer to soft-serve ice cream than the type of hard character he presents himself as.
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Gotta give credit to her seiyuu for those agonizing screams. A bit different than the manga but the outcome is the same.
While it taking so long to get to this point makes me worry about how much they’re going to rush the next arc, this was still very much worth it. It’s always great when a “mastermind’s” plans go to crap, but it’s just that much better when they get hauled in and exposed for the user and tool that they are. If I didn’t know what was coming I’d be very interested in what direction Bitch goes in from here, but I do so I’m spared the element of surprise there at least. I’m also more than happy to skip the asterisks for Bitch since that’s just her soul-name through-and-through, but I’ll use them if it’s a problem.
Queen Mirellia was also certainly worth the wait. After all that teasing it’s good to see them follow through on her being someone that finally shows what real royalty is(Melty still needs a few years). It was good that she was nervous, even if they pointed it out too much. Her Shadows might’ve been observing Naofumi all along, but this is still there first meeting, and it’s still the lives of her loved ones, no matter how broken they are as people. If she was willing to play this gamble without breaking a sweat then she probably wouldn’t have even cared about Melty.
There is a fun little switch they did here though.
Here, they placed the queen as the one who ordered their death ( off wit their head! as the queen of hearts would say 😛 ) while the shield hero was the one who protected them at the end.
In the novels however, when Naofumi was allowed to pick their punishment after the trial, he picked their death sentence. The queen on the other hand managed to get him to lower the sentence there to renaming them in their current names.
I was just laughing during the whole interrogation with bitch as she kept getting shocked whenever she tried to downplay something or weasel her way out of trouble 😛
The anime’s taken a lot of the bad stuff out of Naofumi’s worse moments. Especially early on in the manga(which I understand is already somewhat tamer than the novels) there are points where you wonder if his rage has finally driven him nuts, but the anime really downgraded him to just being grumpy with a deserved attitude once he got Raphtalia.
I don’t know. Buying a slave and train her as child soldier is more than just grumpy in my account.
How else can he get better then if he is worthless at offense while he refuses to pair up with anyone he doesn’t like or trust?
While it might be a bit of an “Eh” situation with the whole slavery thing, it kinda fits though.
@Enan84
Still better than feeling the pleasure when she suffers because as a woman she reminds him of Melty. And that’s exactly the attitude and darkness he has within initialy in the source material. It’s tamed for adaptation a lot.
Malty* always messing them
The queen is quite possibly my favorite supporting character in this Anime I don’t know why I just like her.
Seeing the King and the first princess get justice is really sweet and this episode has been really building up on the pent up feelings the audience has with Aultcray and Malty. Naofumi and his party gets a peace of mind as justice is delivered but the remaining turning points to the over all story is yet to come. The Remaining story will need a 2nd season but I think this first season can end here on this episode.
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From the OP it looks like they’re going to try to get through at least most of the Cal Mira Island arc with what’s left this season.
This episode felt so much like a final episode, I wonder if even the production team was suprised to get there.
I just can’t wait to hear the queen tell Naofumi that his presence intimidates the rest of the three heroes like in the Manga and that yelling at them will only discourage cooperation.
When she gets to unleash her full magical might, she a dangerous one though 😛
Think she is one of the stronger casters there, as well as a dangerous one regarding politics.
I wonder we will see the queen and the his second daughter in the spin off series in the Spear Hero series?
Does the source explain why the king hated Naofumi so much?
My impression is he’d went through some kind of personal unresolved tragedy; the perpetrators were connected with the Shield Hero brand and the king was taking out his anger on the Shield because he couldn’t directly strike back at the perps.
Very close. He hates the Shield Hero because he absolutely hates demihumans. And since the Shield Hero, ANY Shield Hero is considered a god by the demihumans, he hates him. He doesn’t really have anything personal against Naofumi.
Does the king hate demihumans just because, or is there a deeper reason to it?
Show Spoiler ▼
Threw it in the spoiler tag as it was partially hinted at in the anime but the full reason would be later then this in the source material.
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Seeing people performing “sacrilege” by throwing out a religious item seems refreshing.
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Seeing how this Sanji-like Spear idiot chose to accept the execution made me happy to see some extra burn in Malty. I am still surprised those three heroes are so STUPID, it is only until this episode that they didn’t believe that Naofumi was innocent from all those false charges.
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Trust me girl, you father I understand you are happy he is spared, but your sister MUST die! I like to know what is her fate in the light novel, wonder if it is different compared to the Web Novel.
In a sadistic sort of way, I really like M….*ahem*…Abazure’s reactions this episode. Really looks better when things don’t go her way.
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What an interesting look for someone who just got her pleas acknowledged. Wonder if she’ll still keep that armour Naofumi bought for her.
Not sure how many episodes to come, but this one seemed like fitting end point for this series. Still a lot of open questions, but the major plot point of the first episode was satisfyingly concluded here. Like why Kuzu has so much hate in him. By the way, rather surprised that he’s actually just a king consort.
Well, technically he is still supposed to be the king unless the anime changed that as well.
He turns into a vassal around volume 10 i think…
Only thing that really changes is the name as far as i can recall since he lost all power and influence as the king, making him one only in name.
Thanks for the word. I couldn’t figure out what they were calling her. Most subs translate ‘bitch’ to ‘slut’ already so I tried to listen closely to figure out what they were calling her but I came away with ‘abazero’. Bit of a fail 🙂
I have been wondering if there’s a Japanese word for vixen to apply to Malty but after looking this up, it works well enough except it doesn’t have the advantage of especially suiting an attractive redhead.
mesunokitsune is the closest in japanese to vixen i can think of…
雌の狐 is the kanji for that, which translates to either bitch fox or vixen depending on the context.
雌 refers to a female animal, の can either be possessive or refer to the lack of a political post (both of them fit pretty nicely when thinking about it ) and 狐 is for fox
Very belatedly…
At the end of S2E05 of Index, as she walks ahead, her umbrella twirling, Stiyl calls the delightful and manipulative Laura Stuart a ‘megitsune’, a contraction of your word, spelled as ‘女狐’ — the sentence being ‘あの女狐めが’. It’s the last line prior to the ending.
Interesting. That’s what the JMDict offers up for it as well (I like tangorin.com as a dictionary site). It’s a little clunky though, requiring the ‘の’ in there (in contrast with a dog — 雌犬). Thanks for figuring it out.
Kind of satisfying but kind of not.
I do hope the Shieldbro anime adaptation reaches the very end of the novels…. coz somewhere down the lane justice is TRULY served.
As much as I’d like that, I doubt it. They’d probably need around 48 more episodes, and that makes it all about funding.
*at least
Are we talking about the original end then that the writer originally intended ( which was honestly kinda meh ) or the current end that we have in the novels?
While I do know the ending of the WN, I could have sworn the LN is still ongoing
Naofumi, you have a warm heart deep down in there, you COULDN’T BEAR to actually kill the two most despicable characters in the show!
What I liked the most was that we got to see Her Majesty, the Queen!
Also while I felt satisfied that the truth came out, I felt kinda disappointed at this episode.
Show Spoiler ▼
It is interesting that while B-censored was truly living up to the description of habitual liar, the King did not lie at all, and was truly shocked by his daughter crimes. While this does clear him of charge of intentionally doing harm to the hero and the kingdom, his misguided policies were source of untold pain for the population and probably were enough to depose him immediately. I wonder what are his personal reasons to hate the Shield Hero?
Anyway I wonder if those 2, even bereft of status and power will still try to hurt the Shield Hero?
I am truly entertained though at the idea of B-censored having to earn her bread – she has some skills as adventurer, but I wonder how much use they will be without all her safety net including personal hero…
Speaking of Spear Hero, him abandoning B-censored to her fate does not speak too well of him either. For a such self-declared protector of females he did not too good…
If there’s one thing we can count on Malty for, it’s messing with the Shield Hero. Now, I haven’t read the novels, but judging by her character, I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll hear of her
The Spear Hero discovered he’d been lied to and tricked into fighting an innocent man for what was probably months in-universe. All that time wasted bickering with each other when the heroes could and should have been defending the kingdoms. If Motoyasu hadn’t turned his back on her after discovering the extent of her treachery, any chances of him ever cooperating with Naofumi would have likely gone out the window
Don’t get me wrong, though. It is a noble thought. Just in a very quixotic kind of way.