The Rising of the Shield Hero

If you were disappointed in Sword Art Online - as I was - then this is the anime for you. As other reviewers have said, this anime is what SAO should have been. From the beginning this series had me hooked.

Sure, there are some over-the-top (e.g. killer penguins and rabbits) or cliche moments, but overall it's really good. There's a good mix of sad and happy moments, which I really appreciated and enjoyed.

I hope season two will be as good.

The first season was 10/10, but the second season, in comparison, is an abomination. As of right now, not a single episode of season 2 is worth watching. They are all dreadfully dull and watching them is a waste of time, but season 1 was good enough that I keep watching in hopes it'll get better.

Besides the tipical isekai theme, the series has a quick start with the characters accepting just from the first episode that they are in another world. This could seem bad for a development, but its very refreshing and let the series take another view (which is, of course, the main plot from the series). Our protagonist is betrayed from the very start and makes him to see the wonderful isekai world in which he was invoked as it is in reality, a normal kingdom with all its fails and trash. From that point our protagonist evolves in such a smooth way that you dont remember the last time he didnt taste food. the soundtrack is wonderful, following the pase of the series perfectly and the seiyu's have made an excelent job voicing naofumi, filo and the racoon loli. the animation is acceptable, with some fails, but those dont ruin the experience. my score for the series is 8,5/10 and as a personal opinion a 9/10

Season 1 is great and somewhat new approach to the Isekai/video games genre (similar in concept to SAO), but Season 2 is very uneven at best. Half season full of plot holes and bad CGI, and second half of S2 feels like a whole new season, but creativity and originality is taken far back seat, and I'm being very polite about it.

S1 - 9/10 S2 - 6/10

Feel free to skip the very last episode of S2 as it's adds nothing of value. Basically it's collection of few cut scenes from S2. Nothing more.

If this isekai had only 1 season I would have give it a 10/10 rating. The revenge plot is great and refreshing from the other anime of the same genre. Episode 1 hook you up instantly and each episodes of season 1 are worth watching.

Sadly this anime went for a season 2 and 3 wich are both bland/generic isekai, I think the author didn't understand that what makes this worth it was the relationship between Naofumi/Raphtalia and the revenge plot. Raphtalia become so dull and only becole another member of Naofumi's harem (another problem with the Isekai genre), they keep feeding you new characters you don't care about and the main danger is completely forgotten (the waves of monsters ??? The reason why the MC is summoned in the first place ??)

I still give it a 6/10 because of the perfect first season.

English isn't my first language I hope this review was readable.