The Rising of the Shield Hero Director Reveals Challenge of Adapting Light Novels

The Rising of the Shield Hero hit the ground floor running in terms of building a fanbase while [...]

By Evan Valentine

The Rising of the Shield Hero hit the ground floor running in terms of building a fanbase while introducing the world of Iwatani Naofumi as he runs through the ringer of an MMORPG style world. Finding himself in the role of the "Shield Hero", along with three other heroes that had much more dangerous weapons of their own, Naofumi dealt with attempting to to defeat monsters in a weakened state along with a world of citizens that hate and fear him. Though now a popular anime franchise, the series began as a series of light novels and the director of the show, Takao Abo, chatted with Crunchyroll about the difficulties in bringing the televison show to life.

Abo explained the challenges that were presented in adapting a novel to a television season with the following breakdown: "So, of course, if you start with a novel, all you have to work on is the text, and you work from the text and you try to express that text in animation. But if all we do is take the text and just turn it into visuals as-is, I think that's really not enough. The viewers want more than that, so trying to bring something new to the audience is something that's both a challenge but also an interesting part of bringing novelizations and light novels to the screen."

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(Photo: Kinema Citrus)

Recently, the popular franchise has been renewed for a second season, as well as a third, as Naofumi and Raphtalia continued their adventures and continued making their way across this brand new magical world. The "fish out of water", begrudging hero has certainly changed astronomically since first hitting the scene, opening himself up to his party members as well as discovered just how powerful the abilities of his shield turned out to be.

What do you think of the process of bringing the Rising of the Shield Hero light novels to the world of anime? Are you excited for the upcoming second season of the fantasy tale? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the Shield Hero!

Originally conceived by Aneko Yusagi in 2013, The Rising of the Shield Hero's anime is produced by Kinema Citrus. The series is described as such: "Iwatani Naofumi, a run-of-the-mill otaku, finds a book in the library that summons him to another world. He is tasked with joining the sword, spear, and bow as one of the Four Cardinal Heroes and fighting the Waves of Catastrophe as the Shield Hero. Excited by the prospect of a grand adventure, Naofumi sets off with his party. However, merely a few days later, he is betrayed and loses all his money, dignity, and respect. Unable to trust anyone anymore, he employs a slave named Raphtalia and takes on the Waves and the world. But will he really find a way to overturn this desperate situation?"

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