The Rising of the Shield Hero Producer Teases the Series' Future

The Rising of the Shield Hero was one of the most well received new anime of the year commercially and critically, and that instant success has already resulted in the confirmation that two more seasons are in production. But the first season came to an end in an interesting way as Naofumi realized the Waves that he's been fighting since the beginning of the series aren't quite as simple as they had seemed at first. So what's next on the slate for Naofumi and his party? Speaking with ComicBook.com during Crunchyroll Expo 2019, producer for the series Junichiro Tamura opened up about what to look for next.

As Tamura explained, there are quite a few plot threads needing to be explored in the next season of the series, "Naofumi once was able to clear any suspicion on him, but the next enemy is already approaching. A big turtle-like a monster in the teaser and enemies he hasn't seen before will appear one after another. He might also fight again with the enemies he has encountered."

Elaborating further, Tamura hopes fans will be paying very close attention to how Naofumi himself grows in the face of all of these challenges, "The original is a very long novel, thus there are many scenes I want to animate. I want you to watch through the life of Naofumi, the hero, in any development moving forward. To that end, we are currently working very hard on the new production!"

Not only did Tamura teases the giant turtle seen in the first poster for the second season of the series, it seems that fans should be keeping an eye out for the enemy heroes that popped up toward the end of the first season. Once it was revealed that the Waves were caused from other worlds trying to save themselves, the battle to save this fantasy world added so many layers. It's going to be a complicated future for Naofumi.

if you wanted to check out the anime itself before the premiere of the second season next year, you can currently find The Rising of the Shield Hero's first season streaming on Crunchyroll and VRV in both its original Japanese language release and with an English dub. Originally conceived as a series of light novels written by Aneko Yusagi in 2013, The Rising of the Shield Hero's anime adaptation is produced by Kinema Citrus and directed by Takao Abo.

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?"