The Rising of the Shield Hero Director Explains How Involved the Creator Is With the Anime

To say The Rising of the Shield Hero had a good year would be putting it lightly. The series was a quick standout amongst the anime debuts of 2019, and it prompted excited reactions time and again from fans. Nowadays, many are looking to read ahead on the series, and it seems anime-only watchers will not be disappointed by the switch.

After all, the director on Shield Hero opened up about the anime’s work with creator Aneko Yusagi, and the team was given solid guidance from the writer.

“I actually met with Yusagi only once and we talked in detail about this work,” director Takao Abo told Crunchyroll in a recent interview.

“The impression I got talking to them is that there were these four people who could become heroes, including Naofumi. Yusagi also stressed the importance of leading with your own morality and the idea that your own morality could potentially have negative effects or impacts on other people should you really follow what you think is right, or should you question that? So I took those ideas with me and that was really, I think, the trigger for the core of The Rising of the Shield Hero. Yusagi communicated that theme to me, so I built upon that theme within the anime.”

For those curious about the original series, Yusagi created the light novel back in 2012. The title was published online before a manga adaptation tackled Shield Hero ahead of its anime debut. Now, a second and third season have been announced for the title, leaving fans more excited for its future than ever before.

Are you excited for this anime’s future…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

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?”