The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Teases Naofumi's New Party Members

The Rising of the Shield Hero held a special panel during Crunchyroll Virtual Expo this year, and during it teased new members coming to Naofumi's party in the second season. One of the best aspects of the first season was seeing how Naofumi Iwatani went from originally being forced to party alone to eventually gaining helpful companions he could rely on. This will be carried over with the second season of the series as the director behind The Rising of the Shield Hero's second season teased new members joining the party along with a ton of other mysteries.

The Rising of the Shield Hero shared a special message from director Masato Jinbo (who is taking over from Takao Abo of the first season) during their Crunchyroll Virtual Expo panel, and he not only teased new members joining Naofumi's party, but teased many of the new challenges that this growing party will face in the next phase of Naofumi's journey.

Jinbo's statement begins down as such, "Naomi and his friends grew in the first season's story. In the second season, they will take everything they learned from the first season to face new challenges. A giant enemy called the Spirit Turtle? Being transported further into another world? Naomi and his friends will have to face various new challenges."

The second part of the statement then gets into the really juicy stuff by naming two mysterious characters joining the crew, "How will Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo will take them on, now that they've matured? I also hope everyone looks forward to seeing the new characters that join Naofumi's party, Rishia and Kizuna."

Fans of Aneko Yusagi's original light novels will recognize these two names, and fans of the first season will definitely recognize Rishia. We had briefly seen her during the tail end of the first season of the series, but she has yet to be fully integrated to the party. Which means that we will begin to see how she works into the fold with the second season along with this brand new character, Kizuna.

But what do you think? Are you excited to see Naofumi's party expand with two new members? What kind of fights are you hoping to see in the second season? What were your favorite moments of the first season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!