History Literature / TheRisingOfTheShieldHero

** In the Light Novel, Rino, a girl Malty sold into slavery simply so Motoyasu's attention wouldn't be monopolized [[spoiler: not only manages to betray ''her'' after sneaking into the reincarnations group as a Double Agent, but manages to be the one to kill her. To add insult to injury, after stabbing her repeatedly she also lays claim to the Vassal Whip that was in her possession to finish her off by blowing her head clean off its shoulders. That said, thanks to the Third Army's ability to [[RessurectiveImmortality revive their soldiers and allies if they can keep their souls intact,]] given they managed to flee the fight with Malty's soul, it's likely this death [[BackFromTheDead won't stick for her.]] Still major [[KickTheSonOfABitch karmic payback]] for her though.]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:People were ''delighted'' when Naofumi was proven innocent and the King and Malty were punished.]]

* TheHero: Four of them in fact: [[HeroesPreferSwords Hero of the Sword]], Hero of the Spear, [[ArcherArchetype Hero of the Bow]], and [[LuckilyMyshieldWillProtectMe Hero of]] the [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Shield]]. There are also the Seven [[spoiler:Eight]] Star Heroes and [[spoiler:the Heroes of Glass' world.]]

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Each of the {{Arc Villan}}s have a different variety of threat to Naofumi and his parties:

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Each of the ArcVillans have a different variety of threat to Naofumi and his parties:

''The Rising of the Shield Hero'' (盾の勇者の成り上がり ''Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari'') is a fantasy novel series written by Aneko Yusagi and illustrated by Seira Minami. Originally released as an ongoing WebSerialNovel on the website Shousetsuka ni Narou ("Let's Become a Novelist") in 2012, it was later picked up for publication by Media Factory Books as a series of LightNovels, with the first volume published on August 22, 2013.

* CrapsackWorld: High-level monsters appear and kill indiscriminately until they are stopped by deadly force? Check. There is a giant magical hourglass showing when it will happen, each and every time? Check. HumansAreBastards? Check. One of the most honest and upright merchants in the setting is a slave trader? Check.

* TheGreatFire: Malty orders a platoon of knights and sorcerers to set fire to a mountain next to the forest where Naofumi's party and Melty are in to kill them. However, they escaped and eventually found shelter in Baron Reichnott's village.

* GoodPrincessEvilQueen: Inverted. Queen Mirelia is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure in stark contrast to the sociopathic Princess Malty.

* StrawLoser: Ultimately Zig-Zagged. At times, everyone who isn't Naofumi and/or his party seems to exist mainly to serve as varying levels of antagonists. Myne tells many BlatantLies just because she can, but this only applies to people living in Melromarc's capital simply because she's royalty, as Ren and Itsuki's testimony following the rigged duel implies that a number had to be threatened into going along with it by the king. Motoyasu is among the people who believe Myne, but he has several other flaws which don't do him any great favors, which is also true of Ren and Itsuki to a lesser extent - moreover, the three Heroes all have GenreBlindness to the consequences, thinking that this is "just a game" instead of taking it seriously like Naofumi does.
** Overall, while the nobility and other heroes have a constant habit of either assuming the worst or blaming him for everything short of the waves, the general populace only have second-hand knowledge of what Naofumi supposedly did, and seeing him and his party display more competence than all his detractors combined as they perform their hero duties has him celebrated instead of shunned and tend to lend him their help when needed, such as the Blacksmith and the witch who helped teach Naofumi's party about magic and fashioned Filo's shape-shifting clothes.

''The Rising of the Shield Hero'' (盾の勇者の成り上がり ''Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari'') began as an ongoing Web Novel on "Let's Become a Novelist" written by Yusagi Aneko and illustrated by Seira Minami, with over 900 chapters released as of 2019. The series was later picked up by Media Factory Books with the first volume published on 22 August 2013. The series currently has twenty-two volumes and a drama CD out.

The light novel three side-stories and a spin-off web novel, ''Literature/TheRepriseOfTheSpearHero''. A manga series of side stories called ''A Day In The Life Of The Shield Hero'' began on September 27, 2018.

An anime adaptation was announced on July 7 2017. It premiered on January 9, 2019 and ran a total of 25 episodes. On September 2019, Crunchyroll announced [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-09-01/the-rising-of-the-shield-hero-anime-gets-2-more-seasons/.150588 that it's been renewed for a second and third season]]. The second season was originally set to premiere during 2020. It was rescheduled for October 2021, but got delayed again to April 2022.

* BonusBoss: [[RPGMechanicsVerse As the world runs on RPG mechanics, it naturally has one in the form of]] [[{{Kaiju}} The Spirit Turtle]]. It is possibly the largest and strongest monster in-universe which the previous Legendary Heroes could only seal instead of defeat. Like any special boss, three of the four current Legendary Heroes had to go out of their way to find and fight it. [[spoiler: However, when it turns out that they are unable to defeat it, it causes untold amounts of death and destruction for a month after it's released, which forces Naofumi and co. to step up and deal with it.]]

** Ren, Motoyasu and Itsuki treat the world like a videogame, and never stop to consider the consequences of their actions because of it. This shortsightedness proves disastrous when [[spoiler:the three of them try to fight the Spirit Turtle. A BonusBoss so powerful that the previous Four Heroes could only manage to seal it away, which beats them and goes on a rampage before Naofumi and his companions are able to stop it.]]

* KarmicRape: Malty. For all her chronic backstabbing, her name is changed to "Bitch". Later, after all the times she manipulated men and accused Naofumi of raping her, [[spoiler:she is sent to become the bride of King Faubley, a man whom she cannot manipulate, and who has raped and tortured 99,999 other women before her, and becomes [[SarcasmMode lucky]] woman number 100,000.]]

* TautologicalTemplar: Every last person who falls under the influence of [[spoiler:Medea]] or one of her fragments becomes absolutely convinced that he/she is the epitome of righteousness whose actions are invariably noble and just regardless of the actual consequences. It takes being directly betrayed by their patron to snap them out of it, and even then a few, [[spoiler:like Tact]] still don't get it.

** It's later revealed that this is ''literally'' Naofumi's power. Each of the legendary weapons has a unique method of powering itself and it's various forms up, which also extends to the Vassal weapons as well. Whilst some weapons allow one to enhance their stats directly, increase the power of various weapon forms through expending 'energy', rare materials, or even money on them, Naofumi's unique 'power-up' method is increased effectiveness from levelling for those who are in his party, meaning they get increased stat boosts from fighting alongside him and levelling up together, making them stronger than people of the same level normal are. Several of Naofumi's more powerful shields are unlocked through items gained from his non-human allies donating parts of their bodies willingly to his shield's care, representing their trust in him. Naofumi also later figures out that ''all'' the power-up methods can work on the legendary weapons simultaneously, but only [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve if the wielders earnestly believe they do]]. Despite his cynical skepticism, Naofumi is able to believe in the results brought about by the other heroes' efforts to begin making use of the power-up methods all at once, whereas the other's earnest refusal to believe mean that [[CantCatchUp they're limited in their efforts to get stronger then him]], even with his inability to attack directly.

** [[spoiler:Later on during the Spirit Tortoise Arc, Naofumi discovers a message left behind by a previous set of Cardinal Heroes that sealed away the Spirit Tortoise that was written in Kanji, indicating that set of Heroes were also from Japan as well.]]
** [[spoiler:After traveling to Glass' World to chase after Kyo, Naofumi encounters Kizuna, The Hunting Hero; who was also from Japan.]]

* WombLevel: [[spoiler: In order to kill the Spirit Turtle, Naofumi and co. had to go inside of it. It turns out that it can defend itself from intruders going inside its body, and even its heart has its own means of fighting.]]

* PopculturalOsmosisFailure: An interesting non-generational example in episode 10 of the anime. Itsuki mentions the ComesGreatResponsibility line verbatim, which causes Naofumi to do a SpitTake all over Filo. When Itsuki asks him what's so funny, Naofumi responds that he didn't realize [[Franchise/SpiderMan he was bitten by a spider]]. Itsuki, coming from an alternative universe version of Japan, doesn't get it.

** Episode 10 of the anime references Franchise/SpiderMan of all things, complete with ComesGreatResponsibility.