English Dub Review: Rising of Shield Hero: “Ost Hourai”

My first attempt to vibe with almost any anime is whether the open hooks me. And let me tell you, I’m digging this.

I am trying to get a hold of what’s going on. From what I’ve been understanding, a familiar of the Spirit Tortoise, is in a bad way. This introduces me to the conflict between Naofumi and the group who’s trying to kill them, led by L’Arc. The situation was rather tense, and I think it leads to decent plot development. It seems like a lot of Rising of Shield Hero is closing in on a major shift in tone in regards to these spirit animals.

There is one thing I kind of dig about the Spirit Tortoise, and that’s the fact that it eats souls. For something that is supposed to be protected, I didn’t expect for it to be something that’s a bit sinister. However, L’Arc and his crew manage to find the heart, which made me think. Are they going to be protecting the tortoise, or kill it? Because from what I’ve been deciphering, it seems like the more bad will come from the tortoise living than dying. The ominous music is presenting a lot of tension, because there’s an air of uncertainty when it comes to the heart of the Spirit Tortoise, and what each group is going to do.

Kyo is a pretty interesting character. This man may not be the big bad of the season, but I’m digging him right now. There’s enough sadistic tension going on to make things interesting, but not enough to where it’s overbearing. While I’m trying to figure out how this is going to go, I can’t help but think of one thing: This entire episode is all about a tortoise, and it eats souls. Anime sure has gotten weirder and weirder since I started watching. After having the Spirit Tortoise regenerate its heart and head, it’s back on the move.

There’s one thing I just can’t get behind when it comes to newer anime, and that’s the grossly out of place CGI tortoise animation. This small sequence, juxtaposed with the rest of the more traditional animation from “Ost Horai”, just feels out of place. That’s what makes me hate Attack on Titan. The CG is so jarring next to the traditional animation, that it just doesn’t hit. Luckily, it was about a two to three second piece of animation. However, it doesn’t change the fact that it was rather off-putting. The sequence doesn’t take anything away from the rest of the episode, however.