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REVIEW - Anime Double Feature: Rise of The Shield Hero + Sugar Apple Fairy Tale (Patreon)

Published:
2024-07-13 07:20:15
Edited:
2025-08-11 01:51:00
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

A double-feature anime review of "Rise of the Shield Hero" (derogatory) and "Sugar Apple Fairy Tale" (beloved)

EDIT: Updated to fix the part of the audio where Sugar Apple Fairy Tale's cheery opening was exported randomly in the middle of our dialogue.

While I was working on Dogs in Love, Amy (who lives with me now, yay!) needed something to watch. Amy sometimes like to watch garbage, so she decided to check out Rise of the Shield Hero out of curiosity.

Good lord it is SO bad. There are moments in this show that stunned Amy into silence for an actual hour.

I caught snippets of it while working and had to actively turn up the audio in my headphones because it was making me so angry. Let's talk about it for way too long!

Or, if you don't care about Shield Hero, you can skip forward to 1:06:06 to listen to us talk about Sugar Apple Fairy Tale, an anime that sounds like I just made it up on the spot while looking at objects in my kitchen. It is a shoujo and it's... SO much better than we thought it would be.

These two shows have a major theme in common! CAN YOU GUESS WHAT IT IS???

Anyways, this post is Sugar Apple Fairy Tale propaganda. Here are three good reasons to watch the show.

Here's the Reddit post that we mention briefly.

Please enjoy!!!

Files

Comments

Zobralolz

I look back on Rising of the shield hero, which was probably my first light novel, and looking back, it’s probably why it’s one of the only light novels I ever read

Cue

Your three reasons are very compelling

nightstar6

I feel like rising of the shield hero has one or two good ideas in it, but overall isnt that good. The idea that the other 3 heros only view the world in terms of game logic and actually cause more harm than good is neat. The dragon corpse infecting the landscape since it doesnt despawn is neat.

Owen Vuvuzela

Man wouldn't it have been so easy to just introduce the directions and associated kingdoms early and just make the shield hero from like an evil kingdom or anything like that. Or hell just make it so there was a prior shield hero who was like a coward or something and always hid behind his defenses and shield so that's where the stigma comes from

Vic Cutting

That image has heavy Aloha stream thumbnail energy

Beck Carmine

I don't know if there's a better seal of approval than Jello telling you to watch something legally.

Moff Muppet

As someone who has read a fair chunk of the Shield Hero manga, I think the feeling I get when reading it is... lazy. There are plenty of ideas strewn about, but the author never bothers to explain or explore them beyond what is necessary for the story to go as they want it to. - Why do people hate the shield hero? Who cares. - What is Malty's end goal when screwing over Naofumi in the beginning? She has none, she's just a bitch. - Why even say the country is matriarchal when the fact that Naofumi allegedly assaulted THE PRINCESS should be reason enough to punish him? Stop asking questions. - Why aren't we acknowledging the fact that Naofumi is kind of a detestable person, or at least giving him some character development so he stops being such a dick? Because he's the hero, now shut up.

Daniel

Can I spoil worse parts about Shield Hero? Like how the spear hero after a certain point sees all women as pigs except the bird loli, and how by the end of it, it turns out Naofumi and Malty are primordial bitch gods in a cycle of bitch antics.

Debbie OI

Hey there’s actually great isekai that has a main female protagonist called ascendance of bookworm that is about a girl who reincarnated in world with no access to books and decides to speedrun the printing press industry. I like to recommend to people who think isekai is inherently bad instead of a genre that is hijacked by talentless incels

Magical Girl Mel

Sugar apple fairy tale is wonderful and I love it. It’s based off of a novel series that has already concluded and I think they’ve covered half-ish of them so far. Hopefully we get more and cover the whole thing because it’s been a pretty faithful adaptation and well paced out too. I’ve been reading the novels and I was actually a little thrilled when the show release managed to outpace the English release of the novel volumes because I could have more!

Ziggy

"I just needed to be yelled at enough to get over it" The STOP BEING AFRAID OF CLOWNS! technique

Evan McKee

You can tell Shield Hero was written by someone who doesn’t know how rpgs work when the other 3 isekaid guys all scoff and say nobody plays the support tank class and that it’s worthless. And that’s the first of many problems to it, looking forward to the listen when I have a minute!

dollqueen

I got halfway through Sugar Apple Fairytale when it 1st released but dropped it bc it can get depressing how much the protags go through. I might try again in dub tho!

Folkloric

Sugar sculptures and sculptors were popular in the Victorian era, but I’ve never seen a fantasy/magic version of that, and that sounds awesome. Shame they don’t do more with it

Bonnford

Wow the Small Evil Top Hat Gramp With Glasses multiverse increases. There's also one in Soul Eater!

T1ggles

My friend refers to it as "Rising of the Incel Hero" and describes it as "A woman wrongs the protagonist so he gets mad and buys a comfort slave over it" which doesn't seem that far off from the energy the show is giving

Fan Trades

I don't know anything about Rise of the Shield Hero other than it's generally considered to be bad, but I do know that a podcast I listen to called Anime Slushie ALMOST did an episode on Sugar Apple Fairy Tale but decided not to after discovering it's subject matter. And feel like I need to explain that context before telling you that my guess for the connecting subject matter between these shows is slavery.

DWC

The sugar apple fairy tale opening song plays over when you're introducing the segment by accident, and then shortly after there's just silence where it should have been. Along with ~20 seconds of nothing at the end. Will watch sugar apple fairy tale tho, I like fairies so an easy sell.

Flakops

going off of amy’s counterpoint, one could argue that steven universe is a shoujo protagonist

pictrable

the music playing over jello talking about slavery im cryung

Act One

I know there's a joke here along the lines of "One story's a fantasy, while the other has fairies" but I'm not gonna spend more time wording this joke than Shield Hero's author put into making his story.

verdragon 5

Book club on the John Brown isekai when?

Crimson Claw

As someone who read the manga of Shield Hero pretty early of (before season 1 ended) I gotta say, the whole of the show is pretty bad, but the anime ALSO cuts out context and world building? One of the most interesting things they cut was a mock battle between the sword hero and a sword instructer where they explain that real talent exists and all the stats do is artificially inflate existing skills. Which is meant to show that Nafumi is basically the only person trying to develop like a normal person and all the rest are treating the world like a game. Which is genuinely an interesting thing to include. And to exclude such a basic type of story telling only makes the who anime that much worse

Drednot

Have you ever read law of ueki? I don't know how much you'd like the story but it has unique power system. Like the guy who can turn towels into iron but only while he's holding his breath

JelloApocalypse

Ann's turmoil honestly never stops so if that's a turn-off for you then I would legit not recommend it

PurpleIsDebeste

the sugar apple fairy tale protagonist is SO hot

Jack Patterson

Me before listening: “Well Jello and Yam watched a thing together, so the secret theme must be love :3” Me halfway through the post: “Oh no! Oh God! Wft!!”

PurpleIsDebeste

...Do you think in season 6 of shield hero its gonna be revealed that raftalia was a plant from the slave owner to advertise his business by talking about how much she loves her slave owner and getting other people to get slave tattoos.... Yeah. Me neither. That would be way too interesting.

Your Moist Toast

It's been a while since I've read the Shield Hero LN's, but I think one of the funniest/stupidest moments was when it's revealed that one of the nations that was never mentioned before is actually super technologically advanced with access to modern weapons, along with finding a way to break the level cap so basically everyone there is way stronger than anyone else in the world. The Naofumi party gets bodied, returns to Melromarc, and plans on what to do next. It's then revealed that the king is actually the Staff Hero and was really cool and strong a few decades ago, but now he sucks so the staff doesn't work for him. Now that the plot needs him though, he can use the staff again, and teaches Naofumi the most broken spell in existence, which buffs someone to the point they can fight hundreds of levels above themselves. This spell has no limit on the amount of people it can be used on, so Naofumi just casts in on everyone and proceeds to steamroll the entire country. This means that the Staff is objectively the best weapon, because it turns an entire army into basically gods, along with a bunch of other spells that aren't used.

Finn Underwood

Misc. Fun fact: If you want a proper word for "Boy-liker", then Androphilic is the word. The attraction to masculinity. Gynephillic is for feminity. Ambiphilic or Omniphilic for more broader encompassing affinities.

Fan Trades

Would love to hear an a person talk actually about Steven Universe critically lmao

Redcrysto

Gooood, the re-application of Raftalia’s slave crest was almost my breaking point, but for some reason I stuck around till the end of season 1. Then in the very first EP of season two, he acquires ANOTHER SLAVE—??? And i quit halfway through the episode. I had held out hope for god knows why. Sigh! What a waste of a show.

Dephony O

Never watched Shield Hero but I'm 40 minutes in and I think Im gonna start tearing my hair out

iSpaceGhost

I really need to get Vinland Saga into the Manga Book club. I want Jello to read from an author who not only hates slavery, but is knowledgeable enough to write a compelling story around it.

Babblegum

I was a little girl with a fairy obsession, so watching Sugar Apple Fairy Tale made me feel like I was ten years old again. If I had watched this as a 10-year-old, it definitely would have rewired my brain chemistry.

Zayn Ryzen

Ok, so I've read too much of the Shield Hero Light novel, and when they got to the trial I was so pissed with what they did as it was a pretty sizable change from the original. Naofumi WANTED them to die, shouted it in court in fact once the trial was over even. However, the queen pretty much manipulated him out of it, convincing him it would be better for them to suffer alive rather that be killed (when she really just didn't want her husband and eldest daughter killed).

JelloApocalypse

I'm not convinced the guy who writes these isn't eleven

Your Moist Toast

Honestly, with the way they write fights I wouldn't be surprised. No interesting powers or abilities and the most basic RPG system that I've ever seen. Every fight is, "I attack with my SUPER SWORD BEAM," "That doesn't matter, I'll counter it with my BOW BEAM," until someone loses. After checking the wiki and remembering more about that arc, the king of that nation is the Whip Hero, who is apparently a super genius who mastered magic and alchemy before he was a teenager, along with turning his nation into a military superpower. He designed functional planes that don't require magic or animals, along with being an extremely accomplished adventurer. Why can he do all this? Well, it turns out he's actually a reincarnator from earth, who uses his knowledge of modern technology. He also has the power to steal the Vassal weapons, and is level 350. Despite all of this, in his last fight with Naofumi he's presented as a bumbling, naive idiot who's awful at fighting who just used his high level to overpower actually skilled fighters. This makes no sense, as he was apparently a powerful adventurer before he got the whip along with his high skill in magic, meaning that Naofumi shouldn't be able to literally look away from him while they are fighting. Naofumi has at most like a year of experience fighting, yet he's able to obliterate this veteran adventurer with little effort as soon as the level gap is solved. I was going to complain about how despite being a man with the charisma and intelligence of a mosquito, he managed to revolutionize his nation when he was fucking 3, along with gathering a massive harem, but that fits with how idiotic Shield Hero characters are.

HeavTheAnge

I’m only ten minutes in and i’m already infuriated at the plot LMAO

Not Gandelf

The manga of Shield Hero did a better job of all this, the island arc was awfully bland though and it did not make up for it latter. Here are some manga explanations of things. 1. Shield Hero is bad because he is the main hero for the Demi Kingdom. They normally summons him, and this kingdom hates the Demi Kingdom. 2. The king of this kingdom saw summoning the four heroes at a tactical play while the queen was away, queen is now struggling with the issues this caused so she has to lead the public stuff to king. She is also being targeted by the other kingdoms because they are mad. 3. The Shield hero is weak due to the stats the shield gives him, suffering from the gamification the weapons seem to bring. 4. Shield hero is stronger than the other heroes because he was not building off of a previous meta like the 3 other heroes, they all seemed to be brain-dead metagame followers who were introduced to this world by a game rather than a book like the Shield hero. Sorry for long post, got any questions I'll try to give the manga answer.

Erisistible

See the funny thing is. Shield Hero was my introduction to anime. I thought they were all that weird and pedophiliac focused. Then I watched a good anime and realized holy shit is it bad and so horribly written wtf

Candaru

oh my god Yam's voice is so cute when she gets angry

T1ggles

The “No Naofumi…Remember… your morals” at 51m44s lives in my head rent free

Catherine Perry

"Primordial Bitch Gods" is my new death metal band

Somme_One

I remember I read Shield Hero at I time when I would just read *anything*, and I heard that the manga was way better than the anime (which I never watched like 5 episodes of before dropping) The thing is, they were right about the manga being better... And I was so impressed by the fact that the manga is better that I didn't notice the fact that *being better doesn't actually mean the manga is good*. I eventually dropped the manga because IT'S BORING AS SIN. Anyways, thanks for tricking me into learning about Sugar Apple Fairy Tale by making this a double feature with a show I love to hate!

Moshuma

Seeing this review helped me realize I didn't even like the plot of Shield Hero that much. I only really watched it for the main party because I like their designs and that Melty is one of the few mature people in the entire world. It was that and the concept of it all, where 1 person leading a small army to guard an entire nation with their specialized weapon sounds awesome. The only real plot parts I liked were when the pope got killed and Malty went on trial, because it was finally starting to clear up all of the stupidity of the rest of the show. The other heroes could see the nobles and church were lying and the sister would finally shut up for once, so it would no longer be a main character getting cheated at every turn with no backup, which was infuriating. The weapons adapting to what was put into them is cool. Those shield designs were cool. I found it interesting when Naofumi learned that he didn't have to craft everything by hand and could use the shield. Learning about the world was interesting, but it wasn't used very good. I think one scene said the king hated the shield because a long time ago he (or a different king) was slighted by a shield hero once and it was never brought up again. And somehow even the church was cool with changing the religion. The other side with the demi-humans that worship him was just as dumb. They are different people and there is no reason to keep this generational cycle. I think it makes sense that Raphtalia could get over some trauma by being forced to fight, in no world does that make you love him like he's family. I had a good time with some of it, but that does not mean it was good. I guess I was mostly excited by the potential of what the plot could've been given the setting and rules.

Twiggs

Subbed recently: omg a second person I have seen ever watching sugar sculpting anime yippee

sunflowergarden

I had a toxic ex boyfriend who swore up and down that shield hero was the best show ever, and every episode we watched together made me so mad for some reason?? And now hearing this years later I'm like "THATS WHY.". This guy's favorite show was Made in Abyss too 😭.

Kaija

I'll do a minor nitpicking. During Myne's Trial, her boobs don't jiggle, I think it's a mandela effect because the lightning effect make the shadows on her armor "shake". But it's just nitpicking, and not invaliding what you are saying.