The Rising of the Shield Hero

The Rising of the Shield Hero
盾の勇者の成り上がり (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari)
Genre	Fantasy
Light novel
Written by	Aneko Yusagi
Illustrated by	Minami Seira
Published by	Media Factory
English publisher	NA One Peace Books
Demographic	Male
Imprint	MF Books
Original run	2013 – present
Volumes	14
Manga
Written by	Aiya Kyū
Published by	Media Factory
English publisher	NA One Peace Books
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Monthly Comic Flapper
Original run	2014 – present
Volumes	5

The Rising of the Shield Hero (盾の勇者の成り上がり, Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) is a Japanese light novel series written by Aneko Yusagi. Originally published as a web novel, the series has since been published by Media Factory with illustrations by Minami Seira. As of June 25, 2015, 11 volumes have been published.

The novel series was adapted into a manga series by Aiya Kyū and published by Media Factory, with three volumes released as of March 23, 2015. Both the novel and manga series were licensed by One Peace Books and were published in North American starting in September 2015.

Plot

Iwatani Naofumi was summoned into a parallel world along with 3 other people to become the world's Heroes. Each of the heroes were respectively equipped with their own legendary equipment when summoned. Naofumi happened to receive the Legendary Shield, the sole defensive equipment, while the others received weapons capable of attacking.

Due to Naofumi's lack of charisma and experience, he ended up with only a single teammate, a beautiful woman, while others had several. Unfortunately, on his third day Naofumi was betrayed, falsely accused, and robbed by the said teammate.

Shunned by everyone from king to peasants, Naofumi's thoughts were filled with nothing but vengeance and hatred. Thus, his destiny in a parallel world begins...

Characters

Main Characters

Naofumi Iwatani

The Hero of the Shield and the protagonist. Naofumi was a university student who was summoned from another world after finding a book about the four heroes. While originally a kind and sort of socially awkward person, his experiences with Malty Melromac very shortly after being summoned have made him a dark and cynical, but still a generally good person. Although he experiences a slow start because of the Malty incident and is on a much lower level than the other heroes, he is still able to keep up and even occasionally outshine them due to his wide variety of shields which both buff him and his allies and debuff his opponents. His Curse weapon is Wrath, which gives him immense strength when enraged, but will lower his stats dramatically for a time afterwards. He also gains the New Seven Deadly Sins shields later, which represent the sins of modern man. He's 20 when summoned, making him the second oldest of the four summoned heroes.

He was initially unable to taste or witness Raphtalia's growth due to his mind being stuck in vengeance and anger. But he is cured when she proves her loyalty to him by not abandoning him. His only form of offense is the Wrath shield. It burns any close combat attack with a burning curse and its damage increases with his anger. He later obtains another attack when he fuses his shield with the zombie dragon core called 'Iron Maiden'. Here he creates a giant torture device, an iron maiden and traps his for within. He upgrades this to 'Blutopher' (German for 'blood sacrifice) which forms a number of consecutive steel teeth atound the opponent that constantly open and close eventually reducing the for to a bloody pulp. The cost of Blutopher is that it places a massive curse on his body and even physically damages him. The curse is so strong it can only be reduced to the point where it weakens him for month.

Eventually he is granted an amnesty by the queen, the true power on the throne but his still discriminated due to his low attack power and previous rumours however he is treated much better.

Raphtalia (ラフタリア)

A Tanuki Demi-human. Naofumi picked her up when she was a slave and pretty much raised her. Her real age is around 10 but she looks around 20 as Demi-humans age as they level. She and Firo are the only beings who have his complete trust. She loves Naofumi and often asks him if he will return to his world or what kind of woman he likes.

Firo (フィーロ)

A Filorial Queen. Naofumi bought her egg from the same slave trader that he got Raphtalia from. She is an incredibly rare species known as a Queen Filo Rial (which resembles a Chocobo from Final Fantasy series). She is the strongest member in their group rivalling even Ren. She is extremely fast and can even use wind magic.

Four Summoned Heroes

Kitamura Motoyasu

The Hero of the Spear. Motoyasu was a university student before he was summoned to the world after being stabbed to death by his mentally unstable childhood friend and a rich classmate, both of whom he had been dating behind the other's back. He is generally a nice person however he is easily fooled by women which causes him anguish. He will listen to anything a woman says. He is the leader of the party Malty Melromarc is initially in. He is a skirt chaser who asks both Raphtalia and Firo to leave Naofumi and join his party the instant he meets each of them, only to be violently rebuked several times. His Curse weapons are Lust and Envy, which have caused him to now perceive human women as pigs and has made him attracted to Filo Rials instead. He is betrayed and abandoned by his party during the battle with the Spirit Turtle, leaving him suicidally depressed until Firo comforts him. He makes up with Naofumi after moving to his village and begins farming and training himself until his strength is the highest of the four heroes. He's 21 when summoned, making the oldest of the four summoned heroes.

Amaki Ren

The Hero of the Sword. Ren was a high school student before he failed to save his childhood friend in his old world and was instead killed in the process of her rescue. Ren initially mistook the world he was summoned to be exactly like the VRMMO game from his world "Brave Star Online" where Level came first and Status Boosts second in priority making his strengthening method extremely inefficient also leading to the collapse of his party. His Curse weapons are Greed and Gluttony, which have made it impossible for him to collect money or experience points anymore. His entire party was killed by the Spirit Turtle, temporarily driving him mad with grief and jealousy after Naofumi killed it single-handedly. He's 16 when summoned, making him the youngest of the four summoned heroes. He is calmest of the three other heroes but he is also the strongest. He killed a dragon for its "precious" materials to increase his strength which later zombified and was killed by Naofumi. Due to the fact that the core of the dragon is fused with his shield Naofumi feel great anger towards Ren when he uses the Wrath shield.

Kawasumi Itsuki (川澄樹)

The Hero of the Bow. Itsuki was a high school student before he was killed in his old world after a large truck took a sudden left turn. He is rumored to be the strongest Hero, but he has a messiah complex and claims everything he does is in the name of justice. He vanquishes those he sees as evildoers without thinking of the consequences of his actions. His Curse weapon is Pride, which has caused him to become seriously depressed and filled with self-hate. He was brainwashed by the Church of the Three Heroes to become a killing machine, but was freed by his fellow heroes and their remaining companions. He's 17 when summoned, making him the second youngest of the four summoned heroes.

Heroes Companions

Motoyasu's Party

Malty Melromarc (マルティ＝メルロマルク)

The former first Princess of Melromarc, also known as Mein Sophia, Bitch, Whore and Witch. Malty was the first (and only) person to join Naofumi in the beginning, but shortly after, she stole his money and equipment, minus his shield, and then claimed he raped her. Her actions made Naofumi into a dark, cynical, and distrustful person. She manipulated the other three heroes after the Queen ousted her and her husband, planning to use each to retake her place in the palace following her renaming and disownment. She was married off to her sadistic uncle after she attempted to lead a coup and was apparently killed within two weeks, only to come back alive and be revealed as a piece of the evil goddess Medea's soul in human form. She eventually met her end after being burned alive.

Media

Light novel

No.	Title	Japanese release	English release
1	The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol. 1 (Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.1 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 1))	August 22, 2013 ISBN 978-4840152754	September 15, 2015 ISBN 978-1935548720
2	The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol. 2 (Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.2 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 2))	October 1, 2013 ISBN 978-4040660493	October 20, 2015 ISBN 978-1935548782
3	The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol. 3 (Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.3 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 3))	December 21, 2013 ISBN 978-4040661667	February 16, 2016 ISBN 978-1935548669
4	The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol. 4 (Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.4 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 4))	February 25, 2014 ISBN 978-4040663210	June 14, 2016 ISBN 978-1935548652
5	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.5 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 5)	April 25, 2014 ISBN 978-4040667188	—
6	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.6 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 6)	June 25, 2014 ISBN 978-4040667904	—
7	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.7 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 7)	September 25, 2014 ISBN 978-4-04-066996-0	—
8	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.8 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 8)	November 21, 2014 ISBN 978-4040671802	—
9	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.9 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 9)	January 23, 2015 ISBN 978-4040673554	—
10	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.10 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 10)	March 25, 2015 ISBN 978-4040674858	—
11	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.11 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 11)	June 25, 2015 ISBN 978-4040676982	—
12	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.12 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 12)	September 25, 2015 ISBN 978-4040677873	—
13	Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari, Vol.13 (盾の勇者の成り上がり 13)	November 25, 2015 ISBN 978-4040679655	—

External links

• Official website (Japanese)