The Rising of the Shield Hero

The Rising of the Shield Hero (盾の勇者の成り上がり), is a Japanese light novel series written by. The novel series was adapted into a manga series by Aiya Kyū and published by Media Factory, with twenty-two volumes released as of April 27, 2021. In an interview, the manga artist said, "Comic Flapper’s editorial department told me about the opportunity, and I gleefully took it."

Both the novel and manga series were licensed by One Peace Books and were published in North American starting in September 2015. An anime television series adaptation produced by Kinema Citrus is scheduled to premiere on January 9, 2019.

Plot
Naofumi Iwatani was summoned to a parallel world along with three other people to become the people of this 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 second day Naofumi was betrayed, falsely accused of rape, and robbed by the said teammate.

Shunned by everyone from the King to peasants, Naofumi's thoughts were filled with nothing but vengeance and hatred. Thus, his destiny in a parallel world begins. He tries to level up, despite his weak attack skills. He meets Beloukas, a slave trader, Beloukas shows him a little girl named Raphtalia and he decides to buy her.

Web Novel
Aneko originally began his work on The Rising of the Shield Hero as a web novel. Since completing the main story, he has both continued the story under the web novel version of The Reprise of the Spear Hero and restarted the original series under a new canon with The Rising of the Shield Hero light novel.

Light Novel
Originally published as a web novel, the series has been re-written with an expanded story-line. The series is currently published by Media Factory and features illustrations by Seira Minami. As of April 27, 2021, twenty-two volumes have been published.

A second light novel, titled The Reprise of the Spear Hero (槍の勇者のやり直し Yari no Yuusha no Yarinaoshi), has been published by Media Factory website since September 25, 2017. This story follows the same canon as the first light novel and tells the story of Spear Hero Motoyasu Kitamura as he finds a spear which forces him to go back in time and fix his mistakes.

Manga
The light novel series was adapted into a manga series by Aiya Kyū and published by Media Factory, with twenty-four volumes released as of November 22, 2023. Both the novel and manga series were licensed by One Peace Books and were published in North American starting in September 2015

A second manga, titled The Reprise of the Spear Hero (槍の勇者のやり直し Yari no Yuusha no Yarinaoshi), has been published by Media Factory website since December 22, 2017. This manga follows the canon and story of the light novel of the same name.

Anime
An anime adaptation of the light novel was announced in June 2017. The television series is produced by Kinema Citrus and directed by Takao Abo, with Keigo Koyanagi handling series composition, Masahiro Suwa designing the characters and Kevin Penkin composing the music. The series premiered on January 9, 2019, on AT-X and other channels. It will run for two seasons. MADKID performed the series' opening theme song "RISE," while Chiai Fujikawa performed the series' ending theme song "Kimi no Namae" (きみの名前). Both Crunchyroll and Funimation stream the anime.