While it saw its fair share of controversy when it first aired, there's no denying that The Rising of the Shield Hero is a popular entry into the isekai genre. Ever since the 2019 Crunchyroll Expo, where it was announced that the series had been green-lit for two additional seasons, fans have been wondering when they would get to watch the continuing adventures of best girl Raphtalia and what's his name.
Over this past weekend, Crunchyroll finally answered that question by revealing that the second season will stream on their service in October 2021 for users in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and CIS. Along with this revelation came a brand new key visual and the full crew listing.
For the most part, the cast and crew are remaining the same. All the voice actors will reprise their roles, including Kaito Ishikawa as Naofumi, Asami Seto as Raphtalia, and Rina Hidaka as Filo. In terms of the crew, Kinema Citrus will return to produce the animation, though they will be joined this time around by DR Movie. Also, being changed from the first season is that Masato Jinbo will replace Takao Abo as the director. Other than that, the crew will remain the same with Keigo Koyanagi handling series composition, Masahiro Suwa providing character designs, and Kevin Penkin composing the background music.
Originally a light novel series, the series is being published in Japan by Media Factory with an expanded storyline and illustrations from Seira Minami. There are 22 volumes in print as of June 2019. The manga adaptation of the light novel is up to seventeen volumes as of November 2020. The light novel series and manga adaptation have both been licensed by One Peace Books who have released eighteen volumes as of November 2020 of the light novels and fourteen volumes of the manga as of September 2020.
The Rising of the Shield Hero is a series that I originally brushed off. I watched a couple of episodes initially, found it to be decent but nothing I wanted to keep up with, and put it aside for a rainy afternoon in the future. A year or so later, on a rainy afternoon, I marathoned the entire first season and found myself entertained by the action and continuing growth of the main characters. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that I am a massive fan of the franchise, I'm still looking forward to watching season two when it premieres in October.
Source: Crunchyroll News
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