The Rising of the Shield Hero: Season 1 Part 1 Limited Edition Blu-ray | Anime Collector's Set | Perfect for Home Entertainment & Anime Enthusiasts

I haven't gone out of my way to purchase an anime for quite a while, but I did in this case. It is a really underrated show that has a lot of heart, great storytelling, and some really unique ways of subverting popular cliches and genre tropes. The animation is good and smooth, but the most important part is definitely the story, with likable, well grounded, and believable characters with interesting motivations. This is one of the few series I have seen to capture the real feeling of being in a video game or alternate fantasy world, and the way it does so is to subvert the common expectations of such a trope and delve into a richer experience in terms of character study. Watching this show feels like playing a high difficulty RPG and finding a way to meet the challenges in a unique and unexpected way in order to survive and keep moving forward. The characters are intelligent, have mature relationships, and actually grow and change in noticeable ways.Well, I feel like I could literally go on and on delving into what I love about this show, but a review isn't the place to do that, because I really don't want to give away the very plot twists and events that help to make watching this show so interesting. Highly recommended.