The Rising Of The Shield Hero Season 2 - What We Know So Far

When Season 1 of "The Rising of the Shield Hero" wrapped up in 2019, fans of the anime series were immediately left wondering when Season 2 of the series would happen. Fortunately for them, they won't have to wait too much longer for its premiere. The isekai dark fantasy anime is an adaptation of a light novel series from author Aneko Yusagi. The plot centers on Naofumi Iwatami, an otaku who is chosen as one of the Cardinal Heroes for a parallel world and equipped with the Legendary Shield as his weapon. He, along with other Cardinal Heroes, is tasked with fighting hordes of monsters called Waves. However, things take a turn for Naofumi when he is falsely accused of sexual assault by his partner and robbed of his belongings. Naofumi spends much of the series not only trying to take out Waves but rebuild his reputation with the public.

"The Rising of the Shield Hero" stirred controversy with anime fans as well as reviewers from sites like Anime News Network and CBR due to its questionable use of sexual assault as a plot point. However, Season 1 still seemed to be a hit with viewers. Crunchyroll even reported the anime series helped significantly drive up sales of the novels and manga.  So with that much success, a new season of the series seemed inevitable.

And with its release coming up soon, here's everything we know so far about Season 2.

Updated July 22, 2021: This article has been updated to reflect Season 2's delay to 2022.

It may have taken a while for "The Rising of the Shield Hero's" release date to be fully revealed, but it certainly didn't take long for a Season 2 or 3 confirmation. As Anime News Network reported, during the panel for the series at Crunchyroll Expo 2019, it was confirmed that Seasons 2 and 3 of the anime series were coming, but there were no dates given at the time for either season. Then the following year at Crunchyroll's 2020 Virtual Expo, it was announced that Season 2 would be coming sometime in 2021.

Finally, in March of this year, the release date window narrowed even more thanks to the "Kadokawa Expo 2020," which revealed that Season 2 is slated for release in October 2021. Although a specific date in the month wasn't given, the October release was further confirmed thanks to a follow-up tweet from Crunchyroll who will be streaming the series in the U.S. as they did with Season 1. Unfortunately, subsequent to that update, news dropped that Season 2 had slipped to 2022, leaving fans fuming. As of July 2021, that was the latest.

The trailer for "The Rising of the Shield Hero" Season 2 might have simply teased the next adventures for Naofumi and his party, but it was also forthcoming with information on who the cast is going to be for Season 2. And so far, it looks like much of the voice cast from Season 1 will be returning for this season. The cast will include Kaito Ishikawa as Naofumi, Asami Seto as Raphtalia, Rina Hidaka as Filo, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Ren Amaki, Makoto Takahashi as Motoyasu Kitamura, Yoshitaka Yamaya as Itsuki Kawasumi, and Maaya Uchida as Melty.

Ishikawa, Seto, and Hidaka are all slated to appear on a panel at the 2021 Crunchyroll Expo, which meets virtually August 5-7 (via ComicBook.com). Look for more info about their characters and the future of the series then.

The trailer also confirmed a few changes from the production staff on Season 2. For one, Masato Jinbo is replacing Takao Abo as director for this season. And while Kinema Citrus was the animation studio behind the series on Season 1, they'll be teaming up with South Korean animation studio DR Movie for Season 2. Anime character designer Masahiro Suwa will return as well as soundtrack composer Kevin Penkin.

An official plot synopsis for "The Rising of the Shield Hero" Season 2 hasn't been revealed. However, the official trailer seems to indicate that the upcoming season will definitely pick up where Season 1 had left off. In the Season 1 finale for the series, Naofumi fought against Glass, a hero much like the protagonist who comes from another world and is known as the Fan Hero. Glass reveals that she believes the Cardinal Heroes and the Waves are connected somehow. She resolves to destroy the Cardinal Heroes because her belief is that will stop the hordes of monsters and ultimately save her world. Glass retreats in the end, so it's safe to say that we may see more of her in Season 2.

What we will also likely see is Naofumi continuing his adventures beyond the kingdom. Initially, the kingdom that Naofumi was transported to had kept the existence of other nations a secret from him and the other heroes. In fact, these other nations are dealing with the Waves and haven't received any help. With Naofumi marking his decision to leave the kingdom by the first season's end, we're probably going to see how the rest of this parallel world has been holding up.