The Rising Of The Shield Hero “A Parting in the Snow” Review
The Rising Of The Shield Hero “A Parting in the Snow” is the eighth episode from the second season of the Rising Of The Shield Hero anime. After emerging from the Infinite Labyrinth in episode 7 the team end up having to find somewhere to go. With their options limited and the next Wave ten days away, Kizuna suggests travelling to her summoned country of Sikul for help. However, due to needing to cross several borders to do so, she suggests an alternative, using the Dragon Hourglass in the capital of Mikakage, the city they’re currently in, to use her “Return Codex” skill to teleport them all there. Needing money to buy a pass to enter, and more EXP to level up, they stay in the nearby town until they’re ready. There, Kizuna introduces Naofumi to the many different inhabitants of the world, including demi-humans known as “Grass”, the “Jewel” people, and “Spirits”, who possess incredible spirit energy. Learning how valuable his SP recovery items are to the Spirits, he pulls back out his businessman skills, using shrewd-ish tactics in order to sell them all, giving them enough money for the passes and new outfits. Later, they learn of a man who has been doing experiments on the Hourglass that will allow normal people to teleport rather than just the Heroes, however it doesn’t turn out to be Kyo like they expected. As it starts to snow, Raphtalia suggests using the opportunity to sneak into the capital, only for it to turn out to be a trap, forcing them to fight their way through the guards. They reach the Hourglass confronted by the man, Kazuki, and while Kizuna is able to reach and activate the Hourglass no problem, Raphtalia isn’t affected. The voice of Kyo mockingly reveals he left Raphtalia with Naofumi so he could snatch her away at this moment, as she stands her guard to fight Kazuki, while Naofumi is forcefully teleported away.
Raphtalia Lost
From the beginning it’s obvious the plan isn’t going to go how how they want it to. The team have a good time in Mikakage but the episode has so many red flags flying it’s impossible to miss it. Whilst I was initially fooled into thinking the dead ends were the main issue it soon became obvious that it would’ve been too obvious. Kazuki being the main big bad wasn’t much of a a shock but him being a puppet of Kyo was, it seems Kyo is much smarter than I gave him credit for.
This was a good episode. Seeing Naofumi flex his salesman skills again was fun and learning the rules of this new world will almost certainly come in handy for an outside the box thinker like Naofumi.
