The Rising Of The Shield Hero “Ost Hourai” Review
The Rising Of The Shield Hero “Ost Hourai” is the fifth episode of the Shield Hero anime season 2. Following the cliff-hanger at the end of episode 4. Noafumi and his group realise that L’arc and his group are there for the same reason they are; to destroy the Spirit Tortoise. The groups separate, though not necessarily on bad terms, and follow Ost to where she shows them a Dragon Hourglass inside the body of the Tortoise. Explaining that it keeps tabs on how many Souls it’s taken in. Eventually the team find the heart and the Book Vassal wielder Kyo Ethnina the one behind the Spirit Tortoises’ rampage. He keeps L’arc’s team busy with hearts that multiply when they’re destroyed. After some chat, the heart is destroyed but the Tortoise doesn’t die, Ost opens a way to the depths of the Tortoise where the obvious is pointed out to them. If they’d have killed Ost from the beginning the Tortoise would’ve died because she is the Tortoise.
Ost
It was always obvious that Ost was more than a familiar but the way this episode played out, the way it was directed and paced was so well done that the reveal was heart breaking anyway. It heavily hints that Ost always knew the truth, even if it was subconsciously, but only when she’d made genuine friends with Naofumi’s team does she actively decide to reveal all and help get to the truth. Accepting her death, especially at the hands of her friends is bound to be a painful thought but she accepts it with courage and grace. Once a character that I was deeply suspicious of has been made an immediate favourite.
The queen does what she does best and leads the army against the tortoise when it awakens and I’m looking forward to seeing how that battle will go, I really hope they don’t just glaze over it like they did the first Tortoise battle.
Overall, the show is winning me back, it’s still weak compared to other shows this season but compared to the poor quality of the first episodes in this season this is practically a blessing.
