Summary
Although entertaining enough, this episode continues to introduce too much and move too fast, as if rushing towards the finish line instead of crafting a narrative.
Ren was forced to learn a few hard lessons in the previous episode of Crunchyroll’s The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3. Despite almost being consumed by a curse similar to Naofumi’s, Éclair was able to help the Sword Hero come around in the end. Although he hasn’t agreed to join Naofumi’s party yet or even to stick around Lurolona, hopefully, he will back the group up when the Phoenix spirit finally appears. Until then, Naofumi and his friends can only continue growing stronger as we see what’s in store for them in Episode 7.
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 Episode 7 Recap
The episode opens with observing the villagers and other heroes train, hoping they will all be ready when the Phoenix emerges. As he prepares lunch, Keel appears in full dog form and says Sadeena taught him how to transform into a therianthrope, which, in theory, should make him stronger.
Who is Ratotille Anthreya?
Ratotille “Rat” Anthreya is an alchemist woman who was exiled from Faubrey. She appears in Naofumi’s village with a letter from the queen saying her abilities could be useful to Naofumi, as she specializes in researching monsters and how to make them stronger.
Deciding to give Rat a chance, Naofumi takes her to see the monsters he’s acquired so far. While showing her his catterpillands, he notices an extra in the pen, and Raphtalia notices there are eggs as well. In exchange for raising his monster and continuing her research, Rat agrees to accept a slave crest from Naofumi.
Naofumi receives a dragon egg from Stilvelt, and they decide to keep and raise it with the other monsters. Until it hatches, Naofumi is forced to incubate it, even bringing the egg to town when he goes to pick up a new katana from Erhard.
As Rat shows Naofumi and Raphtalia the new home she grew from a camping plant, the dragon egg begins to hatch.
How does The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 Episode 7 end?
From the dragon’s egg hatches a red, male wyr dragon, which Rat says is one of the most loyal types. Wyndia gives him the name Gaelion and is told she will take care of him.
As he grows, Gaelion yearns for Naofumi’s attention. They decide he can spend time in Naofumi’s room, where he stumbles upon the Emporer’s Dragon Core from Kizuna’s world and eats it. Gaelion suddenly expands in size before attacking the group and flying away.
Now that we’re halfway through season three, I think it’s fair to admit that while better than Seaosn 2, some of the direction choices lately feel off.
While the pacing and storytelling didn’t seem bad in the first few episodes, the constant back and forth between these action-heavy episodes and those just crammed with information and montages is starting to feel jarring.
It’s not uncommon for adventure anime to have downtime or time skips, but it feels like the main plot isn’t progressing at a consistent pace or much at all, even though time is passing so quickly. It’s as if we’re just waiting for the Phoenix to appear, causing the story to drag like a training arc that’s overstayed its welcome.
Even the smaller B-plots only seem to last a few scenes at most, and it’s giving this season an episodic feeling at times. Every new installment has a “character of the week” or “conflict of the week” vibe to it, but it doesn’t feel like a cohesive arc.
It could be a lack of enough episodes to flesh out the story the way it needs to be, but hopefully, the pacing improves in the second half.
What did you think of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 Episode 7? Comment below.
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