From Summoned Outcast to Unbreakable Defender: Why The Rising of the Shield Hero Hits Hard

Chapters

• 0:01 Gratitude, Holidays, and 2023 Reflections
• 2:57 Anime Hype Check: Winter to 2024
• 4:25 Spotlight: The Rising of the Shield Hero
• 5:42 Isekai Setup and Moral Thought Experiment
• 9:35 Four Heroes, One Shield: Power Imbalance
• 12:29 Court Politics and Social Stigma
• 15:47 Betrayal, Framing, and Isolation
• 19:18 Discovering the Shield’s True Mechanics
• 22:15 The Slave Crest Dilemma and Loyalty
• 26:31 Prejudice, Misjudgment, and Real-Life Parallels
• 30:24 Growth, Camaraderie, and Quiet Heroism
• 33:45 Season One Takeaways and Life Lessons
• 36:30 Positivity, Accountability, and Closing Notes
• 38:32 New Show Tease: A Saint Journey

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:01

Yo yo yo thank you for tuning in to another episode of King's World Little Different. Alright, guys. Welcome back. Welcome back. It's your boy Ken the Wiz. Y'all.

SPEAKER_00: 0:57

We made it. We made it through another week. It's been um. It's been a long one for me, guys. With the holidays around the corner. Everybody's rustling and bustling, trying to get everything together for the kids and for the loved ones. I definitely commend anybody who's got the time and the and the patience and the money, quote unquote, to take care of your loved ones. I mean, it's a blessing all around. But let's just all be grateful and let's all understand that we all made it through another year. Though the year ain't over with, but we can all end it with a bang. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but 2023 was pretty good for me. You know, obviously we all had our ups and downs, but I mean, who doesn't? Right? At the end of the day, we're still able to see another day. Um, the lapse in time, I'm telling you guys, it's really hard for me to get through this. But as usual, you know, I love you guys and I miss you guys, and I thank you for you know just taking your time out the week and giving your boy a listen to, you know, so I won't be who I am today if it wasn't without my audience and people giving me the ability and insights to do things like this. So I definitely throw out my flowers to you guys, rose petals all around, whatever color y'all want. But you guys didn't just stop by just to listen to just the good old Ken talking about the good old times of the 2023. You guys came to listen to about some of that anime, and let me tell you, boy, they is they're trying to end 2023 with the bang for real. Okay, because we all know that they're all coming out. Some of the seasons, um, some of the series is that's that came out in um for the winter of what started what October, November. It was some bangers, but 2024, guys. I cannot wait. I mean, we're talking about Tack on Titan, we're talking about my hero, and obviously some more bangers, but I mean, I just want to give the flowers to the ones that's already out now before we go over because I want to get just ahead of myself, you know, it's so much excitement, you know what I'm saying? But I want to take today's episode and actually give the flowers again, as I always try to do to our animators and our illustrators, guys. I mean, again, uh, there won't be any content without them creating, you know. I mean, these brilliant minds is coming out with some of the craziest stuff, but yet it's a thrill to watch. Um, but the uh episode, or at least I want to at least talk about um one particular anime today, and whatever else comes to mind, because you know your boy is always about the the free spirit and the free in the free roam on just allowing the juices to flow. Um, I want to give some of that to the rise of the shield hero. And again, you guys know the way I do things. My take is what will happen if we take our favorite anime or what we're watching currently and establish it to our regular lives, and I'm and and it's a cool take because boy, some of this stuff out here would be ridiculous. Uh, again, the blood, the gore, the war, man, no lives saved. I'm gonna tell you that right now. Um, but the rise of the shield hero to me is a gem because one, um, obviously they are finishing the season three. Um, but the first two was crazy. All right. Uh, anybody again who hasn't watched it, definitely implore you to explore that world because uh it's a good it's a good watch for sure. Um, obviously, like I said, there's three seasons out. The first two is already finished. Um, the third one is about to end, if I'm not mistaken. And um, so let's get into it. Now, the beginning in the season one, right? It's all about the easy cards right now. So it's four cardinal heroes that was summoned to a world without their knowledge, without their consent, and it was just dropped in the middle of a turmoil situation. And let's just say, with all argument's sake, that this happens to us, right? Now we just got home from work, we got babies that's hungry. I'm saying we probably got some parents that we need to take care of, and then we just have this blinding light come out of nowhere, and it's shazam. We are warped to a whole nother world. Uh, that will one be scary, two, alarming. Three, what the heck just happened? Cause yo, wow, and now you have these weirdos in robes and carrying around mages staffs and telling you that you guys are the savior of our world, and we need you to fight some flying demons, or wherever else monsters is out there that's plaguing their land. I mean, what would you do? I mean, in your mind, it's probably the coolest thing that's probably happened, depending if your life sucks in the real world. But I mean, really, what would you do? I mean, because like if it was me, and I'm and I'm put in that situation. I mean, the first thoughts in my mind is is there any possible way to get home? And and what if you know I say no to whatever banter they're telling me? I mean, whatever arrangements that they made, I don't care about the riches, and yo, can I get home? Because you're basically telling me that I'm stuck here, and if there's no other way home, now you're telling me I have to make my life in whatever this place is. I mean, I have no friends, I'm with complete strangers, and on top of that, whatever the powers that I have, is that even gonna work? I mean, what crazy sauce, and also not to mention, I mean, the people that even summon me, are they friend or foe? I mean, that's a question mark as well. I mean, because at the end of the day, I mean, we all try to you know do our best to uh not piss off the powers that be, but I mean, if we are in the middle of nowhere and in a completely different alternate universe, can I spaz? I mean, I think I'll have with all the rights, right? But I feel like the people who actually summon me know way more about me than I know about myself, and I'm not even talking about the real me, I'm just talking about the one that they're summoning. I'm standing as a hero in front of them. Well, let's just put all that together, and this shows basically is how that started. I mean, you have four cardinal heroes, you have the staff or the spear, the sword, the bow, and the shield, of course. Now, obviously, the spear, the sword, and the arrow all are offensive powers. Okay, the shield hero, actually, in this situation, is only for defense. Now, how can a defense hero make things happen? I'll tell you, not only did he have no offensive powers to start with, but they also said that the kingdom that summoned them already made a team or got a well basically summoned the best fighters in the kingdom, right? And the people that they summoned were the ones that get to choose. Now that is a different take. Now you're not choosing, you know, your own fighters to be on your team. You learn you allowing the people to choose what team they want to be on. Yo, now mind you, prior to all of this happening, right? After everybody started freaking out and started spazzing, um, these are kids. I think the oldest one was like 21, 22, right? The rest of them are like 16 and 17. Not only that, they're all from different alternate universes. That's crazy. Excuse me, drinking some water. So when they all kind of was conversing, you know, trying to figure out how they got there and what was their similarities and things like that, they all realized, like, yo, you we're not even from the same time. Uh that's wild. That's a that's a crazy take. Not only that they all came from a different time, but there was a similarity, a similarity between all of the worlds, and that was uh well, the shield hero sucks in all the worlds. Now the guy who's actually the shield hero um didn't know that that power sucked, he just thought, like, yo, I got a shield, all four of us is going to you know bang together. Because it's like, okay, well, you guys got all the powers technically, all the offensive powers, but I'll protect y'all, you know what I'm saying? We all cool. So, you know, it was like a little mini brotherhood going on, you know. Okay, so fast forward a little bit. There was some nosy people in that kingdom. Um, so they basically overheard their conversation, and all the thing they heard was the shield hero sucks. That's that's I guess that was enough of them to be like, okay, well, nobody's gonna pick this guy. Okay, so the following day after they were summoned, uh, you know, they were uh basically saying, like, okay, you know, you guys are going to have a team, and within this team, now you have to upgrade your or upgrade your weapons. Okay. Wow. So I don't even have the power up version. I still got the low grade, but again, this is an easy guy, so it's almost like you know, well, it's not almost, it is, it's like a game. So, you know, you just gotta power up, you know, get some good uh equipment, power that up, you know. I'm saying your gear has to coexist with your weapon and this whole little thing. Well, now we get to the time of where you know the people have to choose what team. Man, nobody picks the shield, dog. Obviously, nobody picks the shield because somebody snitched to the king to basically say that the shield hero sucks, so he's the most powerless person in the whole group. That stinks. Now, let's put some cherries on top of this Sunday. The king obviously shows no respect for the shield hero. I mean, absolutely, I mean, basically just black balls, my dude. Dudes asking questions and not even hearing them. The sheet, the spear guy talks, the king answers. The arrow guy speaks, this the king answers. The sword guy speaks, the king answers. When the shield guy was actually just asking questions, and I'm talking about normalized questions. This the king was just like, I'm out. Son, I don't even I don't even see you, son. Like, I don't even know what you're talking about. Really, I see three heroes, I don't even know what the fourth one is here for. That's messed up. Not only did you summon me and you forced me to come here, now you're disrespecting me. That's take one. I mean, because at that point I'm I'm pissed. Uh take two is I have nobody on my team, bro. So I am a defensive hero. What am I going to do not being able to attack nobody? This is crazy. So the whole point of even having a party uh is to grow with the party and you know, have fun. You know, I mean, uh you have to make the best of the situation. I mean, personally, if if I was the shield hero, I mean my first thought is I need some money, I need to find some type of shelter, I need to see what type of monsters we're talking about, what's my powers? I mean, I have to do a lot of studying at this point because I'm trying to live. I don't know if I were to die, and if I die, that's it for my life. I mean, nobody's going over none of this. So, I mean, I have a lot of things that's going through my head right now. Not to mention that the king is also disrespecting me, so I'm just like, okay, what am I supposed to do? So, let's fast forward a little bit. They sent them out, they each gave them a bag, gave the shield, by the way, gave the shield hero less of a bag, gave everybody else more money. Then all of a sudden, there was this girl out of the spear heroes party that wanted to switch teams and go to the shield hero. Yo, my man's was ecstatic because not only was the girl coming to his party, the only one, but she was bad. So it was like two for two. So he was like, Oh, okay. Whew. I mean, that's man, nobody was on my team. Okay, well, I got a little baddie right here. So, you know, the king just gave me a little bag or whatever. So let's let's go get some equipment. Oh, girl got, you know what I'm saying, basically showing him all the places to go, and you know what I'm saying, all the all the good weapon places to go, and you know, my man's just like yo, I appreciate that. I got you, girl. You know what I'm saying? You on you, you with me. I will make sure that you good and protected. You feel me? Because you're bad. Who knows what can happen in this party? Well, okay, cool. So they go to the weapon shop, and you know what I'm saying, they start doing a little shopping or whatever. My man's buying everything that she needs. I'm saying, basically, old girl took all his money, you know, for the most part, you know, just trying to make sure that she got the best of the best. And uh, so you know that happens. They sitting there chilling, they conversing, chopping it up, or whatever. Next day, the king is basically telling them now what their role is. Now, here's the here's the kicker, right? All four heroes have to part have to travel separately with their individual parties because the weapons itself cannot grow with all four weapons together. So basically, individually, you guys have to strengthen, you know, I'm saying your individual stats, and then when we guys need you, you know, I'm saying you guys can come together with your collective powers, do you do, and then separate again. Pretense of the show. The other part of that is the reason why they have to come together is because they got something called uh waves, all right. So they have to fight these waves, these waves of monsters prior to them being summoned. The kingdom just fought against man, a big old wave of demons and monsters and stuff, you know what I'm saying? So they just felt that they barely survived that most of the kingdom was wiped out, so the you know, it was kind of rushing, you know, they was rushing to you know, get some help. They gotta get some help. Uh, so you know, and here we are now with these kids, right? The kids to save the world. Well, they come back, the king is basically releasing some of the information, well, all the information, and also told him that little tidbit about the weapons, and whenever the waves come, because there's a time frame by each time like each wave that comes, there's a time, uh, there's a time like limits, because they they have like this thing called the dragon hourglass, where basically it's just you know saying it's like a little countdown meter. So whenever that glass is empty, then all of them, depending on wherever they at, gets teleported to where that wave is, and then they all have to fight the wave, and then you know, and then it disappears, and then the hourglass resets. So to go back to the king, the king is telling them, I want you guys to go out with your parties, grow with your parties, and fight for our kingdom. All in all, the girl that was on the shield heroes team basically dropped out, she reneged, man. So she she basically used the man's money to get what she wanted and went right back to the spirit heroes team. That's jacked up. So my man was hurt now. He's broke, he didn't even get a weapon for himself or anything because she basically took all the money and set him up. Set him up. Basically was saying he's a monster and he attacked her and got all the other heroes basically not trusting him, plus the king and everybody else that's in the kingdom. So not only did he get there, right? One under basically against his will, the weakest guy in the team, got bamboos, have no bread, and now he has no trust for the kingdom. So, what would that make you, man? A very angry individual, and my man was livid. I mean, borderline villain at this point, and and and I mean, who can blame him? You just got here, bro. You're telling me that none of y'all is believing me. Like, I just got here, so why am I gonna do a crime? And all I'm trying to do is just survive so I could go home. I mean, that's wild, man. So, whatever. He goes out, he's pissed off, he doesn't want anything to do with the kingdom and the king, and he has to, you know. I'm saying, thug it. He has to thug it, man. All in all, still trying to learn about his shield and what his shield can do. Well, as time progresses, he starts to realize like by each defeat of a monster, he takes on that characteristic of that monster, that is the power of his shield. There he's not able to even hold any other weapons other than that shield, because that is the pact, basically. So he only has to fight with that shield, so somebody else has to fight with him. But there's a good teamwork because if he's you know saying the ultimate defense, then he just needs to build up somebody in his in his party, we get strong just like him, and that can be the muscle, but they ain't gotta worry about being hurt because my man takes all the damage, so that's a pretty cool situation. Personally, I think that's a solid team because if you just got a team, we all know we need a little bit of defense on the team. If we're doing any type of games, guys, I mean, look, we we have to have some type of defense, right? Right, so I mean, logically speaking, he's probably the best person in the whole group. I mean, uh just saying, uh is my opinion, right? Well, anyway, so the story progresses. My man's at his wit's end, he don't trust nobody because everywhere he goes, he's just being discriminated against. So he's like the black person of the group. I was like, like, there's no coming back from this. Like, he is completely like straight off the sleigh boat. Sorry, guys. He's black. Or in this case, you know, if you want to take it a step further, we could be in the Edo era and my man's mixed Japanese and white. He's gonna get sliced up. So nobody likes him. Nobody likes him, and and it and it really sucks though. I mean, because you really do feel bad for bruh. Because bro really be going through it, and he all he is trying to do is just survive, man. Mind his business survive, eat, sleep, poop, keep it moving, beat the monsters, keep it moving. I don't like y'all even talking to me because now every time I'm talking to somebody, it's it's a problem. It's a problem. So he goes, he gets stronger, um, and then he gets some information about this slave trade. This is where it takes kind of a turn, right? He has a little bit of money, he knows that he needs somebody to help him attack monsters, he can't do it all by himself. So man, he goes to this slave trader, man. I mean, this guy got mythical creatures from birds to minotaurs, a little, you know, uh, you know, demigods type of situation, you know. And so he stumbles upon this very sickly demigod, this little girl. Little girl obviously has a past. She's sick, she's basically on death's door. I mean, her face is on Grimm's booty cheek. She is almost there. And he buys her for a very low price. Uh, the slave trader is basically, you know what I'm saying? He's just mad, he's just happy that he got some change. But he seems to be a very prestigious slave trader, so you know, very well known. Well, he buys her, feeds her. Uh, when you buy any slave from this guy, they put this like slave crest on him, so it's like a slave pack. But even though that it is a slave crest, now technically she's in his party. So every time you know he defeats a monster, uh, the little girl actually gets stronger, or whoever else she defeats, she gets stronger. So it's kind of like a uh you know, toe-and-toe type of thing. So that's pretty cool. Well, I mean, if you bought this somebody who just thought that she has no more life, you basically just bought loyalty, and that was his whole thing. You know, you got somebody that came from nothing, and they grew up with you, and realized like you're not a bad person. That's a loyalty for life. So that was a dope, that was a dope take. So that's really what hooked me. Because I was just like, man, this thing about to become real dark and real quick, you know, and the girl realized like since she doesn't have any body, she couldn't really trust humans like that because humans did that to her. And at the same time, you know, because you know, demi-demi-humans and and humans, they had a little feud because you know they're different, you know, they're mixed breeds, so they're not really demons, but they're also not really humans, so they're in between. But you know, they they got real close. One, you could kind of say that was his first mate, and that was her first friend in how long, you know, the first humans that showed her any type of love and affection, and took care of her and fed her, and and and told her, like, hey, look, you know, you don't really have to worry about nothing, it's just you and me, we rocking this together. I just need your help, and this is where we at. So these two grow, man, and it becomes a nice little duo. Um, people around them was mad jealous because they had this type of you know, I'm saying, camaraderie. I mean, even my man's was really hard on himself and on the people that was around him because I mean he just got to this world and I mean straight discrimination, so he was really sour on anything or any trustworthy type of situation. Really, his whole mindset was he was really just using old girl, but in the process of using her, you know, he was still doing nice stuff. I mean, who wouldn't? You know what I'm saying? So, well, every time, you know, they bumped into you know some of the other heroes, and they always had these little spats. So, my man is just is it's dark at this point, like he is like, I mean, he's about to tip over the edge, killing. And they they've been trying to take his girl, like basically the one he just bought, his little slave girl. He was they be trying to take her because not only did they, you know, as the story progressed, they found out that she's a slave, and then so they just badge them. Oh my god, he's just a lozel loza. You just had to buy a slave, and you're using this slave to do it. Yo, don't even know the whole story. So everybody just be jumping to conclusions with my man's, and it and it's kind of it's kind of crazy how they just kind of just jump on, like once somebody says something, they just jump on that, and it's just like, Oh, yeah, yeah, he did that. Oh my god, yeah, screw the shield hero, like he's just despicable. Like, oh that's tough, man. That's tough. Season one was tough because the whole season is basically him just trying to traverse through this world and gain people's trust and people's understanding, like he's really not the bad guy. And in the beginning, old girl really started the mess. You know, the the girl that's that that switched over to the team and bamboozled him and took his money and told him that he tried to hurt her and all this stuff. And yo, as you go through the story, you later find out that the girl that switched the team was the king's daughter. Yeah, the king's daughter, so they was all in it from the beginning. Yo, that set him over. So not only did you not need my money, but you set me up too. For what? Like, what did I do to y'all? Summoned me. Like, oh man. Yo, I was like, oh, like I was getting pissed off watching this thing, like it was it was crazy, it was crazy how they was doing it. Like, it was like the passion of the Christ, man. Everything he did, like it was just looked over as like Satan incarnate. It was it was wild, it was wild. Couldn't believe it. That's how good it is, though. It it yo, this show really grabs you, it really grabs your attention, and you really feel like the transition from the shield hero and from the interactions from everybody, and it's like, yo, he really just got blackballed, and that's really not fair. I mean, like, look, I mean, if we would have switched it, like on an everyday basis, guys, you know, in the real life, we have had situations that's like that, where we'll go to our job and we know we didn't do it, but because either we spoke up about our, you know, about something that we have done in the past and people didn't like our take or how we presented ourselves, that how we took up for ourselves. Now we are blackballed because anything we were to say, we have people in the higher ups that's really not believing me. And we have a a force that's working against us. I mean, who else has dealt with that? I have. I have. I mean, I you you have a truth, you even proved it. Nobody wants to hear that. If they have an opinion on you, it's really hard to get out that opinion. Like, because I mean, that's the way this world is. This show really reflects some of the ugliness in humans sometimes. I mean, we just don't give people the satisfaction of maybe that guy or girl really wasn't that bad. Maybe they actually didn't do what they say they didn't do. And they proved it. But because we our opinion is that we don't like you and we despised you, we just throw everything you just throw everything out that you actually said. I mean that's an everyday society situation, right? This is the type of this is the type of world that we actually live in anyway. I mean, because it's like it's unfair. It's really unfair. Um so he goes through and he realizes that his only friend that he has is his demihuman. And they stick together. Like rice and gravy. Like white on the pillow, like H2O. They stick together. Because, I mean, why not? They have nobody, everybody that in their past used them. Why not? Why not stick together and grow together and get everybody else jealous? Because the kingdom itself, everybody, every time they seen it, they've been trying to break them apart, try to take the try to take the demi-human away. The girl didn't even want to go because she was like, yo, my man's is not treating me bad. As a matter of fact, he's the only one that actually treated me good as a respect, as a demi-human, as as somebody with some type of business and respect. So that ain't about the lead. I don't give a dang about this this this slave Chris. He don't even use it like that. Like, how dare you guys? You see, this man is suffering over here, man. All he's trying to do is just survive, and you guys just making this thing like the harvest. I felt that. I did, I felt that. Cause it was just so much anxiety and so much tension in this season, you know. Guys, I I I must just say this though. There's no there's no worser feeling than knowing that you are innocent and everybody around you is just pointing fingers laughing at you and degrading you. That sucks, man. That really sucks. I mean, because it's really hard to get out of that hole sometimes. Because I mean, you really have no entourage, you have nobody to to take up for you. There's there's nobody on their side who's been pointing fingers that that can come to my side and say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Come on, give this guy a chance, give this girl a chance. At least allow them to you know prove their innocence. Nope, they didn't even want to hear that. It's a sucky situation, man. But they grow, they get stronger, they realize they do need each other. That's a cute little situation, you know. It's like that's a story within the story. So it's a really good, it's a really good uh camaraderie that they build. And obviously, you know, uh that party grows and he gains respect. He saved the heroes a couple times because the other heroes, man, straight trash. They was doing way more damage to the world than actually helping. Yeah, and this the shield hero just kept saving their butts, and actually, everything they did, he fixed it, so he basically just put a band-aid over it, and just taking mental notes, man. You guys is coming after me, but you guys are making sure that the people that actually, some of us, they're suffering because you guys' mishaps, and that's the other thing, too. It takes a bigger person to realize other people's wrongs, but not call them out, but fix it and do it in a way that is not to be seen from other people. To me, that's a real woman and that's a real man to do things that is not in the public eye and actually do something that's good and it's right, and it has virtue and ideals and morals about it. It's crazy, man. It's crazy. But that's just the first season. I'ma I'ma uh next episode, definitely gonna talk about the second season. But I mean, the first one has so much meat in in it that the second one it was just kind of like you know, icing on and cherries on top of it, you know. But guys, the the rising of the shield hero, a must-watch, it's really good. Uh, like I said, it's it's three seasons that's out right now. Um, the third one is still finishing up, and I must say this too before I end it if you go through life, point fingers that other people have done wrong, and or in your eyes have done wrong, you will never grow your whole values of how you look at things and about yourself diminishes because you're worrying about somebody else's wrongdoings, and the wrongdoings is really not wrongdoings, but it is a different outlook, something that's completely different from you. So I encourage anybody who is that type of person to stop in your tracks and reevaluate who you are because at the end of the day, you only got yourself, you only got yourself to work with. And if you feel that the person that you're pointing at, you probably are envious of what they have, and the only thing you can do to make yourself feel good is to point out the one wrong that they do to you. Try to encourage you to step back, look at yourself, reevaluate yourself, and understand that other everybody's not perfect. Wow, can't talk, guys. Everybody isn't perfect, everybody makes mistakes, and the best thing that we can do right now is to hold each other, show love, and give people encouragement. Because the world that we live in is rough. And the reason why I do these podcasts is the love of anime, and like I said, to spread positivity to everybody.

SPEAKER_02: 38:21

But what do these waves hoping that?

SPEAKER_00: 38:22

That's all for today. I appreciate you guys for listening. Um I am starting another podcast. It'll be called uh A Saint Journey. So do uh stay tuned for that, and it will just it won't be about anime, it will actually just be uh a motivational life podcast. You know what I'm saying? I've been I've been challenged to uh partake on that side and to see, you know, uh spread a little bit more and strictly talk to the men and women out here that just need something extra just to carry them to the next day, or maybe the next minute just tune in and understand that Kendall Wiz is here for you, baby. And we try and and I try my best to make sure I can be that voice of reason and that voice of encouragement to you. Alright? I'm trying to find my best. So guys, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Kingsburg. And it's your boy Ken the Wiz. And I'm signing out peace.

SPEAKER_01: 39:42

I just want you I talked about you.