The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 will begin airing in Japan on October 6, it has been announced.
It was also revealed that the first Blu-ray/DVD volume, which contains the anime’s first four episodes, will go on sale on January 24, 2024. The special edition goodies include a tapestry and acrylic plate featuring an illustration from the light novels’ illustrator Seira Minami and a booklet containing a story written by the books’ author Yusagi Aneko.
The KADOKAWA-published The Rising of the Shield Hero light novel series, which falls under the MF Books label, began publication back in 2013 and has 22 volumes as of 2019. The first two seasons of the anime premiered in 2019 and 2022.
One Peace Books describes the plot of the light novel series as:
Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharismatic otaku who spends his days on games and manga, suddenly finds himself summoned to a parallel universe! He discovers he is one of four heroes equipped with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from its prophesied destruction. As the Shield Hero, the weakest of the heroes, all is not as it seems. Naofumi is soon alone, penniless, and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he is left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Shield Hero and save the world!
The third season of the anime is directed by Hitoshi Haga (Made in Abyss assistant director) instead of Season 1’s Takao Abo or Season 2’s Masato Jinbou. Other new staff additions include Franziska van Wulfen (Bocchi the Rock! Episode 8 co-animation director) and Sana Komatsu (The Rising of the Shield Hero co-animation director for Episodes 15, 20, et al. ), who are credited for character designs with the previous seasons’ Masahiro Suwa.
Returning staff include Keigo Koyanagi as series composer and Kevin Penkin as music composer. Animation production company Kinema Citrus is sharing series composition and scriptwriting credits with Koyanagi. Season 2’s co-production company DR MOVIE is no longer listed in the main animation production credits.
On the cast side, the new additions include Ami Koshimizu as Nadia, Kouhei Amasaki as Fohl, Konomi Kohara as Atla, and Maria Naganawa as S’yne.
The Rising of the Shield Hero was originally a web novel that debuted on Shousetsuka ni Narou in 2012. A manga adaptation of the light novels by A. Kyu began in 2014. The series has also inspired spin-offs, a stage play, video games, and more.
Source: @shieldheroanime
