I need to catch up on The Rising of the Shield Hero. Its dark tone helped draw me into this isekai anime, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that it features Raphtalia, the tanuki girl! She’s no run-of-the-mill damsel in distress. Instead, Raphtalia is Naofumi—the Shield Hero’s—sword. Her skills with the blade are top-notch, and her heart is always in the right place. Naofumi may be the Shield Hero, but she’s the one who protects his heart and his humanity.
This artwork comes from a crossover event in the game Trinity Seven: Phantasm Library & Seventh Sol. Although the game only ran from 2019 to 2023, it managed to produce some impressive crossover art. One Reddit user even collected and shared this artwork on Google Drive.
Preservation efforts like this are much appreciated! Good Raphtalia art like this shouldn’t be lost to time.
So what do you think?