The Rising of the Shield Hero S4 Ep 10 Review
You know who we hate? Witch, AKA Bitch, W***, and formerly known as Malty S. Melromarc. She might be one of the most loathsome, contemptible, and disgusting excuses for a sentient being in all of anime. And as this season has revealed, Q’ten Lo has its own version of Witch in the form of Makina, AKA the one running Raphtalia’s ancestral homeland into the ground. Bitch #2 is such a waste of life that even when it’s obvious she’s going to lose, she’d rather drag everyone else down with her, even if they’re just kids like Sadeena’s little sister.
You Can’t Negotiate with Jerks
At the end of the last episode, Naofumi, Raphtalia, and the other rebels had made it to the gates of the Old Capital of Q’ten Lo. Right when it looked there would be a huge fight, Sadeena’s little sister, Shildina, AKA Zodia, asks to talk things out. Despite her future subjects calling it a trap, Raphtalia agrees to go, and alone at that. It’s rather sweet to see that Naofumi and Sadeena trust Raphtalia to take care of herself, even when their followers act paranoid.
As it turns out, it’s not a trap. Shildina does want to end the civil war peacefully, asking the rebels to lay down their arms so their lives will be spared. She even offers Raphtalia a job in the government. As we’ve seen about her character, she’s completely sincere about her offer. She hates seeing people suffering as much as Raphtalia and wants to end things without any further bloodshed. With how hard it can be in real life to get people to talk things out, I can’t help but respect the young priestess’ willingness to know when it’s time to compromise.
Unfortunately for Shildina, her efforts to end the war without any more fighting were doomed from the start. I didn’t need to be Naofumi to see that fact plain as day.
Is this Woman Witch’s long-lost relative?
First of all, it’s implied, and later confirmed, that Shildina is acting of her own accord. Her master, the horrid Makina, is like Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones: if you’re not with her and doing what she wants, then you’re an enemy to be crushed. Needless to say, she is neither understanding nor willing to even entertain the thought of peace. Not that it would matter for her. After allowing Raphtalia to become an orphan, be enslaved, and then have assassins sent after her, any peace deal Naofumi would want would involve her facing justice.
Second of all, this episode pretty much confirms that the child Emperor is a figurehead with no real power. Even when he tries to speak up for Shildina’s, likely his only real friend, Makina shuts them both down. Any attempts to act in good faith are never going to work with her in charge. Case in point, when Shildina comes back having given up the Old Capital to Naofumi’s forces, she proceeds to verbally abuse the girl, playing on her feelings of inferiority towards the sister she’s never met. In other words, she’s a horrible woman and the world will be better off when she’s dead.
All Hail Empress Raphtalia!
The good news, though, is that thanks to the government abandoning the Old Capital, the group’s able to perform the ritual to make Raphtalia the new Heavenly Emperor of Q’ten Lo. Or Empress, in this case; the story doesn’t make it clear if “Emperor” is gender-neutral here. Regardless, the important thing is Raphtalia is now able to perform the blessings of the Heavenly Emperor. Even better, the Cardinal Heroes manage to learn a new way to power up that basically amounts to the use of Ki. With the Phoenix’s arrival on the horizon, they will need all the power-ups they can get.
The bad news? The road to the new capital is now blocked by Shildina. And judging by the amount of sake she’s drunk, she’s not here to negotiate.
We are nearing the end of this season of Shield Hero, and knowing what the story is like, we can expect at least one climatic fight before the dust settles. In the meantime, here’s hoping that the next episode won’t see Sadeena or anyone else forced to fight Shildina.
Also, we saw a glimpse of Motoyasu, and it looks like he’s raised some Filolials into potential queens like Filo
