The Rising of the Shield Hero S4 Ep 11 Review
If there is an afterlife, then there better be a special place in Hell for adults who abuse kids, especially if it’s their own. Thanks to Makina (AKA Bitch II), any attempts to end the liberation of Q’ten Lo without bloodshed are for naught. Shildina has been ordered to go back and fight Raphtalia and Naofumi’s forces, making her their last obstacle to the Capital. And the only way they can get past her without killing anyone is by beating her one-on-one. And the only person she’ll fight? Her sister, Sadeena.
Oh, dear.
Sibling Inferiority Complexes are Hard to Handle
From the outset of this fight between sisters, Shildina makes it clear that she has no illusions as to how things will turn out. She fully expects to die facing down her older sister. However, her decision to do this goes beyond following orders, no matter how unfair they are. It’s because she has a personal grudge against Sadeena.
As this episode reveals, Shildina was only born after Sadeena left the country. Their parents and clan created her for the sole purpose of taking up her sister’s role as the Water Dragon Priestess and the Emperor’s executioner. They put her through hell for that, not even treating her like her own person. And now, Shildina is using her suicide mission as a means to let out all the hate and anger in her heart against the person she deems responsible.
Ever since the group arrived in Q’ten Lo, the show has implied that a part of Sadeena regrets leaving without trying to change things for the better. However, no one can fault her for leaving. Many people who grew up in an abusive household don’t look back after getting out. If anything, the only regret that Sadeena has after meeting her sister is that she wasn’t able to beat some sense into her deadbeat family. But now that she has Raphtalia and Naofumi by her side, she can change all of that.
Ultimately, Shildina is technically the person who wins the duel, managing to overwhelm her older sister thanks to a trump card she had in place. That victory proves hollow, though, as Naofumi and the others all rush to her aid while Shildina has no one. The only person who cares about her as a person is the Heavenly Emperor, and he was powerless to stop her from going to her death. Thankfully, Shildina doesn’t die. Something just as bad happens to her, though. Somehow, she gets possessed by a spirit!
So that is where Rapthalia Gets her Looks From
It’s not really explained that well in the anime, and the light novel doesn’t offer as much of an explanation as to why this transformation happens. Given how this new form is the spitting image of Raphtalia, though, it’s safe to say that Shildina has been possessed by the spirit of Raphtalia’s ancestor. On the one hand, she doesn’t continue the fight with Sadeena and immediately flies back to the Capital. That’s when she proceeds to give Makina the karmic justice she deserves.
On the other hand, though, Raphtalia’s ancestor is possessing the body of a kid against her will. That’s not good. If they want to save Shildina, then Naofumi and the others are going to have to fight this spirit.
As is the case with many of the fights this season, it wasn’t the most exciting thing to watch. However, what it lacked in excitement, this episode made up for in raw emotion. It really wants you to feel for Shildina when you hear her backstory, and make you want nothing more than to beat her parents faces into the ground. If we’re lucky, we’ll get an anime-exclusive scene of that next week during the finale. Until then, though, we have the battle against Raphtalia’s ancestor to long forward to. After that, we crown our Tanuki Goddess!
