Well, The Rising of the Shield Hero episode 2 has just aired, and our misogynistic main male lead Naofumi is just getting worse by the minute. Buying himself a loli slave girl and forcing her to kill monsters, oh the horror! Worst Male Anime Protagonist of 2019, I’m calling it. But no seriously, this was a great episode. Showing us how his downfall has shaped him into the harden person he is now, and how even though he has fallen so low, he still show his good heart through his actions.
They're already triggered.
The way Naofumi treats our new female heroine, Raphtalia, was so sweet and real. The people who already written this show off as a misogynistic boy's fantasy most likely didn’t look into the episode any deeper then, “OMG, he’s forcing a little girl to kill monsters! He’s such a horrible person. And he’s male!” But Naofumi is a realist, and he shows that completely with how he treats Raphtalia.
Naofumi forced Raphtalia to fight for two reasons. One, he needs someone to fight for him, that part is pretty simple. And second, he needs to make Raphtalia strong, because he already knows how cruel this world can be for people like them. She’ll need to grow up and harden herself just like him if she ever wants to survive in that world as a demi human. She’s a cute, defenseless loli for Christ's sake, there's real rapist out there ready to snatch her little ass up. But even though Naofumi knows he has to be harsh with her in order to help her grow, he still recognizes that she’s a human and also a child. So he makes sure to take care of her and treat her as such.
Naofumi best daddy!
The people who already blindly hated this show most likely would consider this episode a male power fantasy, but us smart anime watchers would consider this a good episode. It had good character development and plot progression. Let’s ignore the haters, and keep watching this show for all it’s 25 episode goodness!
Did you enjoy episode 2? Is Naofumi best dad? Should we lewd the loli demi humans? Tell us in the comments below.
Stuff like proper framing of hard topics like imbalanced relations, rape and rape accusations are important to discuss beyond "It's all bad" and "it's all good"
I'd vouch for watching Kemono Friends 2. It can still be tanoshii without Tatsuki, though.
I think that the fact that Naofumi owns Raphtalia is because he is afraid of rejection. So the inability to deny him mixed with the gratitude for his actions and slight intimidation, the bond of Raphtalia and Naofumi grows not only on a physical level but mental level. In Episode 6, Naofumi thought that Raphtalia abandoned him, leaving Naofumi devastated until a sincere pep talk.
So what? Who are you to judge what fantasy should exist, you annoying dweebs.
I don't see anybody up in arms over any female power fantasies, those are default good and on the right side of history.