The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3: Release Date, Trailer, Plot, Cast, and More
The Rising of the Shield Hero is a dark fantasy isekai franchise that started off as a novel series, only to be later adapted into a manga and an anime series. The anime series premiered on January 9, 2019 with a 25-episode first season that ended on June 26, 2019. In 2019, it was revealed that the show would receive a second and a third season, with the former scheduled for an October 2021 premiere. The premiere was later pushed back to April 6, 2022 and in this article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about the show’s upcoming third season.
The Rising of the Shield Hero is getting a third season, which has been confirmed a while ago, although we don’t know when it is going to premiere. A third season has been confirmed and announced alongside the second season, but no further details about it have been given. Based on what we know, we expect the season to appear sometime in later 2023 or early 2024, if there are no significant delays.
The rest of this article is going to bring you all the known and unknown information related to the upcoming season three of The Rising of the Shield Hero. You’re going to find out about its release date, whether there is a trailer, what the story could be about, and much more about this intriguing anime series.
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 release date
As we have said, The Rising of the Shield Hero actually started off as a series of novels before being adapted into an anime series. The first season, which consisted of 25 episodes, was shown on Japanese TV between January 9, 2019 and June 26, 2019. Not long after that, the fans were hoping for some information about the show’s future, seeing how it was quite popular.
Ultimately, during the 2019 Crunchyroll Expo, it was confirmed that The Rising of the Shield Hero would be returning, but not with just one, but rather two seasons, as a second and third season were confirmed by the producers. Initially, no release information was provided, but we did get an official visual for the upcoming second season:
A year later, it was confirmed that the second season of The Rising of the Shield Hero would premiere in October 2021; no information about the third season’s release was provided. Now, as things turned out, the series did not premiere in October 2021, but was, “due to various reasons”, pushed back to April 2022:
Later, it was revealed that the season would officially premiere on April 6, 2022 and with several weeks ahead of us, we don’t think that there will be any additional delays. As for the third season, no additional information has been given so we don’t have any idea when it might premiere, but as things stand, it won’t be before late 2023 or even early 2024. We have to account for some possible delays in that aspect, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 trailer
As you might have suspected, there is no trailer for the third season of The Rising of the Shield Hero and that is simply because the season has not yet been produced, although it has been announced. Now that the third season of The Rising of the Shield Hero is a sure thing, we know that a trailer is going to happen soon, although we don’t have any precise date.
Now, as to when we’ll potentially see a trailer, in the best-case scenario, late 2022 or early 2023 would be a possibility, seeing that the new season was announced relatively recently, but we’ll have to wait for more information to confirm an official date.
This is every known piece of information related to the trailers. Now, we can head on to the plot.
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 plot
As far as we have managed to deduce from the information we have, the second season of the anime is going to adapt the Spirit Turtle Arc, which first appeared in volumes 6 and 7 of the light novel, i.e., in chapters 45 through 62 of the manga. Now, as far as the third season is concerned, we don’t know which volumes are going to be adapted, so in this section, we are going to tell you what is going to happen in the second season, so that you know – roughly at least – what you can expect from the upcoming third season.
After the battle with the otherworldly heroes, it becomes painfully clear that the heroes must become stronger. Naofumi gains access to Melromarc’s stash to use the various power-up methods, and Queen Mirellia arranges combat advisors to train the four heroes. The heroes meet Eclair Seaetto (a swordswoman who now rules the area around Raphtalia’s village) and Elrasla Grilaroc, the last representative of the Hengen Muso fighting style.
Although these fighting advisors prove effective and Eclair even defeats Ren in a duel, despite not being a hero, Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu try to skip the training sessions. However, Naofumi’s team – especially Rishia – begins to learn about Hengen Muso. As the heroes repeatedly try to skip the training sessions, the queen negotiates with them and allows them to leave if they investigate rumors of mysterious attacks around the world.
Naofumi and his group are eventually ordered by the queen to investigate these rumors as well. They make their way to the village of Lerno and find that it is overrun by parasitic Familiars. Naofumi’s team is able to fight off the Familiars, but Keel is nearly taken over by their parasitic abilities. Back at the castle, Melromarc’s shadows have gathered enough information to figure out that the mysterious beast on the rampage is a Guardian Beast called the Spirit Turtle, and that the monsters attacking the world are its familiars.
Naofumi and his group hastily try to rush to an eastern land where the spirit turtle lives. When Naofumi arrives at the eastern land, he finds the surrounding area in complete devastation. Many people have died and the three other heroes have disappeared. To stop the Spirit Tortoise in its tracks, Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo, Eclair and the Hengen Muso attack Dame.
After a fierce battle, the Spirit Tortoise is decapitated and the defenders celebrate their victory. When they climb on the back of the Spirit Tortoise, they find a temple with a warning from the former hero about the Spirit Tortoise. Naofumi then begins searching for the missing heroes and investigates the ghost turtle.
While fighting a bunch of leftover familiars, Naofumi and his group are confronted by Ost, who claims to be familiar with the Ghost Turtle. She says that the Guardian Beast is not dead and has been corrupted by an unknown force. Shortly after, they discover that the Ghost Turtle has been regenerated into a new, terrifying form and is now heading straight for Melromarc.
Naofumi and his group try to kill the Spirit Tortoise or at least slow it down, but all efforts seem futile. Finally, Fitoria arrives to help in the fight. She agrees to fight the main body of the Spirit Tortoise while Naofumi and part of the defense force enter the inside of the body. They find that they must destroy the head and the heart at the same time to truly defeat the Spirit Tortoise.
After a failed attempt and a harrowing effort, they manage to destroy the head and seal the heart at the same time to stop the Spirit Tortoise for good. Naofumi and his group travel further into the Spirit Tortoise to find out who has corrupted and manipulated this Guardian Beast.
When they enter the core chamber, they find the other three heroes trapped and the Spirit Turtle’s energy is being siphoned off by a villain who calls himself Kyo. When it seems that Kyo is too powerful to be defeated, L’Arc, Therese and Glass show up to defeat the villain as well. The two groups work together to fight the evil minion book bearer.
Only because Ost helps Naofumi cast Liberation-class magic, and because Rishia has hidden abilities, are the heroes able to defeat Kyo and destroy the Spirit Tortoise core. Kyo takes the remaining energy that the Spirit Turtle has gathered and then escapes through a portal to his own world. However, with the Spirit Tortoise’s core destroyed, Ost (the spirit of the Spirit Tortoise ) begins to fade.
She solemnly bids farewell to Naofumi’s group and asks them to return the Spirit Tortoise’s energy to her world. If they are successful, the time until the next wave will be extended. As a final gift, Ost gives Naofumi a special exception as a legendary hero, allowing him to travel between worlds. After her death, Naofumi, his group and L’Arc’s group travel through the portal and try to capture Kyo.
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 cast
The same announcement which confirmed the second season for its original October 2021 release date (which was later pushed back), also revealed that the cast from season one would be returning for the second season as well. Alongside that, we learned that Masato Jinbo would be directing the second season, replacing Takao Abo. Keigo Koyanagi would again be in charge of series composition. Masahiro Suwa was confirmed as the lead artist for Seira Minami’s original character designs, while Kevin Penkin would be returning to compose the music.
Now, this doesn’t have to mean anything as far as the third season is concerned, but we don’t see why things would change in terms of the cast; the crew might get changed along the way, but more on that at a later point. It is usual for cast members to reprise their roles so, as far as the third season is concerned, these are the names we expect to hear again:
| Character | Japanese Voice Actor (Seiyū) |
|---|---|
| Naofumi Iwatani | Kaito Ishikawa |
| Raphtalia | Asami Seto |
| Filo | Rina Hidaka |
| Motoyasu Kitamura | Makoto Takahashi |
| Ren Amaki | Yoshitsugu Matsuoka |
| Itsuki Kawasumi | Yoshitaka Yamaya |
| Malty S. Melromarc (Myne) | Sarah Emi Bridcutt |
| Pope Biscas T. Balmus | Takayuki Sugō |
| King Aultcray Melromarc XXXII | Yutaka Nakano |
| Melty Q. Melromarc | Maaya Uchida |
| Van Reichnott | Taku Yashiro |
| Mirellia Q. Melromarc | Kikuko Inoue |
| Fitoria | Sakura Tange |
| Slave owner Beloukas | Ken’ichi Okada |
| Weapons blacksmith Elhart | Hiroki Yasumoto |
| L’Arc Berg | Jun Fukuyama |
| Therese Alexandrite | Saori Hayami |
| Glass | Megumi Han |
Where to watch The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3?
At this moment, as expected, there is no means of watching The Rising of the Shield Hero season three, as there is no season three of The Rising of the Shield Hero to watch. The first two seasons were streamed globally by Funimation and Crunchyroll, two of the best anime-related sites on the Internet, so it is safe to assume that the third season will also be streamed via Funimation and Crunchyroll.
Will there be a The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4?
The future of The Rising of the Shield Hero is, as of this moment, unknown. At this moment, we don’t really know anything about a fourth season, save that there is more than enough material to continue the series after the upcoming third season. The series has done well, which is also a great thing for an ongoing anime series. Depending on how well the upcoming third season goes and how the story evolves, a fourth season of The Rising of the Shield Hero could be very likely.
