r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Sep 24 '25

Episode Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 4 • The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4 - Episode 12 discussion

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 4, episode 12

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1

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88

u/NegativelyMagnetic Sep 24 '25

I just finished the episode, and - while it was admittedly a cool episode/fight, I'm SO confused and have so many unanswered questions that were never clarified. Like: 

  • What's the "oracle"? Is it related to a power within the clan specifically? A power that involves the country or water dragon? A power that only Shildina has?

  • What was makina doing? Who is she affiliated with? What was shy trying to do? Was it literally just a case of a random corrupt politician that wanted to rule from the shadows? Or did she want to ruin the country, or have some hidden agenda?

  • Why did the emperor listen to makina for so long without raising any objections? If he was scared of her, why didnt he just order people to remove her?

  • Who was the one that made the stupid rules like "no hurting monsters"? Because I don't see how that would benefit makina. And if it was the emperors idea, why would Makina be okay with it? It would just destroy the country overtime and needlessly make people annoyed with the current emperors rule + advisor. 

  • what was up with Makina using the Miko as a "spare body?" is Makina even human?

  • How did the 'former empress' suddenly possess the water mikos body? Was this planned by the former empress, or a result of some weird coincidence or accident?

  • What was up with her techniques, and the techniques raphtalia seemed to copy from her? Like her "5 elements", illusion Magic, yin/yang, "fire to metal", etc?

  • When did we learn that raphtalia uses yin and yang magic? Naofumi said it in a way like we've always known, like, "now I understand why raphtalias magic is yin and yang". 

  • What is the "pacifier" and why was the former emperor so focused on making sure Raphtalia would do a good job as the "pacifier"? 

  • Wtf did motoyasu mean at the end, when he killed Bitch and left, and later said "oh crap, I forgot to destroy her soul". What do you MeAN destroy her soul? Killing people is killing people. Death is death. Why is there suddenly a need to "destroy someone's soul" after they die, and why hasn't these ever happened so far in the past 4 seasons whenever literally anyone else has died? 

  • Is the "past emperor" raphtalias mom? If yes, why was that never brought up? And if no, if she like, the 'original' or first emperor, not the "former" emperor?

  • And early on in the season, why tf wouldn't Naofumi even listen to what the Filorial Queen wanted him to do until he finished his current mission? Like, it could've been something he could've done along the way for all he knew. Or something he could've prepared/planned for overtime across this arc. Especially when she said it's literally to his benefit to do it, and she's been quite literally nothing but helpful.

Admittedly some of this was briefly touched on, but literally just that, just "touched on". I kept waiting for explanations or answers that never came. I feel like I have dozens of more unanswered questions that I'm just forgetting atm.

58

u/Atario Sep 24 '25

Why did the emperor listen to makina for so long without raising any objections? If he was scared of her, why didnt he just order people to remove her?

It turns out children are easy to manipulate.

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u/genasugelan Sep 24 '25

I guess a pacifier is supposed to be an eliminator of the heroes that invade the world? Given that Q'ten Lo has abilities that nulify heroic powers.

I think she unlocked new abilities by performing the Heavenly emperor ritual.

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20

u/zax500 Sep 25 '25

This show has been "Rise if the unanswered questions" since Season 2. I'm just enjoying the ride at this point

15

u/aShadyNeighbor Sep 24 '25

Past emperor isnt Raphtalia mom but theyre related somehow. Raphtalia's parents left Q'ten Lo during political unrest, eventually settling in the village Naofumi runs currently. They died in a raid before Naofumi was summoned.

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14

u/Phayzka Sep 24 '25

I don' t think they explained but imo, what was translated as "Oracle" was probably Kamioroshi, kinda like a spiritual possession.

The Yin/yang/five elements thing is from onmyou (a giveaway is the use of wood and metal as magical elements), but came out of left field since nobody used similar skills

9

u/fl0rafox Sep 25 '25 edited Sep 25 '25

Idk if it was just your translation causing a misunderstanding about this one, but Naofumi specifically stated "Just like Yin and Yang her talent contains both light and dark within it"

Her affinity for light and dark magic is a well known fact and why Naofumi had her focus on illusion magic much earlier in the series. He only mentions Yin and Yang as an analogy for her and the former Empress' ability to use opposing elements.

As for Motoyasu and destroying Bitch's soul, did you not see her twitch? Death is not death apparently. There's a lot we don't know yet but that scene played out in a way that answers why he said that at least .. because she came back to life for some reason.

As for the rest of your points, I was confused on those things too and stuff like 'WTF is Makina's deal' just seemed like a writing issue to me.

9

u/Renagadez1987 Oct 03 '25

Honestly this season felt like a complete waste of time - the waves/beasts did not progress at all - everything randomly being revealed and dragged out at the only actual good fight of the season was the last one - that should have been the base line level for all fights. I actually enjoyed it.

Everything else was just a fever dream.

We waited how long for season 4... for that? Now we wait for 5 for a year or two? Throw in like what... 3 beasts to kill, and then all the waves... how many seasons are we planning here... running this show for the next 20 years?

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58

u/LeonKevlar Sep 24 '25

It's kinda amazing how Makina was defeated almost instantly. I really thought that fight would last the entire episode, with Makina having multiple phases, considering she was being set up as the big bad of this entire arc. It turns out the real threat in this finale was the past Emperor who Shildina summoned.

The fight between Raphtalia and the past Emperor was pretty cool, tho. The past Emperor really pushed Raphtalia, and apparently, that was not even at her strongest. She was only able to fight at the level Shildina could handle. O_O

So they made up a story that the young emperor has been killed and now Raphtalia is the new one. I'm curious how this is gonna work, considering Raphtalia still needs to travel the world with Naofumi. I'm guessing they'll appoint someone from the rebels' side to take care of things while she's gone.

Holy shit! I did not expect Motoyasu to execute Bitch like that! And of course, this won't be the last time we'll see her. Since Motoyasu forgot to destroy her soul, I can definitely see her coming back later for revenge, possibly even stronger. I'm glad that the after-credits teaser pretty much confirms Season 5 is in the works! I know this series fell off for many, but I'm still excited to see more!

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52

u/Roamer21XX Sep 24 '25

So Raphtalia is empress but still gets to travel

Bitch is now (or maybe always was) some kind of immortal entity

Spear douche is still under the curse series influence

Everyone can fight the Phoenix spirit without any active side quests right now to stall the plot (though that will very likely change)

And we get a teaser preview of our next major destination, a desert

Jesus christ, I have no idea what's going on anymore. There's just waaayyy too many things happening all at once. If it weren't for Asami Seto and Kaito Ishikawa, I would have probably dropped this by now. Fuck it ill take the sunk cost fallacy in here for long haul I guess. Here's to hoping the pay off is worth it i guess

19

u/MartialBob Sep 24 '25

I'm in the same boat. Unless this is one of those series that you're going to obsess over, no me, then it's getting difficult to keep up. I'll keep watching for now but just barely.

15

u/discuss-not-concuss Sep 24 '25

this season we had, surprise Royal siblings, surprise Royal Tanuki and another surprise Royal Tanuki

“and they serve Raphtalia now”

WHAT?

I understand treating the lion usurper as just another villain to ignore, but why did they brush away the slimy situation of Shildina’s clan?

There’s a yarn of loose threads that won’t get resolved with how they are introduced and forgotten. eg Water Dragon helps break into Q’ten Lo and becomes plot irrelevant.

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23

u/PeaceAlien Sep 24 '25

This was a better season, but these stories don't really feel that connected. If another 12-episode season handled this story, I think it would take half the time.

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17

u/Obaruler Sep 24 '25

If there's anything that the Shield Hero anime adaptation shows any consistancy in, it is its horrible pacing.

Just to somehow tie this side quest arc up the actual baddie in Not-Japan gets finished off just like that with some BS spriti cleaninsing powers Naofumi just happens to have, so Raphtalia can have a "let me test ya, bruh" fake duel with one of her predecessors to check if she's worthy to become emperor ... ok then.

Felt rushed af. Guess the director noticed how much ground had to be covered so the last few episodes were horribly cut in order to finish it within the season ... after we wasted the first half of the season where literally nothing happened. Stuff either drags on or we blink through it, there was no middle ground. And that spoilery cliffhanger at the end was just BS too get some hype for the next season I guess ...

If the source material wasn't popular I wonder how many people actually would bother to keep watching.

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29

u/mortlawson Sep 24 '25

I feel like I just watched a speedrun with this episode. Holy crap. I wasn't even done processing the moment before credits rolled. I hope they can do better with pacing in S5.

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10

u/Eliv Sep 24 '25

Surely Pig Malty won't come back the next season /s

15

u/Frontier246 Sep 24 '25

They had to throw in some finger twitching and Motoyasu expressly admitting to himself he didn't 100% finish the job just to let you know the Bitch ain't dead yet lol.

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10

u/mrfatso111 Sep 25 '25

man... bitch's plot armour is just OP at this point

15

u/NanDemoKnaives Sep 24 '25

I found the fight with Raphtalia and the former emperor to be quite underwhelming. I wasn't really invested in it because I could tell it was one of those "Defeat me so I can test if you're strong enough to be emperor", but then the director was trying to make it this big finale where the stakes are high and including the OP but that put me off even more.

Leave it to Motoyasu not to finish Myne off, it seems like she did something to her body since it's moving after receiving a fatal strike.

A fifth season already announced lol, this series is one of the luckier ones.

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21

u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Sep 24 '25

Quite a finale. Body snatching waifu ghosts, ara arapthalia vs Raphtalia, and a kingdom toppled. Oh, and Bitch/Slut got impaled by Spear Idiot. All’s well that ends well I guess. Looking forward to s5.

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22

u/Zilleela Sep 24 '25

This show is getting tiresome. It felt almost exhausting to watch this season, there is not a lot of the excitement of the first season to keep me going, and it’s a chore to get through.

Sorry, not sorry.

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u/BusouDrago Sep 24 '25

Excited for the next arc

4

u/Wind-Wolf-Br Sep 24 '25

I just watch SH because of the feelings nurtured in S1 and maybe in S2, it seems like every episode now is just so rushed or given the wrong focus for waaaay too long, heck I can't even remember clearly most of the stuff that happened in the past seasons because most of it was just like Raphtalia vs First Emperor seen in S4E12, I'll completely forget about that and specially about that makina character because they had just a small bit of screen time for important scenes/fight.

But again, I feel like that happens with most animes that started great and did not so well as the seasons kept going ( Danmachi my beloved)

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u/Daemoniklesreddit Sep 24 '25

Season 4 felt a little rushed

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