Rise of the Filolial Queen // Shield Hero Ep. 17 Review

A Promise Made: Episode 17 Review

Otaku Voice Staff

After her threat in the last episode, I expected Fitoria to make good in The Rising of the Shield Hero episode 17. She instead waits until morning to remind Naofumi she plans on killing him. This is after he has once again fed Fitoria’s filolial constituents. Naofumi also clearly didn’t process her threat from the night before because he is taken aback by her repeating her threat.

Its been a nice few episodes not watching the Shield Hero trade insults and suffer at the hand of the other heroes. This has hardened Naofumi because he rejects Fitoria’s efforts. He has been cast out of the kingdom because of the actions taken against him. In Naofumi’s mind, and probably to most viewers, he is the victim. That doesn’t matter to Fitoria. She is pretty dead set on fixing their petty argument. It does feel good to find someone in this world willing to look past their nonsense and actually take charge.

Filo’s Battle

Instead of immediately trying to assassinate the nearest Cardinal Hero, Fitoria challenges Filo for Naofumi’s honor. Her challenge is two-fold. She is testing Filo on two fronts. First, Fitoria wants to test Filo’s resolve towards Naofumi, essentially testing the worthiness of the Shield Hero. Second, the filolial queen is testing the worthiness of Filo as a successor to the throne.

In earlier episodes many of the townsfolk our heroes met revered Filo as the filolial queen. We obviously now know that there is an actual person behind that title, Fitoria. Her battle with Filo gives Filo a chance to earn that title she is almost destined to have. The battle itself is interesting. After kidnapping princess Melty, who has done nothing these past few episodes, Fitoria and Filo enter the Thunderdome. Its not the most challenging battle for the queen. She can handle Filo without much effort. It is what Fitoria is looking for that wins the day for Filo. Her passion for the Shield Hero, something that Fitoria recognizes in herself.

I liked that it was a battle about focusing the resolve of Filo and not too specifically her battle prowess. The overarching plot isn’t given much consideration this episode, but Filo is given a chance to shine as a special person. This is especially fruitful right after Raphtalia has almost two episodes to herself.ld Hero

The Cardinal Heroes of Old

After the battle is won and Fitoria bestows Filo with the honor of queen successor, we go back to Fitoria’s talks with Naofumi. Even though Filo has saved Naofumi’s life by being worthy, it doesn’t mean Fitoria is going to back down completely. She has seen and forgotten so much of this world, that she passes on to Naofumi. We discover that she was in fact raised by a Cardinal Hero of old. Naofumi surmises that it was the Shield Hero, but Fitoria can’t remember. I would guess that story-wise it makes sense that her passion for Naofumi, the Shield Hero, that it was the Shield Hero of old that raised her as the filolial queen.

The episode points us in an interesting direction going forward. Naofumi pledges to Fitoria that he will make an attempt at reconciliation with the other heroes. I am not sure if he has forgotten, but he is still number one on Melromarc’s most wanted list. Surely he won’t be able to waltz back into the castle and talk some sense into everyone. I don’t like that Fitoria doesn’t involve herself. Her prompting of Naofumi is enough involvement in her mind. I have to disagree with that. If she believes that in order for them all to survive they must work together, then she should use her position to convince them.

There is still clearly a lot that has to be done in the next couple of episodes. If Naofumi can’t convince the other three morons running around with their weapons to trust him again then a lot of these last episodes are for naught. Naofumi still have to meet with the queen of the realm, not just the queen of the filolials. Shield Hero episode 17 reminds us that his party is stagnating because he needs to get to one of the other Dragon Hourglasses. When he gets back to the castle, what has happened to the rest of his party?

[Sources and Further Reading]
[Episode 16 Review]
[Images via Crunchyroll]