• The Rising of the Shield Hero, Volume 1

  • By: Aneko Yusagi
  • Narrated by: Kurt Kanazawa
  • Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (538 ratings)

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The Rising of the Shield Hero, Volume 1  By  cover art

The Rising of the Shield Hero, Volume 1

By: Aneko Yusagi
Narrated by: Kurt Kanazawa
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Publisher's summary

Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharismatic Otaku who spends his days on games and manga, suddenly finds himself summoned to a parallel universe! He discovers he is one of four heroes equipped with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from its prophesied destruction. As the Shield Hero, the weakest of the heroes, all is not as it seems. Naofumi is soon alone, penniless, and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he is left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Shield Hero and save the world!

©2015 One Peace Books (P)2021 One Peace Books

What listeners say about The Rising of the Shield Hero, Volume 1

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    360
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  • 3 Stars
    49
  • 2 Stars
    17
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    85
  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    385
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
    4

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story, questionable excecution

love the story, enjoyed the audio format. young raphtalia voice however was....rough and very much took me out of the story with how jarring it was. please get a female reader for these parts moving forward.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hire a female voice actor for the female characters

The voice of female characters such as Raphtalia is NOT a good voice to have for them. They need to hire a second voice actor for the female characters.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Honestly a great story…

To be perfectly honest I am writing this in hope that another volume gets written because the amount of detail put into this book feels like the guy is reading from a dnd setting and it is amazing! It absolutely sucks that it’s been 6 months with no follow up at all! Kurt, if you’re reading this, you started out great but it definitely sounded like you did long and drawn out reading sections. When I got to the part where Naofumi was accused the emotion sounds like you just read for 5 hours already! I don’t blame being tired and reading, I get it, but take shorter session, don’t be afraid of multiple takes and all of a chapter. I hope all of our honestly doesn’t drive you away but instead helps you pursue and endure.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very interesting Isekai concept.

The concept definitely hooks you in very well and keeps you hooked with the first major conflict. From there the relationship with the hero and his new companion was done very well. definitely a good choice for Isekai fans.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

But I just can't get past the narrator's voice. I really wanted to see how the books were different from the anime, though it doesn't seem I'll be able to this way. I guess my poor decision on not selecting the sample.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A great story with an awful narrator

I enjoyed this book despite Kurt Kanezawa's performance, not because of it. His depiction of Naofumi is tolerable, at least, though I definitely prefer both his English and Japanese anime voices far more, but his attempts to voice basically anyone else were just bad. Many of his female voices, especially young Raphtalia, straight up hurt to listen to. Plus sound effects were often just wrong, with grunts and cries of pain coming off like whining from a toddler. A comparatively minor annoyance was the insistence on "proper" Japanese pronunciation. That sounds like it should be a positive, but basically switching accents to correctly pronounce a name of Japanese word like "otaku", rather than the slightly bastardized version a typical English speaker wouId use, just breaks the flow of the text and feels pretentious. really don't want to rag on Kurt too much, and I appreciate that this audiobook exists at all, but narration is definitely not his calling.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

excellent story narration is lacking

Glad the story came to audio book, the narrator cannot do female voices. Don't let that detract from the story though.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

that narrator though....

shield hero is one of the best isekai animes out there due to the depth of its story and the development of its characters. the story is really one of the best.

The narrator on the other hand.... everyone other than the main character is voiced like the goose from Kung fu panda and poor raphtalia sounds like the world's least convincing drag queen.

Really great story, not a great listening experience.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

wanting the next book

After having already read the anime, I want more. I understand some of the comments about the VA not being the best with female voices but it's only with 1 character and with good reason imo.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • tw
  • 05-07-22

Great story

What a great way to enjoy further details to the anime that I really enjoy. It goes just like a book and has the characters that I love.

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