The Rising of the Shield Hero (盾の勇者の成り上がり, Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari) Season 3 is a 2023 television anime series based on Yusagi Aneko’s light novel series of the same name with illustrator Seira Minami, and a continuation to the 2019 & 2022 anime seasons. The season was adapted by studio Kinema Citrus, and the staff credits include director Hitoshi Haga, series composition writer Keigo Koyanagi, character designers Sana Komatsu, Franziska van Wulfen & Masahiro Suwa, and music composed by Kevin Penkin. The anime season first aired in Japan on October 2023.
Background:
“Holding the Line Between Hero & Villain
The other heroes have vanished since taking on the Spirit Tortoise, and Naofumi races to reunite them before the next Guardian Beast awakens. But a corrupt colosseum tournament, a demon Emperor Dragon, and Princess Malty’s manipulation stand in his way.”
Plot Synopsis via Crunchyroll UK, May 2025.
It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned The Rising of the Shield Hero. It’s the isekai novel series that’s been on-going for a while with a premise that split the anime fandom. Both the novels, manga adaptation and anime adaptation did well enough in the west to spawn multiple seasons and while this is the third season, a fourth season is incoming so the adventure continues.
Weirdly I did not watch Season 3 during its simulcast. The first season was very good overall and the second season definitely had pacing issues but it came down to source material and writing issues which the anime did try to minimize those issues (the Spirit Tortoise arc was the main problem which was the general consensus with pretty much every viewer/reader of the franchise). So I’m very interested to see where the story goes with this season.
Kadokawa announced Seasons 2 & 3 at the same time during Crunchyroll Expo 2019 but it did take a while to get this season sorted which I’m guessing was based on the feedback of how the second season was adapted. Having its fourth season greenlit must have shown that Season 3 paid off with audience and studio expectations. Crunchyroll like before, acquired the streaming and home video rights for The Rising of the Shield Hero with an English dub to go with it.
Limited Edition Contents:
Crunchyroll kept their consistency with The Rising of the Shield Hero considering a couple other noteworthy shows have had their limited editions dropped for their later seasons.
The limited edition release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case with an o-card sleeve to house the Blu-ray & DVD discs, and alongside the case includes an 68-page Artbook and a cardboard box that also contains 6 Art Cards and a Fabric Poster. The artbook includes character designs, item and monster designs, setting artwork and interviews with both the Japanese staff and voice actors.
The rigid box artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Crunchyroll releases. The limited edition Blu-ray has an unspecified number of units printed for an SRP of £79.99, with a standard edition Blu-ray available for retailers at an SRP of £44.99.
I ordered my copy for £59.99 alongside Jujutsu Kaisen: Shibuya Incident at MVM’s Anime-on-Line store at the last moment.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork
- Amaray case packaging with o-card sleeve
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 68-page Booklet
- 6 Art Cards
- Fabric Poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Crunchyroll UK
Released: 12th May 2025
The limited edition release for The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 contains the entire season, episodes 1-12, across two Blu-ray discs and two DVD discs. The discs were authored and encoded by Crunchyroll.
Audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and the Bang Zoom! English dub commissioned by Crunchyroll.
The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are region accessible to players set to A & B and the DVD discs accessible to players set to 1 & 2.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 2 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Web Previews (03:37 runtime)
- Textless Opening Song “SIN”
- Textless Closing Song “Suki ni Natte wa Ikenai Riyuu”
Disc 2:
- Web Previews (03:32 runtime)
- Promo Videos (05:11 runtime)
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Web Previews (03:37 runtime)
- Textless Opening Song “SIN”
- Textless Closing Song “Suki ni Natte wa Ikenai Riyuu”
Disc 2:
- Web Previews (03:32 runtime)
- Promo Videos (05:11 runtime)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll in the UK & Ireland.
The limited edition Blu-ray & DVD release can be bought through different retailers including Amazon UK, and Anime-on-Line, while the standard edition Blu-ray can also be bought through different retailers including Amazon UK, and Anime-on-Line.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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