It still hurts, feeling stuck like this. But the reality is what it is.

Anyway, in hindsight, it doesn't surprise me that I was introduced to the show by a person who I considered a friend, who was also a deeply conservative person and a Christian. It kind of reflects on them a lot (but I guess it reflects on me for liking the show, at least at first).

This is saying nothing of the big inciting incident, where Malty falsely accuses Naofumi of rape. The anime does seem to treat this with some appropriate degree of gravity, but it still manages to come across as a callous use of the trope to me.

… all because demihumans hold deep respect for the Shield Hero. It comes across as making Naofumi somehow guilty by association and that paints a dangerous picture for audiences (depending on how they respond to the show at least; the one time guilt by association is “good” is with a Nazi supporter)

And the show adds some extra wrinkles by trying to tackle the issue of racial discrimination with the kingdom’s bigotry against demihumans, but they are seriously dumb about it by extending their ridiculous bigotry to Naofumi when they literally just summoned him and fuck him over just because,

I absolutely love the dubs of most of the films directed by Mamoru Hosoda, but my crowning favorite has to be Summer Wars. Everyone in the cast knocks their performances out of the park (pun intended) and sells me on how tighly knit the Jinnouchi family is