Naofumi Iwatani is your local sophomore college student otaku living in Japan. He’s not a complete shut-in, however, because when he runs out of money he goes to the library to check out light novels. When he picks up a mysterious book that is titled “The Four Cardinal Heroes,” he is instantly transported to another world where three other guys from different timelines of Japan have also been transported to. The people that greet them tell the four guys that they are the Four Cardinal Heroes, the Sword Hero, Bow Hero, Spear Hero, and Shield Hero. The people who summoned them need their help in order to deal with Waves, which is when large armies of monsters fall from the sky and attack the kingdom. When a Wave will strike is determined by an hourglass having all of its sand hit the bottom, the dragon hourglass. The other three heroes agree to help the kingdom, but in return for payment. The four of them are each then given party members to go and get stronger before the next Wave of Catastrophe, but ultimately the one assisting Naofumi, Myne, turns on him and steals all of his stuff. With no one else wanting to help the Shield Hero because supposedly the Shield Hero is the weakest class, and with Naofumi being betrayed by Myne and accused of hurting her, Naofumi loses all trust, respect, and help from the kingdom. He is helped by a shopkeeper that sells armor and then goes on a journey to get stronger, and comes back to the kingdom to terrorize the shops. Naofumi then stumbles upon the slave trader, who takes him to a place where slaves are sold to people to fight for them. Among them are demihumans, who aren’t seen like regular humans. Here Naofumi finds and befriends Raphtalia, a demihuman that joins his party as his sellsword, since Naofumi can’t actually get any stronger with his shield. In fact, he only has defensive capabilities. They begin to work together though to get stronger, and Naofumi takes good care of Raphtalia. When the next Wave of Catastrophe hits, the other three heroes stride into battle but are unconcerned with Lute Village, which could be wiped out by the monsters. Naofumi and Raphtalia ride to the village to save them, and manage to save a good amount of the people there, to which the people are thankful for. Next, all the heroes are invited to a royal party at the kingdom. At first, Naofumi isn’t interested in it much like Raphtalia is, but the Spear Hero challenges Naofumi to a duel. Naofumi is forced to duel him, and if he loses Raphtalia will be set free of the curse that forces her to obey Naofumi’s commands. It looks like Naofumi is winning the duel at first, but Myne intervenes and hits him with magic, and the Spear Hero seems to have won. As Naofumi watches Raphtalia be set free of the curse, he becomes really depressed. But Raphtalia remains to stay by his side of her own free will, and this makes the others realize that Naofumi actually won the duel. Raphtalia helps Naofumi return to his former self instead of being coldhearted, and they decide to continue to work together. The series is really good and I’m looking forward to binging more of it. Also, episode four made me cry because of how relatable Naofumi’s pain is to some of my pain from the past. Definitely looking forward to binging the next episodes!
But it is a lot of fun to watch!
