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How Many Episodes Will The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Have?


The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Episodes

Initially delayed from October 2021, the second season of The Rising of the Shield Hero is finally here! However, one of the biggest questions for fans now is how many episodes will The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 have?

The first season ran for two consecutive cours, over half the year, helping cement its fanbase and deliver an epic journey without a mid-season break.

Will season 2 get the same treatment, or will fans have to prepare for a shorter adventure with Naofumi, Raphtalia and Filo? We’ve done some digging to find out.

Related: Is The Rising of the Shield Hero Light Novel Finished?

Note: This article has been updated since the initial announcement to reflect the pacing of the Spirit Tortoise Arc.

How Many Episodes Will The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Have?

How Many Episodes Will The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 Ost Have
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The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 will have 13 episodes. The news was announced via the anime's Japanese Twitter account.

In a tweet from the official Shield Hero Twitter account announcing the Blu-ray & DVD release, fans noticed that the episode count for the upcoming season appeared as 13 episodes.

Even before this announcement, many people assumed that the upcoming season would be a single cour instead of the two-cour first season.

One of the main reasons people initially believed the second season may only be a single cour is due to the joint announcement of seasons 2 and 3.

With season 3 already confirmed, some fans believed that both 2 and 3 will be single cours to match season 1’s double run.

It was initially believed that the speed of adaptation also indicated how many episodes we would see this season.

Adapting the Spirit Tortoise Arc (seen in the main visuals for the season) across 13 episodes would have been in line roughly with the adaptation speed of season 1.

However, the series has decided to speed through the Spirit Tortoise Arc in just six episodes. The arc wasn't particularly popular with fans prior to its adaptation, and it has led to bad reviews for Shield Hero Season 2.

The next arc in the story is the New World Arc, as Naofumi's party chase Kyo into the world of L'Arc's crew. This arc is of similar length to the Spirit Tortoise Arc, so we should see this conclude before the end of the season.

There is no issue regarding the amount of source material for The Rising of the Shield Hero. There are over 20 light novels in total, excluding spin-offs.

Given season 3 was announced at the same time, we can hope that the next season will follow quite quickly after season 2.

Therefore, it may feel more like a split-cour season rather than the years of waiting fans have had between the first and second.

Related: The Most Underrated Anime of All Time

For more articles like this, take a look at our Anime and The Rising of the Shield Hero page.