The first two seasons of The Rising of the Shield Hero premiered in 2019 and 2022 respectively. Crunchyroll previously announced at Crunchyroll Expo last year that they would be streaming The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3 directed by Hitoshi Haga (assistant director Made in Abyss) instead of Takao Abo or Part 1 of Season 1 Masato Jinbou of 2.
Other new staff additions for the third season of The Rising of the Shield Hero include Franziska van Wulfen (Bocchi the Rock animation director!) and Sana Komatsu (The Rising of the Shield Hero animation director), who who is credited as the character designer for Masahiro Suwa of the previous seasons. Returning staff members include Keigo Koyanagi as the series’ composer and Kevin Penkin as the composer.
The anime’s animation production company Kinema Citrus is sharing the series’ scripting and writing credits with Koyanagi. Meanwhile, Season 2’s co-production company DR MOVIE is no longer listed in the main animation production attribution.
The anime is based on the light novel series published by Kadokawa written by Aneko Yusagi and illustrated by Seira Minami, which began in 2013 and has 22 volumes as of 2019. The book is published under the MF Books label.
One Peace Books describes the light novel series as follows:
Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharacteristic otaku who spends her days in games and manga, suddenly finds herself summoned to a parallel universe! He discovers himself as one of four heroes armed with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from prophesied destruction. As the Hero of the Shield, the weakest of the heroes, things are not as they seem. Naofumi is soon lonely, penniless and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he was left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Hero of the Shield and save the world!
Rise of the Hero of the Shield began as a web novel on Shousetsuka ni Narou in 2012. An adaptation of A. Kyu’s manga began in 2014. The series has also inspired spin-offs and plays. stage, video games, etc.
Update: The original article said that Komatsu and van Wulfen’s role as character designer were revealed in this first trailer; they were actually announced at the end of March.