The second season of The Rising of the Shield Hero will no longer premiere in 2021.
As reported by Anime News Network, the official website for the series announced that its second season will be delayed from its original scheduled air date of Oct. 2021 to sometime during April 2022. The website for the show didn't state a specific reason for the delay, instead ascribing the pushback to various different factors. Although no specific date has been set yet within April 2022, the cast has promised that they will have more updates about the series to come.
The Rising of the Shield Hero premiered in 2019 with an original season of 25 episodes. The anime is based on the dark-fantasy light novels written by Aneko Yusagi, which where adapted into a manga series prior to the anime adaptation. The story follows Naofumi Iwatani, a Japanese high school student who is whisked into a parallel world along with three other men. The four men are summoned to be the world's Cardinal Heroes, tasked with fighting hordes of monsters that arrive in Waves. Naofumi inherits a legendary shield, but is ostracized from the others when he is betrayed by this new world's nobility. Joined by the demi-human Raphtalia and the bird-like Filo, Naofumi fights monsters so he can level up and become powerful enough to protect the new world he now calls home.
Masato Jinbo (Chaos; Child) will direct the second season, replacing first season director Takao Abo (Black Lagoon). Keigo Koyanagi (Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars) returns as head of series composition, and Kevin Penkin will continue to compose the series' musical soundtrack.
The Japanese voice actors of Naofumi (Kaito Ishikawa), Raphtalia (Asami Seto) and Filo (Rina Hidaka) will also reprise their roles in the second season. All three actors are set to host a panel discussing the anime series and their roles at The Virtual Crunchyroll Expo this August.
Crunchyroll announced in 2019 that The Rising of the Shield Hero was already approved for both a second and third season. One Peace Books continues to release the original light novel series, as well as volumes of the manga adaptation. An official spin-off, The Reprise of The Shield Hero, also exists. The Rising of the Shield Hero light novel series is currently on-going.
Source: Anime News Network