Naofumi Iwatani
Naofumi Iwatani is a male anime and manga character who features in The Rising of the Shield Hero.
Contents |
Biography
Naofumi Iwatani (Japanese: 岩谷 尚文, Hepburn: Iwatani Naofumi)
From an early age, animals have naturally been drawn towards him. He was well-liked by any animal he encountered and they would act friendlier towards him than most other people. When he was a kid, he was offered a ride by a dog in his local area even though the dog had never once given a ride to anyone. During his time in elementary school, he was never once pecked by the chickens who were notoriously known by his classmates to peck. As Naofumi grew up, he worked multiple jobs at once, including at an izakaya and food-court. Naofumi also stated the reason he stopped drinking alcohol was because he never got drunk, and seeing his friends getting drunk made him feel left out. When he was 20 years old, he was a sophomore in college and had a passion for video games, light novels, anime, and other otaku-like activities. He would often put his hobbies in front of his actual studies, which caused his parents to believe he was a lost cause and focused all their attention on his younger brother. This lead to them sending the younger brother to a famous prep-school in the hope to secure his future. However, their parents intense pressure on his success led to them having a lack of freedom and free time. This ended up being to much stress for Naofumi's younger brother. This eventually led to Naofumi's brother becoming jealous of Naofumi's own freedom. He eventually become a trouble maker from the stress caused from his excessive studying. Naofumi's younger brother started dying his hair and swearing around the house. Naofumi himself was aware of the fact that the reason behind this change in his trouble maker was due to his stress. Eventually Naofumi took it upon himself to help his younger repair their relationship with the rest of the family. He did this by introduce him to a dating simulator game which his brother was initially hesitant playing at first. Eventually his brother got hooked into the game and Naofumi helped introduce him further into otaku culture. This helped reduce his younger brothers stress and began to rededicate himself to their studies.
Naofumi's help eventually allowed his brother to become the top of its class and make it into a prestigious high school. This helped the family become more cohesive with less tension between the younger child their parents. This course of events eventually left Naofumi to have a budget and did not need to work as he was in collage. This allowed him to further indulge his Otaku tendencies and do what he wanted. One day, Naofumi went to the library to read some books as he had used his monthly budget. In this library he found a book called The Record of the Four Holy Weapons. When he started reading it he found a blank page where the shield hero was supposed to be. He immediately lost consciousness when reading that book and found himself summoned in another world. When Naofumi awoke he found himself in a different room, below him laid an alter which glowed. Besides him stood 3 other people who each possessed a different weapon sword, spear, and bow. Naofumi noticed on his right arm laid a shield which he couldn't remove. He would later learn he was summoned with the three other people as Legendary Heroes from another world. The robe figures before them asked and begged for the heroes to save them. The three other heroes ignored their question and asked their own questions like asking why they were summoned. One of the heroes wielding the sword even threaten them by pointing his weapon towards them. However, Naofumi knew that the three other heroes were actually leaping of joy on the inside from being summoned to another world.
The robe figures before them asked and begged for the heroes to save them. The three other heroes ignored their question and asked their own questions like asking why they were summoned. One of the heroes wielding the sword even threaten them by pointing his weapon towards them. However, Naofumi knew that the three other heroes were actually leaping of joy on the inside from being summoned to another world. The heroes were lead to the throne room where they would meet the ruler of the country. On the throne sat an old man, who later introduced himself as Aultcray Melromarc XXXII king of Melromarc. He talked about the prophecy of the waves and the reason behind the heroes summoning. Shortly after that, he asked for the heroes to introduce themselves. The order of the introduction was as follows: Ren Amaki the Sword Hero, Motoyasu Kitamura the Spear Hero, Itsuki Kawasumi the Bow Hero, and lastly Naofumi Iwatani himself as the Shield Hero. The King later acknowledged the heroes' names except that of Naofumi's which he later corrected and apologized about when pointed out. The King later went on about the fundamentals of Status Magic and Legendary Weapons each of the heroes possessed. The King ensured them that he'll secure adventurers to join the Legendary Hero's cause. The heroes were later escorted to their chambers. When the heroes arrived at their chambers, they started discussing how the world they were summoned to seemed like a game. Each hero besides Naofumi had a personal idea on which game, from their old world, this new world was based on. Motoyasu said it was based on a famous online game called Emerald Online, while Itsuki disagreed and said it was based on a console game called Dimension Waves, Ren later interjected saying they were both wrong and that it was based on a VRMMO called Brave Star Online.
Each of the heroes considered themselves massive Otaku, however, none of them had heard of the games the others named. On a hunch, they all agreed to name the current president of Japan which ended up with them all saying different names. Not convinced, they started shouting other random questions and in the end, they all concluded that they all came from Alternative Japans. After their discovery, the other heroes were quick to point out comments about Naofumi's legendary weapon and his class. Motoyasu explained how the Shielder class in his game was the weakest class which later became obsolete, Ren's and Itsuki's answer were also more or less the same. This came to a shock to Naofumi, but despite all that, he still had held a positive outlook of being summoned to another world. They later all went to sleep in different chambers after dinner was prepared for them. The next day the king said that he had prepared many adventures to join the heroes and their cause. Though instead of the heroes choosing the adventurers, the adventurers had to choose the heroes they wanted to team up with by standing behind their chosen hero. After all the adventurers had chosen, Ren ended up with 5 people, Motoyasu with 4 people, Itsuki with 3 people and Naofumi with no one. Shocked and surprised by the results Naofumi asked in this order for Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki if they could spare him some adventures to join his party but no one from the ranks of adventurers in each of the heroes parties wanted to swap over. The reason as to why no adventurers joined Naofumi's party was later discovered and explained by the King. Rumors about Naofumi had spread throughout the kingdom that the Shield Hero was weak and had no knowledge of the world. Motoyasu later whispered to Naofumi that someone probably had eased dropped on their conversation last night. Thinking all hope was lost, someone from Motoyasu's party decided to join Naofumi party, a red-headed female adventures. She was asked by Motoyasu whether she was sure about her decision and she replied with a simple "yes". Since Naofumi had the least amount of members compared to the other three heroes the King provided Naofumi with 800 pieces of silvers while the other heroes only started with 600 silvers. Naofumi gladly accepted the money and started his very first journey with his very first companion in another world. The female adventures later introduced herself as Myne Suphia. While Naofumi would refer to her first name, Myne would only refer to Naofumi as Mr. Hero.
After having exited the castle, Myne brought Naofumi to a Weapon Shop that was well known throughout Melromarc. When the Weapon Shop Owner saw Myne entering the shop he asked her if he had seen her somewhere before. Myne, however, shook off the question by answering she was a returning customer. Naofumi's first objective was to get himself a weapon so that he could have a way of attacking. While trying to pick up a weapon in the store her discovers that his Legendary Weapon restricted him from equipping other weapons except for his assigned weapon, his shield. He ends up deciding to buy a set of Chainmail for himself which he got a discount for at the price of 120 silver. Upon exiting the castle walls, they came up a valley that was full of grass. While walking through the valley Naofumi encountered a Monster called an Orange Balloon, when the Balloon bit Naofumi he felt no pain due to the Legendary Shield emitting a defensive barrier around him. It took Naofumi 5 minutes to defeat a single balloon by himself which only earned him 1exp. He later looks over in the distance to see Ren swiftly defeating 3 Balloons in one swing. Naofumi ends up discovering that he can use the monster loot from the Orange Balloon to absorb into the shield. And for the rest of the day, Myne helped Naofumi defeat monsters out in the valley. When evening hit both Naofumi and Myne returned to the Weapon Shop to obtain Myne new gear. While Myne was searching for new gear, Naofumi and the Weapon Shop started haggling with each other. When Myne returned with her chosen set of equipment that she wanted, Naofumi asked whether she could downgrade since it was a bit too experience but Myne used her feminine charms to manipulate Naofumi into purchasing the equipment. However, the Weapon Shop Owners kindly gave Naofumi a discount. Naofumi made his way to an Inn and purchased two rooms for himself and Myne. Before heading to bed both Naofumi and Myne stayed downstairs planning for their next day. During their conversation, Myne asked of Naofumi to join her in drinking. Naofumi naturally refused to due to his dislike of alcohol since he had a high tolerance. Myne tried to push on the topic but Naofumi refused to drink and after letting it go Naofumi went to his room to sleep. Before going to sleep Naofumi slips off his chainmail and laid it on the back of the chair and slipped 30 silvers into his shield. While at it he reckons that he saw Itsuki and Motoyasu enter the tavern outside his window. While in his sleep, Naofumi could hear someone whispering "Heh, heh, men are fools. So easily tricked.... Can't wait until tomorrow." Naofumi woke up in the morning to see all of his possessions that he had left inside of his room stolen, he went to the Inn hallway and headed to Myne's room to tell her the bad news but there was no reply on the other side of the door. Knights eventually filled the hallways and surrounded Naofumi, they ignored Naofumi's plead for help and asked whether he was the Shield Hero and after confirming it, the knights forcibly grabbed and dragged Naofumi out of the inn all the way to the castle in nothing but his undergarments.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Naofumi Iwatani was a male human with short black hair that spikes in all directions and sharp green eyes. He often wore a scowl on his face because of his cynical outlook towards the world, but he did express gratitude from time to time.
Initially, Naofumi was an exceedingly trusting and positive person - excited about being summoned as a hero. However, his mentality abruptly changed after Malty S Melromarc, the princess of Melromarc, betrayed and framed him. Being left near-penniless, falsely accused as a criminal, and hated by nearly everyone, Naofumi became extremely distrustful towards everyone and cynical about life. He could not trust anyone and started to assume that others were trying to get something from him. The result of the Princess's betrayal has left him in an almost permanent state of anger and hostility, which he masks behind a calm and level-headed personality. This mentality bites him back as he unknowingly pushes away genuine supporters of the Shield Hero and Siltvelt envoys.
Powers and abilities
Originally, Naofumi Iwatani was an ordinary human being born in the realm world with no inherent special powers.
As the Shield Hero, he was provided with one of the Legendary Weapons (伝説武器 Densetsu Buki?) which in his case was the Legendary Shield.
Notes
- Naofumi Iwatani was created by Aneko Yusagi and Minami Seira where he featured in the setting of The Rising of the Shield Hero.
In other media
Television
Appearances
- The Rising of the Shield Hero:
External Links
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