>>281967845 (OP)
Having all this focus on Naofumi with very little Raph and Filo is like all veg, no meat. I think they could have compressed the Siltvelt arc into like, 3 episodes and had more SoL in Q'Ten Lo with the girls. The blacksmith master is annoying as shit and has really only served to give the main cast a power-up. Should have been sidelined hard after that. Instead he's got more screentime than the two main girls. Sadeena is the only one really saving this arc for me. I also like Gaelion. Its like Naofumi has a charizard.
>>281974837
>>281975082
In the LN, its because dude is too jaded and depressed from his situation to really entertain the thought of a romantic connection in the other world. Even discounting the initial betrayal and persecution, he's still constantly fighting magical horrors with medieval weaponry. He's got multiple looming threats over his head, and at the end of it all his only reward is to go back to Japan, hopefully without too much PTSD. There's really no point getting attached. Doesn't help that at the one moment he tried to, Raphtalia reflexively rejected him, so he believes she doesn't see him that way even though she only reacted like that because her low self-esteem didn't allow her to believe the shield hero could be attracted to her. I don't think she knew that was her one shot though.
