The Eminence in Shadow

I will admit I always wanted to be that one plain-looking guy who at crunch time managed to fight off bad guys bare-handed, steal their weapons pull off some sick reloads and headshots while my crush watched me save the day, and goes doki doki!! There are two kinds of adults, the first are embarrassed by their childhood self and will surely cringe at the statement I made above If not report it xD and the other who still have a child hidden inside them, unable to let go of all the cool power moves and ninja signs the affinity one might have if they aremore like the latter will definitely help you love this show more objectively speaking since in kagejitsu, we finally meet a chunnibyo who is actually everything he says he is! sign me the fuck up! Every second of the action is set up to make him look like a cool ninja Edgelord who is all-powerful, all-seeing, and all-knowing although the first might actually hold true the rest is another story. Kagejitsu is a power fantasy parody, so for it to suit your taste you need to accept the fact that there will never be a tense fight, but Animes like overlord and this (both are rather similar in this regard) have quick but literal meta-breaking fights which are always overkill to the point that you feel pity for the bad guy, all this while the Protag remains oblivious to the true nature of things because he is rather ignorant /dumb. The only difference between the comedic style of overlord and kagejitsu is,to quote my overlord season 4 review “The way overlord carries comedy with it how ainz is supposed to be benevolent the all-knowing the all-seeing yet inside, he is the most confused person in the room!” Shadow only cares about being the coolest person in the room, so he will keep making shit up as long as it makes him seem so (even though he accidentally ends up being correct!). Plot (9/10) The protag has a simple yet twisted goal, he wants to be a normal-looking guy who is actually an eminence in shadow ie his alter ego is basically the strongest person although his named self is the normiest of normies. The show has Amazing pacing for an isekai, it wastes no time in introducing a new and vast cast, and still manages to make sure that the quirk and charm of these characters are well-balanced and explores it enough for a perfectly timed gag, the plot itself is basically shadow-making up crap that more often than not is a convenient flavor text for him, but a reality for the actual world is quite an interesting and hilarious take because to my knowledge he still believes that they are all roleplaying with him xD. It is quite the feat that so many characters have an intertwined story with each having a ‘role to play’ in shadow sama’s VISION. characters(10/10) I can't believe the number of waifus this show has produced in mere minutes of each of them being on screen, going from obvious fetish bait to quite endearing and adorable waifus with very distinct personalities. Within 20 episodes we get introduced to a whole slew of characters, and well its no wonder that all the members of shadow garden happen to be hot slime-wearing ladies UwU. but each gets their own time to shine si what makes them truly worth being invested in. Sound and VA (8/10) THe amazing VA is what helps land most of the jokes, some hidden gags that can only be understood if you were Japanese were well expressed by the subs , so props to the fandom for that. the ost is pretty overused and except of some very epic I AM ATOMIC moments its usually something you heard the last episode. The ED is better than the OP in my opinion. Art and animation (7/10) Fights are short and the animation that comes with the more epic scenes definitely outshines any other scenes hence it feels unbalanced, I also do not know why but every scene in the anime seems very 480 p even after turning 1080 p on in many different websites (the exception is the ed ‘ART’ ) A good watch for isekai and power fantasy fans, those who find themselves mostly cringing at the jokes should probably watch for only 3 episodes to see if the plot is strong enough for them to continue onwards.

Stop me if you’ve heard a line like this before – “It’s just like in a manga / anime!” Being meta is more in vogue than ever. Ever since DreamWorks took it upon themselves to poke fun at the Disney company and the Disney brand with *Shrek* back in 2001 and became a monumentally-successful franchise financially, animated film had more or less entered the realm of metacommentary. It didn’t take long for Disney to follow suit; starting with *Enchanted* in 2007 and then expanding that into the soul-sucking exercise of their live-action remakes of the recent years (if not also including choice lines in others like*Frozen*). If there is any takeaway from this, it’s not only that animated properties being so overtly meta is here to stay, but that it is also a highly-profitable venture. After all, no company is going to change their course if it affects their bottom line. To the company, there’s a simple credo to follow: whether it be about specific properties or about an entire genre’s convention, give the audience a wink. Let them know that you “get it.” And in the realm of anime, metacommentary also has its home. I’m not only referring to overall productions that have been regarded as having some kind of meta remarks or supposedly-deconstructive genre assertions like *Neon Genesis Evangelion,* but even the casual remarks that characters make in any kind of story, like the above quotation I left. These kinds of remarks get chuckles for the basic reason that we like to pat ourselves on the back for recognizing a pattern and having the thing we watch acknowledge it as such. Considering the sheer degree of prevalence the isekai genre has enjoyed ever since the early 2010s, no doubt because it provides publishers like Kadokawa a lot of money, it makes sense that isekai too would become susceptible to these kinds of remarks from its own works. But *The Eminence in Shadow* makes the mistake of assuming that being meta is the same as being funny or a worthwhile piece of entertainment. Glimpsing the greater picture, or making casual reference to things that viewers would recognize, is perhaps a short-term solution. But that does not guarantee that the inner substance of the story will be able to stand on its own two feet, either. Within its audience-conscious asides, it attempts to fashion a fantastical story of Cid Kagenou, a fashions-himself-as-the-ultimate-warrior man who attempts to make the best of both worlds, so to speak. Treating his reincarnated situation as the chance to live out his ultimate fantasy, he adopts the moniker of the background everyman archetype on one hand and the “Eminence in Shadow” in the other. Getting involved, investigating, and dispensing his own form of justice when he sees fit, he treats his new environment as a playground rather than being full of actual people with consequences. Therein lies its initial draw, and its first real gag; take the common thought that many isekai protagonists have (that they’re either dreaming / don’t take their new situation seriously enough), and have it last for the entire show. This gag quickly devolves into overreliance; *The Eminence in Shadow* spends so much of its time with Cid making jokes about the isekai world, drawing upon his knowledge of its conventions and general structure. But the show is confusing its meta remarks for comedic cleverness. Cid is seemingly incapable of going ten minutes without making a remark akin to, “At a time like this, X would happen!” or “Doing Y would be so awesome!” These moments are meta humor at its most flaccid, requiring no creativity to make its point. The goal is to be funny and double down by committing what’s tantamount to beating a dead horse, when being unfunny and doubling down only succeeds in compounding the problem. The show’s insistence on its meta humor tries to function both comedically and dramaturgically. In having Cid make all these remarks, it attempts to paint him as being more keenly aware of what is transpiring, both in the heat of the moment and in the overarching saga that plays out in the overall world, bolstered by his sheer magical and physical power. In emphasizing the brooding aesthetic, punctuated by its dark colors and mood lighting, as well as the occasional action phrase (I will indeed give props to the line “I am atomic,” as it was as grand and dumbly epic as Cid himself thought it to be). Cid is portrayed as being consistently “cool” and slick. The “Rule of Cool” is fine for an occasional indulgence, but to make it a part of the show’s framework is a dangerous game. Cid Kagenou is *The Eminence in Shadow’s* attempt to make the “Rule of Cool” personified via the main protagonist. Yet in all that time focusing on him, most of the ensemble gets left out in the lurch. The “Greek chorus,” or the series of women who serve under Cid in Shadow Garden, are the prime example. They are caricatures rather than characters, a harem in principle and occasional sexual connotation, though not with Cid himself. No chance is given to develop many of them into substantial beings—they don’t even get names beyond Greek letter designations, hence why I referred to them as “Greek chorus” before—because the show’s structure deemphasizes their own relevance. Throughout most of the story, they appear for brief moments and then vanish for long stretches of time, and their contributions to Cid’s shadowy operations do little more than deliver messages or background information. There’s a bizarre fixation on several of them being either competitive, protective, or envious of other members’ breasts. Even when they fight, the moments themselves do barely enough to give the women a sense of dimension. It took nearly one dozen episodes of their sporadic appearance before I finally learned who was named what. The more-prominent side characters of each arc do not fare much better. Sherry is reduced to little more than buttshot eye candy despite the great intelligence we are told that she has, all the while the show decides to relentlessly dump tragedy upon her. Rose has her character more or less centered on her adoration of, and personal history with, Cid and an involvement with cultist Perv Asshat (yes, that is his name in-universe). Annerose, introduced as a warrior of high caliber, becomes a complete no-show for the last few episodes. Each new arc introduces more and more characters who become little more than blips on the show’s radar, unintriguing toys for Cid to use for whatever fantasy kick he’s on at the moment. They are constantly janked around by forces they don’t understand, which does little to make them compelling players in the larger game. But within the desert of characterization stand Alexia and Iris, sisters to their own Midgar throne, as the exceptions to the material’s obsession with Cid being detrimental to everyone else. Their early introduction plot-wise and the fixation both on their personal status and relationship to one another and the larger-scale circumstances more-cohesively set off their personal journeys. Both are perplexed by both the antagonistic forces in their world and Shadow Garden’s mysterious presence, unsure what to make of them. Alexia especially acknowledges her own lack of understanding of what is transpiring since she’s not privy to her sister’s circle of information among the knights or overall skill; she takes the first step into becoming more proactive in the grand scheme of *The Eminence in Shadow’s* shenanigans. Her resolve, and the resulting alliance she forms, is one of the show’s shining moments for developing its intrigue. I’ve used the word “moment” more than once throughout the course of talking about *The Eminence in Shadow,* and that’s because it’s the show’s ultimate flaw. Underneath the choking meta humor jokes, the occasional bits of good action, mediocre characterization, and the show’s aesthetic managing to capture the balancing act it’s trying to perfect, the show is propelled by moments, not narrative. The good moments come too few and far between; it leaves the rest of the experience pertaining to the Cult of Diabolos (or “Diablos,” depending on who’s translating it) and its actual world lumbering along until it gets to the next meme-worthy instance. It comes in both the form of emphasizing things that don’t really need to be emphasized, or blasting through things when it should stop and catch its breath. The result leaves *The Eminence in Shadow* as an organizational mess, which diminishes its bright points greatly. With its second season being announced, I do not doubt that there will surely be more masturbatory indulgences in its own supposed cleverness. I would not, however, find that “atomic.”

Trap anime of 2022. There are entries that just don't worth the time and effort to write a review on. Despite that Eminence in the Shadow is particularly belongs to this garner. I’ve made an exception with it and shed some light over this gloomed garden. Visually it looks good, I would give it an upper (7) or (8) to the animation. I don’t know however why the animation quality suddenly dropped to (4) after EP 18. Sounds, pretty average. There were no one ost that stick into my ear. And yes, average means (5). Characters, there are so many characters.Stories, So it starts off with a guy who likes to live a peaceful and ordinary life. He goes to school like an ordinary student, but he also acts as a super hero in the nights, to save his classmates from the bad guys. (Actually, he just likes to play God in the nights and to act as the best NPC at daylight). One time he met an elf who was soo weak and flat he had to gave his powers to her so she became OP and round. This Elf then made an army and the army members made their army and left the boy alone and in peace. After this he, (the boy) found himself in a nice garden full of girls. He was so fast that he immediately made a love confession to a random girl. (Prettiest girl in school). Then this girl was not nice, but still looks nice to this day. So after this relationship, HE had a name also. Acid-kun (I believe). So Acid kun met a super cute glassed girl who was super kawaii and she was actually super important in that school because of her dimensions. But also she helped Acid-kun to be somewhat smart in one situation that wasn't that major, then she left. Part of the story was when we met a rabbit that jumped out from a bus, (out of nowhere) really. In the spur of the moment we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of an inconsequential discussion between two fundamental characters. A piece of the argument was where the Royal Degrees status led - that the testament from Church principles delegation issued possibilities regarding of an undercover agents representatives on “Great grandson of Count III Emperor” mislaid pacifier tube. In the meantime, Acid-kun hang out with his buddies then he walked into a sealed box. Also Acid-kun also famous for one thing and that's not the one thing I will mention, but he also can act pretty quick, like light fast reaction he has. Possess in his right eye or, (yes). So around in the middle of the third part of the begging of the ninth story end, then we found ourselves into a fight, which was completely one sided, but that didn't stopped Acid-kun to say the word he is most famous for, which is not All-range and still not orange either, but he made a hole into our souls so deep soo ..much (only 0.5km radius) ultra mega rabbit hole. It was extremely dangerous because it basically demolished everything (except the cute girls). A few days after this, our main... Wait! No! So Acid-kun was desperate to be an NPC character that he made so much effort to transform himself into a dead zombie, so he can participate in a fight competition and “secretly” win it. In the middle of the ocean there was a pinguin that has nothing to do with the story - Do you want this hamburger? So we were in this plane that has so many NPC’s on it like 200 hundred NPC’s (all flat) and Acid-kun hates to be the most noticable character. He just can't stand to be in the middle of the attention, he had to say the word he is most famous for, he had to, he had no choice left but to say it...I AM .. AN UGLY PIECE OF SHIT. As I mentioned, "Not worth the candle TLDR: Eminence in the shadow has done just about everything in such a disordered and utterly subpar extent, that it holds a class of its own. It represents the kind of creations that are genuinely don’t deserves just to get the 1/10 rating, as it would be too generous according to their credit. They are generally a huge ZERO, that you neither see its curves nor its shape, just the middle of the ZERO. This state is; - Unfathomably (Button-down-criminally-trash). I haven’t seen an anime that has came down as of presenting this topsy-turvy story, extraordinarily hideous dialogues beside its cringey framework in such a manner than this thing right here just carried, and still receive applause. As it perhaps, because it beyond and furthermore overextended the definition of (BAD), some gifted people can actually enjoy and visualise that zero next to the 1. - I don’t. My final score: -Z I recommend to pass this stupid sandwich. Thank you for reading!

Eminence in Shadow is a satirical tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of the isekai genre that’s a fun departure from the incessant stream of fantasy/isekai shows these days. I believe those that call Eminence “generic” or “edgy” have completely missed the point of the series. It’s supposed to be over the top and cringe in many situations. It’s quite literally poking fun at traditional isekai tropes and cliches and giving us a meta commentary on them. Cid’s ambition to be a background shadow broker and a mob character at school which ironically leads to him becoming a central figure in this world is the entire point of thestory. When you have that much power it is impossible to stay out of the spotlight completely. It is inevitable that someone as strong as he is becomes the main character in any story. In short, don’t overanalyse this story. I promise you’ll probably put more effort into it than the author did writing it. The adaptation itself is honestly one of the best I have ever seen. The Light Novels was one of my favourite ongoing series coming into the anime and I can’t be happier with the job Nexus did adapting it. It’s almost a 1:1 adaptation for the most part. Nexus did an awesome job of bringing the cheeky dialogue to the screen and keeping the tone of the series in tact. I found the direction to be really well done too. Scenes like episode 17’s piano scene even surpassed the source material which is truly the mark of a great adaptation. Comedy is subjective of course, but I find the style of meta isekai humour that Cid often employs to be very funny. His laissez-faire attitude mixed with the overly serious nature of everyone around him is just a hilarious contrast. Seeing him lead Shadow Garden without any type of cohesive plan or strategy while his followers anxiously await his every move never gets old. Due to the satirical nature of the series, the characters, at least of season 1’s ending, don’t get a lot of character development. Everyone’s kind of a personification of a trope. Whether it’s Alpha as the loyal second in command, Rose as the principled and iron willed knight, Alexia as the seemingly perfect, top of the class beauty, etc. They all are walking memes. Memes that I enjoy. As you can probably imagine, the most obvious comparison for Eminence is Overlord, but Eminence is not meant to be taken as seriously as Overlord so characterisation and plot is not as strong. The world building in Overlord is quite a bit better as well. Their biggest similarities will be how both Ainz and Cid just make things up as they go along and they end up looking like geniuses to their subordinates. If you go into this show with an open mind and let go of all preconceived notions about what it is, I think the vast majority of people will have an amazing time. If you come into this and try to over analyse everything, take things super seriously, etc. You probably will not have fun. I think this is one of the best isekai series ongoing right now and I highly encourage everyone to check out the light novel for what comes next. Eminence in Shadow gets 9 slime suits out of 10.