Some people just aren’t suited to playing the part of the flashy, in-your-face hero or the dastardly,
mustache-twirling villain with larger-than-life panache. Instead, they operate in the shadows and pull
the strings of society through wit and cleverness. That’s the role Cid wants to play when he’s
transported to another world. Cid spins a yarn or three and becomes the unlikely leader of the
underground Shadow Garden organization that fights against a menacing cult (which he totally made up).
However, there’s a catch even his wild imagination didn’t see coming: the cult he concocted actually
exists, and they’re beyond displeased that his power fantasy just got in the way of their evil
plans!
(Source: HIDIVE)
Aw, it’s another edgy isekai with an overpowered MC? Wait, there’s a guy in the show whose actual name is called Perv Asshat? Another guy called Imatry Nottaloos? Sign me up!!! Fundamentally, this show has quite a garbage formula, but did I enjoy it anyway? Yes. At the outset, it has most of the isekai tropes. Protagonist gets truck-kun’d, he’s really OP, has a harem of sorts, so what’s different about this one? The main character is a chuunibyou, whose wild ideas come to life in the new world. The cackling cult of baddies that he’s always thought of is actually in this world, and he constructs an organization called Shadow Garden to loom in the shadows, not to destroy bad guys or anything, but… actually, I have no idea what their goal is. If you are coming in expecting a well-told story, you won’t get that, at all. I won’t say the story was a huge mess, it definitely wasn’t the best part of the show. At its core, this is a self-aware “parody” of isekai, that is mostly a comedy. The show balances itself between some serious politics and stories, mixed with very dumb comedy, which works sometimes, and sometimes falls flat. One of the gripes I have with this show overall is its tonal inconsistencies, and while the tonal shifts work sometimes, it detracts from the serious undertones the show has as well. It delivers solid entertainment value at a consistent quality, but I can’t say I was ever really interested in the politics or even a bunch of the characters, because there were just too many of them. What did draw me in though, was the uniqueness of Cid’s character. He clearly does not care what happens in this world, it seems like he was just there to mess around and be the background character he always wanted to be. However, as much as he might not know it, his actions drastically impact the world around him, and while some of his chuunibyou ideas come to life, the world is still fluid, and you can see with the politics and the other plot lines, that he doesn’t control the world at all, and the world doesn’t revolve around him. The fact that he believes that doesn’t take anything seriously even in such a dangerous world made it fun to watch, at the very least. A guy who actively celebrates terrorists invading a school so his band of Shadow girls can save the day, a guy that celebrates getting defeated by others so he looks weak, a guy that practiced the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven just to look cool? Certainly, there’s no one like you, Cid. Though, I do wish some other characters got more development than they got, especially the girls in Shadow Garden. I wish there was a better balance in some of their screen time for sure. There were some other characters that piqued my interest as well, such as Iris and Alexia, who had some genuinely strong character moments, but the show didn’t really capitalize enough on those moments, which was a shame. The large cast definitely made it difficult to care deeply during the more serious moments. The production behind this was alright. It was pretty consistent all the way through with no real bumps along the way, which was good. It wasn’t a sakuga-laden series by any means, but it had its share of hype moments that got me engaged. The sound design was also decent, and the voice actors did a nice job, especially Cid’s voice actor. Overall, it was a decent ride that had too much of a rocky start for me to care deeply for the more serious parts in the second half. It was entertaining for sure, but the comedy mixed with serious plot just didn’t work all the time. When the show was on, they were really on. When it’s off, it can be a snoozefest. Not a series I would wholeheartedly recommend, but it was fine, and I still look forward to Season 2.
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, 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. ~~~img550(https://i.imgur.com/3Q2G2Io.png)~~~ 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. It's 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 it 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 reciprocating. 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. ~~~img550(https://i.imgur.com/SAKxTD0.png)~~~ 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. ~~~img550(https://i.imgur.com/XCHsQtU.jpeg)~~~ 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 likely to be 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.” ~~~webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/22f4275898dabe8f3ec4de0f3f66b3e5.mp4)~~~
Prologue In a distant place shrouded in darkness a lone figure sit across the table. None could identify who the person is or what their intension were but one thing was for certain, they were devoted. The mysterious being took a deep breath, looked around and after confirming their suspicions started writing. Chapter 1 He was but a man who like many before him had a dream. He wished to achieve an impossible feat and was willing to go through unspeakable lenghts to do that. He had an appearence of a normal person, a background character so to speak but this was precisely what he wanted to look like. His personality, however was a completly different case. His charisma and power brought him many allies and through sheer wisdom he shared knowledge to his followers that were put in good cause, or rather one that would suit the newly created organization needs. He treated the world like a joke and used it and other people as a mean to satisfiy his made up persona but to those around him this was a painfully serious situation. Each and every encounter had one or 2 more perspectives to look at and depending on lenses through which one were to witness such events, the reception would drastically shift. The world around him felt vast with plenty of characters to meet and encounters to face and it never seemed like there was an end to his performance and the ploy at large. Chapter 2 Animation is a concept unknown to the likes of such world but it was an important part in creating the best show. An aid of multiple people is required to best utilize their talents and time necessary to achieve it. The moves gracefully complementing one another with utmost precision enabling a powerful but simple solution. The faces of creations that are part of this process had a consistent quality and hardly faded into an amalgamation from unknown lands. The fights fulfiled their job and each one had a coherent build up to it that made for an exciting and thrilling experience, something that residents of this world may soon learn the existence of. Chapter 3 No matter the quality of resources and time required it would all be for naught had not it not be for the work and vision of a director overseeing the whole performance. Kazuya Nakanishi whose name may not resound yet in this realm but will no doubt start appearing more often sooner rather than later. From an absurdally huge amount of credits throughout each episodes to the impressive feats during more demanding ones, he brought the team together and through his eyes and effort managed to mix a serious nature of world around with a particularly distinctive trait of a certain leader figure flawlessly. The comedic timing, a concept not yet fully established within world has brought joy to many people. It is not an easy task to carefully nail the different atmosphere while not making it feel to jarring for audience. Chapter 4 No performance is complete with a music to be accompanied by. The resounding sounds of powerful instruments along the drops during pivotal moments have caused many to be immersed in the spectacle unfolding before their very eyes. From soothing voices playing in the backgrounds as Mob figure goofed around with his friends to a bombastic and religious sounding choir of followers during the showtime. The music plays an important role in conveying atmosphere and characters due to associations that it brings to viewers. Their name has been documented in multiple ancient records appearing often than not but neither can find the true nature of such individual, he is known as the composer Kenichirou Suehiro, the man behind such spectacle. Epilogue The following day there was no trace left of the figure that once stood in that room. Nothing that could possibly trace back the culprit has been found, what remained was a short book laying on the table. The man entered the room and put his hand on the creation, he sensed a strange but familiar feeling and spoke. "Another Eminence". The man had passion in his eyes and could not stop the maniacal laughter that followed after. He knew what must have been done and so he departed from the room. "My job here is done" spoke a voice responsible for writing the text and just like the recipient, they vanished into the air shrouded in darkness unknown what the future may hold. But they knew for certain that whatever it will be, they would document it all for that is a role they bestowed upon themselves.
__The Eminence in Shadow__ is a dark fantasy Isekai, action-comedy light novel by __ Aizawa Daisuke__. The first 2 volumes were adapted into a 20-episode anime series by Studio Nexus. I haven't watched any of their previous works, but the popular opinion is that this is their best anime. ~~~img280(https://s4.anilist.co/file/anilistcdn/media/manga/cover/large/bx108428-wTg20rSpvkU9.jpg) img280(https://s4.anilist.co/file/anilistcdn/media/anime/cover/large/bx130298-O7nR1Wrav2dH.jpg)~~~ The story at first seems like a generic Isekai, with an overpowered anti-villain MC and his equally overpowered harem organization, where they fight and hunt the evil cult that controls the world or whatever. So why is The Eminence in Shadow so enjoyable? I believe it all points toward the MC, __Cid Kagenou__. When you look at Cid, you’d think he is as bland as his Kirito clone design, but the genius lies in his characterization... to put it bluntly, he is an unbelievable psychopath. Cid is a character that suffers from a severe case of chūnibyō. His goal is to become “The Eminence in Shadow” aka some unstoppable Batman wizard that fights in the shadows and wears all black and shit. The very 1st episode shows his life before being Isekaid. The viewer sees his delusions firsthand and how severe they are, as he literally went around assaulting criminals as a discount high schooler Daredevil. His insanity is further elevated when you realize how he died, by bashing his head against a rock he screams about magic and then willingly throws himself in front of truck-kun. Upon being reincarnated he quickly becomes the strongest with supernatural dumb luck. The gods of Anime essentially said, “fine be an OP Isekai mf”. He creates the secret identity as __Shadow__, and tries his best to look cool and edgy while acting like a wimp in his real identity. He essentially roleplays in his new life. ~~~img650(https://media.tenor.com/f-kOySKf_usAAAAC/the-eminence-in-shadow-the-eminence-of-shadow.gif)~~~ While killing bandits and laughing like a maniac, he saves a bunch of girls and gifts them powers, they become his followers and form the organization __Shadow Garden__, with the goal of defeating an evil cult... That Cid made up. BUT it turns out to actually exist, by some weird dumb coincidence. Only Cid becomes oblivious to this fact, his followers end up expanding his organization, recruiting numerous new members, and creating multi-million-dollar businesses to support their master’s 6D chess plan, which he himself doesn’t even know exists. The humor is subjective as the anime’s main gimmick is Cid being unhinged and ironically acknowledging the tropes in anime and manga, while the side characters unironically acknowledge them. An example of how fucked Cid is, at one point he literally creates a nuclear explosion with his magic to flex on fodder, while in the process killing hundreds of people and destroying a good chunk of a city. Yes, just to flex. ~~~img650(https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20221107/1667845210.46528.77600.png) ~~~ One thing to note is that the anime doesn’t forcefully shove the humor in your face every minute, it still wishes to tell a semi-serious power fantasy story, but every so often it does make fun of itself to remind you what you're watching. I feel this approach allows the viewer to be sucked in and enjoy both the funny and serious moments in the anime. If you find this interesting, then I highly recommend this show. I had a blast watching it, I busted out laughing and embracing the epic moments as they were executed very well. The art & animation of the show is fairly good, it doesn't do much to distinguish itself from other shows. The anime’s pace is pretty solid, with a good amount of content. The voice acting is very good and the music is passable, with solid ending and opening songs. You should give it a chance. My major con would be that the 1st episode doesn’t really capture what the show is really about. Try to at least watch 3 episodes before deciding if you like it or not.
Not many shows make you wait in excitement every week for a new episode like The Eminence in Shadow does. img1220(https://cdn.realsport101.com/images/ncavvykf/epicstream/1f25566843a89aa04504c0cd0101a1776ada256b-666x374.png?rect=1,0,664,374&w=700&h=394&dpr=2) It starts a bit slow. From the first 3 episodes, it was beginning to look like just another generic fantasy isekai harem show. But a genius thing about The Eminence in Shadow is how it subverts the viewer's expectations on so many levels. Just when you start to think that all these greek letter named girls were going to be present in every episode onward, the show shifts focus to completely different characters and gets rid of them for most of the show. The star of the show is here, without a doubt, the main character - Cid. He gets isekaied on purpose because he figured he couldn't possibly become anywhere near as powerful as he wants to be in the real world. So he gets reborn and manages to get more powerful than an atomic bomb in just a few years since being reborn as a baby. How exactly he managed to obtain such ungodly power in such a short span of time is never really explained, but it doesn't need to be. Because the show never treats itself seriously, it's got similar vibes to One Punch Man. An insanely OP main character that is the most powerful being on earth and gained such power through means not important for the plot. What Cid does with this power, however, is vastly different from what Saitama does. Cid wants to be a powerful being in the shadows that influences everything that happens in the world with his huge army of girls called the Shadow Garden. Those girls are all indebted to Cid for saving them from their unfortunate circumstances. And he manages to convince them to join his completely imaginary cause while training them to become incredibly powerful as well. The funny thing is, while Cid did in fact imagine all of the things that he told them - all of it is somehow real and for a while, Cid believes everyone around him is just roleplaying. img1220(https://media.tenor.com/XlOd86of3mMAAAAd/cid-kageno-cid-kagenou.gif) And while he is wreaking havoc in his Shadow persona, his goal as Cid Kagenou is to be the most basic of NPCs that's also a huge loser and in no way should get involved in anything even remotely interesting. There's a particularly funny scene in which he participates in a tournament and gets slashed in 30 different ways that he practiced to look as worthless as possible. Naturally, he still gets involved with too many main characters in this form than he'd want to as it seems trouble always finds him. While this show's characters are almost 90% girls, Cid is never even phased by them and fan service is mostly limited to Shadow Garden girls which I both find commendable. It's also a part of the show's "subverting expectations" narrative. I won't get into the main plot too much as it's composed of many interesting arcs, but it's hard to put into words why they're interesting without knowing the context of the show. The same goes for all the characters, everyone has a role to play but nobody other than Cid is crucial to the plot. I will mention that I quite enjoyed the trio of Beta, Rose, and Alexia teaming up as it was a quite pleasant side plot. img1220(https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/hotlink/thumbnails/crop1200x630gFF/cms/news.5/189667/eminence_kv3.png.jpg) In conclusion, give this show a try. It's unapologetic entertainment at its finest while not being _just_ dumb fun. It's actually a very clever show that doesn't take itself too seriously while still delivering major levels of excitement and humor.
There are 2 types of people that watch and sometimes review isekai anime: The ones that want some action and fan service, and the other that watch it with the intention of seeking plot or something meaningful from the anime. The latter group is the reason why Sword Art Online is not rated 8+ yet. Isekais mainly target edgy teenagers because they seek for some thrilling action and horny fan service in their basement life but when those teenagers grow up and look back at their decision of giving Sword Art Online a 10/10 because in a movie Asuna's nipple was revealed in the bath, they will cringe so hard they'd probably want to get isekai'd themselves. However The Eminence In Shadow does not try to be what it is not, and that is cringe. (I'll refer to the anime as TEIS from now) TEIS embraces the cringe and most of the time uses it as a source of comedy. For example, the main character, Cid Kagenou is an edgy teenager that goes around beating criminals up in his past life when he was a teenager. When he got isekai'd and discovered the world of swords and magic, his dream of becoming a mysterious being that hides in the shadow, pulling strings from behind the scenes and to make everyone know him but not know who he is. Or in our words, a OP mc. But the reason why I say this anime is "an anime that does not satisfy any community" is because it does one thing most isekai main characters do not, stick to their original goal. Cid wants to be a background character when he is just a normal human, to the public at least. At day Cid is just a normal teenage boy and at night he is a mastermind called Shadow that does stuff in the shadows. And he sticks to that character throughout the anime. Why is this a bad thing? For example, most OP isekai main characters reveal their godly powers when there are a lot of people around / important people around, seeing everyone's jaw drop and eyes wide as the main character is using only a fraction of their power is the most satisfying thing ever. But Cid on the other hand, because he does not want anyone to know he is Shadow, naturally he won't use his true powers if he is in his normal form. As a result, when Cid gets into fights or is required to display his strength, he intentionally flops it and humiliates himself. Why does he do that? To make everyone think that he is weak, of course, so that no one can even have the thought that he is shadow. But if everyone has a functioning ear or a barely good eye sight, they will be able to recognise Shadow is Cid immediately. Continuing on with the anime, although human for Cid can't be regarded as a OP mc with all the hot chicks, there are some intense fight scenes with ear please sound effects. Everytime he says "atom" the comments section will go wild and everytime he humiliates himself the anime's viewer base will drop by 10%. But leaving aside that, the comedy is very funny. It uses parodying the isekai genre itself to show us how stupid some cool looking isekai shots may look like practically. For example, imagine a scene where the main character is playing a piano and the moon light is shining down on him and the piano while there are feathers falling from the sky. In the anime, because Cid wanted to look cool, he stole a grand piano and got some feathers by ripping them off from some pigeons and throwing them in the sky, when we see a girl who went to find the Cid, was playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the grand piano, under the shining moonlight and with feathers falling from the sky. Seeing how he achieved this scene destroys the idea of how cool this scene looks for me and I can't help but laugh. Overall, if you can watch this anime without anticipating when's the next fight scene or when is Cid going to make be regarded as a OP mc (in his normal form) then you probably shouldn't watch it because you're probably going to rage. If you want some cheap fan service then you'll get disappointed because there isn't a girl falling down every 5 minutes revealing her panties. And if you want some good comedy then watch this.
My first exposure to The Eminence in Shadow was my friend on Discord singing praises for the anime. He told me it was a parody show that took all these tired isekai cliches and turned them on their head, much like Overlord. And he was right; The Eminence in Shadow is much like Overlord in that they both use the illusion of satire to deliver the same regurgitated stories and character archetypes as the genre they claim to parody, played completely straight with only the slightest modicum of irony to keep the veil from dropping. At first glance, you wouldn’t even be able to tell this is a parody. I struggled to sit through 4 episodes, and dropped it when I realized it was exactly as I’d feared; mediocre isekai nonsense putting on the pretense of being something greater to sell merchandise of the cast of nondescript archetypal anime girls. Only months later, after copious debates with my Discord friends and after several drinks was I able to finish the proceeding 16 episodes, all the while baffled by what I thought at the time was the sheer incompetence of the directing and adaptation of mediocre genre fare. But upon looking into the manga and LNs, I can confidently proclaim that Eminence in Shadow (the anime) is one of the most subversive, avant-garde comedy anime of all time. It’s so dedicated to making every single joke, every mildly humorous moment from the original works so profoundly atrocious and lacking in impact that it circles back around and reaches its intention: being the world’s greatest anti-comedy. I’m going to get this out of the way quickly and say that, despite my earlier claim, the original manga and LNs (or whichever comes first) for this series aren’t masterpieces. The writing and dialogue are stiff and awkward, the story hinges on contrivance, half the cast is sorely lacking anything to distinguish one another, and there’s copious amounts of “ironic edge” that would make an r/nihilism user blush. But I’ll give it exemplary praise in that it’s actually genuinely funny at times, something so rare for the majority of media like this that I was caught off guard at first. Cid Kagenou is truly hilarious whenever he goes into one of his absurd Machiavellian rants in his head as he details his complex blueprints for putting on the front a boring, cringey man. He seems like the natural conclusion of Lelouch from Code Geass (or Light from Death Note if you’d prefer I cited an actually good character), taken to an illogical extreme. He’s the kinda guy who would nail himself to a cross to get stronger (he actually does this in one of the novels!). He truck’d himself for the specific purpose of being isekai’d. Scenes like where he asks a girl out in the most humiliating way possible are just so expertly compounded by him narrating every single action and decision in his head, such as calculating the perfect trajectory to bow down like a pathetic spastic. Here, every chuuni delusion is spelled out, making him look simultaneously awe-inspiring yet totally corny. He takes everything in stride; playing a pussywhipped slave is all part of his self-proclaimed master plan to rule the world in secrecy. Even when he’s surprised at how accurate his random guesses are, he just rolls with it. As much of a copout as it is, I think it’s a really great bit that keeps the story moving without getting too predictable. We even get to see inside the heads of other characters as they try to process the shitstorm of absurdity unfolding in front of them. Now try to imagine an adaptation that completely cuts out the vast majority of Cid and the rests’ monologues, shoots down the jokes in midair so they just fall flat, and throws the tone of the series into disarray, killing any and all nuance the source material had going for it. Even disregarding the lack of first-person mental POVs for the most part, the comedic timing and execution is awful. The anime can’t seem to decide how it wants to portray Cid, choosing to take him 100% seriously the vast majority of the time. This distortion of the manga’s comedic nature to justify going all-in on the embarrassing power fantasies seems almost purposeful, and I’m not cynical enough to consider it a case of full-on directorial incompetence, nor a case of misplaced hubris like MAPPA’s Chainsaw Man adaptation; despite this being his first true directing gig, Kazuya Nakanishi has a good 20 years of experience working mostly assistant director and animation director positions on a number of well-received titles. I’m not sure how likely it was that everyone involved with production completely misunderstood the nature of the series, so I’m guessing they decided to change it to appeal to more casual viewers. It’s like the inverse of the manga, where there was some self-awareness around how much of an admirable dweeb Cid actually was behind all the posturing; the exaggerated art hammered the point home and made it so the tone was never too self-serious. He’s supposed to be cool because his ridiculous larp always ends in success, not because his ridiculous larp looks cool in-universe. The anime just asks you to take everything at face value, or at least seems to because the way they handle comedy in the anime is frustrating. Everything in the anime is taken dead serious, failing to preserve the ever-present irony of the source material. It’s a dreary, obtuse mess where every scene plays out about as lifelessly as a bad Shakespeare adaptation; try to count the number of times there’s an expository scene that’s just shot reverse shot of characters talking with uninterested faces as nothing else happens for 3 to 4 minutes. Sometimes it happens multiple times per episode. Even worse, every time they try and go ahead with landing a punchline it derails the tone of the scene. Even a modicum of comedy feels out of place in an adaptation this dull. It’s like Fullmetal Alchemist 03 took SSRIs. But for all that show’s failings, it had competent directors, writers and production staff to turn it into something worthwhile, all of which Eminence in Shadow does not. Whoever was planning the anime out has no idea what makes the original material funny or engaging. Instead of embracing the inherent silliness, the anime only retains the worst of Eminence’s “humor”; repetitive gags that wouldn’t impress a middle schooler. You can almost spot the gaps in dialogue where they could’ve added canned laugh tracks after every joke. A character’s name being “Perverted Asshat” and it being thrown around ad nauseum is one of the least terrible examples might give you insight into how dire the material you’re dealing with can get. And that’s not even getting into the problems I have with the source material itself. Firstly, Cid’s character makes no sense when you look into his motivations; his goal is to become both a background character AND the man behind everything, yet every action he takes as a civilian is contradictory. He’s always interacting with the most important people around him, getting into fights he easily wins with his superior magical powers, and finding himself involved in every conspiracy. Most of the time he isn’t even pretending to be Shadow while doing all this. Am I missing something? It feels like the writer just wanted an excuse for Cid to dick around in at magic highschool and somehow couldn’t find enough of a reason to have him do his supervillain shtick while he was actually in-character. What’s the point in immediately render your main character’s goal meaningless? It’s not like they wanted to dedicate any time to developing other characters, because as many as there are, they’re shallow as a puddle. As much as Eminence can satirize edgy self-insert MCs, the series hardly has any faith in its characters and reduces them to boring, derivative models taken from every other low-effort power fantasy that came before it. Every female character has the same face. I can’t even remember half their names outside of Delta, who looks like Blake from RWBY, which is somehow a more watchable show than this. At least I can name most of RWBY’s cast and describe their personalities. Seriously every new female character in Eminence feels like they were produced in a factory that makes anime girls who are so hard-tailored to be appealing to lonely, bitter people like me it actually feels patronizing. The worst part is that they all look so similar that they blend together after the first 5 episodes. I started getting confused as to who was talking to who in some scenes because even their voices have very little differentiation. I don’t have any problem with conventional characters insofar as they possess interesting attributes; I couldn’t even begin to describe what makes any of these copy-paste bitches so special. That won’t stop people from spending thousands a month trying to summon them in all their fanservice uniforms on the shitty Eminence gacha game Crunchyroll was promoting (even though they don’t own the streaming rights to the anime???). The other side characters are equally dismal. If you skipped all the scenes of Cid’s classmates at the dumb Light Novel magic school talking about inane plot developments or fucking about you’d be skipping more filler than the average Shippuden arc. I know most of these season isekai shows spend an exorbitant amount of screentime on side characters jabbering on about dumb bullshit but it feels particularly egregious here, in a show where none of them serve any purpose aside from that. I’d be really impressed if you could find somebody who genuinely cares about these losers. Eminence isn’t all contrivances and pretensions. As boring as the direction is in conversational scenes, it’s got enough flashy fight sakuga to distance itself from the dozens of far worse isekai that came out around the sam. Episodes 5 and 20 are the standout, where the direction and animation quality actually take a massive step up for a few minutes during said episodes’ central fights (I AM ATOMIC is way too cool a moment for this series). Kenichiro Suehiro (the RE:Zero guy)’s soundtrack is the hypest shit you’ll ever hear. As much as I want to scrutinize every aspect of this series out of spite, there’s some genuine passion put into it. I can be a sore loser and say “I wish Hoshi no Samidare got that same treatment!” but that wouldn’t solve anything. As a whole The Eminence in Shadow is just so sincerely unimpressive that it makes me wonder what anyone sees in it; of course I already know what they see in it, cool fights, self-insert protagonists and women who show affection, but it makes me wonder why nobody wants anything else. The isekai/”literally me!” genre dissolved into a homogenous mess of repetition somewhere around 2016 or 2017 and the anime community hardly seems to care. But the amount of fans acting like Eminence is really that much of a breath of fresh air just goes to show that deep down, people are growing weary of the formula and any surface-level deviation from the norm is cause for consideration. I can see it. I understand. It’s still bad, but I’d be lying if I said it’s less more inviting than “I Got Reincarnated as Chad and Girls Pay Attention to Me Now” or Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 9 out of 20.
~~~~~~¡Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! Por más que un hombre entrene su cuerpo y su mente no podrá resistir el ataque de una bomba atómica, por ende debo trascender en algo superior, debo ser atómico. Resumen: Evidentemente es un ISEKAI en todo sentido, sin embargo no sé si sea porque hace mucho no miraba un ISEKAI que me atrapara o porque realmente este es muy bueno, pero me encanto, las dos historias paralelas que se llevan una centrada en el protagonista y otra centrada en la organización del jardín de las sombras es muy interesante te atrapa, la forma en como dosifican lo que capitulo tras capitulo vamos aprendiendo de la historia es magistral en cada capítulo logran crear asombro y ansias de más, en resumen un excelente ISEKAI. Historia: 10/10 El hecho de sentir que hay varias historias que se desarrollan de manera paralela y de una forma magistral, el hecho de cómo se dosifica la información de la misma creando asombro y ansias de saber más es definitivamente asombroso, esta serie te atrapa y es de esas que si eres como yo que solo vez temporadas completas, no puedes parar hasta terminar de verla, la trama de la historia aunque en su base no es nueva si tiene una estructura poco usual y por ende enriquecedora, el hecho de ver un personaje que maneja el balance entre dos extremos, el personaje principal y un personaje secundario, crea una montaña rusa de emociones y como las montañas rusas se vuelve muy divertido. Características de los personajes: 10/10 Los personajes todos son muy pero muy bien diseñados y la cantidad de información que se va conociendo de los mismos poco a poco a medida que avanza la historia logra llenarnos de expectativas y conjeturas respecto a ellos, el personaje principal claro esta es uno que hasta ahora no lo puedo asociar con ningún otro, me parece un personaje muy atípico el cual te atrapa completamente sus decisiones infieren tanto en la historia que no se sabe si es un héroe o un demonio, en fin de los mejores personaje que he visto, tanto el personaje principal como los secundarios dejan permiten crear empatía e identificación con muchos de ellos, el nivel de detalle en la descripción de sus historias y de como procesan sus sentimientos te permite identificarte con ellos de una manera muy fácil por ende le coges cariño a sus personajes. Animación y arte: 10/10 Excelente e innovador las escena de batalla fueron muy buenas y diferentes no sé si sea un nuevo estándar que se esté usando pero lo que hicieron quedó muy bien hecho, el como se resaltaban en las batallas los efectos de la magia, de la velocidad, de las heridas, los cambios de tonos para marcar un cambio inportante en la batallas, es algo muy gratificante y emocionante de ver. Disfrute: 10/10 Como lo indique no pude parar de verla es exquisito de ver. En general: 10/10 La verdad es el mejor anime que he visto este año hasta ahora. Si estas buscando un buen ISEAKI esta es una excelente opción, espero con ansias la segunda temporada, es tan buena que dan ganas de leer la novela ligera Gracias por leer.
#__General Thoughts__ This show never tries to be something in-depth or incredibly engaging with deep storylines and plot, all the while being serious beyond all measure at every twist and turn. No, this Isekai makes fun of itself and its genre just as much as it delivers entertaining episodes, wonderful fight scenes, and the classical over-the-top power fantasy the genre has become known for. We get to see a whole episode of his pre-isekai life, which is much more than usual, and something at least I appreciated. The real draw in this Anime is the main character and the humor that stems from him and his surroundings, as well as his casual insane power level we get to look forward to seeing at certain points in this first season. While the entire cast of characters might take all of the things that happen in the story very seriously, our lovely isekai protagonist Cid treats it more like roleplay and fanfic than anything else. He has no idea that what he started turned into something very real and powerful in this new world he finds himself in, but that is where a lot of the humor in this show comes from anyway, so it is just as well that he doesn't. #__ Plot__ Now the story is something many of you might find as one of the more entertaining parts of this Isekai anime, but for me, I am not that invested in it. It has a plot, and it is moving along, and I do find it intriguing to a degree, but it is far from the main thing that pulls me into this show. For me, the plot serves as more of an interesting background foil to move the narrative forward so that we can enjoy more hilarity and over-the-top power-fantasy action time and again. #__Characters__ While I adore Cid and his quest for mundanity, there is also a good set of supporting characters that build the show into an even more entertaining piece of media. The other members of Shadow Garden, The princesses, and the dorky friends are all, at least to an extent, entertaining and add to the show rather than subtracting from it. The bread and butter is Cid though. his antics, his want and need to be the perfect mob character, his desire to roleplay his increasingly real fantasy; it is all just *chef's kiss* in my mind. #__Comedy__ The thing that kept me engaged and waiting for a new episode of this show week by week was the humor and general comedy the show put at the forefront many a time. It makes fun of itself just as much as it makes fun of the entire genre it is wilfully a part of. And it taking itself as lightly as it does simply adds to the enjoyment, in my opinion. That it casually and seriously just makes Cid go into a tournament arc in disguise as "Mundane Man" is the perfect example of how 'seriously' this show loves to treat itself time and again. That it mixes these comedic moments with proper power-fantasy sections makes it even more worthwhile and entertaining. The mix of the two is what kept me very engaged and thrilled to watch the show week after week. #__Music__ The music in the anime was also surprisingly good. I did not expect it to bring out some classical pieces or use them in any meaningful way, but gosh darn, it did. The overall sound design was also above average in my mind and added to the experience rather than subtracting from it. #__Summary__ I loved how this show made the very tired and overused isekai genre into something that once again felt somewhat refreshing and new. It happily meta-games the genre and laughs with the audience as it goes from one part of the story to the next. It allows for plenty of comedic moments, as well as lewd moments, but never forces it down your throat or overstays its welcome. On top of this, it manages to be a very entertaining power-fantasy anime all on its own, even without any of the priorly mentioned elements. The fact that it never takes itself too seriously, and lets that shine through via our main character Cid and how he operates, makes the entire show much more drawing and entertaining as a whole. Especially when Cid joins the 'roleplaying' and gets to live out his fantasy as the Eminence In Shadow. I ended up quite enjoying this first season, much more than I expected. I am therefore going to give it a high score, as well as recommend anyone even slightly interested in the genre go take a look at it as I think you will enjoy it greatly. I also picked up the books as I could not wait for the second season to see how things develop further. I can only hope the coming second season entertains me as much as this one did.
Have you ever heard of Poe’s Law? Here’s a little definition if you haven’t, Poe’s Law is that without a clear indication of the author’s intent the parody of something extreme can be mistaken for the real thing and if a real thing sounds extreme enough it can be mistaken for a parody. Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute falls exactly into this, if I wasn’t told like a dozen times by multiple people in social media groups that talk only about Light Novels and other places then I would fail to know that this thing is supposed to be a parody, after all, it plays every single cliché on it so completely straight that I don’t know what is supposed to be the parody in here. This anime is claimed to be some sort of parody and even more bafflingly a deconstruction of isekai that makes fun of all OP MC tropes, but the idea of a parody is to take certain aspects of a work and imitate it in an exaggerated or comedic fashion, the thing with this anime is that it takes itself extremely seriously, from the liters of blood being spilled every time a battle happens to the multiple episodes where there isn’t a single joke in them, and the tropes presented across the anime are, as I said before, played completely straight. It’s no different than watching every other isekai that comes out every season because it looks and feels exactly like them. And I don’t get where the idea of it being a deconstruction is from, this anime has every single trope used in isekai out there, with no change in the normal execution unlike what an actual deconstruction would do. But what’s worse when it actually tries to make a token effort to be irony poisoned by pointing out almost every time an isekai trope is being used and played straight, but let me tell you something, just because you are saying that a certain trope is happening doesn’t stop it from being the same thing as always. So this anime is just the same isekai you see every other season, just knowing that it is using the same tropes as every other isekai, but without doing anything clever with that knowledge, since it won’t go out of its way to not play it straight. If you want to see a series that is actually a parody and a deconstruction of the isekai genre at the same time, then go and watch Konosuba, even if I’m sure a lot of people who are here already watched that one, yet even a rewatch of that anime is more worth your time than watching this one. The humor is bad, like so bad that I can’t believe they are supposed to be jokes, and even when they are executed well enough, the sheer repetitiveness of them will wear them off extremely quickly. One of the worst offenders of this was in episode 7, do you remember that scene in the fence tournament where Cid “fights” against Rose? Well, that scene has this joke that when Rose attacks Cid, he is thrown in the most ridiculous ways he can, to me that scene wasn’t particularly funny, but wasn’t bad enough, the bad part came after that, the joke was repeated again and again and again and again to the point that it was just a pain to watch. I don’t think that even if you laughed at it the first time you would have enjoyed it by about the 5th time it got repeated in the very same scene. Besides this is also weird with Cid’s character, he doesn’t want to stand out and to be a mob character, but then he goes and stands out again and again making this big clown show that obviously makes him stand out no matter if it is as the idiot that got beaten like a pulp. This is even more jarring to me because I later checked the manga, and while I still have a lot of issues with it, its tone and presentation was a lot better than here in the anime, making me wonder why the hell is the anime trying to be so serious when the source material embraced being absurd, as this adaptation is honestly so somber the times they do attempt a joke, it just sticks out like a sore thumb. Shadow Garden are a bunch of non-characters, it’s like they don’t exist, they aren’t people, they are plot devices that help Cid do whatever, from gathering information from who knows where to being stupidly strong for the sake of being strong. Like I cannot even remember who most of them are, I can remember Alpha since she had screen time alone and we learned some stuff about her, then like 10 episodes later I could recognize who was Beta since she got an actual character across those episodes, even if ironically Alpha lost her time in the limelight at the same time. But my problem with these girls is not remembering their names, Greek letters aren’t something difficult to remember and I’m guessing that’s why the author didn’t bother to give them actual names, it’s these girls are complete non-characters, sometimes when they appear again I wouldn’t know who they are if they weren’t wearing those outfits everyone in Shadow Garden wear, after all, they aren’t characters I can recognize because they aren’t written to be recognizable, I couldn’t even tell which hair color each of them has or a single personality trait, there’s nothing memorable at all about them because they are never used as anything but a plot device galore. An anime with a better execution at making an organization with only-girls for who knows what reason (actually, the reason is pretty clear, just look at the ending song video) and that turns out they are very strong too is, and I can’t believe I’m saying this given how the writing in that series is, Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha. That series was written by the clown known as Tsukiyo Rui, the same man behind Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi, and it had the process to recruit them all, seeing their training and gave them an actual character even if it just a generic waifu characterization that you would find in other isekais. What happened with Shadow Garden? Well, they just started to exist in episode 2, it was only Alpha and then suddenly there was a bunch of girls that came out from who knows where, they seem able to do literally anything, they one-shot the enemies they face and are able to investigate every single minimal thing they are asked to. I can understand Alpha being strong since it was explained she is descendant from a hero, but the others? They are strong because of the slime suits that they somehow are super mega experts at using even if it this is said to be a super advanced thing just about no one else can do. If Tsukiyo Rui of all people managed to write the same thing as you but in a more competent fashion, then you are definitely doing something wrong. The opening isn’t special, actually, the vocals seem like they were sung when the singer didn’t want to get heard by other people so he recorded it in the background of a room, and the video is simply weird, specially because it isn’t about anything in the series, as it mainly features the girls of Shadow Garden in modern Japan. I had to ask what the opening had to do with the series in some LN group and I was told by people who read the novel that even they didn’t know, the opening is actually very random aside from the parts where Cid is featured. The ending song is nicer and it is sung by a different member of Shadow Garden while featuring a pic of the girl in question, the pic is fanservicey, nothing wrong with that, but when I see the video I have to ask to myself “who is this girl again?”. The animation is fine, it knows how to make the flashy light look good even if fight scenes are lame because the MC is super OP and can’t be defeated or even get to put any effort in the battle. I was wondering if the series would ever address again what happened in episode 1 as that one actually had an interesting set up and a girl with an actual character alongside Cid, sadly the anime just decided to ignore everything that happened there, which was the thing that finally made me drop the series to a 1 rating, because the only interesting part of the series wasn’t addressed at all, and even now I think that Nishino is more memorable than every single member of Shadow Garden combined. PD: The best joke in the series is that the first 3 episodes are so haphazardly put together, you can start the series with any of them, and all are equally able to serve as an episode 1. Thank you for reading.
~~~img220(https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2023/03/27/550x309/the_eminence_in_shadow_cid_1679901817266_1679901846465_1679901846465.jpg)~~~~~~~~~ __The Eminence in Shadow__ eh, might be the coolest anime title yet. First things first let’s give credit to the author __Daisuke Aizawa__; this anime is an adaptation of the light novel The Eminence in Shadow. Currently 20 episodes for the 1st season, __Studio Nexas__ brings you this action, comedy, fantasy anime which is hilariously exciting and knows how to keep viewers' attention. ~~~__Story__~~~ Within the first episode it gets dark fast, we see our mc Cid/Shadow as a normal human being saving a girl from trouble (pretty cool right). I mean the guy literally goes to Batman to Joker within the first episode because later we see him bashing his head with a rock wishing to get some kind of secret power to throwing himself into a truck. Luckily, he’s reborn with the powers he’s always wished for from there he creates his alter ego Shadow (think of Peter Parker/Spider man). From there he goes from saving girls and creating his own team Shadow Garden (also a cool ass name), but from there he tells the girls that he’s fighting an evil cult which is a total lie that turns out to be true so the girls who all become basically super spies start to recruit and make a multimillion organization and get this Cid doesn’t even know about it. ~~~__Characters __~~~ ~~~img220(https://media.thenerdstash.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/The-Eminence-In-Shadow-Season-2-Release.jpg.webp)~~~ There are a number of characters but only one matter really Cid. He currently has multiple love interests which he doesn’t care for. I mean you would think it’s a harem series, but he can honestly care less about love. Now regarding the shadow garden there are also several cool badass girls within the anime but again you rarely see them not to mention remembering their name (outside of Alpha). With Cid we see him juggling with how to look like a complete side character and at night becoming this bad ass dark dr.strange guy. I mean let’s be honest he made an atomic bomb for absolutely no reason, yes he destroyed the city and killed some people and the worst part about it he wasn’t even fighting anyone with magic that is on his level. He’s a damn psychopath with power and I love it lol. ~~~__Animation & Music__~~~ ~~~img220(https://randomc.net/image/Kage%20no%20Jitsuryokusha%20ni%20Naritakute/Shadow%20Garden%20-%2013%20-%2022.jpg)~~~ Besides Cid looks completely like the Kirito mold which half of anime main characters do look like. I would have to say I do love the character design for the majority of the characters. I love how shadow garden wears nothing but black (my favorite color). Nothing within the anime jumps out at you and says wow that is stunning but it’s not bad. Music, wise I give it a thumbs up the opening was very good. I also loved the ending scene as well. Even with the music within the scenes of him charging up to do some ultimate move I felt it, so I initially enjoyed the music within this anime. ~~~__Conclusion__~~~ So, if you are looking for some deep story line to get into, I don’t think this is the anime for you. However, if you are looking for action with some laughter, I would definitely recommend watching this. Also, something to think about, is Shadow the most OP character in anime? I recommend this anime with a - __"You should watch" __ _For those who don’t know scores of 80+ get a “you should watch recommendation"_ Oh, also it’s been announced that season 2 will drop this October... LETS GOOOOOO!!!!
__Intro__ Eminence in Shadow is a shining example of an adaptation done well. It's difficult to convey exactly how the show breaks away from a typical show, but it truly is built different. It doesn't dwell on typical time wasting scenes. They only kept the entertaining and necessary scenes. That said, it's incredibly hard to stop watching. I'm not much for rewatching shows, but this one will undoubtedly get a rewatch, and a manga re-read every once in a while. __Production Quality Notes / Pacing__ The only thing that let me down was my own expectations. In retrospect, the producers and directors were smart and kept downtime of Shadow building his harem to only show when relevant to the character at hand. Eminence gets moving, hitting a high point by the third episode and setting the pace for the rest of the show. It's consistently fast, characters don't dawdle, and if you miss something the first time you're going to need a rewatch to catch what it refers to later in the series. Casting is spot on, at least on the JP side. Alexia's VA (Kana Hanazawa) hits the nail on the head for conveying dripping distain for Cid, nobody else could have done any better. Iris' VA (Youko Hikasa) has a great final episode performance. Every speaking role is incredibly natural, nobody feels out of place. Compared to the Manga, we get huge expansions of certain chapters. Sanctuary chapters get episodes with much better pacing and good animation and environments. There are SO MANY little things going on in the backgrounds during slower sections. There's so much setup (not quite foreshadowing) that is far easier to miss in the Manga. I appreciate every landscape shot of the Capitol City of Midgar after episode 7. The OP and ED songs are enjoyable, but they're nothing exceptional in my book. Different performances for the ED depending on the most active Shadow Garden member were great, though. __Characters__ Our main character (Cid/Shadow) isn't self insert. He's got his bucket list, and he's NOT playing "The Hero". He's not interested in his thirsty harem. He's here to not be discovered, but kick ass and be as edgy as possible. Reminds me of an edgelord teen. Which is perfect, because he's cranking that dial to 11. Talk about committed, we really have to give the guy props for going hard. The "normal" characters are where character development shines. Alexia and Rose get good development time with Cid. While forgettable, Sherry (pink haired artifact researcher girl) also gets her own episodes, and we get hints she's going to come back strong. I do applaud the girls on having strong motivations. Sherry is introverted and too cautious to feed romance, Alexia is straight up disdainful, manipulative, and abrasive. Rose is driven by ideals, and (by way of misunderstanding) clings onto Cid because of his tenaciousness and assumed principles. Iris shows her resolve and fighting spirit as a fiery young spellsword. They're the true main heroes of the show, and I enjoy how we see these characters grow. Shadow Garden members are shallow character in character development realm, but are fun with vastly different personalities. The show accepts that and thankfully uses them mostly for humor. They bring competition the organization itself, pushing development of Shadow's stolen ideas to show off, without being ugly malicious to each other, just hypercompetitive. It's hilarious, especially since it seems like it was used to fill episodes to runtime, rather than pad episodes. __Conclusion__ The 20 episode count was PERFECT in wrapping it all together, with a fantastic capstone episode. Hopefully we'll get a consistently as strong 2nd season. Eminence in the Shadow's Anime adaption improves over the Manga by leaps, and adds a great amount of humor. The characters and voice performances are spot on. There's some great new content, Episode 12's starting scene is one of the funniest. Overall the characters come together to give us a great, entertaining show. After a rewatch, I have to bump my rating upwards. I thought I couldn't let it break the 9 barrier, but the adaptation is just too good. 9.1/10
Acho que devo começar essa review dizendo que não li a novel, tenho noção de que talvez seja muito melhor em qualidade e já ouvi muitas coisas boas de dois amigos que a leram, __SPOILERS DO EPISÓDIO 1 A SEGUIR:__ Como um isekai a história começa no mundo real, porém de forma extremamente "animesca", nosso protagonista é um badass que toda noite luta contra membros de gangue e até consegue derrotar um soldado experiente com facilidade, esse arquétipo de personagem não é nada interessante se você tem mais de 15 anos de idade, pois daqui pra frente você já sabe que o ritmo do anime será decidido pelos defeitos ou pela falta deles no protagonista, e é exatamente isso que acontece. img440(https://i.imgur.com/HwlkIDP.png) __Personagens__ Falando no protagonista, acho que deveria comentar um pouco mais sobre ele, nós sabemos seus objetivos, suas motivações, porém tirando isso ele só mais um kirito da vida ~~e vocês sabem muito bem oque eu quero dizer com isso~~, personagem bem apático e eventualmente sarcástico, um tipo de casca perfeita para que o visualizador se projete nele, você não verá emoções genuínas vindo do protagonista a não ser incomodo constante ou jubilação enquanto estiver interpretando sua outra persona (Shadow). Seguindo o protagonista você verá um harém de mulheres bonitas, ~~esse número irá se inflar tanto até o final do anime que começam a dar números invés de nomes pra elas~~, nenhuma dessas personagens possui um pingo de desenvolvimento, e muitas delas você não vai ter nem noção de como vieram parar no grupo, pior ainda, cenas dedicadas a elas possuem como foco discussões sobre o protagonista ou qual delas possui os maiores seios. Existem alguns personagens que se salvam, mas esses da pra contar nos dedos. __História e Mundo__ Nos primeiros episódios do anime o protagonista adquire poderes que já o tornam superior a todos os personagens que você irá encontrar, além dos conflitos da trupe do protagonista com o culto dos diablos, que supostamente são os antagonistas do anime mas são incapazes de fazer qualquer coisa, esse é um bom jeito de fazer sua obra chata, crie vilões incompetentes, não que eu culpe eles por isso. Acima eu resumi basicamente a primeira parte do anime, removendo algumas questões de relacionamentos entre os personagens, foi como assistir tinta secar, pior ainda, o anime se propõe a desconstruir o gênero do isekai, porém não sabe oque fazer para subverter o mesmo, você terá cenas onde o protagonista descreve o tipo de personagem que está vendo, e terá vilões extremamente genéricos e fracos, como o lendário: ~!Perv Asshat!~ Os antagonistas também não possuem motivações realistas, são só parasitas que buscam a manutenção do próprio poder. Sobre o mundo, não é bem desenvolvido ~~que surpresa~~, você receberá mais de 5 minutos de um personagem explicando toda a história de um local logo antes de você ir a ele, oque não é o método ideal de receber esse tipo de informação, pessoalmente eu também possuo alguns problemas com a direção visual do anime, pelo que compreendi o anime tenta retratar um mundo vitoriano, porém muitas coisas presentes são high tech demais ou muito homologas ao mundo contemporâneo, oque acaba deixando o anime mais genérico, eu estou ciente que muitas coisas atuais no mundo do anime são implementações da trupe do shadow, mas isso parece muitas vezes só uma desculpa para ter só mais uma cena genérica no anime ao invés de estudarem e criarem locais e culturas próprias. __Por Que Assistir?__ Algumas cenas são até que engraçadas, me peguei rindo diversas vezes na segunda metade do anime, alguns esquemas são interessantes de assistir desdobrando, e talvez você até se interesse por alguns personagens e quais serão os arcos deles, apesar de eu não ter muita fé em algo mais complexo, enfim, não é a pior coisa do mundo, mas não conseguiu fazer oque foi proposto de uma forma boa, caso decida ver esse anime, tente não levar muito a sério ~~como eu acabei de fazer aqui~~. Essa é minha primeira review no site, desculpa pela potencial bagunça que tenha ficado, existem muitas coisas que eu poderia adicionar, mas acabaria tendo que reescrever tudo de novo.
Let's talk about The Eminence in Shadow. This anime immediately inspired me for all those mini spoilers seen on tiktok as the protagonist has a very op aura XD. Seriously: the protagonist builds a secret organization around himself with not too much character development but always manages to involve all members in his missions. the plot is always quite coherent and involves the viewer wondering: what will Cid do now and how will the organization save the situation by acting in secret so as not to be discovered? The villians are very basic but effective in their tasks and always manage to hinder the protagonist in a very nice way. The first season was very good for introducing an anime that promises well for future seasons (although I have already watched the second season while writing this review) The anime overall always manages to amaze in the key moments with twists that they honor the excellent presence of the protagonist, very energetic, intelligent and confident, ready to face any obstacle for his Shadow Garden. The anime has great world building, nice animations and an overly strong protagonist character who always manages to find a way to defeat his enemy. The story also has a flaw in my opinion, sometimes there are plot holes that don't make you understand certain events too well, so sometimes you need to have the ability to understand certain things that happen. The supporting characters are quite well characterized (especially the female cast is enriched with a bit of fanservice which I appreciated as it also manages to add comedy to the anime). I really liked Rose and Alexia as characters, as well as the girls from the Shadow Garden. One thing I really appreciated is the sound and visual production: some of Cid's moves have crazy sound and visual effects that make you shiver. By fusing good animation with incredibly realistic sounds, incredible scenes emerge where Cid defeats enemies that make the anime even more compellingl, Almost leaving you breathless and they manage to convey to you the power of the attack that he launches, this is precisely the ability of this anime that I appreciated img600(https://files.catbox.moe/4fel4e.png) This anime is highly recommended if you like the isekai genre and have enjoyed other titles such as: Mushoku Tensei, Slime and Re Zero and if you are looking for a very strong protagonist who is reincarnated in a new world. He always manages to satisfy his desires without too many problems and this also enriches the anime with a more comical part, together with Cid's friends and also with his way of behaving with Princess Alexia at the beginning. Thanks for reading the review, I hope I was helpful, follow me if you like!