The second season of Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!
Everything has been going according to plan, but the hour of awakening draws near. Cid Kagenou and
Shadow Garden investigate the Lawless City, a cesspool where the red moon hangs low in the sky and
three powerful monarchs rule the streets. The true draw for Cid, however, is one who can draw
blood–the Blood Queen, a vampire who has slumbered in her coffin for eons. Her awakening approaches,
and Cid could finally face a day of reckoning.
(Source: HIDIVE, edited)
Note: A world premiere screening of Episode 1 was shown in the The Eminence in Shadow 2nd Season
panel at Anime Expo on July 1, 2023.
The last time I complained about this series I said that if this was a parody, it was a terrible one, but after analyzing it and talking to other people I have to come to a simple conclusion, Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! is not a parody, the novel is an actual work that uses isekai tropes in a completely unhinged way, the only reason why you hear the series is a parody is because people read the manga version, which is almost like a parody of the series and get to the conclusion that this series is a parody when it isn’t. Now, does the series not being a parody suddenly makes it better? The answer is still a no, a bad isekai where the world bends over in favor of the MC for him to be the best ever to have ever existed is not a good series by any means. There’s not much to say for this season that I didn’t say for previous one, I mean, did the series actually change at all? No, the jokes are still repetitive to the point that, even if you were to find one joke funny, it would be so overused that it would make you roll your eyes after the 10th time it’s used. Let’s take for an example the first couple of episodes, where half of Cid’s lines were repeating the same phrase over and over and over again, and apparently that’s what makes a joke in this series. This season there was even an entire arc built on fake drama, I can’t even think why someone thought this was a good idea, it was as smart as someone asking “if there’s poverty, why don’t they print more bills?”, which is almost the basis of the entire arc. Oh, and that arc is followed by an original episode obviously for the sole purpose of promoting the gacha game, so instead of actually doing something with Shadow Garden, they just thrown them in swimsuits, because actually creating a character out of these pieces of cardboard with boobs would be too much work. The battles of course are still as uninteresting as ever, because as the first arc showed, the MC is so strong that even one of the monarchs of the Lawless City, who was strong enough to actually fight against Shadow Garden, was still easily defeated by him. How is he so strong? Because he is the protagonist of an isekai series where the world bends over in favor of the MC to get maximum power fantasy points for those self-inserting as him. Actually, that is the entire joke of the series, that whatever delusion the MC has is actually true, and this problem goes all the way back to season 1. And don’t worry about animation, it looks about the same as it did in season one, which is mediocre but nothing too bad. How this shit is popular or considered good at all is something I will never comprehend, I always compared it to Overlord as it has pretty much all the same issues that one has, and while I guess that is good for some people, for me it means that the series belongs in a trash bin. Thank you for reading.
Eminence in Shadow is not some comedic genius or deep satirical parody about the state of generic slop isekai. In fact, I feel like that couldn't be further from the truth. Eminence in Shadow is in fact, generic slop isekai at its purest. It takes every single annoying trope and plot point in the isekai light novel scene and turns them up to 11. Whether it's fanservice, power fantasy, an orbiting harem, edginess or ridiculous drama, Eminence in Shadow has it all and _thats why it's so good._ No, I'm being genuine here. Eminence in Shadow would not even be remotely as good without all the bullshit. And that is because it constantly turns those tropes around on their head with its absolute _goofiness._ Its not some grand philosophical satire on escapism and male power fantasy in isekai. What it is instead is an anime about a delusional 16 year old teenager who thinks he's Lelouch vi Brittania. Cid Kagenou is the "I'm literally him" kind of guy exemplified, and what's better? He's got all the power in the world to live out his delusions. Much of the anime doesn't focus on him. And that's good! Having him constantly in your face all the time would get pretty boring and unfunny real fast. It focuses instead on a generic-but-pretty interesting fantasy storyline, about a hidden cult that controls most of the world behind the scenes; as well as the politics involved between them and the rest of society and such. But then comes Cid Kagenou, the greatest shitposter this world has ever seen. _And he starts killing people like a psychopath._ He puts a fucking paper bag on his head, calls himself the "Stylish Bandit Slayer", and immediately starts killing bandits pretending he's Batman or something. And this kind of ridiculousness is omnipresent in the series, because that's literally what Cid Kagenou is. He's not an edgelord like that guy from Arifureta and he's not a Subaru. He's not Ainz or Kazuma either. He's xXxFallenAngelOfRebellionxXx (yes he calls himself that), the Shadow who hides in the shadow to hunt the shadows (?????), Atomic (true), and the kind of guy who'd post a sigma male edit of Ryan Gosling on TikTok unironically. His entire character is just _trying to act cool and mysterious and being "literally him"._ That's what his motivation is, that's what his character is, and that's what drives most of the story - Cid fucking up shit with his isekai protagonist powers while trying to act cool, thinking he's just messing around and having fun, while his deranged psychopathy singlehandedly drives forward the industrial revolution in this fantasy world and lead to all sorts of hidden powers and monsters and stuff being awakened from their deep slumber; only to get nuked a minute later by Cid of course. You don't go into Eminence expecting a good storyline, or a satire. You go into Eminence to laugh your ass off at Cid being the dumbest motherfucker to ever exist (honorable mention to his besties Po and Tato (yes that's their names)) and to get kinda hyped at the over-the-top edgy but still insanely raw "I AM ATOMIC" scenes. You go into it to switch off your brain for 24 minutes and just have _fun_. Because that's what Eminence ultimately is, _fun._ It's not some Orwell or Shakespeare. It is ultimately a 4chan greentext but in animated form, and that's why it works. Seriously, do yourself a favour and just watch it. Watch it twice a week, or once a week; comedy series like these arent really built for binge watching IMHO. But please do it. There is not a single better way to unwind and destress after a long day or week than watching Eminence in Shadow being the absolute goofiest isekai can be. And not a minute of it will be tedious to get through. TL;DR: He's literally me
**Note that this review is coming from someone who read all the light novels, meaning that my perspective is influence by my conception of the show as an adaptation rather than as a stand alone anime.** The Eminence in Shadow, to me, is a great story about a brain-damaged (he canonically used to slam his head into trees) special needs kid who was given unmeasurable strength, while still lacking the cognitive abilities necessary to take notice of the things that are happening around him. That's what makes me personally enjoy this IP, however, this season of the anime seems to want to deny its origins and to go in a completely different direction. This wouldn't be a problem necessary. However, the direction it decides to go in is "generic wide appeal power fantasy action-comedy", that is not to say that the base material was particularly deep to begin with, however, the change does take away a lot of the focus from the well built really stupid jokes that made the story stand out to me in the first season, manga and light novel, to put more focus into the "story" (which is literally meant to be taken as a joke), action scenes (which seem to constantly want to try and 1up each other by having more destruction) and the shorter, simpler jokes (especially in the lawless city arc, which I think was very poorly done). I think this problem mostly lies in the length of this season, while season 1 had 20 episodes to develop 2 volumes of the novel, this season had 12 (actually 11 because one of them is just filler) to develop 1 and a half novel, meaning that a lot had to be cut especially so for volume 3, which contains the lawless city part, the money printing part and half of the Oriana kingdom arc. That time constraint means the anime isn't able to build up anticipation for the jokes or plot points as well as the light novel, while also not having the ridiculous art of the manga to back up all its jokes, meaning that a lot of the jokes got removed and the ones that remain often feel undeveloped or kinda rushed (which is also true for plot points, though they are all still present, they often lack build up). The visuals also didn't *wow* me like the first season's did, they aren't bad, on the contrary, they are very good, especially for the first and last episodes, but nothing really made them stand out greatly for me, maybe it's because there's a lot less random visual comedy, maybe its the constant use of bust and butt shots (which I despise, except for Epsilon's that one has a proper reason behind it), maybe it's because things were built up a lot less, but I just don't remember as much of the visuals as I do for the first season (for instance, I still clearly remember the first instance of "I AM ATOMIC" from S1, but already barely do for both the ones in S2). Finally, I think it also made some seriously odd choices of jokes to add in (did we really need to see Cid repeating the same thing 8 times over?). All things considered, I still think it is a fine anime, it does have great animation and music, some good jokes from time to time and the John Smith part is done REALLY well, but I just can't help but be kind of cynical towards it because of how inconsistent the quality of some of the episodes is *cough cough episode 8 cough cough* and of how I keep comparing it to its alternatives (LN/manga) or its predecessor (S1), which I feel were more enjoyable and did a much better job at standing out from other stories. Low 6. I'm not too hopeful for the movie that's coming out soon because of how the introduction to Cid going back to his original world was changed in a way that's way faster (again, less anticipation and simplified) and because of the fact Beta didn't also get transported, which means that we probably won't get the scene where we see Beta argue online with strangers on the internet in a broken ~~English~~ Japanese...
__This Review is spoiler free with only vague details, with the exception of the last two lines.__ Eminence in Shadow is a show that sets up a really cool concept of a guy trying to fulfill a power fantasy for no apparent reason other than to be powerful. Our main character has no plan 90% of the time and comically spews bullshit that just so happens to be true. He isn’t an edgelord, which honestly I’d be OK with, he’s a guy desperately trying to be as edgy as he possibly can. What is even worse is our main character’s hollowness echos off the backs of the side character that are full of well… CHARACTER! Honestly as with Bleach, this show would be better off without the main character as a whole in my opinion. He ruins any immersion into the world as we are constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY (like every episode), are reminded that he is barely intelligible and his only motivation is to be edgy. The problem with this of course in true isekai/harem form everything he does is misconstrued as sheer genius, even though honestly he doesn’t even care that the people around him are even there. Which brings up another point entirely, the MC doesn’t care about anyone. Great example, at some point he just disappears, abandoning literally his whole organization for some “self reflection.” During which a sequence of events beginning with his dumb friends finding tickets to an exclusive event in his room while he's gone and then RANDOMLY asking a girl who just so happens to in his shadow organization out because guess what? They are all super hot! This ends in them magically creating a mission he didn’t assign them, and then thinking that he did all of this as a master plan to get them some leisure time that they sorely deserve. All of this from him just abandoning them after failing to greedily take all their money from them. Honestly after watching this to completion I genuinely wondered if our boy was in a coma, and that the reason everything just always magically works in his favor is because his mind makes it so; which saying this now I kinda still believe? Combine all of this with the main antagonist group of literal clowns, who never really challenges the MC or his organization whatsoever. What starts as an occult group of nobles experimenting with “demons” blood ends in a highly technological group of scientists experimenting with a multiverse and disguising it all as just demons and magic. In fact it would seem that half of the organization is truly just under the impression that they are just dealing with demons and magic, and have no concept of the greater picture AT ALL. This results in literally every antagonist that appears pulls the same exact move of “oh I’m powerful on my own *gets defeated* Fine I’ll use this secret powerful drug to win *still loses*” which honestly is just too stale and formulaic for my taste. __TL;DR There are really great fight scenes, some very cool twists, a beautiful cast of very unique and interesting women, and a complete lack of delivery on anything cohesive that you could call a story due to an extremely poorly written main character with zero character progression. This delivers a mediocre at best isekai with no real depth anywhere to be seen, which is a real shame. Maybe that’s the point, but it doesn’t make for good entertainment.__ P.S. I know this won’t be a popular opinion but if you honestly think about it I’m not wrong. P.S.S. SPOILERS! At the end of S2 we abandon the entire world which we've set up across the last 30 episodes or so to start creating a new one that's some form of post apocalyptic? I'm gonna watch outta sheer curiosity but man this hurts my brain.
an assessment of The Eminence in Shadow that doesnt go in-depth i hope it serves as a good read and gives you a decent idea of what i felt about the show :D __Art and Animation__ for a show with so many characters, it's honestly impressive that every one of them got a distinctive look. the fight scenes were well animated too, providing the clear visual highlights of the series. however, the scenary and overall style of animation was nothing to write home about, amounting to just about right for a well-produced show. but hey, not every isekai can be like mushoku tensei. __Sound__ i am ___atomic___. yeah thats about anything of note with regards to the sound effects and music department. not really a knock against the show, the OPs, EDs and BGM were still decent and left me feeling satisfied, but never compelling me to give them another listen. OH but i did especially like the ED for S2E7 (Everything is Changing by Mayu Maeshima) and am confused as to why it appeared only once. __Enjoyment__ my GOD was this show fun. words fail to describe the pure idiocy of the show and how absolutely entertaining all of Cid's monologues and interactions with just about anyone were. it takes a lot for someone who hasnt been able to finish an anime for over a month to finally complete one but this show has done it with flying colours. __Thematic Execution__ the overarcing theme/gimmick of this show is simple. there is a man who strives to be powerful. more powerful and destructive than a nuclear bomb. he has pursued such power since birth and holds on to his heroic ideals that he claims every child once had. everything he says, everything he does, and everything that courses through his very being is corny. but he doesnt care and neither does the show, because what looked like a surefire recipe for disaster (OP AND edgy main character with cheesy one liners and an evergrowing harem) turned out to be an absolute masterclass in thematic execution. not ONCE did i cringe or have to pause the show to register anything Cid said or did. he is just so unapologetically him that you almost have to stand and applaud, but i settled for laughing at what i KNEW were absolutely the cringiest things ive ever heard. it takes some good work to make such an effective parody of the most despised stereotypes and tropes in isekai. __Characters__ cant have a great show without stellar characterisation and i would argue that the most impressive trait of Eminence in Shadow is its cast of lovable and most importantly, memorable characters. Cid is the only star of the show, an overpowered MC done right. yet, i found myself rooting and genuinely caring for so many other characters, all unique in their own ways. i will remember the quirks of each of the 7 Shadows (less Zeta and i guess Eta but i know their characters will be fleshed out eventually) and also remain interested in the journeys of Alexia, Iris, Rose and even Sherry from season 1. __Story__ the backbone of any show will always be its storyline. i wouldve eventually gotten bored of the Shadow Garden and their gimmicks if not for the countless events taking place in the show, with each one of them progressing the story and providing information about the history of their world. it gave them a reason to fight and meaning behind their unwavering admiration for Cid, who involuntarily solves every problem before him. the mystique surrounding everything in the show makes it so interesting and left me wanting to know more every time an episode ended. i know the story isnt even close to being complete, but that makes it all the more exciting.