Anime Review: The Eminence in Shadow
- Very Average Joe
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
English Title: The Eminence in Shadow
Japanese Title: 陰の実力者になりたくて! [lit. want to become shadow’s powerful person]
Director(s): Nakanishi Kazuya
Screenwriter(s): Katou Kanichi
Studio: Nexus
Released: 2022–2023
Season 1 Runtime: 20 episodes, ~23m each.
Season 2 Runtime: 12 episodes, ~23m each.
Starring: Yamashita Seiichirou, Hanazawa Kana, Shiraishi Haruka, Seto Asami, Minase Inori, Mimori Suzuko
Based on the ongoing light novel series written by Aizawa Daisuke and illustrated by Tozai that began in 2018, the story follows a teenage boy’s ambitions to be a hero. I have not read the source material so this review is of the anime only.
Kageno Minoru is a high school boy who has delusions of grandeur as he secretly trains to be a hero whilst deliberately looking like a nobody. He is actually very capable but his dreams are cut short when he dies after getting hit by a truck.
He is then reborn into low-level nobility of the Kingdom of Midgar as Cid Kagenou with his memories intact. This world, in terms of aesthetics and technology, is somewhat like early industrial era: there are steam trains but horse-drawn carriages are still in use. There are elements of modern technology and contemporary life like fast food as well as medieval fantasy with its emphasis on swordfighting and magic.
It is basically an isekai fantasy comedy as Cid maintains the same MO as his previous life but having better effect given the way the world works.
The first few episodes briefly go through some background, such as his early childhood in his new life. When still very young, he rescues an elf girl and cures her of a mysterious condition. He calls her Alpha. Ripping off fiction, he tells her that the world is run by a secret organization known as the Cult of Diablos. She believes him and he, of course, as the leader of the secret organization, later called Shadow Garden, can defeat it.
He recruits other girls into the group and, over time, these girls in turn recruit more. Whilst he thinks he’s making it up and playing hero, the girls think it’s all true and continue to work to defeat the cult. They continue because they keep finding evidence of the cult’s existence.
Cid is a moderately amusing character. On the one hand, he develops incredible abilities; on the other, he aims to appear as a “background character”.
Despite his pride and arrogance, he is quite measured in his actions and is mostly discreet when using his powers. He has a bucket list as a so-called background character, so there is vanity there, but these don’t necessarily draw attention. It’s not as if he can’t help announcing himself.
He is strangely modest in some ways despite his delusions of grandeur. He doesn’t abuse the girls under his command. He mostly lets them do as they please. Although he is using them for his amusement, he is also happy to assume that they are being nice and playing along with him, and he appreciates them for it.
Despite his knowledge and superior abilities which could defeat just about anyone, his gamer mentality ironically keeps him from taking the Cult of Diablos seriously. Part of the comedy comes from his indifference or fluke decisions that work out well for him and Shadow Garden, whilst his girls think he is a genius.
Although having a cavalier attitude, he is not an outright bad guy. He would state that he is neither good nor bad, but he has no desire to be an outright bad guy. It is interesting to see that over time, he becomes a little more sensitive to the plights of the so-called little people rather than just playing the hero on the grand stage out of vanity.
Visually, it is not bad. The linework is sharp and the rendering is on the simpler side, thereby creating a clean and sleek look. Given that the premise and plot are in part dark fantasy by nature, the look can be grittier as it is too clean. But still, it generally looks good enough.
There is also the harem-genre aspect to the work, although this is mostly to do with visuals—the usual showing off the female characters’ costumes and bodies. He is conveniently classmates with girls who are royalty, but that is fine as he is nobility and these characters actually have substance and matter to the plot. It is the harem visuals that the story doesn’t need. That being the case, contrary to what is typical of the harem genre, Cid himself does not physically interact with the girls that much, deliberately or “accidentally”.
The series begins with arcs involving combat competitions. Whilst this is the culture, it does come across as repetitive. Structurally, it moves from one relatively short arc to the next as problems pop up. They may come across as convenient, but it is plausible since the cult is real and its members have infiltrated every level of society; after all, if it’s not one problem, then it would be another.
The other source of comedy is his telling his girls things from his previous life (without revealing that it comes from his previous life), and they in turn use that as part of their mission. For example, one becomes a bestselling author by writing the stories he tells them, and another opens a highly profitable department store to fund Shadow Garden’s operations.
And on that note, one of the arcs is an economic war between the parties. Perhaps surprisingly, it points out that so-called paper money could be based on nothing even though the explanation is a bit muddled. Nonetheless, the basic point is sufficiently clear.
Another interesting element is that the “Church” in this world is also corrupt. The “Divine Teachings” are yet to be elaborated on but, unlike many works, it is not that the Divine Teachings are necessarily wrong or that the Church has always been wrong, which is what some works seem to imply in a thinly veiled manner. Here, at least so far, the problem is that Church has been infiltrated by the Cult at the highest level so this distinction is refreshing.
Although there can be more laughs, it thankfully does not descend into a total farce which would be too easy to do. I hope it takes parody and satire further.
Cid is an amusing character and his agents of Shadow Garden are cool too even if the harem tropes are unnecessary, the narrative involving more girls as the series progresses. The development of these characters is not extensive so far but it will be fine as long as they keep developing as the narrative progresses.
Given Cid’s and Shadow Garden’s capabilities, it will be interesting to see how long this conflict goes for. Hopefully, it won’t drag out for too long as that will be implausible. The alternative is to introduce complications which, without spoiling, the second season seems to do.
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