In late 2022, The Eminence In Shadow was released. It wasn’t really something that I knew about beforehand, so I wasn’t really planning on watching it. But when I was at AnimeNYC a month later, I visited a booth that they had set up. I learned an lot about the story and I was even able to get six volumes for free. So I ended up giving the anime a shot, and I really liked it.
Cid is a strange guy. On earth, he does nothing but train and was stuck in his own fantasy world. He trains a lot and is very intelligent, but that doesn’t stop him from getting himself killed by the end of the first episode. But to his delight, he’s reincarnated into a fantasy world where he can train and learn abilities that weren’t possible on earth.
His goal is to be a background character while pulling all the strings from the shadows. One day, he randomly saves an elf girl, and she becomes super loyal to him. He spouts a bunch of nonsense to make himself look cool, but she believes every word of it. She views him as some sort of God, and recruits other girls to fight for him. They end up creating their own organization called Shadow Garden, and they all become crazy loyal to Cid.
Cid thinks it’s all fun and games. But everything he says and everything Shadow Garden does ends up being real. He gets himself tangled in the shenanigans of both the world and Shadow Garden. So now he has to live up to the role he’s created. This creates a bunch of silly situations, but that’s kind of the point.
At its core, The Eminence In Shadow is a parody of the genre. It’s similar to shows like Konosuba and Uncle From Another World, while having the same edginess levels of shows like The Rising of the Shield Hero and Arifureta. The show is very goofy, but it leans into that. It’s a legitimate power fantasy that never takes itself seriously. There are better silly power fantasy shows, like One Punch Man, but this combo works very well in an Isekai.
Many of the girls from Shadow Garden are cool as well. Alpha is the main one, but I didn’t really care too much for her. I loved Delta because of her energy and personality, and I loved Beta, but mostly because she’s a writer. Cid is such a fun character too, and his sister was interesting as well. But not only are the characters all fun and interesting, their designs are phenomenal as well.
Sure, The Eminence In Shadow might not be for everyone. All it takes is for you to not care for either the silliness or the edginess to toss it without seeing the rest. But the show doesn’t very good job at balancing both, and the combo works very well for this genre. I definitely recommend checking it out, especially since there’s a brand new movie coming out next year.
9/10