Reviews for The Eminence in Shadow

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 playsevery 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.

I will admit I always wanted to be that one plain-looking guy who at crunch time managed to fight off bad guys bare-handed, steal their weapons pull off some sick reloads and headshots while my crush watched me save the day, and goes doki doki!! There are two kinds of adults, the first are embarrassed by their childhood self and will surely cringe at the statement I made above If not report it xD and the other who still have a child hidden inside them, unable to let go of all the cool power moves and ninja signs the affinity one might have if they aremore like the latter will definitely help you love this show more objectively speaking since in kagejitsu, we finally meet a chunnibyo who is actually everything he says he is! sign me the fuck up! Every second of the action is set up to make him look like a cool ninja Edgelord who is all-powerful, all-seeing, and all-knowing although the first might actually hold true the rest is another story.

Kagejitsu is a power fantasy parody, so for it to suit your taste you need to accept the fact that there will never be a tense fight, but Animes like overlord and this (both are rather similar in this regard) have quick but literal meta-breaking fights which are always overkill to the point that you feel pity for the bad guy, all this while the Protag remains oblivious to the true nature of things because he is rather ignorant /dumb.

The only difference between the comedic style of overlord and kagejitsu is,to quote my overlord season 4 review “The way overlord carries comedy with it how ainz is supposed to be benevolent the all-knowing the all-seeing yet inside, he is the most confused person in the room!” Shadow only cares about being the coolest person in the room, so he will keep making shit up as long as it makes him seem so (even though he accidentally ends up being correct!).

Plot (9/10)

The protag has a simple yet twisted goal, he wants to be a normal-looking guy who is actually an eminence in shadow ie his alter ego is basically the strongest person although his named self is the normiest of normies. The show has Amazing pacing for an isekai, it wastes no time in introducing a new and vast cast, and still manages to make sure that the quirk and charm of these characters are well-balanced and explores it enough for a perfectly timed gag, the plot itself is basically shadow-making up crap that more often than not is a convenient flavor text for him, but a reality for the actual world is quite an interesting and hilarious take because to my knowledge he still believes that they are all roleplaying with him xD. It is quite the feat that so many characters have an intertwined story with each having a ‘role to play’ in shadow sama’s VISION.

characters(10/10)

I can't believe the number of waifus this show has produced in mere minutes of each of them being on screen, going from obvious fetish bait to quite endearing and adorable waifus with very distinct personalities. Within 20 episodes we get introduced to a whole slew of characters, and well its no wonder that all the members of shadow garden happen to be hot slime-wearing ladies UwU. but each gets their own time to shine si what makes them truly worth being invested in.

Sound and VA (8/10)

THe amazing VA is what helps land most of the jokes, some hidden gags that can only be understood if you were Japanese were well expressed by the subs , so props to the fandom for that. the ost is pretty overused and except of some very epic I AM ATOMIC moments its usually something you heard the last episode. The ED is better than the OP in my opinion.

Art and animation (7/10)

Fights are short and the animation that comes with the more epic scenes definitely outshines any other scenes hence it feels unbalanced, I also do not know why but every scene in the anime seems very 480 p even after turning 1080 p on in many different websites (the exception is the ed ‘ART’ )

A good watch for isekai and power fantasy fans, those who find themselves mostly cringing at the jokes should probably watch for only 3 episodes to see if the plot is strong enough for them to continue onwards.

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 heconstructs 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.

I came into this series having read the manga and avidly anticipated what was my favourite satire of the most saturated genre in anime. It's easily evident from minute one that this series does not capture the same tune as the manga attempts to; a lot of the jokes, though present, are toned down or played in a way that better resembles the classic isekai 'cool mc' without any of the irony. A good example would be Cid's knife toss in episode 2, which was a really well-done gag in the manga, but is quickly glossed over during the anime's run. The thing is, Iwouldn't call this an error of comic timing on the part of the creators, the way this series is produced and tied together it's obvious that the more serious tone is their explicit intent. The darker colour palette, the toned down comedic designs and the emphasis on blood and gore paint a world taken far more seriously than the comedic manga and feels somewhat mismatched from what is a really funny premise. The anime production team likely went for isekai-standard adaptation when they saw the popularity of the source material without really connecting with what distinguishes this series from so many others.

For what it's worth, the anime adaptation of Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute features relatively impressive animation for the genre, and a solidly-paced plot that will keep you engaged, but make no mistake that this is a 6/10 series with a stronger lean toward generic isekai antics than the material that sold me on it to begin with. If you came from the manga, expect solid animation and small chuckles re-experiencing the jokes that weren't cut. If you're an anime-only don't let my thoughts discourage you, as this is still a reasonable watch if you've got a lot of free time, though you ought to pick up the manga if you end up liking this series since you'll likely enjoy that even more.

Note: I am aware this series is adapted from the light novel and not the manga, but the material in the manga is what sold me and a lot of other viewers on it, and it feels a shame they didn't dedicate themselves to capturing those elements as effectively.

Edit: Thought more on this series, felt like 7/10 was too generous.

People argue about whether this is a parody, a deconstruction, or just bad. Here's the basic premise from the first few episodes. A kid with a very specific delusion about being an unkillable overpowered anime character, secretly ruling the world from the shadows trains in martial arts and larps in front of people. Then he gets isekai'd when he gets hit by a truck. He gets reincarnated into a world with magic, becomes powerful, and hides it while doing things in the background just like his fantasy. He's really doing this, and the world is played straight too, meaning the people interacting with him. The early partwas so absurd I thought it was the isekai part, but then you go into a more generic magical world. Then he starts as a baby, but they skip pretty much everything and just tell you he's really powerful because martial arts and magic bla bla bla.

Then his shadow organization is just kind of made by someone he meets and gets to join him. They don't show the creation, you're just told it happened in the background. Even the character getting found and joining him is rushed, they don't really do much with it. It could be entertaining to see him larping his way into creating an organization and getting members, but it just kinda works itself out.

On top of that he's nearly the same age, and he has the same mentality, so he may as well have just been born here. The only thing they do with the isekai aspect is say he learned a bunch of martial arts and that they're somehow helpful with magic and swordsmanship here, it's just a half-assed excuse for why he's so powerful so early on. They skip over everything, so the premise is pointless and it just seems like a generic fantasy isekai with an overpowered protagonist.

The only twist is that the cult he made up is real, and the other members really are looking into things. He's so unaware he thinks they're just growing out of roleplay and using their investigation as an excuse to stop roleplaying with him. He's also so overpowered, and kind of stupid, that he doesn't know when he's fighting followers of the demon cult, he thinks they're just stronger bandits. The idea is there, but they don't really do much with it.

He also hides his ability, because part of his fantasy is to seem like a generic side character, but to secretly be the powerful bla bla bla. Ultimately it's the same as so many other generic isekai, and they don't really do much with it. I know I'm repeating myself, but that's pretty much everything in the show.

He just wants this specific thing because that's what he wants. He'll put up with any abuse, he'll humiliate himself, he'll sabotage his own standing and future for the sake of being like a shitty character, while he's secretly not. Which just makes him seem like he's not a character, he's just some meta idea that never really goes anywhere. Nothing clever is ever really done with it.

He's also never in danger, no matter what happens to him, just because. Nothing really matters, no characters are characters, and nothing's really entertaining.

The only things involving the isekai elements are done off screen by a character you don't really know at all. Even then the main character somehow doesn't understand that a building is a building instead of a set. He doesn't understand any of this is real despite knowing magic is real and using it. Despite seeing transformations. He somehow thinks it's still roleplay despite also knowing it's not.

The plot doesn't develop naturally, he either walks past things by chance or he's given information by the background characters in his group who do everything off screen. The characters in his group barely have any speaking lines or interaction with the main character, or even much time on screen. So there's really nothing to it. This show is like the cliff notes of an idea someone had for the draft of a light novel that never really went anywhere.

There's nothing clever about it, there's no joke, but it's also not a real show with any world or characters that matter. It's just poorly done in about every way possible. At first I was gonna make myself watch the whole thing, but after 9 episodes, and realizing how long this show was gonna be, I had to quit.

It's not so bad it made me angry, it's just nothing, it's mind-numbing. It makes me think the positive reviews are parodies.

TL;DR: This anime is indeed a unique isekai comedy. Its comedy focuses a lot in the way characters interacting with each other and how the main character thinks and behaves. If you: - want to laugh by enjoying the foolishness, recklessness, and absurdness of a Chuunibyou "Delusional" high school boy in a fantasy world, - are not paying attention/being critical on world logic so much - enjoy a sprinkle fan service of some 2D anime girl body shots, then this show is definitely for you. [Story: 8/10 , Characters: 9/10, Art: 9/10, Sound: 8/10, Enjoyment: 9/10]Now let's breakdown each components I have written above.

[STORY]

The story revolves around the MC and is being told from his POV (except for the trap episode 1). It's unique because the way MC thinks and acts differs from other generic protagonist isekai fantasy. Aside from that, the rest are most likely generic clichés which you can also find in other anime. So I can say it's unique but don't expect too much of freshness or else you'll get disappointed. It has plot but not that great because it's quite common thing you can find in other but not that bad either since there are still some unexpected moments to enjoy and no annoying overloaded generic harem interaction. Also keep in mind that the first episode is some kind like a trap since it has almost no comedic feels and more like a generic isekai with serious vibes. My advice to you is don't ever drop after watching just the first episode. At least go watch up to episode 2 or episode 3 even better since the comedy gets better from first to the third episode drastically.

[CHARACTERS]

Okay, so this is the main selling point of this anime. The comedy is the fruit of MC's personality just like what I already stated above. Take delusional syndrome from Kaidou (Saiki K. series), clumsiness from Momonga (Overlord), lack of empathy from Saitama (One Punch Man), then combine them and you'll get the MC, Cid. He is basically delusional, treats other people as NPC, and quite narcissistic. If you view him seriously like judging his actions and thoughts with high IQ, then you'll find him annoying a lot. Hence don't do that, I'll explain more in the Enjoyment part. The rest of the characters are not special but not too boring also.

[ART]

It's great. The art style is quite modern. The color palette is pleasant. The animation is quite detail in some small parts but there are still power point animation style during not so important scene. It's just like 3 secs tho so it didn't bother me a lot. We can feel some cinematic angle shots, which is great because it doesn't feel monotone. The scenery transition is absolutely beautiful. The action animation is enjoyable albeit not top notch.

[SOUND]

The sfx choice are great, it fits the theme and scenes. So far I haven't encountered cringe sound effects yet (except monologue of Cid, if you count it). There are some comedic scene in episode 2 that could be better if it got sound effects in it. Both OP and EDs songs are not so special but not so bad.

[ENJOYMENT]

I personally really enjoy this show. At the beginning I didn't enjoy it, but on the next episodes I did. If I rate the enjoyment on each episode, its like 6 for ep 1, 8 for ep 2, and 9+ for ep 3. I enjoyed even as far as I am going to read the manga after finishing the episode 3.

If you want to enjoy this show, then keep in mind that you come for the comedy not judging every small details things using common sense. If you come with high IQ mode turned on, then this show will appear too ridiculous for you. So switch your brain mode into entertainment mode, not that deep critical judging the academic paper mode, then you'll find this show funny. A clown doing some foolish dumb things will appear funny if your brain mode is in the right switch. Though I admit there exists people who don't like to enjoy a fool doing dumb things.

Basically that's it, if you want to read the summary then read that in the top section of this review. I am an anime only currently so I think my review got less bias from other adaptation or source work. Note that this review is really preliminary due to only 3 episodes aired so far. I'll update this if I find it necessary to do so. Thanks for reading!

Stop me if you’ve heard a line like this before – “It’s just like in a manga / anime!” Being meta is more in vogue than ever. Ever since DreamWorks took it upon themselves to poke fun at the Disney company and the Disney brand with *Shrek* back in 2001 and became a monumentally-successful franchise financially, animated film had more or less entered the realm of metacommentary. It didn’t take long for Disney to follow suit; starting with *Enchanted* in 2007 and then expanding that into the soul-sucking exercise of their live-action remakes of the recent years (if not also including choice lines in others like*Frozen*). If there is any takeaway from this, it’s not only that animated properties being so overtly meta is here to stay, but that it is also a highly-profitable venture. After all, no company is going to change their course if it affects their bottom line. To the company, there’s a simple credo to follow: whether it be about specific properties or about an entire genre’s convention, give the audience a wink. Let them know that you “get it.”

And in the realm of anime, metacommentary also has its home. I’m not only referring to overall productions that have been regarded as having some kind of meta remarks or supposedly-deconstructive genre assertions like *Neon Genesis Evangelion,* but even the casual remarks that characters make in any kind of story, like the above quotation I left. These kinds of remarks get chuckles for the basic reason that we like to pat ourselves on the back for recognizing a pattern and having the thing we watch acknowledge it as such. Considering the sheer degree of prevalence the isekai genre has enjoyed ever since the early 2010s, no doubt because it provides publishers like Kadokawa a lot of money, it makes sense that isekai too would become susceptible to these kinds of remarks from its own works.

But *The Eminence in Shadow* makes the mistake of assuming that being meta is the same as being funny or a worthwhile piece of entertainment. Glimpsing the greater picture, or making casual reference to things that viewers would recognize, is perhaps a short-term solution. But that does not guarantee that the inner substance of the story will be able to stand on its own two feet, either. Within its audience-conscious asides, it attempts to fashion a fantastical story of Cid Kagenou, a fashions-himself-as-the-ultimate-warrior man who attempts to make the best of both worlds, so to speak. Treating his reincarnated situation as the chance to live out his ultimate fantasy, he adopts the moniker of the background everyman archetype on one hand and the “Eminence in Shadow” in the other. Getting involved, investigating, and dispensing his own form of justice when he sees fit, he treats his new environment as a playground rather than being full of actual people with consequences.

Therein lies its initial draw, and its first real gag; take the common thought that many isekai protagonists have (that they’re either dreaming / don’t take their new situation seriously enough), and have it last for the entire show. This gag quickly devolves into overreliance; *The Eminence in Shadow* spends so much of its time with Cid making jokes about the isekai world, drawing upon his knowledge of its conventions and general structure. But the show is confusing its meta remarks for comedic cleverness. Cid is seemingly incapable of going ten minutes without making a remark akin to, “At a time like this, X would happen!” or “Doing Y would be so awesome!” These moments are meta humor at its most flaccid, requiring no creativity to make its point. The goal is to be funny and double down by committing what’s tantamount to beating a dead horse, when being unfunny and doubling down only succeeds in compounding the problem.

The show’s insistence on its meta humor tries to function both comedically and dramaturgically. In having Cid make all these remarks, it attempts to paint him as being more keenly aware of what is transpiring, both in the heat of the moment and in the overarching saga that plays out in the overall world, bolstered by his sheer magical and physical power. In emphasizing the brooding aesthetic, punctuated by its dark colors and mood lighting, as well as the occasional action phrase (I will indeed give props to the line “I am atomic,” as it was as grand and dumbly epic as Cid himself thought it to be). Cid is portrayed as being consistently “cool” and slick. The “Rule of Cool” is fine for an occasional indulgence, but to make it a part of the show’s framework is a dangerous game. Cid Kagenou is *The Eminence in Shadow’s* attempt to make the “Rule of Cool” personified via the main protagonist.

Yet in all that time focusing on him, most of the ensemble gets left out in the lurch. The “Greek chorus,” or the series of women who serve under Cid in Shadow Garden, are the prime example. They are caricatures rather than characters, a harem in principle and occasional sexual connotation, though not with Cid himself. No chance is given to develop many of them into substantial beings—they don’t even get names beyond Greek letter designations, hence why I referred to them as “Greek chorus” before—because the show’s structure deemphasizes their own relevance. Throughout most of the story, they appear for brief moments and then vanish for long stretches of time, and their contributions to Cid’s shadowy operations do little more than deliver messages or background information. There’s a bizarre fixation on several of them being either competitive, protective, or envious of other members’ breasts. Even when they fight, the moments themselves do barely enough to give the women a sense of dimension. It took nearly one dozen episodes of their sporadic appearance before I finally learned who was named what.

The more-prominent side characters of each arc do not fare much better. Sherry is reduced to little more than buttshot eye candy despite the great intelligence we are told that she has, all the while the show decides to relentlessly dump tragedy upon her. Rose has her character more or less centered on her adoration of, and personal history with, Cid and an involvement with cultist Perv Asshat (yes, that is his name in-universe). Annerose, introduced as a warrior of high caliber, becomes a complete no-show for the last few episodes. Each new arc introduces more and more characters who become little more than blips on the show’s radar, unintriguing toys for Cid to use for whatever fantasy kick he’s on at the moment. They are constantly janked around by forces they don’t understand, which does little to make them compelling players in the larger game.

But within the desert of characterization stand Alexia and Iris, sisters to their own Midgar throne, as the exceptions to the material’s obsession with Cid being detrimental to everyone else. Their early introduction plot-wise and the fixation both on their personal status and relationship to one another and the larger-scale circumstances more-cohesively set off their personal journeys. Both are perplexed by both the antagonistic forces in their world and Shadow Garden’s mysterious presence, unsure what to make of them. Alexia especially acknowledges her own lack of understanding of what is transpiring since she’s not privy to her sister’s circle of information among the knights or overall skill; she takes the first step into becoming more proactive in the grand scheme of *The Eminence in Shadow’s* shenanigans. Her resolve, and the resulting alliance she forms, is one of the show’s shining moments for developing its intrigue.

I’ve used the word “moment” more than once throughout the course of talking about *The Eminence in Shadow,* and that’s because it’s the show’s ultimate flaw. Underneath the choking meta humor jokes, the occasional bits of good action, mediocre characterization, and the show’s aesthetic managing to capture the balancing act it’s trying to perfect, the show is propelled by moments, not narrative. The good moments come too few and far between; it leaves the rest of the experience pertaining to the Cult of Diabolos (or “Diablos,” depending on who’s translating it) and its actual world lumbering along until it gets to the next meme-worthy instance. It comes in both the form of emphasizing things that don’t really need to be emphasized, or blasting through things when it should stop and catch its breath. The result leaves *The Eminence in Shadow* as an organizational mess, which diminishes its bright points greatly.

With its second season being announced, I do not doubt that there will surely be more masturbatory indulgences in its own supposed cleverness.

I would not, however, find that “atomic.”

Don’t listen to the reviews trashing this anime based on the first episode, this Really is an anime that should have a score much higher (edit: at the time of writing I believe it was rated less than a 7). The first episode is a bit confusing, I did not know what to think at first but I’m at episode 5 now and it’s REALLY good. It just takes a couple episodes to understand what’s supposed to be serious and what’s meant to be funny, once you see what there doing, you realize it is a smart well thought out anime. It has hints ofOverlord and Konosuba , I love the misunderstanding/ miscommunication humor that’s used in Overlord a lot and this definitely has a slightly different version of that kind of humor.

Really it’s a level above the isekais that s been out recently, really fun and enjoyable, and I think that’s what matters. Are there plot holes? Sure but it is only episode 5, Also if someone told me to write a paragraph about what the MC is exactly thinking and feeling I would have a hard time. Im not sure to what level the miscommunication is at and not sure where the line is on what he thinks is real and what he thinks is “just for fun” but that makes it interesting too. If you like overlord I really do think you would like it so far, but again it’s only on episode 5 and I did not read the manga so you never know how it’s going to turn out, but if your just looking at episodes 1-5 of this anime vs episode 1-5 of Overlord, it’s very very close in terms of quality and enjoyment. Closest thing to Overlord in all the best ways I’ve seen and different enough that I’m very interested and excited for each episode every week. Great isekai so far!

Over all rating so far: 9

First episode: 6.5

Story /plot: 9

Characters: 8

Type of Humor: 11

Miscommunication/misunderstanding:11

Animation: 9

Sounds: 8

It's not often that I review anime that I drop. Typically, I wait until I finish a series to review it. However, this is a frustrating series that I feel I need to review but I also have zero desire to actually suffer through 10 more episodes. A friend of mine recommended this series after the Youtuber Mother's Basement hyped it up as a subversive dark comedy and brilliant parody of shitty, isekai power fantasies. Eminence in Shadow or "ES" as I'll refer to it from now on uses a lot of tired tropes and cliches. It's fully aware that it's doing so and intendsto poke fun at poorly written isekai, but it doesn't actually do enough to distinguish itself as a parody. It ends up just looking like it's aping trashy isekai and becomes the very thing it set out to make fun of. The series tries to let us in on the fact it's a dark comedy and a parody because the main character is a "chuuni" sociopath with delusions of grandeur and megalomania. He's willing to slaughter dozens of people simply to role play as his favorite anti-heroes. Haha! the joke is that he's not actually a good guy like Kirito! This is ignoring the fact that Overlord exists, Shield Hero exists, and Mushoku exists. Nothing the main character does goes over the top enough to let the audience know that the writer actually looks down on these type of power fantasies and is just having a laugh at them while holding them in disdain. Redo of Healer actually accomplishes what ES wanted to accomplish far more effectively, even though Redo likely did it on accident and was probably just written by a complete degenerate.

The first episode actually starts out with some potential. Our sociopathic main character tries to blend in as a background NPC while secretly mastering dozens of martial arts and training intensely to become a crime fighting vigilante by night. He goes around beating yakuza and motorcycle thugs to death by dual wielding crowbars. So, at first it looks like it's going to be a darkly comic deconstruction of the concept of the Superhero and what would actually happen if a mentally ill person decided to go vigilante while LARPing as a hero. This concept has actually been done to death in the West with movies like James Gunn's Super and Mark Millar's Kick-Ass. However, I've not seen an anime take on this concept. Sadly, ES abandons this concept and has the hero intentionally throw himself into a truck in the hopes that he'll be Isekaid and reborn as an overpowered badass. HAHA! They referenced Truck-Kun! They're aware of the meme! Seriously, Konosuba did that joke over 10 years ago and did it better!

Our hero gets his exact wish and is born as a noble with great talent for magic and physical combat. By 12 years old, he is using his OP skills to slaughter bandits and keep their loot to himself so he can eventually build a Bat Cave. One day after killing some bandits, he finds a girl who has been mutated by a curse and takes her home to perform experiments on. He ends up accidentally curing her and when she can't remember what happened, he creates a bullshit backstory for her and tells her that he's fighting a secret, evil organization. The girl happens to be a master assassin and recruits an entire harem of sexy female assassins offscreen to create an army for the MC. The MC btw has changed his name to Cid because Final Fantasy exists. Cid believes that he's just killing bandits and guards while pretending a fight a secret society, but since this world seems to grant his every wish, there actually is a secret society exactly like the one he made up.

This is all in the first 3 episodes. By episode 10, I just feel like I'm watching Overlord again and wasting my time. It's not the worst anime ever, but it's not really doing anything for me. The animation is fine, but not stunning. The character designs are kind of bland. The music is kind of bland. Watch this series if you want a trash isekai that's aware it's a trash isekai but doesn't really accomplish anything with that knowledge.

After watching the manga a while ago, I was excited when the anime adaptation was announced .Athough I saw that the source of the anime would be the ln. After ep 1 was released I was confused in the way it started, I also realized that it was a little darker and the comedy was different from the manga, although I didn't dislike it. Btw after I saw in a post of a facebook group of this anime, a screenshot of a comment from the director of the anime, who said that they had decided to start the anime in that way to show us howwas the Cid's life before he reincarnating, which seemed to me that it made sense after all, also according to the comments of the ln readers, ep 1 was a prologue of volume 4 (which is all about cid life before reincarnate) so it made sense why to start like this.

After seeing ep 2, I noticed that it was still a bit darker and with a different comedy, but after all this it makes a lot of sense since it is more close to the style of the ln (according to comments from ln readers).

After seeing ep 3, I noticed that it still had that dark style and the comedy was more outstanding which was much better compared to the previous episodes.

Although I have seen some manga readers angry about this and throwing hate at the anime because the comedy for them its bad and not how it is in the manga.

I want that them to think logically, what is the point of making an anime adaptation if do you want a copy-paste of the same scenes from the manga in anime? Do you see that it doesn't make any sense? So why make an anime adaptation in first place? besides that the source of the anime is the ln, not the manga.

I consider that each type of adaptation of ln and manga should be a little different without losing the essence, which in this case the anime is doing a good job and also for me it would be very boring to see the same scenes again as they were in the manga stuck in the anime "with colour", I prefer to see scenes a little different and refreshing that the anime can show us without losing the essence of the ln.

Although in a certain way I understand the complain of some manga readers, but I think that this problem is mainly due to the fact that they have already read the manga before and have enjoyed it at that time, which seeing all that scenes in an anime format, it doesn´t generates the same impact on them or they will not consider it very funny like before.

Concluding with my review I encourage all the people who watch and will watch this anime since it is being faithful to the ln (according to ln readers), in addition to a good animation and a good comedy (distributed correctly) and don´t let any negative comments of those persons influence on you, judge this based on your taste.

Trap anime of 2022. There are entries that just don't worth the time and effort to write a review on. Despite that Eminence in the Shadow is particularly belongs to this garner. I’ve made an exception with it and shed some light over this gloomed garden. Visually it looks good, I would give it an upper (7) or (8) to the animation. I don’t know however why the animation quality suddenly dropped to (4) after EP 18. Sounds, pretty average. There were no one ost that stick into my ear. And yes, average means (5). Characters, there are so many characters.Stories,

So it starts off with a guy who likes to live a peaceful and ordinary life. He goes to school like an ordinary student, but he also acts as a super hero in the nights, to save his classmates from the bad guys. (Actually, he just likes to play God in the nights and to act as the best NPC at daylight). One time he met an elf who was soo weak and flat he had to gave his powers to her so she became OP and round. This Elf then made an army and the army members made their army and left the boy alone and in peace. After this he, (the boy) found himself in a nice garden full of girls. He was so fast that he immediately made a love confession to a random girl. (Prettiest girl in school). Then this girl was not nice, but still looks nice to this day. So after this relationship, HE had a name also. Acid-kun (I believe). So Acid kun met a super cute glassed girl who was super kawaii and she was actually super important in that school because of her dimensions. But also she helped Acid-kun to be somewhat smart in one situation that wasn't that major, then she left. Part of the story was when we met a rabbit that jumped out from a bus, (out of nowhere) really. In the spur of the moment we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of an inconsequential discussion between two fundamental characters. A piece of the argument was where the Royal Degrees status led - that the testament from Church principles delegation issued possibilities regarding of an undercover agents representatives on “Great grandson of Count III Emperor” mislaid pacifier tube. In the meantime, Acid-kun hang out with his buddies then he walked into a sealed box. Also Acid-kun also famous for one thing and that's not the one thing I will mention, but he also can act pretty quick, like light fast reaction he has. Possess in his right eye or, (yes). So around in the middle of the third part of the begging of the ninth story end, then we found ourselves into a fight, which was completely one sided, but that didn't stopped Acid-kun to say the word he is most famous for, which is not All-range and still not orange either, but he made a hole into our souls so deep soo ..much (only 0.5km radius) ultra mega rabbit hole. It was extremely dangerous because it basically demolished everything (except the cute girls). A few days after this, our main... Wait! No! So Acid-kun was desperate to be an NPC character that he made so much effort to transform himself into a dead zombie, so he can participate in a fight competition and “secretly” win it. In the middle of the ocean there was a pinguin that has nothing to do with the story - Do you want this hamburger? So we were in this plane that has so many NPC’s on it like 200 hundred NPC’s (all flat) and Acid-kun hates to be the most noticable character. He just can't stand to be in the middle of the attention, he had to say the word he is most famous for, he had to, he had no choice left but to say it...I AM

.. AN UGLY PIECE OF SHIT.

As I mentioned,

"Not worth the candle

TLDR: Eminence in the shadow has done just about everything in such a disordered and utterly subpar extent, that it holds a class of its own. It represents the kind of creations that are genuinely don’t deserves just to get the 1/10 rating, as it would be too generous according to their credit. They are generally a huge ZERO, that you neither see its curves nor its shape, just the middle of the ZERO. This state is;

- Unfathomably (Button-down-criminally-trash).

I haven’t seen an anime that has came down as of presenting this topsy-turvy story, extraordinarily hideous dialogues beside its cringey framework in such a manner than this thing right here just carried, and still receive applause. As it perhaps, because it beyond and furthermore overextended the definition of (BAD), some gifted people can actually enjoy and visualise that zero next to the 1. - I don’t.

My final score: -Z

I recommend to pass this stupid sandwich.

Thank you for reading!

0 Points, dropped it. (Unless there is something huge I'm missing that actually makes this show good, please DM me and let me know because I gave it a 3 ep test and went further ahead to 5eps on 2x speed but it was still horrifyingly bad) You can keep scrolling, or if you are curious go ahead and read my thoughts below: I watched up to end of episode 5. My experience is similar to most of the other reviewers in the early eps, It starts Pre Isekai, we are introduced to the characters including the MC. Get some development, pairing up to be interesting Iguess.

Episode 2 subverts it by starting the Isekai late. I consider myself good at inferring so I can sort of get what this anime is going for, the guy has an ideal of a superhero he wants to be and strived his life to be. Gets isekai'd and naturally pursues that goal.

That's where my praise ends.

Whenever I rate an anime, I judge it by: Artistic + Entertainment Merit, Is it worth recommending, Emotional Highs, Does it cater to my biases and most importantly NARRATIVE CONSISTENCY.

Meaning, at any point can you reliably ask the question "What's going on" or "What's the point of this" or "How did we get here" and if the Narrative Consistency is top notch then you will have a very easy answer. No complex BS needed. Its, "MC is out to get this thing so he can save this person" or "MC aims to do this for which this is necessary hence why we are here" or "This guy wants the Mcguffin cuz he wants to be rich, this guy wants it for Honor and Glory, this guy wants this to harness its power and Rule the World, and this guy wants it cuz he originally owns it"

This anime is a Masterclass in showcasing "How to not do narrative consistency"

In any of the episodes between 1 and 5, I kept asking the questions above. Nothing makes sense, how did we get from A to B, why is this person like this, if they were why was there no previous build up, why was this person relevant.

This anime is also a great example of "Don't Show, Tell" which is opposite of sound advice: "Show don't tell"

The exposition dumps are insane.

The only thing that remains consistent is our MCs downright religious obsession of being a background character so he can fancy himself being the "Eminence in the Shadow" which is fine, in fact thats the ONLY thing I can tolerate (even though its cringe but hey I don't mind that if thats what the anime is going for)

The humor falls flat, The MC being all knowing to his subordinates but actually knows nothing is reminiscent of SASUGA AINZ SAMA from Overlord. It worked there because Ainz legit didn't know what was happening and didn't pretend to be all knowing, in fact he would subtly try to get his followers to explain what they are doing also cuz Ainz cares about his subordinates and isn't Sadistic or sees them as mere tools.

So yea proper format wise

Artistic and Entertaining: 0/2

If you had fun watching this, I don't intend to rain on your parade. Go have your fun, but objectively I found nothing artistic here to appreciate aside from the brief Pre Isekai which in the grand scheme of things seems pointless. I would normally award the entertaining point but I can't since I decided to drop this anime despite watching it on 2x Speed.

Recommend: 0/2

I do not recommend anyone to watch this trash, your time is better spend watching actually good shows. If you want good Isekai: Mushoku Tensei and Re Zero are your buddies. Want more? That time I got reincarnated as a slime, Overlord, Saga of Tanya the Evil. Heck even Konosuba works here, the comedy at least hits.

In fact I'd say go watch Chainsaw Man if you haven't already. Don't waste time on this.

Narrative Consistency: 0/2

No sense of flow in the plot, things happen willy niily with often no prior build up. The amount of suspension of disbelief required may as well make you an Anti Vax, Moon Landing Denier, Tinfoil Hat Flat Earther. There is no pay off for anything because nothing ever builds up to anything. Nothing ever sticks or lands, if this was some sick deconstruction then I'm afraid there was no meticulous deconstruction like Fate Stay Night would attempt regarding the Idea of being a Hero of Justice, instead its just plain broken.

Emotional Highs: 0/2

No build up means no pay off, meaning no chance of ever getting Emotional Highs. You might get a chuckle or two here and there, but you can more reactions out of scrolling memes instead of watching this.

Bias: 0/2

Magic System: The Magic System is ridiculous. Absolutely nothing is explained, everything is assumed to be known by the user already, no limitations exist and no complications ever weigh down our MC meaning to no sense of stake either.

Idealogue: There is absolutely nothing deep in this anime. Despite having situations handed to it on a plate where we could explore themes like the Darker Side of Fame, the idea of living a double life, the philosophy of being a super hero and even the Main characters insatiable drive to be the Eminence in the Shadow. Nope, nothing it is what it is and you are expected to accept it and roll with it

History: A world exists, but all of it sounds like complete Isekai garbage. Absolutely nothing is ever built up, there is no world building. Things just are and are ham-fisted to us through the MC's exposition dump. This world seems completely dead as we have knowledge of it outside whatever is convenient for the MC to pull his stunts for. An example of how to not do World building right here too. Take everything or granted, explain and establish nothing.

Conclusion: 0/10

Considering how much it costs for anime to be produced, and the pinnacle of the medium crafted by the likes of Studio MAPPA

Seeing absolute trash like this being produced saddens me to no end.

All the time and effort went into making this could have been spent on maybe making an amazing Berserk Adaption, or maybe even an illusive Vagabond Adaption or maybe a cool anime original like Cyberpunk Edgerunners. Or even I daresay, more Chainsaw Man. But no, time, people, money, sweat, tears and effort is wasted producing garbage like this.

Eminence in Shadow is a satirical tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of the isekai genre that’s a fun departure from the incessant stream of fantasy/isekai shows these days. I believe those that call Eminence “generic” or “edgy” have completely missed the point of the series. It’s supposed to be over the top and cringe in many situations. It’s quite literally poking fun at traditional isekai tropes and cliches and giving us a meta commentary on them. Cid’s ambition to be a background shadow broker and a mob character at school which ironically leads to him becoming a central figure in this world is the entire point of thestory. When you have that much power it is impossible to stay out of the spotlight completely. It is inevitable that someone as strong as he is becomes the main character in any story.

In short, don’t overanalyse this story. I promise you’ll probably put more effort into it than the author did writing it.

The adaptation itself is honestly one of the best I have ever seen. The Light Novels was one of my favourite ongoing series coming into the anime and I can’t be happier with the job Nexus did adapting it. It’s almost a 1:1 adaptation for the most part. Nexus did an awesome job of bringing the cheeky dialogue to the screen and keeping the tone of the series in tact. I found the direction to be really well done too. Scenes like episode 17’s piano scene even surpassed the source material which is truly the mark of a great adaptation.

Comedy is subjective of course, but I find the style of meta isekai humour that Cid often employs to be very funny. His laissez-faire attitude mixed with the overly serious nature of everyone around him is just a hilarious contrast. Seeing him lead Shadow Garden without any type of cohesive plan or strategy while his followers anxiously await his every move never gets old.

Due to the satirical nature of the series, the characters, at least of season 1’s ending, don’t get a lot of character development. Everyone’s kind of a personification of a trope. Whether it’s Alpha as the loyal second in command, Rose as the principled and iron willed knight, Alexia as the seemingly perfect, top of the class beauty, etc. They all are walking memes. Memes that I enjoy.

As you can probably imagine, the most obvious comparison for Eminence is Overlord, but Eminence is not meant to be taken as seriously as Overlord so characterisation and plot is not as strong. The world building in Overlord is quite a bit better as well. Their biggest similarities will be how both Ainz and Cid just make things up as they go along and they end up looking like geniuses to their subordinates.

If you go into this show with an open mind and let go of all preconceived notions about what it is, I think the vast majority of people will have an amazing time. If you come into this and try to over analyse everything, take things super seriously, etc. You probably will not have fun. I think this is one of the best isekai series ongoing right now and I highly encourage everyone to check out the light novel for what comes next.

Eminence in Shadow gets 9 slime suits out of 10.

So, Here I am embarking to write one of my very few reviews for "the Eminence in Shadow", mostly bcoz there rn't many reviews of people who r up to date with it, & most reviews I see r blatantly negative which I think is Unfair. [ SPOILER FREE REVIEW ] NOte: The story has violence, bloody scenes r shown without restraint. So, Delve into it while expecting that. Plot: 8/10 So, the Eminence in Shadow is An Isekai. It is an Isekai which keeps true to the most used tropes - Overpowered MC, Harem & obviously the indispensable, Lovely - Truck Kun!. A Normiegets isekai'd, who wants to be a hero, save the world, build a harem & live happily ever after. Except ,it's not!. Instead of a NOrmie, A hardcore Chuunibyou gets Isekai'd. Be a Hero? Save the world? Build a Harem? Who cares about that?. All he wants is to be in the Shadows, KNow & manipulate everything from within, Just Play the Cool Shadow Broker!. Yep, Cid knows Everything!. It isn't some masterful, extremely intricate plot, But an entertaining one nonetheless. Don't be fooled by the 1st episode, the tone of the story is more or less grasped & kept from 2nd episode onward.

The overall tone of the anime is light hearted but, in stark contrast with it, like I mentioned earlier, bloody scenes r shown without restraint too, whenever such scenarios come. Which I personally think is a good thing.

Art: 9/10

The Art, for me personally is the best part about the anime. The character designs r lovely, the facial expressions detailed, & some scenes r so nicely done, they likely will stick with you. Like, The one who drew the "Alpha looking at Cid Scene" in ep 4 and the "Sherry eating chocolate Scene" god damn deserves a bonus!!. The sceneries, the houses - all r beautiful. Let's just hope that the art quality doesn't get greatly diminished at the end of the series like with many other animes.

Sound: 9/10

The opening theme By O×T is memorable. The ending theme is also beautiful. The ending theme is sung by each of the different amazing Seiyuus working in the Anime, putting all the voice actors skills & contrasting voices/ auras on display, I simply love the idea!. I am just waiting for the ending theme by Kana Hanazawa- one of my fav seiyuus, the voice actor for Alexia here. Her performance is also amazing as always, less opportunites tho there r in this anime. The Sound tracks are also nicely used, with upbeat & relaxing songs during light hearted scenes, transitioning to distorted & dark themes during the few fight scenes, & when Shadow enters the Scene! , etc.

Characters: 7/10

As the Story mostly assumes a light hearted, satirical tone – the characters fall in line with that. They rn’t very intricate. I do have some grievances with the character development. All of the cast just pops out of nowhere, without much preamble or character building. We rn’t even shown how Cid met most of the lead characters, only getting few frames of them being kids, even. There isn’t much else to say. The characters rn’t very fleshed out. But, the story assumes a satirical tone, so it sorta makes sense. I would still have liked atleast a bit more, tho..

Enjoyment: 8/10

For me, the series has been very enjoyable. I have loved the Satirical moments, beautiful animations, themusic, the voice acting. It isn’t a masterful show, which will keep u at the end of the seat, jaw clenched in anticipation of what will happen next, ofcourse. So, don’t go with those expectations. But, I have liked it for what it is.

Overall: 8/10

Eminence in Shadow is a different take on the oversaturated Isekai genre. Something different from ur morally upright normie who wants to be a hero, save the world, get the girls & live happily ever after. It is a satirical take on the genre, emboldened with its beautiful animation, great voice acting & music & presented to u in an entertaining palate. So, don’t go expecting things from it that it is not ( if that needed to be said). & Relish it for the enjoyment it is.

"In order to be the best, you have to know the worst." - Someone probably I have watched many, many isekai, from the smartphone one, to the one with a loveable group of 3 girls (blue, yellow, and red) and 1 guy (death by the 5mph tractor), all the way to the one who dies over, and over, and over, and over... So I think I have experienced a very wide spectrum of what is good and what is bad. This is the story of the least generic overpowered main character who wants to be the most generic overpowered main character, written by an author whoseems to be just having a fun time.

For starters, the main character may say extremely cringe-worthy chuunibyo lines, but it is all in the name of it being cool. His ideal role is almost that of Batman, except instead of being the rich billionaire he would rather blend into the crowd as a "mob" character who fulfills his role as a self-righteous group leader. I cannot stress enough the difference between the average isekai and this. While an average main character might fight to protect his/her friends or family, or to protect their country that may or may not have treated them poorly, Cid is only fighting for himself in order to be the strongest existence that could win any fight no matter the circumstances. It is in no way an honorable cause, yet who better to fight for than yourself?

When I watch a cringe isekai, the most common reason for me to lose interest is when a character spouts those annoying lines like "We can do this together!" or when the love interest girl is meant to have her power-up, the girl is like "I need to be strong in order to not be a burden to MC-kun!" In Kage No Jitsuryokusha, there is no need for those because all of the girls are already strong enough to win their own battles, and the main character literally goes off on his own because it isn't fun because the girls take care of everything. I appreciate KNJ for not relying on that annoying trope in order to push a plot.

From what I heard, the author literally put the LN on hiatus in order to work on the anime and it shows. You can tell the story seems to have a consistent idea throughout it. All characters' actions and thoughts seem to make sense based on how they were introduced and further developed. For example, the main character maintains his goal and his actions all agree with his premise of giving up all unnecessary distractions from the ultimate goal (with the exception of certain specific ones that have no effect on it). Another example would be how even a "minor" character was only meant to be the main character's friend to blend in as a mob, but even that character maintained their addiction to gambling and acted exactly as a typical mob character would.

Because of this, no characters were outstandingly out of the ordinary if you really think about it. But that's where you would go wrong. They act exactly as they should because that is how they were designed. Similarly to most bad isekai, you aren't meant to think deeply in order to get a good experience. In that sense, it is quite similar, because if you think you know what will happen next, there's at least a 70% chance you will not be wrong. A fanservice is meant to give the fan exactly what the author thinks they want.

I don't usually care or praise about voice acting (I am ALWAYS a sub watcher, if you watch dub I won't judge, but sub is usually more consistently good), music, or animation, but all three were exceptional. Not only did the seiyuu play each part perfectly (of course they did, it was quite stacked lmao), but on especially important moments, they knew when to completely cut off all other sound and focus on a particular line making it much more impactful and seemingly epic. Each seemed to understand the mood and emotion they were supposed to because they almost all have played that same trope before many times. I don't think an ISEKAI anime ever made me want to learn to play the piano, sure the one about not telling the truth in April made me want to try, but KNJ literally made me listen to the same Beethoven song for 80 hours straight and has become a part of my pop-off playlist. Lastly, the animation was very smooth and I can't name a single time where the art style or the animation was ever off (but in the current time that is usually less frequent).

Finally, this can be different from person to person, but I particularly found the fights and even seemingly simpler moments to be extremely exciting. Particularly, when there is a fight with the main character, the main character exudes dominance and strength, which is something that most are not able to really do. The main character both looks and feels like the main character of his own show.

So where does my rating of 10 come from? I say in terms of enjoyment I would definitely give it a 10/10 because while it presents itself as a generic isekai on the surface, it is anything but that. I understand people might not agree on being 10, but if you have actually watched it, I would almost guarantee it won't be below average. If you are looking at this anime to go on your list of "planned to watch that you REALLY want to watch, but for some reason a new show just comes up and you actually never get anything out of," I would recommend watching till episode 2 (or 5, which is one of the highest climaxes in the show) and if you don't like it from there, it just isn't for you.

TLDR: Watch till ep 2 (or 5 if you have time) because it may seem like a generic overpowered main character isekai but it isn't. It is one of the most enjoyable from the perspective of a consistent isekai watcher.

Final comment after completing the anime, I found the fights so exciting and I can't stress enough how much fun I had watching this show because of how cool the characters were

When I found this anime I saw lots of people saying it was a guilty pleasure type of anime so I didn't really think too much about it and just left it but what brought me to this anime was the "I am atomic" scene and I thought it looked pretty good so I decided to pick it up however I quickly found out why people thought it was a "guilty pleasure" anime. 1- Story Its story isn't bad though it isn't all that amazing as we have the protagonist who made up a story that turned out to be true and from that lie came hisloyal subordinates who went on to create shadow garden. Problem with the story for me is that shadow garden plays way too much of a role in it and there is little to know development and explanation on said group for example in episode 20 (the final episode of the season) We are told the protagonist Cid kagenou fought a mist dragon and after defeating it, it pretty much gave him its land that it watched over and this is where shadow garden decided to make their base. Then there are times like when cid fought in the sewers with the I am atomic scene destroyed a great chunk of the area and then by the next episode the hole that was in the middle of the city is never shown again and it just never feels like the world is ever changed or anything happens when cid or the others fight other people. The last thing I want to speak about here are its first few episodes the pacing on them were just ridiculous we went from being in the normal world for the entire episode then the next episode cid is a baby mid episode he is like 9 and we are introduced to the first girl he recruits then by the end of the episode we have all of the girls appear deal with the bad guys then say they are leaving cid and we dont see them again until episode 5 or 6

2-Fights

The fights are completely boring for me whenever it comes to cid fighting someone its clear that he is going to win and there is never any close struggle between him and his opponent and at that point i just want the fight to finish so the episode can continue

3-Characters

Now this is a very weird topic when it comes to this anime because all of the main characters that being the major players of shadow garden(Cid, alpha, beta etc) are just very poorly fleshed out characters as you know next to nothing about them whereas the side characters like the princess, alexia and her sister have pretty well fleshed out characters that i personally like but it all just doesnt feel right since it is only really like 3 or so characters that I can actually enjoy seeing on screen. Now the last character I want to talk about is Sherry, This character I think is just completely bad even though they are fleshed out pretty well I cant for the life of me believe that they are so unfathomably bad at at seeing her surroundings like i get it is a gag but it just seem so dumb to me like for example their mother gets killed and probably not even a good 7ft away is the killer standing with the murder weapon she comes out of the closet she was in after her mother gets killed and yes this is just about at the exact time her mother gets stabbed and sliced up she WALKS OUT of the closest( I have no clue what the point of hiding in the closest was for anymore) then just looks at her mother i shock i mean she doesnt even look around to try and get anyone she doesnt scream she doesnt do anything other than look at the body in complete shock.

4- Animation-

Its animation is nothing special it is your typical anime animation, Stiff/still shots every so often with the audio playing with fights that aren't are just your run of the mill fights

5- Power system

It has nothing special about it, its pretty much just use magic to boost your stats there are very few occurrences where it is used differently for example to walk on water but these never really take place more than 3 times and happens outside of fights or dont have much impact on said fight

Overall It is basically a show where you are just watching for your next overpowered mc who has a few screws loose

(Edit: My beliefs did 180 at the end and actually liked it but won't change my prelim review. But I didn't like it as much to write a fresh review. Stop pinging me) Maybe I am too boomer to understand what this show is supposed to accomplish in the post-Isekai Ojisan era. Is it really a satire to isekai? No doubt it is not a run of the mill isekai but where is it poking fun at isekai though. MC has delusions of grandeur, okay. He peddles a lie about a malicious illuminati to his harem, okay. But the illumaniti exists, okay. Here have this girl who got assaultedonce, getting assaulted again just for the viewers. Why have one, have two or three similar characters! Le epic satire guise.

Is it supposed to be a slice of life of the daily adventures of an isekai'd OP MC, with mid delusions, girls with serious messed up histories casually joining his harem just because. Am I not supposed to take all the excess sexual assault stuff seriously and consider it as light hearted humor device? If I had to watch for misunderstandings and sUbTlE humor, Isekai Ojisan is how one would tackle it, not adding serious assault stories into the mix.

I don't write reviews without descriptive critiques but I literally have no place to start for this show. So have this showerthought of a review instead. Maybe I am wrong, but its 5 episodes already and I have no idea what this show is about.

Or perhaps it is exactly what it is about, experiencing nothing when normal isekais would have some climactic revelation. Maybe that is the parody.

Visuals, Sound are nice like 6.5/10 mid. Everything else I don't have 9000iq to comprehend whether the show is being big-brained or the reverse. NA/10

Most of the other reviews of this I've seen are overanalysing this. This very clearly isn't trying to do anything meaningful; you're not gonna get the kind of depth that you might from some of the big budget shows currently airing, but that's the point. It reminds me of KonoSuba in that it takes Isekai tropes and adds a self aware main character, who is constantly making fun of and engineering said tropes, which is where the entertainment comes from. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing. Don't expect anything deep out of it, watch it for the parody that it is, andthe overtly analytical trashy fun it provides.

7/10

The Eminence in the Shadow is probably the biggest disappointment of this Fall season. It is really sad to see an anime failing to establish the genre it is supposed to be. As a manga, it has pioneered a new genre of comedy that other popular manhwas and manhuas have since then followed. In this setting, the protagonist thinks he is making random stuff up and everyone else is guilable for believing them, but they actually turn out to be true. In my opinion, it would be incorrect to classify this as an isekai anime, in a similar way that One Punch Man is notstricly a superhero anime. The main aspect should be the parody and the anime does a TERRIBLE job of conveying that.

Studio Nexus has instead opted to depict Cid as a Lelouch/Overlord character. The two weakest aspects of the manga, in my opinion, isekai and harem, are at the forefront even from the first episode. The anime takes itself too seriously and as a result none of the jokes really land. In Studio Nexus defence, they are probably basing this adaptation to the novel that the manga was based on, but evidently that does not translate well onto the screen.

The saddest thing is that everything else is okay. The animation is good, the fighting scenes and the slime suit look decent and the pacing is okay, considering this season will have 20 episodes. It is really early to judge the anime but my expectations for the rest of the season are set on a very low standard.

Hey Isekai fans, this is a candy for you... Pilot in my experience is one of the best introductions in to reincarnation I have seen. Mc is great, Plot is funny / captivating, phasing so far is amazing and artistic style/ scene editing is on point.!!! Cant wait to see if it can hold up this for whole season. As far as the 99% bad reviews go = they all complain that Manga is better, and for all I know that might be the case - (I haven't read it), but..... If u just compare these 3 episodes withother Isekai Animes and their starts, I feel its hard not to put it in my top 3. !!! So I can say with confidence, its a must watch!! Especially if u haven't read the manga.