Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!

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 are ... more 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.

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!

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 of ... Overlord 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

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 how ... was 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.

Yo
Yes this isn't Redo of Healer. Nothing can hold a candle to that, just don't expect that and everything will be just fine. This is an anime, an isekai anime none the less. It isn't Overlord either, it is, well whatever it is. It is good.

Good. Yes. It is good. Because it is good you should probably watch this. Do recall this is not as good as Redo of Healer. However on the goodness scale it is still at 10. Ten out of what? Ten.

Ten. Ten times A day I would watch this anime if I could, just like how ten times a day I ... re-watch the entire Redo of Healer season. Yes, I think this anime is pretty good.

Thank you for reading my review.

Also, if you haven't watch Redo of Healer, please do. You may be pleasantly surprised by the amount of plot.

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 the ... story. 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 Normie ... gets 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 who ... seems 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

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, and ... the overtly analytical trashy fun it provides.

7/10

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 with ... other 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.

Here's the thing. If you are judging the show on the normal criteria of what makes a show/story good, you are approaching this show the wrong way. If you can not stomach the fact that a show can be enjoyable while creating plotholes every other second, then this might not be for you. But if you are the type to be willing to accept the many traditional faults a show has for the sake of enjoyment, then continue.

I came into this show expecting another cringy seasonal anime, with the twist that it's a self-aware parody. I'll be honest, I was sure the "twist" would not ... detract it from being painful to watch because frankly speaking, there are plenty of other shows that are very obviously self-aware of how ridiculous its premises are that they don't even bother explaining or justifying some of the bullshit they try to pull. I'm looking at you, 99% of isekai anime (or maybe it's 100%). But since I was recommended this show by a few of my friends who have similar tastes as mine and actually found it really enjoyable, I decided to finally give it a go after months.

The story is a fucking mess. It's seemingly justified for me ONLY because it's a (semi)comedy and I have prior experience when dealing with comedy in anime to practically ignore every plothole that happens and attribute nonsensical situations to the genre itself and the fact that "it's anime"...as long as that makes the remaining part of the show enjoyable. That's exactly what I did and boy, am I having a blast watching this show.

I get it, there are other genuinely good shows with proper storytelling that may be more worth your time and this isn't one of them. But at the end of the day, something this show managed to remind me was why I got into anime in the first place. If I wanted to solely experience good storytelling, there are plenty of other non-anime TV shows and movies out there for me to watch. But where else would you see a fucking edgelord openly rejoice at the fact that his school is getting invaded by terrorists so that he and his secret anti-evil army of babes cladded in black can go in and save the day? And where else would you even find a story or author that would even allow for such a thing? It's that kind of nonsense that makes you stop thinking about the show rationally and just enjoy it for what it is.

That being said, if this was the entire show, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. At my very core, I still would generally prefer action over comedy. I still would prefer good storytelling. Very often with parody-like comedy shows, the show gets a bit old after a while and nothing really progresses enough for me to maintain my interest in it over an extended period of time. The novelty wears off and I'm just stuck watching this neverending comedy with the same cast of characters just doing something slightly different this time around. Maybe it works when you watch it once a week on the TV, but when you are watching multiple episodes a day, it gets old fast. What this show has is its inclusion of genuine action scenes and an actual attempt at story progression, no matter how botched the premise can seem to be.

Something I found interesting when looking at the reception of the anime by its manga readers was criticism of how the story seems to be a bit more serious than its manga counterpart. Now, I have actually read a bit of the manga years before the anime came out when I found it near the top of some manga reading site, and while the premise was kind of stupidly amusing, that was it. I actually found it pretty forgettable and so, I decided I needed a refresher and yes, as expected, the manga just does not give a shit. Forget any seriousness; forget all the action scenes, because you may as well pretend all the fights are fragments of the main character's imagination as no one cares about anything. Neither the author, the main character, nor the audience. Maybe that's the way they enjoy the show, and that's fair because I went over how enjoyable that kind of nonsense can be just the last paragraph. But for me, the fact that you get scenes that are completely dead serious and dramatic is what pulls me into the world. This back-and-forth between action drama and comedy is a formula that is really hard to get right, and it's one of the reasons I enjoyed Gintama so much until a certain arc in the show broke that formula and the author forgot why it was so good in the first place. Just like how many action shows have comedy relief, that kind of balance is needed as well for comedy shows to emphasize the importance of what we are watching. What we forget when watching the show is that even though the main character, and by extension the audience, doesn't take the world seriously, the characters within the world do. The actions made by our MC have genuine consequences that he does not even realize (nor care about), and subplots within the episodes show you that the world is indeed alive and isn't just an imagination of the main character conjured up for him to look like a badass. I don't know if he will ever understand this and I don't know if the story will even attempt to head in that direction, but I do think it's a direction worth looking into sometime in the distant future.

On top of that, I was genuinely surprised at how good the production was. Maybe I shouldn't put it that way because I would be absolutely lying if I said this was the best production I've seen in a while, but again, given the premise of the show, I expected something quite shoddy and half put together for the sole purpose of advertising the show for others to read the light novel. But no, it's actually well made as a complete standalone, so when I went to MAL expecting at the very minimum an 8+ rating, I was surprised to see it only at 7.92 rating at the time of writing. I'm also of the opinion that the anime is actually better than the manga and I can already hear the pitchforks in the distance, but that's just how it is. When I went to reread the manga so that I can compare the two mediums, I found the story and scenes to be surprisingly compressed. There was a scene in episode 5 that I was trying to find in the manga for comparisons, and I immediately went to chapter 15 thinking I would be in the right ballpark as I found that generally, a good adaptation of a manga is around 3/4 chapters per episode, but instead, I had to go back all the way to chapter 6 to find the scene. The chapters are around 40 pages long, double that of your typical 20-page chapters in shounen manga, and would put it at chapter 12 instead had it been 20 pages per chapter, but the scenes lacked impact and felt as if the story was briefed to us in a summary format. Maybe this was why the manga felt like a full-fledged comedy while the anime was a bit more of a mix because seemingly important events relating to the story were just taken care of within the chapter and not much was emphasized on the conflict itself. In the anime, there were plenty of scenes that were straight-up changed solely because the scenes in the manga weren't going to be dramatic enough, and that showed me that those behind this anime actually cared about it enough to want to make a better version of the story.

The art is great to look at and the animation is decent as well. I'm not expecting ufotable animation after all, so I don't have an issue if some of the scenes look like they were animated a decade ago. Sure it would be beautiful if I could see particles lighting up the area and swirling around a sword as Saber did with her Excalibur, but it's by no means a deal breaker. The music and soundtracks suit the scenes and set the tone properly, and I don't recall any bgm that was jarring to listen to while some of the sound effects really add to the immersion of the show. There are also creative liberties by the VAs that easily could've been skipped had it been a worse production, so for that (and the fact that the VAs genuinely did a good job), I'd say that's one of the more outstanding parts of the adaptation as well. Otherwise, I found no issues with the pacing of the show at all and there were some scenes that caught me off guard with how much effort the director put into making the scenes more dramatic and impactful to the story.

If you only want to watch shows with amazing storytelling and artwork and animation and music and voice acting and whatever, then this most likely isn't for you. But who knows, you might find yourself enjoying a show that you initially had no intention of enjoying.

The Eminence in Shadow is a gem hidden in trash

On a first glance most people just like I did at first would discard this anime to what would seem as just another unoriginal, mediocre Isekai with an OP Kirito clone MC who Isekaied through truck-kun and has a harem of stunningly beautiful yet extremely powerful girls on his side who are the only ones who could stand to the evil of that world, but if you were to look past the bad trashy surface and the staunch stench you will find a glimmering gem of refined quality waiting for those who are willing to give ... it a try.

The story revolves around Cid Kagenou, whose goal is not to be the hero, the villain, or the final boss, his goal is to be the eminence in shadow, the one who's pulling the strings in the shadow, and he is going to achieve his goal with extreme power and his even more extreme acting skills.

The MC plays two roles in this show to fulfil his goal, the first one is the role of an insignificant background character who can be easily replaced and forgotten if they were to die whose only role is to fill the background to make the main characters of any normal story shine even brighter in contrast to their background, and he really plays this role perfectly, and what I really like about this is that he keeps his personality in this one instead of just being like the average Isekai MC who have no personality whatsoever and are supposed to just a template for the viewers to put themselves into, instead he acts like any normal person would do and in ways that we can relate to, heck, even the opening theme for this anime follows this act by focusing on the girls that work with shadow instead of shadow himself who he himself is only shown in the beginning and the ending of the opening theme perfectly capturing his role of being The Eminence in Shadow.

The second role he's playing is the role of Shadow, the leader of the secret organization Shadow Garden, acting as the eminence in Shadow, and he pulls it off in away that is both edgy and cool which makes the payoff of going through the background character act even more rewarding, and if you think I'm exaggerating then I have only thing to say for you:

I AM ATOMIC

Many people are like ohh it didn't fil up my expectation and i would say the anime didn't even complete yet and your and your expectation jar is broken it can't be filled because there is nothing wrong with this anime
i really like this anime tbh. because it's different than the other harem anime which mostly focused on harem and the echii scan but it completely different because just after watching the first episode i started the second episode and everything was like a puzzle getting together one by one i am really enjoying this anime can't wait to see all it's episodes ...
i really like this anime although it's still releasing.
one of the best isikai anime in my opinion. And the animation really good and the characters are really good looking
And the 'GIRLS' OHHHH HOHOHO.............
Really like the girls
i really like the story and i really like the way MC behave. He is funny and tough at the same time. And he don't want to show anyone how strong he is...Keeping his power a secret just making me more excited when everyone will know
if i could give it more rating i would rate
1000000 out of 10
i hope i can see more of this even i put this anime in my wallpaper

Ok I might over exaggerate when I rated this a 10/10 anime but let me tell you why I think it's a funny, well paced and interesting anime despite all the non-sense that is going on in it.

The first episode was a bit rough to say the least. It was a non-sensical tease to introduce the character, his motivation and how he generally works. It's hella unrealistic but that's not the point of the episode from what I've seen. It sets the general tone of the show.
With the MC introduced we slowly progress further into the story where the isekai part sets in.
As soon ... as our MC gets reborn we don't get an in depth explanation of the other world. We only spectate the tomfoolery of Cid Kagenou and learn about the new world passively. I would go as far as to say that everything up to episode 7/8 is just a stretched introduction to the main cast of the season. But that's already the first interesting thing that the show does: it doesn't treat it like a normal introduction, the introductory elements shape around Cid's daily life where we get a bunch of funny moments, general exposure of what's going on and a sense of mystery since the other characters seem to know much more than we get to witness from Cid's perspective. Despite the relatively shallow main plot it works really well in this format.

Slowly we begin to see what this is all about. So what does the show do to keep it fun and interesting? It shares the screen time with many different characters, gives us not only comedy but treats the "side characters" like MCs while our actual MC tries his best to be as "background character"-like as possible without reusing the same joke too many times and having generally enjoyable and short running gags. It just progresses smoothly and has great pacing without wasting time. I've seen myself often check how much time was left cause I expected some kind of cliff hanger after a bigger event happened in an episode just to happily be reminded that only half of it was over. I don't know how it manages to satisfy my need for comedy and story in such a small time period without using big cliff hangers at the end of EACH episode [I'm looking at you Boku no Hero Academia >:( ] but it gets it done.

Why will I keep watching "The Eminence in Shadow" and so should you?
Well I enjoy this formular a lot. The animation peaks many times, it has great highlights and I like the cast of characters + I'm just a bit hyped to see how the second season would treat its story. It has great potential and to see character growth from that perspective of a shadowy organization mixing it with that sense of mystery without making it the main plot point and comedic writing makes the show as a whole a joy to watch.
It has that vibe that Konosuba has and still manages to make me hyped at times in a different way than Konosuba did.

I hope that you can enjoy this show like I did and thank you if you read all of this.

This is the best anime I've ever seen.

If it was possible I would rate this 11 out of 10. The style of the anime, the art, the characters, the voice acting - it's all impossibly close to perfect. It isn't scared of trying new things and it maintains a cool yet often hilarious plot. After every episode it just kept getting better, so it made me sad to see other reviewers watching only a few episodes and not reccomending it, because it was ''just another boring isekai''. The anime is so much more than that.

This is the only time while watching actively an ... airing series and being sad that one moment it will end. This will most likely be forever my favourite anime ever.

During the day, Minoru Kageno is an apparently normal high school student, shy and silent. What sets him apart from everyone else is his desire to become very powerful. Minoru secretly trains to become a skilled fighter, ready to do anything to fight evil. But perhaps what he really wants is something else.

After pushing himself too hard to obtain unlikely magical powers, Minoru dies during his training and is reincarnated in a new Western fantasy-style world as Cid Kageno. Cid blends in with the students and goes unnoticed during the day, but at night, under the cover of darkness, he fights the evil cult of ... Diablos as Shadow.

Shadow is the head of a powerful and loyal organization of magical warriors called Shadow Garden, made up exclusively of female characters who form a real harem devoted to him. But how real is any of this? Does the cult of Diablos really exist, or is it just a figment of Cid's imagination? And above all, how aware is Cid of his own actions?

What makes this anime unique is its portrayal of the main character. Unlike other isekai protagonists, Cid maintains his awareness of his previous life after being reincarnated in this new world. He introduces cultural elements from his world, well known to viewers, into a completely foreign context. This narrative device allows for continuous references to Western pop culture, as well as a comic and self-deprecating streak within the fantasy setting.

Cid's character is perhaps one of the most successful aspects of the entire work. Through interior monologues addressed directly to the viewer, he reiterates how he wants to be only an extra in the story, almost as if he were aware of being part of a fictional story. This meta narrative allows for countless absurd and funny situations, while also slyly poking fun at the typical clichés of Japanese animation.

During the first part of the work, Cid's two identities are well-developed and distinct. The tone and atmosphere of the anime change drastically depending on which of his two aliases is the protagonist of the scene.

Shadow is a formidable warrior with unmatched magical power. Unlike other strong protagonists, he is fully aware of his power and does not hide his arrogance. Shadow is an unapologetic antihero, and when he appears, the tone of the story is always dark, taking on a dark fantasy tone and, at times, even horror elements.

In total contrast, the lighthearted and comedic settings feature Cid as the protagonist. The tones are more relaxed, the characters that populate these scenes are predominantly comic relief, and the genre shifts to comedy.

The first season of The Eminence in Shadow finds one of its greatest strengths in its technical aspect. The aesthetic rendering of the settings and the characters is well-characterized, and the characters remain imprinted on the viewer's mind from their first appearance. Each of the main characters has their own fighting style, a very specific aesthetic, and unique and well-diversified magical abilities. Thanks to the excellent work done by Nexus studio, the adaptation of Aizawa's work manages to keep viewers engaged. Even in the most frenetic fighting scenes, the animation is consistently fluid and clear.

This anime really entertained me with its plot full of intrigue and an unapologetic protagonist who was so much fun to follow. The Eminence in Shadow met all my expectations.

I definitely also appreciated the fact that there were 20 episodes instead of the standard 12, giving us a few more story arcs to enjoy.

I highly recommend watching this gem!

Personal rating: 9.5/10

The Eminence in Shadow is an adequately unique take on Isekai which I believe is at the very least deserving of a recommendation. At the heart of the story is an (almost troll) subversion of the typical power-fantasy Isekai genre, something that is perfectly exemplified in the first episode.

The show has a peculiar, almost eccentric, take on various tropes common in such media, one such example is the way the male lead comically pursues his chunni passions. Some may call him "edgy" but the narrative embraces it as more of a ludicrous takedown of typical edgy characters, especially demonstrated in episode four. The soundtrack ... is especially good, composed by Kenichiro Suehiro (Shadows House, Re:Zero, Fire Force), complimenting the visuals in perfectly capturing the faux-serious nature of this work.

That said, there are times this mode of storytelling is weak. The Eminence in Shadow occasionally falls victim to its own attempts at trope subversion, such as the cluelessness of the male lead. Still, this show would definitely elicit a laugh from those familiar with the Isekai genre - undoubtedly worth a watch.

I... am... finally interested in anime again.

To be honest most anime nowadays don't interest me. I feel like i've seen everything i wanted and now i don't get interested in what comes out. Well Eminence in shadow kind of rescued me here. After seeing al the new stuff and giving tries to what not i've found an anime that doesn't feel the same as any other.

Eminence In Shadow came here as a trash isekai anime, and after seeing many reviews and bad opinions on about how generic this thing is i just need to get out here and talk about this.

The comedy/action/seriousness in this anime ... is so well balanced it always delivered just what i needed. The characters are so well written i have many of them that i enjoy and hardly any that i would consider annoying.

People who don't watch variety anime too often wouldn't find this as funny, but, some of the things here that seem too generic and too non-original were just so funny. From the appearance of the sekai de ichiban ticket to the isekai world truck.
To some of the cliches the anime had and made fun of. I couldn't even comprehend how well made this shit is.

If i would want to rate the aspects then i would go - Comedy,Characters being the simplest, beacause they are 10s. Action and the whole depiction of power is also great. The one thing i would want to mention is how well balanced the animation is and how great the sounds are here. The one thing i didn't notice were some good OST unless we are talking about Oxt- Highest (the op which is a banger).

Overall this anime is so refreshing and i've never seen anything like this so finally after searching i've found something that soothes my nerves when it comes to searching for an anime.

An actual isekai anime where the protagonist really wants to become powerful through hard work and ridiculous wits while trying to lead a double life of a normal background character and a mastermind behind the shadows. This anime masterfully fulfills the teenage fantasy to be overpowered, smart and cool (similar to chuunibyou/personal fable) through beautiful art/animation that fits the style as well as grandiose music that creates a hype and epic atmosphere.

The comedy is very well delivered in the anime, which adds time to take a breath from all the "mastermind operations" as well as the overwhelming feelings. Furthermore, the comedic scenes beautifully ... create challenges and obstacles for the protagonist, thus making the plot more interesting and ironically adding character development to everyone.

The anime is over the top, overhyped, and to some, it's the pinnacle of cringe since it depicts perfectly how we imagine ourselves overpowered, but that's precisely why it's so fantastic.

In a climate where every show is trying so hard to tell a story with a hundred layers of depth and to carry a virtuous message about how you should live your life, Eminence In Shadow is something that so few shows manage to be anymore: unconditionally really fun.
Eminence in Shadow is not a perfectly written masterpiece. It's not an instant timeless classic that we'll be talking about for generations. It's not a show that'll change your life.
Eminence in Shadow is a show that allows you to sit down, watch an episode (or ten) and just really enjoy yourself for 20 minutes. It's goofy, it's ... surprisingly funny, it's characters are likeable, and it has a few moments of genuine brilliance that you rarely see in gag anime. If there's one thing Aizawa excels at, it's telling a pretty good story and then delivering it in a way that'll have you off your seat, either standing up in hype or rolling with laughter at the protagonists ridiculous antics.
The concept is inherently completely absurd, as they tend to be with parody anime. Cid is a chuuni kid who wants to live out his dream of being the hidden power that controls the world from the shadows, but despite the fact that he's just roleplaying, he manages to bumble his way into actually leading the most powerful organisation on Earth, and somehow he is none the wiser (this isn't even really a spoiler: this is the early set-up). The absolute ridiculousness of it is complimented so well with the fantastic delivery. The jokes actually land, the goofiness is actually entertaining, and the rare moments of badassery actually come off as badass.
If you're looking for a deep, massively mutlilayered story with tonnes of complexity and nuance, EIS may not be for you. But if you wanna watch 20 episodes that'll just constantly bring a stupid grin to your face, there are very few better options