The Eminence in Shadow (Episode 21) – The Lawless City

After Shadow’s stunt at the Bushin Festival, his sister, Claire went on to win. However, not one to sit back and relax, she has gone hunting the Blood Queen and taken Cid with her to boost his resume!

The Eminence in Shadow (Episode 21) – The Lawless City

What did you watch?

I watched all twenty episodes of the first season of The Eminence in Shadow in four days and loved every second of it. Then, I turned to the manga and am working my way through that. Ironically, on the day that this episode was released, I read volume seven which covered this entire episode so I came into the episode with it all fresh in my mind. There are some notable differences but nothing too severe. Anyhow, I’m desperate to get into the episode, so here we go…

What happened?

An ominous red moon hung in the sky, bathing everything in a sinister red glow. Shadow Garden were concerned about the legend from a thousand years ago, but Shadow was not worried. He heard that a lot of money had been flowing into the Lawless City and decided to take it upon himself to deal with the money… I mean the incident. Anyhow, if he left the girls to it, they would somehow turn it into some ridiculous story with vampires and therianthropes. Luckily, his sister, Claire was going on a mission there and was keen to take Cid with her. She was worried that once he left school he would have no prospects since he’s such an average student. If he stays behind her, he could get some credit.

They hadn’t been in the Lawless City for long before Cid wandered off and was soon pickpocketed. That was great, he instantly knew who to pickpocket himself and was soon racking in loads of money. Then, he came across some guys beating on a ghoul. It didn’t seem like a fair contest, but then a strange magical energy came from the blood moon and seemed to enhance the ghoul’s power. Soon, there were loads of ghouls and they were all running towards him. He was still working out how to play this since being in a zombie apocalypse sounded like a lot of fun when a woman in red with a blade not unlike his saved him. She gave him a list of warnings before leaving. Shadow was going to have a lot of fun with this!

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What did you think?

I am dying! How did one of my favourite shows of the year get even better? They added zombies and vampires, that’s how. This is a wonderful development, especially as it gives Shadow something exciting to do. I loved how he parrotted everything Mary the Ancient Vampire Hunter said and then just went around killing ghouls and saying the exact same thing. I mean they were some cool lines, so why not borrow them? So, differences from the manga. Cid’s friends, Po and Skel were not in it at all. Also, the scene where Shadow saved the prostitute was not nearly as dark and disturbing in the manga. She wasn’t beat up and contemplating her life. That felt like an unnecessary addition as it seems unlikely that we’ll see her again unless she somehow joins Shadow Garden in the future. Anyhow, it really was a cool episode and much like the manga, I can’t wait to see what happens.

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What was your favourite moment?

I really want to say the scene where Shadow met Yukime and Juggernaut outside the Red Tower, but that was the final moment of the episode and sets things up wonderfully for the next one. So, instead, I’m going to go with the moment Mary the Ancient Vampire Hunter saved Cid. He was standing there watching the ghouls run towards him, thinking about how much fun he’d have if he just let them run loose. Of course, there were plenty of ghouls everywhere so that wasn’t too much of a worry that Mary just cut them down. The thing about Mary is that I don’t trust her one bit. She has strange eyes and uses a sword like Cid’s slime sword but it appears to be blood. She also knows a lot about the Blood Queen and I think she wants to use Claire as the sacrifice, that is if she isn’t actually an Ancient Vampire Hunter.

Who was the most impactful character?

I mean, it has to be Cid. However, the most interesting thing in this episode was that Cid decided to go to the Lawless City by himself because he wanted to steal all the money… and he was concerned that they would turn the event into some crazy story. Does Cid believe that everything that’s happened so far has been Alpha and the girls’ doing? It certainly seems that way. Of course, that doesn’t answer the real question and how is it happening? How is it that whatever Cid says comes to be true? It makes sense from his perspective that he thinks it’s the girls because they’re the only ones that know what he’s said and he believes they are continuing the games from when they were kids. He’s a fascinating character.

What have you learned?

As an author, I think you should look at the story you’ve written and see if it works better in a different order. In the manga, it was Claire who said first that she was going to the Lawless City. Then, Cid mentioned it to Beta. In the anime, it started with Shadow Garden and made a big thing of it and that was when Cid decided to go to the Lawless City. Then, we saw that Claire was taking him there. In the manga, it felt more like he was just going with the flow, whereas the anime has given him more agency. Ultimately, we don’t really know whose idea it was because of the way the story works so far, but you can get slightly different results by changing the way things are presented.

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Other posts in the series

Series Information

English Title	The Eminence in Shadow
Japanese Title	Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!
Author	Daisuke Aizawa
Artist	Anri Sakano
Genres	Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Demographic	Seinen

Anime

Season One

Season	Season One
Released	Fall 2022
Animation Studios	Nexus
Episodes	20

Bonus Posts

Analysis	How Much Does Cid Know?
Lists	Five Best Fights

Season Two

Season	Season Two
Released	Fall 2023
Animation Studios	Nexus
Episodes	12
21	The Lawless City
22	The Haven
23	The Hour of Awakening
24	The Mask of Falsehood
25	He Who Pulls the Strings
26	John Smith
27	Something Precious
28	The Dragon’s Tears
29	The Key
30	Caged Bird
31	Determination
32	Highest

Manga

Volumes	Ongoing
1	We Lurk in the Darkness and Hunt Down Shadows
2	I Am Atomic!
3	Hidden Normie Technique
4	Battles Are Like a Conversation
5	A Memory I Never Want to Lose
6	What Beautiful Swordplay…
7	A Fancy Bandit Slayer
8	The True Aberration!!!
9	He Who Destroys All and Rebuilds it Anew!

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