The Eminence in Shadow (Episode 30) – Caged Bird
With Rose’s marriage to Perv Asshat back on, Cid has gone to the capital of the Oriana Kingdom to stop it. Luckily, Epsilon is already there and can get him into the palace as her prized student. Will he be able to stop it though?
The Eminence in Shadow (Episode 30) – Caged Bird
What happened?
Once inside the palace, Cid’s position was questioned by Perv Asshat. Normally, it would have been fine for someone like Ms. Shiron (Epsilon) but they’ve recently tightened up security. However, if Cid could play the piano for them, they’re sure it won’t be a problem. Of course, Cid taught Epsilon everything she knew about the piano so put on a sublime performance while his slime relieved the crowd of their jewels. When he was done, they were left speechless. Many wanted to know his name and had eyes on hiring him as their personal pianist. Cid, however, spotted a ring in Perv Asshat’s pocket and quickly made it his, unaware that it was the ring that they found in the ruins.
After retiring to Epsilon’s room, Cid was given a brief tour of the palace by Rose’s personal maid. However, she hated Rose and just wanted to convince Cid to become the pianist for her family. He could make a very handsome salary which would certainly ease his money worries. After giving her the slip, and the Royal Guard who seemed to think he had a thing going with the maid, Cid climbed up to Rose’s room and tried to convince her not to go through with the marriage. There was a nice plate of biscuits that also caught his attention, but that didn’t stop Rose from telling him to leave and that there was no way she could stop it now. Then, Perv came in and warned Rose, after being warned that someone heard voices from her room. He had Rose, her mother, and the key to the Black Rose which would guarantee him a seat in the Cult of Diablos.
What did you think?
This episode felt like a return to form for me. I enjoyed seeing Cid wandering around and getting into trouble. I prefer the apologetic state that we saw with the Royal Guard who felt like Cid was moving in on his girl rather than the whiny wimpy Cid we saw when he was defending Mary in the last episode. I couldn’t help but laugh at his analysis of Epsilon’s slime content compared to the maid. The amount of effort she was putting into ensuring they jiggled in a natural way was hilarious, especially when we saw how bouncy they were compared to Agent 559.
I also loved the way that Cid was busy stuffing his face with biscuits (cookies for the North Americans) while trying to convince Rose to not marry Perv. I’m sure she didn’t hear some of it and just imagined what he was saying when he had a mouthful of crumbs. The really interesting part was that Shadow Garden knew about Rose’s mother’s involvement in the Cult of Diablos. My guess is that she’s more involved than it’s letting on. It tried to make it look like she was a ditz who was having an affair with Perv, but my guess is that she’s the one who’s really in charge. I can’t wait to see what the Black Rose is and when Cid accidentally activates it.
What have you learned?
I think Cid works best when he’s punishing people who clearly deserve it. He’s no saint, but you can tolerate his actions when he’s stealing from greedy rich people. The last arc put him at odds with Shadow Garden and that left a bitter aftertaste. Shadow Garden also aren’t saints, but their actions are all towards defeating an evil underground movement that has inflicted endless suffering on this world. Again, they only tend to punish those who deserve it. In a way, it reminds me of Robin Hood. He was a bandit, but he never targeted the poor and needy, so you could get on his side and overlook the criminal behaviour.
It’s the same with Batman. Morally grey characters need to have a line that they won’t cross. For Batman, it’s killing. I think Cid crossed that line in the last arc when his actions put him up against Shadow Garden. I’m excited to see how this arc plays out and whether Cid stays on the right side of things. It’s going to be an exciting end to the season, whatever happens.
Other posts in the series
Series Information
| English Title | The Eminence in Shadow |
| Japanese Title | Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! |
| 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
| Series | The Eminence in Shadow | |
| Author | Daisuke Aizawa | |
| Artist | Anri Sakano | |
| Volumes | Ongoing | Chapters |
| 1 | We Lurk in the Darkness and Hunt Down Shadows | 1-4 |
| 2 | I Am Atomic! | 5-8 |
| 3 | Hidden Normie Technique | 9-12 |
| 4 | Battles Are Like a Conversation | 13-16 |
| 5 | A Memory I Never Want to Lose | 17-21 |
| 6 | What Beautiful Swordplay… | 22-25 |
| 7 | A Fancy Bandit Slayer | 26-29 |
| 8 | The True Aberration!!! | 30-33 |
| 9 | He Who Destroys All and Rebuilds It Anew! | 34-37 |
| 10 | You Stole What I Hold Most Dear! | 38-41 |
| 11 | Everything’s Falling Into Place! | 42-45 |
It was pretty easy to tell that Rose’s mother wasn’t just some imprisoned damsel in distress in the last episode. The way she suddenly collapsed and clung to her daughter, screaming about how scared she was, was just too over the top. She was definitely in on it. And now we know she’s been… ah… thoroughly enjoying lots of time with Perv, we shall say, the only real question left is whether she’s really a pawn or a queen, so to speak. I’d say the way we saw Perv answering to his superiors already would indicate that she’s a pawn, especially if she has nothing to distract her from being “lonely” in his absence. He still has to play along with her, at least for the moment, to keep her satisfied and quiet. His demeanor when he heard her pleading for him was like a man resigned to his fate, at least for the moment, when duty calls. He sees himself as the one coming out on top, here, even to the point he may end up betraying his superiors for his own ambitions.
I once again have to feel sorry for Rose. She had to kill her father, now her mother is being used against her, she’s powerful but still somehow helpless before Perv, she’s cut off from Shadow Garden, including the most overly zealous of the entire lot calling her a traitor, and she’s in love with Cid while thinking he loves her when he doesn’t. Good grief, this woman is being put through it!
Agreed, I think Perv is absolutely going to betray his superiors, however, that’s where I think the Queen will come into it. I’d love it if it turned out she was using him to get her hands on the weapon too. Either way, the idea of “Perv time’ is quite distressing…
Yeah, the story has been particularly unkind to Rose and I doubt she’s going to get the happy ending she wants. I wonder what Cid has done to be so confident that it’s all taken care of now, especially as he has no idea that the ring he took is important. It could just be the usual Cid bravado, but I feel like he did something between leaving Rose’s balcony and coming to Epsilon’s room.
I love how Cid just randomly happened to steal a ring that happened to be critical to the villain’s plans. It reinforces my feeling that the fates favor him.
The baddies seem to have taken an Arthurian tern.
We’ve known about the Knights of the Rounds as a part of the Cult of Diablos for a while now, but yeah, Mordred certainly adds to that.
Cid’s good fortune reminds me of Kazuma from KonoSuba where his only notable attribute was his exceptionally high luck skill. There’s obviously more to it in The Eminence of Shadow though.
Rose’s actions are understandable considering the ordeal she had with her father so she didn’t want to lose her mother too. However, the problem she’s facing is other than the Cult, it her taking initiative on her own which is pretty consistent about her character since Season 1.
Granted, it’s not a bad trait but Rose never considered how her own actions affected those around her. Those that made those kind of choices, like Elizabeth and Gettan had done all backfired one way or another.
Elizabeth killed herself to end the threat she posed but that only made it easier for Crimson to restart his agenda with Shadow being the one to put an end to it.
Gettan wanted to protect Yukime but his betrayal of her and the tribe resulted in him losing all anyway.
It’s going to be interesting to see if it does all end up going sour for Rose. I’ll be disappointed as she’s a good person and not a bad character, but I can see it going that way. Cid hasn’t exactly left many girls in a better position after interfering in their business. Alexia is probably the most notable exception.