The Eminence in Shadow (Episode 32) – Highest
The Black Rose was activated, creating a portal to another realm where an ancient beast resided. Ragnarok came through the portal and looked to destroy the Oriana kingdom, however, Shadow had other ideas!
The Eminence in Shadow (Episode 32) – Highest
What happened?
Shadow revealed himself to Mordred who was shocked to see that Ragnarok had been injured, however, it wouldn’t be long before it recovered and took its vengeance on the Oriana kingdom. It summoned dozens of magical beasts and set them loose on the city. However, Shadow was not alone. Many of the guests at the royal wedding were members of Shadow Garden. They quickly joined the battle and went after the magical beasts. Shadow took to the sky to play with Ragnarok, leaving Beta and Epsilon to get some information out of Mordred. Only after, he was soundly defeated did he decide to tell them what he knew, although he believed that Ragnarok would destroy them all soon, so it mattered not.
Their world is one of many parallel realms all orbiting a central point. Every so often two realms collide and there is a transference. One such collision introduced magic to this world and another took the island nation of Atlantis away. There was a theory that the human races came from another world, but there was no proof yet. His lecture was suddenly interrupted by Ragnarok’s severed arm. Mordred looked up and witnessed the moment that Shadow tore Ragnarok to pieces. Unable to cope with what he saw, he buried his head into the meat of Ragnarok’s arm and then emerged as something else. He took the fight to Shadow which ended at the edge of the atmosphere. Shadow put a barrier around the planet and then killed Mordred using “I Am Atomic!” It sealed the portal, but then something else appeared and sucked Shadow into another realm.
What did you think?
Now, this is how you end a season. I may have had my issues with some of the things Shadow did in the earlier episodes, but this was epic. The fight with Ragnarok was barely of any note, it was so easy for Shadow. The fight between Beta, Epsilon and Mordred also barely featured. In fact, we only really saw the occasional flash of awesomeness. However, when Mordred started to explain the way the realms work, I gasped. Out loud! If Cid came here from Earth through one of the realm alignments then maybe something went back the other way. Then, we saw Earth. It looked like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic movie… maybe even a zombie movie…
We saw Akane Nishino looking similar to how she looked in the first episode, although she was in her twenties now. She was heading out to look for survivors, armed with an extending nightstick. When she heard something, she spun around charging the nightstick with some sort of energy. Others had referred to her as a Saviour. Then, she was captured by two men with bionic body parts. It was the same two men that kidnapped her in episode one. One of them was having a bad flashback to the time the Stylish Bandit Slayer beat him up and attacked Akane. Of course, that’s when Shadow appeared, fresh from the other world and ready to save Akane again. Just amazing. The third season (and the movie) can’t come quickly enough.
What have you learned?
One observation that I made was that if Cid went back to the original Earth and things changed there, it would appear that in his new home time is running differently. He was a teenager in high school when he died. I’m pretty sure he’s a teenager now (again). By my calculations, Akane should be in her thirties, not her twenties if the timelines had continued at the same rate. I’ll be curious if that is ever brought up again, but it’s not going to be a deal breaker. I just want to see what happened to the world when Cid transferred. Of course, this also means that Cid might not be the only one who transferred. We learned that an entire country was spirited away so it seems unlike that Cid was the only person it happened to.
This series just went to another level with this development. It was already great, but now, I find myself in awe of the way this story has shifted. I can’t say I was expecting Cid to return to Earth and even less that something else had already gone there. I so hope it’s zombies. That would be freaking amazing. However, it would appear that Akane has some magical powers so it’s probably more than that. Anyhow, using the original OP at the end of this season was inspired, especially as we returned to the scene of the opening scene. I can’t wait for more…
Talking of more. A movie has already been announced – The Eminence in Shadow: Lost Echoes. Let the hype begin!
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! |
You might also like…
I have a theory.
Recall that Mordred and the Cult believed at the center of the Multiverse, there’s an unknown realm or entity that could be God. So what if that God IS Cid.
Given how Shadow Garden revere Cid as a Messiah-like figure, I think that was done intentionally to make the reveal that Cid being a God that more shocking.
However, there’s more to it than that. For the time difference, I believed that the Minoru from Episode 1 is not Cid from the series then on. This is not actually an Isekai but a Self-Insert Story where the background character finds himself in this world except there are more than one.
Moreover, recall that we always have scenes of Minoru, Cid’s previous incarnation, in his child form at some dark room with televisions. So what if that was done as a stylization but in truth, child Minoru is actually God watching all the events of the Eminence in Shadow.
My best theory is that God had been watching all the events from the rise of Diabolos to current events now. God wanted to interact with the world and created the perfect background character and implanted copies into each Realm. The one named Minoru incarnate into Earth while Cid incarnate into the other world.
Yeah. That could totally work. Cid does have memories from his life on Earth so there needs to be some sort of continuity between them, but it could be a multiverse situation where there are even more than the cult has witnessed.
There are still lot of possibilities at this stage, but I do like your theory. We’ll just have to wait and see.
I agree. the boomerang back to earth was perfect. It sets up the next part of the story perfectly. Cid says that this had reminded him of what he’d intended to do from the start. Maybe he forgot that he was out to destroy the Cult of Diablos or maybe he’d intended to go back to Earth and Minoru all along. Time may not move at the same speed in both realms, so I’m not going to assume they are the same age relative to each other. There’s at least one big loose end left and I wonder if they’ll just leave it that way.
The gods or fate or whatever truly favor Cid. He accidentally does the right thing too often. He’s really not that bright.
Yeah, there have been too many situations where he’s accidentally been right for it to be a coincidence.
Hopefully, we’ll find out if this is the Earth he came from when he died, although it would be oddly hilarious if he met Minoru in this world.
Me: Why are they explaining all of this?
Episode: (ends)
Me: …question answered!
So, this is one of those times where, after all the talking and theorizing and such… I got nothin. Things are what they are now, and we shall just have to head in to the movie and third season whenever they get here and enjoy. 🙂
Oh, though if you catch the Kagejitsu shorts, it would seem that Epsilon actually got caught up with Cid and will be there in post-apocalyptic Tokyo with him. 🙂
The question now, of course, is how the heck they’re going to get back!
Yeah, I feel like that reveal kiboshed almost every theory running around. More will emerge, however, I think I’m going to sit back and see what happens next (whenever that is).
It was an odd exposition dump, especially as Mordred had nothing to gain by telling them. Sure, he thought he couldn’t lose, but it could have done with a reason for him spilling the beans.
I haven’t seen the shorts, but will have to catch up by the sounds of it. So, many questions. Can’t wait to find some answers to go with them.