The Eminence in Shadow (Season Two)
Cid’s quest to become the Eminence in Shadow continues, however, that would have to wait as his sister took him to the Lawless City with her, so that he could build a bit of a reputation for himself…
The Eminence in Shadow (Season Two)
What did you watch?
I watched the first season of The Eminence in Shadow in three days back in May of 2023. Since then, I read the first seven volumes of the manga. I was considering jumping into the light novels too, but then the second season was confirmed and I decided that I had better watch that as it airs, rather than risk the chance of spoilers. The second season was only twelve episodes long… Would that be enough to get all the shadowy goodness out of this show? Let’s find out!
What happened?
Cid’s sister, Claire had been selected to go on a mission with the Dark Knights. She was going to the Lawless City to look into something sinister happening in the Red Tower, rumoured to be the home of vampires. She decided that it would be a great opportunity for her background character of a brother to build a bit of a reputation and maybe forge a career for himself. If she didn’t help him, who would? Cid came along and saw it as an opportunity to make some money. There’s nothing wrong with stealing from those who steal from you… After a night of successfully pickpocketing everyone who tried to pickpocket him, he came across an undead that suddenly became more powerful. He was “saved” by a mysterious woman who gave him some interesting lines to try out.
Claire soon discovered that Cid had gone missing and when she started to search for him, she came across the mysterious woman who “saved” Cid. Together, they battled their way into the Red Tower in search of him, although the mysterious woman had her own agenda. And, of course, Cid was not the Dark Knight that had been captured but was busy making some noise of his own with the leaders of the White and Black Towers. Anyhow, time is running out! Something sinister is about to begin in the Red Tower and they will find themselves in the way at the pivotal moment! The end is nigh!
What did you think?
I found myself experiencing a number of emotions in this season of The Eminence in Shadow. It started off pretty much where the seventh volume of the manga ended which was a nice way to start. I loved the vampire arc and how ridiculous Shadow was with the lines he parrotted from Mary the Ancient Vampire Hunter. This was a fun arc. Then, we had the arc where Shadow became John Smith and worked with Yukime, the ruler of the White Tower to destabilise the economy with counterfeit banknotes. This was fun too until John Smith fought Alpha. That felt like he crossed a line and his lack of remorse (while entirely within character) was a little hard to swallow. However, the final arc picked things up and then the series hit us with the mother of all moments by sending Cid back to Earth. That ending was incredible.
What was your favourite moment?
It has to be the final couple of moments in the season. We returned to Earth and it appeared to be somewhere between ten to fifteen years since Cid died there. Tokyo looked like an apocalyptic warzone. Then, we met up with Akane Nishino, the girl saved by the Stylish Bandit Slayer in the first episode before Cid died. She was referred to as a Saviour, although we don’t know what that means. She may have some powers, but again, we didn’t see enough because she was kidnapped by the same two guys who kidnapped her in the first episode, although they were now cyborgs. One freaked out from a flashback only to be interrupted by Shadow!
Previous to this, we learned from Mordred that when an alignment between worlds occurs there is a transference of something, and it’s usually two ways. So, did something move to Earth when Cid’s consciousness was moved to the new world? This final scene took what was an entertaining series and bumped it up to another level. The possibilities are endless now and I can’t wait to see what they do with this development.
What was your least favourite moment?
Shadow had become John Smith and was busy doing his own selfish things without a care for how that might impact the rest of Shadow Garden. That came to a head when Alpha tried to intercept John Smith. She discovered that he was Shadow and that she didn’t have a hope of beating him. Alpha was left distraught, believing that they had displeased him and were unworthy of his blessing. This felt like a massive kick in the gut. Seeing Alpha so distraught hurt. Then, seeing that Cid had no intention of apologising and was just going to hide until it all blew over was infuriating. I felt like he crossed a line here and that impacted my overall enjoyment of the show.
Who was your favourite character?
Delta was incredible in this series and her interactions with Shadow are brilliant. She acts like his pet/little sister. She seems to be able to get him to behave in a different way to the way he is around the others. He seems almost more natural with her. I love how playful she is with everything she does and that seems to make the moments she’s in the show that much more entertaining. Another character I enjoyed, although she wasn’t in it as much was Nu. I loved the way she used a mafia boss approach to questioning Po and Skel.
That said, this season was really about pushing Rose from one extreme to another and then setting her up to rule Oriana. She didn’t have it easy and I don’t see that changing at any point for her. I was pleased with her development and will be hoping for some calm in her life, for a little while at least.
Who was your least favourite character?
This is a tough one. On one hand, I want to say Cid for the way he treated the girls of Shadow Garden, but on the other hand, he has some incredible moments and you know what you’re getting with him, so it’s hard to be surprised by his actions. As always, the villains end up being far less entertaining because of how far out of their depth they really are. Perv Asshat was a joke of a character who was designed as a scheming trickster, but in the end, he fell apart when any pressure was put on him. Mordred showed up with some flashy moves, but again nothing compared to Beta and Epsilon. I feel like Agent 559 could become an interesting villain, although she’s so completely besotted with Shadow that it seems unlikely. Maybe, something will happen to make that a possibility. It’s hard to pinpoint one character that stands out as the most annoying – maybe Rose’s mother because she was actually vile!
Would you like some more?
Of course. Even with the frustration I felt towards Cid, that wouldn’t have been enough to stop me from following this story. I’m looking forward to picking up the manga again and they’ve already announced a movie, which will likely be around before the third season starts. This is a very cleverly written series and there are lots of things to think about and try to put into place. The theories that this series generates alone are a testament to how much people are interested in it. I think the twist at the end of this season throws a lot of those theories in the air, but you can bet many more will appear in their places.
What have you learned?
I really liked how this season followed Rose’s journey. It started towards the end of the last season when she went on the run and then ended up killing her father who had become a zombified shell of himself. We saw her join Shadow Garden, work with them on several missions and then turn against them to save her mother. If only Shadow Garden had told her what they knew of her mother beforehand. Maybe, then she wouldn’t have had to see Perv making love to her mother while they talked about killing her… Poor Rose. Anyhow, the point is that Cid is a background character and Rose is the main character in this overarching arc. That shows you how you can change things around when it comes to storytelling. There are no rules.
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 |
Happy new year ????
Thanks. Happy New Year to you, too!
I think the worst moment of the season for me was just the exposition dump by Mordred. Felt lazy, it would have felt better if we either got a slow drip of info hinting at this (ex. mention Atlantis earlier on to leave us thinking about it). Like in S1 when they assaulted Sanctuary, they could have started hinting at this whole converging worlds idea then, and slowly added to it, culminating with the Black Rose activating and Mordred confirming the theories or something like that.
And yeah, I felt the same way about Cid. Like it’s entertaining to watch him just do his own thing, it was funny when he thought it was so cool to hear “The frenzy has begun…. there’s no time” that he literally went around just saying it to everyone. But this season also as you mention exposes his blatant disregard for Shadow Garden, like he just doesn’t seem to care about them in the slightest. Which seems a bit odd when you consider how he seemed quite close with the original members when he was younger and was constantly talking to them and telling them stories and whatnot.
Yeah. There was no reason for Mordred to spill the beans like that. A slower approach would have been far more satisfying. Some hints here and there.
And yeah, he’s so detached from them which is odd considering he’s been with most of them since he was a little boy. He needs a little development in this area so we can understand what he’s thinking and why he acts this way. At the moment, we just have to accept that he’s crazy and that’s all there is to it.