The Eminence in Shadow (Volume 10) – You Stole What I Hold Most Dear!
John Smith’s plan to crash the economy is in full swing now that they have cleaned out the gold from the MCA bank. Soon, he’ll be able to explain his intentions to Alpha and the others. That will show them how cool he really is!
The Eminence in Shadow (Volume 10) – You Stole What I Hold Most Dear!
What happened?
Alpha was distraught when she realised that John Smith was Shadow. Why had he forsaken them? Was it because they weren’t strong enough? All he could say was that he couldn’t say and that in time all will be revealed. It’s a pretty standard series of vague and non-committal sentences that he just loves to drop whenever he wants. After defeating Alpha, he disappeared into the night and caught up with Yukime, who had already cashed in all the counterfeit MCA money. Now, she had a pile of real notes to exchange that they wouldn’t be able to cover. Then, the economic crash would begin. That would be when John Smith shows up at Mitsugoshi with a pile of gold, saving them from the situation he created. They would no doubt be amazed by his talents…
However, while the final steps of their plan were underway, Eta deciphered the coded message that John Smith gave to Beta. It told them everything. What he was planning and where he had hidden the gold. They were delighted to discover that he hadn’t abandoned them. His plan was to destroy the MCA, which was a part of the Cult, while saving Mitsugoshi and ensuring that they were untouchable. They quickly recovered the gold and made preparations for the crash. John Smith came back to check on the gold and discovered it had all gone. He was furious. Then, two of Yukime’s girls arrived and told him that Yukime had not come back from her confrontation with Gettan. John Smith was sure that he had stolen the gold and planned on getting it back, at any cost. Yukime had bested Gettan, but he didn’t accept it. He swallowed several of the pills from the Cult and then attacked. However, John Smith intervened, killing Gettan, but not before demanding that he tell him where the gold was!
What did you think?
I enjoyed this arc in the manga way more than I did in the anime, and I think that was all because of one detail, but I’ll get to that in a moment. This volume was lots of fun with some crazy fights and Shadow being unstoppable and incredibly confident while also maintaining his weak and hopeless background character role. The counterfeit arc ended the same way as the anime, with Shadow deciding that his best chance of not facing the anger of the girls was to run away and pretend that it never happened. I think it worked better here. I feel like his thought process was explained better, and while it still made him out to be a jerk, it wasn’t as bad.
I’m excited for the next arc as that was my favourite from season two of the anime, and it will also take me to the end of season two, which left us with a monster of a cliffhanger that I am very keen to get past. Ironically, it’s only taken me ten months to get around to reading volume ten after I finished volume nine back in the summer of 2024. It’s terrible, I know. Luckily, I won’t wait so long for the next one as my library has already got it in for me. I just have to pick it up! So, you can expect the next review shortly.
What was your highlight?
The anime made it seem like Cid handed Beta a piece of paper that he had been scribbling on in several different languages. It looked like nothing, and when he gave it to Beta to decipher, it felt like he was just doing it to be cool. So, when it turned out to mean something in the anime, it felt like another thing that said something very strange was going on that was pulling the strings, and it wasn’t Cid. However, the manga made it look like he actually wrote a note to them explaining what he was doing and why. That was a pretty big thing because it seems like Cid doesn’t really have much of a clue as to what’s going on and just seems to stumble through everything, but this definitely makes out that he had a plan and was following it through.
Of course, there were other things that kept the mystery alive, such as whatever it was that Delta discovered when they were digging for the gold and the fact that Shadow seems to be saving the same people over and over again. He saved Yukime twice, and he saved the girl from Lawless City who opened the tavern. He’s saved Rose several times, too. Each time, he’s not done it intentionally. He simply happened to be there and was looking to kill some bandits and steal their gold… He really is the protagonist! Anyhow, the ambiguity and the way the story keeps giving hints at both possibilities is keeping me guessing, and that makes me want to read more.
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 |
