Anime Reviews (2020s): The Eminence in Shadow (Season 1) (2022)

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“The Eminence in Shadow” turned out to be a wonderful, excited, action-packed anime series! I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a series with a crazed and super powerful protagonist and following since “Code Geass” and for those who are interesting in one of the most riveting anime series to be released in the 2020s, “The Eminence in Shadow” is highly recommended

Click here to purchase “The Eminence of Shadow (Season 1)” on Blu-ray

TITLE: The Eminence in Shadow (Season 1)

DURATION: Episodes 1-20 (500 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Subtitles: English, English SDH

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: October 10, 2023

Original Creator: Aizawa Daisuke

Original Character Design: Tozai

Director: Nakanishi Kazuya

Series Composition: Katou Kanichi

Script: Katou Kanichi, Okada Kunihiko, Inoue Mio

Music by Suehiro Kenichiro

Character Design: Iino Makoto

Art Director: Beom Seon Lee

Anime Production: Nexus

Featuring the following voice talent:

Yamashita Seiichiro/Adam Gibbs as Cid Kagenou/Shadow

Minase Inori/Annie Wild as Beta

Aizawa Sana/Brittney Karbowski as Sherry Barnett

Uchida Maya/Cat Thomas as Nu

Seto Asami/Christina Kelly as Alpha

Asai Ayaka/Dominique Meyer as Zeta

Shiraishi Haruka/Donna Bella Litton as Rose Oriana

Mimori Suzuko/Elissa Cuellar as Gamma

Kanemoto Hisako/Ellen Evans as Epsilon

Kondo Reina/Genevieve Simmons as Eta

Matsushige Shin/Greg Ayres as Jaga Imo/Po

Hideka Rina/Luci Christian as Claire Kagenou

Matsuoka Yoshitsugu/Nathan Wilson as Hyoro Gari/Skel

Hanazawa Kana/Olivia Swasey as Alexia Midgar

Hikasa Yoko/Patricia Duran as Iris Midgar

Ai Farouz/Raven Troup as Delta

Cid doesn’t want to be a flashy hero or a dastardly villain. He wants to operate in the shadows and pull the strings of society through wit and cleverness. So, when he’s isekai’d to another world armed with magic powers (and an overactive imagination), he forms Shadow Garden, an underground organization that fights an evil cult he totally made up. But while Cid happily roleplays his favorite antihero tropes, little does he know Shadow Garden’s recruits treat his every lie as gospel, and worse yet? That “fake” cult is actually real, and they’re not happy his power fantasy just impeded their plan to gain ultimate power!

When it comes to Japanese animation and the plethora of shows that come out each year, one of the topics is creative originality that comes up year after year. How can an anime series be different and not be banal.

“The Eminence in Shadow” is one of those anime that is unique and absolutely entertaining.

“The Eminence in Shadow” is an anime adaptation of the Japanese light novel series by Aizawa Daisuke and illustrated by Tozai. The light novel series was also adapted into a manga series but the anime series is what attracted many people worldwide and a second season premiered in October 2023.

As for the 20-episode first season, it has been released on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Studios.

The series begins with the first episode of Nishino Akane, a famous actress who was kidnapped by a fan and sexually assaulted. And now she despises everyone around her.

We are introduced to Kageno Minoru who is unsual and seems to not care for Nishino, nor does he remember her name even though they sit near each other.

One day, Nishino is kidnapped and as the men are about to sexually assaulted, a masked man comes out of nowhere and reveals himself as the Balaclava Berserker who has been roughing up gangs with crowbars. The masked man happens to be Kageno and he beats the kidnappers badly.

Kageno is a persaon who has always wanted to be come a secret mastermind manipulating society form the shadows to protect the innocent and has trained his body and mind. But one day, he is killed in a car accident and he is reborn in an alternate world as Kagenou Cid with magical powers which he uses to manipulate and control society as the Eminence in Shadow.

One day, Cid discovers a blog of rotting flesh that is alive and he experiments on it and cures the curse that was put upon the blob revealing a elfen girl named Alpha. She believes a fake story that Cid gives her about a group called Shadow Garden who works in the shadows to defeat a demon called Diablos.

Because Alpha feels indebt to the Shadow, she joins him and she recruits six girls such as Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Eta and are part of his Shadow Seven.

Eventually , these seven would hunt the cult of Diablos all over the world and what was meant to be a fake story, turns out to be very real and the Shadow increases their members of deadly assassins, all who are loyal to the Shadow and become known as Shadow Garden.

And now he and his followers user their power against evil. But because of the way they do things, they are seen as vigilantes that everyone wants to capture.

Along the way, Cid meets royalty, competes in tournaments, while behind-the-scenes, the Shadow Garden try to uncover the evil of Diablos.

For the most part, my summary of this anime series is quite basic. Because in truth, this is a complex anime series with many characters. With each episode, we are introduced with new characters who join Shadow Garden, but you start to see how bad the demons and the corruption is in the world.

Typically, when you encounter an isekai storyline, there is a banality of a “Reincarnation” storyline that is like a video game where characters level up and defeat high level monsters or demons. But with “The Eminence of Shadow”, we have a one of the craziest protagonists Cid Kageno/Shadow. As Cid Kageno, he is a stoic character that is always constantly plotting but when he is the Shadow, he turns into a savage. Showing those who oppose him to watch out because he will demonstrate his true power. He is literally a person that seems unbeatable and often, at times of competition, he tries to find a way to lower himself to not reveal his true self.

As mentioned, there are new characters that Cid Kageno meets, from Cid’s older sister Claire (who holds a secret); the sadistic princes Alexia Midgar; the princess of Oriana, Rose Oriana; the founder of the Crimson Order, Iris Midgar and more! These characters really add to the excitement of the series.

But overall, “The Eminence in Shadow” turned out to be a wonderful, excited, action-packed anime series! I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a series with a crazed and super powerful protagonist and following since “Code Geass” and for those who are interesting in one of the most riveting anime series to be released in the 2020s, “The Eminence in Shadow” is highly recommended

Click here to purchase “The Eminence of Shadow (Season 1)” on Blu-ray

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