English Dub Series Review: The Eminence in Shadow S1 and S2

Based on the Japanese light novel series written by Daisuke Aizawa and illustrated by Tōzai. The series primarily follows Minoru Kagenou A dude who desires to become as strong as possible, which leads him to undertake all kinds of rigorous training. This wish, however, does not stem from a desire for recognition or fame by the masses. Instead, Minoru does everything he can to blend in with the crowd with the desire of being a badass vigilante at night. But all of this comes to an abrupt halt when Minoru falls victim to a truck accident, his ambitions seemingly come to a sudden end. But instead of dying, Minoru is both reawaken and reincarnated as Cid, the second child of the noble Kagenou family, in another world—one where magic and monsters are commonplace. With the power he so desired finally within his grasp, he dons a hooded trenchcoat and the moniker “Shadow” and establishes Shadow Garden: a secret organization whose sole purpose is to combat the enigmatic Cult of Diablos, an evil crime syndicate born from Cid’s imagination. However, as Shadow Garden grows in both membership and influence, it becomes increasingly apparent that the Cult of Diablos is more real than Cid had intended…

The series is produced by Nexus and directed by Kazuya Nakanishi, with scripts written by Kanichi Katou, character designs by Makoto Iino, and music composed by Kenichiro Suehiro. For Season One, the opening theme song was “Highest” by OxT, while the ending theme song is “Darling in the Night” by Asami Seto, Inori Minase, Suzuko Mimori, Fairouz Ai, Hisako Kanemoto, Ayaka Asai, and Reina Kondō. As for the 2nd Season, Most of the same cast and staff returned with The opening theme song being “Grayscale Dominator” by OxT, while the Season 2 ending theme song being “Polaris in the Night” by Ikumi Hasegawa, Maaya Uchida, Mayu Minami and Ryōko Maekawa.

In the tradition of most isekai, these stories often start with an individual who is zapped into another world or time period with almost no set goal at least until they develop and progress within said world they’re stuck in and become better/worse versions of themselves depending on the paths they choose. Here this show takes a non-traditional approach as the main character Cid has the ambitious desire to be this badass dark hero along the lines of Batman, but with overpowered magic and combat skills, what sets Cid apart from most protagonists is his selfishness and sense of ironic detachment with a nasty habit of speaking his mind out loud. Aside from that, Cid often has his own goals and ambitions while putting on a proverbial mask for both sides. Cid in his normal days tries to be as insignificant as possible to the point that he lets himself get bullied by random jerks so nobody suspects anything more from him. Yet at night, his Shadow persona is a cloaked badass who’s capable of making quick work of his foes while verbally spouting the most edge lord shit imaginable, which at times, never fails to entertain.

But to further emphasize how screwed up in the head Cid can be, he only sees value in people that could benefit his goals in some way and doesn’t take himself seriously as sees the entire world as a video game and through his twisted perspective. He perceives everyone else in this world as an “NPC” or an upper-tier threat as a “Boss Battle” and this is mostly juxtaposed to everyone else around him who sees their struggles and battles as a matter of life and death. Many of these episodes sometimes have long ongoing story arcs of Cid or Shadow Garden indirectly finding some way to thwart their plans through sheer dumb luck. Mostly because much like “Overlord”, a lot of the protagonist’s plans often consist of the dude not having a clue and simply making shit up as they go along. And in some form or another, things end up serendipitously falling into place resulting in them looking like hyper-capable masterminds to their subordinates. Of course, much of the plot begins to pick up when a fake made-up cult that Cid claims to be the antagonistic force they’re up against ends up being 100% real.

Often times Cid is perceived as a good leader yet his followers blindly believe he gives a shit about the ladies within his Shadow Garden which sometimes give off borderline “Harem” vibes due to many of the members being mostly women from different walks of life and races with their own reasons or affections towards Cid with many of the high ranking members being named after letters of the Greek alphabet. (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc.) But occasionally the show will have episodes focused on those aforementioned characters. Sometimes even outside of Shadow Garden such as Cid’s sister who has mental issues of her own, or certain characters whose names thanks to the dub are comical play’s on words such as “Skel-Etal” or “Po-Tato” or even a villain who works for the cult that’s later introduced named “Perv Asshat”(yes these are actual names)…

Season two is somewhat more of the same while expanding its universe as we’re introduced to new characters, different races, and new parts of this world through Cid’s perspective when he stumbles into other situations from a counterfeiting scandal to an assassination plot involving a princess being in danger which occasionally help give off a true sense of suspense, intrigue and escalation. Predictably, most of this is somehow connected to the so-called “Cult of Diablos” who keeps making their presence known only for Cid and Shadow Garden to swoop in with their “Fuck around and find out” attitude. And if you haven’t been paying attention, there are small plot threads later on with other characters doing things outside of the show that isn’t touched upon again, except they sort of are in short segments that are shown on Kadokawa’s YouTube channel in a comical Chibi art style akin to “Isekai Quartet” but at the time of this review, these shorts are sadly not dubbed yet, which also includes a Halloween Special that “crosses over with Overlord characters” since both properties are owned by the same publisher.

Overall, this show as a whole works a comical deconstruction of the isekai/power fantasy genre that left me intrigued by what it had to offer. In essence, the story never got boring and had some decent action scenes. While balancing out the humor of Cid’s indifferent and borderline sociopathic behavior. The artstyle is excellent in both seasons showing strong contrasts of color and shading to emphasize the sometimes dark atmosphere going on behind the scenes. The animation is quite detailed mostly in some small parts. Often times the jokes work when the situation calls for it as some heavily rely on character flaws, wacky situations, etc. Aside from the opening and ending music, It fulfills its role but doesn’t stand out as memorable as it should be. Currently, there’s no word on Season 3 as I’m typing this. but with the recent announcement of an upcoming Eminence in Shadow movie called “Lost Echoes“, I don’t think we’re going to see this franchise slow down anytime soon…