Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
AtlasLeo
The Eminence in Shadow returns with a city full of dangerous people and Cid mostly interested in its money and the chance to make a dramatic entrance. Season two keeps the misunderstandings, excessive displays of power and ridiculous confidence that made the first season so enjoyable. The comedy still landed for me and the animation held up just as well. It’s a shorter season with some familiar weaknesses but there’s plenty here to like if Cid’s nonsense worked the first time around.
Story:
The Lawless City is a good place to start because it immediately gives Cid somewhere new to cause problems. There are rival powers, a looming threat involving the Blood Queen and people with their own reasons for getting involved. Claire takes the danger seriously while Cid sees opportunities to colle…
Read at the sourceSmurf_1
Ok I think this series is very enjoyable but you have to understand what you are watching. It isn't a standard isekai or shonen where the point is the MC getting more and more power to overcome challenge after challenge. This story is primarily about world building and "mystery". If you view it through just a standard "power fantasy lens" it is a little lackluster as the world literally bends to everything the MC says. The MC himself essentially lives in a delusion because he doesn't even believe what he says yet it manifests as reality. The main intrigue is the anticipation of how the MC will actually realize the mysteries around him and how the characters he interacts with shape the dynamic.
Read at the sourceMekbot
"I divide the world into things that matter... because I have a dream that will never come true if I don't."
This is the exact same (beautifully) "schizophrenic" level of humor from season 1 along with new characters and a bit of new lore.
Both the art and animation are about average most of the time but ramp up immensely in the more important moments which makes them all the more impressive and hype to watch. It's filled with dumb "epic" sounding quotes and tons of background lore so that the world feels alive even as the protagonist wanders off and continues to live his own mental image of what is actually happening.
There are more characters, new stronger enemies and explanations for many things that were left hanging from season 1, despite this, it would still rank slightly lower mo…
Read at the sourcePanda_Roll
So... that was disappointing.
Season 1 was a lot of fun and had me cackling. This one was pretty bad and humor is no longer in the room with us.
They managed to cram in multiple storylines in 12 episodes which is impressive. Sad part is, unlike season 1 where this lead to progression, here it meant nothing.
The world and characters are stagnant this season. Everyone dumb as rocks, one note and repeating the same lame joke at least 5 times in a row. Someone clearly thought more is better also applies to the rule of three!
The first 5 episodes were the worst and I almost gave up on the show, especially when they designated Delta as the fan service. Making the clearly "simple" character that is just beyond icky. It's far to blatant this season as well and shows you the drop in quality.…
Read at the sourceGintokiee
my only gripe with this season was it ended too quickly they fitted three arcs in between ...which i don't know for me was just a bit rushed ....which in par resulted in less fun....
.
there is no more what i can say is bad i mean the world and mc are the same this season too unstable anything can happen type....but the pacing this season was like one after another not very smoothly transitioned i would say other than that music is good ,voice acting is good ,dialogues are fun thats it but enjoyed the 1st really too much ....
but but i still enjoyed it and would even love to watch a remake of s2 again...
it's just good to see this unstable world and Shadow dealing with it ....
.
thank you....
.until next time..bye...
(they have lights in bank vaults but use candles in homes just 1 example…
Read at the sourceRacerDuvan
While the 2nd season is not bad by any means it's not as good as the first season.
It still retains the good visuals and some of the good story but thats about where it ends, every other thing just feels very average and with the shorter season (with only 12 episodes) all the characters have too little time to actually build and develop more, the fight scene just take upp the entire plot it seems like. The story moves to fast and nothing really stands out which in turn makes everything kinda feel like a blur. With the over using of action scenes it's a bit hard to recover from them and get more involed with the characters which leads to everything feeling less connected.
It also feels like the almost completely abandoned everyone going to school, which i find really sad.
Also the 2nd se…
Read at the sourceTurtezin
The only real downside of this season is that it’s only 12 episodes long. It delivers on story, humor, and some very well-animated fights. The main character continues to shine—overpowered yet hilarious, making every scene he's in entertaining.
Side stories are present and enjoyable, but due to the short length of the season, it feels like some of them got cut or were only briefly touched upon. With just a few more episodes, there could’ve been a lot more depth to the supporting cast.
The art style holds its ground, keeping the same quality and pace from Season 1. Even as the series approaches three years since its debut, the visuals remain impressive—especially for this type of anime. Action scenes are crisp, and the atmosphere fits the world perfectly.
I would 100% recommend this seas…
Read at the sourceWhe3333
Spoiler-less, TL;DR, fast, simple, and easy-to-digest review:
I, AM, Inev- I mean. ATOMIC!
9/10
Animation and Artstyle (++)
The moon is red. The frenzy has begun. We are out of time.
Fire. Like Literal FIRE! Not perfect but the fights man, oh my lord. Not better than S1 but its good enough to warrant the FIRE award. Characters (++)
The frenzy has begun. The moon is read. We are out of time (Goddamnit Cid. Casually stealing lines. What a dweeb)
Cid Kagenou (Shadow) is at again with his shenanigans. Some highlights like the Fox lady, Mary, Alpha, and Rose (666). Main highlights are Delta and John Smith! Delta stepped up and became the highlight girl of the season while John Smith... oh man... John Smith. Best super secret elite agent.
Plot (+++)
The frenzy is moon. The red has begun. We…
Read at the sourceOrangzer
Ah, I am actually impressed by this season for real!
Story: It was not so good at first. The first four episodes were mediocre, but it gradually improved, which kind of surprised me. Just when I thought the jokes were becoming repetitive, it got funnier, and the last arc was really good. The pacing was a bit fast, but it's really likeable. The lore drop in the last episode was insane. It was kind of unexpected. All those different realms rotate around a center where a god or godlike being could reside, and how magic came from another world made sense. The ending is a twist, as Cid goes back to his own world and saves the girl Akane from Season 1 Episode 1 again, from the same thugs. It all came full circle.Also episode 8 isn't bad either imo, it was just a normal anime beach/pool episode…
Read at the sourceElizatonne78
After a first season mainly focused on Cid’s fantasy of omnipotence, The Eminence in Shadow returns with a second season that is much stronger in terms of storytelling. While the fights in season 1 were already impressive and served to highlight the absurd gap between Cid's power and the rest of the world, they often just fueled his megalomaniac delusion. And it worked well!
Visually, I have to admit that the change in color palette threw me off at first. The shift to darker, duller tones is surprising after the more vibrant aesthetic of season 1. But as the season progresses, you realize this choice enhances the more serious and dramatic tone of the story. The "dark fantasy" aspect is more prominent, and the often higher contrast lighting intensifies the tension, especially in scenes inv…
Read at the sourceAnimeExplorer21
To be honest, coming off the high of Season 1, I was super hyped. Like, “Let’s go Shadow-sama, show us the chaos!” kind of hyped. But yeah... Season 2 felt kinda different. Not bad, but different. A little slower, a little more... confusing? I’m still not 100% sure what direction the story was trying to take in the first 8-9 episodes. There were a lot of scenes where I was like, “Wait, am I missing something?” or “Who’s this guy again?”
But I stuck with it — and honestly, I’m glad I did.
Because from Episode 10 onward? Man, it picks up. Like, proper Shadow Garden chaos, epic fights, badass reveals, and that classic Cid-level dramatic flair we all signed up for. Those last few episodes gave me flashbacks of why I fell in love with this series in the first place.
Cid, once again, trying h…
Read at the sourcekuroishigami1
The music is Excellent, it can even make an action scene that is ordinary become tense, the graphic quality is also good and the special effects are outstanding so that it can spice up a bad scene, but it feels like the footage is too little so it just repeats the same footage by zooming in, too much fan service
Then there are some parts that I feel are not taken from the light novel, and I feel like in this season there are too many "pictures" that are just made to move and not animated, and again, there are too many BOOBS!!!
Additionally, when compared to season 1, season 2 should be worse, The only flaw in season 1 in my opinion is that the pace is really bad, it takes too long, and there are a lot of unimportant parts included.
Read at the sourcehexashadow13
The second season of Eminence in Shadows is essentially just more of the same. It’s a bit wider in scale seeing as how most of it takes place outside of Midgar, but it largely still follows the same formula. However, as the first season was great that’s certainly not a bad thing. Rather, while this season doesn’t do anything too different, it does manage to change things up enough to provide enough variety to keep things interesting even if you’re watching this season right after finishing the first.
Furthermore, the execution overall seems to be quite a bit better. It’s overall much better paced and spends more time on the parts that are great and less on the parts that didn’t work so well. There’s a lot of Cid just doing crazy nonsense while having no clue what’s going on, but everythin…
Read at the sourceKranst
The second season of The Eminence in Shadow has seen a substantial increase in overall quality. In a way, it feels closer to what one would assume was the original vision of the author, aside from the mediocre filler episode. While the production standard has grown to match the level of the content, the most notable positive differences have been in the writing. The comedy bits are more fun this time around, development seems to be taken a little more “seriously,” and the more fleshed-out world also better serves as the personal playground of the main character. Continue watching if you liked the first season.
Read at the sourceTaylorJay
I adored the first season because of its fresh change of pace and alternative take on the power fantasy "genre". I continued to enjoy this season. However, for me it peaked in the first arc, which I think did well in peeling off some of the side characters so that we were able to focus on and highlight the strengths of a select few (namely Claire). But, and this may be a me issue, going forward I found it a bit harder to keep track of the various characters and the different plot threads going on.
Still a great watch and I am looking forward to see what they do with season 3.
Read at the sourceGoldsoldier75
Hopefully you have already read my review for the first season, If not please do consider checking it out, now due to this I will try not to repeat any of my previous points, and instead give fresh reasons for why you should watch this anime.
This season begins in the ‘lawless city’ and its arc is just about my least favourite so far in the show, but luckily it only lasts about two episodes and still has one or two decent gags.
The second and main arc of this season is what Is truly important, I will try to avoid spoilers but simply it is a fantastic arc, it’s everything that’s good about this show, it’s witty, silly, smart, funny, cool, and the jokes are excellent.
The third and final arc of the season is good in its own right, it’s more interesting then funny there are a few gags but…
Read at the sourceTheprophet334
Eminence is Shadow has started off with a really good first season it had a lot of interesting things going on with the mc being very good. What doesn't land as good in S2 is that it's basically more of the same deal the finale doesn't hit as hard neither does it's arcs outside of one particular one with the money.
Due to lack of character development Cid is basically the same I had expectations that something will click with him but it didn't still doing the same things over and over again. The other characters mainly the girls mostly stayed the same Delta being the most interesting one of the bunch the episodes she was featured in were genuinely the better parts of season 2 which isn't a lot the show is filled with tons of characters most of them are only staying for like 1 episode and…
Read at the sourcealgoPotaku
The anime is very entertaining, we see a variety of girls and a very, very strong protagonist.
It is the second season of how the shadow eminence is going to cause chaos. I really like how they present it and how they develop the characters.
This season we can see spies, trade war, economic strategies all aimed at entertaining the protagonist.
It is very interesting how he loses himself, since he has no rival, those he taught things to no longer need him but he continues in his search to find himself.
At the end of the season a sequel film is found and announced.
The animation is very good, the soundtrack accompanies it. The best thing about the anime is the character design, although it seems that they are the typical isekai characters, we see a twist in the development of each one. Th…
Read at the sourceMo_justexisting
To enjoy this you probably need to have a certain type of humor where you don't take things too seriously. I came back for season 2 after enjoying the first and I can't say I'm disappointed. The fight scenes were great and I just liked to watch Cid be a looney toon and others believe he's some undercover genius. It's all in good fun. Even though I probably enjoyed the first season more, I hope a third season will come out especially with that ending.
Some people don't understand that it's supposed to be satire especially with how Cid directly says that he wants to act out that one isekai fantasy scene then proceeds to go over and beyond to execute it. As someone that has seen a lot of the isekai genre it makes me glad to see that authors are self aware and know that we've seen this situat…
Read at the sourceKariwm_Klawm
Love the light novel, have enjoyed the manga as well. I felt that unlike the first season, which I thoroughly enjoyed I didn't enjoy the second season so much. This is because my absolute favorite section of Cid's journey was covered in 10 seconds. It left a hollow and unsatisfying feeling in me and made the final ending of the show confusing and hollow. The most important parts of Cid's journey for me have always been those that are not really following the major plot and ludicrous shenanigans are going on. When I read the novel and manga both mediums hadn't reached season 2 finale. Whilst I feel the finale has a satisfying ending and could potentially lead to a fantastic season 3, the potential drop in quality of their risky plot decision, mixed with skipping my favorite part of the stor…
Read at the source
