Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
killersandvich
Like its protagonist, The Eminence in Shadow believes itself to be a cool, edgy, and provocative work of art.
What it doesn't realize, however, is that its cliches and overdramatic writing basically cause it to be more like Tommy Wiseau's The Room in terms of enjoyability.
It's an anime that tries so hard to be edgy and overdramatic that it borders on hilarity
if you are looking for a well-written isekai series with a compelling plot, then you aren't going to find it here. If you are, however, in the mood for a show to just laugh at for how stupid it is, then this is the show you should watch. It's genuinely entertaining, just not for the reasons that the creators intended
Read at the sourceValaur2001
Let’s see,
The series isn’t bad in and of itself. The premise is great, the story is interesting, and the ending was good, but I have a lot of issues with it.
The execution wasn’t that great. The pacing is off. The way the story is told doesn’t draw you in. None of the characters in Shadow Garden are developed deeply enough for you to care about them, and the way their storylines unfold isn’t good either. Everything happens behind the scenes, and then the series tries to make you care. When Shadow Garden appears, it doesn’t feel like you’re watching a mystery story, they’re just a tool that does whatever the script needs. And that falls on the protagonist.
Cid Kagenou has the problems of a generic isekai protagonist, but with a twist: He clearly doesn’t care about anything, and not in a…
Read at the sourceSeygneur
Overall, the show is nothing special. The characters are bland and superficial as the MC and his alpha-nummerical bride brigade, the sound design was unremarkable and visualization okay with some backgrounds actually nice or interesting. The story felt very rushed in the beginning, so that they could get the student with a secret identity setting again. From then on some of the story lines were reasonably enjoyable to watch.
The show is best when it strikes a good balance between humor (good jokes, irony and clischees) and entertaining fighting scenes (sewer fight, chaos witch). Or the humor plus slice of life episodes. However, there were not that many of them and overall the show does have an identity crisis. It does take itself serious enough to a degree that some episodes are just bor…
Read at the sourceAtlasLeo
Cid Kagenou has enough power to become a legendary hero and enough commitment to spend his time rehearsing how to lose a fight like an irrelevant side character. Somehow this is an excellent use of twenty episodes. The Eminence in Shadow takes a guy whose biggest concern is making his secret identity look cool and surrounds him with people who think every word out of his mouth is part of a brilliant plan. The comedy really worked for me and the action was better than expected. Apparently having absolutely no idea what’s going on is a perfectly valid leadership strategy.
Story:
The main setup is what makes this so entertaining. Cid invents a secret cult to give his mysterious Shadow persona something to fight. Unfortunately for the actual cult, his bullshit turns out to be remarkably accu…
Read at the sourceHotDoggoneit
A terrible show that is largely carried by its reputation on YouTube and social media rather than actually being good.
I’m convinced that if YouTubers had never started making content about this show, almost nobody would have ever known about it, and it would probably have a much lower score. But people made a few clips showcasing the only good five-second scenes in the entire show, followed by hour-long YouTube videos explaining how amazing it supposedly was, and suddenly everyone started rating it highly.
Not necessarily because they actually watched the show. Not necessarily because they genuinely liked it. It was popular, so people assumed it must be good.
And what makes that even more ridiculous is that many of the exact things people complain about in other isekai, the things that…
Read at the sourceKatsumataJ
Eminence in Shadow doesn't just play with the Isekai formula. It steals it, wears it as a disguise, and dares you to notice. Is this a parody? A real, fully fleshed out Isekai? Honestly, by the time you figure it out, you won't even care.
Eminence in Shadow has a way of having a very special tone throughout the show. It's very "parody-ish" while also keeping the main structure of a half-decent Isekai. It's very "tropey," but what show isn't? You're watching a man who wants to be a side character actually live as the CEO throughout the series, and it gives the whole thing such an amazing feeling, like you're in on the joke and invested in the story at the same time.
The style that Eminence is going for definitely hits. All of the characters are fleshed out, Shadow Garden is actually a fun…
Read at the sourceEnshourT_
There are two ways to watch The Eminence in Shadow.
The first one is to treat it like a serious isekai filled with conspiracies, political intrigue, secret organizations, and overpowered battles. If you do, you'll probably walk away thinking it's entertaining but somewhat repetitive, with a protagonist who seems strangely detached from the emotional stakes.
The second and arguably the BEST way is to realize that the series is an elaborate joke centered around the most committed chuuni in anime history.
Once you look at it that way, The Eminence in Shadow goes from "just another isekai" to one of the funniest and most self aware shows the genre has produced in years. It doesn't just parody isekai tropes, but it doesn't completely make fun of them either. Instead, it takes every cliche im…
Read at the sourcedliu04
I will start by saying that I believe "the Eminence in Shadow" to be on a higher level than any other anime.
Apart from the elements of entertainment that other comments have already mentioned, I find the show to have lots of commentary on important themes. Possibly the two most important themes are:
1) strength and weakness
2) good and evil
Here are some things that I think one could pay attention to while watching:
1) While Cid has many inner monologues that show he is clueless about the events of the world and seems to be only infatuated with his fantasy, what can you say about his actions? It is good to consider alternatives, considering he has enough power to do a lot of things.
2) How does the show portray evil? What does the show emphasize about evil? The range of personalities…
Read at the sourceZypher01
This show would be 10x better if he realized the cult was real and spent more time with his hot sidekicks. His lack of interest in any of the women around him is extremely silly. Most of the Isekai elements are good and there are many interesting side characters. Many of them are actually more interesting than the main character and deserve much more screen time(Claire, Alexia, Rose, and most of the Shadows tbh).
The Oblivious MC trope isn't inherently bad but rarely done well. Would be much more effective if it was used to show growth in the character by eventually overcoming the obliviousness but the obliviousness never changes and grows old quickly(I Parry Everything is another prime example).
Cids 2 male classmates were by far the worst part of this show and probably didnt need to…
Read at the sourceDutchleague
The Eminence in Shadow is a high-octane tribute to the ""Mastermind"" fantasy, functioning as a sleek, self-aware parody of the isekai genre. It is a show that thrives on the ""Unique Comedic Premise"" of a protagonist who is so committed to his roleplay that he accidentally stumbles into saving the world. At a 7/10, it is an ""Engaging Narrative"" that rewards those who enjoy seeing generic tropes used in ""clever"" and absurdly over-the-top ways.
● Short Synopsis
In modern-day Japan, Minoru Kageno was obsessed with becoming a ""power in the shadows""—the mysterious figure who pulls the strings without ever taking the spotlight. After dying in a tragic (and slightly ridiculous) accident, he is reincarnated into a magical world as Cid Kagenou. Embracing his second chance, Cid creates a…
Read at the sourceSMGJohn
Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute is one of those series that requires a specific mindset to enjoy, one that does not take itself too serious in life, someone who enjoys chaos and Japanese parody humour.
In 2022 when this aired on TV, I rated it quite poorly, a 3/10 after its last episode. However today, I rate it 7/10 – why? On paper in 2022, this was right up my ballpark but for some reasons when I was employed, a Corporate drone – life had simply made me dull and then 2 years later I was made redundant. Another 2 years passed and I decided on a whim to rewatch this anime because for some reasons I could not get it out of my head. Indeed it had left an impact the first time around.
The story is nothing special, its a parody of the typical isekai tropes, the show knows it, it does not…
Read at the sourcekanhade
At the start I thought its gonna be some corny ahh your typical isekai genre slop anime, with some sort of delusional main character.
Which actually turned out to be true but the anime is certainly not corny it is entertaining and very fun to watch the main character's personality and the relation he builds with other characters and the epic fights.
The animation is also very good and wont bore you with some sloppy work and the main character is a interesting guy I would say he's not the cocky type or not the wimpy time he becomes what he wants and gets what he wants.
He might be a bit of a weird guy but it sure is fun to watch him
Read at the sourceOtaku_Senpai
Now this is an absolutely hilarious anime. Often whatever he predicts seem to just turn out to be true. I don't think it is ever explained how, but that's how the world works. His followers notice how right he is all the time and deeply respect him. As a matter of fact he starts thinking others are playing along with whatever he is making up and he in return plays along with them playing along with him, unknown to him others are serious and not playing along.
The comedy and jokes are different from other anime. And its very intelligent. Its not just slapstick comedy. Its mostly in very well written dialogues. Its hard to explain. You have to see the anime yourself.
As if this is a parody anime, all his followers are women. I would say its a harem show but he never has any romance with…
Read at the sourcearchetype18
I wasn’t expecting much going in, but this ended up being genuinely funny. The main character is completely delusional in the best way possible, and that self-serious commitment to his fantasy is what makes the series work.
The real strength of the show, though, is Shadow Garden. The members each have distinct personalities and abilities, and they bring a great dynamic to Cid’s over-the-top “mastermind” plans. Their interactions add energy and variety to the story instead of just orbiting him mindlessly.
It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a genuinely fun, turn-your-brain-off kind of anime. The animation is solid, the magical fights are entertaining, and the series does a good job poking fun at common isekai tropes while still fully embracing them.
Read at the sourcePanda_Roll
I love this show. Everything about it is what I would usually hate in an anime and find extremely juvenile except for one thing.
This is a modern day Don Quixote. That alone turns everything upside down.
See, the modern interpretation of the character is that of the dreamer... or a grandpa with dementia. However, in the actual novel when we first meet Don Quixote he is in a dusty little room full of cheap novels about daring knights and fainting maidens, a genre very popular at the time. No matter where life takes him afterwards that man has never actually left that little room. He misses so much of the real human stories around him because he keeps trying to fit them into the tropes in his books. The novel however will dive into those stories regardless and treats him like the idiot l…
Read at the sourceMuruyono
•Starting from the characterization
There is not a single admirable character in this Anime, they all seem like just a lump of meat or a punching bag for the MC, there is no emotional bond that can be felt and the characters who pretend to be weak but are clearly depicted as strong at the same time look very annoying and disgusting, especially the MC, and also many characters who love the MC for no clear reason, this is one of the same reasons why I don't like Harem Anime, there are characters who look dignified but become very stupid later on
•power concept
One of the most ambiguous things about this anime is the concept of the MC power, he has a black slime as hard as steel but on the other hand he can explode like a nuclear, stop his heartbeat to pretend to be dead to Genjutsu like wh…
Read at the sourcegwaihir75
1) Not a Parody.
When you stab somewone with a knife and say that it was a joke, was it a joke? If Yoshiro Tagashi said that HxH is a porn, would it make it porn? Absolutely not. Genres, including parody, are more or less defined by their traits, not by author's opinion. If they really wanted to create parody then it only means that they failed, because for most viewers, there are no visible traits that define parody. It just feels like you everyday overpowered protagonist in lazily sketched world with boring one dimensional characters and toothless harem. Nothing really unusual.
2) Not an Isekai.
Sure, there is mandatory several minutes in the original world and ever so unimaginative truck. After that, it is all completely ignored and never impacts the story at all.
Also, shockingly, op…
Read at the sourcekayenby
Gooner bait power fantasy with a mildly interesting but very average story. Little reason to watch it unless you're bored, but it isn't a horrible watch if you are. The story feels like filler in between fights, and the fights are exclusively the MC winning and hardly struggling at that. There's no stakes, and the story is built around the 3 episodes he says "atomic" with a webcam mic and the screen goes white. If you want a show to watch softcore with fights interspersed, just watch Fire Force. The only reason I haven't rated it lower is because it was at least watchable.
Read at the sourceJustreadingbro
Ignore those low-rated reviews, especially that one by “ZNoteTaku” or whatever — they wanted The Eminence in Shadow to be Evangelion or some deep philosophical masterpiece. But that’s missing the point completely. This anime never tried to be deep — it’s a stylish, over-the-top power fantasy parody that fully commits to its absurd premise, and that’s exactly why it works.
The story might be predictable at times, but it’s done with such confidence and self-awareness that it stays fun. Cid isn’t meant to be a realistic or balanced protagonist — he’s delusional, cool, and ridiculous all at once, and that’s what makes him entertaining. The world bends around his fantasy, and somehow, it keeps working out for him.
The art style fits perfectly with the tone — dark, dramatic, and full of “Rule…
Read at the sourceShiota
Figuring out what The Eminence in Shadow is trying to be is a more engaging puzzle than most of its actual plot. On the surface, it presents as the ultimate isekai power fantasy. But a whisper follows it everywhere it goes—the whisper that it’s all a giant, elaborate parody. After spending a season with its delusional protagonist and his equally delusional world, I’m left with a burning question: Is this a brilliant satire, or is it just a standard power fantasy wearing an ironic mask to avoid criticism?
The Case for the Defense: It's a Masterful Satire
You can easily build a compelling argument that this is one of the smartest comedies in the genre. The premise is genius: a chuunibyo kid named Cid gets isekai'd and invents a fictional evil cult to fight, only to discover, to his utter i…
Read at the source
