I think a lot of reviewers tend to conflate their rating of enjoyment with the technical aspects of a show. you can write a million analysis videos explaining why naruto is actually really deep and highlights a compelling narrative about the human condition or whatever, but i dont care, because naruto is fucking boring. in the same way, the eminence in shadow is like a solid 6 when you just look skin deep, but giving this anime a try, i ended up binging it entirely, which i had not done in years. This show is fucking fun. I rate it a 9 not because its ... objectively amazing, but i had a really really really good time with it. You could look at all the little imperfections and you could nitpick and tick little boxes like you are running a report, or you could stop being a bitch and just have fun with it.
lots of this show is generic isekai bullshit. basic bitch main character who gets hit by truck-kun and is born into a fantasy world with crazy magic powers where he enrolls in highschool(?) and also even though its based on a pre-industrial europe they use chopsticks for some reason???? If you were to be given a synopsis of this show spanning 20 words or less, you would turn away almost instantly. It seems like the stock standard ctrl+c -> ctrl+v isekai no one gives a fuck about, but the eminence in shadow innovates on the genre in a surprising amount of ways.
first and foremost, id like to give a round of applause to the writers of this show and light novel for making female characters who are actually compelling. I barely watch any anime now because most of the time, female characters are just there to cater to the mc and/or the audience of horny pubescent kids. It's part of why i ended up dropping one piece (i know thats sacrilegious but nami and robin have just become eyecandy :/ ), and its why i hate shows like food wars, nisekoi, uhhhh bleach (i actually love bleach but all the female characters are insufferable), and so on. it is not an exaggeration to say the female characters in the eminence in shadow are genuinely more likeable and are better written a good portion of mainstream anime. I really enjoyed both oriana and alexia. It felt like they (along with most of the female characters) had unique personalities and motives, were competent and not just weak damsels for the hero to save, and best of all i didnt want to shoot myself when they were talking on screen. I understand the bar is low for writing female characters in anime, but they passed with flying colors.
second, i really enjoyed the soundtrack. lots of anime have just really boring and uninspired soundtracks, but i do remember pausing and rewinding because the quality of the music and the directing for where it was utilized was impeccable. I also really appreciate having real classical pieces in the show. The inclusion of moonlight sonata helped to ground the show with a little more sense of reality, as sometimes watching anime can estrange you from things of earthly quality. It also was a great moment of Cid's characterization and it made him feel a lot more like a real human being and not a character in a show.
just as a side note but that last sentence kind of extends over to all the characters. They all feel really human; something anime is often sorely lacking.
I wanted to highlight the worldbuilding as well, as its something i havent witnessed being discussed in other reviews. I should say its less about the worldbuilding and more the world itself. at this point, we all expect the generic european/japanese world from any given isekai (and to an extent it is present here too), but the eminence in shadow shakes things up in a very interesting way. Shifting the era from the pre-industrial (a la 1500's) to an early industrial society makes the world seem a lot more alive and unique, even if it really isnt a massive change and doesnt really affect how the characters interact with the world overall.
Those are the main things i wanted to highlight. If you want the tldr: dont expect anything spectacular, the characters are good, the soundtrack is good, the world is unique, its decently funny, and i had enough fun that any of the shows flaws or shortcomings really just become water under the bridge. definitely give this show a shot if you want to have some fun. the shadow in eminence will always hold a special place in my heart.
 Alternative Titles Synonyms: Shadow Garden Japanese: 陰の実力者になりたくて！ Information Type: TV Episodes: 20 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Oct 5, 2022 to Feb 15, 2023 Premiered: Fall 2022 Broadcast: Wednesdays at 22:30 (JST) Licensors: Sentai Filmworks Studios: Nexus Source: Light novel Duration: 23 min. per ep. Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity) Statistics Score: 8.291 (scored by 339,554 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #2672 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #332 Members: 639,636 Favorites: 14,793 Available AtResources |
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