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Eminence In Shadow ( Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!) is a light novel with a manga adaptation currently running (my favorite version of it) and published in English by Yen Press and a very good anime adaptation airing its second season starting this season on HiDive. The story is an isekai centered around Minoru Kageno whose sole ambition in life was to become the eminence in shadow. Not the hero, not the villain, but the powerful figure who knows the secrets of the world and fights the greater evil from the shadows by whatever means necessary. The unbeatable boss the heroes encounter in the middle of the game who tells them to remember the true enemy while playing the piano. The one who exists in the shadows to hunt the shadows. Unfortunately it turns out you can't really be that in our world no matter how much you train, nor can you defeat an atomic bomb, so it's lucky indeed that when he dies after staggering in front of a truck in exhaustion he is reborn in a world with the magic he was lacking and the chance to do that training from birth to achieve his dream of becoming Shadow (12 o'clock on the right), leader of... Shadow Garden, an organization with 666 members led by the Seven Shadows who were rescued from various circumstances by a young Cid. Clockwise on the right: Alpha (the de facto leader, devoted entirely to Shadow and their mission), Gamma (head of Shadow Garden's front business the Mitsugoshi Company, trips over her own two feet), Epsilon (magic and artifact expert whose cover is being a pianist and composer), Delta (wolf beastkin, extremely strong and extremely dog), Beta (intelligence operative with a cover of being a popular novelist, obsessive Shadow fangirl), Zeta (cat beastkin, scout and ruins explorer), and Eta (scientist, develops modern technology based on Cid's stories). They all are as far as Cid is concerned some people he rescued who are out of the kindness of their hearts playing along with his fantasy of secretly fighting the Cult of Diablos that he made up on the spot when he first met them. Except, as it turns out, the Cult of Diablos is in fact very real and Shadow Garden is dedicated to eliminating it in accord with whatever they perceive Shadow's often inscrutable but always correct (after the fact) wishes and actions to be. A proper eminence in shadow must have a cover though, and the more unremarkable the better. That is Cid Kageno, middling student at the Midgar Academy and a mob if ever there was one (or so he believes). Clockwise on the left: Claire Kageno (Cid's obsessive and doting in her own special way older sister), Alexia Midgar (second princess of the Midgar kingdom and classmate of Cid, bullheaded and in a fake relationship with Cid to annoy her fiance), Iris Midgar (first princess of the Midgar kingdom and renowned as one of its strongest knights), Rose Oriana (princess of the Oriana kingdom and upperclassman of Cid who is respected for her talent in swordsmanship), Sherry Barnett (genius student specializing in artifacts and ancient languages, airhead), Po Tato and Skel Etal (your run of the mill mobs, perfect for the role of loser friends for our boy Cid). As for why I enjoy the series, arcs move at a brisk pace and change, develop, and add to the cast surrounding Cid, and while Cid himself is still first and foremost concerned with doing the coolest thing at all times, it leaves some room to question what parts of him are acts and what parts are real. I think it also strikes a consistently good balance of comedy vs plot and action (the manga leans a bit more toward the former and the anime a bit more toward the latter, but only ever to something like 60-40), and like good parodies has both a genuine enjoyment of the things it parodies and fun poking fun at them. A hero's journey this is not, Cid is always by a large margin the strongest guy in the room and always (by coincidence) right, and frankly he should stay that way, which serves to make for fun in seeing whatever bullshit he's going to do next and how the rest of the cast acts around and is affected by the actual plot that is for them very serious. One note regarding the anime is that the first episode is a bit of a weird one, not in a really objectionable way but in a way that isn't that consistent with the rest of it and also foreshadows stuff that is only relevant waaaaaaaaay later in an arc that they probably won't even get to this season. If you don't also agree that standing on a clock tower at sunset while saying something cryptic, being a ringer in a tournament until you reveal your true identity, buying paintings and furniture just to make a sitting room to impress your underling, or being a walking nuclear bomb is silly but also cool actually then it might not be for you, but if you are on board with those things then give it a shot. This season looks like it will contain my two favorite arcs from the manga, so I'm really looking forward to it. chumbler fucked around with this message at 06:12 on Oct 4, 2023 |
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Oct 4, 2023 06:09
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I AM ATOMIC 
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Oct 4, 2023 08:25
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We should probably also mention that the series leans heavily on the Chuunibyou stereotype where kids think that they're secret badasses who have hidden ninja/supernatural powers which make them superior to everyone elsequote:It translates to "middle-second syndrome" (i.e., middle-school second-year). It is sometimes called "eighth-grader syndrome" in the United States .... except that Cid is isekai'ed to a world where he really does have secret badass magical powers so he finally gets to live out all his crazy fantasies for real. Note that half his fantasies are about pretending to be the perfect 'mob' background character in his alter ego student identity so if a "named character" takes any interest in him he panics and looks for a way to retreat back into fake obscurity You may have also guessed that his name is a pun since his surname is Kageno and 'kage no' = 'shadow' quote:Title: 陰の 実力者 になりたくて！ Snowglobe of Doom fucked around with this message at 08:41 on Oct 4, 2023 |
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Oct 4, 2023 08:38
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I can't wait to watch this upcoming episode. Eminence in Shadow was one of my favorite shows and it's great to see it back.
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Oct 4, 2023 15:07
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Is this going to be another 20-episode double-season, or are they going to stick to 12? 12 is definitely enough time to do Red Tower, John Smith, Black Rose, and then tease Fallen Arcadia for season 3.
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Oct 4, 2023 15:22
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Season 1 was very fun. Especially when people are screaming in times new roman.
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Oct 4, 2023 15:49
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Glazius posted:Is this going to be another 20-episode double-season, or are they going to stick to 12? 12 is definitely enough time to do Red Tower, John Smith, Black Rose, and then tease Fallen Arcadia for season 3. MyAnimeList says 12
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Oct 4, 2023 15:49
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Just to be clear, the MC never twigs to the fact that it's all real and not just playing pretend?
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Oct 4, 2023 19:36
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boneration posted:Just to be clear, the MC never twigs to the fact that it's all real and not just playing pretend? He's aware that there is stuff going on, but he's not invested in the cult's plotting and actions as anything beyond just things happening that he can use for some fun, and he has no awareness of how deep the plots go. It's more that he thinks Shadow Garden is just playing along with his games rather than being an actual organization with a goal. Edit:  Edit 2: The opening few minutes of this season put it quite succinctly.    
chumbler fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Oct 5, 2023 |
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Oct 4, 2023 19:49
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Sounds good, thanks. Now to watch... 20 episodes in two days.
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Oct 4, 2023 19:50
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loled every time he recited mary's dialogue to people
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Oct 5, 2023 02:22
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Stink Billyums posted:loled every time he recited mary's dialogue to people It's a great bit.
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Oct 5, 2023 03:44
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chumbler posted:He's aware that there is stuff going on, but he's not invested in the cult's plotting and actions as anything beyond just things happening that he can use for some fun, and he has no awareness of how deep the plots go. It's more that he thinks Shadow Garden is just playing along with his games rather than being an actual organization with a goal. Yeah that aspect of the show really reminds me of One Punch Man: the most powerful guy in the entire world is a giant dumbass who gets obsessed over all the wrong things and completely misses the big picture and stumbles around accidentally getting involved in massively complicated situations while everyone else in the world is being super serious and pretty much have to maneuver themselves around his actions
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Oct 5, 2023 08:49
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The difference here is the only group that can even come close to anticipating Shadow's actions is Shallow Garden and they're hopelessly caught up in hero worship so they just let him do whatever he wants because they assume it's all part of his ineffable plan. It's like if Genos was an army of sexy ninjas.
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Oct 5, 2023 13:34
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Kwyndig posted:they just let him do whatever he wants because they assume it's all part of his ineffable plan. Well they're not wrong 
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Oct 5, 2023 14:05
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Snowglobe of Doom posted:Yeah that aspect of the show really reminds me of One Punch Man: the most powerful guy in the entire world is a giant dumbass who gets obsessed over all the wrong things and completely misses the big picture and stumbles around accidentally getting involved in massively complicated situations while everyone else in the world is being super serious and pretty much have to maneuver themselves around his actions Not sure I'd agree Saitama is a dumbass (though he certainly can be dense), he simply has his own set of priorities and a clear vision of heroism. Two words into the villain's monologue, Cid will just zone out because he assumes the villain is doing a bit; but Saitama simply does not give a poo poo about the big picture and will clock the bad guy because people have their own lives to get to, because villainy is ultimately a pointless waste of time, and most importantly, because the store across town has a 2-for-1 special on leeks and it closes in 10 minutes.
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Oct 5, 2023 14:59
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Looks like they're keeping the trend of having two versions of the episode preview, the Cid version and the someone else who cares about the plot version. I didn't catch anywhere if they're also doing the kagejitsu skits again.
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Oct 13, 2023 22:57
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They are still doing the short skits along with the regular episodes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPpnu0KzSWo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzkx0M3VI6g
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Oct 14, 2023 00:10
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Kalion posted:They are still doing the short skits along with the regular episodes
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Oct 14, 2023 00:11
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Suzera posted:Are there translations for these somewhere? click that button with "CC" on it for a surprise.
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Oct 14, 2023 00:14
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Yeah the youtube translation seems fine enough. I recall it struggled a bit on some of last season's.   She was so proud of them. All's well that ends well. 
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Oct 14, 2023 00:46
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IShallRiseAgain posted:click that button with "CC" on it for a surprise.  In my defense crunchyroll trained me wrong as a joke.
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Oct 14, 2023 02:22
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I wonder how many people are missing out on this show because the first episode of the first season was weird. anyway yay new season, yay red moon, yay frenzy
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Oct 14, 2023 21:45
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And of course the one thing that gets Cid to finally connect with his sister is that her hand throbs with power as the witch's blood stirs within her.
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Oct 19, 2023 05:26
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Glazius posted:And of course the one thing that gets Cid to finally connect with his sister is that her hand throbs with power as the witch's blood stirs within her.
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Oct 19, 2023 06:48
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One thing i love about this series is all the chuuni stuff is true, there really is a cult of Diabolos and cursed hero's blood and thousand year old vampires and reincarnation. Shadow thinks he's just having fun.
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Oct 19, 2023 08:55
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Glazius posted:And of course the one thing that gets Cid to finally connect with his sister is that her hand throbs with power as the witch's blood stirs within her. She's just going through a phase that everyone goes through and he has to be there to support her, nothing more than that. Also three episodes was the perfect length for this arc. chumbler fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Oct 19, 2023 |
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Oct 19, 2023 09:01
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In this week's installment of the NHK finance series, the impeccably dressed John Smith discusses the foundations of fiat currency and the psychology of bank runs.
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Oct 26, 2023 02:52
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Glazius posted:In this week's installment of the NHK finance series, the impeccably dressed John Smith discusses the foundations of fiat currency and the psychology of bank runs. Oh this is one of my favorite arcs, just because of how stupid it gets.
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Oct 26, 2023 04:10
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John Smith inadvertently leading to a conspiracy to devalue bank notes and cause a run and collapse of a merchant union while being disappointed that his genius plan of print more money = have more money is wrong.
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Oct 26, 2023 08:56
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The fact that the Cult was willing to do the same loving plan as Smith except entirely on purpose instead of on accident is just insane. Yet again Shadow foils the plans of the Cult without even trying.
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Nov 2, 2023 01:33
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Kwyndig posted:The fact that the Cult was willing to do the same loving plan as Smith except entirely on purpose instead of on accident is just insane. Yet again Shadow foils the plans of the Cult without even trying. The easiest mark is the one who thinks they're conning you, after all.
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Nov 2, 2023 04:06
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The whole Gamma fighting bit is great.
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Nov 2, 2023 13:37
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All points in strength, defense, and intellect, zero points in dexterity.
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Nov 2, 2023 17:34
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He clearly should have taught her Jigen-ryu, though I guess what he told her was pretty close in concept
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Nov 3, 2023 05:04
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I forget if it's mentioned in the anime or manga, but I picked up the first light novel volume and something stated pretty clearly is that when Alpha and the rest leave (apart from whoever is on rotating assistant duty) when they're kids, Cid takes that as they realized all his stuff is fake and got sick of it so they're just out living their own lives except when they hang around him and play along because they're his friends. He doesn't take Mitsugoshi's money because it's theirs, not his, and part of the motivation for this arc is because he feels a little left out. He's bad at being a mob and bad at being a shadowy manipulator both because he doesn't have a clue what's going on and because he doesn't use people as tools. chumbler fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Nov 6, 2023 |
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Nov 6, 2023 19:59
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Well, it had to happen eventually. Delta does something she shouldn't and Cid has to send her to a ruin upstate where she can run around all day and hunt bandits. Yes, literally.
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Nov 8, 2023 22:15
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He's really flying by the seat of his pants here and it could very easily turn out not like how he plans. I did find it goofy that we had two unmaskings of John Smith and neither of them involved a literal unmasking.
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Nov 8, 2023 23:54
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Kwyndig posted:He's really flying by the seat of his pants here and it could very easily turn out not like how he plans. That's how he always 'plans' things, lol. After all his original scheme was 1) print more money, 2) hooray, now I have more money! so things were never going to turn out according to his plan anyway
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Nov 9, 2023 05:46
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Poor Juggernaut gets offscreened in the comedy short. Also this arc has adhered to Cid's ethos of doing things because they're cool by having practically everything set on or around trains. chumbler fucked around with this message at 09:08 on Nov 12, 2023 |
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Nov 9, 2023 06:14
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