It’s a fresh new season of The Eminence in Shadow, and it begins with everything we love about it! It features a real fake story, gag characters finding themselves ‘gagged‘ and cliche tropes that always seem to work including, vampires, zombies and ghouls. The setting? The grimy slums of the Lawless City.

Recap & Reaction

Coming off a season where one of the last scenes we saw was of Rose being “stripped” of her past to become a sailor scout.. I mean a trainee of Shadow Garden. This season continues those Moonlight Sonata vibes as the season begins with Shadow and the crew’s new adventure with a new arc, new setting and tons of fresh new characters. This episode kept the integrity of what makes The Eminence in Shadow such a lovable show, while giving us an entirely fresh taste of what we have yet to experience from season 1.

The Smell of a New Plot

The beginning scene brings back what we all loved about season 1. Shadow Garden is having a meeting with Shadow about the Cult of Diablos. All the while, Shadow still thinks everyone is just playing along with his elaborate make-believe role-playing game. As we all know, every make-believe role-playing activity is in-fact real.

After the events of the Bushin Festival, the activity of the Cult of Diablos has ceased to have any real presence in the Midgar Kingdom. Now, the focus of Shadow Garden has shifted to the Oriana Kingdom, where the Cult has clearly infiltrated from the top down. However, there seems to be some suspicious activity in the Lawless City as Shadow Garden noticed a dubious amount of financial activity flowing through that city.

Continuing with convenient plot coincidences, Shadow warns Shadow Garden of the “Red Moon,” which ends up being the main theme of the episode and the possible reason why such suspicious activity is flowing through the horrid Lawless City. Each member of Shadow Garden start to tease us with some foreshadowing through the lore surrounding this “Red Moon” phenomenon.

Something, something a thousand years..

Something, something Blood Queen..

Something, something catastrophe..

After Shadow lobs the pass to Shadow Garden to talk about about this lore of the Red Moon, he goes on to tell them to let him handle this next battle himself.

Worthy Setup

I don’t think this show gets credit enough for how its been able to tip-toe or tight rope between the edges of a serious plot versus the input of humor that’s just so nonchalantly executed through dialogue, character reactions and the story elements. Add in the perfect display of story boarding with the perfect kind of music, the anime creates the immersion necessary to deliver the laughter that doesn’t require any over-the-top slapstick cheap jokes. This is the genius of this anime!

Creating the sense of that perspective through Cid’s lens of just “role-playing” this entire story out is just chef’s kiss!

The opener of Delta doing blockheaded Delta things with a shade of fan service sets the tone nicely as a reminder to not take things too seriously. The scene with Shadow Garden talking with Shadow is the textbook blueprint of what makes The Eminence in Shadow the Eminence in Shadow. And being The Eminence in Shadow is top flight content for the best dialogue and delivery in what makes satirical comedic irony amazing.

The stage is set for Shadow Garden to explain the plot with the whole Cult of Diablos situation. Every major Shadow Garden member has their lines, even Zeta and Eta! Then, boom! Shadow hits us with “it smells” and all the members overreact because Shadow Garden thinks Shadow is actually saying something deep, but inner Shadow, Cid is just role-playing inside. This is just too damn funny!

Before getting to the Cid and Claire adventure, we witness the return of Quinton and Goldy Gilded! They are trying to hunt down the Blood Princess mentioned in the lore that’s located at the Crimson Tower in the Lawless City. Quinton and Goldy does the audience a solid with some exposition, explaining to the audience about the Lawless City being ran by “three rulers.”

Both Quinton and Goldy wind up fighting against this chained guard, the “White Devil,” that got enslaved for doing the exact thing Quinton and Goldy is trying to do. This sets us up for quite the punchline later.

Claire and Cid Go to the Lawless City

Right off the bat from season 1 to 2, we have an adventure with Cid and Claire. In the previous season, there was an ongoing gag of Cid always avoiding and hiding from Claire. While it did seem like Claire would be a central character, now it seems like it’s now the moment to have her shine as a character.

“Sibling Complex”

I forgot to mention this in my previous reviews, but one of the funnier anime tropes this series has been exploiting is the good ole’ “sister complex.” I’m not talking about the “sister-sister complex” like what Alexia had against Iris. I’m talking about the “brother-sister” kind in the ‘yikes’ variety.. Spy x Family has it with Yor and Yuri Forger. Jujutsu Kaisen has it with Mei-Mei and Ui-Ui. It’s quite a weird trope in anime, but provides an easy target to make tons of fun of.

To the Actual Story

Once Quinton and Goldy leaves us with a nice cliffhanger against the White Devil, the scene quickly shifts to Cid and Claire wandering the dangerous streets of the Lawless City.

There’s nothing like some nice abusive sister-sibling complex dragging the s**t out of a younger brother. It’s so nice of Claire to look after her baby brother, Cid in the kindest of ways.

After episodes upon episodes of missing out on abusing Cid, Claire informs him that she is in the Lawless City for a Dark Knight Association “strategy meeting.” This association is apparently an “unofficial” one as we’ll get a glimpse of them later on in the episode.

After the Bushin Festival ended in the previous season and with the massive “L” that Iris took from Mundane Mann. A new upcoming talent rose to the occasion and won the mighty competitive festival herself. That person is our lovable abusive sister, Claire Kagenou.

Right after winning, she decides right away to go to the Lawless City to beat up some vamps and like any good sister would do, she literally drags Minoru.. I mean her kid brother Cid Kagenou with her.

Claire has always been loving and protective over her little brother and it turns out that she wants to help Cid improve his work resume by taking him to the Lawless City; in order to join the Knights Round.

Funny enough, as Claire is dragging Cid, a slave merchant stops the “most beautiful woman in the world,” over to sell her some beat up slave dudes. Remember the intro scene? Yes. Quinton and Goldy’s battered bodies have been taken advantage of in the worst way.

This scene has all the hallmarks of the delivery of what I find so damn humorous. The setup at the beginning of the episode to setup this Goldy and Quinton punchline was well worth it. This is another way the show utilizes all the characters in it, to make it matter in different ways to the story.

Holy s**t I miss this show!

Doggy Dog World

After a long day of dragging Cid’s booty across town, the scene cuts to Cid going out and about—going against his sister’s demand of him staying in the inn at all costs. While Claire is attending the meeting, Cid is pick pocketing the pick pocketers that pick pocked him. Since there is no law, this is absolutely Cid’s paradise and all the pick pocketers are living in it. He goes on to reiterate multiple times that life really is a “doggy dog world,” as he continues to amass a sizable bankroll.

On a more seriously note, the theme of the reality of a “doggy dog world” that a lawless and anarchic society entails is a nice idea and learning lesson to revolve around this episode—possibly this entire arc.

Vamps and Vamp Hunters

As it becomes nighttime and the moon starts to turn red, Cid notices a ghoul underling become a punching bag for some citizen bullies in an alleyway. Cid notes how the vampire underlings are just fodder for the citizens, but have “tons of HP.” Once again, a coincidence turns into reality as the thousand year lore about the Blood Queen turns the moon bloodshot and the start of the calamity begins.

As the moon continues turning bright crimson, the ghouls around town increasingly get a boost of power and begins its rampage. The ghoul getting kicked by the bullies turns on them and dismembers them. After finishing one of the NPCs and turning him into a ghoul, they now have their sights set on the king of NPCs, Cid Kagenou.

In the most Cid of Cid way of thinking, he deliberates between either going the NPC route or go the eminence route, but before he can decide; a new red-headed beauty comes to his rescue to slice up these power boosted ghouls.

The redheaded babe reveals herself as “Mary, the Ancient Vampire Hunter.” Like many dramatic plot unfolding moments, a new character arrives to warn the main character about this new danger. Cid can’t help himself by being in another classic anime trope and starts to get ‘rizzed’ by what this new red-headed character starts to say.

Mary states dramatically:

“Run, if you value your life.”

“The frenzy has begun.”

“The moon is red.”

“We’re out of time.”

Mary leaves Cid to ponder about his life and Cid has nothing but thought orgasms.

Where Cid’s Booty Go?

The scene shifts to Claire coming back from her meeting to the inn where Cid is supposed to stay at, but Cid is a bad boy little brother; as if she hasn’t learned that Cid doesn’t follow her orders by now. Suddenly, an old man escapes his room frantically with his brothel girl turned ghoul woman and Claire kicks her into the next episode. Then, asks if the man has seen a person that looks like her bum little brother. With no real answer about Cid’s whereabouts, she goes out in these ghoulish streets to go find him.

Po and Skel

Like Quinton and Goldy, gag characters like Skel and Po are always there to make sure we laugh in the story. We are all sitting here with money and ass in front of our faces and these two show us what it’s like to be rewarded with chasing our lust and desires.

Mary Go Round

As the all-in-one trope vampires, ghouls, and zombies started to overtake the city, the scene shifted to a young battered brothel lady who had experienced one too many lays. She laments her situation and starts to hear a commotion from the ghoul attacks occurring outside. As a ghoul starts to break into her room, Shadow comes storming out of the red sky to save her and starts to high jack Mary’s swag by repeating her lines word for word.

“Run, if you value your life.”

“The frenzy has begun.”

“The moon is red.”

“We’re out of time.”

Shadow repeats these lines and then leaves.

Hearing all the craziness, one of the brothel girls comes in to check on the girl, Marie. She mentions to her brothel coworker that she was saved by Shadow.

This cliche scene of Marie being saved by Shadow changes her outlook rather quickly and she has a revelation that this hoe life ain’t for her no more. The other brothel girl warns her of her “breaking her contract.”

Claire and Mary

After Shadow randomly saves a brothel worker from a ghoulish old man, the scene shifts to one of the three rulers of the Lawless City, Yukime. Her servants rush to inform her about the vamps unleashing roided blood moon ghouls onto the city.

In a classic side character death scene, where more important characters are heart broken over losing a close loved one; Claire balls out over the death of Cid lying on the ground. There was only one thing that was completely missing from this scene.. a dead Cid.

Mary finds Claire as she is grasping what looks like a dead Cid, but Mary hilariously corrects her that that dead body looks nothing like Cid. She goes on to explain about the planned resurrection of the Blood Queen Elizabeth that is a thousand years in the making. These vampire people that are trying to resurrect the Blood Queen may have taken Cid to use as a sacrifice for the resurrection.

Claire and Mary go on to explain more in detail about the importance of the Red Moon, as it gives the vamps and ghouls a significant buff. Both Mary and Claire have their sights set on the Crimson Tower, where the vampires are partaking in the sacrifice of living beings to awaken the Blood Queen Elizabeth. Claire hopes to save Cid to atone for her mistake of bringing him to such a dangerous place.

Remember the formula of Shadow doing his own thing while other characters get to shine? Well, we got ourselves a duo of a raging air headed hot headed sister with the vampire hunter trope.

Really though, these kind of scenes are tropes for a reason because they work. Mute the music with the fire effects going on in the background, have the voice actor cry her heart out with her caressing her poor poor baby brother—only to hit us with the perfect punchline. This first episode at least, feels a lot more deliberate to actually make a punchline feel like a punchline.

Jokes Comes in Threes

Nearing the end of the episode, a climatic moment awaits as all the big names of this arc converge upon the Crimson tower. Yukime the Spirit Fox, ruler of the White Tower and Juggernaut the Tyrant, ruler of the Black Tower find themselves fighting head to head right at the Crimson Tower. Before Shadow makes his way to the Crimson Tower, he saves yet another lady in distress, presumably one from the unofficial Dark Knights Association that Claire was meeting with. Here, Shadow completes the trifecta of the running joke and repeats Mary’s lines one last time like he was so damn original.

As the episode winds down to its final scenes, we are finally made privy to the orchestrators of this chaos. It seems as these ‘orchestrators,’ the vampires that want to revive the Queen have some deep seeded beef with Yukime and Juggernaut. Before these two make their way into the Crimson Tower themselves, Shadow does one of his least eminent actions by inserting himself right in the middle of the battle. Like he mentioned at the beginning of the episode, he’s here to handle everything himself, to get to that booty. As the episode winds down, Shadow Garden watches from afar and we get to see a glimpse of the new and improved Rose Oriana of Shadow Garden.

Last Thoughts

What I’ve noticed from some viewers who don’t care too much about The Eminence in Shadow, versus fans more like myself, is the appreciation of the humor itself. Some people want real tension from a genuine story, but The Eminence in Shadow isn’t exactly that. While it mirrors exactly what you would expect from a typical show, it brings tons of sarcasm and comedic irony through the dialogue and plot, which contrasts so well that it’s hard not to laugh. This is where some viewers may not see or even appreciate what the show is doing. You either get the humor and like it or you don’t. To me, it’s just plain genius. I may or may not be in the minority in this, but holy hell this show holds a special place in my sack.

As it pertains to the opener of this new season, this episode was perfection! It has everything that was lovable about season 1, while maintaining a semblance of a real plot. Now, through the perspective of Claire Kagenou, Shadow partaking a heavier lead in this arc and a host of new characters, there is a renewed excitement. The ending may never be what you want in any story, but the ride there should always be enjoyable. This episode is close to a masterpiece!