The plot came, it saw and got nuked!

Classic Plot

“It’s a classic story line that’s featured in many anime series we all know and love. Even the misdirection of the plot twist is reminiscent of one of your most beloved arcs. This episode exhibits all the hallmarks of a great, classic plot: a character with a deep backstory, a villain who isn’t truly a villain, and a setup for the perfect climactic moment. But then, it was all for naught. Or was it?”

What to do? What to do? Where will the plot take us next after such an abrupt nuke ending? Let’s delve into how this episode was executed brilliantly in The Eminence in Shadow style satire.

Recap & Reaction

Opener

In the previous episode, the spotlight was on our main character, Cid Kagenou, both as himself and as Shadow. This episode, on the other hand, focuses on one of its notable strengths: the development of compelling side characters.

The White Devil Archetype

If one word were to describe the opening of this episode, it would be ‘brutality.’ It picks up right where the previous episode left off but shifts the perspective to the GOAT Crimson Tower defender, “The White Devil.” While we’ve known him only on the surface, he shares similarities with characters like Quinton and Goldy, all driven by the goal of slaying the Blood Queen Elisabeth for their reward. His character embodies the inhumane ‘berserker’ archetype. Perhaps he once had a moral compass, but now, as a slave forced to become a mass murderer in order to protect the Blood Queen, he’s become consumed by a thirst for body counts.

In Chainsaw Man, I always refer to their special humor as the “Tatsuki Fujimoto secret sauce.” This is where The Eminence in Shadow throws its own signature flavor on how it satirizes the story and characters.

In the world, there’s always someone bigger, stronger, and more badass than you. In prison, there’s always someone even more screwed in the head and destructive than the guy everyone thinks is the craziest. In this case, The White Devil witnesses the arrival of Juggernaut the Tyrant, ruler of the Black Tower, and Yukime the Nine-Tailed Fox, ruler of the White Tower. Even the most slimy and ruthless, who revels in killing humans, knows fear. The White Devil’s confidence not only wanes, but it also reveals his true character as he prefers to prey on the weak.

Getting Bodied

Juggernaut avoids Shadow and Yukime to proceed inside the Crimson Tower, easily breaking the barrier and Yukime proceeds to praise Shadow for helping save her brothel girls. Then, she goes her own separate way, leaving Shadow standing still with The White Devil looming over him. Not sensing any power emanating from Shadow, The White Devil makes due on his archetype and tries to ensnare Shadow. In the blink of an eye, The White Devil is left in bewildering confusion, with his body turning into mincemeat like Future Trunks did Mecha Freezer. Shadow walks away saying Mary’s classic lines once again:

“The moon is red.” 月が赤い。

“The frenzy has begun.” 暴走が始まる。

“There isn’t any time.” もう時間がない。

These are the type of scenes that The Eminence in Shadow executes so well. The creators know exactly how to recreate these scenes with the exact horror and menacing vibe that the scene entails; only to hit us with Shadow’s punchline at the end.

Maintaining the Integrity of a REAL PLOT!

After the intro, the next scene starts off with a hooded Beta reading the contents of a book in what looks like a library inside the Crimson Tower, revealing some more insight into the Cult of Diablos. It reaffirms that the Cult of Diablos did get their source of power from Diablo and somehow obtained an incredibly advanced technology. Beta’s scene essentially begs the question of “how in the world did the Cult of Diablos acquire such technology?”

No matter how humorous or “slice-of-life” an anime gets, I maintain the argument that a compelling plot will always be king! The irresistible urge for an explanation to an intriguing mystery is paramount!

Girl on Girl Action

As Beta engrosses herself in the book, we are hit with a funny thud of a scene as Claire and Mary fall comically into the library on top of each other. We’ve seen a funny entrance like this when Alexia and Rose went into the portal at the Goddess Trials and landed on top of Natsume. Because Shadow Garden has their own alter ego aliases, we get to see Natsume play as this stern super intimidating character, Beta; stating that she should be ‘eliminating’ anyone that comes in contact with her and Shadow Garden. Of course, having Claire Kagenou present of complicates the matter.

Both sides, Mary & Claire and Beta share their purposes of being inside the Crimson Tower. Beta is investigating the demon possession and is looking to obtain blood of the ‘progenitor’ vampire, while Claire and Mary are trying to get to the Blood Queen. Beta further explains that the vampires and the demon possessed likely come from the same ancestral background.

This scene displays some more Eminence in Shadow humor as the Shadow Garden members question why Beta isn’t revealing her face.

Once both sides arrive at the conclusion that its best to not complicate each other’s goals, Claire announces that they need to make haste, in order to save her brother. This is where we get a glimpse of Rose Oriana, now referred to as ‘666.’ Rarely we see Shadow Garden members step out of line, but it seems Rose has not given up her past and her feelings for Cid.

This would be a perfect serious scene for the character development of an abrupt ending of a romantic relationship because of major unforeseen circumstances in the plot for Rose and Cid, but it’s literally Rose and it’s Cid. Their unique and humorous character dynamics add a layer of complexity that never fails to make me giggle.

In this scene, Beta hints at Mary being more than meets the eye. It’s classic character foreshadowing, in which Claire starts to realize herself. As Mary and Claire make their way out of the library, Beta expresses her disappointment in 666 and we get some more humorous dialogue from the “babysitters” of 666.

Teasing Plot Insight

Claire and Mary go continue onward to get to the Blood Queen and end up slaying some vampires. Claire reveals that vampires can die by destroying their heart. Claire follows up on what Beta referred to Mary earlier about a “haven.” Before Mary can fully explain her origin story and divulge more insight into the plot, Juggernaut makes a gruesome reentrance; obliterating the vampires in a menacing display, reiterating Claire’s earlier point about vampires meeting their demise by stomping their heart into smithereens.

Juggernaut Versus the Power of Chicks

How can the viewer fathom and gauge a character’s power? Killing the third strongest vampire NPC and going by what the characters say themselves. Clearly, Juggernaut is levels beyond these top ranked vampires, impaling and stomping through each vampire one by one. By the previous White Devil’s account and Mary & Claire sizing him up, he’s clearly someone that they do not want to cross paths with.

Unfortunately, for Claire and Mary, Juggernaut believes in equality of violence and attacks them immediately after disposing of the NPC vamps—giving us flashbacks of Viscount Grease punching the lights out of Claire when she got kidnapped in an earlier arc. Juggernaut gives her another one of those fist to face violent acts of equality. In typical good guy fashion, Mary turns to the rocked body of Claire to momentarily display her concern, only for Juggernaut to display his 2nd act of equality. This time, slashing Mary up with a sword that propels her body back into the stone columns.

A hilarious puffed cheeked Claire reminds us that Juggernaut is the 2nd man that completed an act of violence to her face. After counter attacking Juggernaut with a stab to his foot, she checks on the status of her vamp partner, only to see her ‘blood-curling.’

Girl on Girl Climax

Claire panics and tries to use her healing magic on Mary, but Mary starts to reveal that she is indeed a vampire herself. The Eminence in Shadow is no stranger to fan service or any acts of sexual fantasy that in itself is an anime trope. Mary reluctantly demands to suck the bloody goods out of poor pure-hearted Claire.

Consuming the blood of a virgin Claire, Mary goes Super Saiyan God on us and proceeds to show.. she’s still no match for Juggernaut. Juggernaut effortlessly counterattacks and gets directly behind Claire to go for the “kill shot.” In this slowed down dramatic moment, Claire apologizes to Cid. However, Shadow appears out of nowhere to kick Juggernaut out of the Crimson Tower, resulting in saving the lives of Claire and Mary. Shadow states Mary’s classic lines again, but slightly different this time.

“The frenzy has begun.” 暴走が始まった。

“We have little time remaining.” 残された時間はわずかった。

Shadow then leaves, echoeing one last statement. Claire and Mary are left slightly bewildered.

These dramatically slowed-down, time-warping scenes are so damn iconic in the world of fight sequences. The battle between Mundane Mann and Iris Midgar, in particular, stands out as one of the best-executed instances of such a scene. It’s a classic scenario where characters, on the brink of their demise, experience a rush of memories and regrets, only for a miraculous turn of events to save their lives. Whether used in a satirical manner or not, these tropes never fail to captivate due to the incredible tension they build. Of course, Shadow makes us laugh in the end by tagging Mary’s lines again, this time right in front of Mary.

The Truth About the Blood Queen Elisabeth!

After unexpectedly engaging in lip to lip blood sucking action, Mary apologizes to Claire for what she did. In the end, Claire forgives her with their lives at stake in all. Mary goes on to confirm her being as a vampire and how everything went down over a thousand years ago.

Back in the good old days, vampires treated human flesh as humans do any living mammal. Hunt, kill and consume. Only that vampires feasted on their blood. However, humans caught wind of the vampires’ weaknesses, garlic.. Just kidding. They figured out that vampires burn in the sun and most importantly are permanently defeated by destroying their hearts.

Most vampires were wiped out, but Mary’s leader, who was a ruler of a small nation, decided to live in harmony with humans. This is the ‘haven’ for humans and vampires that Beta eluded to earlier in the episode. After a long period of peace, vampires started to develop immunity to the sun and their desires to drink the blood of humans waned. In return, their special vampire abilities faded overtime. Unfortunately, for Blood Queen Elisabeth, she did not acquire these evolved traits, but still did her best to build her ‘haven.’

Wrapping the 1000 year lore of the “Red Moon,” the vampires’ abilities, including the thirst for human blood dramatically increased. The vampire, Crimson, played instigator for personal gain and got the Blood Queen to drink a drop of human blood, which triggered a horrific incident that lasted for 3 days and 3 nights of the Blood Queen slaughtering 3 nations in total. Mary survived on by drinking the blood of the dead and to continued forward in figuring out a way to help Queen Elisabeth. However, it was too late. The Blood Queen decided to take her own life by stabbing her heart, but she did not fully pass on. All Mary could do at that point, was to act as her caretaker as she lies dormant.

Crimson and his vampire cronies defeated Mary to take over as caretakers for Queen Elisabeth’s body until the next 1000 year “Red Moon” event occurs. Crimson decided to allow Mary to live on as a reward for her service in protecting the sleeping Blood Queen.

Classic, classsic, classic!

This embodies the essence of classic storytelling. It presents the real narrative through the lens of a key character involved in the main event. What initially appears as a conventional lore takes on a unique context that clarifies misconceptions about the individual or event in question. These narratives invariably feature an instigating antagonist, manipulating events for personal gain. It’s another rinse and repeat storytelling trope. However, it always work for a reason!

After uncovering the somber reality within this vampire narrative, the characters build their resolve and discuss their commitment to being there for their loved ones, grasping at this cliche idea of creating a peaceful ‘haven.’ It’s a classic response in the hero’s journey, especially after uncovering and confronting an evil bad guy plan.

Notice as Claire and Mary talk about their resolve to want to build this utopian ‘haven,’ it shows clips of Skel and Po running running away from the ghouls—classic Eminence in Shadow humor I tell ya’!

After Claire gives Mary a classic hero’s response and Mary confirming and accepting Claire’s bright outlook, the crescendo moment of them having a best buds forever ending is abruptly cut with Claire’s humorous response. Mary tells Claire that she will help her save Cid, but Claire essentially tells her to back the hell off and that she is going to stylishly do it herself.

Planning the Last Showdown!

Shadow makes his way to his true purpose after role-playing his way into the Crimson Tower’s. That is MONEY and VALUABLES! In this scene, he noted that he may have came across Claire earlier, but chalks it up to her most likely being fine.

After consuming all of these coins for Shadow’s plan to live at least 3 centuries, he goes on to discuss how he’ll end this next big fight. He concludes that doing the same thing in the previous arcs is getting kind of old, so he should just end the fight premature to get a different kind of reaction from the other main characters.

Shadow being unaware of the true backstory of the Blood Queen, just assumes that this last boss battle is just going to be another powerful villain he’ll fight, except.. he does something a little TOO premature.

Going Atomic!

In the one of the last scenes of the episode and possibly of a very short arc, Crimson acts out one last antagonist trope. It’s the big reveal! He takes out Queen Elisabeth’s heart and inserts it into the body of a person who looks just like Cid to revive her, except Shadow steps in just a tad too early to blow up the bad guy. As the dust settles in the rubble, he drops the classic tags one last time..

Last Thoughts

If you were looking for an arc that is fresh and different from previous arcs in The Eminence in Shadow, then the start of season 2 is totally it. While it’s not absolutely clear that this arc is over, it’s heavily implied it is. However, the heart of the Blood Queen Elisabeth is still laying on the ground. Maybe we are getting a brand new recurring character! Of course, this is through the lens of someone watching the anime first, before reading the manga and light novel. I can only judge story by the medium of the anime.

In this episode, it gave us what episode 1 was missing; character development for side-characters like Claire and Mary, main plot insight and some great action sequences. Being that Shadow and Cid was the star of episode 1, it’s great to remove him, so that other characters can find their spotlight. I just love the fact that this show can blend all the classic anime story tropes and find that perfect line that creates the most satisfying comedic irony. This episode is the perfect follow up episode to episode 1 and actually leaves us with a different kind of cliffhanger that doesn’t involve fighting big bosses. This is perfection I say! Do you?