Just when things can’t get any worse for Rose, it does.. How will she overcome the worst of the worst?!

Recap & Reaction

This episode comprises of everything that makes The Eminence in Shadow special, including the major plot points! As huge revelations gets revealed between Queen Reina and Perv Asshat, Rose Oriana must overcome the worst mental barriers. How will Shadow provide the outlet for Rose to make the correct choice?

Opener

The episode’s opening scene shows what Zeta’s mission was all about towards the end of the John Smith arc, when Alpha sent her off to retrieve a particular artifact from the Cult of Diablos. After some flashes of Shadow Garden facing head to head with the Cult, Zeta faces the conclusion of the mission’s objective. The special item that Zeta is there for has been removed to a new location. Trying to catch Zeta off guard, a Cult member sneak attacked Zeta, but is left with quite the open wound..

Poor Zeta.. Shows up for one scene and never gets heard of again. It would be interesting to see how this scene ultimately ties into the plot though, but it almost feels like a throwaway scene.. What this scene did accomplish is setting the tone. The fact that it is Cult related, tells us that the main plot should continue.

Cid’s Next Moves

Cid is sitting down with Margaret, Rose’s maid, as he thinks through his next plan of involving his ‘eminence,’ as he takes down the ‘obstacle’ himself. Soon, the ‘tyrannical’ Rose will go as planned!

Sure it will! This is the same setup we’ve grown to expect from Cid’s character. How will the creators deliver the punchline that differs from before?

As Cid is sipping on his tea, Margaret has found her way back into her hands. One again, she keeps a tight grip on his hands as she laments how she lost him last time. She goes on her spiel of being completely freaked out by the ‘stalkerish’ castle guard. Given an incident where he was “accused of stealing food,” he has been relieved of his duties.

Poor delusional fluffy castle guard man gets accused because of his size. The castle guard’s scene from the previous episode almost felt filler just for humor. However, he ended up being a punchline in this scene.

Just as Margaret accuses Cid’s ‘teacher’ as taking advantage of him, Shiron pops in to take an unrelenting grip of his other hand. Cid does a ‘replacement’ jutsu on them and goes to perform his piano lesson in his trousers. Given how much society gives an excuse for mad man genius artists, the audience claps in delight at Cid’s performance.

This scene was utterly amazing how it nested the castle guard’s punchline from the overzealous Margaret and Shiron’s female competition over Cid—to delivering another punchline in the form of Cid playing the piano half-naked. There are so many elements of humor here in only two scenes that hits you one after the other.

Setting Up..

Any major scenario in this show involves ironic miscommunication. Just as the reader have to walk away reading the same thing, worded differently, this series creates another moment where Shadow thinks the “Black Rose” is literally a Black Rose, but Epsilon assumes Shadow knows the true origin of this “Black Rose.” Thinking that the “Black Rose” is some weirdo Goldy & Quinton fraternal cult, Shadow proceeds to tell Epsilon to show him where the real Black Rose is. But before that, he would love to handle the “Queen Reina” situation first.

This scene tells us the significance of the “Black Rose” and how it will set up the irony in Shadow’s point-of-view.

A Sick Twist..

Just as the ending of the prior episode implies, Perv Asshat and Queen Reina are indeed in a twisted relationship where they contextualized all of their evil plans for the audience. Cid watches on from the window as both Queen Reina & Perv Asshat are starting to swap DNA from mouth to mouth. They discuss how King Oriana was manipulated by the two of them. Queen Reina goes deeper in the dark pits of horror as she even suggests that they should have killed Rose earlier. After Perv & Rose’s marriage, Rose will meet her end as Perv Asshat & Queen Reina will end up ruling over the kingdom together.

This is the beginning of the show’s brilliant storyboarding. I know swapping kisses isn’t all that, but to create the atmosphere of a shocking revelation matters in the delivery to the viewer.

Given this new revelation to Cid, he walks on the side of the building to think about what his next brilliant move will be. Given how disgustingly evil what Cid witnessed, he ponders how the ‘tyrannical’ Rose will react. This sparks his brilliant next move.

These are some really cool shots in the show. Shadow walking on the side of the building and looking upside down? This actually feels like a unique visual.

A Hilariously Horrendous Mistake..

How do the sayings go? “Add salt to the wounds? Add insult to injury? The worst keeps getting worse?” Whatever your personal favorite analogy is that synergizes these feelings of the deeper dark hole, Rose’s nightmare continues in reality. Margaret’s shows her passive aggressiveness towards Rose as she enters the room to provide Rose with tea. Rose can’t help but feel the awkwardness of Margaret after she blames her for the kingdom’s turmoil. As Rose feels a breeze, she approaches her window to find Shadow, slipping behind her, sitting on the couch.

After finding out what was truly going on behind the scenes with Queen Reina & Asshat, this completes Rose’s character as the most tragic that we’ve seen and experienced in this anime. How can you beat Alpha being betrayed by Shadow? Rose having no one by her side as the one saving grace for her mental stability in saving her mother obliterates her inside.. The insult to injury to follow up this revelation for the audience? Margaret.. And from Rose’s point-of-view, Shadow has come to completely eliminate it all.

Rose is shocked to find Shadow sitting right behind her as she feels that Shadow has come to get rid of the Shadow Garden traitor. She goes on to apologize to Shadow.. Shadow came with a grander plan for Rose than to just eliminate her, so he takes her to go outside onto the balcony to show her the ‘truth.’

UH-Oh!

In a montage of the most terrifying, it’s something that we never want to see our parents commit.. Swapping fluid with an Asshat that your mother conspired with to kill your own father.

The stylistic choice of these blurry montage scenes of Asshat & Queen Reina is a nice touch to how it’s delivered to Rose. The montage itself is a setup to how it will effect the audience’s reactions to the next scene.

Seeing such an inconceivable, unfounded scene between her mother and Perv take place, this has literally broke Rose. Crying out loud, Rose will not let herself believe such a horrible tyranny took place. Shadow begins his monologue to allow the ‘tyrannical’ Rose to rise from the depths of her being. As Shadow tells Rose to “accept the truth,” Rose’s “depths of her being” cannot accept this awful truth as she abruptly throws up her mucus—falling to her knees, passing out.

No one expects such a revelation to be blatantly shown without tact to Rose. In Shadow’s estimation, he gravely miscalculated. As it stems from his misinformed judgement of the ‘tyrannical’ Rose, even he realizes his mistake and apologizes while Rose lies unconscious.. The truth is, the only tyranny taking place is against Rose.

THIS IS INCREDIBLY HILARIOUS! Some jokes are just go undeniably too far that it becomes hilarious at the ridiculousness of it. The brilliance in the punchline is the blatant unexpectedness of what Shadow just did, along with the abrupt timing of his monologue being cut short because of Rose passing out. He showed Rose the worst of the worst right in front of her. She killed her father to relieve him of his suffering. She protected her mother, when she was the one that helped conspire everything. And the worst? Watching your mother getting busy with your co-conspirator abuser.. It really is satire of a “soap opera” as Shadow puts it.

Bring Back the Good Times

After an awful sequence that ended in Shadow’s nonchalant apology, the scene shifts to Rose waking up on the couch. Bearing all the trauma and questioning everything that she tried to accomplished, she couldn’t help but continue throwing up with the images of Perv & her mother flashing before her. In all of her suffering, she can only think about how great the past was with Cid. Right as Rose calls out for Cid’s, Cid starts playing “Moonlight Sonata” on the balcony outside her room.

Cid knows how to make scenes dramatic. The creator’s ability to portray these characters in their most traumatic and dark light is incredibly important to keeping the show grounded. Continuing her terror from the previous scene and trying to cope is incredibly important for Rose’s character to put her at the lowest of the low, to eventually build her back up. This is the start of building into that crucial moment where she must make a huge decision.

Rose lays out her misery in front of Cid as he continues playing the piano. She murdered her father, been betrayed by her own mother and because of her acts, Oriana Kingdom residents resent her. In the only outcome that can allow her to cope from agony, Cid is her escape. Cid starts to explain the “dream that can never become reality.”

Cid’s and Rose’s ‘dream,’ are interpreted differently by each other, but will lead to the outcome they desire. Once again, Cid brings up the “dream that he can never achieve,” referencing his Minoru Kagenou life. Rose still interprets this as his love for her.

A True Lesson to be Learned

The brilliance within the humor contrasts with the philosophical self-reflection in Cid’s metaphor. Cid uses the metaphor of the bright lights of the day, which blind people to the true path revealed by the moonlight at night. Throughout the day, your true desires are obscured by things that don’t matter. That’s why the moonlight at night unveils what matters most.

This artistic balance that “Moonlight Sonata” reveals within the humor, grounds the anime. Through all of the humor, there is something significant to be learned. This is the scene that fervently made this episode feel like a grounded and truly dark anime. Up until this point in the episode, it has shown the show’s entertaining balance between the ironic humor and the lesson that helps anchor it. Even the ironic humor of Cid playing the piano is present, but his monologue grounds the moment beyond the humor, in a metaphor that applies to reality.

In the climax of Shadow’s monologue, Shadow asks Rose, “in this world lit by the moon, what is it that you see?” Bringing full circle of the moment Shadow healed and granted Rose power, Shadow helps Rose see her true desires once again. In the dramatic abrupt stoppage of his piano, Rose sees the ring that Cid stole from Perv placed on a pillow in front of her. She assumes of his ‘dream’ to be his will for them to be together symbolized within this ring. The scene ends as she picks it up to hold under the moonlight.

Beyond the irony and humor, what grounds this moment is Rose fortifying her desires to be with Cid with the ring. Once again, Cid grants her the outlet and ironically the key to help save herself and Oriana Kingdom or destroy it..

Leaving it Up to Rose

Just as fast as everyone thought Cid was this mastermind of an incredibly rich and thought provoking scene, that is taken away by the fact that Cid actually just lost the ring instead. In actuality, Cid always saw the ring as just a means to some cash and ended up brushing it off. In the end, he felt he was thought provoking enough to push Rose to fight against her ‘tyranny.’

As both Cid and Epsilon sit in the bath together, Cid sees how incredible Epsilon’s use of his ‘slime’ has been, complimenting Epsilon of her ‘almost’ naturally looking chest. He goes on to metaphorically tell Epsilon about ‘giving’ Rose what she needs to fight against the Cult. We all know that Epsilon takes this literally, given that the ring has been ‘given’ to Rose. In another symbolizing moment of the moon, Cid reveals that the climatic moment of Rose’s rebellion will begin in “three days at the wedding.”

Fanservice and setting up the next scenes to end the episode.

The Ring that Unravels

The moment of truth has come for Perv Asshat. After a villain’s epic monologue, comes the aftermath of everything that goes right for the bad guy, right? Revealing all the events that could have foiled his plans, Sir Perv Asshat will finally become King Asshat! Perv reveals that King Oriana went to great lengths to protect the owner of the “Ring of Succession,” by giving it to Rose. In Mordred’s explanation, the only way he can become the new owner is to marry into the bloodline.

The viewers are all salivating for Asshat’s moment of glory!

All of these mishaps and potential foils can finally move to his wayside as Perv pulls out the glorious ring! As we have all anticipated, the Asshat’s plan has been clapped. Just as Perv’s whole life goal has been to join one of the Knights of Rounds, he too has to feel the agony of what Rose had to experienced.

Asshat’s cope and shock is well executed here. The knowledge of his life’s most significant achievement is about to dismantle him and the animation does a good job showing his terror.

In utter shock, Perv scrambles to find the missing ring, but to no success—sinking into the reality of his situation. Just when it couldn’t have gotten worse, it did. Sir Mordred pops onscreen to tell Perv of his pending glorious moment of joining the Knights of Round after the wedding. Having no other choice but to come up with an excuse, he’ll continue to have to rely on his wit to prevent him from revealing that he doesn’t actually have the ring.

Having Mordred pop up here, just adds more fear to Perv’s situation. The wedding is about to go horribly wrong for the “soon-to-be” Knights of Round member. The face terrors and shock continues to be amazing here.

The Wedding

The wedding must continue and the scene shifts to Rose in her wedding dress, walking down aisle with Cid playing the piano in the background.

How incredibly fitting that Cid is playing the piano for this climatic moment.

If plans already didn’t seem like it was going awry, the people seemed slightly confused by the early entrance with Perv standing by the priest, continuously searching from the ring. The priest asks the typical wedding questions as the frantic Perv Asshat agrees to marry Rose. When asked to Rose, she quickly denied the marriage. Thus, beginning Rose’s dialogue of her “moment of truth.”

This is the “is Asshat going to pull something out of his ass moment?” Or is it, just going to continue going horribly wrong for him until the end?

Rose’s “Moment of Truth”

If things couldn’t get anymore shocking for Perv, Rose begins her monologue, stating everything that she’s done up until this point. She revealed to everyone that she killed her father, ‘betrayed’ Oriana Kingdom and joined a ‘shadowy’ organization. Given all of her mistakes and acts, she reveals her resolve. Whether she has the proof or not, everyone knows how right she is in this moment. Bringing forth the most moment of truth of “moments of truths” to Rose’s comeuppance, Rose pulls out the ring to signify her acceptance of her love for Cid. In climatic fashion, she pulls out the ring in front of Perv and puts it on, creating a flashing red aura.

This is the badass comeuppance we’ve been waiting for for Rose! To begin her epic moment against Perv felt super rewarding for her character.

After the flashing red aura, King Geerk Oriana reveals his final act as king within the memory of the ring. With the entire kingdom watching on, King Oriana lays out everything that has went wrong with the kingdom due to Perv Asshat’s doing. The Cult realizes this setback and starts to make its move. Vindicating Rose, he continues to tell Oriana Kingdom that he has left everything into Rose’s hands and that everyone should believe in her will to do right by the kingdom. His concluding words were to Rose, “I love you.”

There is nothing like the feeling of vindication! It was already a surprise that Rose’s character had enough will power to overcome her terrible situation. Having her father show up one more time to help give her her ‘Simba’ moment felt even better to see. Although, it is kind of a convenient plot point.

The Asshat’s Setback

Seeing how everything is going against Perv Asshat, the Cult immediately turns on Perv. Rose gets ready to commence her battle against Perv, announcing him as guilty. The scene flips from Queen Reina’s perspective as Perv’s head bounces on the floor in front of her. Coming out of her sleepy fog, she finally realizes Perv has been beheaded and before she can make her move, she too becomes headless. Coming out of hiding, the true villain appears to share his disappointment in Asshat.

This scene does a good job in briefly making the audience think that Rose beheaded Perv. In a scene where significant decisions take place in a short amount of time, the delivery of the storyboarding is unquestionably the most important here.

True Villain Mordred

Standing before Queen Rose Oriana, Mordred shows himself to be a “Knight Beyond Men, the Ninth Seat of Rounds.” It is here that he shares that the ring and the person that wears it doesn’t need to be the same person. In fact, the “conditions just need to be correct for the signal to reach its destination.” In this moment, the ring’s true purpose is revealed and a gateway is opened to unlock the “Black Rose.”

Asshat got his epic monologue in the previous episode, but it is Mordred that gets to live off the benefits of it. It’s a cliche moment for an obvious villain beyond Perv. However, it doesn’t make it any less entertaining to watch.

Within Mordred’s grasp, he announce a law of the cult, “kill all witnesses.” He calls out for the “Grant Ruler of the Fourth Realm” and commands the Black Rose to strike down upon bystanders, releasing ‘Ragnarok.’ A black dragon comes out and a beam comes shooting down from the gateway, blasting the entire ceremonial area into rubble. In his last epic line, Mordred calls upon everyone’s demise. However, something ’eminent’ arises.

Cool bad guy lines, introducing a bunch of cool bad guys powers and a dragon. That’s cool.

The dragon quickly gets quickly disposed of and Shadow reveals his eminence, stealing Mordred’s ending monologue as his very own. At long last, Shadow gets to witness the “Black Rose” for himself.

Anytime Shadow reveals himself, it’s always fun to ponder how he’ll be used if he shows up early. Also, will Rose actually show herself to be useful in this arc? Simultaneously, you’d think Shadow Garden will make their move against the Cult as well. Climatic episodes are always the best and the pay off will likely continue in the next.

Last Thoughts

The Broken Record of Why The Eminence in Shadow is Special

What is the issue with an anime with an OP main character that relies heavily on its comedic irony? A plot that matters and characters that make real differences in the story. This episode has all the hallmarks of its special qualities that combines all of that. Beyond the ironic humor, there is a lesson that grounds the anime after witnessing climatic miserable moment that Rose suffered this episode. Like the misery that Alpha felt because of Shadow’s betrayal in the previous arc, Rose had her own epic downfall this episode. When something unfathomable you don’t expect to happen, happens, then you have the dark recipe that perfectly blends with the comedic irony. Nothing was more painful to watch and then suddenly laugh at, than Shadow showing Rose what Perv Asshat and her mother have been up to.

Grounding the Humor with Tragic Characters

Within that blend of dark humor, comes the lesson that ties everything together to ground this arc. No matter how terrible Rose’s situation has become, she must choose her path. Like how she tried to escape Asshat and her demon possession the first time, this proves to be another life changing decision. “Moonlight Sonata” perfectly captures these types of moments as Cid helps reveal to Rose what path she truly desires.

This episode was the perfect blend of what I loved about the very first episode of The Eminence in Shadow with Akane Nishino and the delivery of best ironic humor, coming from one of the darkest scenes in the entire show. Ground the dark humor with characters that have something tragic to overcome. With the attachment to that horrifically tragic character in Rose, we get to see the plot unravel in ways where everything tragic about Rose, starts to become empowering. No matter how ethical and moral we are as people, relishing in the downfall of hated antagonists are the most satisfying. It was gratifying seeing Perv freak out over the Ring of Succession, get outed by the dead King Oriana and meet his abrupt end. Alongside him was wicked Peach. She too got to meet her deserving end.

Improvement of Villains

With all the attachments to the current arc’s most hated villains removed, we now get to see what this actual Knights of Round member is all about in Mordred in next episode. However, do not discount what Queen Reina and Perv Asshat did for the plot. The villains themselves need good character development and provided the perfect combo to create one of the best developments in Rose’s character.

Overall, this episode is probably top three of all of the The Eminence in Shadow episodes. The combination of the payoff in humor, Rose’s moment of truth and the satisfaction of Asshat finally getting his day felt great. The storyboarding for all of the most significant scenes was off the charts as well. This episode is truly a masterpiece. It proves that the creators can make something that’s mainly comedic, feel like a regular anime. In my mind, that is the true success of The Eminence in Shadow.