Why you should watch The Eminence in Shadow in fall 2022

As the fall 2022 anime season inches closer, so does the new isekai anime, The Eminence in Shadow. Daisuke Aizawa’s iconic light novel series is set to become an anime, as the announcement soon made the light novel popular, with over 1.5 million copies sold of the light novel ever since its publication.

But with highly awaited anime like Chainsaw Man, Bleach TYBW, Spy x Family Cour 2, etc., set to premiere at the same time, anime fans wonder if The Eminence in Shadow is good enough. What makes it stand out when compared to other isekai anime? Let’s take a look at why you should be watching The Eminence in Shadow this fall.

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Daisuke Aizawa’s The Eminence in Shadow is led by a chuunibyou MC

The story starts off with a boy in modern Japan who always wanted to become a mastermind. While kids would often choose to idolize heroes or villains, he always admired the side characters who would work secretly and show their significance when the time was right. He called such characters “the eminence” in the shadows.

But as he lived in a world with no concept of magic or abilities, he never got his time to shine until one fine day, he got into a truck accident. The boy was reincarnated as a noble into a fantasy world as Cid Kagenou.

Cid Kagenou (Image via Nexus)

Cid then tries to live a perfectly mediocre life to live his dream of becoming a mastermind until, one day, he saves an elven girl from a mysterious disease. He made up a cliche story explaining how the world was being run by a secret organization, Cult of Diabolos, and his organization, Shadow Garden, was the only one capable of taking them down.

The elven girl joined Cid’s organization as Alpha and was soon followed by several other members, who all believed in Cid’s story. To Cid’s surprise, the story he had made up was true, while he believed that the people around him were just playing with him.

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Why The Eminence in Shadow is a must-watch

Shadow Garden members (Image via Nexus)

The Eminence in Shadow is a must-watch in fall 2022. Unlike other isekai anime, it has a fresh take on the genre with the introduction of secret organizations. While the anime is similar to Overlord, with an overpowered lucky MC loved by everyone around him, it also brings in its own bundle of comedy through the MC's chuunibyou tendencies.

As the plot suggests, Cid Kagenou wants to be an eminence in shadow, i.e., an everyday person who gets his time to shine. Thus, he also had another identity to serve, as a mild-mannered everyman. Due to his need to live both lives, we will surely get to see several comedic situations with respect to Cid's secret identity as Shadow, in front of his mild-mannered school friends.

Cid Kagenou living his academy life (Image via Nexus)

If that wasn't enough, Cid actively tries to look as average as possible, trying to only score average grades and have average friends. Basically, nothing that would make him stand out in a crowd. However, like any character with a secret identity, both of his lives are bound to submerge, giving us hilarious situations to ponder.