The Eminence in Shadow (2018)

[陰の実力者になりたくて!]

Volume 1

Author: Daisuke Aizawa
Illustrator: Tozai
Publisher: Enterbrain

Synopsis:
A young man who dies in search of ultimate power is reborn into a world where he becomes the leader of a secret organization that fights against a demonic cult pulling the strings of the major powers in the world.

Impressions:
If you've been following my coverage of the TV adaptation, you know how much I love this story, but for the benefit of those who are coming here first, let me give you a quick breakdown. I'm sick to death of isekai stories. They're generally uninspired, low-effort wish fulfillment power fantasies, and the only way I generally get any enjoyment out of the subgenre is through its subversions. Enter this series. On the face of it, this seems to play all the mouldering tropes straight. We have an overpowered protagonist, a battle harem of buxom beauties all madly in love with said overpowered protagonist, etc., etc. However, what if the protagonist doesn't believe any of it? It's a mix of The Man Who Knew Too Little with Haruhi Suzumiya. It's all just a game to our protagonist but deadly serious to everyone else and that's where a lot of the humor comes from. Cid (the protagonist) is a fairly dim-witted sociopath whose only passion is his game, playing the dual roles of the all-powerful shadowy puppetmaster and the totally average background character. The gap between Cid's perception of reality and how it appears to everyone else is brimming with delightful dramatic irony. One advantage of the novel is the internal narration. We get a fair bit of Cid's internal monologue in the TV adaptation, but we get more detail here and the benefit of narration from other characters' perspectives (which play up that dramatic irony). It takes a bit of a warped sense of humor to get the most out of it, but if it clicks with you, it's a lot of fun. I could go on at greater length, but I think this is enough to get you primed for it. It definitely hit a lot of positive notes with me and I'd gladly recommend this for your collection.

Rating:
Own It