The Eminence in Shadow 2nd Season

Episode 27

And here we are at the lackluster end to a lackluster arc. Both the merchants guild and the cult have been dealt a major blow, Yukime has gotten her revenge, and Shadow Garden is left stronger (and more fanatically devoted) than ever before. Yet, it's hard to call this a "happy ending." I'd feel better about this arc if Cid got a comeuppance equal to the pain he has caused the Seven Shades—because while he doesn't come out of this whole thing unscathed, it's not like he's experiencing anywhere near the emotional trauma they have.

Don't get me wrong; he obviously feels guilty over his bid to destroy everything they have built. That's why he wrote the note for Beta—to expose his sins and apologize without having to do either (as he never thought they'd actually be able to read it). However, once again, he underestimates the Seven Shades. He believes they are only successful because of what he taught them. He can't see the genius in them—or, in this case, Eta, who translates a message from a language with three different alphabets that doesn't even exist in her world. The karmic punishment he deserves is being forced to realize and accept just how extraordinary his friends truly are—that they would have been great with or without him (assuming they lived through the curse, anyway). However, that's not the punishment he gets.

Instead, his punishment is to be left destitute and socially isolated from his friends—even more so than when he started. Of course, the trick is that he is neither of those things in reality. If he were to see them, he would find they weren't mad at him—and they would not only tell him that they had the money and share it with him if he asked. But the sad truth is that Cid is a coward at heart, protecting himself from the rejection he fears might come (a fear born from the fact that he does care about them and their opinions of him). And because of this—because of keeping his friends at arm's length and always putting himself and his wants first—while he is the victor, he is simultaneously the loser.

But interestingly, there is one exception to this rule—one person he lets get close to him: Delta. In front of the other Seven Shades, he always keeps up the act—he is either Shadow or Shadow pretending to be Cid. Yet, in front of Delta, he is more or less himself.

There is no need to pretend in front of her. She's not intelligent enough to "play along" with his ad-libs, nor does she have any reason to do so. The others are all in Shadow Garden for revenge, justice, or simply out of loyalty to Cid. Delta is in Shadow Garden because they are her pack. Delta cares about strength—about the thrill of the hunt. Shadow and Alpha beat her and let her join their pack, so she does what they say. Simple as that.

Nothing Cid could say would change that he is the strongest—the pack leader. Thus, he doesn't need to watch what he says around her—doubly so because, even if Delta quotes him directly to the others, it's not like they would believe her. They believe in the Shadow persona far too much for that. All this makes Delta the closest thing Cid has to a confidant—so much so that he almost shares his deepest secret with her.

But in the end, he can't do it. The rejection he felt in his last life when his friends put aside their childish dreams and left him alone still has a hold over him. And that's the lesson here. Because he refuses to let the Seven Shades in, he remains unaware that he has already attained his life's goal. Instead, he is forced to take fleeting moments of happiness wherever he can—pretending that his dream has come true rather than living it. And when you look at it that way, maybe he's getting his karmic justice after all.

Rating:

Random Thoughts

• Anyone else think that Cid would walk by Yukime rather than catch her and heal her wound?

• The pun at work in the final scene is that "yuki" is Japanese for snow. Thus, while Gettan is trying to refer to Yukime as his greatest treasure with his broken, dying words, Cid thinks Gattan is talking about the stolen coins being buried under the snow.

• Wow, Cid sure does harbor a grudge against Santa Claus, right?

• On this week's Kage-jitsu!, Beta and Gamma try to explain to the recently-returned Epsilon just how depressed Alpha was due to Cid's BS.

The Eminence in Shadow 2nd Season is currently streaming on Hidive.

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