The Eminence in Shadow is a dark fantasy Isekai, action-comedy light novel by Aizawa Daisuke. The first 2 volumes were adapted into a 20-episode anime series by Studio Nexus. I haven't watched any of their previous works, but the popular opinion is that this is their best anime.
The story at first seems like a generic Isekai, with an overpowered anti-villain MC and his equally overpowered harem organization, where they fight and hunt the evil cult that controls the world or whatever.
So why is The Eminence in Shadow so enjoyable? I believe it all points toward the MC, Cid Kagenou.
When you look at Cid, you’d think he is as bland as his Kirito clone design, but the genius lies in his characterization... to put it bluntly, he is an unbelievable psychopath.
Cid is a character that suffers from a severe case of chūnibyō. His goal is to become “The Eminence in Shadow” aka some unstoppable Batman wizard that fights in the shadows and wears all black and shit.
The very 1st episode shows his life before being Isekaid. The viewer sees his delusions firsthand and how severe they are, as he literally went around assaulting criminals as a discount high schooler Daredevil. His insanity is further elevated when you realize how he died, by bashing his head against a rock he screams about magic and then willingly throws himself in front of truck-kun.
Upon being reincarnated he quickly becomes the strongest with supernatural dumb luck. The gods of Anime essentially said, “fine be an OP Isekai mf”. He creates the secret identity as Shadow, and tries his best to look cool and edgy while acting like a wimp in his real identity. He essentially roleplays in his new life.
While killing bandits and laughing like a maniac, he saves a bunch of girls and gifts them powers, they become his followers and form the organization Shadow Garden, with the goal of defeating an evil cult... That Cid made up.
BUT it turns out to actually exist, by some weird dumb coincidence. Only Cid becomes oblivious to this fact, his followers end up expanding his organization, recruiting numerous new members, and creating multi-million-dollar businesses to support their master’s 6D chess plan, which he himself doesn’t even know exists.
The humor is subjective as the anime’s main gimmick is Cid being unhinged and ironically acknowledging the tropes in anime and manga, while the side characters unironically acknowledge them. An example of how fucked Cid is, at one point he literally creates a nuclear explosion with his magic to flex on fodder, while in the process killing hundreds of people and destroying a good chunk of a city. Yes, just to flex.
If you find this interesting, then I highly recommend this show. I had a blast watching it, I busted out laughing and embracing the epic moments as they were executed very well.
The art & animation of the show is fairly good, it doesn't do much to distinguish itself from other shows. The anime’s pace is pretty solid, with a good amount of content. The voice acting is very good and the music is passable, with solid ending and opening songs.
You should give it a chance. My major con would be that the 1st episode doesn’t really capture what the show is really about. Try to at least watch 3 episodes before deciding if you like it or not.