The Eminence in Shadow 2nd Season

Episode 25

While last week's episode of The Eminence in Shadow put the spotlight on Delta, this week's shifts it to Gamma. The funny thing is that this hasn't been done before in the series. Now, that's not to say Gamma's been absent from the story—it's quite the opposite, actually. She's running the whole show—both behind the scenes and with the Mitsugoshi Company in general. While Alpha issues the orders, it's Gamma who gets things done. She's the one who knows how to organize everyone to accomplish their numerous goals.

Of course, while she's hyper-competent in her logistical abilities, we've seen in past episodes that she's the opposite physically. She's a klutz who trips over her own feet regularly. This episode is all about taking that joke and building upon it.

In terms of raw magical power, Gamma is right up there with the strongest of her fellow Seven Shades. The issue is that her lack of physical coordination makes her unable to use it like the others—to the point it's not even worth training her. She's an eternal novice at fighting—wildly swinging while saying onomatopoeias to accompany her attacks. The trick is that A) this makes her wildly unpredictable, and B) her raw power means that any of her attacks will kill in one hit while she's invincible. This makes for a hilarious little fight scene—especially given her ego surrounding her fighting skills (i.e., that she doesn't realize how terrible she is).

The other important aspect of this joke is a bit of a lampshade on the whole Shadow Garden situation. With their womanly figures and the way they handle the responsibility of running a massive secret organization, it can be easy to forget that all of the Seven Shades are teenagers—and teenagers make dumb decisions from time to time. There is no reason for Gamma to take on the intruders. Chi, Omega, or Nu could have likely taken out all three without breaking a sweat (not to mention much less property damage).

However, Gamma, like any teenager, wants to step out of her bubble from time to time—to do things she doesn't normally do. She wants to be included—to show that she can hold her own in a fight just as well as any others. This is a matter of morale—likely why Alpha doesn't interfere after the first building-shaking explosion. It doesn't matter how terrible Gamma is at fighting. All that matters is that she feels good after stretching her wings. Everyone needs to unwind, after all.

As for the rest of the episode, it's just furthering what was set up in the last episode. Yukime and Shadow make counterfeit bills and prepare to trade the soon-to-be useless bills for coins while Alpha and Gettan try to figure out who's pulling the strings, respectively. Though little surprising happens, there is a running theme throughout the episode that the various supporting characters are all lamenting their weaknesses and wishing for greater power—be that Gettan, Rose, or Alexia. And while their hard work has continued to increase their strength, the fact remains that there is always a bigger fish in the sea.

All in all, this is a decent episode. It furthers the main plot, has some solid humor, and two well-done action scenes. The look into Gamma is a welcome one, and I hope each of the Seven Shades gets similar treatment as the series continues.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• There's a nifty bit of visual storytelling in this episode. When paying for food with soon-to-be-worthless bills, Cid pays with coin instead. This shows that, while Cid will gladly steal from those he sees as evil, he does have a conscience regarding those he sees as innocent.

• While unexpected, it was cool to check in on Alexia and what she's going through.

• Poor Rose seems to have trouble adapting to her new life in Shadow Garden.

• This week's Kage-jitsu! is a direct tie-in with the primary episode and follows Chi and Omega as they try to figure out how to treat Gamma after her "successful" defeat of the intruder.

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