Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute

TL;DR - Hilarious. Recommend to everyone.

The isekai genre is known for being a hackneyed and predictable genre that has dominated the manga market in an attempt to be the next big thing, but ended up all being different variations of the same blank slate main character, the same harem with the same harem stereotypes, the same backstory and lore, and a plot so simple that one might think they were all written by the same three year-old.

Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute completely disregards all of these notions. In fact, whenever a stereotype shows up in this manga, it intentionally pokes fun at it in various, creative ways. The best instances of this occur when the main character, Cid, responds to a typical scenario in isekai. While most protagonists will say something cool in an attempt to make themselves seem badass, Cid will say something cool and then reminisce on how good he felt when he coined that one-liner and mentally store it so he can use it again.

Cid is a pretty fun character to watch. His only goal is to become a "master of the shadows," one who pretends to be a mob character but is actually extremely powerful and defends justice as a masked anti-hero. Basically, he embodies all of our childhood spirits, back when we would make swords out of dry erase markers and pretend to smoke lollipop sticks in an attempt to roleplay as badass antiheroes. Except Cid is actually blessed with superhuman abilities, effectively making him able to use this new isekai world as his personal playground.

When presented with the opportunity, Cid makes up an organization (the Diablos Cult) and convinces a young elf that her illness comes from this cult. He then proceeds to cure her with his incredible magic ability and recruits her to his side, so that he might have some fun acting like a mafia boss and pretending to attack hideouts that belong to the cult. This grows a little out of hand as his new recruit finds other members and tells them the same story, and the organization begins to branch out rapidly, expanding and accumulating immense influence at an incredible rate.

In an ironic twist of fate, the Diablos Cult ends up being quite real and the Shadow Legion actually becomes a massive force to counter them. Cid convinces himself that he's just playing around, but everything that he says during his made-up roleplays end up being true. Some of the best moments in the manga are when the side characters react to his decisions by overanalyzing everything that he does. This is a bit of an overused cliche in many stories that involve overpowered main characters, but the manga doesn't stop to dwell on anything, and jumps to something else in an instant. It's a clever tactic that prevents any of the gags from becoming stale.

Some more tropes you see in manga a lot are a sad backstory and a rival to catch up to. Cid does share a brief story of his previous life, but it's quite hilarious. And his arch-rival? A nuclear bomb.

The pacing in this manga is so fast that you might be surprised at how much you need to slow down in order to really soak in everything. It packs so many things into one chapter - lore, plot, character introductions, JoJo references, special moves - that if you don't pay close attention, you'll miss something. But even if you do, the manga never loses its charm of being brutally honest and making fun of every cliché it possibly can.

To be quite honest, most of the side characters don't really matter. They simply serve as archetypes to fill out their roles in Cid's world. But the manga never tries to make it seem like they are more than what they are, and makes these boundaries very clear. This parody takes a refreshingly unique approach to a trite genre and completely delivers with every chapter.

I highly recommend this manga. It really makes you feel like a badass shadow leader.

There is a certain type of japanese comedy where they are intentionally stupid and just play along with it, I think it's one of those things that you either like or you don't. Judge if you want to read this based on that first. Bottom line: Funny man accidentally badass in an uncool way but so earnestly that it becomes cool.

Isekai is currently the most popular genre in fantasy, to the point that we don't have just direct parodies doing the opposite of what's expected but a full range of absurd takes on the concept. You have the land of the failure that is Konosuba, you have cute girls doing cute things disguised as isekai with Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!. And in this case you have the standard OP protagonist taking the chance to be the biggest chunnibyou* ever.

Unlike the crimson mages from konosuba that are comedic exaggerations of over the top dark heroes, we're supposed to be part of the joke instead of mocking them. The MC is living his life the way he wants and doing the most of it. When he spouts non sense badass lines he himself doesn't understand, when he worries if he's going insane for doubting a human can take a nuke one on one, or when he's training secret techniques to get his ass handed to him in the most background character way, the reader is supposed to laugh, clap and respect his way of life. He is a badass, not for the things he can do, but for his dedication to the most idiotic things possible. Everyone around him progresses in life while the invincible MC is playing pretend.

My main complain so far, with 15 chapters read, is that the initial joke where his chunni openly fake story happens to perfectly match with the huge conspiracy to take over the kingdom and destroy the world for no reasson. All the time we're seeing both sides of the story: his impression of what he's doing and how others see it; and the outsider perspective matches the world when his doesn't. That's the joke, he's brute forcing his fantasy into a working world. But the initial building block of the whole plot just happens, because. I assume that at some point it's revealed that either the world is being changed around him, he's responsible for everything bad happening, or some god implanted those ideas. But having that hanging is like a thread that needs to be pulled and I fear it will take away the fun when it does.



*Chunnibyou, or chunni, eight grade syndrome, is a term that refers to people who has self important power fantasies in 8th grade, made them public and maybe kept them in HS. For boys it's usually being a secret badass hiding a huge power (probably tied to an arm or eye) and for girls it's seeing the future or cursing people with magic. If they took it in stride it'd be just a thing they like, but being a chunni is tied to the embarassment from realizing how lame you were while trying to be cool. It's a pretty universal thing.

This shit is so funny you won't believe it, I like how the character is just a big ass chuni that, with crazy luck, get's all his delusions to come true. And how stupid his logic is xD. I honestly enjoy this manga, and the comedy is so gold.

A must read if you love the Isekai genre, Comedy genre, and Action.

The art for this manga is honestly very appealing, it fits the story and the fight scenes look very nice.

The story is alright, it's basically Usopp, with crazy luck, overpowered, and have girls as his followers.

14 chapters in right now, and I can say for certain that this is a must read.

The protagonist is a psychotic chuunibyou version of Haruhi in a fantasy world. Most of his delusions turn out to be true, but he isn't self-aware enough to realize it. If that sounds absurd, that's because it is - but man, what a ride!

Although the story essentially relies on one joke, it remains consistently hilarious, and later on, in a strategy similar to One Punch Man's, we see a bigger focus on the side characters, so whenever the protagonist makes an appearance with his chuuni antics, it's always a treat.

The manga also pokes fun at isekai tropes which should get a laugh out of any seasoned reader of the genre.

This manga is one-of-a-kind, legendary.

Story (10/10):
When it comes to misconceptions, this manga takes it to the extreme and delivers outrageous comedy! It does have few shortcomings, but when it comes to cracking a laugh, this is the one to read without a doubt.

Art (8/10):
With it's dorky comedy, switching between serious and crude humour. The art delivers very well. No need to be critical.

Character (8/10):
Our main character is an extreme chuunibyou, and everything surrounding him is serious, which creates the ideal dark comedy I'm looking for.

Enjoyment (10/10):
What did we do to deserve such hilarious comedy? This manga doesn't scream any type of trying too hard stereotypes. It's pure enjoyment and laughs. Nothing cringe. Puts a great smile on your face.

This kind of manga can't be found anywhere else. I highly recommend giving it a read!

This manga is definitely for that Isekai Trash that got fed up with the tropes and is about to give up Isekai as a whole.

This manga is comedy gold. From the MC (Mob Character in this case) quirks that are relatable and just all-around funny to the entire situation and how what MC BS always come true and even the banter and with side characters and even his inner monologue that borderline fourth wall breaking and witty. I have not seen a comedy isekai of this caliber after Konosuba. In my opinion, it might even surpass konosuba if the core of the story is kept well in the future and an anime will certainly help a lot.

Story:(9/10)
A great setting that makes it feel so fresh what if a chuunibyou got trucked and what if he was a fan of the trope of edgy heroes in the shadows like Batman. Another thing that I would praise is the idea that how the author handles the cliche and basically threw it out of the window and just create new ones that parody the old one. Though I have a slight problem with the pacing sometimes it seems that so many things are happing at once and you need to reread to fully grasp it.

Art:(7/10)
Just well done it is captivating enough yet I feel a Lil dizzy sometimes as the art can be a little confusing but overall I still love it.

Character: (9/10)
This is where the author shines if you ask me MC is edgy but not to the point that it gave you a flashback to that one period you are edgy, yet just enough that it is comedic serving its purpose. I also find his interest to become a mob character which he accomplishes in extreme ways (Still want to learn Mob Fu) really refreshing as I have seen Mob Main Character that kinda failed at their job in being one. But this MC does it well that I enjoy all his attempts to erase his presence. Side characters were written well enough that it makes the comedic moment shine more as it cames from their unique quirks.

Enjoyment: (10/10)
Comedic Fresh and just all-around fun. I have a feeling that the author just keeps coming up with ideas on how to make it more ridiculous in a fun way. Also, I can see myself with his Chunnibyou characteristic if I was said.

Closing Words:
Fantastic Settings, Comedic Moments, Characters that I can fall in love if you have enough of typical Isekai Type you would love Cid type. Also, keep in mind he is the perfect Mob Character fight me.

Not an Isekai trash/ Chunibyo to the MAX/ Dark Comedy

Before I read this manga, I thought this is just another normal Isekai or Isekai trash with harem… little would I know, after reading 8 chapters, that this manga is currently sitting at one of the top of my “must follow” list.

Before you read this manga, Cid knows that you will enjoy this manga because he has already "envisioned" it. Everything is according to his plan. He "knows"!

*Minor Spoilers*
Q: What happens when a person (with symptoms of Chunibyo) talks sh*t randomly and say something imaginary to act cool?
A: He is f**cking stupid, ignore him.
Q: But what if all those delusions and imaginations are actually true and the person himself doesn’t even know it?
A: o.o -> o.O -> O.O -> ¯_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯

Yeah, this manga is about the MC, Cid, “unknowingly” created a secret organization and thought that the world revolves around him when in fact this particular Isekai world DOES revolve around him… Cid believes that the members of his secret organization are acting along with him when in fact what he happens to say or think are actually true. Even his imaginations and predictions, with no basis of proof or no shreds of evidence, happens to be true as well…

Story: 9 (Very creative; moreover, I really love that the story blur past the growing experience section and gets to the main content that the audience wants to see. Lots of Isekai cliches were being used, but turns out to be funny and entertaining regardless)
Art: 10 (When a person with Chunibyo appears to be so badass and stupid at the same time, you know the skill of this mangaka is legendary. Also, the hot ladies in this manga can’t be unmentioned)
Characters: 10 (Really really well thought out, each character has their own unique attitude and purposes. Even a poor truck-kun has his own role…)
Enjoyment: 10 (If this is less than a 10, then I don’t know why I was on the ground catching my breath)
Overall: 9.5 (-0.5 for potential error, but this manga has such a great vibe and start. It is going to be hard for this manga to be unrecognized if this kind of story content keeps on coming)

Wait a second!!! Cid already knows that I am writing a review about him o.O

(After vol1 of the LN) It's not so bad but disappointingly cliché.

The first thing to speak of about this series is that the title and blurb are misleading, it's a really generic power fantasy harem isekai with some comedy, the mastermind and organization stuff are ultimately just a gimmick and mostly irrelevant.


First the story:
A guy wants to be a mastermind in the shadow -> trains a lot -> realized it's not possible on earth -> is reborn in another world with magic -> create an organization to fight off the cult of Diablo (a completely made up enemy).

The start is actually quite good, the MC training and death on earth making for a fun parody of the usual isekai tropes, and his infancy and childhood in the new world serving as a nice introduction to the story.

It's after that that things start to go south, first there's too much time skips: the whole creation of the organization is skipped, we also don't see how the MC deal with his lies. Which if, like me, you've started reading expecting a story about a mastermind controlling both sides... Is rather disappointing.

But at least the story is rather quick to show it's true colors, and we rapidly see that: the organization doesn't matter it runs itself, every lies of the MC just turn out to be true so he doesn't have to deal with it, and the actual goal of that series is just to follows the double life of the MC.
That life consisting of 2 sides: his public identity where he tried (and fail) to appear as a normal student and Shadow the cool op and (above all else) edgy anti-hero fighting a cult.

After that there's no real story we just follow the MC while both his organization and the cult act out, nothing particularly interesting and overall quite predictable.
3/10


Characters:
It's hard to judge the characters mostly because most are so irrelevant, but the few that are developed have some interesting interaction so it's not that bad.

First the MC: he is the best character and by far, unlike most protagonists from similar stories he is quite apathetic towards others and doesn't shy away from being amoral if need, sadly he is also a dense moron.
Overall he is quite fun to follow around and his focus on acting cool or like a normy (depending on his identity) makes for some good comedy.

Sadly the other characters are barely worth mentioning, most have a name, a function, and some basic personality trait and that's it, even the girls appearing on the cover and color images are mostly just plot devices. And when they get some development it's usually just for that arc and they go back to being irrelevant after that
Also don't expect other male characters to be important, they're all either background characters, enemies or pathetic tag along whose function is to make the MC look good.

That said none of the characters are annoying and the interactions are for the most part pretty well written.
5/10


Worldbuilding:
To put it simply there's none, be it geography, politic, or magic we only know the bare minimum for the story to kind of make sense.
1/10


Art:
8/10 Really good, the girls' design is especially good. But it's a novel so it doesn't really matter.


All that said despite all the negative it's overall not that bad as the writing is good and the story flows well never being particularly good but also never really annoying. Surprisingly there few true comedic moments, but the few there is are good.
5/10

To conclude if you like that kind of cliché power fantasy it's can be an enjoyable, if predictable, read.
If you would rather read something closer to what's described in the blurb give a try to "There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF!".

*This review contains slight spoilers past the manga*

Is there much more to say other than it is a Power fantasy that is also an Isekai where the MC has black hair and is edgy? Yes, and its the reason I think this story will evolve past a Light Novel and Manga Adaptation.

Looking at this story for the first time it was clear to see what it was going for. It's an Isekai; guy dies, gets reincarnated with his old memories, tries to become more powerful. Its the most simple rinse and repeat pattern with a lot of modern Isekai that are coming out. There is only so much a story can evolve from after this point, with the most usual path being to become the Hero and slay the Demon Lord. But within "The Eminence in Shadows" the story is already changed from the start.

Story: 7
Like a lot of the Manga and light novels to appear within the last few years, the Isekai aspect in this show is only relevant for the first few chapters. Where it is apparent that the MC "Cid Kagenou" is from another world, it is rarely mentioned past the first few chapters. Which is one of the glaring problems with a lot of Isekai, so i wont give it too much slack in that department. Some of the other issues are the progression at which main events happen, the one I have in mind is the meeting of Alpha, and the start of Shadow Garden. The reader is first introduced to Alpha at the end of chapter 2. By this time, Cid has gone through: Being alive in the real world, dying, reincarnation, Self taught(maybe?) magic training, the production of slime gear, and a bandit attack. ONE AND A HALF CHAPTERS. That is criminally short, this could have been stretched to at least 3-4 chapters and still be a reasonably progressed story. BUT, there is more to gripe about. Because the story is so short it is hard to fully analyze and realize some of the characters that are present in the show. I often found myself asking questions such as "How does the magic system work?" "How did he make that?" and "What is the reason?". A lot of these question could be answered by a subtle or even non-subtle description of the trait, whether it be magic, geography, using descriptive words. it felt like everything was snuffed because of the rushed story line of the novel. There has to be a line drawn at where "too fast" and "too vague" are. Sadly this web novel fails to grasp where that line is, lack of knowledge becomes confusion, and confusion leads to loss of interest. It is pretty safe to say that no writer wants people to lose interest in their stories. That being said there are a lot of strong point that are going for this story, and parts that are hard to avoid as well.

So, what was my decision in giving the story a 7? Well its not too complicated actually. The story and progression within "The Eminence of Shadows" is so simple that its okay that it skips over some of the logistics of the world. Speaking for myself, this format has been done so many times before that it all made sense, without the story having to explicitly tell me how and what things were going on. So questions like " What is the slime gear?" can be answered by common knowledge of how fantasy worlds usually work. "Pour mana into the Slime to form a sword and clothes" (This is later confirmed by epsilon). Although it would be nice to have that confirmation it wasn't necessary to the story to fill out a few chapters explaining how Magic works. I've read enough manga to figure out what mana and mana manipulation is. The farther you go within the story the more questions are answered as well, such as how the kingdom works, How Alpha and the other members of Shadow Garden met and grew up together, and why Gamma is so gosh darn cute. After reading as much as I have I look back at the first few chapters as a necessary evil, the vague properties aren't so vague anymore. While initially writing this, it was hard to rip into the beginning because i knew that all of the short descriptions and foggy answers actually helped my interest within the story. That being said, it is still a massive pain to go through it for the first time, but I can say that it does get much better.

I didn't talk much about the actual story, so i will say some small points now
-It flows extremely well, there is a clear sense of cause-effect where all the actions have innate consequences
-The main gimmick of being a hero in the shadows isn't original, but it felt as though it was fresh and new

Art: 6
It's a Web Novel, c'mon. You can't expect the world from a project like this, so it will not be affecting my final score. But going off of the Light novels art style, I can't say that anything stood out to me. All of the characters looked how I expected them too, with my reactions going as "wild" as "oh so she had blue hair'. I mean the style that they chose definitely suits the style of the novel and story. No complaints here! Just wasn't as face slapping as it could have been.

Character: 8
It's interesting to see how the characters play off of one another. In any story one of the hardest things to create is social interactions. "How does Character A interact with Character C". It is one of the things that i find interesting within a story. A lot of the characters within this novel are crafted from a mold and an archetype that relates to that mold. It's mostly a randomizer that takes a body type and a personality and adds them together
"Curvy" + "Myrmidon" = Alpha
"Flat" + "Over Bearing" = Alexia Midgar
"Athletic" + "Student Council President" = Rose Oriana
and so on. The more interesting aspect is how the characters react and interact with their environments. Characters like Cid are pretty self explanatory, he has multiple personalities that causes him to react differently. As Cid he is a timid boy who doesn't seem to understand the consequences to the actions he takes, which adds to the "mob" character he wants to become. While as Shadow, Cid is a powerful force to be reckoned with, and he knows it. The duality between Shadow and Cid plays into how certain characters react to them. The character design of Cid alone could be enough to write an entire review on. While there are other characters that have great history and interesting back stories and history. (Ill be using the first initials of characters that appear later in the story) Characters such as Bea who have some character relation that goes back farther than the story has told. With antagonists like Get who are relatable and have some sense of understanding of the protagonist. Or Yuk who brings out an entire personality of an original character that is not seen before. Its hard to tear into these "cookie cutter" characters when the actions they take are relatable, and interesting. Each character that is introduced has meaning, that relates back to the cause and effect I had talked about earlier. There are few characters that do not get any time in the light (I'm looking at you Zeta and Eta) but that only adds to the personality of the character and how their characters interact with others. It shows that they don't interact. There is nothing that I can say, obviously there is going to be more character evolution in the future, so my opinion is bound to change, but as is, I am quite interested in all the characters.

Enjoyment: 8
It really is an experience to read through this novel, there are some things that would be nearly impossible to explain, but the smile put on my face after the Moonlight Sonata scene was very real. But overall it is a great read and it passed the time extremely well. Managed to read through it in about a weeks time, and I couldn't wait to continue reading through it. I'm sure that it will continue on and become more and more popular as time goes on

Overall: 8
Alright, it isn't perfect, and there are a lot of flaws within the story that could easily be buffed out with the licensed English release of the light novel in July this year. In all honesty, I could see this getting an Anime adaptation within the next year or so. With the state that the world is in now, that date may be delayed for a while. But I wouldn't leave it out of the list of shows I think could get an adaptation, that being said it may only be up until the Holy Ground Infiltration Arc, it still would be a good way to increase the popularity of this series

If you like the gag, repetitive jokes, misunderstanding taken to the extreme then look no further than this novel. A story about a guy suffer from extreme chuunibyou syndrome. It started out quite interesting with MC spewing crap about a secret cliche organization in a typical Isekai world whose goal is to revive the long dead demon lord. After years of picking up orphans, destroying countless of their lairs MC brain is still too stupid to even think of the mere chances his crap may have so truth in it. I mean after the xth cave you blow up that all of your "underling" claim it contain sign of demonic summoning, blood sacrifice, every enemy you fight spewing stuff like "you can stop me but you won't be able to stop his revival", MC might have figure out something but nope, nope not happening. He is still the idiotic moron who think everything is a elaborate play made by his lovely underling and all the villain he kill also suffer from extreme chuunibyou syndrome.

The reason why all of his underling never found out why he is a moron cause everything he did miraculously turn into a good thing. Got lost after entering the bad guy cave ? The big bad boss came running straight at you. Don't know what the villain up to ? Spew some crap like "if I am them, I will be kidnapping the princess" and what do you know, the castle got blown up and the princess been kidnapped. This dude don't "do" anything. He just say crap and the author make it happen. If you are here to follow the gag then sure it is a nice read but after the umteenth time it happen and the MC is still behaving like a blabbering buffoon, I just give up.