The Eminence in Shadow

The Eminence in Shadow is a 2022 fantasy action comedy anime, and this first season has 20 episodes. It was made by the studio Nexus and is based on the light novels by Daisuke Aizawa. Most of the story takes place in a fantasy world with magic and knights.

Minoru Kageno is a high school student in Japan with a strange dream. He does not want to be a hero or a villain. He wants to be the "eminence in shadow", a secret mastermind who controls events from behind the scenes. Then, one night, he is hit by a truck and dies.

Minoru is reborn in a world of magic as Cid Kagenou, the son of a minor noble family. Now he has real magic, and he becomes very strong. In public, Cid acts like a plain and weak background character. In secret, he keeps training to live out his dream.

One day, Cid saves a young elf girl who is sick with a strange curse. To look cool, he makes up a story. He tells her that an evil group called the Cult of Diablos is secretly running the world. He creates a secret group of his own, Shadow Garden, to fight it. The elf girl, Alpha, and other girls he saves become its members.

What Cid does not know is that the Cult of Diablos is real. The series follows Cid as he plays his role in the shadows, while his followers take the fight very seriously.