Poor Gamma. Just because she’s basically invincible doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel pain.
©Daisuke Aizawa・KADOKAWA/Shadow Garden
While last week’s episode of The Eminence in Shadow focused on Delta, this week’s episode shifts it to Gamma. The funny thing is that this has never been done before in the series. That’s not to say that Gamma is absent from the story—in fact, it’s quite the opposite. She’s running the whole show—both behind the scenes and with Mitsugoshi Company as a whole. While Alpha gives orders, Gamma is the one who gets the job done. She is someone who knows how to organize people to accomplish many of their goals.
Of course, while she’s very competent in her logistical abilities, we’ve seen in previous episodes that she’s the complete opposite physically. She is clumsy and often stumbles. This episode mainly takes that joke and builds on it.
In terms of raw magical power, Gamma is equal to the strongest of the Seven Shades. The problem is that her lack of physical coordination prevents her from using it like everyone else—to the point that training her isn’t even worth it. She’s a novice at fighting—swinging wildly while speaking onomatopoeia to accompany her attacks. The trick is that A) this makes her extremely unpredictable and B) her raw power means any of her attacks will kill in one hit while she is invincible lose. This makes for a fun little fight scene—especially with her ego surrounding her fighting skills (i.e. she doesn’t realize how bad she is).
The other important aspect of this joke is a bit of a lampshade to the entire Shadow Garden situation. With their feminine looks and the way they handle the responsibilities of running a large secret organization, it can be easy to forget that all of the Seven Shades are teenagers—and teenagers sometimes make stupid decisions. stupid. There was no reason for Gamma to confront the intruders. Chi, Omega or Nu can take down 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 wouldn’t normally do. She wanted to participate—to prove that she could fight on her own just like anyone else. This is a matter of morale—possibly why Alpha did not intervene after the first building-shaking explosion. It doesn’t matter how terrible Gamma fights. It’s important that she feels good after stretching her wings. After all, everyone needs to relax.
As for the rest of the episode, it just reinforces what was established in the previous episode. Yukime and Shadow make fake bills and prepare to exchange the soon-to-be-useless bills for coins while Alpha and Gettan take turns trying to find the mastermind. While there are few surprises, there is a running theme throughout the episode of various supporting characters lamenting their weaknesses and wishing for greater power — be it Gettan, Rose or Alexia. And while their hard work continues to increase their strength, the fact remains that there are always bigger fish in the sea.
Overall, this was a pretty solid episode. It deepens the main plot, has some solid funny scenes, and two well-done action scenes. The consideration of Gamma is a welcome one, and I hope each of the Seven Shades gets similar treatment as the series continues.
Rating:
Random thoughts:
This episode has a bit of interesting visual storytelling. When paying for food with bills that were about to lose their value, Cid paid with coins. This shows that, although the Cid is willing to steal from those he considers evil, he has a conscience towards those he considers innocent.
Although unexpected, it was interesting to examine Alexia and what she was really going through.
topic Poor Rose seems to be having trouble adjusting to her new life in Shadow Garden.
Kage-jitsu this week! is a direct tie-in to the first episode and follows Chi and Omega as they try to figure out how to treat Gamma after she “successfully” defeats the intruder.
The Eminence in Shadow Season 2 is currently streaming on An.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more companies mentioned in this article are members of the Kadokawa Group.