The Eminence In Shadow: Cid Kagenou (ENTP)

Cid Kagenou is the main character in a relatively new anime called Eminence in Shadow. Cid Kagenou’s personality type is hotly debated, usually caught in a stalemate between ENTP and INTJ. Currently, as of writing this article, there are only two seasons in the show, but after watching those, we feel confident that Cid Kagenou is not an INTJ, but most definitely an NP personality type. We considered all of the NP types (INFP, INTP, ENFP, and ENTP), but ultimately landed on ENTP. Hopefully the explanation below makes sense to you. For now, we do not intend on typing any other characters from this show, because none of the other characters have been developed to a reasonable degree.

Ne:

“But I kept going. I kept working, for the day I knew would come, but the time came for me to face reality. None of this is going to mean anything. The world is overflowing with martial arts, and I can learn all of them, but I’ll never get the kind of overwhelming power you hear about in all the stories. The best I can do is bust a few delinquent heads. If, for example, I was surrounded by fully armed soldiers, that would be it for me. If I became the strongest martial artist in the world, there’s a chance I’d be able to rough ’em up some., but then what? What if a nuclear missile fell from the sky?”

“Infinite possibilities now lie before me. What’s my move?”

“There’s still tons of awesome paths to take, so I’m gonna have to think long and hard.”

“Three years passed after I brilliantly ad-libbed my way through my first performance.”

Cid’s persona, Shadow, is portrayed in such a way that everyone believes him to have planned everything out to perfection, due to a combination of dumb luck (a.k.a. plot convenience) and Cid’s improvisational acting. In reality, Cid rarely plans very far ahead. On the contrary, he excels at taking advantage of scenarios as they are happening, which makes him a successful opportunist. For instance, his very first “performance” as Shadow is completely ad-libbed. Immediately after saving Alpha, he shares a dramatic and sinister tale with her about the Cult of Diablos. It’s completely unrehearsed (i.e. made-up on the spot), but of course, it conveniently ends up actually being real.

Later, as the show progresses, Cid finds himself thrust into various situations, some completely at random. During these times, he’s shown consciously considering possible scenarios or plot lines he could play out. He usually doesn’t lock himself into one single path, though. He takes it scene by scene, shifting as things happen. For instance, as Mundane Man, he doesn’t start out with a singular long term plan. Initially, he expresses a general desire to be a ‘nobody’ that subverts expectations and rises to victory. However, Cid only ever rehearses for the very next match, which is why, at one point between matches, he’s shown considering different options for how to conclude his Mundane Man story line. Prior to that point, he hadn’t actually thought it out all the way through to the end. Similarly, as Shadow, he doesn’t actually have a defined goal, beyond generally wanting to be a powerful figure that operates in the shadows.

Cid often gets caught up in the possibilities of the moment, how epic and dramatic something is or could be. His dominant drive seems to be his desire to enjoy and play out all the different plot lines and possibilities, which is ultimately why he creates so many different personas and identities. He doesn’t stick to just Shadow, or make every major action center around Shadow’s goal. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have risked death (and his cover as ‘background character A’) merely to enjoy a dramatic death scene during the school invasion. Furthermore, he wouldn’t keep spinning up complex personas, such as John Smith, that are never intended to be connected to Shadow in anyway. While he obviously protects his Shadow persona, since that is the most important thing to him, Cid gets bored, and needs to explore different paths.

Ti:

“I’m not picky about a lot of things. Most things I really don’t care about, but even so I do have preferences. Even if it’s not really important to me, I like what I like, and I don’t like what I don’t like. I classify those things as insignificant things I like and insignificant things I don’t like.”

“But thinking back, I never really had a clear image of what exactly the Eminence in Shadow should be. When stuff came up, I think I was just happy to do whatever kinda looked Eminence in Shadow-y. Should I really keep going in this direction? I feel like something is missing. Am I imagining it?”

Cid keeps himself detached from most things in life, including people. He has absolutely no desire to form any authentic interpersonal relationships or attachments. Even his preferences, while he recognizes what they are, have been deemed insignificant in an effort to achieve his one and only passion. However, he only really desires to be the Eminence in Shadow due to the power and excitement it’ll bring. The identity itself is shallow, not deeply thought out or formulated in his mind. He’s not trying to embody certain values, and he doesn’t have a clear image of what the Eminence of Shadow should be.

Instead, his primary focus is on rational analysis of every situation he finds himself in, and acting consistent with his chosen personas. He analyzes each scene as it’s playing out in front of him, and filters out the possible paths he can take based on which are logically consistent with his current persona. Essentially, he’s living out his days in adherence to self-imposed rules based on which character role he‘s determined to play. This all appears to be Ti, rather than Fi. (Of course, there’s an element of Fe going on, but that’ll be discussed in the Fe section.)

When hearing that Rose has betrayed Shadow Garden, Cid is not angry over the betrayal to the group, but rather that she’s ruined a perfectly good possibility that he’d conceived in his mind. When attempting to change her mind and convince her not to get married, Cid initially tries to reason with her. He tells her that what she’s doing is a betrayal to herself, because she’s failing to be consistent with her chosen life path up until this point. He doesn’t really focus on her being true to her feelings or who she really is deep down. Instead, he frames it more objectively, pointing out that she’s failing to adhere to her own life choices and decisions. That rational way of looking at things is consistent with Ti logic.

Fe:

“She made me happy by telling me she likes the Moonlight Sonata. So really, I oughta tell her something to make her happy too.”

“As long as people interact with one another, that interaction will breed annoyance. So why do people continue to seek the company of others when they know it will be annoying?”

Cid pays close attention to social expectations in order to craft the exact image that he’s going for. As “background character A”, he forms his entire life around maintaining a specific image, even to the point of choosing his friends based on what will make him not stand out yet still appear normal. As his alternate identities, though, Cid gets a thrill from subverting expectations and crafting an epic image. With Mundane Man, he gets a thrill from making himself appear to be a weakling, and slowly revealing the extent of his power. Cid is not self-conscious about any of this, because how he judges the success of these personas is based entirely on his own goals, and not on what society deems to be reputable or successful. He’s also not bothered by constantly having to adjust his image, so long as he gets the specific reaction that he’s going for. This is all consistent with a confident, tertiary Fe user.

Typically, Cid is not very emotionally intelligent. He doesn’t understand people’s feelings, which can make it hard for him to understand their actions. He struggles to understand the core motivation to several of Rose’s actions, in addition to the motivations of members of his own Shadow Garden. However, Cid is capable of provoking his desired emotional response out of others when necessary, which is shown when he convinces Rose to change her mind about getting married. On a more positive note, though, he does appreciate when people make him happy, and feels compelled to return the favor.

Si:

“There’s something I think you should know. I’ve only shown you 22 milliwatts of my power. No… 32 grams? 3 yards 8 pounds maybe. 4 knots? Gauss? Candela. Newtons… It’s hopeless! It’s confusing trying to get the right units of measurement. I need to do a better job of honing the image in my mind.”

“But they have no sense of aesthetics! Wearing all black in the middle of the day. Have you no regard for the proper time, place, and occasion? Now you just look like losers who don’t know how to dress themselves. If you’re going to wear the long black coat, you do it at night.”

Cid’s inferior Si shows up through how particular he gets when planning out how certain epic moments should go. For instance, when rehearsing a future battle as Mundane Man, he’s shown getting caught on the specific wording and units of measurement he should use to describe his power. He comments that he needs to do a better job of honing the image in his mind.

Similarly, he gets very particular about aesthetics, to the point that he nitpicks the choices of others. For instance, when the school is invaded, Cid disapproves of the invaders wearing black during the day. Of course, aesthetic details such as these are ultimately irrelevant, because they add no actual value towards completing the goal, nor do they add substance to the character. However, while Cid obsesses over these particular types of details, he fails to plan things out in detail in the long run, which is why he constantly relies on luck and overwhelming displays of power.