Overlord オーバーロード

2015 summer | Episodes: 13 | Score: 7.9 (998302)

Updated every Tuesdays at 23:00 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Producers:AT-X | Grooove | Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures | Kadokawa

Streaming: Crunchyroll | Netflix | Animax Mongolia

Synopsis

The final hour of the popular virtual reality game Yggdrasil has come. However, Momonga, a powerful wizard and master of the dark guild Ainz Ooal Gown, decides to spend his last few moments in the game as the servers begin to shut down. To his surprise, despite the clock having struck midnight, Momonga is still fully conscious as his character and, moreover, the non-player characters appear to have developed personalities of their own! Confronted with this abnormal situation, Momonga commands his loyal servants to help him investigate and take control of this new world, with the hopes of figuring out what has caused this development and if there may be others in the same predicament. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Voice Actors

Hino, Satoshi

News

Reviews

tosifusouou
04/24/2021, 02:44 PM
The good reputation of this show lowers my opinion of the anime community. Before you scroll down, let me insist I'm not turning my nose up at you. I understand you like Isekai. Even if the vast majority of these shows are potato chips, I endorse potato chips, and if you want some, I'll happily direct you to Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, Tensei Slime, Oda Nobuna no Yabou, No Game No Life, Zero no Tsukaima, etc. For the most part, every recommendation you'll see in the bottom navigation bar of these titles is also worth a weekend's entertainment. Overlord, on the other hand, is god awful.Its main character isn't even a character. Momonga doesn't have identifiable traits, long-term goals, or a consistent personality. The supporting characters are slightly more developed in the sense their trait is lusting after the MC, their goal is pleasing the MC, and their personality is fawning over the MC. These supporting characters are in reality all the same character. They are dressed in different costumes to appeal to different fetishes in the promo material. (For example, you have the big tits vanilla option, the jailbait, the trap, the reverse trap, and even some beefcake for the ladies in the audience.) Again, I'm not turning my nose up at you. When I say there's nothing else to their characters, there is *nothing else* to their character. Not even being afraid of lightening, or being bad at cooking. Overlord's story doesn't make sense. I'd go as far as to say Overlord doesn't have a story. After being transported to another world, the main character spends the season undercover to quietly scout information about his new surroundings. And yet he conspicuously obliterates every legendary enemy he finds in his path to "spread his name" while undercover. So is he trying to be stealthy, or is he trying to be ostentatious? I don't know. The writer doesn't know. But the plot kills some NPCs to remind you the show is supposed to be edgy. As for its setting, Overlord doesn't have one. I have no sense of the lore or politics of this universe. Overlord's world is less developed than the most by-the-numbers fantasy setting I've experienced in any medium. So, here's your tally. Overlord has no characters. Overlord has no story. Overlord has no setting. This show is garbage. If you're looking for an evil protagonist isekai, *Saga of Tanya the Evil* is infinitely more worth your time.
PixelB
06/17/2019, 01:24 AM
When I first started reading/watching this series in the summer of 2015, I had already consumed a lot of media, in the form of anime, webmanga, and just a little bit of webnovel and visual novels. And I enjoyed (I still do) "genius protagonists" in the series I have watched that make smart decisions, think rationally, and do the best thing that fits the situation. Examples are things like KR webnovel Reincarnator, Emperor of Solo Play, warlock of the Magus World, Death Note, Kaiji, etc etc. Basically, a smart MC that is able to make the perfect action in response to a situation no matterwhat has occurred to them.I aspired to be like those smart MCs. I figured that I would also act like those MCs if I was caught in a similar situation. If I was reincarnated into a different world, there is no way that I would fare poorly, and die as a mere common peasant. Rather, I would slowly level up my power just like those MCs would have.However, reality would be different, and Overlord expresses that beautifully. Compared to those genius protagonists, I am unable to match. I am no genius, I wouldn't be able to keep calm during a dangerous situation like those MCs would, I do not have the prose, fineness, nor the intellect to scheme as well as any of those smart MCs would have. In reality, if I were transported to another world, I would panic. I would be under distress. I would not know what to do. Rather than thinking about what I should do next, I would wonder how I got there and express disbelief. I wouldn't be able to rein my emotions in, nor would I have any sort of plan going forward. Muruyama Kugane expresses what a person would actually do in a situation like you see all the time in reincarnation novels in the form of Suzuki Satoru. Just like me, Suzuki Satoru is a normal man, and he does what a lot of other normal people would have done. He acted flustered. He acted foolishly, He couldn't rein in his emotions without the help of his species characteristic, and even then, he was unable to rein in his libido. Satoru didn't have a plan either. Satoru is just like one of us. He represents all of us, on what we would probably be doing if we were transported to another world like he was. No master plan, No massive intellect, and no calm and collected mindset. Rather, a panicked mess of a person that eventually fumbles his way around in the world through time, and even then, that fumbling around was only achieved due to the massive advantage given to him. While I don't like writing reviews often, I have to give a mention to my #1 novel of all time since 2015. While I could go rambling on for a many more pages, this is the innermost core of why I like this series.
LilGreasyKid
12/24/2015, 03:19 AM
How does this happen? How can a series with so much potential just roll over and die, failing to achieve even the basic level of its premise? Welcome to Overlord, the master at poor writing, completely soulless characters , gratuitous CG and lacking sound. Where does Overlord fail? Does it have any redeeming qualities? Let's find out! Story: Overlord sells itself as a story about a evil mastermind trying to cement his legacy. The lead character, Momonga, is a computer-gamer turned trapped dictator who wants to "learn" about the world around him and how its different from the game he used to know. The story is made upof small little arcs that have little to do with each other and feel more like side quests than anything. However, unlike other episodic series, Overlord shows you none of the culture of the world, none of its vivacity, and instead gives you a tour of a hollow, pre-made shell of a fantasy world. Along the way, viewers get complementary exposition dumps, random game terms and long strings of dialogue that succeed at only taking up precious air-time, all free of charge! There is no meaningful conclusion, no real progress in the story. Furthermore, due to the sheer difference of power between Momonga's team and their foes, there isn't even any tension in the battle scenes. They (Momonga's band and their foes) just whip magic/skills at each other until one side gives up in the face of the undead might of Momonga's team. What the show does succeed at (barely) is portraying a feeling a loneliness within Momonga. Being trapped in a game all by one's self should be a harrowing experience and the very few moments I believe Overlord got it right was when I saw the cracks in Momonga's ice-cold exterior and saw the human underneath...of course, the show never does anything meaningful with that and that possible character development is just conveniently forgotten. Art: CG has always had a bad rap when it comes to anime and Overlord is a prime example of CG done...well, decently. The CG skeleton guards and dragons were not actually that bad, but the CG soldiers, on the other hand, are jarring against the drawn landscapes, which, by the way, don't show much variety. Iconic set pieces are extinct in the world of Overlord. Prepare for forests, forests and more forests. Oh wait, you like graveyards? We got you covered! How about castles? Castles IN your Graveyards? Graveyards IN your Castles? Whew. So many choices! But seriously, the only aesthetically good part of the series are the character designs for Albedo and Momonga. Everything else is...well, empty. The animation is sub-par to downright ugly at times, even. Sound: OP? Unremarkable. ED? Meh. BGM? What BGM? I literally took no notice of it. I actually tried to listen for it a few times near the end, but between all the dialogue, it got kind of drowned out. The voice acting was okay, but with subs, that shouldn't be a problem in the first place. The only character who I thought had an exceptional VA was Clementine, a minor villain. Character: There is a massive cast although the majority of Momonga's grunts hardly get screen time for the important bits. Oh, you get Albedo. Tons of Albedo. Her and her obsession with the big bony MC himself...and that's all you really get from her. Oh, and everyone on his team hates humans. Why? Because they were made that way. Not exactly a compelling reason, is it? What do you really know about Nabe? Cocytous? Shaltear? Probably not much more other than their first, generic impressions, huh? Behind the clunky, forced interactions of the various characters, unexplained backstories and other holes is one of the most empty cast of characters you'll ever see in an anime. You know they're loyal? And? What are their roles? What do they do? Some of them are on screen enough that one would think they'd development some how, but nope. It's like they're on a loop. "I love you, Momonga-sama!" "I hate humans!" "Momonga-sama is so powerful!" Seriously? Is that ALL they can say? They can't even pull of their generic roles with finesse. The filler girls from SAO had more characterization than that. Enjoyment: Looking back, other than for a decent first episode, it's hard to recommend this series to anyone. The characters are completely hollow, the story is an clustered mess of generic spirit, the art and sound are barely decent and the premise itself does not come to fruition. Inferno Cop was one thing, but Jesus Christ, how did this show even get the green light for production? That's about 6 hours of my life I will never get back. I cannot, in good confidence, give this anime anything higher than a 3/10. It is a borderline failure as both an original work and even as a clone of SAO, which looks like ambrosia compared to this seething pile of sewage. Thank goodness it at least looks and sounds passable or I'd give it a 2. All I can say is this: If you're looking for an evil mastermind, look no further than the staff behind this show. They're out to waste precious minutes of your life, one pathetic episode at time.
BanjoTheBear
12/22/2015, 08:42 PM
(This has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) Hanging out in the front of Ironforge. Karazhan runs. The snowy hills of Northrend. World of Warcraft is not just a game, it is its own, complete world. Beasts to slay, treasure to find, and quests to complete. Dailies for gold. Instances for gear. Fishing for fun. There is so much to do that it more or less became my second life for a sizeable chunk of my teenage years. After going to school, chatting with friends, and taking care of what needed to be done in the real world, I would hop onto the computerand become someone that was not technically me but might as well have been. That sounds bonkers, but it is the truth. The amount of time, the resources, and the effort I sunk into that game were enough to make my avatar a natural extension of myself. Of course, I did not don armor, I did not ride an undead horse, and I did not have a gray beard, but I shaped my character into the kind of person I saw myself to be. I was always big on questing. I loved going to the different countries like Stranglethorn Vale and Tanaris, searching high and low for those distinctive yellow exclamation marks above Hemet Nesingwary or the Goblins of the desert. I will never forget, for as long as I live, how I was one of the earliest players (within the first year or so) to earn the “Insane in the Membrane” achievement before it was nerfed. The requirements were being near or at “Exalted” reputation for some of the most obscure factions. Ones like Darkmoon Faire, which needed thousands of gold and cards, and Ravenholdt, which needed me to make a brand new “Rogue” class character specifically tooled to steal over 2000 junkboxes from enemies. Getting the “Feat of Strength” took months, but it was worth it. The tedious work earned me a sweet new title of “the Insane” next to my character’s name. But that was not what ultimately made the game worthwhile. What made World of Warcraft worthwhile were the people around me. The guild I was a part of, my brother going with me to get some levels, and the various friends I made throughout my time in the Eastern Kingdoms is something that I will always hold dear. The game is way too addictive and way too much of a time-sink. And the game was not always smiles. But the memories I have of the game and the people I played alongside are and will only ever be positive. Overlord gets at the same notion, how the past, while no longer with us, never truly leaves. However, unlike my time in World of Warcraft, Overlord is not all positivity. STORY Unfortunately for Overlord, its narrative is somewhat sloppy in its execution. Plot lines are unresolved, entire areas are ignored, and its overall purpose is lacking. Often relying on the same trope – that Ainz Ooal Gown is impossibly strong – the show stops itself from doing much of anything else, severely hampering the experience. The anime has essentially three arcs: the opening arc, the undead arc, and the Shalltear arc. The beginning arc is mostly setup. Characters are introduced, parts of the world are explained, and Ainz Ooal Gown’s absolutely overpowered self is made known. Nothing wrong exists at this point since the anime is simply gearing itself for the rest of the season. The problems start with the second arc. First, the anime moves away from the literal home base of Nazarick. This would be fine but the show introduces and works with another new character (Nabel) rather than using the already-established and yet-to-be used rest of the cast like Albedo, Cocytus, and Demiurge. Second, the anime then continues to introduce more people, like a bunch of random adventurers and the protector of the forest, that further detract from what the anime provided earlier. Third, and worse still, these adventurers are killed and the protector of the forest is hardly referenced again, meaning their inclusion means little in the grand scheme of things. Fourth and furthermore, simple tactics like explaining more of the world – how the magic works, the various factions, and so on – and not fully showing specific moments – the assassin attacking the adventurers, what happened immediately after saving the alchemist’s grandson, and so on – create holes in the narrative that stop the narrative from staying afloat. The point of this arc is to extend Ainz Ooal Gown’s reputation further, in order to attract attention and gain fame. But because the following, final arc does not build off of what happened in the second arc, the plot comes off as directionless. Having this problem already occur between the first and the second, and then having it occur again between the second and the third, disjoints the narrative, thereby ruining the tale Overlord is telling. This third arc, featuring Shalltear’s “betrayal,” does not stop Overlord’s downward trend. Disregarding the shift from spreading reputation to saving Shalltear, the plot introduces another new character (that is used only once), the background forces-at-work are very briefly alluded to (while still making next to no sense), and the outcome effectively returned everything to how it was before the debacle (meaning it was a diversion that minimally affected the narrative). All the while, the rest of the cast is still underutilized, the world is still unmapped, and the previous plot points – like the original general he helped and the need for more reputation – are forgotten. The cause for these dilemmas: Ainz Ooal Gown. More specifically, it is his elite status that causes the narrative to tumble over itself. Interestingly, the point of the show is the overpowered-ness. Watching him wreck a group’s trump card with just his finger. Seeing him literally hug a woman until her insides explode. Witnessing him going through legendary weapon after legendary weapon. The anime always has to showcase him in his ridiculously unfair state but doing so takes away from the rest of the anime. He is super-strong, so the rest of the cast is unneeded and thus is not shown. He is super-smart, so going into detail about the world and the magic is pointless for him. He is super-awesome, so diverting attention to other plot lines that do not involve his esteemed abilities would ruin the magic. Paradoxically, the anime’s biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. Weakness continues in Overlord’s shoddy attempt at creating a theme. Throughout the season, there are distinct moments of reminiscing. Ainz Ooal Gown has recollections of the past, he feels longing when trekking with the random group of adventurers, and near the end he clearly wishes for his old comrades to still be with him now. The show is trying to get at the notion that nothing lasts forever. Life eventually moves forward, people come and go, no matter how much one wants it otherwise. The problem, though, is that he is still there, he is still lasting. He is performing the same role – leader of a guild – as he has always done. In essence, he wants the old days back. But when so little is given about his past escapades let alone his past comrades, this theme, of cherishing what once was yet looking forward at what is to come, loses value. A potential argument in favor of this theme is that foregoing the past is difficult. It is not easy letting go when those days gone by were so memorable. However the anime never makes this type of thinking clear. For example, there is a what-should-be tender moment where his lackeys invite him to berate Shalltear, the purpose being to get him standing and moving forward. But the reversal of authority in that scene – where his followers, especially Albedo, “help” him – is too contrasting with the entire rest of the season’s “Ainz Ooal Gown is the greatest” motif. Another example is his reaction to the death of the random adventurers. Initially he is more annoyed than caring since they were tools to further his reputation. But his offhand comment calling himself a “hypocrite” makes it confusing since forward movement is seemingly made but then immediately taken back. Beyond these moments, and perhaps more of a problem, is that the show rarely explores this theme to begin with. Again, since the anime is determined to push the overarching, overpowered idea to the front, it never places aside adequate time to talk about or investigate this theme. Thus, what is given are these minor moments that, when compared to the rest of the anime, make up a very small and therefore inconsequential portion. What does make up the “rest of the anime”? Overlord includes a nice amount of action sequences in the form of dragon battles, zombie knights, and vampire warriors. Other scenes focus on “ecchi” and comedy, sometimes both. For instance, Albedo straddling a body pillow that has Ainz Ooal Gowns’ face on it is both sexy and hilarious. These sequences would seem to get repetitive considering that these and the previously investigated events surrounding them have little substance. But because the outcome is already known – that Ainz Ooal Gown will decimate whosoever stands before him or will effortlessly command them – that the anime gains an alluring quality. The anime becomes less about seeing where it ends up and more about how it gets there. The awe of the passersby, the utter annihilation of foes, and the complete servitude of minions is something that is easy to revel in, and since the show achieves these effects through its regular happenings, the anime likewise engrosses the audience on a regular basis. Granted, Overlord is not a complete tale, meaning it is unfair for the audience to expect the narrative to be wholly fulfilling. Still, the anime’s need to lean on the same, overpowered trope hurts where it should help. ANIMATION Overlord’s art is similarly lacking in appeal. This is mostly due to the bland backgrounds that the show incorporates for most of its scenes. To be fair, the show is dark in tone so the artistic direction likewise follows this pattern. Gloomy woods, haunting caverns, and gothic interiors are common but quickly become repetitive. Especially so when the lighting is constantly dreary, making each location the same as the next. The anime can switch it up now and again – a sandy plain, a weathered road, a view from way up high, and so on – but these moments are few and far between. However, the anime can pick up its artistic direction when it chooses. Camera shots, like a decapitated head seeing its own body as it floats through the air or viewing the world through Shalltear’s eyes while she is in her ravenous state demonstrate the show’s ability for flair. Other moments, like a black hole evaporating an archangel or Nabel squaring off against some skeletal dragons push the boundaries of the anime’s lighting, action, and detail. Furthermore, the CG elements – like the death knight near the beginning and the ogres near the middle – are not overly obtrusive in their presentation, meaning they do not distract the audience when they do appear on-screen, keeping attention on the aforementioned pizzazz. Pizzazz of the fight choreography, however, is often subpar. The reason, per usual, is the overpowered nature of the characters involved. Nearly everything takes one hit. To put it differently, these are not so much skirmishes as they are one-sided romps. Little time for extensive or prolonged fights is had, and the only one that can call itself thus – the fight between Ainz Ooal Gown and Shalltear – is mostly magical, meaning the two of them stand around for roughly the majority of the duel. Actual animation remains about average throughout the experience. Ainz Ooal Gown in particular barely moves. He is a skeleton, so his skull, jaw, and other body parts rarely jostle. When he does move, his actions are often choppy, lessening his overall impact. Once again, there are exceptions: many of the fights feature explosions, ruffling robes, and sword dances that elevate the animation considerably. Yet these, like the art, are not frequent, with the majority of the show resting rather than moving. Facial expressions sporadically increase in quality from time to time, with incredulity, scorn, and anger plastered across faces for the given situation. However hair swaying and other minute details are generally missing, a trade-off for the higher detail placed on the characters and their designs. This is not an understatement: the character designs are quite detailed. Ainz Ooal Gown (he is always the odd-man-out) sees the most, his black, yellow, and purple robe, his myriad of rings, and his immaculate, golden wizard’s staff portray him as the king that he is. The contours on his skull, as well as his black-and-red eyes, maintain his demonic disposition. The rest of the cast, while not as detailed, are still very imaginative. Albedo’s normal attire – a pure white dress, devil horns, and black angel wings on the small of her back – contrasts with her dark brown and concealing battle armor. Cocytus’s teal carapace matches his bug-like form. And Shalltear’s gothic gown, umbrella, and ribbons, each mired in purple and red, highlight her pale skin well. Unfortunately, while the designs are elaborate, they do not have much value in terms of symbolism or representation. In other words, they are more for show rather than for expounding further on the characters. CHARACTERS Arguably Overlord’s weakest aspect are the characters that inhabit Nazarick and the surrounding area. It is very difficult to talk about Overlord’s characters. They all worship Ainz Ooal Gown. They all hate humans. They all hold strength of immeasurable magnitude. Therefore, at a surface level, they are identical to one another. Digging deeper, the cast does have character traits that separate them. Albedo would literally do anything for her master, her love for him unable to be matched by anyone ever. Cocytus has dreams of being an “Uncle.” Shalltear is a vampire who pads her bra to give her a larger bust. This list of characterizations goes on. The problem, though, is that many of characters go unused. Yes, Albedo’s unfathomable love for Ainz Ooal Gown reoccurs indefinitely, as do some of the other known traits of the servants. But since the anime spends so much time away from the main group, the consequence is that nothing else is known about them. A huge issue, to say the least, because the characters turn from being people into being slots to fill. This speaks nothing of the development of the Albedo and the rest which, understandably, is nonexistent. Understandable since, if the bare minimum of characterizations were provided, then development of any kind will not occur. Devil’s advocates would argue that, as it was with the story, the incompleteness of the overall tale obviously infers that the cast would not undergo extensive development at this point. However, unlike the story, where attempts at constructing a coherent adventure are apparent, the anime never does the same for its characters. Less important side characters exist, such as Enri (the village girl), Ninya (the girl posing as a boy in the random adventurers’ group), and Clementine (the assassin who is hugged to death). But, once again, very little is given or known about them outside of the offhand comments they or those around them make. Enri has a younger sister and is loved by Nfirea, and that is it. Ninya seems to have lost her older sister and fights to protect the land, and that is it. Clementine is demented and cocky, and that is it. Hyperboles, but so little is given outside of these facts and so little time is spent on these characters that these types of generalizations are warranted. Here, the argument is that these people are so inconsequential that they are practically pointless compared not just to the rest of the cast but to the entire series. This is true; Enri’s romance, Ninya’s backstory, and Clementine’s psychotic behavior are utilized at most once or twice, constituting “enough” for each person relative to their importance. But because they are unimportant, the purpose of their characters has no meaning besides adding superficial feelings that barely affect the viewer. A case for Ninya and her group is possible, how they mirrored (to an extent) Ainz Ooal Gown’s own, original friends, but this quickly crumbles since, due to their inconsequential status, they are neither referenced after their arc concludes nor are they used to further him or any of the other characters. So it stands to reason that Ainz Ooal Gown, the almighty ruler and destroyer of men, requires adequate attention since everyone else around him received none. This is the final nail in the figurative coffin: he as well is a markedly weak character. Part of the problem stems from the recurring overpowered motif; Ainz Ooal Gown is so perfect that there is nothing to fix. His character has no flaws which, from a literary standpoint, is automatically an issue since without conflict he is unable to grow or change throughout the season. Taking into account that this is the whole point of his character – simply being overpowered at everything, from fighting to strategizing – the anime does try to convey the change in his personality. Before, as a human playing a video game, killing people was not real, meaning he was not attached mentally to his actions. After, having become a skeletal warlord of another world, this disconnect is still present but has manifested as a part of his personality rather than him consciously making the decision to not care. So, in the very beginning, he changes, but at no point afterward do the events affect him. He does have a split persona, one for his internal monologues and one for his external portrayal. But the former exists purely to understand what he is truly thinking and the latter is how he had always acted, meaning neither side sees noteworthy development, thereby stagnating his character from start to finish. Still, no matter if it is Ainz Ooal Gown’s inner or outer self, the remembrance of the past is a theme that persists. Despite having complete loyalty of everyone, despite having the capability of crushing anything in his path, he still feels alone, wanting the past to come back in one form or another. His servants are on the opposite end. They know of their personal creators and they know where they came from, but they do not dwell on the past. Instead, they devote themselves to Ainz Ooal Gown. For them, what happened before should be celebrated, but still they understand that then is not now. This is interesting because of the dichotomy: the master is worried about this trivial matter while his servants are not. But once again, Ainz Ooal Gown and the rest of the cast is not expounded on enough to support this theme between the characters. Albedo and the others are rarely shown interacting with their previous masters, Shalltear having just about the only scene where this happens. As for the ultimate ruler, he likewise is barely shown interacting with this old buddies, making it hard to empathize with his feelings. The combined result is a broken link within the dichotomy, fragmenting the theme instead of unifying it. Worst still, Albedo and the others are the result of code. Therefore, their loyalty and outlook is not by choice but by circumstance, meaning their relationships are fake which in turn reduces their thematic presence. So while the cast of Nazarick might be unbelievably strong in a physical sense, they are unbelievably weak in a writing sense. SOUND Overlord’s strongest area is easily the sound it uses throughout the season. The opening theme is hard rock, but takes on a semi-spooky vibe to coincide with Ainz Ooal Gown and the tone of the anime. The rising and falling lyrics, the catchy beat, and the rapid drums work together to create an arrangement that is simply cool. The random English bits are somewhat jarring and do not mesh all too well with the song, but the piece hypes the viewer for the inevitable awesomeness that awaits. Awesomeness such as the ending theme, which is downright wonderful. The ED, like the OP, adopts a rock or metal vibe to make the piece more aligned with the gritty and cool aura that the show gives off. However the ED, unlike the OP, has English bits whose emotion and meaning fit the Albedo-centric track well. The breathing part in the middle is weird but oddly satisfying, since it stops the song and builds it up for the final half of the piece. Alongside the strong vocalist, the background whispering, and the catchy beat, the track comes together, being filled with nothing short of “love and passion.” While the rest of the soundtrack is not filled with as much love, it still manages to encompass the same feeling of MMORPGs and overpowered-ness that the anime thrives on. A fluty tune for the downtimes that relaxes both body and mind like a famous inn. Choirs and hard drums fill other tracks, maximizing the splendor of Ainz Ooal Gown and his battle prowess. Violins and pianos to follow the gothic feelings. Many of the tracks are steeped in gloomy sounds that heighten the dark mood while also keeping the events cloaked in a veil of mystery that improves the darkness further. Despite how atmospheric the pieces tend to be, none are particularly memorable, serving as appropriate background music and not much more. Voice acting, however, is superb, with the majority of the cast providing stellar performances. Yumi Hara as Albedo uses a sultry voice that amplifies Albedo’s sexiness and thus her attractiveness. Satoshi Hino as Ainz Ooal Gown uses two voices, the first higher pitched and younger to match his normal self and the second lower pitched and older to match his overlord self, demonstrating his large vocal range. And a special shout-out is deserved for Aoi Yuuki as Clementine for nailing the psychotic inflection and way of speaking, making Clementine creepier in the process. Altogether, the voice actors and actresses performing so well immerses the audience, a much-needed outcome given the immersive undertones of the anime itself. ENJOYMENT While I find the story and the characters to be severely lacking in meaningfulness, there is one reason why I like this one so much: Albedo. She is amazing. Her sacrificial servitude, her sexual spark, and her sensual self won me over immediately. Watching her get extremely mad whenever Shalltear tried to do anything with Ainz Ooal Gown, hearing her go on and on about the clothes she made (up to five years old) for their future child together, and seeing her almost completely lose it after the enemy merely scratched her beloved was hilarious, ridiculous, and endearing. Other moments, like her screaming at the top of her lungs for receiving a ring from Ainz Ooal Gown and her “so freaking cool” line followed by her goofy grin made me love her that much more. She may not be a well-written character in the slightest, but I do not care. She makes me swoon regardless. The rest of the cast was also fun. Cocytus’s singular moment where he gets lost in his Uncle fantasy, Nabel constantly calling the humans some variation of insect, and Shalltear believing that Ainz Ooal Gown was going to have his way with her in the middle of the throne room were all scenes that made me smile and laugh. I was therefore disappointed that they – and Albedo, of course – were not around as much as they could (and should) have been. They are an interesting bunch of characters, so not including them as much as possible made the moments when they were not nearby less exciting. The rest of the events are actually entertaining despite them not having much substance whatsoever. It was a lot of fun watching the enemy cower in fear, unable to grasp how powerful Ainz Ooal Gown was. The death knight stabbing the captain guard over and over was gruesome but funny. Albedo deflecting the pebble back at the mage and literally exploding his head made me love Albedo even more. And Shalltear going berserk in her vampire form was chilling, gross, and crazy all at once. The anime definitely understands how to create scenes filled with entertainment, proving at the minimum that the show could do well when it wanted. Overlord has prevalent problems in both its narrative and especially its characters. The art and the animation also has issues, though they are not as glaring as the first two. Still, strong music and enjoyable scenarios stop this one from immediately being put up for auction at the Stormwind Auction House. SUMMARY Story: Bad, disjointed plot, individual arcs lack purpose, overarching theme is improperly explored, with the overpowered trope simultaneously harming and helping the narrative Animation: Fine, a mix of boring and interesting artistic decisions, subpar fight choreography, about average actual animation, and detailed yet meaningless character designs Characters: Terrible, the side cast is barely investigated, the minor characters are inconsequential, Ainz Ooal Gown stagnates very early, and the dichotomy between him and his servants has no foundation Sound: Good, good OP, great ED, okay OST, above average VA performances Enjoyment: Good, Albedo is amazing, the rest of the cast is fun though not around enough, and the overpowered action was really entertaining Final Score: 4/10
DunKis
12/08/2015, 12:26 PM
*This review contains no spoilers* Disclaimer: This is my first review and contains my opinion, which may be different then yours. Story: 9 Yes, this is another stuck in a game anime. But don't fret, as it takes a different path than other anime of the same scenario. I say this because instead of following a protagonist trying to escape the virtual world, we get an "antagonist" trying to take it over.Or is he? Hes just a desk worker stuck in a Lichs body. I'd rather not go into deep detail about it and end up spoiling this amazing story, so ill end this portion with theonly reason it scored a 9 is because some small portions were cut out from the Light Novel, and the story is left unfinished. Season 2??? **Quick Tip** If you're one of the 2 minutes and I quit watching people, I recommend waiting one full episode, you wont regret it. Art: 10 Now of course Madhouse did this, so outstanding art is to be expected, but much credit should also go to so-bin, the illustrator for the Light Novel, and a truly amazing artist. Madhouse did a great job of bringing his characters to life. Sound: 10 In this section, id just like to point out that both the Opening titled Clattonia and the Ending "L.L.L." are truly amazing, and on my iPod and throughout the whole season, i didn't skip either, which is quite rare. They both go along with the anime so well that its hard to believe they weren't made for the anime itself. The voice actors are also quite talented, and have been in many other anime besides Overlord. Character:8 This is the lowest scoring section because character development is rather hard to do for a 12 episode series, when the focus is on more than 4 people, and i have bias because I've read the LNs. Unfortunately, you dont get to see some characters expand past the original tropes, though, of course the MC is quite fleshed out and the other characters are quite fun as well. If you'd like to see more character depth, join my Overlord Season 2 Prayer Group, or pick up the light novel. Enjoyment:10 This would be a shoe in for anime of the year for me if One Punch Man wasn't currently airing. Overlord was the first anime I actually stayed up whilst constantly refreshing my page, to see if the new episode was uploaded. Its also the only anime which succeeded in making me read the light novels. Overall: 9 If your on the fence about watching this anime, I beg you to watch it, its truly amazing, and to miss out on it due to a slightly over done premise would be a true shame. If you have any specific questions about the anime, or have any advice for reviews, please message me, as it would be much appreciated.
DemonKingRavan
12/02/2015, 10:06 PM
Overlord is the kind of anime you begin watching with some reservations. "A popular MMORPG game traps its players inside and the players now have to play the game where the consequences are quite real". Sounds familiar? Well, that's exactly what happens in Overlord, however, the advantage with me is that I haven't seen shows like Sword Art Online, so while the plot was known to me the inherent flaws and stereotypes were not. The show quickly sets itself apart from its contemporaries by giving us a protagonist who plays the role of an antagonist and loves it. After a brief period of confusion, the easewith which Ainz/Momon takes charge of his servants and powers is refreshing to see. Every move he makes defines his character as a person who is a veteran of MMORPG games. And while he uses his tactics as he would in a game, he knows the consequences of his actions and accepts them without hesitation. The Art and Music of the show compliment each other brilliantly, and the characters are a good mix of perverse, lovable and obedient. If you've ever had a dream of ruling your own world, then this show will make an excellent guide.
Shildor
12/02/2015, 07:31 AM
Thoroughly enjoyed this series and long for a season 2. Series took me back to the old D&D days plus refreshed the excitement that series like SOA brought to us. It was great taking a ride with a bad ass that looked the part and had the skills and smarts one hopes for in a main character. Great Story line with allot of action and never dragged. Great Good- Bad guy with all the signs of an evil overlord that takes you off guard with the fact that he may be the most honorable and just overlord Yggdrasil could hope for.Highly recommend!
deal647
11/25/2015, 08:26 PM
[NO SPOILER REVIEW] Let me start this review by stating the reason I started watching Overlord; it had an 8.14 on MAL. I figured it must be pretty damn good, considering it was the second highest rated new anime of the Summer 2015 season. Wow was I wrong to assume that. Story: 3 - Poor So this anime starts off with a really generic crappy MMO story, nothing amazing about it, nothing that hooks the viewer. However, you can't always judge an anime by its first few episodes. Gurren Lagann had a pretty slow beginning; as did Rokka no Yuusha and numerousother shows, so it's nothing to be ashamed about. About 4 episodes in, I found myself thinking, "Oh Boy, I bet something cool's gonna happen and this show is gonna become amazing to overcome it's lackluster start!". But the story just never hooked me. Ever. Was there a story? It's been 10 minutes since I finished watching and already I'm beginning to wonder if there was any semblance of plot in that giant pile of garbage. But you know what? Story isn't everything. K-On!, WataMote, Gintama, all lack a straightforward and cohesive story, yet they are some of my favorite animes of all-time. Art: 1 - Pathetic So in terms of artistic design, it's probably the worst anime I've ever seen. I am taking into account that it's 2015, and this anime looks like a garbage-tier animation product from 2001. Seriously the original Yu-Gi-Oh looks nicer than this. The CGI is actually great 100% of the time, 10% of the time. So I guess it has that going for it, which is nice. Sound: 3 - Poor Was there an OST? I can't recall. I know the Opening was pretty good, and the Ending was so bad that I skipped it half the time. So all in all, sound is one of this anime's better aspects, because it makes itself scarce. Character: 4 - Decent I feel like if I had read the manga, the characters might have been okay. But I didn't. I watched this anime. You know how there are a plethora of extremely generic anime male leads with the same look and personality? Brown short-medium hair, with a plain looking face, and a very bland personality, with no real character at all? Well this anime tries to cover up its extremely generic male lead by putting him in this "cool" looking MMO Undead Lich skin. But it doesn't work. He's still generic. He's still uninteresting. The side characters all have okay aesthetic designs (besides Shalltear, who is just stupid amounts of cliche), but we don't get to know any of them on a personal level, so the design is mostly wasted. If you are interested in the really bad acting that pornstars do in the beginning of their videos (like pretending to be a pizza guy, a mailman, a nurse, an innocent virgin schoolgirl) then you will be pleased to know that 2 of the 3 "main" female side characters emulate this form of acting every time they're on the screen. Unfortunately, this kind of thing is not quite my cup of tea, so I'm only adding 5 points to this category's rating for it. In terms of character development, there is none. I'm trying incredibly hard to think of one example where a character is different from how they were when they were introduced; but there is no example. I'm reaching for stars that don't exist. Enjoyment: 2 - Dreadful I think watching this anime was the first time I seriously considered gouging my own eyeballs out. I might need some sort of third party confirmation on this; but was this show supposed to be funny? I felt like it was missing a laugh track. I didn't smile a single time during the course of the show, but I feel like it might have attempted to be funny a few times during each episode. Again if somebody could PM me to confirm my suspicions that'd be great; because I honestly couldn't tell. Overall: 3 - Poor I have years of MMO experience. I regularly watch shows of the same genre. I am a straight male. I am this show's target demographic. I feel like my words have to carry some amount of weight here. And so this is my final verdict: This show is a work of "Art"; if you consider "Art" smearing your own feces all over a wall and then furiously licking it up whilst listening to the the Barney Theme Song on loop for 5 to 6 hours.
Salokannel2
11/25/2015, 03:55 PM
The concept of this anime is familiar to most of you. A player gets stuck into video game (e.g. SAO, Log Horizon) where he/she is trying to find a way out. The very simple difference between Overlord and other doppelgängers is the approach. In overlord you get like the antagonistic (the main villain) kind of feeling. The second difference is that MC is already capable of doing almost anything and is clearly out of every single ones league. The way the story forwards is cool in its own way. The idea is probably nothing fresh or new but quite enjoyable. Story: 8 With Madhouse Studios as the producer you can'tcomplain about the art. Fight scenes & character designs are especially cool! What comes to the music, I didn't myself see it as the best (excluding the OP and ED) Art: 10 Sound: 8 The character design was absolutely brilliant. The MC is seen as a firm leader while inside he is just your typical gamer. Every other character was either prefectly fit into story or was otherwise funny Overall I enjoyed this anime throughout every episode always leaving me thrilled to see the next one. With a big cliffhanger left in the end I eagerly wait for possibly the next season? Character: 10 Enjoyment: 10 Overall: 10
Slawadia
11/16/2015, 06:14 PM
This is pretty much "D&D: The anime". Lots of humor. This is clearly a show that doesn't take itself seriously. For a show about impossibly strong beings, they are all cute and amusing in their own ways. Solid writing. The premise of the story itself interesting enough, but the execution was perfect. Situations will occur where philosophical what-if questions will be answered. Interesting characters. The show has a diverse cast of characters yet the viewer gets a solid understanding of each of them. This is quite the achievement given this show's short run time of 13 episodes. Good music. The opening song is great, the background music setsthe mood for every situation. Nothing here that I could find lacking. While the animation isn't spectacular, the art is very charming. If you're a fan of fantasy in general, then you will find this show enjoyable.
Mazelord
10/01/2015, 05:04 PM
After watching the final episode of Overlord, and taking some time to compile my thoughts on it, I hopefully have put together a coherent series of words to describe my thoughts. In case you don't already know, Overlord is about our oh-so-normal gaming fanatic who poured his life into the virtual reality game Yggdrasil, however, due to whatever reasons, after 12 years of service, is shutting down. The MC, Momonga, decided to stay with his guild headquarters, The Great Tomb of Nazarick, which his guild, composed of 41 members painstakingly created. Thought, over the years of the game, eventually all but 4 of the members quitbecause their real lives took precedence. Lonely, Momonga takes up the guild weapon, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, which was a huge guild undertaking to make, to the throne room. He sits on the throne, and waits to be kicked from the game when the server shuts down at midnight. Midnight rolls past, and he is still in the game. The non-player characters whom always had just the basic level of AI, spoke to him. After confirming, they were now flesh-and-blood living people. However, he isn't just a human character, actually... none of the characters in Nazarick are. Momonga, realizing his life in reality isn't really worth much, so he decides to stay... and conquer this world! Now to the review-ish bits. Animation: Madhouse be praised, the quality of the animation is fantastic. Each of the characters is well drawn, colored, and animated. The CG that was done was well integrated and not intrusive or ugly. When it comes to animation, Madhouse doesn't disappoint. 5/5 Sound/Music: The sound and music of Overlord is pretty damn good, the OP/ED are catchy, the ambient music and sound effects are synced, and nothing sounds out of place or weird. 5/5 Characters: Madhouse did very well with the first few episodes, giving the important time with the NPC's interacting with one another, easily getting across who they are and what they think of each other, and Momonga. I truly like the dynamic of the characters with Momonga, when he speaks, they shut up and give him undivided attention. Even the love-stricken Albedo obeys instantly, even if she doesn't like it. With a LN adaptation such as this, characters can't really get the development that you hope, but they can only pour so much into thirteen episodes. So on characters, 4/5 Story: As far as the story goes, a lot of worry was emphasized on being an 'SAO clone,' and I was kind of worried it would turn off a lot of people from the show. However, episode 3 rolled around and it took that assumption and threw it out a window. The story was well paced, up till i want to say the last 3 episodes. They skipped almost all of The Bloody Valkyrie, but I can forgive them because they did an excellent job in keeping the story tidy and smooth for anime-only watchers. But as a LN reader, I was pretty disappointed. If i look at it from a Anime only standpoint, 4/5 Overall: In my opinion, Overlord was excellent. Madhouse turned one of my favorite light novels into a damn good adaptation. The fights were epic, the dialogue was well written, and it felt like the book I had read. I have to say, this was my favorite of the season. I sincerely hope for season 2, as long as Madhouse does it. I feel like it stands on it's own and breaks a new path in the 'trapped in a game' genre. It is also truly worth reading the novels, as they are some of the best out there at the moment.
ap1001
10/01/2015, 09:11 AM
Otaku power fantasy #doesitreallymatter - overlord Overlord is the anime that was adapted from a LN which is adapted from a WN (web novel), and frankly it suffers from almost all of the problem of a WN or LN power fantasy. So your enjoyment lies entirely on whether you are the type to like a PF or the type that hates it. And I hate PF from the bottom of my heart, so this review would mostly focus on how bad a PF is. A bit of background first, Japanese WN adapted LN usually have the problem of being a power fantasy, famous (or infamous) examples includeSAO (though Kawahara said he would fix some of it) and Mahouka (which the author would throw a tantrum like a 5 year old every time someone says something remotely bad about his work). This trend originate from the harshness of Japanese society, due to the strict system and poor economy, so people wish to escape from the suppressive feeling of their daily life. Understandable, but it makes for poor entertainment for the rest of the globe who watch their works. Story - 3 First good point, the premise, a man becomes a skeleton overlord ruling over a lair of evil servants and try to take over the world. Man that premise seems so refreshing in a sea of mediocre works, it would be dark, exciting, awesome and etc. And then you get trolled... The premise is not a complete lie, but it is a lot boring than you imagined it to be. First thing that should tip you off this is a very bad PF is the fact none of the enemy poses a remote threat to Ainz and his OP servants, that right, NONE! It took the author, 4 to 5 books to introduce a character that can maybe beat one of his servants if his servant doesn't wear any armor and only throw super weak spells while this character suit up in full gear and unleashe her full might. (Man I wonder who will win....) This is the beginning, later on we would get entire arcs just so at the end of it all we could, suck Ainz's non-existent penis and see how "awesome" he is (or his servants is, but they are all his yes-man so it's the same) This is like watching fully armed soldiers killing kindergarten students and telling you to cheer since it is an awesome fight. And it is as boring as it goes. It is conflict and competition that make a story, and since Ainz don't have a rival I guess there is no story. Character - 3 Meet Ainz and his group of yes-man that have little in life beyond kissing his ass. There is the pretty vampire (who is totally into him), the succubus (who is totally into him), the dragon butler, the demon butler, the cute mascot twin night elves, the big bug thing, a group of maids, and a bunch of other minions who are not important enough to get a lot of screen time. And all of them are loyal to the core (with little other purpose in life), which fixes the problem of possible betrayal that every other dark lord need to face. Yep life is sweet for Ainz beyond the fact he doesn't have a penis. Ainz for all of his amazing Powers and other things, is a beta pussy harem protagonist with the new "how to be a emotionless robot" input that came from Tatsuya and the MC of AZ (the egg guy). Two wrong doesn't make a right, and beyond his appearance, Ainz have little separating him from the pool of mediocre MCs. The guardians of the floor and by extension all the other servants serve only as his yes-man, with little personality beyond that. Every time they show some individuality, it goes "nope I should be a slave, fuck personality, lol". Ainz is this thing that is completely blocking their development, which is a shame, cause they would make much more entertaining MC than he would. And before you ask, NO, quirks are not personality, they are quirky, but still 2 or 1-dimensional. The other characters serve as jobbers and ants to die or gaze in awe at Ainz, with little influence on the plot if any at all. Art, sound- 9, 7 Don't really care but it is madhouse, so good job for them. Overall - 3 I did a review for the novel as well, and I hold my view from back then, it is a decent PF, I just hate PF and think it is cancer of novels. It's like a blowjob, empty pleasure, and that is all it ever will be.
ZackTyce
10/01/2015, 07:12 AM
I wrote this review after watching the episode 13 and also finished reading all the volumes of overlord that had been released so far, which is till volume 9. So I have at least quite an understanding of the story so far. But I would not put any spoilers in the review and just general info that people can see from the anime's synopsis description or at most first episode. But before I write my review, there is this one glaring point of the anime's story setting that a lot of people seemed to be confused about lately that I have to point out. Manypeople tend to be confused that the main character has been stuck in the game world he is playing in but the truth is that it is Experimented and Proven many times that he is instead Transported into a new fantasy Reality world where Yggdrasil players either don't exist or uncommon to the point of being called legends that only exist hundred of years ago. The only thing he is "stuck" in is his skeleton game body when he was transported from his game virtual world to another fantasy reality world. Also another thing, he is not a kid or a teenager, but instead is a blue collar salesman. So after clearing that up, let's start my review of the anime. I advise people to rate my review fairly with open mindedness and after proper understanding of the anime and not base on personal reasons, rashness or eccentric personal bias which seems to be quite common lately... Story: 9 The anime's story followed the novel's story tightly so far, skipping only the unnecessary dialogues. Some people who lacked the attention span, patience or the interest in the story and wanted more actions and excitements immediately may find this anime's start to be boring. But people who actually wanted to enjoy the story's world and development would find that this anime's story is quite interesting, attention to details and descriptive with points of the story from different perspective. Many people who started reading and enjoyed the novel are there for the literature story in the first place. Sadly, the anime can't be too descriptive about the story But the producers did not sacrifice it to lower the story's quality, just to satisfy certain viewers. Which is a plus for an anime with good story and action. Some people may find it slow at times due the story development but the anime managed to at least squeezed in all the important plot points in the anime without skipping it, which might have otherwise caused confusions to the viewers if some info points was lacking and skipped just to make the anime faster. Which Madhouse actually learnt their lesson after being bashed by people about their rushed production on Mahou Sensou and Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. Also, a lot of the minor details in the anime's story was left out so it may not be as detailed as the novel. But, since the anime was made to advertise the novel in the first place, therefore if the people want more details about it, they have to read it from the novel. If the anime is just as detailed as the novel, that will defeat the purpose of making it in the first place. Art: 8 The art quality is very good, though as many people had said before that the novel's art may have been better but this is something left for people's personal taste and interests... But speaking it in general, the art is very detailed, beautiful and did not get ruined by censors for now, it may follow similar art styles to the manga at times. But all in all, it is something that is well done. Also, there won't be too much awkward fan service either given that the main protagonist is an undead skeleton. Sound/Music: 8 The opening song is epic, the background musics were fitting for many situations in the anime, especially the action scene musics that fits and adds to the mood and atmosphere greatly. The only thing I wished more of, was for producers to make better use of the ending credit song instead of focusing the good song on just Albedo... Character: 9 One of the main protagonist that you will never expect to see in anime till now. A skeleton as a main character with a blue collar working salesman's mentality behind it. The person is very logical, emotionless but interestingly funny at times, who does the most realistic and logical reactions and actions people should expect if they are transported into another world. Keeping up his act as an overlord outside but whining and shouting inside about tiring things and situations. He also never consider his powers to be overpowered since the his skills are known in games and always think that there is someone such as players stronger than him out there. The introductions of the many other side characters were also very unique and interesting too. They all have their own detailed designs, personalities, settings and developments. Sadly the only thing lacking in this anime and even the novel, is a strong enemy character that the main characters have to face and overcome... But it is actually fine, since story wise, the story is actually still interesting and mainly draws the viewers to be more interested on how the process the MC used took over the places or even the world, the perspective and reactions of different people in the story which you normally won't see in other stories at times, and also main point of the story that is expected of how the strong overlord crush the enemy in the end after the intended development for it along with the expectations and despair which all together makes it something even more interesting and refreshing to see too, just like picking the fruits after it is ripe for the taking. Also it seems there are people rating down the series due to the mc not having an usable underpart? Well, he can actually do it if he wants to and afterall, it's also better for the mc to think logically than thinking using his lower body like some other pervert mcs which are annoying. Besides, it seems pointless for some people to even point this out to talk down a good series. Enjoyment: 10 Well the anime may not be a master piece for some people. But the story's novel is a master piece literature that is the most descriptive, well developed, highly rated and one of the higher quality light novel out there that is highly encouraged by many people to read it to understand their world even more. That is the novel's purpose, as there are many people who enjoyed the novel are there for the literature story in the first place, so it is something that people would be expecting from the anime too but the anime would Not be as detailed to put some points in one episode. Just saying it. But here's the point, the anime is popular not because it is a master piece but because there are many other reasons for it. Firstly, unlike the typical hero fantasy animes that are a dime of dozen out there already with almost Similar and Familiar stories and settings. Of course an anime from a villain's perspective would perk people's interest than the typical power from friendship troupes, where you always would expect a certain people to survive in the end or just simply no one dying at all. With many things that are being quite common these days, this actually make this anime more unique and stands out. Secondly, in this world where pretty much everything was cliche, a different, darker virtual gaming world to another world story is actually more new and interesting to people comparing to the typical virtual game or reality to fantasy animes that are quite common out there like no game no life, log horizon, SAO, problem children, etc with similar familiar overlapping fantasy settings or even other different typical animes with a shiny hero or a dense innocent kind mcs, instead a setting different from the typical familiar ones would be fresher one to see. Thirdly, It is one of the animes that do not fill the screen with censors which is very unpopular these days and certainly some parts of the anime's story and action may be rated to be more exciting than some long going animes out there. (not my opinion though) Finally, if people Do want to immense themselves in settings, atmosphere, plots and details of the story other than just immediate mindless action animes that are dozens out there, they would definitely welcome this anime or even the novel. Given how much of a potential this anime's story have, even till the latest volume I had read so far. I actually personally think that the pacing of the anime is normal or even quite fast looking at the anime's situation itself. Overall: 9 Overall, as long as the anime is kept to the story without changing from now on which the producers are still doing without rushing or skipping important parts, it will still easily continued to be rated 9 by me.
MarlyTT
09/30/2015, 11:07 PM
Obligatory spoiler warning because Overlord is a masterpiece that must be experienced first-hand. So apparently what Sword Art Online needed was for Kirito to be a skeleton wizard and Asuna to be Mahouka's Miyuki. The concept of this series is the same as what most people are already familiar with; A guy is playing a game, and then he's suddenly trapped in it because of some unexplained reason. Overlord does absolutely nothing original aside from having a few aesthetic and irrelevant differences from the rest, and people seem to consider it as a brilliant masterpiece because it apparently managed to appeal to those who wantedto play as the bad guy in a roleplaying forum. The original LN has some pretty nice art and cool character designs. That's about the only good thing about the series as a whole- Everything else, including the writing, ranges from mediocre to genuinely awful. Apparently when Madhouse realized that they were going to be animating One Punch Man, they saw Overlord's amazing budget saving potential- Most notably, zooming in the unmoving skeleton man's face so they don't have to animate anything at all while he's talking. The animation is really subpar, and there's a lot of terrible looking CGI in the show while it's not focusing on Momonga's face. It only truly picks up in quality at the very end of the series, and even then, it doesn't manage to be very impressive. The OST is very forgettable to the point that I might even consider it one of the worst in the shows I've seen- Basically take whatever Yasuharu Takanashi does and make it even more generic than some of his worst works. That about describes it. Visually and aurally, it's definitely below average. But surely despite all that mediocrity, the writing must be amazing. After all, the main character is a skeleton wizard and leads an army of Saturday morning cartoon villains. Despite the series attempting to present the protagonist and his group as evil, the best it does is having them kill completely unlikable characters that barely get more than a minute of screen time. That's some evil right there. Momonga is an incredibly boring character. Aside from providing exposition after exposition through his internal monologues from his experience with the MMO when describing what's happening on the screen, he really does not have much personality. His entire character motivation is to find out about the world he's trapped in, just like the viewers- Basically, it can be summed up that his motivation pretty much does not exist because it simply exists as a parallel to the plot itself. Furthermore, he's very powerful- Apparently overpowered MCs are acceptable as long as they're not designed like teenage boys, which makes it admitedly harder for neckbeards to relate to. But Momonga's degree of power exceeds even that- He's powerful to the point that nearly nothing poses a serious threat to him. This is a problem in storytelling because no conflict is ever relevant- Momonga's powerful enough to just solve it easily without any effort. One could say that it was the writer's intent to make Momonga seem powerful and impressive, but it doesn't even do that correctly. Power is relative, so when Momonga just one-shots random fodders that spend more time boasting about themselves than actually showing what they're capable of, it's not impressive in the slightest. A key example of this happens in the fourth episode, where the bad guy summons what is supposedly a super-powerful monster, and when Momonga kills it, it's supposed to look impressive. But the audience doesn't know what this monster was even capable of, outside of the bad guy boasting about its supposed strength, so it just feels completely flat. While he makes all these unnecessary convoluted plans about how he would spread his name around the world to catch the attention of those who might have been trapped in the world like him, he essentially just solves all his problems through his raw power. His problems are more self-imposed than anything due to his tendency to be incredibly paranoid due to his fear of something that “might” be more powerful than him. And to make it worse, he just outright contradicts himself near the end of the show by risking his life in an unnecessary one-on-one combat due to his ego. Brilliant. And to make it more brilliant, there really was no reason for the MMO backdrop at all- It's a completely unnecessary addition. The series could have worked just as well with Momonga being a genuine evil skeleton lich in a genuine fantasy world instead of “some guy trapped in a MMO world that became REAL.” All this does, essentially, is to give an excuse for some parts of poor storytelling to exist, such as exposition dumps from Momonga based on his experience with the MMO, and floor guardians being completely, unquestionably loyal to him for no reason. The series never references back to the real world, so it might as well not exist- And since the audience has no idea about the said MMO, it only emphasizes the point about this just being a pointless hook, and a justification for awful storytelling that relies on the backwards idea of “Tell, don't show.” All the floor guardians and Momonga's lackies are uninteresting and flat- They have some interesting designs, especially the maids, but all their personality is about as interesting as a rock. First few episodes make it clear that they absolutely adore Momonga, and they spend their entire screen time thinking and/or talking about how great Momonga is. One of the worst examples is Albedo, who spends every moment of her screen time doing just all that. She never does anything outside of praising Momonga, whether he's in the same scene as her or not- Comparing this to Mahouka, she's basically this series' equivalent of Miyuki if Miyuki did absolutely nothing outside of praising Tatsuya, which makes Albedo far, far more annoying. Remember how people absolutely despised Miyuki because she wouldn't shut up about her onii-sama? There's an exact same character here, if arguably worse, but Albedo gets a free pass because her target of affection looks like a skeleton wizard and has a fanservice design. There's also nothing interesting about floor guardians' interaction with one another, as all they talk about is how great Momonga is and how they should do their job and serve him. I guess the assumption the author made was that his target audience was so stupid that they needed to be reminded of the obvious every scene, every line. Another awful aspect of this series is the pacing- It's always painfully slow. A lot of people seem to defend slow pacing by claiming that it's character development, but there's no development. I'm not sure where people got the idea that character interaction equate to character development, but I guess just listening to pointless filler dialogue gives some people a false impression that something must be going on even though nothing is really going on. This is especially noticeable in the episodes where Momonga teams up with a lower class group of adventurers to complete a quest- The show spends several episodes attempting to develop this group of nobodies by giving them cardboard personalities, but in the end it's completely pointless. They're not likable because they haven't really done anything, their interaction with Momonga is pretty bland, and the series makes it clear that they're not important to begin with. And surprise, it turns out they were completely irrelevant. Amazing character development for characters that never mattered with pointless, drawn-out character interaction that did nothing for everyone in the cast. If all that wasn't enough, the series doesn't even tie itself up properly- The last part of the show involves one of Momonga's minions, who is just as powerful as he is, suddenly being brainwashed through the power of plot convenience because the author thought an actually threatening conflict was needed around this time in the series. Despite taking all the safety precautions with all his power previously, Momonga decides that he needs to make a point about how he's the leader, even though there was absolutely no need for him to do so when all the floor guardians already adore him unquestionably. Basically, Momonga is not very intelligent- Everything goes as he plans because of his raw power and having so many tools to work with- Not because he's actually skilled at strategizing. It also should be noted that this last part of the show was incredibly grating, because the brainwashed minion still sucks up to Momonga while still opposing him. Really, Overlord? So to summarize what happened in this entire cour: First quarter spends its time on just introductions on characters that have no personality whatsoever outside of all sucking up to Momonga in perfect unison. Second quarter is about Momonga effortlessly beating an army of literal nobodies that won't matter for the rest of the season. Third quarter is about Momonga effortlessly beating an army of zombies and two bad guys that won't matter for the rest of the season. And finally, the last quarter is about Momonga beating a brainwashed minion only because he handicapped himself even though it would've been just as effortless because he's a poorly written character. I can't even really claim that this is a pacing issue with the show itself- This is more like a pacing issue of the novels because the show covers fair amount of the novels. Remember that statement about how MMO setting is used as nothing more than an exposition tool? Yeah, it's apparently being used as a filler as well in the novels, explaining things that nobody gives a shit about to pad out the content. I really don't understand the praise for this series- Aside from simple aesthetic differences, this series has all the flaws that all generic light novels have. The MC is just yet another generic Stu protagonist that has next to no character motivation, the side characters are cardboard cutouts that constantly suck up to Momonga only because they were quite literally made to do so, and the storytelling is a complete mess where the MMO backdrop is only used as a convenient excuse to make way for exposition through Momonga's inner monologues. Instead of being from a perspective of a genuine evil villain, it's from a perspective of a generic MC that only looks like a villain with underlings who are about as laughably as evil as Akame ga Kill's antagonists. As an adaptation, it fails- And as for the series as a whole, it's just another generic fantasy novel with a gimmick element as a hook. There's literally nothing positive about the series, aside from the LN's art and character designs, which all just seem like a waste of talent and effort. Both of which are not present in the adaptation or the writer. The spin-off series, Ple Ple Pleiades is actually far more entertaining. Go watch that instead.
lawlmartz
09/30/2015, 10:33 PM
Even uttering the words "MMO anime" triggers a lot of violent and ambivalent thoughts among the community in 2015. After a slew of shows of dubious merit based on playing a video game, or being trapped inside of it- it's understandable that the community is a bit gunshy on the concept. Rest assured though, that anime with the Madhouse tag on it are in good hands, as it's more often than not a high quality and faithful production. Overlord is not your nouveau Sword Art Online. Overlord is not your No Game No Life, and it's most certainly not .Hack://Sign. Artwork and Animation: 8 Again, Madhouse producedanime are almost always synonymous with quality. Great consistency in character detail and motions, and some very pretty 3D spellcasting that looks a lot like it was pulled from Death Parade. The character designs are great, their movements fluid, and even a 3D CGI dragon can't put this one down in the dirt! Sound and Voice Acting: 7 Satoshi Hino, despite all of the roles I haven't seen him in, really kills the Momonga/Ainz character. A dual commanding and menacing, and 'normal' inner monologue voice sells the real live and in-game versions of Momonga well. He's backed up by a plethora of talent in Yumi Hara as Albedo, Sumire Uesaka portraying Shalltear, and Manami Numakura as the cold Narberal. On a musical note: typical fantasy game stylings, with a healthy mix of EDM, especially the groovy ending song. Nothing to complain about. Characters: 8 Momonga/Ainz is our main, in the real world a no life salaryman, but ingame, a maxed out, god-class skeletal mage with powers noobs can only dream of. A fearsome combatant in any arena, guild leader, and general badass, he's seen and done everything that the MMO Yggdrasil has to offer. Apprehensive about his new surroundings and the unknown dangers it may hold, Ainz takes a cautious approach to this new scape and acts logically when presented with dangers: buffing the crap out of himself and out thinking the goons after him. But he's not above trolling them a little. He's rather catlike- playing with his food before he eats it. Next up is the fan favorite Albedo: the NPC turned sentient, slavishly devoted guardian of Ainz. As the boss of the other NPCs of the guild castle "Nazarick", Albedo holds considerable sway over the other characters, including Ainz- partly because of her obsequious treatment of her unrequited lover (due to a mix-up in her NPC coding caused by Old Gregg). She's fiercely protective of him, and thinks any attention paid to him by a female character other than herself is a dire insult to her affections- to which she will fight to the death to protect. Secondly, we have the ice queen Pleiades Battle Maid Narberal. She serves as Ainz's escort while adventuring, and absolutely despises humans, seen by the undead who populate Nazarick as less than contemptible slime. Kind of like Zubat. Humans are a lot like Zubat to the denizens of Nazarick. Rounding out our important ladies is Shalltear Bloodfallen, an extremely pretentiously named pint sized vampress. As childish as her body indicates, Shalltear also has an inexplicable crush on Ainz's lifeless bony body, and is even more bloodthirsty than Albedo. She also happens to be the most capable fighter in the castle, and the most dangerous. Overlord does have quite a few characters introduced at the beginning, though it's quickly apparent which ones will actually matter throughout the course of the show. Most of them are either common fantasy monsters, strange fantasies of players, and other "lol, MMO" types. Story: 7 The story is broken up into several distinct arcs- the first among them introducing the character of Momonga/Ainz and his place in the new world, after being transported in from Yggdrasil. It starts on a small scope and scale, and gradually gets more complex and larger as Ainz gains new knowledge about the world, and his influence spreads throughout. As it progresses, what we see through Ainz's eyes thickens alongside the plot. This show isn't about trying to escape from a death game, or even about playing a game really. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and this is true for Overlord. If one was not directly told that Momonga was an MMO player and a near constant usage of gaming terms spewing forth from his lifeless lips, this would come off as just a fantasy series- which works in its favor. The "gameplay" is not important, as the story takes the forefront. After probably three episodes, I wasn't even thinking about a player playing the game, but rather what kind of adventures that this character would get into, and thankfully that's what Overlord delivered. There are quite a few laughs in here, some serious moments, and some well choreographed fights, all with that delicious Madhouse taste. Props to the original material though, for being engaging enough in humor, action, and story to keep it interesting. Enjoyment: 8 I liked that instead of lording his way around from day one that Ainz was rightfully cautious about exploring and testing his magic, compatriots, and abilities in the new world. He played as a real person would- instead of rushing into unknown circumstances and possible game ending death, he sits back and tests things on a small scale, questions others about how the world works, what's effective, and what's not, and then chooses to strategically act upon said information gathering. Unlike many Gary Stu style protagonists who start from nothing and work their way up without tension, we know from the very beginning that Ainz is a maxed out character with untold powers. The tension comes not from Ainz's lack of ability or fear for his life, but instead ignorance of the world at large, and treachery from his own ranks - beings that were, in Yggdrasil, powerful enough to bring down even max ranked players like himself. Overall: 8 My pick for anime of the season. This was by far the least disappointing show, and definitely exceeded expectations and proved me wrong of being "Madhouse's SAO". Recommend? If you like a gamer-feel for an anime without stupid plot contrivances and utter failures in writing as in other shows of the MMO persuasion, this is worth a try. As a pure power fantasy series, it's excellent.
Xaxeth
09/30/2015, 05:13 PM
Overlord ! the anime that defined my Tuesday as "EPIC" , this anime if the kind of anime that you can watch an episode several times without getting bored, i will be divining by review into sections avoiding spoilers so enjoy reading ! : 1- Story : 9/10 :- The story is something fresh and unique, it follows the same aspect of many other MMO animes out there, expect that it does it right, a pretty excellent story that sets you on the edge., it's not set inside an MMORPG world, instead, certain guild is transported into a different world that is a real world wherepeople get killed without respawning. 2- Art : 10/10 :- The art in overlord is top notch, death is uncensored, and everything is very highly detailed, well, this was made by MH after all, so all that is to be expected. 3- Sound : 10/10 :- The opening and the ending songs are amazing ! , voice acting is descent, especially shalltear, and all voice actors played their role very well considering that they voice acted a somewhat evil characters. 4- Characters : 10/10 ! :- Oh boy the characters , the members of nazarick , especially the guardians, are extremely high quality, each of the guardians feels as if they can hold their grounds well as a final boss in any other high quality anime, and what i mean by that is that their design, background, acting, and everything else is top quality, and aside from the main characters, the villains do make you hate them, and the side characters are also pretty descent. 5-Enjoyment : 10/10 :- I don't remember the last time i was so excited each week to watch a certain anime, it's that unique feeling when you get your self prepared with snacks, turn on your AC, and set on waiting for it to be released, overlord made me remember that feeling, when i played each episode i kept rewinding some parts of it over and over again because of how much enjoyment i was feeling , the battles, the conversations between Ainz and the others, and everything is amazing. Overall : 10/10 ! :- if you enjoy animes with badass main character and moments that always keeps you on the edge, then overlord is definitely worth checking out.
koustavbiswas
09/30/2015, 02:14 PM
Well I have finished watching all 13 episodes as well as i read the light novel too and if the story goes like that in the light novel of Overlord then the anime will no doubt become one of the top anime like onepiece , Fairy tail or the attack of the titans. Thought Overlord anime can be compared to the Anime Attack of the Titans but I liked Overlord more than the attack of the Titans. Btw there should be some improvement on the Graphics but the rest all seems Good to me and i am waiting for the second season which will consists onthe Topic of Attack on the LiZard's Mans Village.{A nice Spoiler here :)}
Nigami_Shin
09/30/2015, 01:03 AM
What do you get with Overlord? A good, enjoyable anime which is one of the seasons best (not really hard this time) also if you long for some good ol' overpowered main character fighting - this show is for you. The story centers around a guy (do we know his name?) who is the last remaining player (?) in the online game YGGDRASIL. His alter ego is Momonga, later Ainz Ooal Gown, a powerful undead Necromancer and also the guildmaster of the successful guild Great Tomb of Nazarick. The other members have already left the game long ago, but left him with their belongings andalso the personal created NPCs, which serve as guardians of the Tomb (guild hall). Like other people already wrote the story takes some time to get going, probably even another season, nevertheless is interesting. It starts like this: On the day the game is supposed to shut down, Momonga can't log off - he is trapped (how original). Now everything centers around managing the guild and helping NPCs while finding out why he's trapped and if there are others like him. Personally i think the characters are the shows weakest point owed to the 13-episode size. We have the player, the vampire gothic loli Shalltear (who the fuck designed her vampire form?!) and the submassiv loving demon girl Albedo - the rest isn't worth mentioning in fact apart from the battle maid Narberal you won't see much of them. Character development ? Nope. The show ends with this typical "pressed content preview", you know that one were they lay the rootes for a 2nd season without promising anything. If it doesn't get one i probably wouldn't watch it again - let's hope it sells well
Phlebas
09/29/2015, 09:34 PM
The most captivating 'stuck in a game' story I've seen so far, and I've seen quite a few. I simply can't find anything to fault in this anime. It's hard to believe they could keep such a breakneck pace through the whole series without it feeling rushed either. Pure bliss from the opening to the end of every episode (and what a great opening it is, by the way). The protagonist finds himself in a new world - and a new, undead body. He brings with himself his sensibilities from his own life, but finds he no longer actually feels the moral compulsions of his previous humanself, making his character an interesting mix of ruthless and mindful. There's a strong focus on exploring a new and hostile world, and finding the differences between the world's "systems" and what the protagonist is used to. On the other hand, he doesn't start off weak and have to level/power up to, but instead arrives as a supreme being defying the laws of the world. That's a unique angle I don't remember seeing before in this kind of series. The only thing that'll improve this series is a second season.
Stark700
09/29/2015, 07:28 AM
Anime adaptation revolving around RPG and MMORPG themed worlds can usually be a hit or miss. As a fan of MMORPG games in real life, there should be expectations with the world fiction such as the monsters, mechanics, story, setting, and overall execution. Where does that put Overlord? A bit overboard? Underwhelming? It’s not really like that but Overlord is the type of show that can be hard to judge. The series is based on a light novel that originated from a Japanese web novel. The original source has about 9 volumes although the adaptation by Madhouse studio consists of only a single cour. (13 episodes)That usually sets off a red flag with the story pacing. And it isn’t wrong either as the first two or so episodes carries a weak weight on itself. Taking place in the online world of Yggdrasil, we meet Momonga, a salary-man who apparently tried to log out at the very last minute. Things go a bit wary and he gets stuck in-game as an online avatar in the form of a ‘skeletal lich’. It also just happens so that the avatar is also a very powerful wizard. What’s more is that the NPC around him also exhibit their own personalities as if they are alive and have minds of their own. Essentially, the story marks its territory at the Tomb of Nazarick. The first two episodes establishes Momonga (or going by his in-game name Ainz Ooal Gown) as someone with immense powers. Now, I have a problem with overrated characters and Ainz is no exception to this. The show demonstrates his invulnerability to poison along with elite fighting skills, weapon set, and even an intellectual mind as the story progresses. However, the series also takes a few different turns. Monomga still display his human traits as he interacts with the NPCs he encounters. Apparently, they serve him like he is their God so it takes time for him to adapt. Momonga’s personality also becomes suppressed and he displays cunning behavior throughout the show. However, I would not say that he is an arrogant character as he is quite loyal, honest, and respects his servants. As the story progresses, there is a lack of feeling he develops towards death. (Given the irony that he himself is a skeleton, a personification of death) The show can be taken to light from different perspectives. From the perspective of a light novel reader and adaptation, it’s easy to say that the series focuses quite a bit on Momonga. Almost every episode highlights his role, personality, or overall character. The relationship building and associations he establishes with other characters are also played out in a variety of ways. This can be seen with the seductive Albedo who is utterly in love with him. Even among the Floor Guardians of Momonga’s guild, she is one of the most loyal and obsessive towards Momonga. It doesn’t help that the show also introduces rivals such as Shalltear who shows sexual tendencies. The show’s initial impressions sets off this red flag as it almost makes fun of itself. It also introduces other characters that each get a little bit of his or her screen time such as the Mare and Aura twins, butler Sebas, Cocytus, and intelligent demon Demiurge. In relation to Momonga, they all seemingly show an undying love and respect for him; just expressed definitely from one way or another. As a bit of character driven story, this is really a miss as the characters are unappealing from first impressions. Only Momonga can be legitimately interesting as we want to find out his potential as a guild master and person in real life. It makes us wonder what he is capable of with his new role and how these new changes can apply to his character. The remainder course of the show opens up realms of possibilities. Like most MMORPG worlds, Yggdrasil seems to be resourceful with landscapes, guilds, and monsters. The story mechanics of the series is explained such as weaponry, skills, and monsters that exhibit its world. It’s nothing original when compared to some other MMORPG style shows. In the past, series such as Sword Art Online and Log Horizon also has fantasy game mechanics; albeit in different fashion. For Overlord, it slowly does this while unraveling the main course of the story. There’s also some common monsters you’ll usually find in fantasy worlds such as goblins, undead beings, and even angels. What makes Overlord stands out a little bit more is that the show is more than just about conquering and survival. I think the key word is the title itself, “Overlord”. This is because Momonga/Ainz is actually trying to take over the world as the new ruler. So in a way, he wants to be an overlord despite his lack of inexperience. This is clearly shown throughout the show with his intentions. As both a character and story driven series, it will definitely takes patience and adapting to get used to the show. I actually recommend re-watching some scenes to get a better understanding of the series’ intentions at few cases. Examples such as Momonga’s lack of remorse towards death, Albedo’s distasteful view on humans, and other ideals makes the show appealing. It makes the NPCs feel real. In addition, the game mechanics such as spells, weaponry, magical items, and potion making really brings out its fantasy realm to life. There’s some good amount of action as well although fairly predictable with Momonga’s newfound skills. In addition, the story also makes it clear that he isn’t the only character that matters. Others he encounters and associates with such as the Sword of Darkness and his own battle maids get their additional spotlight too. The story also introduces antagonists with their own independent malevolent intentions. It shouldn’t take too long for viewers to realize that Overlord isn’t just Momonga’s personal show. But for all its creativity, the series suffers much from the over emphasis of Momonga. It focuses far too much on his character while adding the ridiculousness of his servants’ love for him. The first two episodes will likely be a make or break for most viewers as the feeling of an MMORPG game feels isolated. There’s also die-hard comedy with character rivalries, expressions, and overall tone of their generalization. I will say the show has a diverse cast of the characters though. And given the set up for the world, it introduces plenty of important ones to bring the best of Momonga. However, be very aware of the pacing of this story. The first half really tests the patience of the viewers despite foreshadowing some future events and making small promises of improvement. While it’s doing all of this, the comedy is also a hit or miss with its controversially timed scenarios. And lastly, it seems like the adaptation itself is more of a tease for viewers to “read the novels”. Madhouse puts their work into this show’s animation style. Taking place in such a fantasy world, the colors are focused on the characters rather than the background. Characters are diverse and decorated distinctively that makes them look unique. Momonga/Ainz is obviously the one that stands out the most with his skeletal avatar. When on the road, he takes the form of a dark warrior encased in an armor that makes him look like a badass hero. And that’s really an underrated word. Among Momonga’s followers, the term ‘badass’ can be applied to several characters with their designs such as Albedo, Shelltear, and the battle maid Nabe. There’s also the monsters introduced that is classic to most MMORPG worlds. Human characters are created to look human and most of them gives the impressions of themselves as adventurers. As a fantasy adventure, the show is also no stranger to action and violence. In essence, the action is decent in terms of fantasy standards. It’s the type of stuff you’ll see often in MMORPG related games. On the other hand, the violence creates a grimmer tone. There’s no censorship with the blood and even gore-like scenes during battle sequences. Fan service also exists with Albedo’s role in the story. But what really brings out their characters is the expressions. It has the experimental feel when you see how they react as NPCs while displaying human traits. If you want stereo music, then you got stereo music. Namely, the OP theme song is an intense beat to the ears while the ED theme always decorates itself with unorthodox imagery. The OST displays a familiar fantasy feel in terms of content. And for all that’s worth, character voice mannerism plays some key roles to make their characters into life. Momonga is actually one of the less noticeable characters for his voice because he sounds similarly like a human. On the other hand, the NPCs has a distinctive voice with their character roles. These voice diversity ranges from Albedo’s seductiveness, Sheltear’s aggressiveness, Sebas’ sophisticated personality, or Nabes’ loyalty. Clementine also gives off a presence of violence thanks to her sinister voice tone that persuades viewers to see how far she will go with her plans. Despite the large cast of characters, a strength of the show does come from the voices. In the end, Overlord is more or less a refreshingly adventurous tale about a dude stuck in a skeletal avatar. It has functioning creative imagination with a colorful cast of characters. But when it comes to story, Overlord smells like a show with money in mind. In other words, it seems like an advertisement to the main novel. Director Naoyuki Itou puts his experience with other fantasy series at work and is a bit of a mixed bag. The adaptation isn’t unique in either pacing or leaves strong first impressions. The fantasy world itself does generate a decent amount of interest when it comes to its core mechanics. But for a show like Overlord, it needed to hold together and makes sense. Sometimes it accomplishes that, other times it doesn’t. Overlord is a show that needs improvement so pick your poison.

Overlord オーバーロード

2015 summer | Episodes: 13 | Score: 7.9 (998302)

Updated every Tuesdays at 23:00 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Producers:AT-X | Grooove | Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures | Kadokawa

Streaming: Crunchyroll | Netflix | Animax Mongolia

Synopsis

Voice Actors

Hino, Satoshi

News

Reviews

tosifusouou
04/24/2021, 02:44 PM
The good reputation of this show lowers my opinion of the anime community. Before you scroll down, let me insist I'm not turning my nose up at you. I understand you like Isekai. Even if the vast majority of these shows are potato chips, I endorse potato chips, and if you want some, I'll happily direct you to Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, Tensei Slime, Oda Nobuna no Yabou, No Game No Life, Zero no Tsukaima, etc. For the most part, every recommendation you'll see in the bottom navigation bar of these titles is also worth a weekend's entertainment. Overlord, on the other hand, is god awful.Its main character isn't even a character. Momonga doesn't have identifiable traits, long-term goals, or a consistent personality. The supporting characters are slightly more developed in the sense their trait is lusting after the MC, their goal is pleasing the MC, and their personality is fawning over the MC. These supporting characters are in reality all the same character. They are dressed in different costumes to appeal to different fetishes in the promo material. (For example, you have the big tits vanilla option, the jailbait, the trap, the reverse trap, and even some beefcake for the ladies in the audience.) Again, I'm not turning my nose up at you. When I say there's nothing else to their characters, there is *nothing else* to their character. Not even being afraid of lightening, or being bad at cooking. Overlord's story doesn't make sense. I'd go as far as to say Overlord doesn't have a story. After being transported to another world, the main character spends the season undercover to quietly scout information about his new surroundings. And yet he conspicuously obliterates every legendary enemy he finds in his path to "spread his name" while undercover. So is he trying to be stealthy, or is he trying to be ostentatious? I don't know. The writer doesn't know. But the plot kills some NPCs to remind you the show is supposed to be edgy. As for its setting, Overlord doesn't have one. I have no sense of the lore or politics of this universe. Overlord's world is less developed than the most by-the-numbers fantasy setting I've experienced in any medium. So, here's your tally. Overlord has no characters. Overlord has no story. Overlord has no setting. This show is garbage. If you're looking for an evil protagonist isekai, *Saga of Tanya the Evil* is infinitely more worth your time.
PixelB
06/17/2019, 01:24 AM
When I first started reading/watching this series in the summer of 2015, I had already consumed a lot of media, in the form of anime, webmanga, and just a little bit of webnovel and visual novels. And I enjoyed (I still do) "genius protagonists" in the series I have watched that make smart decisions, think rationally, and do the best thing that fits the situation. Examples are things like KR webnovel Reincarnator, Emperor of Solo Play, warlock of the Magus World, Death Note, Kaiji, etc etc. Basically, a smart MC that is able to make the perfect action in response to a situation no matterwhat has occurred to them.I aspired to be like those smart MCs. I figured that I would also act like those MCs if I was caught in a similar situation. If I was reincarnated into a different world, there is no way that I would fare poorly, and die as a mere common peasant. Rather, I would slowly level up my power just like those MCs would have.However, reality would be different, and Overlord expresses that beautifully. Compared to those genius protagonists, I am unable to match. I am no genius, I wouldn't be able to keep calm during a dangerous situation like those MCs would, I do not have the prose, fineness, nor the intellect to scheme as well as any of those smart MCs would have. In reality, if I were transported to another world, I would panic. I would be under distress. I would not know what to do. Rather than thinking about what I should do next, I would wonder how I got there and express disbelief. I wouldn't be able to rein my emotions in, nor would I have any sort of plan going forward. Muruyama Kugane expresses what a person would actually do in a situation like you see all the time in reincarnation novels in the form of Suzuki Satoru. Just like me, Suzuki Satoru is a normal man, and he does what a lot of other normal people would have done. He acted flustered. He acted foolishly, He couldn't rein in his emotions without the help of his species characteristic, and even then, he was unable to rein in his libido. Satoru didn't have a plan either. Satoru is just like one of us. He represents all of us, on what we would probably be doing if we were transported to another world like he was. No master plan, No massive intellect, and no calm and collected mindset. Rather, a panicked mess of a person that eventually fumbles his way around in the world through time, and even then, that fumbling around was only achieved due to the massive advantage given to him. While I don't like writing reviews often, I have to give a mention to my #1 novel of all time since 2015. While I could go rambling on for a many more pages, this is the innermost core of why I like this series.
LilGreasyKid
12/24/2015, 03:19 AM
How does this happen? How can a series with so much potential just roll over and die, failing to achieve even the basic level of its premise? Welcome to Overlord, the master at poor writing, completely soulless characters , gratuitous CG and lacking sound. Where does Overlord fail? Does it have any redeeming qualities? Let's find out! Story: Overlord sells itself as a story about a evil mastermind trying to cement his legacy. The lead character, Momonga, is a computer-gamer turned trapped dictator who wants to "learn" about the world around him and how its different from the game he used to know. The story is made upof small little arcs that have little to do with each other and feel more like side quests than anything. However, unlike other episodic series, Overlord shows you none of the culture of the world, none of its vivacity, and instead gives you a tour of a hollow, pre-made shell of a fantasy world. Along the way, viewers get complementary exposition dumps, random game terms and long strings of dialogue that succeed at only taking up precious air-time, all free of charge! There is no meaningful conclusion, no real progress in the story. Furthermore, due to the sheer difference of power between Momonga's team and their foes, there isn't even any tension in the battle scenes. They (Momonga's band and their foes) just whip magic/skills at each other until one side gives up in the face of the undead might of Momonga's team. What the show does succeed at (barely) is portraying a feeling a loneliness within Momonga. Being trapped in a game all by one's self should be a harrowing experience and the very few moments I believe Overlord got it right was when I saw the cracks in Momonga's ice-cold exterior and saw the human underneath...of course, the show never does anything meaningful with that and that possible character development is just conveniently forgotten. Art: CG has always had a bad rap when it comes to anime and Overlord is a prime example of CG done...well, decently. The CG skeleton guards and dragons were not actually that bad, but the CG soldiers, on the other hand, are jarring against the drawn landscapes, which, by the way, don't show much variety. Iconic set pieces are extinct in the world of Overlord. Prepare for forests, forests and more forests. Oh wait, you like graveyards? We got you covered! How about castles? Castles IN your Graveyards? Graveyards IN your Castles? Whew. So many choices! But seriously, the only aesthetically good part of the series are the character designs for Albedo and Momonga. Everything else is...well, empty. The animation is sub-par to downright ugly at times, even. Sound: OP? Unremarkable. ED? Meh. BGM? What BGM? I literally took no notice of it. I actually tried to listen for it a few times near the end, but between all the dialogue, it got kind of drowned out. The voice acting was okay, but with subs, that shouldn't be a problem in the first place. The only character who I thought had an exceptional VA was Clementine, a minor villain. Character: There is a massive cast although the majority of Momonga's grunts hardly get screen time for the important bits. Oh, you get Albedo. Tons of Albedo. Her and her obsession with the big bony MC himself...and that's all you really get from her. Oh, and everyone on his team hates humans. Why? Because they were made that way. Not exactly a compelling reason, is it? What do you really know about Nabe? Cocytous? Shaltear? Probably not much more other than their first, generic impressions, huh? Behind the clunky, forced interactions of the various characters, unexplained backstories and other holes is one of the most empty cast of characters you'll ever see in an anime. You know they're loyal? And? What are their roles? What do they do? Some of them are on screen enough that one would think they'd development some how, but nope. It's like they're on a loop. "I love you, Momonga-sama!" "I hate humans!" "Momonga-sama is so powerful!" Seriously? Is that ALL they can say? They can't even pull of their generic roles with finesse. The filler girls from SAO had more characterization than that. Enjoyment: Looking back, other than for a decent first episode, it's hard to recommend this series to anyone. The characters are completely hollow, the story is an clustered mess of generic spirit, the art and sound are barely decent and the premise itself does not come to fruition. Inferno Cop was one thing, but Jesus Christ, how did this show even get the green light for production? That's about 6 hours of my life I will never get back. I cannot, in good confidence, give this anime anything higher than a 3/10. It is a borderline failure as both an original work and even as a clone of SAO, which looks like ambrosia compared to this seething pile of sewage. Thank goodness it at least looks and sounds passable or I'd give it a 2. All I can say is this: If you're looking for an evil mastermind, look no further than the staff behind this show. They're out to waste precious minutes of your life, one pathetic episode at time.
BanjoTheBear
12/22/2015, 08:42 PM
(This has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) Hanging out in the front of Ironforge. Karazhan runs. The snowy hills of Northrend. World of Warcraft is not just a game, it is its own, complete world. Beasts to slay, treasure to find, and quests to complete. Dailies for gold. Instances for gear. Fishing for fun. There is so much to do that it more or less became my second life for a sizeable chunk of my teenage years. After going to school, chatting with friends, and taking care of what needed to be done in the real world, I would hop onto the computerand become someone that was not technically me but might as well have been. That sounds bonkers, but it is the truth. The amount of time, the resources, and the effort I sunk into that game were enough to make my avatar a natural extension of myself. Of course, I did not don armor, I did not ride an undead horse, and I did not have a gray beard, but I shaped my character into the kind of person I saw myself to be. I was always big on questing. I loved going to the different countries like Stranglethorn Vale and Tanaris, searching high and low for those distinctive yellow exclamation marks above Hemet Nesingwary or the Goblins of the desert. I will never forget, for as long as I live, how I was one of the earliest players (within the first year or so) to earn the “Insane in the Membrane” achievement before it was nerfed. The requirements were being near or at “Exalted” reputation for some of the most obscure factions. Ones like Darkmoon Faire, which needed thousands of gold and cards, and Ravenholdt, which needed me to make a brand new “Rogue” class character specifically tooled to steal over 2000 junkboxes from enemies. Getting the “Feat of Strength” took months, but it was worth it. The tedious work earned me a sweet new title of “the Insane” next to my character’s name. But that was not what ultimately made the game worthwhile. What made World of Warcraft worthwhile were the people around me. The guild I was a part of, my brother going with me to get some levels, and the various friends I made throughout my time in the Eastern Kingdoms is something that I will always hold dear. The game is way too addictive and way too much of a time-sink. And the game was not always smiles. But the memories I have of the game and the people I played alongside are and will only ever be positive. Overlord gets at the same notion, how the past, while no longer with us, never truly leaves. However, unlike my time in World of Warcraft, Overlord is not all positivity. STORY Unfortunately for Overlord, its narrative is somewhat sloppy in its execution. Plot lines are unresolved, entire areas are ignored, and its overall purpose is lacking. Often relying on the same trope – that Ainz Ooal Gown is impossibly strong – the show stops itself from doing much of anything else, severely hampering the experience. The anime has essentially three arcs: the opening arc, the undead arc, and the Shalltear arc. The beginning arc is mostly setup. Characters are introduced, parts of the world are explained, and Ainz Ooal Gown’s absolutely overpowered self is made known. Nothing wrong exists at this point since the anime is simply gearing itself for the rest of the season. The problems start with the second arc. First, the anime moves away from the literal home base of Nazarick. This would be fine but the show introduces and works with another new character (Nabel) rather than using the already-established and yet-to-be used rest of the cast like Albedo, Cocytus, and Demiurge. Second, the anime then continues to introduce more people, like a bunch of random adventurers and the protector of the forest, that further detract from what the anime provided earlier. Third, and worse still, these adventurers are killed and the protector of the forest is hardly referenced again, meaning their inclusion means little in the grand scheme of things. Fourth and furthermore, simple tactics like explaining more of the world – how the magic works, the various factions, and so on – and not fully showing specific moments – the assassin attacking the adventurers, what happened immediately after saving the alchemist’s grandson, and so on – create holes in the narrative that stop the narrative from staying afloat. The point of this arc is to extend Ainz Ooal Gown’s reputation further, in order to attract attention and gain fame. But because the following, final arc does not build off of what happened in the second arc, the plot comes off as directionless. Having this problem already occur between the first and the second, and then having it occur again between the second and the third, disjoints the narrative, thereby ruining the tale Overlord is telling. This third arc, featuring Shalltear’s “betrayal,” does not stop Overlord’s downward trend. Disregarding the shift from spreading reputation to saving Shalltear, the plot introduces another new character (that is used only once), the background forces-at-work are very briefly alluded to (while still making next to no sense), and the outcome effectively returned everything to how it was before the debacle (meaning it was a diversion that minimally affected the narrative). All the while, the rest of the cast is still underutilized, the world is still unmapped, and the previous plot points – like the original general he helped and the need for more reputation – are forgotten. The cause for these dilemmas: Ainz Ooal Gown. More specifically, it is his elite status that causes the narrative to tumble over itself. Interestingly, the point of the show is the overpowered-ness. Watching him wreck a group’s trump card with just his finger. Seeing him literally hug a woman until her insides explode. Witnessing him going through legendary weapon after legendary weapon. The anime always has to showcase him in his ridiculously unfair state but doing so takes away from the rest of the anime. He is super-strong, so the rest of the cast is unneeded and thus is not shown. He is super-smart, so going into detail about the world and the magic is pointless for him. He is super-awesome, so diverting attention to other plot lines that do not involve his esteemed abilities would ruin the magic. Paradoxically, the anime’s biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. Weakness continues in Overlord’s shoddy attempt at creating a theme. Throughout the season, there are distinct moments of reminiscing. Ainz Ooal Gown has recollections of the past, he feels longing when trekking with the random group of adventurers, and near the end he clearly wishes for his old comrades to still be with him now. The show is trying to get at the notion that nothing lasts forever. Life eventually moves forward, people come and go, no matter how much one wants it otherwise. The problem, though, is that he is still there, he is still lasting. He is performing the same role – leader of a guild – as he has always done. In essence, he wants the old days back. But when so little is given about his past escapades let alone his past comrades, this theme, of cherishing what once was yet looking forward at what is to come, loses value. A potential argument in favor of this theme is that foregoing the past is difficult. It is not easy letting go when those days gone by were so memorable. However the anime never makes this type of thinking clear. For example, there is a what-should-be tender moment where his lackeys invite him to berate Shalltear, the purpose being to get him standing and moving forward. But the reversal of authority in that scene – where his followers, especially Albedo, “help” him – is too contrasting with the entire rest of the season’s “Ainz Ooal Gown is the greatest” motif. Another example is his reaction to the death of the random adventurers. Initially he is more annoyed than caring since they were tools to further his reputation. But his offhand comment calling himself a “hypocrite” makes it confusing since forward movement is seemingly made but then immediately taken back. Beyond these moments, and perhaps more of a problem, is that the show rarely explores this theme to begin with. Again, since the anime is determined to push the overarching, overpowered idea to the front, it never places aside adequate time to talk about or investigate this theme. Thus, what is given are these minor moments that, when compared to the rest of the anime, make up a very small and therefore inconsequential portion. What does make up the “rest of the anime”? Overlord includes a nice amount of action sequences in the form of dragon battles, zombie knights, and vampire warriors. Other scenes focus on “ecchi” and comedy, sometimes both. For instance, Albedo straddling a body pillow that has Ainz Ooal Gowns’ face on it is both sexy and hilarious. These sequences would seem to get repetitive considering that these and the previously investigated events surrounding them have little substance. But because the outcome is already known – that Ainz Ooal Gown will decimate whosoever stands before him or will effortlessly command them – that the anime gains an alluring quality. The anime becomes less about seeing where it ends up and more about how it gets there. The awe of the passersby, the utter annihilation of foes, and the complete servitude of minions is something that is easy to revel in, and since the show achieves these effects through its regular happenings, the anime likewise engrosses the audience on a regular basis. Granted, Overlord is not a complete tale, meaning it is unfair for the audience to expect the narrative to be wholly fulfilling. Still, the anime’s need to lean on the same, overpowered trope hurts where it should help. ANIMATION Overlord’s art is similarly lacking in appeal. This is mostly due to the bland backgrounds that the show incorporates for most of its scenes. To be fair, the show is dark in tone so the artistic direction likewise follows this pattern. Gloomy woods, haunting caverns, and gothic interiors are common but quickly become repetitive. Especially so when the lighting is constantly dreary, making each location the same as the next. The anime can switch it up now and again – a sandy plain, a weathered road, a view from way up high, and so on – but these moments are few and far between. However, the anime can pick up its artistic direction when it chooses. Camera shots, like a decapitated head seeing its own body as it floats through the air or viewing the world through Shalltear’s eyes while she is in her ravenous state demonstrate the show’s ability for flair. Other moments, like a black hole evaporating an archangel or Nabel squaring off against some skeletal dragons push the boundaries of the anime’s lighting, action, and detail. Furthermore, the CG elements – like the death knight near the beginning and the ogres near the middle – are not overly obtrusive in their presentation, meaning they do not distract the audience when they do appear on-screen, keeping attention on the aforementioned pizzazz. Pizzazz of the fight choreography, however, is often subpar. The reason, per usual, is the overpowered nature of the characters involved. Nearly everything takes one hit. To put it differently, these are not so much skirmishes as they are one-sided romps. Little time for extensive or prolonged fights is had, and the only one that can call itself thus – the fight between Ainz Ooal Gown and Shalltear – is mostly magical, meaning the two of them stand around for roughly the majority of the duel. Actual animation remains about average throughout the experience. Ainz Ooal Gown in particular barely moves. He is a skeleton, so his skull, jaw, and other body parts rarely jostle. When he does move, his actions are often choppy, lessening his overall impact. Once again, there are exceptions: many of the fights feature explosions, ruffling robes, and sword dances that elevate the animation considerably. Yet these, like the art, are not frequent, with the majority of the show resting rather than moving. Facial expressions sporadically increase in quality from time to time, with incredulity, scorn, and anger plastered across faces for the given situation. However hair swaying and other minute details are generally missing, a trade-off for the higher detail placed on the characters and their designs. This is not an understatement: the character designs are quite detailed. Ainz Ooal Gown (he is always the odd-man-out) sees the most, his black, yellow, and purple robe, his myriad of rings, and his immaculate, golden wizard’s staff portray him as the king that he is. The contours on his skull, as well as his black-and-red eyes, maintain his demonic disposition. The rest of the cast, while not as detailed, are still very imaginative. Albedo’s normal attire – a pure white dress, devil horns, and black angel wings on the small of her back – contrasts with her dark brown and concealing battle armor. Cocytus’s teal carapace matches his bug-like form. And Shalltear’s gothic gown, umbrella, and ribbons, each mired in purple and red, highlight her pale skin well. Unfortunately, while the designs are elaborate, they do not have much value in terms of symbolism or representation. In other words, they are more for show rather than for expounding further on the characters. CHARACTERS Arguably Overlord’s weakest aspect are the characters that inhabit Nazarick and the surrounding area. It is very difficult to talk about Overlord’s characters. They all worship Ainz Ooal Gown. They all hate humans. They all hold strength of immeasurable magnitude. Therefore, at a surface level, they are identical to one another. Digging deeper, the cast does have character traits that separate them. Albedo would literally do anything for her master, her love for him unable to be matched by anyone ever. Cocytus has dreams of being an “Uncle.” Shalltear is a vampire who pads her bra to give her a larger bust. This list of characterizations goes on. The problem, though, is that many of characters go unused. Yes, Albedo’s unfathomable love for Ainz Ooal Gown reoccurs indefinitely, as do some of the other known traits of the servants. But since the anime spends so much time away from the main group, the consequence is that nothing else is known about them. A huge issue, to say the least, because the characters turn from being people into being slots to fill. This speaks nothing of the development of the Albedo and the rest which, understandably, is nonexistent. Understandable since, if the bare minimum of characterizations were provided, then development of any kind will not occur. Devil’s advocates would argue that, as it was with the story, the incompleteness of the overall tale obviously infers that the cast would not undergo extensive development at this point. However, unlike the story, where attempts at constructing a coherent adventure are apparent, the anime never does the same for its characters. Less important side characters exist, such as Enri (the village girl), Ninya (the girl posing as a boy in the random adventurers’ group), and Clementine (the assassin who is hugged to death). But, once again, very little is given or known about them outside of the offhand comments they or those around them make. Enri has a younger sister and is loved by Nfirea, and that is it. Ninya seems to have lost her older sister and fights to protect the land, and that is it. Clementine is demented and cocky, and that is it. Hyperboles, but so little is given outside of these facts and so little time is spent on these characters that these types of generalizations are warranted. Here, the argument is that these people are so inconsequential that they are practically pointless compared not just to the rest of the cast but to the entire series. This is true; Enri’s romance, Ninya’s backstory, and Clementine’s psychotic behavior are utilized at most once or twice, constituting “enough” for each person relative to their importance. But because they are unimportant, the purpose of their characters has no meaning besides adding superficial feelings that barely affect the viewer. A case for Ninya and her group is possible, how they mirrored (to an extent) Ainz Ooal Gown’s own, original friends, but this quickly crumbles since, due to their inconsequential status, they are neither referenced after their arc concludes nor are they used to further him or any of the other characters. So it stands to reason that Ainz Ooal Gown, the almighty ruler and destroyer of men, requires adequate attention since everyone else around him received none. This is the final nail in the figurative coffin: he as well is a markedly weak character. Part of the problem stems from the recurring overpowered motif; Ainz Ooal Gown is so perfect that there is nothing to fix. His character has no flaws which, from a literary standpoint, is automatically an issue since without conflict he is unable to grow or change throughout the season. Taking into account that this is the whole point of his character – simply being overpowered at everything, from fighting to strategizing – the anime does try to convey the change in his personality. Before, as a human playing a video game, killing people was not real, meaning he was not attached mentally to his actions. After, having become a skeletal warlord of another world, this disconnect is still present but has manifested as a part of his personality rather than him consciously making the decision to not care. So, in the very beginning, he changes, but at no point afterward do the events affect him. He does have a split persona, one for his internal monologues and one for his external portrayal. But the former exists purely to understand what he is truly thinking and the latter is how he had always acted, meaning neither side sees noteworthy development, thereby stagnating his character from start to finish. Still, no matter if it is Ainz Ooal Gown’s inner or outer self, the remembrance of the past is a theme that persists. Despite having complete loyalty of everyone, despite having the capability of crushing anything in his path, he still feels alone, wanting the past to come back in one form or another. His servants are on the opposite end. They know of their personal creators and they know where they came from, but they do not dwell on the past. Instead, they devote themselves to Ainz Ooal Gown. For them, what happened before should be celebrated, but still they understand that then is not now. This is interesting because of the dichotomy: the master is worried about this trivial matter while his servants are not. But once again, Ainz Ooal Gown and the rest of the cast is not expounded on enough to support this theme between the characters. Albedo and the others are rarely shown interacting with their previous masters, Shalltear having just about the only scene where this happens. As for the ultimate ruler, he likewise is barely shown interacting with this old buddies, making it hard to empathize with his feelings. The combined result is a broken link within the dichotomy, fragmenting the theme instead of unifying it. Worst still, Albedo and the others are the result of code. Therefore, their loyalty and outlook is not by choice but by circumstance, meaning their relationships are fake which in turn reduces their thematic presence. So while the cast of Nazarick might be unbelievably strong in a physical sense, they are unbelievably weak in a writing sense. SOUND Overlord’s strongest area is easily the sound it uses throughout the season. The opening theme is hard rock, but takes on a semi-spooky vibe to coincide with Ainz Ooal Gown and the tone of the anime. The rising and falling lyrics, the catchy beat, and the rapid drums work together to create an arrangement that is simply cool. The random English bits are somewhat jarring and do not mesh all too well with the song, but the piece hypes the viewer for the inevitable awesomeness that awaits. Awesomeness such as the ending theme, which is downright wonderful. The ED, like the OP, adopts a rock or metal vibe to make the piece more aligned with the gritty and cool aura that the show gives off. However the ED, unlike the OP, has English bits whose emotion and meaning fit the Albedo-centric track well. The breathing part in the middle is weird but oddly satisfying, since it stops the song and builds it up for the final half of the piece. Alongside the strong vocalist, the background whispering, and the catchy beat, the track comes together, being filled with nothing short of “love and passion.” While the rest of the soundtrack is not filled with as much love, it still manages to encompass the same feeling of MMORPGs and overpowered-ness that the anime thrives on. A fluty tune for the downtimes that relaxes both body and mind like a famous inn. Choirs and hard drums fill other tracks, maximizing the splendor of Ainz Ooal Gown and his battle prowess. Violins and pianos to follow the gothic feelings. Many of the tracks are steeped in gloomy sounds that heighten the dark mood while also keeping the events cloaked in a veil of mystery that improves the darkness further. Despite how atmospheric the pieces tend to be, none are particularly memorable, serving as appropriate background music and not much more. Voice acting, however, is superb, with the majority of the cast providing stellar performances. Yumi Hara as Albedo uses a sultry voice that amplifies Albedo’s sexiness and thus her attractiveness. Satoshi Hino as Ainz Ooal Gown uses two voices, the first higher pitched and younger to match his normal self and the second lower pitched and older to match his overlord self, demonstrating his large vocal range. And a special shout-out is deserved for Aoi Yuuki as Clementine for nailing the psychotic inflection and way of speaking, making Clementine creepier in the process. Altogether, the voice actors and actresses performing so well immerses the audience, a much-needed outcome given the immersive undertones of the anime itself. ENJOYMENT While I find the story and the characters to be severely lacking in meaningfulness, there is one reason why I like this one so much: Albedo. She is amazing. Her sacrificial servitude, her sexual spark, and her sensual self won me over immediately. Watching her get extremely mad whenever Shalltear tried to do anything with Ainz Ooal Gown, hearing her go on and on about the clothes she made (up to five years old) for their future child together, and seeing her almost completely lose it after the enemy merely scratched her beloved was hilarious, ridiculous, and endearing. Other moments, like her screaming at the top of her lungs for receiving a ring from Ainz Ooal Gown and her “so freaking cool” line followed by her goofy grin made me love her that much more. She may not be a well-written character in the slightest, but I do not care. She makes me swoon regardless. The rest of the cast was also fun. Cocytus’s singular moment where he gets lost in his Uncle fantasy, Nabel constantly calling the humans some variation of insect, and Shalltear believing that Ainz Ooal Gown was going to have his way with her in the middle of the throne room were all scenes that made me smile and laugh. I was therefore disappointed that they – and Albedo, of course – were not around as much as they could (and should) have been. They are an interesting bunch of characters, so not including them as much as possible made the moments when they were not nearby less exciting. The rest of the events are actually entertaining despite them not having much substance whatsoever. It was a lot of fun watching the enemy cower in fear, unable to grasp how powerful Ainz Ooal Gown was. The death knight stabbing the captain guard over and over was gruesome but funny. Albedo deflecting the pebble back at the mage and literally exploding his head made me love Albedo even more. And Shalltear going berserk in her vampire form was chilling, gross, and crazy all at once. The anime definitely understands how to create scenes filled with entertainment, proving at the minimum that the show could do well when it wanted. Overlord has prevalent problems in both its narrative and especially its characters. The art and the animation also has issues, though they are not as glaring as the first two. Still, strong music and enjoyable scenarios stop this one from immediately being put up for auction at the Stormwind Auction House. SUMMARY Story: Bad, disjointed plot, individual arcs lack purpose, overarching theme is improperly explored, with the overpowered trope simultaneously harming and helping the narrative Animation: Fine, a mix of boring and interesting artistic decisions, subpar fight choreography, about average actual animation, and detailed yet meaningless character designs Characters: Terrible, the side cast is barely investigated, the minor characters are inconsequential, Ainz Ooal Gown stagnates very early, and the dichotomy between him and his servants has no foundation Sound: Good, good OP, great ED, okay OST, above average VA performances Enjoyment: Good, Albedo is amazing, the rest of the cast is fun though not around enough, and the overpowered action was really entertaining Final Score: 4/10
DunKis
12/08/2015, 12:26 PM
*This review contains no spoilers* Disclaimer: This is my first review and contains my opinion, which may be different then yours. Story: 9 Yes, this is another stuck in a game anime. But don't fret, as it takes a different path than other anime of the same scenario. I say this because instead of following a protagonist trying to escape the virtual world, we get an "antagonist" trying to take it over.Or is he? Hes just a desk worker stuck in a Lichs body. I'd rather not go into deep detail about it and end up spoiling this amazing story, so ill end this portion with theonly reason it scored a 9 is because some small portions were cut out from the Light Novel, and the story is left unfinished. Season 2??? **Quick Tip** If you're one of the 2 minutes and I quit watching people, I recommend waiting one full episode, you wont regret it. Art: 10 Now of course Madhouse did this, so outstanding art is to be expected, but much credit should also go to so-bin, the illustrator for the Light Novel, and a truly amazing artist. Madhouse did a great job of bringing his characters to life. Sound: 10 In this section, id just like to point out that both the Opening titled Clattonia and the Ending "L.L.L." are truly amazing, and on my iPod and throughout the whole season, i didn't skip either, which is quite rare. They both go along with the anime so well that its hard to believe they weren't made for the anime itself. The voice actors are also quite talented, and have been in many other anime besides Overlord. Character:8 This is the lowest scoring section because character development is rather hard to do for a 12 episode series, when the focus is on more than 4 people, and i have bias because I've read the LNs. Unfortunately, you dont get to see some characters expand past the original tropes, though, of course the MC is quite fleshed out and the other characters are quite fun as well. If you'd like to see more character depth, join my Overlord Season 2 Prayer Group, or pick up the light novel. Enjoyment:10 This would be a shoe in for anime of the year for me if One Punch Man wasn't currently airing. Overlord was the first anime I actually stayed up whilst constantly refreshing my page, to see if the new episode was uploaded. Its also the only anime which succeeded in making me read the light novels. Overall: 9 If your on the fence about watching this anime, I beg you to watch it, its truly amazing, and to miss out on it due to a slightly over done premise would be a true shame. If you have any specific questions about the anime, or have any advice for reviews, please message me, as it would be much appreciated.
DemonKingRavan
12/02/2015, 10:06 PM
Overlord is the kind of anime you begin watching with some reservations. "A popular MMORPG game traps its players inside and the players now have to play the game where the consequences are quite real". Sounds familiar? Well, that's exactly what happens in Overlord, however, the advantage with me is that I haven't seen shows like Sword Art Online, so while the plot was known to me the inherent flaws and stereotypes were not. The show quickly sets itself apart from its contemporaries by giving us a protagonist who plays the role of an antagonist and loves it. After a brief period of confusion, the easewith which Ainz/Momon takes charge of his servants and powers is refreshing to see. Every move he makes defines his character as a person who is a veteran of MMORPG games. And while he uses his tactics as he would in a game, he knows the consequences of his actions and accepts them without hesitation. The Art and Music of the show compliment each other brilliantly, and the characters are a good mix of perverse, lovable and obedient. If you've ever had a dream of ruling your own world, then this show will make an excellent guide.
Shildor
12/02/2015, 07:31 AM
Thoroughly enjoyed this series and long for a season 2. Series took me back to the old D&D days plus refreshed the excitement that series like SOA brought to us. It was great taking a ride with a bad ass that looked the part and had the skills and smarts one hopes for in a main character. Great Story line with allot of action and never dragged. Great Good- Bad guy with all the signs of an evil overlord that takes you off guard with the fact that he may be the most honorable and just overlord Yggdrasil could hope for.Highly recommend!
deal647
11/25/2015, 08:26 PM
[NO SPOILER REVIEW] Let me start this review by stating the reason I started watching Overlord; it had an 8.14 on MAL. I figured it must be pretty damn good, considering it was the second highest rated new anime of the Summer 2015 season. Wow was I wrong to assume that. Story: 3 - Poor So this anime starts off with a really generic crappy MMO story, nothing amazing about it, nothing that hooks the viewer. However, you can't always judge an anime by its first few episodes. Gurren Lagann had a pretty slow beginning; as did Rokka no Yuusha and numerousother shows, so it's nothing to be ashamed about. About 4 episodes in, I found myself thinking, "Oh Boy, I bet something cool's gonna happen and this show is gonna become amazing to overcome it's lackluster start!". But the story just never hooked me. Ever. Was there a story? It's been 10 minutes since I finished watching and already I'm beginning to wonder if there was any semblance of plot in that giant pile of garbage. But you know what? Story isn't everything. K-On!, WataMote, Gintama, all lack a straightforward and cohesive story, yet they are some of my favorite animes of all-time. Art: 1 - Pathetic So in terms of artistic design, it's probably the worst anime I've ever seen. I am taking into account that it's 2015, and this anime looks like a garbage-tier animation product from 2001. Seriously the original Yu-Gi-Oh looks nicer than this. The CGI is actually great 100% of the time, 10% of the time. So I guess it has that going for it, which is nice. Sound: 3 - Poor Was there an OST? I can't recall. I know the Opening was pretty good, and the Ending was so bad that I skipped it half the time. So all in all, sound is one of this anime's better aspects, because it makes itself scarce. Character: 4 - Decent I feel like if I had read the manga, the characters might have been okay. But I didn't. I watched this anime. You know how there are a plethora of extremely generic anime male leads with the same look and personality? Brown short-medium hair, with a plain looking face, and a very bland personality, with no real character at all? Well this anime tries to cover up its extremely generic male lead by putting him in this "cool" looking MMO Undead Lich skin. But it doesn't work. He's still generic. He's still uninteresting. The side characters all have okay aesthetic designs (besides Shalltear, who is just stupid amounts of cliche), but we don't get to know any of them on a personal level, so the design is mostly wasted. If you are interested in the really bad acting that pornstars do in the beginning of their videos (like pretending to be a pizza guy, a mailman, a nurse, an innocent virgin schoolgirl) then you will be pleased to know that 2 of the 3 "main" female side characters emulate this form of acting every time they're on the screen. Unfortunately, this kind of thing is not quite my cup of tea, so I'm only adding 5 points to this category's rating for it. In terms of character development, there is none. I'm trying incredibly hard to think of one example where a character is different from how they were when they were introduced; but there is no example. I'm reaching for stars that don't exist. Enjoyment: 2 - Dreadful I think watching this anime was the first time I seriously considered gouging my own eyeballs out. I might need some sort of third party confirmation on this; but was this show supposed to be funny? I felt like it was missing a laugh track. I didn't smile a single time during the course of the show, but I feel like it might have attempted to be funny a few times during each episode. Again if somebody could PM me to confirm my suspicions that'd be great; because I honestly couldn't tell. Overall: 3 - Poor I have years of MMO experience. I regularly watch shows of the same genre. I am a straight male. I am this show's target demographic. I feel like my words have to carry some amount of weight here. And so this is my final verdict: This show is a work of "Art"; if you consider "Art" smearing your own feces all over a wall and then furiously licking it up whilst listening to the the Barney Theme Song on loop for 5 to 6 hours.
Salokannel2
11/25/2015, 03:55 PM
The concept of this anime is familiar to most of you. A player gets stuck into video game (e.g. SAO, Log Horizon) where he/she is trying to find a way out. The very simple difference between Overlord and other doppelgängers is the approach. In overlord you get like the antagonistic (the main villain) kind of feeling. The second difference is that MC is already capable of doing almost anything and is clearly out of every single ones league. The way the story forwards is cool in its own way. The idea is probably nothing fresh or new but quite enjoyable. Story: 8 With Madhouse Studios as the producer you can'tcomplain about the art. Fight scenes & character designs are especially cool! What comes to the music, I didn't myself see it as the best (excluding the OP and ED) Art: 10 Sound: 8 The character design was absolutely brilliant. The MC is seen as a firm leader while inside he is just your typical gamer. Every other character was either prefectly fit into story or was otherwise funny Overall I enjoyed this anime throughout every episode always leaving me thrilled to see the next one. With a big cliffhanger left in the end I eagerly wait for possibly the next season? Character: 10 Enjoyment: 10 Overall: 10
Slawadia
11/16/2015, 06:14 PM
This is pretty much "D&D: The anime". Lots of humor. This is clearly a show that doesn't take itself seriously. For a show about impossibly strong beings, they are all cute and amusing in their own ways. Solid writing. The premise of the story itself interesting enough, but the execution was perfect. Situations will occur where philosophical what-if questions will be answered. Interesting characters. The show has a diverse cast of characters yet the viewer gets a solid understanding of each of them. This is quite the achievement given this show's short run time of 13 episodes. Good music. The opening song is great, the background music setsthe mood for every situation. Nothing here that I could find lacking. While the animation isn't spectacular, the art is very charming. If you're a fan of fantasy in general, then you will find this show enjoyable.
Mazelord
10/01/2015, 05:04 PM
After watching the final episode of Overlord, and taking some time to compile my thoughts on it, I hopefully have put together a coherent series of words to describe my thoughts. In case you don't already know, Overlord is about our oh-so-normal gaming fanatic who poured his life into the virtual reality game Yggdrasil, however, due to whatever reasons, after 12 years of service, is shutting down. The MC, Momonga, decided to stay with his guild headquarters, The Great Tomb of Nazarick, which his guild, composed of 41 members painstakingly created. Thought, over the years of the game, eventually all but 4 of the members quitbecause their real lives took precedence. Lonely, Momonga takes up the guild weapon, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, which was a huge guild undertaking to make, to the throne room. He sits on the throne, and waits to be kicked from the game when the server shuts down at midnight. Midnight rolls past, and he is still in the game. The non-player characters whom always had just the basic level of AI, spoke to him. After confirming, they were now flesh-and-blood living people. However, he isn't just a human character, actually... none of the characters in Nazarick are. Momonga, realizing his life in reality isn't really worth much, so he decides to stay... and conquer this world! Now to the review-ish bits. Animation: Madhouse be praised, the quality of the animation is fantastic. Each of the characters is well drawn, colored, and animated. The CG that was done was well integrated and not intrusive or ugly. When it comes to animation, Madhouse doesn't disappoint. 5/5 Sound/Music: The sound and music of Overlord is pretty damn good, the OP/ED are catchy, the ambient music and sound effects are synced, and nothing sounds out of place or weird. 5/5 Characters: Madhouse did very well with the first few episodes, giving the important time with the NPC's interacting with one another, easily getting across who they are and what they think of each other, and Momonga. I truly like the dynamic of the characters with Momonga, when he speaks, they shut up and give him undivided attention. Even the love-stricken Albedo obeys instantly, even if she doesn't like it. With a LN adaptation such as this, characters can't really get the development that you hope, but they can only pour so much into thirteen episodes. So on characters, 4/5 Story: As far as the story goes, a lot of worry was emphasized on being an 'SAO clone,' and I was kind of worried it would turn off a lot of people from the show. However, episode 3 rolled around and it took that assumption and threw it out a window. The story was well paced, up till i want to say the last 3 episodes. They skipped almost all of The Bloody Valkyrie, but I can forgive them because they did an excellent job in keeping the story tidy and smooth for anime-only watchers. But as a LN reader, I was pretty disappointed. If i look at it from a Anime only standpoint, 4/5 Overall: In my opinion, Overlord was excellent. Madhouse turned one of my favorite light novels into a damn good adaptation. The fights were epic, the dialogue was well written, and it felt like the book I had read. I have to say, this was my favorite of the season. I sincerely hope for season 2, as long as Madhouse does it. I feel like it stands on it's own and breaks a new path in the 'trapped in a game' genre. It is also truly worth reading the novels, as they are some of the best out there at the moment.
ap1001
10/01/2015, 09:11 AM
Otaku power fantasy #doesitreallymatter - overlord Overlord is the anime that was adapted from a LN which is adapted from a WN (web novel), and frankly it suffers from almost all of the problem of a WN or LN power fantasy. So your enjoyment lies entirely on whether you are the type to like a PF or the type that hates it. And I hate PF from the bottom of my heart, so this review would mostly focus on how bad a PF is. A bit of background first, Japanese WN adapted LN usually have the problem of being a power fantasy, famous (or infamous) examples includeSAO (though Kawahara said he would fix some of it) and Mahouka (which the author would throw a tantrum like a 5 year old every time someone says something remotely bad about his work). This trend originate from the harshness of Japanese society, due to the strict system and poor economy, so people wish to escape from the suppressive feeling of their daily life. Understandable, but it makes for poor entertainment for the rest of the globe who watch their works. Story - 3 First good point, the premise, a man becomes a skeleton overlord ruling over a lair of evil servants and try to take over the world. Man that premise seems so refreshing in a sea of mediocre works, it would be dark, exciting, awesome and etc. And then you get trolled... The premise is not a complete lie, but it is a lot boring than you imagined it to be. First thing that should tip you off this is a very bad PF is the fact none of the enemy poses a remote threat to Ainz and his OP servants, that right, NONE! It took the author, 4 to 5 books to introduce a character that can maybe beat one of his servants if his servant doesn't wear any armor and only throw super weak spells while this character suit up in full gear and unleashe her full might. (Man I wonder who will win....) This is the beginning, later on we would get entire arcs just so at the end of it all we could, suck Ainz's non-existent penis and see how "awesome" he is (or his servants is, but they are all his yes-man so it's the same) This is like watching fully armed soldiers killing kindergarten students and telling you to cheer since it is an awesome fight. And it is as boring as it goes. It is conflict and competition that make a story, and since Ainz don't have a rival I guess there is no story. Character - 3 Meet Ainz and his group of yes-man that have little in life beyond kissing his ass. There is the pretty vampire (who is totally into him), the succubus (who is totally into him), the dragon butler, the demon butler, the cute mascot twin night elves, the big bug thing, a group of maids, and a bunch of other minions who are not important enough to get a lot of screen time. And all of them are loyal to the core (with little other purpose in life), which fixes the problem of possible betrayal that every other dark lord need to face. Yep life is sweet for Ainz beyond the fact he doesn't have a penis. Ainz for all of his amazing Powers and other things, is a beta pussy harem protagonist with the new "how to be a emotionless robot" input that came from Tatsuya and the MC of AZ (the egg guy). Two wrong doesn't make a right, and beyond his appearance, Ainz have little separating him from the pool of mediocre MCs. The guardians of the floor and by extension all the other servants serve only as his yes-man, with little personality beyond that. Every time they show some individuality, it goes "nope I should be a slave, fuck personality, lol". Ainz is this thing that is completely blocking their development, which is a shame, cause they would make much more entertaining MC than he would. And before you ask, NO, quirks are not personality, they are quirky, but still 2 or 1-dimensional. The other characters serve as jobbers and ants to die or gaze in awe at Ainz, with little influence on the plot if any at all. Art, sound- 9, 7 Don't really care but it is madhouse, so good job for them. Overall - 3 I did a review for the novel as well, and I hold my view from back then, it is a decent PF, I just hate PF and think it is cancer of novels. It's like a blowjob, empty pleasure, and that is all it ever will be.
ZackTyce
10/01/2015, 07:12 AM
I wrote this review after watching the episode 13 and also finished reading all the volumes of overlord that had been released so far, which is till volume 9. So I have at least quite an understanding of the story so far. But I would not put any spoilers in the review and just general info that people can see from the anime's synopsis description or at most first episode. But before I write my review, there is this one glaring point of the anime's story setting that a lot of people seemed to be confused about lately that I have to point out. Manypeople tend to be confused that the main character has been stuck in the game world he is playing in but the truth is that it is Experimented and Proven many times that he is instead Transported into a new fantasy Reality world where Yggdrasil players either don't exist or uncommon to the point of being called legends that only exist hundred of years ago. The only thing he is "stuck" in is his skeleton game body when he was transported from his game virtual world to another fantasy reality world. Also another thing, he is not a kid or a teenager, but instead is a blue collar salesman. So after clearing that up, let's start my review of the anime. I advise people to rate my review fairly with open mindedness and after proper understanding of the anime and not base on personal reasons, rashness or eccentric personal bias which seems to be quite common lately... Story: 9 The anime's story followed the novel's story tightly so far, skipping only the unnecessary dialogues. Some people who lacked the attention span, patience or the interest in the story and wanted more actions and excitements immediately may find this anime's start to be boring. But people who actually wanted to enjoy the story's world and development would find that this anime's story is quite interesting, attention to details and descriptive with points of the story from different perspective. Many people who started reading and enjoyed the novel are there for the literature story in the first place. Sadly, the anime can't be too descriptive about the story But the producers did not sacrifice it to lower the story's quality, just to satisfy certain viewers. Which is a plus for an anime with good story and action. Some people may find it slow at times due the story development but the anime managed to at least squeezed in all the important plot points in the anime without skipping it, which might have otherwise caused confusions to the viewers if some info points was lacking and skipped just to make the anime faster. Which Madhouse actually learnt their lesson after being bashed by people about their rushed production on Mahou Sensou and Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. Also, a lot of the minor details in the anime's story was left out so it may not be as detailed as the novel. But, since the anime was made to advertise the novel in the first place, therefore if the people want more details about it, they have to read it from the novel. If the anime is just as detailed as the novel, that will defeat the purpose of making it in the first place. Art: 8 The art quality is very good, though as many people had said before that the novel's art may have been better but this is something left for people's personal taste and interests... But speaking it in general, the art is very detailed, beautiful and did not get ruined by censors for now, it may follow similar art styles to the manga at times. But all in all, it is something that is well done. Also, there won't be too much awkward fan service either given that the main protagonist is an undead skeleton. Sound/Music: 8 The opening song is epic, the background musics were fitting for many situations in the anime, especially the action scene musics that fits and adds to the mood and atmosphere greatly. The only thing I wished more of, was for producers to make better use of the ending credit song instead of focusing the good song on just Albedo... Character: 9 One of the main protagonist that you will never expect to see in anime till now. A skeleton as a main character with a blue collar working salesman's mentality behind it. The person is very logical, emotionless but interestingly funny at times, who does the most realistic and logical reactions and actions people should expect if they are transported into another world. Keeping up his act as an overlord outside but whining and shouting inside about tiring things and situations. He also never consider his powers to be overpowered since the his skills are known in games and always think that there is someone such as players stronger than him out there. The introductions of the many other side characters were also very unique and interesting too. They all have their own detailed designs, personalities, settings and developments. Sadly the only thing lacking in this anime and even the novel, is a strong enemy character that the main characters have to face and overcome... But it is actually fine, since story wise, the story is actually still interesting and mainly draws the viewers to be more interested on how the process the MC used took over the places or even the world, the perspective and reactions of different people in the story which you normally won't see in other stories at times, and also main point of the story that is expected of how the strong overlord crush the enemy in the end after the intended development for it along with the expectations and despair which all together makes it something even more interesting and refreshing to see too, just like picking the fruits after it is ripe for the taking. Also it seems there are people rating down the series due to the mc not having an usable underpart? Well, he can actually do it if he wants to and afterall, it's also better for the mc to think logically than thinking using his lower body like some other pervert mcs which are annoying. Besides, it seems pointless for some people to even point this out to talk down a good series. Enjoyment: 10 Well the anime may not be a master piece for some people. But the story's novel is a master piece literature that is the most descriptive, well developed, highly rated and one of the higher quality light novel out there that is highly encouraged by many people to read it to understand their world even more. That is the novel's purpose, as there are many people who enjoyed the novel are there for the literature story in the first place, so it is something that people would be expecting from the anime too but the anime would Not be as detailed to put some points in one episode. Just saying it. But here's the point, the anime is popular not because it is a master piece but because there are many other reasons for it. Firstly, unlike the typical hero fantasy animes that are a dime of dozen out there already with almost Similar and Familiar stories and settings. Of course an anime from a villain's perspective would perk people's interest than the typical power from friendship troupes, where you always would expect a certain people to survive in the end or just simply no one dying at all. With many things that are being quite common these days, this actually make this anime more unique and stands out. Secondly, in this world where pretty much everything was cliche, a different, darker virtual gaming world to another world story is actually more new and interesting to people comparing to the typical virtual game or reality to fantasy animes that are quite common out there like no game no life, log horizon, SAO, problem children, etc with similar familiar overlapping fantasy settings or even other different typical animes with a shiny hero or a dense innocent kind mcs, instead a setting different from the typical familiar ones would be fresher one to see. Thirdly, It is one of the animes that do not fill the screen with censors which is very unpopular these days and certainly some parts of the anime's story and action may be rated to be more exciting than some long going animes out there. (not my opinion though) Finally, if people Do want to immense themselves in settings, atmosphere, plots and details of the story other than just immediate mindless action animes that are dozens out there, they would definitely welcome this anime or even the novel. Given how much of a potential this anime's story have, even till the latest volume I had read so far. I actually personally think that the pacing of the anime is normal or even quite fast looking at the anime's situation itself. Overall: 9 Overall, as long as the anime is kept to the story without changing from now on which the producers are still doing without rushing or skipping important parts, it will still easily continued to be rated 9 by me.
MarlyTT
09/30/2015, 11:07 PM
Obligatory spoiler warning because Overlord is a masterpiece that must be experienced first-hand. So apparently what Sword Art Online needed was for Kirito to be a skeleton wizard and Asuna to be Mahouka's Miyuki. The concept of this series is the same as what most people are already familiar with; A guy is playing a game, and then he's suddenly trapped in it because of some unexplained reason. Overlord does absolutely nothing original aside from having a few aesthetic and irrelevant differences from the rest, and people seem to consider it as a brilliant masterpiece because it apparently managed to appeal to those who wantedto play as the bad guy in a roleplaying forum. The original LN has some pretty nice art and cool character designs. That's about the only good thing about the series as a whole- Everything else, including the writing, ranges from mediocre to genuinely awful. Apparently when Madhouse realized that they were going to be animating One Punch Man, they saw Overlord's amazing budget saving potential- Most notably, zooming in the unmoving skeleton man's face so they don't have to animate anything at all while he's talking. The animation is really subpar, and there's a lot of terrible looking CGI in the show while it's not focusing on Momonga's face. It only truly picks up in quality at the very end of the series, and even then, it doesn't manage to be very impressive. The OST is very forgettable to the point that I might even consider it one of the worst in the shows I've seen- Basically take whatever Yasuharu Takanashi does and make it even more generic than some of his worst works. That about describes it. Visually and aurally, it's definitely below average. But surely despite all that mediocrity, the writing must be amazing. After all, the main character is a skeleton wizard and leads an army of Saturday morning cartoon villains. Despite the series attempting to present the protagonist and his group as evil, the best it does is having them kill completely unlikable characters that barely get more than a minute of screen time. That's some evil right there. Momonga is an incredibly boring character. Aside from providing exposition after exposition through his internal monologues from his experience with the MMO when describing what's happening on the screen, he really does not have much personality. His entire character motivation is to find out about the world he's trapped in, just like the viewers- Basically, it can be summed up that his motivation pretty much does not exist because it simply exists as a parallel to the plot itself. Furthermore, he's very powerful- Apparently overpowered MCs are acceptable as long as they're not designed like teenage boys, which makes it admitedly harder for neckbeards to relate to. But Momonga's degree of power exceeds even that- He's powerful to the point that nearly nothing poses a serious threat to him. This is a problem in storytelling because no conflict is ever relevant- Momonga's powerful enough to just solve it easily without any effort. One could say that it was the writer's intent to make Momonga seem powerful and impressive, but it doesn't even do that correctly. Power is relative, so when Momonga just one-shots random fodders that spend more time boasting about themselves than actually showing what they're capable of, it's not impressive in the slightest. A key example of this happens in the fourth episode, where the bad guy summons what is supposedly a super-powerful monster, and when Momonga kills it, it's supposed to look impressive. But the audience doesn't know what this monster was even capable of, outside of the bad guy boasting about its supposed strength, so it just feels completely flat. While he makes all these unnecessary convoluted plans about how he would spread his name around the world to catch the attention of those who might have been trapped in the world like him, he essentially just solves all his problems through his raw power. His problems are more self-imposed than anything due to his tendency to be incredibly paranoid due to his fear of something that “might” be more powerful than him. And to make it worse, he just outright contradicts himself near the end of the show by risking his life in an unnecessary one-on-one combat due to his ego. Brilliant. And to make it more brilliant, there really was no reason for the MMO backdrop at all- It's a completely unnecessary addition. The series could have worked just as well with Momonga being a genuine evil skeleton lich in a genuine fantasy world instead of “some guy trapped in a MMO world that became REAL.” All this does, essentially, is to give an excuse for some parts of poor storytelling to exist, such as exposition dumps from Momonga based on his experience with the MMO, and floor guardians being completely, unquestionably loyal to him for no reason. The series never references back to the real world, so it might as well not exist- And since the audience has no idea about the said MMO, it only emphasizes the point about this just being a pointless hook, and a justification for awful storytelling that relies on the backwards idea of “Tell, don't show.” All the floor guardians and Momonga's lackies are uninteresting and flat- They have some interesting designs, especially the maids, but all their personality is about as interesting as a rock. First few episodes make it clear that they absolutely adore Momonga, and they spend their entire screen time thinking and/or talking about how great Momonga is. One of the worst examples is Albedo, who spends every moment of her screen time doing just all that. She never does anything outside of praising Momonga, whether he's in the same scene as her or not- Comparing this to Mahouka, she's basically this series' equivalent of Miyuki if Miyuki did absolutely nothing outside of praising Tatsuya, which makes Albedo far, far more annoying. Remember how people absolutely despised Miyuki because she wouldn't shut up about her onii-sama? There's an exact same character here, if arguably worse, but Albedo gets a free pass because her target of affection looks like a skeleton wizard and has a fanservice design. There's also nothing interesting about floor guardians' interaction with one another, as all they talk about is how great Momonga is and how they should do their job and serve him. I guess the assumption the author made was that his target audience was so stupid that they needed to be reminded of the obvious every scene, every line. Another awful aspect of this series is the pacing- It's always painfully slow. A lot of people seem to defend slow pacing by claiming that it's character development, but there's no development. I'm not sure where people got the idea that character interaction equate to character development, but I guess just listening to pointless filler dialogue gives some people a false impression that something must be going on even though nothing is really going on. This is especially noticeable in the episodes where Momonga teams up with a lower class group of adventurers to complete a quest- The show spends several episodes attempting to develop this group of nobodies by giving them cardboard personalities, but in the end it's completely pointless. They're not likable because they haven't really done anything, their interaction with Momonga is pretty bland, and the series makes it clear that they're not important to begin with. And surprise, it turns out they were completely irrelevant. Amazing character development for characters that never mattered with pointless, drawn-out character interaction that did nothing for everyone in the cast. If all that wasn't enough, the series doesn't even tie itself up properly- The last part of the show involves one of Momonga's minions, who is just as powerful as he is, suddenly being brainwashed through the power of plot convenience because the author thought an actually threatening conflict was needed around this time in the series. Despite taking all the safety precautions with all his power previously, Momonga decides that he needs to make a point about how he's the leader, even though there was absolutely no need for him to do so when all the floor guardians already adore him unquestionably. Basically, Momonga is not very intelligent- Everything goes as he plans because of his raw power and having so many tools to work with- Not because he's actually skilled at strategizing. It also should be noted that this last part of the show was incredibly grating, because the brainwashed minion still sucks up to Momonga while still opposing him. Really, Overlord? So to summarize what happened in this entire cour: First quarter spends its time on just introductions on characters that have no personality whatsoever outside of all sucking up to Momonga in perfect unison. Second quarter is about Momonga effortlessly beating an army of literal nobodies that won't matter for the rest of the season. Third quarter is about Momonga effortlessly beating an army of zombies and two bad guys that won't matter for the rest of the season. And finally, the last quarter is about Momonga beating a brainwashed minion only because he handicapped himself even though it would've been just as effortless because he's a poorly written character. I can't even really claim that this is a pacing issue with the show itself- This is more like a pacing issue of the novels because the show covers fair amount of the novels. Remember that statement about how MMO setting is used as nothing more than an exposition tool? Yeah, it's apparently being used as a filler as well in the novels, explaining things that nobody gives a shit about to pad out the content. I really don't understand the praise for this series- Aside from simple aesthetic differences, this series has all the flaws that all generic light novels have. The MC is just yet another generic Stu protagonist that has next to no character motivation, the side characters are cardboard cutouts that constantly suck up to Momonga only because they were quite literally made to do so, and the storytelling is a complete mess where the MMO backdrop is only used as a convenient excuse to make way for exposition through Momonga's inner monologues. Instead of being from a perspective of a genuine evil villain, it's from a perspective of a generic MC that only looks like a villain with underlings who are about as laughably as evil as Akame ga Kill's antagonists. As an adaptation, it fails- And as for the series as a whole, it's just another generic fantasy novel with a gimmick element as a hook. There's literally nothing positive about the series, aside from the LN's art and character designs, which all just seem like a waste of talent and effort. Both of which are not present in the adaptation or the writer. The spin-off series, Ple Ple Pleiades is actually far more entertaining. Go watch that instead.
lawlmartz
09/30/2015, 10:33 PM
Even uttering the words "MMO anime" triggers a lot of violent and ambivalent thoughts among the community in 2015. After a slew of shows of dubious merit based on playing a video game, or being trapped inside of it- it's understandable that the community is a bit gunshy on the concept. Rest assured though, that anime with the Madhouse tag on it are in good hands, as it's more often than not a high quality and faithful production. Overlord is not your nouveau Sword Art Online. Overlord is not your No Game No Life, and it's most certainly not .Hack://Sign. Artwork and Animation: 8 Again, Madhouse producedanime are almost always synonymous with quality. Great consistency in character detail and motions, and some very pretty 3D spellcasting that looks a lot like it was pulled from Death Parade. The character designs are great, their movements fluid, and even a 3D CGI dragon can't put this one down in the dirt! Sound and Voice Acting: 7 Satoshi Hino, despite all of the roles I haven't seen him in, really kills the Momonga/Ainz character. A dual commanding and menacing, and 'normal' inner monologue voice sells the real live and in-game versions of Momonga well. He's backed up by a plethora of talent in Yumi Hara as Albedo, Sumire Uesaka portraying Shalltear, and Manami Numakura as the cold Narberal. On a musical note: typical fantasy game stylings, with a healthy mix of EDM, especially the groovy ending song. Nothing to complain about. Characters: 8 Momonga/Ainz is our main, in the real world a no life salaryman, but ingame, a maxed out, god-class skeletal mage with powers noobs can only dream of. A fearsome combatant in any arena, guild leader, and general badass, he's seen and done everything that the MMO Yggdrasil has to offer. Apprehensive about his new surroundings and the unknown dangers it may hold, Ainz takes a cautious approach to this new scape and acts logically when presented with dangers: buffing the crap out of himself and out thinking the goons after him. But he's not above trolling them a little. He's rather catlike- playing with his food before he eats it. Next up is the fan favorite Albedo: the NPC turned sentient, slavishly devoted guardian of Ainz. As the boss of the other NPCs of the guild castle "Nazarick", Albedo holds considerable sway over the other characters, including Ainz- partly because of her obsequious treatment of her unrequited lover (due to a mix-up in her NPC coding caused by Old Gregg). She's fiercely protective of him, and thinks any attention paid to him by a female character other than herself is a dire insult to her affections- to which she will fight to the death to protect. Secondly, we have the ice queen Pleiades Battle Maid Narberal. She serves as Ainz's escort while adventuring, and absolutely despises humans, seen by the undead who populate Nazarick as less than contemptible slime. Kind of like Zubat. Humans are a lot like Zubat to the denizens of Nazarick. Rounding out our important ladies is Shalltear Bloodfallen, an extremely pretentiously named pint sized vampress. As childish as her body indicates, Shalltear also has an inexplicable crush on Ainz's lifeless bony body, and is even more bloodthirsty than Albedo. She also happens to be the most capable fighter in the castle, and the most dangerous. Overlord does have quite a few characters introduced at the beginning, though it's quickly apparent which ones will actually matter throughout the course of the show. Most of them are either common fantasy monsters, strange fantasies of players, and other "lol, MMO" types. Story: 7 The story is broken up into several distinct arcs- the first among them introducing the character of Momonga/Ainz and his place in the new world, after being transported in from Yggdrasil. It starts on a small scope and scale, and gradually gets more complex and larger as Ainz gains new knowledge about the world, and his influence spreads throughout. As it progresses, what we see through Ainz's eyes thickens alongside the plot. This show isn't about trying to escape from a death game, or even about playing a game really. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and this is true for Overlord. If one was not directly told that Momonga was an MMO player and a near constant usage of gaming terms spewing forth from his lifeless lips, this would come off as just a fantasy series- which works in its favor. The "gameplay" is not important, as the story takes the forefront. After probably three episodes, I wasn't even thinking about a player playing the game, but rather what kind of adventures that this character would get into, and thankfully that's what Overlord delivered. There are quite a few laughs in here, some serious moments, and some well choreographed fights, all with that delicious Madhouse taste. Props to the original material though, for being engaging enough in humor, action, and story to keep it interesting. Enjoyment: 8 I liked that instead of lording his way around from day one that Ainz was rightfully cautious about exploring and testing his magic, compatriots, and abilities in the new world. He played as a real person would- instead of rushing into unknown circumstances and possible game ending death, he sits back and tests things on a small scale, questions others about how the world works, what's effective, and what's not, and then chooses to strategically act upon said information gathering. Unlike many Gary Stu style protagonists who start from nothing and work their way up without tension, we know from the very beginning that Ainz is a maxed out character with untold powers. The tension comes not from Ainz's lack of ability or fear for his life, but instead ignorance of the world at large, and treachery from his own ranks - beings that were, in Yggdrasil, powerful enough to bring down even max ranked players like himself. Overall: 8 My pick for anime of the season. This was by far the least disappointing show, and definitely exceeded expectations and proved me wrong of being "Madhouse's SAO". Recommend? If you like a gamer-feel for an anime without stupid plot contrivances and utter failures in writing as in other shows of the MMO persuasion, this is worth a try. As a pure power fantasy series, it's excellent.
Xaxeth
09/30/2015, 05:13 PM
Overlord ! the anime that defined my Tuesday as "EPIC" , this anime if the kind of anime that you can watch an episode several times without getting bored, i will be divining by review into sections avoiding spoilers so enjoy reading ! : 1- Story : 9/10 :- The story is something fresh and unique, it follows the same aspect of many other MMO animes out there, expect that it does it right, a pretty excellent story that sets you on the edge., it's not set inside an MMORPG world, instead, certain guild is transported into a different world that is a real world wherepeople get killed without respawning. 2- Art : 10/10 :- The art in overlord is top notch, death is uncensored, and everything is very highly detailed, well, this was made by MH after all, so all that is to be expected. 3- Sound : 10/10 :- The opening and the ending songs are amazing ! , voice acting is descent, especially shalltear, and all voice actors played their role very well considering that they voice acted a somewhat evil characters. 4- Characters : 10/10 ! :- Oh boy the characters , the members of nazarick , especially the guardians, are extremely high quality, each of the guardians feels as if they can hold their grounds well as a final boss in any other high quality anime, and what i mean by that is that their design, background, acting, and everything else is top quality, and aside from the main characters, the villains do make you hate them, and the side characters are also pretty descent. 5-Enjoyment : 10/10 :- I don't remember the last time i was so excited each week to watch a certain anime, it's that unique feeling when you get your self prepared with snacks, turn on your AC, and set on waiting for it to be released, overlord made me remember that feeling, when i played each episode i kept rewinding some parts of it over and over again because of how much enjoyment i was feeling , the battles, the conversations between Ainz and the others, and everything is amazing. Overall : 10/10 ! :- if you enjoy animes with badass main character and moments that always keeps you on the edge, then overlord is definitely worth checking out.
koustavbiswas
09/30/2015, 02:14 PM
Well I have finished watching all 13 episodes as well as i read the light novel too and if the story goes like that in the light novel of Overlord then the anime will no doubt become one of the top anime like onepiece , Fairy tail or the attack of the titans. Thought Overlord anime can be compared to the Anime Attack of the Titans but I liked Overlord more than the attack of the Titans. Btw there should be some improvement on the Graphics but the rest all seems Good to me and i am waiting for the second season which will consists onthe Topic of Attack on the LiZard's Mans Village.{A nice Spoiler here :)}
Nigami_Shin
09/30/2015, 01:03 AM
What do you get with Overlord? A good, enjoyable anime which is one of the seasons best (not really hard this time) also if you long for some good ol' overpowered main character fighting - this show is for you. The story centers around a guy (do we know his name?) who is the last remaining player (?) in the online game YGGDRASIL. His alter ego is Momonga, later Ainz Ooal Gown, a powerful undead Necromancer and also the guildmaster of the successful guild Great Tomb of Nazarick. The other members have already left the game long ago, but left him with their belongings andalso the personal created NPCs, which serve as guardians of the Tomb (guild hall). Like other people already wrote the story takes some time to get going, probably even another season, nevertheless is interesting. It starts like this: On the day the game is supposed to shut down, Momonga can't log off - he is trapped (how original). Now everything centers around managing the guild and helping NPCs while finding out why he's trapped and if there are others like him. Personally i think the characters are the shows weakest point owed to the 13-episode size. We have the player, the vampire gothic loli Shalltear (who the fuck designed her vampire form?!) and the submassiv loving demon girl Albedo - the rest isn't worth mentioning in fact apart from the battle maid Narberal you won't see much of them. Character development ? Nope. The show ends with this typical "pressed content preview", you know that one were they lay the rootes for a 2nd season without promising anything. If it doesn't get one i probably wouldn't watch it again - let's hope it sells well
Phlebas
09/29/2015, 09:34 PM
The most captivating 'stuck in a game' story I've seen so far, and I've seen quite a few. I simply can't find anything to fault in this anime. It's hard to believe they could keep such a breakneck pace through the whole series without it feeling rushed either. Pure bliss from the opening to the end of every episode (and what a great opening it is, by the way). The protagonist finds himself in a new world - and a new, undead body. He brings with himself his sensibilities from his own life, but finds he no longer actually feels the moral compulsions of his previous humanself, making his character an interesting mix of ruthless and mindful. There's a strong focus on exploring a new and hostile world, and finding the differences between the world's "systems" and what the protagonist is used to. On the other hand, he doesn't start off weak and have to level/power up to, but instead arrives as a supreme being defying the laws of the world. That's a unique angle I don't remember seeing before in this kind of series. The only thing that'll improve this series is a second season.
Stark700
09/29/2015, 07:28 AM
Anime adaptation revolving around RPG and MMORPG themed worlds can usually be a hit or miss. As a fan of MMORPG games in real life, there should be expectations with the world fiction such as the monsters, mechanics, story, setting, and overall execution. Where does that put Overlord? A bit overboard? Underwhelming? It’s not really like that but Overlord is the type of show that can be hard to judge. The series is based on a light novel that originated from a Japanese web novel. The original source has about 9 volumes although the adaptation by Madhouse studio consists of only a single cour. (13 episodes)That usually sets off a red flag with the story pacing. And it isn’t wrong either as the first two or so episodes carries a weak weight on itself. Taking place in the online world of Yggdrasil, we meet Momonga, a salary-man who apparently tried to log out at the very last minute. Things go a bit wary and he gets stuck in-game as an online avatar in the form of a ‘skeletal lich’. It also just happens so that the avatar is also a very powerful wizard. What’s more is that the NPC around him also exhibit their own personalities as if they are alive and have minds of their own. Essentially, the story marks its territory at the Tomb of Nazarick. The first two episodes establishes Momonga (or going by his in-game name Ainz Ooal Gown) as someone with immense powers. Now, I have a problem with overrated characters and Ainz is no exception to this. The show demonstrates his invulnerability to poison along with elite fighting skills, weapon set, and even an intellectual mind as the story progresses. However, the series also takes a few different turns. Monomga still display his human traits as he interacts with the NPCs he encounters. Apparently, they serve him like he is their God so it takes time for him to adapt. Momonga’s personality also becomes suppressed and he displays cunning behavior throughout the show. However, I would not say that he is an arrogant character as he is quite loyal, honest, and respects his servants. As the story progresses, there is a lack of feeling he develops towards death. (Given the irony that he himself is a skeleton, a personification of death) The show can be taken to light from different perspectives. From the perspective of a light novel reader and adaptation, it’s easy to say that the series focuses quite a bit on Momonga. Almost every episode highlights his role, personality, or overall character. The relationship building and associations he establishes with other characters are also played out in a variety of ways. This can be seen with the seductive Albedo who is utterly in love with him. Even among the Floor Guardians of Momonga’s guild, she is one of the most loyal and obsessive towards Momonga. It doesn’t help that the show also introduces rivals such as Shalltear who shows sexual tendencies. The show’s initial impressions sets off this red flag as it almost makes fun of itself. It also introduces other characters that each get a little bit of his or her screen time such as the Mare and Aura twins, butler Sebas, Cocytus, and intelligent demon Demiurge. In relation to Momonga, they all seemingly show an undying love and respect for him; just expressed definitely from one way or another. As a bit of character driven story, this is really a miss as the characters are unappealing from first impressions. Only Momonga can be legitimately interesting as we want to find out his potential as a guild master and person in real life. It makes us wonder what he is capable of with his new role and how these new changes can apply to his character. The remainder course of the show opens up realms of possibilities. Like most MMORPG worlds, Yggdrasil seems to be resourceful with landscapes, guilds, and monsters. The story mechanics of the series is explained such as weaponry, skills, and monsters that exhibit its world. It’s nothing original when compared to some other MMORPG style shows. In the past, series such as Sword Art Online and Log Horizon also has fantasy game mechanics; albeit in different fashion. For Overlord, it slowly does this while unraveling the main course of the story. There’s also some common monsters you’ll usually find in fantasy worlds such as goblins, undead beings, and even angels. What makes Overlord stands out a little bit more is that the show is more than just about conquering and survival. I think the key word is the title itself, “Overlord”. This is because Momonga/Ainz is actually trying to take over the world as the new ruler. So in a way, he wants to be an overlord despite his lack of inexperience. This is clearly shown throughout the show with his intentions. As both a character and story driven series, it will definitely takes patience and adapting to get used to the show. I actually recommend re-watching some scenes to get a better understanding of the series’ intentions at few cases. Examples such as Momonga’s lack of remorse towards death, Albedo’s distasteful view on humans, and other ideals makes the show appealing. It makes the NPCs feel real. In addition, the game mechanics such as spells, weaponry, magical items, and potion making really brings out its fantasy realm to life. There’s some good amount of action as well although fairly predictable with Momonga’s newfound skills. In addition, the story also makes it clear that he isn’t the only character that matters. Others he encounters and associates with such as the Sword of Darkness and his own battle maids get their additional spotlight too. The story also introduces antagonists with their own independent malevolent intentions. It shouldn’t take too long for viewers to realize that Overlord isn’t just Momonga’s personal show. But for all its creativity, the series suffers much from the over emphasis of Momonga. It focuses far too much on his character while adding the ridiculousness of his servants’ love for him. The first two episodes will likely be a make or break for most viewers as the feeling of an MMORPG game feels isolated. There’s also die-hard comedy with character rivalries, expressions, and overall tone of their generalization. I will say the show has a diverse cast of the characters though. And given the set up for the world, it introduces plenty of important ones to bring the best of Momonga. However, be very aware of the pacing of this story. The first half really tests the patience of the viewers despite foreshadowing some future events and making small promises of improvement. While it’s doing all of this, the comedy is also a hit or miss with its controversially timed scenarios. And lastly, it seems like the adaptation itself is more of a tease for viewers to “read the novels”. Madhouse puts their work into this show’s animation style. Taking place in such a fantasy world, the colors are focused on the characters rather than the background. Characters are diverse and decorated distinctively that makes them look unique. Momonga/Ainz is obviously the one that stands out the most with his skeletal avatar. When on the road, he takes the form of a dark warrior encased in an armor that makes him look like a badass hero. And that’s really an underrated word. Among Momonga’s followers, the term ‘badass’ can be applied to several characters with their designs such as Albedo, Shelltear, and the battle maid Nabe. There’s also the monsters introduced that is classic to most MMORPG worlds. Human characters are created to look human and most of them gives the impressions of themselves as adventurers. As a fantasy adventure, the show is also no stranger to action and violence. In essence, the action is decent in terms of fantasy standards. It’s the type of stuff you’ll see often in MMORPG related games. On the other hand, the violence creates a grimmer tone. There’s no censorship with the blood and even gore-like scenes during battle sequences. Fan service also exists with Albedo’s role in the story. But what really brings out their characters is the expressions. It has the experimental feel when you see how they react as NPCs while displaying human traits. If you want stereo music, then you got stereo music. Namely, the OP theme song is an intense beat to the ears while the ED theme always decorates itself with unorthodox imagery. The OST displays a familiar fantasy feel in terms of content. And for all that’s worth, character voice mannerism plays some key roles to make their characters into life. Momonga is actually one of the less noticeable characters for his voice because he sounds similarly like a human. On the other hand, the NPCs has a distinctive voice with their character roles. These voice diversity ranges from Albedo’s seductiveness, Sheltear’s aggressiveness, Sebas’ sophisticated personality, or Nabes’ loyalty. Clementine also gives off a presence of violence thanks to her sinister voice tone that persuades viewers to see how far she will go with her plans. Despite the large cast of characters, a strength of the show does come from the voices. In the end, Overlord is more or less a refreshingly adventurous tale about a dude stuck in a skeletal avatar. It has functioning creative imagination with a colorful cast of characters. But when it comes to story, Overlord smells like a show with money in mind. In other words, it seems like an advertisement to the main novel. Director Naoyuki Itou puts his experience with other fantasy series at work and is a bit of a mixed bag. The adaptation isn’t unique in either pacing or leaves strong first impressions. The fantasy world itself does generate a decent amount of interest when it comes to its core mechanics. But for a show like Overlord, it needed to hold together and makes sense. Sometimes it accomplishes that, other times it doesn’t. Overlord is a show that needs improvement so pick your poison.

Overlord オーバーロード

Mini Crossover Anime 'Isekai Quartet' Announced

North American Anime & Manga Releases for August

TV Anime 'Overlord' Receives Second Season

North American Anime & Manga Releases for November

'Overlord' Movie Announced

Summer 2015 Simulcast List [Update 9/1]

'Overlord' Blu-ray and DVD Volumes Bundle SD Character Anime

Summer 2015 Preview

News Briefs for Mar 16 - 22

News Briefs for Jan 19 - 25

Light Novel 'Overlord' Anime Project in Production

Overlord オーバーロード

Mini Crossover Anime 'Isekai Quartet' Announced

North American Anime & Manga Releases for August

TV Anime 'Overlord' Receives Second Season

North American Anime & Manga Releases for November

'Overlord' Movie Announced

Summer 2015 Simulcast List [Update 9/1]

'Overlord' Blu-ray and DVD Volumes Bundle SD Character Anime

Summer 2015 Preview

News Briefs for Mar 16 - 22

News Briefs for Jan 19 - 25

Light Novel 'Overlord' Anime Project in Production