a few things. Cocytus and Albedo have arcs that are less prominent in the anime than the novels. though I'd agree that Demiurge, Shaltear and others are pretty much static, though they get little things here and there, like Shaltear learning not to be an idiot. Also Ainz has a character arc that is downplayed in the anime, because he doesn't really want to do this either, but hes so high on a house of cards that he can't get down and its slowly eating him up inside. also the real world earth in Overlord is literally post eco apocalypse where even breathing will kill you in hours. there is more about it in the novels. just watching the anime is missing out because Overlord suffers from content cuts more than any isekai I have every enjoyed
And also many people forget that Ainz isn't dumb, he's just uneducated, because education in his Earth is very expensive, even more than American healthcare, so he couldn't afford more than 4 years in middle school.
@@madscientist14 I mean, I think she definitely had an arc, but her character is the same. she is just slightly more mature and slightly less stupid. in terms of outcomes, its less than Sebas's very complex struggle with his morality or Cocytus' learning to think and act for himself, even against orders
@@tekdaystar345 I'd argue Sebas hasn't changed a bit. He was always righteous/heroic and he always put Ainz's orders above his own interest. He was ready to kill the girl because he was ordered to. Those are things that already existed in his settings or psychology. Plus it wasn't complex at all. Somebody needed help and he helped them. For him it was never a hard decision to help her and at the same time it was never a hard decision to kill her to prove his loyalty to Nazarick. To him it wasn't complex, but to us the viewers it was, but it does give us insight into his psychology because of the choices he made that day. Shallchair on the other hand is still filled guilt despite being "punished". She even takes notes of Ainz's teachings and listens to Aura now. Even though they were fighting a lot in the beginning. Being vulnerable and pathetic brought them closer together, granted they were never gonna kill each other. Regardless there was animosity there. Like you said Shalltear is trying now, unlike in the beginning where she thought of herself infallible, becoming arrogant to the point that she did whatever she wanted, even underestimating Brain and letting fodder get away. Nowadays she has learned to be as cautious as Ainz or at least attempts to.
Yeah, Mad house really did Overlord dirty, both in the animation department and in the skipped content department. So yeah the anime really didn't show how amazing Overlord is. On your point that the NPC characters stay the same as the show goes on, well that's kinda the point as we see with shaltear, cocytus and Nabe the NPCs won't change unless they're met with outside influence, the fact that the characters stay the way they are and are still interesting speaks volumes about how much thought was put into each and every one of them. I'm actually kinda happy to see someone actually liking the human characters so much as that's the intent of the author I believe, most people would see the NPCs slaughter good human characters and say: wow such amazing characters I definitely love them more now because they killed everyone. It's very refreshing to see an opinion like yours. And yeah, the overlord world building is crazy, you can totally treat the LN as a D&D adventure module and your game will run smoothly as long as you have some idea as to how to input stats into enemies. Also my favorite anime is Konosuba
Wasn't it in season 2 where Momonga was checking if NPCs can even change or mature? He's constantly trying to make them grow and develop, so show itself is pointing out that these characters are static for a reason, and there are plans on changing that.
Firstly, Konosuba is a great anime. Great pick. The human characters are fantastic. For the NPCs, if they can change due to outside influences, then I think the show should put them into more situations where they can change more. That's what I found annoying. It's shown that they can but the anime never gives them the opportunity to go through significant growth.
It also makes sense that the NPC’s of Nazarick don’t change as much as the people because change typically comes from overcoming some struggle or challenge. The protagonists of this series very rarely encounter something that they can’t overcome physically or intellectually. Sebas gained visible depth because he had to wrestle with the morals he was programmed with.
There is that, but also that they are max level meaning in a game setting their wisdom and intelligence stats are more or less set in stone, then there is their setting "backstory" negative traits etc. Achieving any form of growth is a major achievement. Not yet having read the novel I don't know if the game setting allows growth trough "achievements" which is the final avenue of growth in many games. But by the way "experiments" are done, it seems to be a thing.
I might have had some issues when I first watched it, but it's world building wasn't one of them. This anime has always had some of the best worlduilding in anime in my opinion. Which makes sense as I believe the author was always the Dungeon master when he played dungeons and dragons with his friend. So he's used to creating this vast worlds.
@@liamnidas Yup, Kugane Maruyama, just like the MC in the story was the only one left after his friends lost interest or couldn't afford the time playing D&D. So he instead created Overlord drawing heavily from D&D elements.
Tbh i wouldn't say ainz in evil or that he actually sees humans beneath him. It the nps in nazaric that see humans as insects and ainz just over and over repeats he doesnt think that way in his head, he sees himself and all of nazarics inhabitants as the most important thing bc theyre what his beloved frinds has created. Ainz isnt evil ainz is selfish and void of emphaty for anything that stands in his way, he makes bonds with people while he is acting as an adventurer and takes revenge for them even tho he couldve easily killed the serial killer adventurer lady in one hit. Ainz and the nps grow, literally the whole lizardman arc was for ainz to test if the nps can grow by giving cocayitus tasks he wasnt programmed for and making him learn leadership.
Being forced into the body of a lich reduces his humanity. He's quite full of contradictions and hypocrisy, such as he is hellbent on the destruction of Humanity for basically no gain, or no reason. Yet he spares the Dwarves, Carne Village, and other similar places for his own gain. I like the complexity of him being a faulty villain.
@@kingwolf9447 I see that destruction of humanity stuff more as a fault of Maruyama's when writing, if you are referring to volume 14 onwards. I think it's pretty clear that after volume 13 he lost his spark, and love for the show, and seems more focused on trying to get the project to end then actually continue writing the things he had been building up for 13 volumes + the web novels already. Overlord is more or less my favourite fantasy book series, but I cannot even bring myself to keep reading at this rate
@@jakob3044 could be the case. But i'll wait to judge it till the last two volumes are finished. After all the story's reception depends a lot on how the ending sticks.
@@jakob3044to add more context to those reading this he lost the spark not because he's been writing for a long time but due to some contract. He was basically forced to finish the books at some schedule instead of finishing them at his own pace and because of this burnt him out. He has even stated that he planned for the novels to go for like 20-50 total novels (I forgot the actual numbers but it was somewhere around there) and that a lot of the stories seen in those novels are hinted at in his earlier books, but yea. In fact the entire fall of the Re-estize kingdom was planned to have ended differently and wouldn't have happened this early in the story, but since he was so burnt out he decided to introduce "Phillip" to brute force how it ends.
I think the biggest problem is just that the anime cuts a lot of things out in order to fit everything into 12 episodes. If you read the light novel after watching the anime, you'll see that there is a lot of details, information, and even whole entire events that just never makes it to the anime. It's a shame because Overlord has probably some of the best world building and lots of diplomatic/political themes I enjoy a lot.
@@Zikkar You are right. However, many adaptations are still able to incorporate these important elements in other ways. Albedo, for example, seems to have had a lot of her character removed in the anime. And Momonga's life before the game has been completely cut out meaning you don't understand how dire Earth is in the light novels.
Saying that the main characters in overlord are static is a fair statement (in the anime), they brushed over, Ains learning how to be a boss, Albedo's secret schemes behind Ains back, only hinting at it with one shot in 4 seasons of the nazarik flag crumpled on the floor in her room! Shaltear learning to do not be overconfident, Cocuitus is ok for the most part, Demiurge, Aura, Maare, all of them have arks, even the fucking penguin xD
@@Valentin_Teslov she created a team to find and eliminate any supreme being/players in case anyone came to the new world to prevent them from interacting with Ainz. And Ainz's main goal is to find another player
@@Valentin_Teslov Ok, but beware it may be spoilers, so keep reading at your discretion. (I'll try to make it short but... xD) . . . Basically, after watching the importance which Ainz is giving to the search of other players Albedo requested a group of personal NPCs that she is using to seach and kill any potential players that may or may not be on the world along with Pandora. Her reasoning being that she knows that the only one that can potentially kill Ainz is another great-one (player), add her hatred towards the other members of the guild that basically left them and never came back, to the point that she stomps on the guild flag in her room and only separates Momonga (player name) from Ainz Ool goan (Guild name) every time she speaks. and she knows that only her and Pandoras Actor can do this, being them the only two that are trully loyal to Momonga, him being his creation, and her because of her messed up lore that momon changed in the first ep. To the NPCs the fact that a guardian even consider going against a great one will is a sign of treason, not only that, but convincing Momons son (Pand), hiding her movements, lie to him, and the fact that she is ploting to kill a great-one, there are no enough tortures in Nazarik to put her if ANY of the other guardians find out about her schemes. Hope that helps ^.^
Yeah, they cut full scenes and lots of context and details like the fact they aren't in the game. It's obvious he's not, but it's immediately explained in book 1. @liamnidas
Its about a ruler who is corrupted by the expectations of his subordinates. He still wishes to be good, but he is insecure about appearing weak before his subordinates. Nearly all of the people who serve him imagine him as an evil genius overlord. And he tries to endulge their image of him. Half-ly to maintain his position and not compromise himself, and half-ly becouse he cares for them, as they are a proxy for his love of his friends who he can never see again. Since the servants of Nazarick were NPCSs created by his friends, they are like their children, he is like an uncle who is left to care for all the extended family's children and spoils himself by spoiling them, unable to restrain their darkest impulses. It is a great meditation on Machiavellianism. Ainz has a role, he is the overlord and thus he has the obligation to preserve and secure Nazarick. The way he leads is not evil, not good either, it is amoral. He is very cautious and pragmatic. Its not just "the bad guy wins", but its not just "the bad guy is secretly the good guy", instead he is a skeleton with a human soul. He does have reservations about what he does, but he does it anyway becouse its his duty, becouse others rely on him, he pushes his morals aside to fill his plans. And so he leads, guided not by his soul, but by reason, he does whatever it takes to achieve his goal. “it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.” ― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
Actually, the story isn't even really about Ainz at all. It's about how the world reacts to a presence like him showing up. The whole series was started as a way for a former D&D DM to continue creative world building and character writing that he missed as his friends got too busy or outgrew the regular campaigns they were doing (sound familiar?)
The light novel is so much better. You actually get character development and change for the NPC's. All of the primary ones atleast, except Demiurge. Oh speakimg if which Demiurge's happy farm is completely missing from the anime... such a shame, he's doing something thats actually good for the world, trying to make things better for everyone.
@@liamnidas That's the funniest part, if you read the LN carefully you will see that his purpoe is fully altruistic. He actually is doing it for the benefit of Ainz's worls. He just takes some slight liberties with the methodology.
@@CatFish21sm Damn. Hopefully, they find some way to incorporate it into the anime down the line. Because Demiurge is the guardian that I was most disappointed by in the anime.
@@liamnidas The reason people where scared the holy kingdom arc would make people quiet Overlord... I am just gonna spoil you human skin farm to make magic scrolls, of people demiurge kidnapped from the holy kingdom
@@bensmith6868 that's fair. he's a big piece of shit really. i like slime better because it's about the same show but slime is trying to make the world better and not just dominate it. yeah, he'll kill ten thousand humans but they're marching on his home and his people. he won't murder hundreds of thousands to make a petty point.
I love that they use the character designs by the original LN artist . It's definitely the highlight for me whenever the episode ends w them flexing the LN art for the ED ❤❤❤❤❤❤ the vibes are so badass
Usually, I'm not a massive fan of anime endings when they're basically just still images, at least visually. But I do really like Overlord's endings and how they showoff the art style of the light novel. You're completely right about the vibes.
@@liamnidas the editing is also the key factor actually. It might look like still images, but they are edited to the beats of the songs w little tweets for movement flow
The lore of the new world is one of things that still bring me back, apparently other players have isekaied before ainz like the the 6 great gods, 8 greed kings, and others
Really hope we get to see more of the dragon lords, especially the one who started everything. Always wondered if admin/gm controls were also recreated in some manner.
@@im7254I really wish we got to learn more about him too. But from what I can tell he was killed by the eight greed kings a couple hundred years ago. So I don’t think we can expect much of anything. Though we do still get to see his son with the Platinum Dragon Lord.
0:50 the game doesn't shut down because it looses popularity or player count, the anime does a bad job telling you about the life in the real world of momonga but the reason why the game is shut down is because the corporate overlords do not like the freedom players have in the game as it might lead to their workers also want freedom in their jobs which are slave like jobs
On season 1 we all think zanac are bad, turn out we all wrong, he literally trying to protect his older brother by offering himself to battle, and keep try to find his brother till the end, he know princess are twisted but never cross his mind she gonna sold entire kingdom. Because he believe on her.
@@Zikkar True. But other anime have been able to incorporate more. Dandadan for example has been adapting a chapter an episode and Delicious in Dungeon was doing two chapters and episode. Perhaps if the seasons were longer then that could have led to more of the material being incorporated.
Overlord scratches alot of the itches I have, worldbuild foremist being the biggest draw, then the aspect of settlement management game, the other is characters. Not just writing characters but also builds for each character have alot of tought put into it. Like an example of a build I'd love to try out is Shaltear, a vampire valkyrie build seems like such an optimal build. Having the job cover the racial weakness in holy elemental attacks. While both vampire race and valkyrie having great sustain with life steal and healing, plus her weapon being speced for lifesteal too is just icing on top of the cake. Now for character writing, I gotta say that I would of never imagined I would have come to appreciate Zanac so much when he was introduced into the story. He has become one of my favorite characters in the series and it's a testiment to Kugane's ability to write intriguing side characters.
The Overlord anime definitely doesn't make justice to how fucking amazing the Light novels are, the Bloody Valkyrie Arc (the battle with shalltear) IS AN ENTIRE 300 PAGE BOOK AND IT'S AMAZING. Also, THERE'S GONNA BE A MOVIE?! OMG Neia Baraja my beloved
@@liamnidas It's the two largest whole books in the series, they re-structured the anime timeline to skip it since it's so long (it takes place canonically in the middle of the S4 - right after the dwarven kingdom arc) They better not fuck it up with how condensed the run time will be
@@RexDeorumYT That's my concern about it being squashed. Same with the Haikyuu movies. But hopefully, enough is retained for anime onlys to still grasp how good the arc is.
It’s such a huge thing that Ainz isn’t dumb. It’s played up that he doesn’t know what everyone’s talking about, but he has some crazy skills. Managing a top MMO guild where everyone is a working adult? Managing to keep it afloat when you’re the only one left? He’s not educated, but he’s got tons of skills from the world of 2138. People don’t give him enough credit. He truly is the ruler here. Doesn’t ever get cocky with the power he has and it pays off big time. He’s like iron man in the sense that he does his best to learn from his mistakes.
@@liamnidas it's also overlooked, because never directly stated, how his undead body and build attributes might be influencing his intellectual prowess, after all his body, racial and class specs affect him in every other regard so even if his personality is that of an average man with severe lack of confidence, his body in the NW is that of an extremely powerful creature with possible the highest intellectual and wisdom stats possible. On top of that he has certain feats like Dark Wisdom which was what allowed his character in Yggdrasil to bypass the max limit of learned spells, in a real world setting that would by itself translate into amazing memorization and analytical skills beyond anything a human could. There are fan theories about how these things are why everything seems to work out so well for him all the time, despite his apparent bumbling through the situations planned out by Albedo and Demiurge, the running joke of the story being that Ainz is just faking it until he makes it, but the real joke might be that Albedo and Demiurge are actually correct and it's not just their bias making them think Ainz is truly a supreme being they cannot match, despite the fact that he himself doesn't believe it. Personally I lean into this theory because it is logical and consistent with all the other things we are told and shown about how Suzuki's humanity and even his personality are being slowly overwritten by his character design, and in this regard I think his own self-evaluation should be seen with mistrust, like he is sort of an unreliable narrator when it comes to his own situation.
Lack of character growth doesn't mean it's bad writing. It's all about character development: learning about their likes, dislikes, goals, dreams, aspirations, and flaws. That's why Cowboy Bebeop is considered an all time great. The characters in the show never really change. In fact, that is their failing as characters and is kind of a tragedy. It's through this that we see the interactions between characters and see conflict arise. And Overlord absolutely has well developed characters. Yes, they have a shared universal goal. But that makes them actually very interesting as they disagree on how to achieve or go about achieving such goals. Therein conflict arises. They don't agree how to go about worshipping the Supreme Beings which is literally coded into them. Yes, you may not like them as characters(that is your opinion that you are entitled to), but we definitely see interesting interactions due to this. For instance, the disagreement between Albedo and Demiurge and even Cocytus. Or the conflict between their personal desires and their wish to serve Ainz. Shalltear and Sebas. Or how their own programming limits them from helping Ainz such as Cocytus and Shalltear. Or how they put their own respective creators above even Ainz. Even the twins disagreeing on how to walk down stairs(it was in the novel to be fair, but the novel really is better than the anime due to the animals tendency to cut out materials). That's not the hallmark of bad writing. Far from it. The writer is clearly talented to be able to make interesting interactions and conflict through limited personality traits. And STILL have their own individuality shine through it all.
One of the interesting things about Overlord is that the way Ainz sees human races is with as much carelessness and disdain as we see evil races like goblins and trolls
Which is how his guild in the game was established. All the guild members were from heteromorphic races, and they were all heavily RP mains, also most of their RP was about being a guild of evildoers who oppose the forces of good, with few exceptions like Touch Me, whose designed NPCs are also the only ones with a good alignment, such as Sebas. The LN even heavily implies that members like Ulbert were actually quite twisted people irl, though that hasn't been very explored so far, at least in the main story.
Really the only character that doesn't change is Albedo, and Demiurge to a degree However most of even the NPCs have a bit of character development, especially Sebas and Shalltear. In of itself it's not perfect, most of the NPCs are relatively boring and really need more to them
@@kingwolf9447 Albedo to be fair was never a favourite because of her character, which is perhaps the flattest in Nazarick. No, it was more due to another part of her that is not flat in the slightest, two things specifically, maybe a few more.
@@jakob3044 she is a walking sex joke, not really much of a character. It's a big shame because Shalltear has quite a lot of sexual jokes attached to her, but she has actual development. She changes primarily after the fight with Ainz and than again during the Dwarves related arc. Albedo is wasted potential.
You sentence "Villans killing good guys" 🤣 can I explain to me who are the good guy and why. I have seen all seasons and re-watched Overlord and I have read LN. So there are no good guys at all....exept Gazef with his moral code to defend the inocent and be loyal his king [and only smart one to say don't start a war against Ainz] I love Overlord.
Overlord is hands down my favourite, but I can't bring myself to choose a favourite character, if I had to narrow it down though, Aura, Shalltear, and Renner are probably my top 3
It's not necessarily that the main characters don't have a lot of character building... they don't have a lot of character. They have memories, but their real personalities/development from 2d to 3d character only started after starting the isekai. The thing that made me realise this was when Cocytus was made to pick up 'real life skills' subjugating the lizardfold, as most of the characters don't have real wordly experience.
It’s funny you mention the NPCs character growth, because Ainz is trying to see if the NPCs characters can grow. So I suspect that if there is NPC growth it will be slow and deliberate.
I'm sure that's the case too. I just wish after four seasons, at least one of them had developed more. Or even if just the characters were put into situations more often that could lead to change. It's like Ayakonoji from Classroom of the Elite. After three seasons he hasn't changed at all. But he is trying to change, or at least curious to see if he can. So he puts himself in situations to try and change himself. Th NPCs of Nazarick just disappear from the show for large stretches of time.
Something I think really helps Overlord work is that your POV characters can change with each scene, and by having such a large main cast that means you can get glimpses of gears turning before the action, allowing the world to feel properly sized as a couple of characters can disappear for a few episodes before turning back up in a new location to work out their plans.
One thing I wish is that Ainz and company face more challenges . It doesn’t have to be hard battles but imagine the money influx messes with the economy, or a plague and they have to solve it or something political that they can’t just beat with power. Another issue is that the floor guardians besides Cocytus and Sebas don’t really grow. Like the moment of Cocytus losing due to neglecting to study his enemy or the terrain was a great lesson and growth for his character. An example of what I didn’t like was Ainz goes on an entire speech about how a leader is responsible and having all the responsibility folllowing Philip going against their plans . Albedo first meant to punish her subordinate but then Ainz takes responsibility as her leader. Literally a day later the king offers his head to Albedo taking no responsibility just like Ainz said and giving the prefect example yet Albedo not learning from that lesson declares war on the kingdom despite the king acting as Ainz said a leader should and that lesson. Some people say oh it’s about Ainz and company winning and how the world isn’t fair . How it’s a refreshing twist of the overpowered hero to the overpowered villain, but now we just have the same problem but reversed . It gets boring Ainz just squashing everything easily and it’s not just him but everyone. Eeven the pet hamster is in the realm of hero’s . One Punch man is the perfect example of handling overpowered properly. Saitama is overpowered and broken but there’s still strong characters like the S class who are extremely broken and powerful but who might occasionally face a challenge. And then there’s weakling hero’s who can get tossed around like nothing or dominated or even grow .
I've enjoyed Overlord since the fan translation of the webnovel day, and I think the LN is pretty great. The Anime is fun and watchable, but it really highlights how much of a power fantasy it is at its core. This wasn't a problem for me until I ended up in a few conversations which basically boiled down to power fantasy good and anything else bad, which has really turned me off of them in general. Current events don't help evil protagonist stories being less enjoyable for me either...
And the most incredible part of it all. One of the best scenes in anime history aka. Renner Song is COMPLEATLY anime-oryginal, so at the premier, even novel readers went crazy with hype...and now with season 5 confirmed (there is not enough source material tho) we are all collectivly wondering will we go anime-oryginal for X more seasons...they showed they can cook a great scene...hell a greater one than author himself could write (and he is absolute genious so thats A LOT), but can they make entire oryginal seaaon that would match His quality?
Overlord grew on me. The episodes follow the light novel volumes. 3 episodes per Volume. Although there are funny slice of life type episodes either in the beginning or ending of each season. Little things like not washing before bathing is a big faux pas. Or Ainz's body pillow. Or how Mare cried when Ainz would not give him up. Even a peck on the cheek to prevent colds. Of course I love the SPLAT episode too.
In the books the floor guardians start to have more development with time to the point albedo is potentially plotting behind Ainz’s back demiurge is almost never at the tomb shalltear lost her ego for the most part thanks to mare Sebas doesn’t really change cocytus starts to grow into his leadership position and is in charge of se real different species mare and aura don’t really change you just learn more about them and by the newest book Ainz is considering retiring because he’d much rather explore the world
@ Definitely I bet when the next season comes out they will completely cut her worrying about demiurge figuring what she’s doing out because they didn’t set it up at all
Mad House could not make Season 1 Overlord, the same as Season 1 OPM in terms of animation quality, because despite being the same studio working on these anime, this is not all there is to it, it's not that simple. You simply disregarded that different directors worked on these, each merging their expertise with the author's vision, using the resources they had available, most likely competing for resources, since a studio has a limited amount of staff, which are not all the same in skill level, overworked and underpaid. On top of all that, the director from One Punch man Season 1 (Shingo Natsume), did a herculean effort to produce the best anime he could, he used everything, every contacts he had, he had to outsource A LOT to make it come to fruition with the level of animation he envisioned and felt the series deserved, that's why you can distinctively notice difference in animations during tense moments in different episodes, because different people, directed and made them other than Shingo. And on the other hand you have Overlord season 1, directed by Naoyuki Ito, using only in house resources, having to compete with other directors for the animators and having a far less ambitious project on his end, not taking anything away from his work, but this was simply the cards he was dealt and I truly enjoyed Overlord in all of it's seasons, despite the choices made in animation.
I know that overlord would never have One punch man's level of animation. I said that in the video too. However, it does show that madhouse were not past their peak when Overlord released. And plenty of madhouse anime after look better than overlord season 1. Including Overlord season 4. My point was not that overlord should've looked like one punch man. But instead that Madhouse absolutely had the capabilities to make overlord look better than it did.
You're not wrong but none of that makes it any less disappointing in this regard. As someone who doesn't care one bit about OPM I wish Overlord had been given the treatment all the major anime productions have these days and had the best animation that money can buy you. I still enjoy enjoy it a lot, it's definitely my favorite isekai along with Mushoku Tensei, the one thing I'm grateful is that the anime allowed me to discover this series and the LN is one of the best things you can read in the modern era if you enjoy DnD based content.
@@admontblanc True. It's more annoying given how successful Overlord is for Madhouse. Out of all their anime, it seems like the one that should get special treatment. Yet it rarely does.
Coincidentally 1:46- the new movie is about an act demon lord (rank, js like in tensura). Agreed, Ainz undeniably hold power onpar if not greater than a demon lord. However, it is not known at this time if a seed is required in order to receive such title and buff. (Ainz is Sorcerer King, but ykwim) the new movie releasing next wk should shed some light
I absolutely love Overlord. I am big into D&D, so each tidbit and Easter egg that is put in with spells and items makes me happy. Its even helped me in a few campaigns! The world of Overlord is very well developed. My favorite character is Lord Ainz. In his regular world, he's from this dystopian future that has corporations working people to the bone to avoid worse conditions being outside their protection. Much like the rest of the Overlord world though, the context is hinted at, and buried more in the other media. His care for people's working conditions, trying to implement days off, vacation days, and the like are things that he and his friends probably did not get a lot of time to enjoy (like the intro with the ooze guy saying he felt how his avatar looked). Take the same weird morality - and apply it to the other governments present. Re-Estize has so much corruption, that taking over the crime syndicate gives Nazaric control of half the country. There are a lot of layers to the world. Its my favorite anime!
This anime absolutely boasts some of the best world building in an anime. Hand down. Also you've added another wrinkle to Ainz that I previously didn't notice so thank you.
I really liked overlord since day 1, many of the sistem used are from TTRPGs like DnD 3.5 (race levels + class levels + prestige classes) if you're a old player/DM you will spot many spells and feat combinations also magical items like the "wish ring", this also inspires me to make my own custom setting for 5e.
I believe that the creator of Overlord was an avid Dungeons and Dragons player. He used to be the Dungeon master hence why Overlord has such good world building. It's also why he wrote Overlord because him and his friends were playing D&D less together.
This was very interesting to me as I never really considered that there were people who liked the human characters more and were rooting for them over Ains and the NPCs of Nazarick. I always found the human characters as kind of a drag and less exciting (and was even upset when they took screen time from the NPCs). It kinda makes sense that you might have found it less enjoyable supporting the often losing characters. Personally I think the NPCs show more character development than you give them credit for (I can think of good examples for all the main ones expect maybe Demuirge who just remains pure evil). Meanwhile even though the human characters had decent development I wasn’t as interested as I was mostly interested in watching them be outplayed by Ains 😅
It's definitely a slow burn... but the main narrative point is that we know as much as ains does.... he's Ignorant to the new world as much as the viewers. Plus it's all from a novel 😅 they could literally make a whole season for each arc... but you know that's not how anime is made 😂 the reason why the supporting characters "feel" right is because usually the POV changes in the anime so instead of ains who just stays in the tomb we watch the people of the world. But at the end of the day, no human in this story is "important" to the actual main character....Plus CGI gets a bad rep for anime but why? Because it's "bad" or because it's just not "anime"? 😅 it's used like 15% of the time and for parts the team wants to realize but maybe can't afford 😅 the story is solid. I'm not knocking you opinion but I'm trying to say it's not perfect but it's always tired it's best and that shows even from season 1. Even if it might not seem like it.
I get ya. On the CGI, it's not good. It doesn't gel with the rest of the anime. Demon Slayer, as inconsistent as its CGI can be, is a good showcase for how good combining 2D animation and CGI can be. I also wish we'd get more POVs from the NPCs. Explore them a bit more.
I read the Light Novel first when I ran across it in the translation forums. It was an entertaining read up to chapter 8. Sucked as it basically takes years for a volume to be released. However I do like it, evident that it has been with me for these years to wonder about.
The first time I watched season 4's ending I actually swore off of Overlord, recently I gave it a second chance and realized season 4 has an astounding level of depth to it that has been building up since season 2, it was a slow burn buildup. My favorite character is Cocytus for his character design and sense of honor. He stands up to Ainz in defense of the lizardmen though Demiurge covers for him. And in that you see the comradery between the floor guardians.
the song used in the anime before the grime guy leaves is so hitting the feels as so many times has there been such a time like that the song is called the era had been shining
Both this and Slime Datta Ken are like my favourite isekai in terms of worldbuilding. To me, Slime is the yin of overlord's yang. Both having similar flows, and both going for a similar end-goal, but the approach the main characters go about it feels very different. Some key factors that are different obviously! Ainz got put into the new world with an entire hidden kingdom, but Rimuru has to build it from scratch, etc. I think both anime are so nice for the plot and worldbuilding. I kind of love that I can deep-dive into the lore of the world for hours and just read on stuff and be like "wow yea, that makes total sense." It's incredibly satisfying to see such a machine of a world in both shows. of course the way the story is presented is very limited, and I don't blame the writers of the show for that when you only get 12 episodes. Basically, Overlord just needs more episodes in a season to cover more details of an arc, because it deserves the detail.
I gotta say though. The anime cuts a lot of content. Some hints that the gods the theocracy worship used to be players. The Platomum dragon's dad being the cause for the isekai of several players. The fact that Yggdrasil magic is available in game probably being because of a world item changing reality to make it possible, etc. For example after Shalltesr gets mindcontrolled he gives every guardian a world itrm. Because the inly way to be immune to a world item effect is to have one yourself. There is so much here. Ainz did not go on a ramoage forst, he went to investigate the world. His entire adventurer lapse is a multipurpose mission. He does not trust others to get proper informstion as they all hate humans. So he goes hinself. He wants to know if the world currency can work as replacement for Yggdrasil money. He checks he can use Yggdrasil money instead lf current kingdom currency. Finall, he evaluates the power scaling of the world. The guy us not a multidisciplinary genius but he is smart. Then of course you have the entire thing the guardians added to his actions, like plan yo peacefully take over, etc. Despite not being a genius, he is smart enough to know when ithers will do a better job and so he delegates.
I really hate when people say that Overlord is an anime where the bad guys win. Ains is NOT EVIL. He doesn't kill for the sake of killing. He doesn't enjoy it. He doesn't rule with an iron fist. He doesn't mistreat the people he has subjugated. In fact he treats the people better than anyone else in the anime. He seeks to create a Utopia where everyone can live in peace with all races. He doesn't look down on other races like the humans of the world do. He gives people a way to out repeatedly. For instance when his tomb gets attacked he asks why these people want to attack him. When some of those people say they were sent by a friend he gives them a chance to explain. Just because he doesn't feel bad when people are killed doesn't mean he's evil or seeks out death. He treats people the way they should be treated. If they bring violence or deception to him then they get treated without mercy. Just like he would be treated by these same people if he was the weaker one. There is not a single time in the anime that Ains does anything that is outright evil. And i hate when people say he is. Its annoying and shallow minded. edit: on a side note. I never once thought the animation or art style in Overlord was bad. I HATE the stupid childish every person has muscles on muscles, overly detailed to the point of absurdity art style that is popular with newer anime. You don't need 50 million things exploding and flashes going off, with lightning in the background and two thousand screams every time a punch is thrown. Look at this video. Almost any moment you pause this video could be a desktop wallpaper or a poster on your wall. I paused at 10:48 to write this at random, and that would make an amazing poster. /rantoff.
Ainz unncessarily commits genocide against a nation that had already surrendered. It's an act so evil that some of the NPCs tried to persuade him against doing it. I think Overlord's art style is fine. The character designs for the NPCs are some of the best around. But the animation isn't great. It's not the worst and it has moments of excellence like Renner's dance. But there are too many moments hampered by bad cgi.
@@liamnidas "Ainz unncessarily commits genocide against a nation that had already surrendered" If you are referring to who I think you are, then they didn't really surrender, they were just denied the option. And that was only after they witnessed Ainz's power for themselves. Before that they were hostile, arrogant, and fully committed to war. They also were given the choice to give up a city without bloodshed. Which they turned down. What happened to them was bad leadership and arrogance. All Ainz did was make good on his word by wiping them out when they refused his offer. Hes simply living by the rules of the world he was transported into. Like I said before, if the roles were reversed they would have wiped him out in a heartbeat. As far as the CGI, yeah it wasn't the best and im unsure why some anime insist on including it, but it also wasn't Mortal Kombat Annihilation bad...lol.
@@Shadownian It doesn't matter when they surrender, they still decided to surrender. And gave themselves up multiple times. The king was even willing to give his head. For real world comparison, Japan refused to surrender and kept fighting in World War Two even after Germany's defeat. Then America dropped two massive bombs which lead to Japan surrendering. Just because they put up a fight beforehand, doesn't change the fact they surrendered.
@@liamnidas During the fight against Ainz where he casted the goat spell, they were acting all cocky and wanted to take over. Ainz gave those that wanted to time to flee, which is how that noble who ends up siding with them got away. After the fight Ainz told them exactly what he was going to do. Giving them time to get civilians and people out of there, which they didnt do. He only cared about taking out the actual physical place as a show of his might, they chose to stay. He didnt kill the prince and even respected him thats why he had his killers tortured. What happened to them was completely on them. The actions they took because they were overconfident. He didnt attack the other country who chose to become a vassal did he? No he only went after the other one because they came for him. Besides how many time do you hear Ainz in his inner monologue say that hes actually against taking over the world and attacking everyone? Just like the raiders who came to his home because of greed. He gave them a chance to do the right thing, they didnt.
@@Shadownian He's literally an invader and conqueror. They did try and evacuate. But some stayed as Brain mentioned when he walked past a house with some people in it, surprised that they aren't trying to leave. Where are they going to go anyway? Imagine someone was about to obliterate your entire country. Where are you going to go? He might not have killed the prince but he was always going to. The prince literally agrees to die with dignity. Ainz is evil. No country or its citizens should ever be in fear of invasion, conquering or genocide. You say he gave them chances but he clearly didn't. They repeatedly tried to submit and surrender. It is only natural that someone would fight back against an enemy at first. I am legitimately shocked that anyone would ever defend these actions. The acts committed by Ainz are regarded in the real world as some of the most evil things someone could do.
Overlord is the first anime I have ever watched and I have rewatched it so many times. It was at the end of the four season binge at the Princess Renner scene where i was finally like damn I guess im gonna be watching more anime. Cause by the gods is that scene so good. I get goose bumps every time and in each watch through and read of the lightnovels do I realise how evil and brutal she was. I 100% agree with your assessments. It isn't the best show despite it being one of my favorite animes period, but it sure is a good one and one of the best isekais.
I really like the emperors character, he's got hella drip. And Clementine those two are my absolute favorite characters in the show, her VA went so hard on their lines. hearing them for the first time kind of made me giddy cause daaaam! psycho lady being actually psycho for the fun of it is pretty refreshing, its sort of why I love the joker so much. Idk maybe im a bit of a twisted person but I do enjoy a bit of murder for the funs of it :3
The Emperor is a fantastic character, and I love that somehow he's always making the right decision whilst simultaneously making the wrong one. Aoi Yuki is one of best and most sought after voice actors in Japan. And her performance as Clementine really demonstrates why.
Ok this is funny, I just started overlord for the first time ever like two weeks ago, I never watched it when it was airing, I didnt even knew the openings, never knew nothing about the plot, Albedo, or Ainz himself, so let me tell you this; it's an entertaining show, I can see why so many people were loud about this anime is fun to watch but also kinda empty I finished season 2 a few days ago, and I'm starting now season 3, but I can tell you this, Overlord has no plot yet, it feels like a plot is growing, but not yet, first two seasons were characters showing how OP are in this world, but that's it, again is entertaining, and I can see why so many people love it but is a 7.5/10 for me, I hope that season 3 and season 4 are better
I would say that season 3 and especially season 4 are better. I'm not going to pretend that the jump in quality is massive but I do think this show gets better. And I think season 4 whilst not the end of the story, does act as a very satisfying conclusion to certain character's arcs.
I was a Day 1 fan. Fell in love with Albedo. I got to meet her voice actress she was awesome as well. I can’t wait for the movie to come out next month….😮
14:00 Sweet summer child The Five Worst In Nazarick there is an unofficial group, the members are all just the most disgusting in their respective categories. They are: Neuronist Painkill - "Worst Occupation" Kyouhukou - "Worst Residence" Gashokukochuuou - "Worst Appearance" Chacmool - "Worst Personality" and finally [???] (name unknow) - "Worst Ero" All we know is his description. A tentacle type monster similar to a Roper. Yet it is said that he (maybe she) has a gentle personality, so he is more popular than the Worst Personality. Its a friking tentacle monster!!!!
One of the things you're forgetting is that kadokawa allocates a certain budget for the show and madhouse is just the animation studio so they have to work with what they're essentially given.
You're right. But that still doesn't change the fact that the animation is weak. Blue Lock season 2's animation is terrible. But the reasons why make it clear that the studio and animators are not really responsible for it looking that way despite animating it.
Anime is good, is nice to see scenes animated, but the novels... Damn, they're worth it. S4 ending, No Man's Dawn is beautiful by itself, but in context (why Ainz is doing what he's doing and realization about chances of getting his true wish being pretty much 0 hitting him HARD during his talk with Zanac), it goes straight for the heart. I rate this song I'm not teary-eyed, my eyeballs are just sweating/10. There's also a clear difference between being in opposition to nazarick and being under either direct control or protection. While the first option is a death sentence, the second... Isn't bad at all, hopefully the movie shows a good chunk of how the novels described it.
I love Overlord Light novel, the details in the world building. Major side character have enough backstory/lore to be their own main character. Even minor side characters get some love in backstory. It feels refreshing to read, sadly that the writer of Overlord will cut the story short. However, I will have a spiritual successor as mine D&D story will be based around Overlords world (without Nazerick and Ainz). As I find the New World a very interesting place to explore. I enjoyed Overlord from the beginnen, however I really loved after reading the LN My favorite character is Evileye, her backstory is fascinating. And favorite Isekai is either Overlord (prefer the LN) or Konosuba
Konosuba is a fantastic anime. Great pick. Yeah, it's a shame that Overlord won't be what the author initially wanted it to be. But I still have faith that he'll end the story in a satisfying way.
If there is one thing I learn about creative companies, is that all because they share the same name, doesn't mean they share the same team. For example, in Square-Enix, the team that made FF14 isn't the same team that made FF15 that isn't the same team that made Dragon Quest. The point is, it's no surprise Overlord wouldn't have the same quality as One Punch. Mad House isn't a single team and we're always gonna have fallible people who are lacking.
Oh yeah, absolutely. It was more to do with the fact that a lot of people say that Madhouse declined in quality after one punch man. And overlord's animation is often held up as the example. So I wanted to point out that overlord season one still came out during Madhouse's golden age. And that it was a very weak looking anime for that studio as a whole.
potentially the main aspect about overlord that i really love is the disparity between normal humans and the monstrous entities of nazarick. i love the like almost cosmic horror aspect. when brain is fleeing from shalltear, when those mercenaries invade the tomb... fucking peak.
I honestly think the biggest thing about Overlord a lot of people miss is that the story isn't about Nazarick vs The New World, it's about Ainz vs Social Expectation. He's overpowered, yes, but that's so that the combat side of things doesn't impact the social encounters that are more compelling. Then again, this is my opinion, and an example of how different people can take different things from the same story.
This and slime is probably my top 2 anime I have watched a lot of anime but I just like isekai the best but I have to say I like overlord more because you get to see the struggles of regular people/kingdoms get reduced to nothing when bone daddy appears
the first 18 seconds of this video were way too relatable, it's the same for me until i watched it on netflix recently XD i knew about the anime for quite awhile but never watched it bc i didn't think it'd be that good but when i watched it a few days ago my mind changed, it was so good i binged it for an entire 24 hours, the extra time spent reading a bit of the light novel online
Legit just finished my 10th rewatch, now I want to rewatch it again thanks to this video. Also, I think Lord Ainz has way too much aura for this stinky universe he got transported to
The overlord anime was done dirty by 2 thing's. One, the animation, the first 3 seasons had a lower budget studio and I've heard rumors of season 3 having proper problems. The 2nd is how much they cut, they cut out most of the context and have removed full scenes or shortened them. It actually almost feels like a different story. Also season 4 was done by a great studio, however, the producer didn't care for Overlord. So in quality, it only got a bit better.
All four seasons as well as the movie have been done by the same studio Madhouse. But like other studios, Bones for example, it's possible that there are actually multiple studios under Madhouse and it got passed off to one of the stronger ones for season 4.
Two reasons I love Ainz is that one he's undead, which means his character has no humanity, and secondly he isn't a smart person but in the light novels the reason he seems like such a smart person to the NPC's is that he's a good actor and story writer also his characters int stat is maxed out.
while Mushoku tensei focuses so much more on the development that occurs within characters, Overlord focuses much more on the development of the world *around* the main characters. The Nazarick NPCs do have room for growth, but they are very stubborn about growth or change because they were of course... programmed to behave that way.
Honestly it took until the end of season 2 for my wife and I to start to take to it. We tried 3 times just to get through season 1. We only tried it that many times because it was always at the top of best of lists. Glad we finally went through it.
I had a similar experience the first time I watched it. Season 2 is when Climb gets introduced and they start progressing Brain and Sebas's characters. I'm glad I gave it a second chance too.
the thing is, the anime believes perhaps a litle too much in "show dont tell". so if one wants to you can keep rewatching the series as you try to read into their feelings and who the characters actually are.
Overlord has been my favorite isekai since season 2, there are contenders but I feel aside from the animation everything is great. My favorite thing is how characters react to situations actually makes sense.
Overlord has really good characters... The Nazarick NPCs are all full of character and some of the most fun to just watch interact. The humans all get amazing growth
I've already seen it. Great anime. However, I don't really have much to say about it. And I'm a little apprehensive to make a video on it given some of the reactions to some of its content. That said, I'll likely talk about it at some point. I'm planning on mentioning it in a video later this year.
The weirdest part of overlord is that while it cuts a lot of things, the little things that suggest that the cut thing exists are still there. So when you rewatch it after reading the novel you constantly see little movements, or offhand remarks referencing the cut things so you are constantly pointing at the screen like that one Di caprionmeme it really feels like the team wanted to include those but had to cut it out due to limitations rather than didn't think showing them was important. This anime feels like it was made by people who loved the story but were not allowed enough budget and time to express that love properly, rather than the factory production line of most isekai
I agree with that. Reading some of the comments on this video and knowing what I know now, I understand certain moments more. It does look like despite the flaws, the people that worked on this anime were fans of the source material.
I get that. Although I would say that Sebas does change because in season four he tries to persuade Ainz to not wipe out all the humans. Even going through improper channels to get a meeting with him. I don't think he would have done that in season one.
I'd argue that Ainz ain't that evil compared to other rulers of New World - he genuinely cares about his subordinates, even not original guild ones. He's the only thing that stops denizens of Nazarick from tearing the world apart like in the short novel with EE. His goal of creating a kingdom where all races can coexist is genuinely good. Well more like forced to coexist. But in New World before players showed up humans were considered food for pretty much every other race. So there isn't really an option but to force it. Might makes right. And Ainz is mostly merciful leader considering how out of the league he is even for oldest New World beings like dragons, that mostly don't care at all about lesser beings. Zanac in the end acknowledges that Ainz isn't the ultimate evil that wants to ruin everything\everyone and wants mostly the same for Sorcerer's kingdom as he does for his. Re-estize could've escaped it's fate multiple times if not for meddling of some stupid or malicious people and others giving up on it. Staticness of Nazarick is intentional. Because they're the new constant in this world that other people try to deal in their own ways. They're not main characters that need to evolve, get humbled or overcome something - others are.
I guess you're right about Ainz. He is holding the NPCs back from essentially starting the apocalypse. That's an interesting way of viewing the static nature of the characters.
The npcs thoughs and feelings are better disclosed in the novel, where most of the writing consists of thoughts, and not actions or dialogues. They are not so plain, just as plain as you would expect from npcs that were born the moment they were isekai'd, with just their charact descriptions and a few memories of the game to guide them.
As a LN reader, I can say with my chest out that Overlord anime series is shit! I remember how they butchered so hard the most anticipated scene in Overlord SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT! And as a LN reader the pacing of the anime feels so rushed, like they trying to speed run every event and just be done with it leaving so much details! Imagine trying to condense 3 books each having around 200-300 pages into 12 episodes. You can imagine the amount of details they skipped making even the story subpar and just mid overall EDIT: Reading the comments I can also say the world building in Overlord is everything! It's so well done that I had a moment in my life where I visualize myself living in it, and keep continuing my story from where I left off the night before. Like the New World is so huge that the anime couldn't cover it all
It's a massive shame that they cut so much because this easily could have been one of the heavy hitter anime, even though it's still extremely popular. Completely agree about the world building. Definitely in the running for the best that I've seen in this medium.
overlord gets a bit more interesting with every rewatch. you can really pick up some small details. like how Ainz is the best supporting character. This is a story of how the world changes and reforms around the big player on the board.
I agree with that. If Overlord gets a full adaptation then I'm sure that I'll definitely rewatch it again. Can't wait to pick up all the things I missed the first two times.
This was really interesting to watch, because I dropped the series for the same reasons as why you weren't hot on it at first, and my friends think i'm crazy for not loving it. I may have to give it another try... probably when its all finally over and done.
I would recommend giving it a second chance. Although, waiting for it to all end, isn't a bad idea imo because by that point they may have addressed the NPC issue.
While I dont know how the Holy Kingdom Movie will be - I hope they show atleast Deltas Character Arc there, since the Anime pretty much cuts all the content about Nazaricks Characters, I believe there is an entire Volume of the Light Novel that basicly got skipped - because it was only Nazaricks Characters talking. SPOILER BELOW: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Albedo, while programmed to be in Love with "Momonga" - actually hates Ainz for taking on his guilds name, and put together a team to kill all other players/Guildmembers, while lying to Ainz, telling him its to find the other players. Delta (Android Maid) - becomes friends with a Human. (not pet- really actual friends) Shalltear learns about not using pure strength to judge others and to apply wisdom too. Just to name a couple examples I can make from the top of my head.
From what I've heard, the movie hits all the broad strokes of the arc and is a fantastic film for anime onlys. But if you're a light novel reader, you may feel a little let down by it being so squashed to fit into a movie's runtime. Though probably no less disappointed compared to what the anime overall did to the source material.
@@liamnidas jeah - however I feel compared to some other animes out there, overlord got a very faithful adaptation - they cut down a lot of content around albedo - which is weird - but the cut content around Nepheli is absolutly fine by me.
I first watched Overlord before season 2 aired and I didnt like it all that much. It had the distinctive idea of being from the villian pov but for most of the season Ainz acts as the classic op hero and because of that it just felt like every other isekai with an op mc.Even the fact that he is mage gets wasted since he mostly fight with a sword . Once season 2 aired, I decided to watch it out of boredom and enjoy it way more and part of it is because of your critique of the non-Nazarick characters being better developped. Ainz is no longer the boring op hero, but the antagonist that the human protagonists have to face.
i think ainz is the greatest isekai protagonist because he unlike 99.999% of every other isekai protagonist he comes a socially awkward, someone that actaully feels like a person that is role playing, not a guy that is a badass. I would agree with the opennigs being in my top but 2015 was also the year of bradio and that song alone has my top 100 filled
Why do people keep thinking Ainz get Isekai into the game world? Even if you don’t read the novel and only watch the anime, it is not hard to figure out that he as his followers got Isekai into entirely new world.
I'm not sure if you're referring to people in general or this video specifically. But I do say that he was isekaied into another world. It's why I say he was double isekaied. Because had he just been isekaied into that other world, then he wouldn't be in his undead avatar and Nazarick would not have come along with him.
There is a manga adaptation of the light novel. And I also think there's a manga sequel too that started this year. Looks like we'll have loads of Overlord for years to come.
a few things. Cocytus and Albedo have arcs that are less prominent in the anime than the novels. though I'd agree that Demiurge, Shaltear and others are pretty much static, though they get little things here and there, like Shaltear learning not to be an idiot. Also Ainz has a character arc that is downplayed in the anime, because he doesn't really want to do this either, but hes so high on a house of cards that he can't get down and its slowly eating him up inside. also the real world earth in Overlord is literally post eco apocalypse where even breathing will kill you in hours. there is more about it in the novels. just watching the anime is missing out because Overlord suffers from content cuts more than any isekai I have every enjoyed
And also many people forget that Ainz isn't dumb, he's just uneducated, because education in his Earth is very expensive, even more than American healthcare, so he couldn't afford more than 4 years in middle school.
@@pelinalwhitestrake3367 it doesn't help that Ainz considers himself dumb because he's constantly comparing himself to Demiurge and Albedo
didn't shaltear change the most in the series? At least that's what I saw with my own eyes.
@@madscientist14 I mean, I think she definitely had an arc, but her character is the same. she is just slightly more mature and slightly less stupid. in terms of outcomes, its less than Sebas's very complex struggle with his morality or Cocytus' learning to think and act for himself, even against orders
@@tekdaystar345 I'd argue Sebas hasn't changed a bit. He was always righteous/heroic and he always put Ainz's orders above his own interest. He was ready to kill the girl because he was ordered to. Those are things that already existed in his settings or psychology. Plus it wasn't complex at all. Somebody needed help and he helped them. For him it was never a hard decision to help her and at the same time it was never a hard decision to kill her to prove his loyalty to Nazarick. To him it wasn't complex, but to us the viewers it was, but it does give us insight into his psychology because of the choices he made that day.
Shallchair on the other hand is still filled guilt despite being "punished". She even takes notes of Ainz's teachings and listens to Aura now. Even though they were fighting a lot in the beginning. Being vulnerable and pathetic brought them closer together, granted they were never gonna kill each other. Regardless there was animosity there. Like you said Shalltear is trying now, unlike in the beginning where she thought of herself infallible, becoming arrogant to the point that she did whatever she wanted, even underestimating Brain and letting fodder get away. Nowadays she has learned to be as cautious as Ainz or at least attempts to.
overlord has more effort into yggdrasil worldbuilding than 99% other isekai having in their main story
truee
You're absolutely right
Youjo Senki would disgree. and whole host of others.
@@dumaskhanbecause it’s the 1%
This anime feels more like a documentary of the new world for me, as they portray bits of its inhabitants, lore and how they adapt to it
Yeah, Mad house really did Overlord dirty, both in the animation department and in the skipped content department. So yeah the anime really didn't show how amazing Overlord is.
On your point that the NPC characters stay the same as the show goes on, well that's kinda the point as we see with shaltear, cocytus and Nabe the NPCs won't change unless they're met with outside influence, the fact that the characters stay the way they are and are still interesting speaks volumes about how much thought was put into each and every one of them.
I'm actually kinda happy to see someone actually liking the human characters so much as that's the intent of the author I believe, most people would see the NPCs slaughter good human characters and say: wow such amazing characters I definitely love them more now because they killed everyone. It's very refreshing to see an opinion like yours.
And yeah, the overlord world building is crazy, you can totally treat the LN as a D&D adventure module and your game will run smoothly as long as you have some idea as to how to input stats into enemies.
Also my favorite anime is Konosuba
Wasn't it in season 2 where Momonga was checking if NPCs can even change or mature?
He's constantly trying to make them grow and develop, so show itself is pointing out that these characters are static for a reason, and there are plans on changing that.
@@nihili4196 actually wanted to say that but forgot halfway through writing my comment, thanks for pointing it out
If only we could've gotten the frieren treatment 😭
Firstly, Konosuba is a great anime. Great pick.
The human characters are fantastic.
For the NPCs, if they can change due to outside influences, then I think the show should put them into more situations where they can change more. That's what I found annoying. It's shown that they can but the anime never gives them the opportunity to go through significant growth.
@@nihili4196 I just wish it wouldn't take more than four seasons for that change to happen.
It also makes sense that the NPC’s of Nazarick don’t change as much as the people because change typically comes from overcoming some struggle or challenge. The protagonists of this series very rarely encounter something that they can’t overcome physically or intellectually. Sebas gained visible depth because he had to wrestle with the morals he was programmed with.
There is that, but also that they are max level meaning in a game setting their wisdom and intelligence stats are more or less set in stone, then there is their setting "backstory" negative traits etc. Achieving any form of growth is a major achievement.
Not yet having read the novel I don't know if the game setting allows growth trough "achievements" which is the final avenue of growth in many games.
But by the way "experiments" are done, it seems to be a thing.
@@torgrimhanssen5100 Apparently the anime cut out a lot of development that the characters receive in the light novels.
Overlord is indeed awesome. It's the only anime that made me buy the books. I love the massive scale of the world building too.
This time I ever night light novels was for Overlord, and I don't regret it.
I might have had some issues when I first watched it, but it's world building wasn't one of them. This anime has always had some of the best worlduilding in anime in my opinion. Which makes sense as I believe the author was always the Dungeon master when he played dungeons and dragons with his friend. So he's used to creating this vast worlds.
@@liamnidas Yup, Kugane Maruyama, just like the MC in the story was the only one left after his friends lost interest or couldn't afford the time playing D&D. So he instead created Overlord drawing heavily from D&D elements.
Tbh i wouldn't say ainz in evil or that he actually sees humans beneath him. It the nps in nazaric that see humans as insects and ainz just over and over repeats he doesnt think that way in his head, he sees himself and all of nazarics inhabitants as the most important thing bc theyre what his beloved frinds has created. Ainz isnt evil ainz is selfish and void of emphaty for anything that stands in his way, he makes bonds with people while he is acting as an adventurer and takes revenge for them even tho he couldve easily killed the serial killer adventurer lady in one hit. Ainz and the nps grow, literally the whole lizardman arc was for ainz to test if the nps can grow by giving cocayitus tasks he wasnt programmed for and making him learn leadership.
Being forced into the body of a lich reduces his humanity.
He's quite full of contradictions and hypocrisy, such as he is hellbent on the destruction of Humanity for basically no gain, or no reason.
Yet he spares the Dwarves, Carne Village, and other similar places for his own gain.
I like the complexity of him being a faulty villain.
@@kingwolf9447 I see that destruction of humanity stuff more as a fault of Maruyama's when writing, if you are referring to volume 14 onwards. I think it's pretty clear that after volume 13 he lost his spark, and love for the show, and seems more focused on trying to get the project to end then actually continue writing the things he had been building up for 13 volumes + the web novels already. Overlord is more or less my favourite fantasy book series, but I cannot even bring myself to keep reading at this rate
@@jakob3044 could be the case. But i'll wait to judge it till the last two volumes are finished. After all the story's reception depends a lot on how the ending sticks.
@@jakob3044to add more context to those reading this
he lost the spark not because he's been writing for a long time but due to some contract. He was basically forced to finish the books at some schedule instead of finishing them at his own pace and because of this burnt him out. He has even stated that he planned for the novels to go for like 20-50 total novels (I forgot the actual numbers but it was somewhere around there) and that a lot of the stories seen in those novels are hinted at in his earlier books, but yea. In fact the entire fall of the Re-estize kingdom was planned to have ended differently and wouldn't have happened this early in the story, but since he was so burnt out he decided to introduce "Phillip" to brute force how it ends.
@@wufflemuffin9197 I suppose all we can really do is trust Phillip-kakka's 100'000 year plan...
I think the biggest problem is just that the anime cuts a lot of things out in order to fit everything into 12 episodes. If you read the light novel after watching the anime, you'll see that there is a lot of details, information, and even whole entire events that just never makes it to the anime. It's a shame because Overlord has probably some of the best world building and lots of diplomatic/political themes I enjoy a lot.
Really does look like the light novels address a lot of my issues
Any book that is turned into a movie or show has this happen. There is just not time or money to fit everything in is the issue.
@@Zikkar You are right. However, many adaptations are still able to incorporate these important elements in other ways. Albedo, for example, seems to have had a lot of her character removed in the anime. And Momonga's life before the game has been completely cut out meaning you don't understand how dire Earth is in the light novels.
Saying that the main characters in overlord are static is a fair statement (in the anime), they brushed over, Ains learning how to be a boss, Albedo's secret schemes behind Ains back, only hinting at it with one shot in 4 seasons of the nazarik flag crumpled on the floor in her room! Shaltear learning to do not be overconfident, Cocuitus is ok for the most part, Demiurge, Aura, Maare, all of them have arks, even the fucking penguin xD
Wait, what? Albedo scheming behind Ainz back? Am I missing something? I read the light novel and don't remember something like that ever happening
@@Valentin_Teslov she created a team to find and eliminate any supreme being/players in case anyone came to the new world to prevent them from interacting with Ainz. And Ainz's main goal is to find another player
@@Valentin_Teslov Ok, but beware it may be spoilers, so keep reading at your discretion. (I'll try to make it short but... xD)
.
.
.
Basically, after watching the importance which Ainz is giving to the search of other players Albedo requested a group of personal NPCs that she is using to seach and kill any potential players that may or may not be on the world along with Pandora.
Her reasoning being that she knows that the only one that can potentially kill Ainz is another great-one (player), add her hatred towards the other members of the guild that basically left them and never came back, to the point that she stomps on the guild flag in her room and only separates Momonga (player name) from Ainz Ool goan (Guild name) every time she speaks. and she knows that only her and Pandoras Actor can do this, being them the only two that are trully loyal to Momonga, him being his creation, and her because of her messed up lore that momon changed in the first ep.
To the NPCs the fact that a guardian even consider going against a great one will is a sign of treason, not only that, but convincing Momons son (Pand), hiding her movements, lie to him, and the fact that she is ploting to kill a great-one, there are no enough tortures in Nazarik to put her if ANY of the other guardians find out about her schemes.
Hope that helps ^.^
Maybe I should read the light novel. Seems like it addresses one of my biggest issues with the series.
Yeah, they cut full scenes and lots of context and details like the fact they aren't in the game. It's obvious he's not, but it's immediately explained in book 1. @liamnidas
Its about a ruler who is corrupted by the expectations of his subordinates.
He still wishes to be good, but he is insecure about appearing weak before his subordinates. Nearly all of the people who serve him imagine him as an evil genius overlord. And he tries to endulge their image of him. Half-ly to maintain his position and not compromise himself, and half-ly becouse he cares for them, as they are a proxy for his love of his friends who he can never see again. Since the servants of Nazarick were NPCSs created by his friends, they are like their children, he is like an uncle who is left to care for all the extended family's children and spoils himself by spoiling them, unable to restrain their darkest impulses.
It is a great meditation on Machiavellianism. Ainz has a role, he is the overlord and thus he has the obligation to preserve and secure Nazarick. The way he leads is not evil, not good either, it is amoral. He is very cautious and pragmatic. Its not just "the bad guy wins", but its not just "the bad guy is secretly the good guy", instead he is a skeleton with a human soul. He does have reservations about what he does, but he does it anyway becouse its his duty, becouse others rely on him, he pushes his morals aside to fill his plans.
And so he leads, guided not by his soul, but by reason, he does whatever it takes to achieve his goal.
“it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”
― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
Actually, the story isn't even really about Ainz at all. It's about how the world reacts to a presence like him showing up. The whole series was started as a way for a former D&D DM to continue creative world building and character writing that he missed as his friends got too busy or outgrew the regular campaigns they were doing (sound familiar?)
A very convincing argument
Nah, he IS evil- he’s just not evil for the sake of evil itself
The light novel is so much better. You actually get character development and change for the NPC's. All of the primary ones atleast, except Demiurge. Oh speakimg if which Demiurge's happy farm is completely missing from the anime... such a shame, he's doing something thats actually good for the world, trying to make things better for everyone.
I think I might be sensing some sarcasm there
@@liamnidas That's the funniest part, if you read the LN carefully you will see that his purpoe is fully altruistic. He actually is doing it for the benefit of Ainz's worls. He just takes some slight liberties with the methodology.
@@CatFish21sm Damn. Hopefully, they find some way to incorporate it into the anime down the line. Because Demiurge is the guardian that I was most disappointed by in the anime.
@@liamnidas The reason people where scared the holy kingdom arc would make people quiet Overlord... I am just gonna spoil you human skin farm to make magic scrolls, of people demiurge kidnapped from the holy kingdom
@@brohello3649 I could see how that could scare some people off. Not me though.
overlord is the anime the more times you watch/read the more you got the 😮 moments
Completely agree. It really grows on you more and more
Day 1 fans🥶
I'm with you now. Forgive me for taking so long.
@@liamnidas you're just in time for the ending. The LN is ending in 2 volumes.
Same but I only recently started reading the LN because I didn’t realise just how much the anime cut
@@TheBluePhoenix008 not to mention the movie coming out
@@nafrulnizamabdulmanap2342 I'm quite excited to see what happens
It's close but I need to say this....
Overlord >>> I got reincarnated as a Slime
You are right
I just don’t like overlord main character
@@bensmith6868how dare you
@@bensmith6868 that's fair. he's a big piece of shit really. i like slime better because it's about the same show but slime is trying to make the world better and not just dominate it. yeah, he'll kill ten thousand humans but they're marching on his home and his people. he won't murder hundreds of thousands to make a petty point.
Nah, it's the other way around.
I love that they use the character designs by the original LN artist . It's definitely the highlight for me whenever the episode ends w them flexing the LN art for the ED ❤❤❤❤❤❤ the vibes are so badass
Usually, I'm not a massive fan of anime endings when they're basically just still images, at least visually. But I do really like Overlord's endings and how they showoff the art style of the light novel. You're completely right about the vibes.
@@liamnidas the editing is also the key factor actually. It might look like still images, but they are edited to the beats of the songs w little tweets for movement flow
@@ohw5306 It gives them a lot of life. I love how they look.
@@liamnidas they enhance the artworks while respecting So-bin's original vision 🤌✨✨✨
The lore of the new world is one of things that still bring me back, apparently other players have isekaied before ainz like the the 6 great gods, 8 greed kings, and others
Really hope we get to see more of the dragon lords, especially the one who started everything. Always wondered if admin/gm controls were also recreated in some manner.
Really wish the anime would highlight all this stuff more
@@im7254I really wish we got to learn more about him too. But from what I can tell he was killed by the eight greed kings a couple hundred years ago. So I don’t think we can expect much of anything. Though we do still get to see his son with the Platinum Dragon Lord.
0:50 the game doesn't shut down because it looses popularity or player count, the anime does a bad job telling you about the life in the real world of momonga but the reason why the game is shut down is because the corporate overlords do not like the freedom players have in the game as it might lead to their workers also want freedom in their jobs which are slave like jobs
It's a shame that wasn't made clear in the anime.
@@liamnidas its not the case. The reason isnt really specified, but the leading explanation was it just dropped in popularity
@@-Apoptos- That's what I assumed. Still would have been nice if the anime made that clear.
@@liamnidas Could definitely be both too! This is like peak capitalism right haha
@@BVSSIC 😂
On season 1 we all think zanac are bad, turn out we all wrong, he literally trying to protect his older brother by offering himself to battle, and keep try to find his brother till the end, he know princess are twisted but never cross his mind she gonna sold entire kingdom. Because he believe on her.
Zanac was such a surprisingly incredible character
@@liamnidas You know Zanac was a incredible character when even Einz was angered by his death....
@@MirecU One of the few people to wring out some humanity from Ainz.
"Double Isekai'd" 1:32
Just realized that after reading all 16 chapters of the novel and watching 4 seasons of the anime.
As a certified overlord fan,im always happy to see a new video on this show
And I'm always happy to have someone new watch one of my videos.
Man trapped in death end job is massive understatement 😂
🤣 True true
Wdym, climb is literally the luckiest human of them all.
He got a crazy hot demon waifu who will love him unconditionally no matter what.
That is true
“Love” and “unconditionally” are doing A LOT of heavy lifting in that statement.
@@ashvandal5697 i shouldve added "Questionably"
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
I'm on the team now
"Dead end job", is not only that, his world is a literal "10th world country" dystopia.
I wish we got to see this in the anime. I understand now why he was bro obsessed with the game.
You can’t have everything in you know time and all that
@@Zikkar True. But other anime have been able to incorporate more. Dandadan for example has been adapting a chapter an episode and Delicious in Dungeon was doing two chapters and episode. Perhaps if the seasons were longer then that could have led to more of the material being incorporated.
Overlord scratches alot of the itches I have, worldbuild foremist being the biggest draw, then the aspect of settlement management game, the other is characters. Not just writing characters but also builds for each character have alot of tought put into it.
Like an example of a build I'd love to try out is Shaltear, a vampire valkyrie build seems like such an optimal build. Having the job cover the racial weakness in holy elemental attacks. While both vampire race and valkyrie having great sustain with life steal and healing, plus her weapon being speced for lifesteal too is just icing on top of the cake.
Now for character writing, I gotta say that I would of never imagined I would have come to appreciate Zanac so much when he was introduced into the story. He has become one of my favorite characters in the series and it's a testiment to Kugane's ability to write intriguing side characters.
The world building is fantastic in this anime and Zanac sneaks up on everyone by being a brilliant character.
The Overlord anime definitely doesn't make justice to how fucking amazing the Light novels are, the Bloody Valkyrie Arc (the battle with shalltear) IS AN ENTIRE 300 PAGE BOOK AND IT'S AMAZING. Also, THERE'S GONNA BE A MOVIE?! OMG Neia Baraja my beloved
I'm very excited for the film as it's apparently the best arc in the light novels
@@liamnidas It's the two largest whole books in the series, they re-structured the anime timeline to skip it since it's so long (it takes place canonically in the middle of the S4 - right after the dwarven kingdom arc) They better not fuck it up with how condensed the run time will be
Neia Baraja is amazing and I agree. Best side character ever.
@@RexDeorumYT That's my concern about it being squashed. Same with the Haikyuu movies. But hopefully, enough is retained for anime onlys to still grasp how good the arc is.
Overlord seems like 4k skeletor
Skeleton wishes he was Ainz
It’s such a huge thing that Ainz isn’t dumb. It’s played up that he doesn’t know what everyone’s talking about, but he has some crazy skills. Managing a top MMO guild where everyone is a working adult? Managing to keep it afloat when you’re the only one left? He’s not educated, but he’s got tons of skills from the world of 2138. People don’t give him enough credit. He truly is the ruler here. Doesn’t ever get cocky with the power he has and it pays off big time. He’s like iron man in the sense that he does his best to learn from his mistakes.
He is a lot smarter than people realise
@@liamnidas it's also overlooked, because never directly stated, how his undead body and build attributes might be influencing his intellectual prowess, after all his body, racial and class specs affect him in every other regard so even if his personality is that of an average man with severe lack of confidence, his body in the NW is that of an extremely powerful creature with possible the highest intellectual and wisdom stats possible. On top of that he has certain feats like Dark Wisdom which was what allowed his character in Yggdrasil to bypass the max limit of learned spells, in a real world setting that would by itself translate into amazing memorization and analytical skills beyond anything a human could.
There are fan theories about how these things are why everything seems to work out so well for him all the time, despite his apparent bumbling through the situations planned out by Albedo and Demiurge, the running joke of the story being that Ainz is just faking it until he makes it, but the real joke might be that Albedo and Demiurge are actually correct and it's not just their bias making them think Ainz is truly a supreme being they cannot match, despite the fact that he himself doesn't believe it.
Personally I lean into this theory because it is logical and consistent with all the other things we are told and shown about how Suzuki's humanity and even his personality are being slowly overwritten by his character design, and in this regard I think his own self-evaluation should be seen with mistrust, like he is sort of an unreliable narrator when it comes to his own situation.
@@admontblanc That's a really interesting theory. I think I might buy into that one too.
Lack of character growth doesn't mean it's bad writing. It's all about character development: learning about their likes, dislikes, goals, dreams, aspirations, and flaws. That's why Cowboy Bebeop is considered an all time great. The characters in the show never really change. In fact, that is their failing as characters and is kind of a tragedy. It's through this that we see the interactions between characters and see conflict arise.
And Overlord absolutely has well developed characters. Yes, they have a shared universal goal. But that makes them actually very interesting as they disagree on how to achieve or go about achieving such goals. Therein conflict arises. They don't agree how to go about worshipping the Supreme Beings which is literally coded into them. Yes, you may not like them as characters(that is your opinion that you are entitled to), but we definitely see interesting interactions due to this. For instance, the disagreement between Albedo and Demiurge and even Cocytus. Or the conflict between their personal desires and their wish to serve Ainz. Shalltear and Sebas. Or how their own programming limits them from helping Ainz such as Cocytus and Shalltear. Or how they put their own respective creators above even Ainz. Even the twins disagreeing on how to walk down stairs(it was in the novel to be fair, but the novel really is better than the anime due to the animals tendency to cut out materials). That's not the hallmark of bad writing. Far from it. The writer is clearly talented to be able to make interesting interactions and conflict through limited personality traits. And STILL have their own individuality shine through it all.
Well said
Overlord definitely does have good writing. I just wish the NPCs progressed more in these four seasons
One of the interesting things about Overlord is that the way Ainz sees human races is with as much carelessness and disdain as we see evil races like goblins and trolls
Completely true. Makes him a more compelling protagonist.
Which is how his guild in the game was established. All the guild members were from heteromorphic races, and they were all heavily RP mains, also most of their RP was about being a guild of evildoers who oppose the forces of good, with few exceptions like Touch Me, whose designed NPCs are also the only ones with a good alignment, such as Sebas. The LN even heavily implies that members like Ulbert were actually quite twisted people irl, though that hasn't been very explored so far, at least in the main story.
@@admontblanc I hope it does get explored. I'd like to see the people responsible for such twisted creations.
Overlord's Albedo has a lot of character, and that's why I like her, even in a game as Lord of Nazarick
Code: 8KThankU
The NPCs don't change? You should watch it again a pay attention to Shalltear, her personality chnges after her defeat against Ains
Really the only character that doesn't change is Albedo, and Demiurge to a degree
However most of even the NPCs have a bit of character development, especially Sebas and Shalltear.
In of itself it's not perfect, most of the NPCs are relatively boring and really need more to them
exception to the rule
@@kingwolf9447 Albedo to be fair was never a favourite because of her character, which is perhaps the flattest in Nazarick. No, it was more due to another part of her that is not flat in the slightest, two things specifically, maybe a few more.
@@jakob3044 she is a walking sex joke, not really much of a character.
It's a big shame because Shalltear has quite a lot of sexual jokes attached to her, but she has actual development. She changes primarily after the fight with Ainz and than again during the Dwarves related arc.
Albedo is wasted potential.
@@kingwolf9447 they're acting upon their descriptions/traits that has been attached to them by their creators.
You sentence "Villans killing good guys" 🤣 can I explain to me who are the good guy and why. I have seen all seasons and re-watched Overlord and I have read LN. So there are no good guys at all....exept Gazef with his moral code to defend the inocent and be loyal his king [and only smart one to say don't start a war against Ainz]
I love Overlord.
Prince Zanac is pretty much just as good as Gazef ideals wise.
@@whisperofthebookworm5341 Prince Zanac was a sleeper hit character.
Overlord is hands down my favourite, but I can't bring myself to choose a favourite character, if I had to narrow it down though, Aura, Shalltear, and Renner are probably my top 3
Renner is such a great character. Pure evil.
It's not necessarily that the main characters don't have a lot of character building... they don't have a lot of character.
They have memories, but their real personalities/development from 2d to 3d character only started after starting the isekai. The thing that made me realise this was when Cocytus was made to pick up 'real life skills' subjugating the lizardfold, as most of the characters don't have real wordly experience.
Hopefully, the anime can push them more to gain that real world experience.
It’s funny you mention the NPCs character growth, because Ainz is trying to see if the NPCs characters can grow. So I suspect that if there is NPC growth it will be slow and deliberate.
I'm sure that's the case too. I just wish after four seasons, at least one of them had developed more. Or even if just the characters were put into situations more often that could lead to change.
It's like Ayakonoji from Classroom of the Elite. After three seasons he hasn't changed at all. But he is trying to change, or at least curious to see if he can. So he puts himself in situations to try and change himself. Th NPCs of Nazarick just disappear from the show for large stretches of time.
Something I think really helps Overlord work is that your POV characters can change with each scene, and by having such a large main cast that means you can get glimpses of gears turning before the action, allowing the world to feel properly sized as a couple of characters can disappear for a few episodes before turning back up in a new location to work out their plans.
Completely agree
One thing I wish is that Ainz and company face more challenges . It doesn’t have to be hard battles but imagine the money influx messes with the economy, or a plague and they have to solve it or something political that they can’t just beat with power. Another issue is that the floor guardians besides Cocytus and Sebas don’t really grow. Like the moment of Cocytus losing due to neglecting to study his enemy or the terrain was a great lesson and growth for his character. An example of what I didn’t like was Ainz goes on an entire speech about how a leader is responsible and having all the responsibility folllowing Philip going against their plans . Albedo first meant to punish her subordinate but then Ainz takes responsibility as her leader. Literally a day later the king offers his head to Albedo taking no responsibility just like Ainz said and giving the prefect example yet Albedo not learning from that lesson declares war on the kingdom despite the king acting as Ainz said a leader should and that lesson. Some people say oh it’s about Ainz and company winning and how the world isn’t fair . How it’s a refreshing twist of the overpowered hero to the overpowered villain, but now we just have the same problem but reversed . It gets boring Ainz just squashing everything easily and it’s not just him but everyone. Eeven the pet hamster is in the realm of hero’s . One Punch man is the perfect example of handling overpowered properly. Saitama is overpowered and broken but there’s still strong characters like the S class who are extremely broken and powerful but who might occasionally face a challenge. And then there’s weakling hero’s who can get tossed around like nothing or dominated or even grow .
I've enjoyed Overlord since the fan translation of the webnovel day, and I think the LN is pretty great. The Anime is fun and watchable, but it really highlights how much of a power fantasy it is at its core.
This wasn't a problem for me until I ended up in a few conversations which basically boiled down to power fantasy good and anything else bad, which has really turned me off of them in general. Current events don't help evil protagonist stories being less enjoyable for me either...
I think that's fair. Hopefully, the anime will be able to capture more of the vibe of the light novel going forward.
And the most incredible part of it all. One of the best scenes in anime history aka. Renner Song is COMPLEATLY anime-oryginal, so at the premier, even novel readers went crazy with hype...and now with season 5 confirmed (there is not enough source material tho) we are all collectivly wondering will we go anime-oryginal for X more seasons...they showed they can cook a great scene...hell a greater one than author himself could write (and he is absolute genious so thats A LOT), but can they make entire oryginal seaaon that would match His quality?
It would be cool if they could include some of the stuff that they cut out from the light novels
Overlord grew on me. The episodes follow the light novel volumes. 3 episodes per Volume. Although there are funny slice of life type episodes either in the beginning or ending of each season. Little things like not washing before bathing is a big faux pas. Or Ainz's body pillow. Or how Mare cried when Ainz would not give him up. Even a peck on the cheek to prevent colds. Of course I love the SPLAT episode too.
It grew on me too
In the books the floor guardians start to have more development with time to the point albedo is potentially plotting behind Ainz’s back demiurge is almost never at the tomb shalltear lost her ego for the most part thanks to mare Sebas doesn’t really change cocytus starts to grow into his leadership position and is in charge of se real different species mare and aura don’t really change you just learn more about them and by the newest book Ainz is considering retiring because he’d much rather explore the world
It really sounds like so much from the light novels was removed in the anime. Especially when it comes to Albedo.
@ Definitely I bet when the next season comes out they will completely cut her worrying about demiurge figuring what she’s doing out because they didn’t set it up at all
@@groovyhoovy2606 Most likely. Unfortunately.
Overlord should have had 24-26 ep per season. It skipped/missed so much in the anime.
Completely agree
Mad House could not make Season 1 Overlord, the same as Season 1 OPM in terms of animation quality, because despite being the same studio working on these anime, this is not all there is to it, it's not that simple.
You simply disregarded that different directors worked on these, each merging their expertise with the author's vision, using the resources they had available, most likely competing for resources, since a studio has a limited amount of staff, which are not all the same in skill level, overworked and underpaid.
On top of all that, the director from One Punch man Season 1 (Shingo Natsume), did a herculean effort to produce the best anime he could, he used everything, every contacts he had, he had to outsource A LOT to make it come to fruition with the level of animation he envisioned and felt the series deserved, that's why you can distinctively notice difference in animations during tense moments in different episodes, because different people, directed and made them other than Shingo.
And on the other hand you have Overlord season 1, directed by Naoyuki Ito, using only in house resources, having to compete with other directors for the animators and having a far less ambitious project on his end, not taking anything away from his work, but this was simply the cards he was dealt and I truly enjoyed Overlord in all of it's seasons, despite the choices made in animation.
Thank you for speaking sense
I know that overlord would never have One punch man's level of animation. I said that in the video too. However, it does show that madhouse were not past their peak when Overlord released. And plenty of madhouse anime after look better than overlord season 1. Including Overlord season 4. My point was not that overlord should've looked like one punch man. But instead that Madhouse absolutely had the capabilities to make overlord look better than it did.
You're not wrong but none of that makes it any less disappointing in this regard. As someone who doesn't care one bit about OPM I wish Overlord had been given the treatment all the major anime productions have these days and had the best animation that money can buy you. I still enjoy enjoy it a lot, it's definitely my favorite isekai along with Mushoku Tensei, the one thing I'm grateful is that the anime allowed me to discover this series and the LN is one of the best things you can read in the modern era if you enjoy DnD based content.
@@admontblanc True. It's more annoying given how successful Overlord is for Madhouse. Out of all their anime, it seems like the one that should get special treatment. Yet it rarely does.
one of us one of us one of us
I'm on the team now
Coincidentally 1:46- the new movie is about an act demon lord (rank, js like in tensura). Agreed, Ainz undeniably hold power onpar if not greater than a demon lord. However, it is not known at this time if a seed is required in order to receive such title and buff. (Ainz is Sorcerer King, but ykwim) the new movie releasing next wk should shed some light
Hopefully, it does. I'm really invested in Overlord now, Something that I would have been surprised to hear myself say only a couple months ago.
Well, the anime doesn't`do justice to the character. The novels are more developed in terms of NPC growth.
It's a shame because they've cut so much out of the anime adaptation.
I absolutely love Overlord. I am big into D&D, so each tidbit and Easter egg that is put in with spells and items makes me happy. Its even helped me in a few campaigns!
The world of Overlord is very well developed. My favorite character is Lord Ainz. In his regular world, he's from this dystopian future that has corporations working people to the bone to avoid worse conditions being outside their protection. Much like the rest of the Overlord world though, the context is hinted at, and buried more in the other media. His care for people's working conditions, trying to implement days off, vacation days, and the like are things that he and his friends probably did not get a lot of time to enjoy (like the intro with the ooze guy saying he felt how his avatar looked). Take the same weird morality - and apply it to the other governments present. Re-Estize has so much corruption, that taking over the crime syndicate gives Nazaric control of half the country.
There are a lot of layers to the world. Its my favorite anime!
This anime absolutely boasts some of the best world building in an anime. Hand down. Also you've added another wrinkle to Ainz that I previously didn't notice so thank you.
I really liked overlord since day 1, many of the sistem used are from TTRPGs like DnD 3.5 (race levels + class levels + prestige classes) if you're a old player/DM you will spot many spells and feat combinations also magical items like the "wish ring", this also inspires me to make my own custom setting for 5e.
I believe that the creator of Overlord was an avid Dungeons and Dragons player. He used to be the Dungeon master hence why Overlord has such good world building. It's also why he wrote Overlord because him and his friends were playing D&D less together.
This was very interesting to me as I never really considered that there were people who liked the human characters more and were rooting for them over Ains and the NPCs of Nazarick. I always found the human characters as kind of a drag and less exciting (and was even upset when they took screen time from the NPCs). It kinda makes sense that you might have found it less enjoyable supporting the often losing characters. Personally I think the NPCs show more character development than you give them credit for (I can think of good examples for all the main ones expect maybe Demuirge who just remains pure evil). Meanwhile even though the human characters had decent development I wasn’t as interested as I was mostly interested in watching them be outplayed by Ains 😅
It's definitely a slow burn... but the main narrative point is that we know as much as ains does.... he's Ignorant to the new world as much as the viewers. Plus it's all from a novel 😅 they could literally make a whole season for each arc... but you know that's not how anime is made 😂 the reason why the supporting characters "feel" right is because usually the POV changes in the anime so instead of ains who just stays in the tomb we watch the people of the world. But at the end of the day, no human in this story is "important" to the actual main character....Plus CGI gets a bad rep for anime but why? Because it's "bad" or because it's just not "anime"? 😅 it's used like 15% of the time and for parts the team wants to realize but maybe can't afford 😅 the story is solid. I'm not knocking you opinion but I'm trying to say it's not perfect but it's always tired it's best and that shows even from season 1. Even if it might not seem like it.
I get ya.
On the CGI, it's not good. It doesn't gel with the rest of the anime. Demon Slayer, as inconsistent as its CGI can be, is a good showcase for how good combining 2D animation and CGI can be.
I also wish we'd get more POVs from the NPCs. Explore them a bit more.
I read the Light Novel first when I ran across it in the translation forums. It was an entertaining read up to chapter 8. Sucked as it basically takes years for a volume to be released. However I do like it, evident that it has been with me for these years to wonder about.
And apparently it's only gotten better too.
I like you talk about ainz i respect that but did you feel or see that ainz is hiding something that we do not see in the screen
Maybe. Some content was removed from the light novel.
The first time I watched season 4's ending I actually swore off of Overlord, recently I gave it a second chance and realized season 4 has an astounding level of depth to it that has been building up since season 2, it was a slow burn buildup. My favorite character is Cocytus for his character design and sense of honor. He stands up to Ainz in defense of the lizardmen though Demiurge covers for him. And in that you see the comradery between the floor guardians.
Cocytus is a very noble character. I have a soft spot for him myself. I'm very glad that it was him that Brain came across.
the song used in the anime before the grime guy leaves is so hitting the feels as so many times has there been such a time like that the song is called the era had been shining
Both this and Slime Datta Ken are like my favourite isekai in terms of worldbuilding.
To me, Slime is the yin of overlord's yang. Both having similar flows, and both going for a similar end-goal, but the approach the main characters go about it feels very different.
Some key factors that are different obviously! Ainz got put into the new world with an entire hidden kingdom, but Rimuru has to build it from scratch, etc.
I think both anime are so nice for the plot and worldbuilding. I kind of love that I can deep-dive into the lore of the world for hours and just read on stuff and be like "wow yea, that makes total sense." It's incredibly satisfying to see such a machine of a world in both shows. of course the way the story is presented is very limited, and I don't blame the writers of the show for that when you only get 12 episodes. Basically, Overlord just needs more episodes in a season to cover more details of an arc, because it deserves the detail.
I completely agree. Give this show a few more episodes per season so that some of that juicy lore can better come to the surface.
I was hooked midway through episode one back in the summer of 2017.
I have welcomed each new season with a rewatch of the whole series!
I'm assuming you'll be rewatching it again soon with the new movie on the way. Plus there's the rumoured fifth season around the corner.
I gotta say though.
The anime cuts a lot of content. Some hints that the gods the theocracy worship used to be players. The Platomum dragon's dad being the cause for the isekai of several players. The fact that Yggdrasil magic is available in game probably being because of a world item changing reality to make it possible, etc.
For example after Shalltesr gets mindcontrolled he gives every guardian a world itrm. Because the inly way to be immune to a world item effect is to have one yourself.
There is so much here. Ainz did not go on a ramoage forst, he went to investigate the world. His entire adventurer lapse is a multipurpose mission. He does not trust others to get proper informstion as they all hate humans. So he goes hinself. He wants to know if the world currency can work as replacement for Yggdrasil money. He checks he can use Yggdrasil money instead lf current kingdom currency. Finall, he evaluates the power scaling of the world. The guy us not a multidisciplinary genius but he is smart. Then of course you have the entire thing the guardians added to his actions, like plan yo peacefully take over, etc.
Despite not being a genius, he is smart enough to know when ithers will do a better job and so he delegates.
Ainz is a lot smarter than he gets credit for. And I do wish the anime didn't cut out so much.
I really hate when people say that Overlord is an anime where the bad guys win.
Ains is NOT EVIL.
He doesn't kill for the sake of killing. He doesn't enjoy it. He doesn't rule with an iron fist. He doesn't mistreat the people he has subjugated. In fact he treats the people better than anyone else in the anime. He seeks to create a Utopia where everyone can live in peace with all races. He doesn't look down on other races like the humans of the world do. He gives people a way to out repeatedly. For instance when his tomb gets attacked he asks why these people want to attack him. When some of those people say they were sent by a friend he gives them a chance to explain.
Just because he doesn't feel bad when people are killed doesn't mean he's evil or seeks out death. He treats people the way they should be treated. If they bring violence or deception to him then they get treated without mercy. Just like he would be treated by these same people if he was the weaker one.
There is not a single time in the anime that Ains does anything that is outright evil. And i hate when people say he is. Its annoying and shallow minded.
edit: on a side note.
I never once thought the animation or art style in Overlord was bad. I HATE the stupid childish every person has muscles on muscles, overly detailed to the point of absurdity art style that is popular with newer anime. You don't need 50 million things exploding and flashes going off, with lightning in the background and two thousand screams every time a punch is thrown.
Look at this video. Almost any moment you pause this video could be a desktop wallpaper or a poster on your wall. I paused at 10:48 to write this at random, and that would make an amazing poster.
/rantoff.
Ainz unncessarily commits genocide against a nation that had already surrendered. It's an act so evil that some of the NPCs tried to persuade him against doing it.
I think Overlord's art style is fine. The character designs for the NPCs are some of the best around. But the animation isn't great. It's not the worst and it has moments of excellence like Renner's dance. But there are too many moments hampered by bad cgi.
@@liamnidas "Ainz unncessarily commits genocide against a nation that had already surrendered"
If you are referring to who I think you are, then they didn't really surrender, they were just denied the option. And that was only after they witnessed Ainz's power for themselves. Before that they were hostile, arrogant, and fully committed to war. They also were given the choice to give up a city without bloodshed. Which they turned down. What happened to them was bad leadership and arrogance. All Ainz did was make good on his word by wiping them out when they refused his offer. Hes simply living by the rules of the world he was transported into. Like I said before, if the roles were reversed they would have wiped him out in a heartbeat.
As far as the CGI, yeah it wasn't the best and im unsure why some anime insist on including it, but it also wasn't Mortal Kombat Annihilation bad...lol.
@@Shadownian It doesn't matter when they surrender, they still decided to surrender. And gave themselves up multiple times. The king was even willing to give his head.
For real world comparison, Japan refused to surrender and kept fighting in World War Two even after Germany's defeat. Then America dropped two massive bombs which lead to Japan surrendering. Just because they put up a fight beforehand, doesn't change the fact they surrendered.
@@liamnidas During the fight against Ainz where he casted the goat spell, they were acting all cocky and wanted to take over. Ainz gave those that wanted to time to flee, which is how that noble who ends up siding with them got away. After the fight Ainz told them exactly what he was going to do. Giving them time to get civilians and people out of there, which they didnt do. He only cared about taking out the actual physical place as a show of his might, they chose to stay. He didnt kill the prince and even respected him thats why he had his killers tortured. What happened to them was completely on them. The actions they took because they were overconfident. He didnt attack the other country who chose to become a vassal did he? No he only went after the other one because they came for him. Besides how many time do you hear Ainz in his inner monologue say that hes actually against taking over the world and attacking everyone? Just like the raiders who came to his home because of greed. He gave them a chance to do the right thing, they didnt.
@@Shadownian He's literally an invader and conqueror. They did try and evacuate. But some stayed as Brain mentioned when he walked past a house with some people in it, surprised that they aren't trying to leave. Where are they going to go anyway? Imagine someone was about to obliterate your entire country. Where are you going to go? He might not have killed the prince but he was always going to. The prince literally agrees to die with dignity. Ainz is evil. No country or its citizens should ever be in fear of invasion, conquering or genocide. You say he gave them chances but he clearly didn't. They repeatedly tried to submit and surrender. It is only natural that someone would fight back against an enemy at first. I am legitimately shocked that anyone would ever defend these actions. The acts committed by Ainz are regarded in the real world as some of the most evil things someone could do.
Overlord is the first anime I have ever watched and I have rewatched it so many times. It was at the end of the four season binge at the Princess Renner scene where i was finally like damn I guess im gonna be watching more anime. Cause by the gods is that scene so good. I get goose bumps every time and in each watch through and read of the lightnovels do I realise how evil and brutal she was. I 100% agree with your assessments. It isn't the best show despite it being one of my favorite animes period, but it sure is a good one and one of the best isekais.
Completely agree with everything you said. That scene with Renner had such an impact on me. I was completely entranced by it.
I really like the emperors character, he's got hella drip. And Clementine those two are my absolute favorite characters in the show, her VA went so hard on their lines. hearing them for the first time kind of made me giddy cause daaaam! psycho lady being actually psycho for the fun of it is pretty refreshing, its sort of why I love the joker so much. Idk maybe im a bit of a twisted person but I do enjoy a bit of murder for the funs of it :3
The Emperor is a fantastic character, and I love that somehow he's always making the right decision whilst simultaneously making the wrong one.
Aoi Yuki is one of best and most sought after voice actors in Japan. And her performance as Clementine really demonstrates why.
Ok this is funny, I just started overlord for the first time ever like two weeks ago, I never watched it when it was airing, I didnt even knew the openings, never knew nothing about the plot, Albedo, or Ainz himself, so let me tell you this; it's an entertaining show, I can see why so many people were loud about this anime is fun to watch but also kinda empty
I finished season 2 a few days ago, and I'm starting now season 3, but I can tell you this, Overlord has no plot yet, it feels like a plot is growing, but not yet, first two seasons were characters showing how OP are in this world, but that's it, again is entertaining, and I can see why so many people love it but is a 7.5/10 for me, I hope that season 3 and season 4 are better
I would say that season 3 and especially season 4 are better. I'm not going to pretend that the jump in quality is massive but I do think this show gets better. And I think season 4 whilst not the end of the story, does act as a very satisfying conclusion to certain character's arcs.
So much overlord love recently, this is like the 3rd video recomended to me this week.
And the love will only get stronger after the film.
I was a Day 1 fan. Fell in love with Albedo. I got to meet her voice actress she was awesome as well. I can’t wait for the movie to come out next month….😮
I also fell for Albedo in the first episode. I'm pretty sure I can fix her.
@@liamnidas hahahaha I’m sure one of us can lol
@@lordtouchme3362 We'll fight over her 😂
6:05 yooooo that xenoblade music in the background!
That’s the music from Alcamoth I do believe.
14:00 Sweet summer child
The Five Worst
In Nazarick there is an unofficial group, the members are all just the most disgusting in their respective categories.
They are:
Neuronist Painkill - "Worst Occupation"
Kyouhukou - "Worst Residence"
Gashokukochuuou - "Worst Appearance"
Chacmool - "Worst Personality"
and finally
[???] (name unknow) - "Worst Ero"
All we know is his description. A tentacle type monster similar to a Roper. Yet it is said that he (maybe she) has a gentle personality, so he is more popular than the Worst Personality.
Its a friking tentacle monster!!!!
Oh God, I can already see how the tentacle monster is going to come into play.
One of the things you're forgetting is that kadokawa allocates a certain budget for the show and madhouse is just the animation studio so they have to work with what they're essentially given.
You're right. But that still doesn't change the fact that the animation is weak.
Blue Lock season 2's animation is terrible. But the reasons why make it clear that the studio and animators are not really responsible for it looking that way despite animating it.
Now imagine if you actually read the novel instead you'd be mind F.
From all the comments I've read, it does sound like I would.
Anime is good, is nice to see scenes animated, but the novels... Damn, they're worth it. S4 ending, No Man's Dawn is beautiful by itself, but in context (why Ainz is doing what he's doing and realization about chances of getting his true wish being pretty much 0 hitting him HARD during his talk with Zanac), it goes straight for the heart. I rate this song I'm not teary-eyed, my eyeballs are just sweating/10.
There's also a clear difference between being in opposition to nazarick and being under either direct control or protection. While the first option is a death sentence, the second... Isn't bad at all, hopefully the movie shows a good chunk of how the novels described it.
Fingers crossed the movie delivers. Have heard overall positive things about it.
I love Overlord Light novel, the details in the world building. Major side character have enough backstory/lore to be their own main character. Even minor side characters get some love in backstory. It feels refreshing to read, sadly that the writer of Overlord will cut the story short. However, I will have a spiritual successor as mine D&D story will be based around Overlords world (without Nazerick and Ainz). As I find the New World a very interesting place to explore.
I enjoyed Overlord from the beginnen, however I really loved after reading the LN
My favorite character is Evileye, her backstory is fascinating.
And favorite Isekai is either Overlord (prefer the LN) or Konosuba
Konosuba is a fantastic anime. Great pick.
Yeah, it's a shame that Overlord won't be what the author initially wanted it to be. But I still have faith that he'll end the story in a satisfying way.
Sebas is also the oddball of Nazarick as one of the few NPCs that has a good alignment.
One of the best characters in the entire anime
If there is one thing I learn about creative companies, is that all because they share the same name, doesn't mean they share the same team. For example, in Square-Enix, the team that made FF14 isn't the same team that made FF15 that isn't the same team that made Dragon Quest. The point is, it's no surprise Overlord wouldn't have the same quality as One Punch. Mad House isn't a single team and we're always gonna have fallible people who are lacking.
Oh yeah, absolutely. It was more to do with the fact that a lot of people say that Madhouse declined in quality after one punch man. And overlord's animation is often held up as the example. So I wanted to point out that overlord season one still came out during Madhouse's golden age. And that it was a very weak looking anime for that studio as a whole.
potentially the main aspect about overlord that i really love is the disparity between normal humans and the monstrous entities of nazarick. i love the like almost cosmic horror aspect. when brain is fleeing from shalltear, when those mercenaries invade the tomb... fucking peak.
That was awesome. Especially as it kickstarts Brain's fantastic arc.
I honestly think the biggest thing about Overlord a lot of people miss is that the story isn't about Nazarick vs The New World, it's about Ainz vs Social Expectation. He's overpowered, yes, but that's so that the combat side of things doesn't impact the social encounters that are more compelling.
Then again, this is my opinion, and an example of how different people can take different things from the same story.
It's a very fair opinion. Either way its shows how good this series is that people can connect with and like different parts of it.
Dude, that's strange. Your optics and how you enjoy Overlord is so far from the way I do but I can understand it perfectly, and that is really cool :D
Shows that there's a lot of different things that someone could love about this anime
This and slime is probably my top 2 anime I have watched a lot of anime but I just like isekai the best but I have to say I like overlord more because you get to see the struggles of regular people/kingdoms get reduced to nothing when bone daddy appears
The anime does an incredible job of getting you invested in Ainz's victims
the first 18 seconds of this video were way too relatable, it's the same for me until i watched it on netflix recently XD
i knew about the anime for quite awhile but never watched it bc i didn't think it'd be that good but when i watched it a few days ago my mind changed, it was so good i binged it for an entire 24 hours, the extra time spent reading a bit of the light novel online
That's what I need to do now. Read the light novel. Got to fill in the blanks left by the anime.
Legit just finished my 10th rewatch, now I want to rewatch it again thanks to this video. Also, I think Lord Ainz has way too much aura for this stinky universe he got transported to
Honestly his aura is so strong it could destroy the world if he really wanted it to,
The overlord anime was done dirty by 2 thing's. One, the animation, the first 3 seasons had a lower budget studio and I've heard rumors of season 3 having proper problems. The 2nd is how much they cut, they cut out most of the context and have removed full scenes or shortened them. It actually almost feels like a different story.
Also season 4 was done by a great studio, however, the producer didn't care for Overlord. So in quality, it only got a bit better.
All four seasons as well as the movie have been done by the same studio Madhouse. But like other studios, Bones for example, it's possible that there are actually multiple studios under Madhouse and it got passed off to one of the stronger ones for season 4.
Two reasons I love Ainz is that one he's undead, which means his character has no humanity, and secondly he isn't a smart person but in the light novels the reason he seems like such a smart person to the NPC's is that he's a good actor and story writer also his characters int stat is maxed out.
He is a genuinely good protagonist with so many layers
while Mushoku tensei focuses so much more on the development that occurs within characters, Overlord focuses much more on the development of the world *around* the main characters. The Nazarick NPCs do have room for growth, but they are very stubborn about growth or change because they were of course... programmed to behave that way.
That's a good point. Although I have heard that some of the growth for characters like Albedo was removed from the anime.
I never thought I'd meet someone who thought the NPCs were shallow. But here we are.
Quite a few of the comments agree with me. Apparently a lot of their development was cut out in the anime.
Honestly it took until the end of season 2 for my wife and I to start to take to it. We tried 3 times just to get through season 1. We only tried it that many times because it was always at the top of best of lists. Glad we finally went through it.
I had a similar experience the first time I watched it. Season 2 is when Climb gets introduced and they start progressing Brain and Sebas's characters. I'm glad I gave it a second chance too.
the thing is, the anime believes perhaps a litle too much in "show dont tell". so if one wants to you can keep rewatching the series as you try to read into their feelings and who the characters actually are.
I agree with that. Sometimes it holds back a little too much information.
Overlord has been my favorite isekai since season 2, there are contenders but I feel aside from the animation everything is great. My favorite thing is how characters react to situations actually makes sense.
I agree with that. Characters respond like actual people and it makes them so much more engaging.
Overlord has really good characters...
The Nazarick NPCs are all full of character and some of the most fun to just watch interact.
The humans all get amazing growth
I do agree that the NPCs can have some great interactions and the human characters are phenomenal.
when will you watch the OG isekai mushoku tensei?
I've already seen it. Great anime. However, I don't really have much to say about it. And I'm a little apprehensive to make a video on it given some of the reactions to some of its content. That said, I'll likely talk about it at some point. I'm planning on mentioning it in a video later this year.
The weirdest part of overlord is that while it cuts a lot of things, the little things that suggest that the cut thing exists are still there. So when you rewatch it after reading the novel you constantly see little movements, or offhand remarks referencing the cut things so you are constantly pointing at the screen like that one Di caprionmeme it really feels like the team wanted to include those but had to cut it out due to limitations rather than didn't think showing them was important.
This anime feels like it was made by people who loved the story but were not allowed enough budget and time to express that love properly, rather than the factory production line of most isekai
I agree with that. Reading some of the comments on this video and knowing what I know now, I understand certain moments more.
It does look like despite the flaws, the people that worked on this anime were fans of the source material.
I think either Shaltere or Cocytus changed the most, Sebas did not change at all really, we just got to learn more about him.
I get that. Although I would say that Sebas does change because in season four he tries to persuade Ainz to not wipe out all the humans. Even going through improper channels to get a meeting with him. I don't think he would have done that in season one.
Love this anime, and really love the light novels. In fact it’s the anime that made me reach out to read the light novels. So glad I did!
Honestly, I think it's going to have the same effect on me.
I'd argue that Ainz ain't that evil compared to other rulers of New World - he genuinely cares about his subordinates, even not original guild ones. He's the only thing that stops denizens of Nazarick from tearing the world apart like in the short novel with EE. His goal of creating a kingdom where all races can coexist is genuinely good. Well more like forced to coexist. But in New World before players showed up humans were considered food for pretty much every other race. So there isn't really an option but to force it. Might makes right. And Ainz is mostly merciful leader considering how out of the league he is even for oldest New World beings like dragons, that mostly don't care at all about lesser beings. Zanac in the end acknowledges that Ainz isn't the ultimate evil that wants to ruin everything\everyone and wants mostly the same for Sorcerer's kingdom as he does for his. Re-estize could've escaped it's fate multiple times if not for meddling of some stupid or malicious people and others giving up on it.
Staticness of Nazarick is intentional. Because they're the new constant in this world that other people try to deal in their own ways. They're not main characters that need to evolve, get humbled or overcome something - others are.
I guess you're right about Ainz. He is holding the NPCs back from essentially starting the apocalypse.
That's an interesting way of viewing the static nature of the characters.
The npcs thoughs and feelings are better disclosed in the novel, where most of the writing consists of thoughts, and not actions or dialogues. They are not so plain, just as plain as you would expect from npcs that were born the moment they were isekai'd, with just their charact descriptions and a few memories of the game to guide them.
Maybe as the anime progresses we'll get to see some of these thoughts to better flesh out the NPCs.
As a LN reader, I can say with my chest out that Overlord anime series is shit! I remember how they butchered so hard the most anticipated scene in Overlord SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT! And as a LN reader the pacing of the anime feels so rushed, like they trying to speed run every event and just be done with it leaving so much details! Imagine trying to condense 3 books each having around 200-300 pages into 12 episodes. You can imagine the amount of details they skipped making even the story subpar and just mid overall
EDIT: Reading the comments I can also say the world building in Overlord is everything! It's so well done that I had a moment in my life where I visualize myself living in it, and keep continuing my story from where I left off the night before. Like the New World is so huge that the anime couldn't cover it all
It's a massive shame that they cut so much because this easily could have been one of the heavy hitter anime, even though it's still extremely popular.
Completely agree about the world building. Definitely in the running for the best that I've seen in this medium.
overlord gets a bit more interesting with every rewatch. you can really pick up some small details. like how Ainz is the best supporting character. This is a story of how the world changes and reforms around the big player on the board.
I agree with that. If Overlord gets a full adaptation then I'm sure that I'll definitely rewatch it again. Can't wait to pick up all the things I missed the first two times.
This was really interesting to watch, because I dropped the series for the same reasons as why you weren't hot on it at first, and my friends think i'm crazy for not loving it. I may have to give it another try... probably when its all finally over and done.
it wont be done for YEARS mind. the anime isnt even half way through the LN yet
I would recommend giving it a second chance. Although, waiting for it to all end, isn't a bad idea imo because by that point they may have addressed the NPC issue.
While I dont know how the Holy Kingdom Movie will be - I hope they show atleast Deltas Character Arc there, since the Anime pretty much cuts all the content about Nazaricks Characters, I believe there is an entire Volume of the Light Novel that basicly got skipped - because it was only Nazaricks Characters talking.
SPOILER BELOW:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Albedo, while programmed to be in Love with "Momonga" - actually hates Ainz for taking on his guilds name, and put together a team to kill all other players/Guildmembers, while lying to Ainz, telling him its to find the other players.
Delta (Android Maid) - becomes friends with a Human. (not pet- really actual friends)
Shalltear learns about not using pure strength to judge others and to apply wisdom too.
Just to name a couple examples I can make from the top of my head.
From what I've heard, the movie hits all the broad strokes of the arc and is a fantastic film for anime onlys. But if you're a light novel reader, you may feel a little let down by it being so squashed to fit into a movie's runtime. Though probably no less disappointed compared to what the anime overall did to the source material.
@@liamnidas jeah - however I feel compared to some other animes out there, overlord got a very faithful adaptation - they cut down a lot of content around albedo - which is weird - but the cut content around Nepheli is absolutly fine by me.
@@holokom3330 It definitely still feels like Overlord. And the major moments do get their justice.
I first watched Overlord before season 2 aired and I didnt like it all that much. It had the distinctive idea of being from the villian pov but for most of the season Ainz acts as the classic op hero and because of that it just felt like every other isekai with an op mc.Even the fact that he is mage gets wasted since he mostly fight with a sword . Once season 2 aired, I decided to watch it out of boredom and enjoy it way more and part of it is because of your critique of the non-Nazarick characters being better developped. Ainz is no longer the boring op hero, but the antagonist that the human protagonists have to face.
I went through the exact same transition
i'm still surprised that there is no figure for the last stance for the 2nd prince
They need to make that asap
i think ainz is the greatest isekai protagonist because he unlike 99.999% of every other isekai protagonist he comes a socially awkward, someone that actaully feels like a person that is role playing, not a guy that is a badass.
I would agree with the opennigs being in my top but 2015 was also the year of bradio and that song alone has my top 100 filled
Ainz is a great protagonist.
Yeah death Parade's opening is a classic.
Why do people keep thinking Ainz get Isekai into the game world? Even if you don’t read the novel and only watch the anime, it is not hard to figure out that he as his followers got Isekai into entirely new world.
I'm not sure if you're referring to people in general or this video specifically. But I do say that he was isekaied into another world. It's why I say he was double isekaied. Because had he just been isekaied into that other world, then he wouldn't be in his undead avatar and Nazarick would not have come along with him.
29,371 views, you’re reason are understandable (it’s sad that it light novel and not a manga)
There is a manga adaptation of the light novel. And I also think there's a manga sequel too that started this year. Looks like we'll have loads of Overlord for years to come.