But the pieces that make up the show and the hope of seeing these pieces used further works as enough of a hook to keep interest. So far, Overlord is a pretty simple show without anything original. Now that there’s a sense of his power, the anticipation is now seeing how he can even be challenged. He doesn’t strain himself at all as he one shots everything, and there’s a certain satisfaction from watching him be so dominant. As a max level character with god tier abilities, he shrugs off an opponent’s ultimate skill as if it was nothing. With Gazef now anchoring how a “strong” character should perform, Momonga - now calling himself Ains - steps in and blows everything away. It’s a visceral and well-animated sequence that gives us our initial point of comparison for character strength. ![]() Overlord spends some time letting him shine as he fires off skill after skill, rampaging through enemy hordes. Gazef, the kingdom’s royal head knight, attempts to drive off the attackers single-handedly. He more than easily makes quick work of them, commenting on how little effort he needed to do so. It’s clear that there is much more for him to show off, and this anticipation is what keeps interest in these otherwise uneventful first few episodes.Įpisode four is where we finally get a semblance of battle. As knights attack a village of the Re-Estize kingdom, Momonga uses it as an opportunity to test his combat strength. The following episodes set out to establish the world outside of Nazarick, as well as the huge power gap between Momonga and everyone else. Watching Momonga struggle to maintain his ruler persona in front of them is quite amusing, especially since he sometimes breaks character for a split-second when surprised. His subjects are the formerly AI-controlled floor guardians of Nazarick, who are now all independent beings in the new world. This giant structure was also transported to the new world, and Momonga is now suddenly the sole voice of authority within it. With his guildmates, he built the Great Tomb of Nazarick as their base - a vast, multi-floored labyrinth housing some of the most powerful items and NPCs. In Yggdrasil, he was the confident and ruthless leader of the top guild called Ains Ooal Gown, full of elite players. In real life Momonga was a Japanese salaryman, with a somewhat meek and awkward yet kind and loyal personality. Momonga himself is interesting in that he, unlike other VRMMO anime protagonists, takes effort to fulfill his avatar’s role play, which is quite different from his real life personality. Watching Momonga struggle to maintain his ruler persona is quite amusing. It’s a slow but necessary start, if only to set the audience’s expectations of what kind of world Momonga has been transported to and how he’ll adapt. Some things still work like they used to in the game - such as items and magic - but others don’t, like admin tools and NPC settings. The first two episodes focus on showing how personal the game of Yggdrasil is to Momonga, and contrasting the rules of the original game with the new world’s more unrestricted setting. While it still has its moments, hopefully future seasons can really show off how expansive Overlord‘s fun can be. There’s a lot of untapped potential to be had with its characters and lore, but it feels like it’s still warming up even by the season’s end. Because of this, Ains - and the anime as a result - never really goes all out. He’s so overpowered in fact, that there’s not much of anything to challenge him. ![]() Also, Ains is absurdly powerful, as he used to be an extremely high level player from Yggdrasil. However, unlike other shows like Log Horizon and Sword Art Online, the main character Momonga - who calls himself Ains in the new world - actually welcomes his predicament and seeks to further root himself in this new life. Overlord is yet another anime in the growing sub-genre of “trapped in a VRMMO”. With nothing to go back to in his original world, he uses his immense power to spread the name of his guild, Ains Ooal Gown, in the hopes of finding other players who may also have transported over. But, with a deep love for the game, he stays logged in until the very end, when he is suddenly transported into a new world that is just like the game. Momonga was just a regular guy who plays the D-MMORPG (Dive-MMO, a VR game) Yggdrasil, until after 12 years the servers are quietly shut down.
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