Overlord is based upon the light novel series with the first season comprising of 13 episodes. It starts in the year 2126, when the Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game Yggdrasil was released. This is a game where players enter the virtual reality and was one of the most popular games. It garnered a huge amount of players, thanks to its high degree of player interaction. However, like all online games, 12 years later, the servers are about to be shut down.
A high level player with the character name Momonga, the guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, spends the last few days within the game, staying until the very last second. However, once the clock ticks over, something unusual happened. The servers seemingly didn't get turned off but he cannot pull up the main menu. The NPCs has suddenly gained their own personalities, beyond those of a computer program. After some time, Momonga takes up the Ainz Ooal Gown as his name in this new world.
Upon investigation, their headquarters, The Great Tomb of Nazarick, was transported to an unknown place and Ainz investigates the world. As he gains more information, it seems more and more unlike the game Yggdrasil, although there are some similarities. He can still use magic, although some have different effects. Certain types of monsters from Yggdrasil appear in this world, the tiers of magic and its rules are the same and the same items can still be used here.
However, an important note is that this new world is not governed by game mechanics at all (so it's not like Sword Art Online). Perhaps the most disturbing thing is that Ainz has taken on his avatar form of the undead, and ended up losing most of his human emotions. In the game previously, he has created a number of NPC characters to guard his guild headquarters. The NPCs all gained their unique personalities which had remnants of their original coding. They are loyal to Ainz but have their own views of him as their leader. Ainz has to treat and act carefully to not arouse suspicion.
The first two episodes are slow paced as it sets up the premise but from the third episode, it pushes the plot forward a lot more, filling it with intrigue and mystery as Ainz steps out from the headquarters and into the world. Curiously, so far, it seems that he is the only player from Yggdrasil. Ainz ventures out into the world and shows off his powers. He wants to spread his name far and wide into this new world in order to see if any other Yggdrasil players were also transported. Most importantly, he wanted to find out if other guild members, who were his most treasured friends, was in this world and that is the main motivation and plot for the series. Thus, it ends up feeling a bit aimless with the events that are occurring not feeling very connected.
Ainz was a high level player in Yggdrail, having reached the level cap and access to high level spells. As a result of being able to use the same spells in this new world, he tests his power against others and finds that he is significantly more powerful than anyone he has encountered. Nevertheless, he is still wary and is careful when fighting someone for the first time, never underestimating. Unfortunately, Ainz remain very apathetic, which makes it hard at times to stand behind him. For example, some companions that he meets ends up losing their lives and Ainz does not show any emotion at all. However, there was another time where he preemptively attacked the opponent such that they couldn't launch a full scale attack on the town, even though that would have allowed him to appear more heroic, and thus spread his name out farther and wider.
Despite the members of Ainz Ooal Gown being the protagonists, their abilities can be nightmarish. You definitely would not like to be on the receiving end. The last two episodes ramps up the action although the causality of the events doesn't seem that strong. Things are happening... but the anime doesn't convey properly the impact of these events and why the mastermind behind it is doing these things. It does set up a nice fight where we finally get to see Ainz fight against an enemy that is closer to his level.
Of note is that one of the villains has a great voice actor that really nails home their twisted nature. She stands out and is the first proper antagonist for the series. Overall, Overlord falls a bit flat as while the concept was good, it can be hard to back Ainz considering his apathetic nature. The fact that over the course of the season, it doesn't feel like much progress has been made, or even Ainz achieving any sort of major milestone, dampens the enjoyment.
-------------------------------------------
For other anime reviews, have a look at this page.
