Overlord II

I was hyped for this season, but unfortunately, it felt rushed to me.
The Lizard men arc did not really offer much in terms of character development and didn't affect the overall plot in a major way. I honestly felt like this could've been skipped. The pacing improved near the end, but the later arc suffered IMO because of the slow start. Something was also off with the execution, and suspect it was because they cut off some things.

But I really did enjoy how it was darker than the first season, and that other characters were given the spotlight this time. I just ... wish they took their time with it.

So, I thought a good way to organize my thoughts is to say what season 2 did better than season 1 coupled with where it was lacking in comparison.

What went better: The fights and tensions are a lot more "real" than the first season. We know that most of the main guild are nigh invincible with the exception of World Class Items. Yet, the series focuses on the manipulation and battles of less powerful empires and races for the gain of the guild. This allows us to become invested in these new characters and gives a real "Game of Thrones" vibe to anyone outside of ... the guild. Past this, the character development of the guild when shown is going even farther. While loyalties are not crushed, you get to see how these once NPC backstory characters are now trying to "advance" and "improve." It touches on ideas of them living up to expectations, still trying to become better either as people or as weapons. Finally, this show was able to match up to the "smash kill" of Clementine the previous season with some of the work Sebas was doing in his bid for side quests. Overall, it was a good season of Overlord that did well introducing a new and extensive cast of characters.

Where it needs some work: Many have been claiming you can't write "there wasn't enough action" because it's not that kind of series. I completely agree, but I think those who say it are actually missing something more prevalent in Season 1. In this Season we see more of the subcommander planning and machinations of Ains rather than Ains himself. I understand why they took this route, however, Ains' character is so compelling that it leaves plenty of scenes wanting when he's not in them. The previous season we had more of his alter ego, Momon, to enjoy on screen. However, this season we only see him in the final few episodes essentially. The main issue was that less of his screentime meant less of the interactions I enjoyed in the first season. He bounces off his subordinates so well that even the times we saw them in this first season they stole the show for me. Unfortunately this drug the season down from "very good" to "good" for me, yet I don't think they made these decisions without merit.

Honestly with the announcement for Overlord III this summer, I believe (yet without a shred of proof) that Overlord II was probably a two tour season of 24-26 episodes that was split in half. It seems like much of this season is buildup for a payoff we haven't seen yet. I also think this is where people are getting the "disjointed" feeling for the season; it's most likely loose plot point threads that haven't quite been tied back in. Regardless of what I think of this season on its own, I am excited for the continuation of Mr. Bones adventures. This summer will hopefully bring more of him and his gang to the forefront to shake up the world and establish his empire.

A solid second season, which was built well on the foundations of the first one, advanced the established characters and even introduced new ones. But it not just achieved everything that a good sequel should, but kept the overall story of Overlord interesting to keep the hype up for the third season as well.

The world building is as solid as it was previously, but unfortunately it inherited the slowness and murkiness as well. After 26 full-fledged episode, we still have little knowledge about the world, the factions, the power levels and the magic system. While it is no way a bad thing it has a ... sour aftertaste, an ominous feeling, that it is this slow by the sole intention to be used as the main tool to keep the potential interest above a certain level, instead of leaning on the characters.

The plot would be the aspect that is obviously somewhat of a downgrade from season 1. Not much is happening, and while there are stakes, most of it is centered around !side! characters.

What the show maybe lacks in plot it balances in characters. The character-work is awesome, we got a lot of side characters, that have their own actions, motives and characters, making the world lived in and dynamic on a level that even exceeds the likes of Re Zero. Everybody acts on basic competency and logic, what makes overcoming obstacles a real thrill.

While this season didn't have much of stakes, if this trend continues it could be a potentially masterclass of culmination. Clearly worth of high praises.

Sadly some plot conveniences and plotholes got introduced as well, one of the most grave is (without much of a spoiler):
"One of the side characters happens to run into someone who is a relative of another character whom the main character is indebted to. And that incident is what puts the whole story into high gear."

Although I liked it very much that the obvious traitor is recognized by the heroes at an instant. [Looking at you Revan(the book)]

tl;dr: A sequel series that changes tremendously by focusing on new characters and in a sense flash over substance, but does quite well at it.

The second season of Overlord takes place immediately after the first. However, the structure and hence the overall anime feel incredibly different. The biggest difference by far is that Ainz and Nazarick simply aren't the primary focus anymore. That's not to say that they're not important in that the plot still revolves around them. However, it's only partially shown from their perspective, focusing just as much on side characters that get pulled into their various plans, schemes, and experiments. Ainz himself ... doesn't really feel like much of a main character anymore with entire episodes where he doesn't matter at all.

This change has various pros and cons. The first issue with this is that this means that the main characters get less development. Ainz seemed like he was beginning to have a character arc in the first season. However, this season drops that entirely and it doesn't feel like Ainz is progressing at all anymore. Another issue is that though there's still some focus on members of Nazarick, overall less of a focus is placed on them and hence less time is spent on them overall which results in many that were focused on heavily in the first season and that I had come to like quite a bit not getting as much screen time. The last major issue is that it results in a plot that's a lot more scattered and incoherent. When it was focusing on the members of Nazarick in the first season, things were somewhat slow but it was always clear what direction they were headed in. This season, as it focuses on so many side characters, it feels like we're getting bits and pieces of a bunch of plot threads without it really being clear where things are going overall or what Ainz and Nazarick are trying to do long term, which leads to the ending feeling kind of lackluster.

In terms of benefits, the first is that by expanding the scope, it can tell very different stories. The anime can show both sides of each conflict that occurred and how they came to be. It also has simple but reasonably solid character development for a lot of the side characters it introduces. It also allows for improved world building which I think this season excels at as the world is really starting to take shape now. Another benefit, is that it allows the plot to be completely crazy. By focusing on showing things from others perspectives, it results in the entrance of members of Nazarick always being amazing and exciting and allows the show to milk the overpowered angle a lot more without things getting repetitive than keeping the focus on Nazarick would. It also feels like it allows the portrayal of Nazarick, which was as kind of evil in the first season but shying away from truly being so, take that final step wherein they're simple evil now, with those opposing them being developed as not so, resulting in all sorts of weird dynamics to who you're supposed to be rooting for or what you're supposed to be expecting along with a bizarrely entertaining atmosphere. It allows a lot of random twists and surprises, leading to a lot of fights of which none match up to the single Ainz vs Shalltear from the firsts season, but combined are better overall. Overall, it results in an anime that feels like it has less of a purpose, but is simply more fun.

The art and animation were decently improved I think, but overall are still pretty lacking with a lot of bad CG usage. The OP was great and fit really well with the crazy mad tone and atmosphere of the show. The ED was decent enough and transitioned to really well in terms of playing over the main content. The soundtrack was also decent.

So that's it, the story of Overlord is picking up speed and is finally good.

I previously posted a review of the first season where i recommended it but was ultimately disapointed and cringed about most of it.
Season 1 aged badly. Season 2 didn't.

Beside the originality of the plot and the start of a real worldbuilding, this season hide in its corners a plethora of potential future conflicts. A banner torn on the ground, a creepy smile, names spoken, feelings shown. Tiny instance building hype and wonder, making you think and imagine. It's my favourite part of reading/watching fantasy.

If you managed to get past the ... first 3 episodes of the first season and then finish the whole thing you MUST watch this season. Your suffering wasn't for nothing :p



Yeah, i really enjoyed these 13 episodes. Important to note that the source novel is pretty dense and slow paced so the anime leave quite a lot out (including characters and fun fight scenes). It help the pacing problem (which is better handled than in the first season) but you could want to check Djinnfor posts on the anime subreddit for a resume of what the anime cut. Or just straight go check the novel.

Overall:
if you are reading this, you are watching it anyway, so yeah. Do keep in mind that this is a sequel to my overlord I review.

Ah yes, a guy got Isekai into a fantasy world.... as an evil overlord. As an isekai junkie, I am set to watch all isekai. This is one of those that explore the trope. Before I actually get to the review part, I would say that this anime's isekai world is probably one of the most solid and well-thought-out. It isn't the isekai you watch to kill time, it is the one you watch to thing and enjoy the ride. ...
Short conclusion: 8/10


Driving deeper
Art: pretty much the same as season 1, nothing really improved or degraded.
7.5/10

Character: I'll take some short cut and say that it is the same great character as in season 1 with more extremely well-thought-out character. it just keep getting better.
9.25/10

Plot: In contrast to season 1, this season takes things a bit slower and lays out more groundwork. There's a lot of setting up in this season and so the ups and down moments are pretty tame. But this raised a lot of expectations, I am excited for next season.
7.75/10

Conclusion: a really great treat for an isekai enjoyer. mixed opinions for a normal anime enjoyer. Mainstream enjoyers can't ignore this one

8/10 for me.
I think this is a great prep season, it really gets you hooked into the world and its setting. I don't have much opinion except to say that I am excited for next season.

Overlord II is an improvement over Overlord. The plot seems to be going somewhere now.
However it still suffers from the previous' shortcomings of dragging things out for too long. There are alot of time wasted focusing on non interesting characters.

The first couple of episodes of season 2 starts off kinda rough by focusing alot of screen time on some lizard race. The overall outcome of that arc was satisfying but maybe went on for longer than it needed to.

The main character is still continuing his plan of world domination by playing both sides of villain and hero. Pulling the strings from behind the ... curtain. It is an intriguing plot.

The side characters are interesting when they dont take too much screen time. When too much focus is put on them it gets really boring and i start to lose interest. Nobody likes filler.

Im fine with them cutting to different characters. But the main focus needs to be the main characters. And this anime loses that focus way too often.