Overlord III

This is the first time I've ever felt about reviewing a particular show on MAL. Perhaps, my love for this show is significantly greater than any show in existence? What I’m about to state in this review is relatively the truth...

Alright, so what's Overlord III about? What has Ainz-sama achieved so far till this season? What were the main events that took place before this season? Has the premise of the series changed?

THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS.

So, previously in the first season we see Momonga somehow "mysteriously" getting teleported to a new world or getting trapped into a game called Dive Massively Multiplayer ... Online Role Playing Game, also known as DMMO-RPG Yggdrasil (while Yggdrasil being the new release of the game), on which he spent his whole life at, and finally created the guild weapon, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, a symbol of the guild namely Ainz Ooal Gown. Now when the game’s about to see its end, we see the guild members leaving the guild, and hoping to spend their lives much better since they had spent most of their life on this game, which they realized was worth nothing. Momonga, being the guild master, was quite furious over the shutdown of the game and blamed his guild members for not spending their last moment with the game. And calling them traitors, when they actually had spent their whole time on the game and without their efforts, the Overlord, Ainz-sama would’ve never achieved such strength and power. Or shall I say such arrogance and ignorance? Now being teleported to a new world, and being shocked at how this event took place. Momonga summons his guardians and orders Sebas, the butler, to investigate the surrounding of the great tomb of Nazarick. And see if they had really been teleported to a mysterious place/world, while ordering the floor guardians to stay on guard. Then we see Momonga-sama taking a tour of the first floor in his great tomb and being discovered by Demiurge. We see Demiurge outsmarting Momonga-sama. Which outrightly surprises Momonga-sama. But being the great overlord, it also meant him being “all-knowing” and he just couldn’t let any of his harem members realize that. Now, while being accompanied by Demiurge, Momonga-sama utters, “...taking over the world might be enjoyable.” Which he obviously didn’t mean it at all, but Demiurge was really surprised and felt outclassed by such thoughts of Momonga-sama. Thus being a side premise of this season.

Continuing on, we see Momonga-sama using the Mirror of Remote Viewing magic item. Where he notices a village being attacked by the knights. To which Momonga-sama rushes to their aid, of course, not with the “true” intentions of saving them. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to call himself an evil overlord in front of his harem. Now Momonga-sama outclasses every knight, and chases them away and meets the Royal Head Warrior, Gazef Stronoff. Now the Slane Theocracy strikes back with a trump card at their hands, a 7th tier magic item. Which again is outclassed by the great Momonga-sama. After the visit to the Carne Village, Momonga-sama decides to change his name to Ainz-sama i.e. the guild name. To which the sole purpose was to spread this name, the name of the guild, and see if he meets anyone else in the new world. His objective was to explore this world and see if there were other players from Yggdrasil, and trying to figure out how he could return back to his own world. Which was the main premise of the season.

Now Ainz-sama orders Sebas Tian and Solution to explore more about this world. And orders Shaltear to accompany him. While him visiting the E-Rantel Fortress City accompanied by Narberal Gamma, one of the maid pleiades, as wanting to be adventurers. To spread the name of Momon, the great adventurer, and again to gain knowledge about the new world. The potion given to one of the adventurers by Momon is taken to the best pharmacist. To which to her surprise is the potion that has the healing abilities of a God. Thus, leading to the meeting of Nphirea with the great Momon-san and Ainz-sama. Momon-san joins a guild for new adventures, since those adventures were of no match to him. Also, so that they could be witnesses to the power of Momon-san, the future’s greatest adventurer. But now, even Ainz-sama or Momon-san isn’t perfect, Clementine, a member of the Slane Theocracy, ruins the plan of the great Momon-san by killing all of the adventurers. To which Ainz-sama responds to by crushing her to death, and killing the rest of her comrades. Meanwhile, we see Shaltear, Sebas and Solution on their mission. And at the middle of their travel, a group of mercenaries halt the carriage and attempt to take them to their place. But they are massacred by them, and later they find out the nest of the humans that attacked them. Now Solution and Sebas part ways from Shaltear. And Shaltear heads towards the nest of the humans to test out the skills of Brain Unglaus, a man who knew martial arts and had fought Gazef on equal terms. To her surprise, is disappointed by the the abilities of Brain as he even fails to pass as a nail clipper. Now Shaltear absorbs all the blood, she had gathered by killing the humans and goes berserk. Massacring even the adventurers who arrived to explore the base of the soldiers turned mercenaries. Until she recovers by seeing the red potion, the potion which Ainz-sama had given to an adventurer. And discovers that the adventurers were actually split in two teams, and the second team was already headed to E-Rantel. Knowing that, she immediately chases them in her blood-frenzy mode. At the end someone amongst that group casted a mind-control spell on her, causing her to revolt against Ainz-sama. Accepting the quest as Momon, Ainz-sama heads towards Shaltear for battle. During this battle we see how great Ainz-sama is, completely surpassing Shaltear. And later revives her and plans to use Sebas and Solution as decoys. Sasuga Ainz-sama was secondarily the premise of the series.

Now outraged by the brainwashing of the only loli in his harem, Ainz-sama immediately launches an attack on the lizardmen. And completely overwhelms them and kills the leaders of the tribe. And makes them accept him as their ruler. This arc was of no importance to the series. The whole event took four episodes of the season. Afterwards, we see the second season focusing on Sebas and on the kingdom. Which again was of no significance. Overlord sure knows how to waste its time on insignificant bullshit. The rest of the season focuses on the Eight fingers. Who are captured by Ainz-sama and are experimented on by his harem. While capturing them, Entoma, one of the insects in the harem, suffers a serious damage by the adamantite adventurers. Who’s later saved by Jaldabaoth, the Demon Emperor. At the end, we see Momon emerges as the greatest adventurer of the world. Since he defeats the great Jaldabaoth. And adds another member to his harem i.e. Evil Eye. Perhaps, the only two lolis in his harem? In this season “Sasuga Ainz-sama” had become more or less a primary premise of the series. The second season itself had so many plot holes, but since the review is about the third season, I’ll only mention the least concerning one in my eyes. That is, no one ever questioned Momon-san about how was he able to beat Jaldabaoth, a magic caster whose power level was of 66+ according to Evil Eye, without casting away his humanity? There’s no way a human could beat such monster. Yet no one bothered asking him anything. And if they had Ainz would’ve had to reveal his identity. Of course, they wouldn’t either, since the whole show is just “Sasuga Ainz-sama” or “Sasuga Momon-sama.” Ainz sure knows how to get praised in every single form.

Story: 1

This season begins with a filler episode; the only episode which was actually worth watching in the whole season. In the episode, it’s revealed how massive the harem of Ainz-sama is; completely unparalleled, incomparable to any harem anime in existence. After the first episode, the story begins its focus on the objective of Nazarick. And thus, the words that Ainz-sama had uttered in the first season. Now Ainz-sama trying to outsmart his harem clearly fails, and then tries to play along their plans, otherwise he wouldn’t be an evil overlord. In simple words, being controlled by them since he’s supposed to be “all-knowing” and great, otherwise, you know, he really wouldn’t be the Sasuga. And the whole premise is “Sasuga Ainz-sama.” The show either forgets its main aim or just casts it away since “Sasuga Ainz-sama” is a very important premise.

In this season, we see Ainz desperately trying to prove he’s the only Sasuga in the world. He tries to stoop to the lowest level just to prove he’s the Sasuga, instead of acting like all-knowing or all-whatever. This season shows that the whole plot of Overlord isn’t as complex as it was meant or shown to be in the first season. From watching this show, it has become clearly evident that it’s just Ainz-sama and his harem squashing ants. And the series gives off the vibes as if even an amatuer could come up with such a mediocre setting.

Since the first season we’ve been seeing Ainz desperately trying to appeal and please his harem. And now, he even goes further by killing and torturing innocent people and accusing them of being evil. Ainz still thinks about his image, despite getting such loyalty and devotion. They wouldn’t dare say “Ainz-sama are you really an evil overlord”? He’s already a god for them. At this point he shouldn’t care about what his harem thinks and just give them orders, yet he doesn’t dare so. Ainz, despite being an evil overlord, still worries about meaningless things.

Continuing on, this series has no plot. We’re constantly introduced to new characters, we get entire episodes of how their lives are, their aim, who they love, etc. What has happened to this series? Why should I care about the ants which will indefinitely get squashed? Ainz will without a doubt rule the world, their fates are sealed from the very beginning. Everyone will either submit to his will or get killed/tortured by him and his harem. This show keeps on introducing more and more insignificant characters who are killed miserably usually with one hit from even the least powerful members of the great tomb of Nazarick. This is a waste of time, yet the show still gets dragged on pointlessly. Ainz can easily conquer the whole world without even using a fraction of his power, yet he and his harem play from the shadows. Plus, the whole series is very slow-paced.

Characters: 1

This show has a very terrible character development. For example take the four episodes in the second season, where we were introduced to lizardmen, their lifestyles, who they love, what they wish, etc. and then they get killed and become test subjects. The third season also does the same, this season has been nothing but a waste of time. Where time is spent on developing minor characters who have no future and will contribute nothing to the plot since no matter what Ainz will have his way and they’ll either get killed, experimented, or becomes slaves; just like lizardmen contributed nothing and their struggle i.e. the drama was pointless and useless.

Animation: 2

The 3D animation looks very cheap and is of extremely low quality. For a third season, this is completely unforgivable. And as for the rest, it’s nothing special. The overall quality has dropped immensely. And almost every character looks the same.

Sound: 2

The voices of the characters in the series was quite satisfactory. This series has been re-using the osts of the first season. It hasn’t even introduced any of the new osts; neither this season nor the previous one. It keeps on playing the same osts which were played in the first season. A very very low effort indeed.

Enjoyment: 1

From the second season, this show had gone down abruptly. And this season is nothing but a disaster with a lot of useless development and unnecessary crap. But I do get the appeal of this show and why many would enjoy it. For example for the harem members. This show has quite a variety of members like vampire loli, a wolf, an insect, a lizard, etc. and there are many other reasons too...

Overall: 1

You know what? Sometimes it is fun to route for the bad guy. Sometimes you are drawn to the villains of a story by their overwhelming power, how cunning and intelligent they are, or their unquestionable charisma. A good villain always leaves a mark during and after the story is finished. So what happens when you take those villains and make them the protagonist of their own stories? Well you get shows like Overlord. A series that has had three seasons now when we thought it was a one and done series. But nope, Madhouse has stuck to this series with another season. And now ... Overlord, in my opinion, is taking its stride.

Why do I say that? Well I'm about to tell you. Sit back, relax and make sure you demand SILENCE! while you are reading this review as I present to you the anime review for Overlord, Season 3. Let begin shall we.



Story: 8.5/10

So Ains Ooal Gown (or Momonga, or Momon or Papa Bone Daddy, whatever you want to call him) has now established Nazerick in the world they they still have no idea how they got there. Now that he has established Nazerick, his next course of action is to take over the world as is power and presence must be known across all of the kingdoms and countries. Or at least that what Demiurge believes and Ains is just rolling with it. In order to maintain control of Nazerick and his subjects, he must essentially go along with it although he never planned it in the first place and confront the nearby kingdoms in order to rule the world.

Once again the show is separated into two story arcs where each arc follows different characters and how they are tied to Ains' plans and objectives. The first arc follows the village that Ains saved back in season one and how they are progressing. The second arc follows the actions of the Empire, a faction that was teased at the end of season two, and how they are tied to Ains progression of ruling the world. Now world building is once again, focused in Overlord and it is one of its biggest strengths. It doesn't just focus on the inhabitants of Nazerick but the people outside it. It helps give depth to this world and its characters. You get invested into these characters to the point where once they interact with Ains Ooal Gown, you hope that they make it out okay.

Speaking of which, the polarity of who to route for in this show has taken full swing in this show. While season two also did this, season three is where I think it now has more weight. As the escalation grows in this show, you hope that some of the world's core characters make it out unscathed, especially when they confront Ains or his subordinates. You want to route for Ains because he his the main protagonist and the character we get invested into the most, but you still want to route for the "good guys" because they are developed enough to get invested into them. Sometimes that is the case. Sometimes it is not. This just shows you how defined the world is and how putting investment into it helps flesh it out.


Characters: 8.5/10

This season really does give us more insight into the mind of Ains Ooal Gown as it shows that he is just going along with the ride. Like I said earlier, Demiurge believes that Ains is now planning to take over the world whereas Ains didn't think on doing that. Now that the other floor guardians believe that, he essentially must do what they believe he will do in order to maintain control of Nazerick. He is portrayed as always being 3 or 4 steps ahead but in reality, he is just making it up as he goes along. He also has to practice his lines and poses in his spare time in order to maintain his image. It's a nice reminder that he isn't some all knowing, all seeing Overlord, but rather a simple, human businessman who was invested into an MMORPG pretending to be an evil Overlord.

Of course that doesn't mean he doesn't do it well because when he requires to do some evil deeds, he will do them without remorse. This season just reminds you that Ains is indeed a straight up villain. The previous two seasons sort of portrays Ains as both being good and bad. While he did some evil things, he also did some good things as well (Mainly when he is under the disguise of Momon). BUT NOPE. This series pretty much gives you a solid reminder that Ains is indeed the main evil that puts all other evils to shame. This season is by far the darkest season we've had because the actions that Ains took in this series are just pure villainy. Word of advice, if you ever threaten Nazerick, dig a grave. Then immediately fill up that grave because your body isn't coming back. Then stick a bunch of red flags into your head as you skip ever so gracefully into Nazerick to never be seen again as you will be remembered as the idiot who went into Nazerick looking like a t**t.

As for the characters that were focused on in the arcs, we have two to talk about. First there is Enri Emmot, a member of the village that Ains saved personally and Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix (we will just call him Jircniv), the ruler of the aforementioned Empire who is always at war with the kingdom from the second season.

So Enri is the main vessel from where we see how the village has progressed since season one. She is somewhat the figurehead of the village as she also the leader of a platoon of goblins that were summoned to protect the village. We see her over the course of the season take more responsibility as she it put into situations where she requires a level head and figure out the best course of action. She is essentially the kind and courageous person you would see take charge as the lead character, unaware that she is serving Papa Bone Daddy who is completely evil. But the problem I find with her is that I don't see nothing more than just a vessel used to show the progression of the village in the show's world building. I don't get invested into her as much than say Zaryusu Sasha from season two because his motives were defined enough for me to get invested into him. For Enri, everything develops around her, rather than she is the main person involved. However, there is good use of foreshadowing where she will have to take center stage and have situations that involve around her in the future.

As for Jircniv, he is a good case of how looks can be deceiving. First impressions might describe him as a pompous a***ole who doesn't give a s**t. But actually, he is not that. He is cunning as he needs to think what is best for his Empire and plans out what the best course of action is that will benefit him and his Empire and to make sure it does not crumble, mainly when confronting Nazerick and Ains Ooal Gown. While he gets less screen-time than Enri. He is the kind of character that you can get invested in because you know definitely, he is going to play a big part in the future.

That's not to say other characters in this show do not get defined enough. From the workers who raid Nazerick to the goblins who protect the village to more established characters like Gazef Stronoff and Nfirea Bareare. Each character is defined enough to get invested into and to look forward to see what happens next for them. Not all of them are hits but the majority of the cast is enjoyable to watch.


Animation: 5/10

I think that I should come to expect that the animation quality isn't going to change for the better. So the animation will always be stuck on good but not great. However, I have also noticed that this season has increased the use of CGI animation and yeah, it does not look good. It just lacks detail and polish as it loses some of the impact of some scenes in the anime. Anyone that has watched episode 12 will pretty much agree with that statement. Trust me, you will notice it when the quality of the CGI animation gets bad. What I don't get is that it uses both CGI and hand drawn animation on the same models and likes to switch between them. Why Madhouse won't stick to one type is beyond me. Probably for budget reasons but that just feels like a sorry excuse of not allocating resources properly. While it does make sense for some character models like the Death Knights since they are larger than the average human, it just looks bad for other character models like the goblin and human soldiers.


Sound: 8/10

Once again, the same soundtrack returns to Overlord III with haunting instrumentals and bombastic choir vocals. It is the soundtrack that can only be associated with a bad-ass, freaking Overlord. But my problem is a lack of notable new soundtracks (if there were any). The ones that I remember are the ones that we are already established with, which is quite a shame. It is not bad as the OST overall is still good but lets get some new stuff in here shall we? Before we start looping in circles.

The opening is something different and yet familiar at the same time. This time, MYTH&ROID swap with OxT to do the opening and my word, did MYTH&ROID and Tom-H@ck do a good job on the opening. The opening, "Voracity," is much better choreographed than the previous two openings and is the most visually impressive out the three openings. The instrumentals as well are much better with them sounding much more heavy than the previous two but still sounding like an Overlord opening. This is also backed up with the lyrics being catchy as hell and able to stop and start without it feeling tedious. This all culminates to being the best Overlord opening out of the 3 IMO and one I have listened to countless times.

I've never appreciated Overlord's ending sequences till now because this one was an enjoyable ending sequence. OxT did the ending sequence this time with a more slower piece of work than their openings but still using heavy, electrical instruments to match the instrumentals with the opening. But what really stole the show were the illustrations used in the ending as they looked gorgeous; somewhat reminiscing the art style of the Light Novel's. I'll have to make sure not to skip these from now on if they keep up this quality.


Conclusion:

So what did I mean when I said Overlord is taking its stride? Well what I meant by that was where we are in the story and how established its world and characters are, Overlord is now going full steam ahead with its trajectory and it doesn't look like its planning to stop until it reaches its destination. While its animation quality has taken a dip and the OST is now starting to go in a loop. Its heart and soul will always be its world and characters because that is what it does best. We always look into the world and its inhabitants and get attached to them before Ains and co. swoop in and probably take over their lives. It is kind of funny how this show has gone from finding out where they are and if there are other players there as well to watching a powerful Overlord start to take over the world.

If you were not a fan on how Overlord II was structured and how the attention was always driven away from Ains, then this season won't change your mind as it is pretty much more of the same. If you were a fan like I was, then you should be happy. I would imagine Madhouse would want to see this anime through since it is popular enough to have three seasons already. And you know what Madhouse? I will still continue to watch Overlord and bow down to THE GREAT SORCERER KING, AINS OOAL GOWN!!!



My Personal Enjoyment: 9.5/10

Overall score: 7.9/10 Recommendation: Watch it (If you haven't already.)

There are four major aspects of Overlord that make it appealing.

1) Protagonists are villains.
2) Protagonists are ridiculously overpowered.
3) Protagonists are non-human.
4) Solid world building. Works well as a hi-fantasy series.

These points summarize Overlord well, and if you find them appealing then this series is just for you. Tired of goody two- shoe protagonists who are holier-than-thou with no moral faults? Overlord’s protagonists are nonhuman and villains. Have you had enough of linear progression in storytelling, where the protagonist overcomes progressively stronger antagonists, almost conveniently? Overlord’s protagonist and his minions and the minions of his minions are overpowered compared to the vast majority of everything else in ... the world. This is not a tale about knights in shining armor who save the day. This is about the strong and the weak- with heavy emphasis on the strong. No “friendship triumphs over all” speeches to be found here.

The last aspect, which does not apply nearly as much to the anime as it does to the light novels it’s based on, is it’s world building. The map is fairly large, with different countries and a large selection of recurring characters representing each country showing up periodically. They all have different traits and while I wouldn’t call most of them “deep,” the little things they do help give the world of Overlord meaning. They’re not cookie-cutter background characters that do the most predictable and straight-ahead thing. It’s showing the world is alive with many individual people pursuing their own goals. The story is basically a “MMO isekai,” but that it doesn’t go as far as others in the same genre. The MMO feature is just used to explain easily the mechanics of the world and just how powerful Ainz and his minions are. You could almost ignore that fact and the plot works just as well. In essence, this series is almost like Lord of the Rings, with the protagonists being villains.

Story: 9/10

I mentioned in the above two paragraphs the appeal of Overlord's story and characters. To date the series biggest weakness for the light novels has been pacing. Books 4, 5, 7, and 8 are the weakest entries in the currently 13 volume series, and it was primarily because of that fact. A slew of characters for books 4 and 7 in particular were introduced. Many of them weren’t interesting and most of them weren’t important to the plot beyond their respective books.

The anime does glaze over many details from the novels. This works both in its favor and to the vexation of hardcore fans. It skips over many of the details which help make the world feel so alive, while also “fixing” some of the pacing problems a few of the middle volumes in the series had. Season 2 was a good representation of this. This third season adapts volumes 7, 8, 9, so expect more of the same in that regard.

Art: 5/10

The anime’s biggest flaw. Although the CGI they use works out in it’s favor at times, particularly with some battles, at other times it can be jarring. Some animation scenes are lazy, such as the one involving Leinas face in a frame. The goblin battle in episode 11 was borderline comical. It’s unfortunate because So-bin, the illustrator for the novels, does a fantastic job. Sometimes it’s good, but there is a lot of mediocrity here as well.

Sound: 7/10

There are a couple of good soundtracks used here and some of the sound effects work well. The English dub is also respectable. Overall it’s good, even if it’s not outstanding. I still think the first season had the best OP and OST. Still good, however.

Character: 9/10

There are a lot of them, and like any series this can be both good and bad. With so many characters, it’s hard to get significant development on individual characters. When you do get good development, afterwards they may have long absences from the story when the focus shifts to other characters. On the other hand, having so many characters helps make the world feel alive, and with the wide variety, it gives everyone at least a few characters to care about.

As mentioned, this series biggest allure is its ridiculously overpowered, nonhuman villain protagonists. Yet neither are they evil for the sake of being evil. They are wholly dedicated to themselves- and if that means killing a few hundred thousand people in the process, then so be it. There’s just something so self-satisfying about seeing a protagonist like that. You don’t get to see that often enough.

I think an understated emotion for any series is that of admiration. When you admire someone, you tend to overlook their flaws. The relationship between Ainz and his subordinates is a tender one. Unsurprisingly, the light novel does a much better job than with developing it’s characters. The anime is only the general story and cuts some details from the novels.


Enjoyment: 8/10

The animation drags it down, but the story is unique and the characters are engaging enough to keep you invested. Ultimately the most satisfying things in life are the things you didn’t know you wanted until you got it. Overpowered, nonhuman, villain protagonists trying to conquer the world in a high-fantasy setting turned out to be just that. If you love Overlord and are still here for season 3, I highly recommend picking up the light novels ASAP.

Overall: 8/10