Overlord

Apr 14, 2016

ichii_1

Recommended

Preliminary (9/? chp)

In the author's own words:

"The main character of the book is a skeletal mage, leading a large evil organization like the last boss of a game.
I don't believe the main characters in novels and movies who rescue people without asking for anything in return.
Readers who acknowledge that prioritizing yourself is the right mentality will enjoy this book.
It's very direct."

After reading it, he was right.

Story + Character + Enjoyment -
...

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Aug 10, 2015

CamTheThief

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

"Conquering the world is a very interesting idea."

(There are quite a few allusions to minor spoilers in this review, fair warning.
I have read 9 Volumes.)

There is an inherent truth in the world of anime, manga, and light novels; this truth is that far more often than not the protagonist will bear remarkable similarities to the image of a "Virtuous Hero"! That guy with the friendly demeanor who will help anyone and everyone. That often times young hero will hold the mindset of not letting anyone they know get killed. They won't give up and believe that even the villains deserve a chance at redemption. If ... they see someone in need they will lend their help free of charge. From mundane day-to-day tasks to a conflict fraught with danger and potential death, these heroes are always there to lend a friend, ally, or on occasion a complete stranger their ever so capable hands. Overlord is not that kind of story.
Another fundamental fact also exists that there are very few anime, manga, or light novels that have their protagonist as a villain. The character that will kill any who get in their way, will victimize innocents, the type that will look back on the blood they've shed and smile as they continue to swathe their way through a crimson tide. Overlord is not that kind of story.
Overlord is one of those stories that has the protagonist feel real. He's not perfect or morally righteous but nor is he evil or blood-thirsty. I mention this now because I saw that misconception as being the greatest form of interest in this series. With allusions to stories such as Death Note, Overlord was initially illustrated to me (along with many others) as a story following an Undead Lich as he sought to take over the world. While that is certainly not a lie it is also far from the truth. However, this series is unquestionably one that is worth reading.

Allow me to make one thing crystal clear: This is NOT a story about being trapped in a video game. Anyone who is laboring under the delusion that this story is akin to Sword Art Online or Log Horizon I urge you to throw your hoe into the ground, straighten your back and wipe the sweat from your brow. Despite the initial picture you may have woven thanks to the synopsis, it is far more accurate to say that our protagonist is transported to a fantasy world with his in-game avatar being the catalyst for his conveyance into this new world. Sword Art Online was obviously a video game. Log Horizon was a video game with real life elements but it was still a game, with raids, drops from killing monsters, the purchasing of buildings through a system run by the world. Overlord is real life with a few elements reminiscent of a game.
The story predominantly follows Momonga (Or Ainz Ooal Gown, as I will be referring to him from now on, Ainz for short) as he and the eternally loyal bastion known as the Great Tomb of Nazarick seek to claim this new world as their own. I was immediately enthralled by this premise. Quite simply, I adore stories of conquest. From my childhood spent building fortifications with Legos only to have it come under assault by my army of Lego Orcs (I can thank Lord of the Rings for that one), to my many days spent playing Warcraft 3 as I surged into human establishments with my army of undead. I have always enjoyed that concept of conquering whatever adversary stands in front of you through the use of strategy. Overlord has not left me feeling dissatisfied in that regard even in the slightest fashion. Though that is not to say you should expect an all out war from the very beginning. A substantial amount of time has been devoted to the more subtle elements surrounding world conquest, principally that little commodity known as knowledge. Overlord subscribes to the assessment that knowledge is power, a correct conclusion if I do say so myself. Thankfully though, intelligence gathering does not stand as Nazarick's single asset; to quote Game of Thrones: "Power is power", and believe me, Nazarick has an abundance of power, so much so that the golden chest it resides in was blasted apart due to the swelling within, the power then shattered the vault and poured out into every passageway in the building.
Though an implication may have already arisen, allow me to definitively state that this author has poured in an extensive amount of detail into this fantasy world. The world powers and their relations to one another. The individual states of the countries' governments and the factions formed, the social classes present within these countries. Crime, the magic in the world, the magical items, alchemy, swordplay, the system of the guild that utilizes these fantastical elements, every single one of these concepts are delved into with a phenomenal amount of detail.

While Ainz is the preeminent character in this series, we've also been made privy to the perspectives of many of the other characters present in this story. This has helped pave the way to a veritably fascinating cast. These perspectives aren't just limited to the allies of our main character, we'll hear from friend and enemy alike as they perceive the events of the plot.
Allow me to introduce Ainz Ooal Gown-sama, the Supreme One, the highest of the Almighty 41 Supreme Beings, the Supreme Overlord of Death. Clearly the inhabitants of this world hold a fondness for the word "supreme", no? Ainz is a character that is enchanting to read about. Formerly your average human serving as a member of the Japanese work-force, Ainz is now a skeletal Lich and finds himself the leader of an organization whose members feel undying loyalty and love towards him. Ainz is immediately presented as both smart and responsible as he tries to maintain the appearance of the leader his subjects have envisioned. Then devoting himself towards the discovery of the nuances of his new body, his power and capabilities, as well as the details of the world he suddenly finds himself existing in. We see two sides of Ainz, one being the Ruler of Nazarick, the Ainz that is exhibited to the world, the Ainz that emanates a constant state of power, knowledge, and control. But then you have the Ainz that resides solely in thought. The Ainz that struggles over the mental taxation he feels, the one that has to rigorously think through every scenario to try and present the powerful demeanor, the Ainz that takes notice of how cold and calculating he's become, and the Ainz that ponders the intrinsic lack of emotion capable of being felt by one who no longer has a human body. Far from evil and still retaining a slight sense of justice, Ainz is one who doesn't feel emotion towards the nameless human he saw struck down, he doesn't cause suffering for fun, but nor does he hesitate should the need arise. He casts off the notion of taking action because it is "the right thing to do", rather he intervenes in situations where he stands to gain a profit.
The only other character I am going to make specific mention of is Albedo. Albedo is the Overseer of the Floor Guardians and is extraordinarily in love with Ainz. In the Layman's terms of this site she's a Yandere. Inordinate feelings of anger and jealousy at her beloved's interaction with another female? Check. Immense feelings of joy and pleasure upon receiving praise from her beloved? Check. Desire to kill love-rivals so as to spend eternity with her cherished one? Well, half-check. Suffice to say, Albedo is characterized by her excessive love and devotion towards Ainz.
The remainder of the cast I am not going to delve into, I am however going to bring the spotlight towards the dynamic that exists between many of these characters. The Great Tomb of Nazarick is my personal most cherished element that exists in this series. The Great Tomb of Nazarick serves as an organization of monsters all in service to their ruler. Every single denizen of Nazarick shares one cohesive thought: absolute, undying loyalty and service towards Ainz Ooal Gown. I hold an unequivocal adoration towards that simple sentiment. The denizens of Nazarick view humans as lower life-forms, equivalent to the cockroaches that we find so repulsive. They will slaughter an entire village without a moment's hesitation or guilt, they will torture with a smile as they feed humans their own limbs. Nazarick can be described as a genuinely evil organization. Though its an interesting fact that any cruelty dealt against humans is perceived as normalcy. Humans don't consider the ants they crush underfoot and neither does Nazarick. Yet despite their "evil" actions they're kind to one another. They get along, sharing in bouts of laughter and tears alike. Not every member gets along with one another perfectly, but more often than not they hold affection towards one another, affection that can even be referred to as love. This mindset is also held by Ainz as he is 100% devoted towards Nazarick and every single member he rules over, in both duty and love Ainz is standing alongside this group of monsters.
Despite all my words of praise I do still hold two issues with these characters, well two characters in particular: Ainz and Albedo. The dilemma I hold with Albedo is the exhaustive extent that her feelings towards Ainz are displayed. I love that a character like her exists in this story, but I find myself feeling annoyance when she continually displays only the aspect of her that causes strife and discord with the other characters. She loves Ainz, everyone knows and understands this, but when she continually starts arguments with her allies simply due to perceived jealousy, well, I can't say I enjoy that. In essence, she's obtrusive to the interactions between the other characters.
The single greatest fault I held with this series was actually Ainz himself. I do not know how it was perceived, but I tried to stress how fascinating I believed Ainz to be. I truly enjoyed the duality he presented. However, I eventually reached a threshold where this constant state of struggle was only recognizable as a placation to development. You see, Ainz and the rest of Nazarick's thoughts and plans weren't in a state of harmony with one another. Initially this disconnect was something I viewed with interest and intrigue, but it came to serve as a source of slight aggravation. Too many times did Ainz restrain his allies. For too long did Ainz's inner monologue serve as a source of naive grief and confusion. Ainz himself became a constraint to the progression of the plot. That's not to say I actually disliked him because of this. Ainz still remains a fantastic character and an excellent addition to protagonists that aren't perfect heroes. The actions he has taken at times can be perfectly chronicled as evil, villainous acts taken against the denizens of this world. I really wished I could have sooner dropped the preface "at times". Thus was my endemic grievance with Overlord, it may not be shared by others but I felt the compulsion to share it alongside the other subjective assessments I held.

The illustrations... Spectacular scarcely does them justice. Incredible is a travestied description. This art is nothing short of gorgeous and is easily stands as the pinnacle of illustrations I have had the pleasure to see associated with Light Novels. I am clearly not a writer for an art magazine, but I can encourage you to seek out these exquisite illustrations and observe them with your own eyes.

A story that strays away from a morally virtuous protagonist. A series that will follow the monsters who slaughter in glee and the humans that fear them alike. It's dark but refrains from having an sense of overbearing despair. You will peruse the thoughts of those who have to stare inevitable death in the face as they face an existence that is beyond their wildest night mares. You will hear the laughing of the monster that roams the halls of a building as they seek more death. Joy and despair, insanity and serenity, sadism and mirth, the vast array of viewpoints allows us to see these emotions from the perspectives of those who are feeling them. You'll laugh in amusement from the witty dialogue, but you'll also laugh in sick fascination as monsters make victims of "the good guys". I have no doubt these words have been long since anticipated, but if the aforementioned elements are even remotely interesting to you then Overlord is a series I recommend wholeheartedly.

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Oct 1, 2015

ZackTyce

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

I wrote this review for the novel after watching the episode 13 and also finished reading all the volumes of overlord that had been released so far, which is till volume 9. So I have at least quite an understanding of the story so far. But I would not put any spoilers in the review and just general info that people can see from the novel's synopsis description.

But before I write my review, there is this one glaring point of the series's story setting that a lot of people seemed to be confused about lately that I have to point out.

Many people tend to ...

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Mar 9, 2023

arc1only

Recommended

Preliminary (15/? chp)

In general reading isn’t something I like all too much. But when you watch a show that is so good and enjoyable you want to read the source material. It really makes you want to know more. The main reason I don’t like reading is because I don’t really have the most patient attention span. I need to see stuff playing like shows, movies, or at the very least visual comics, or so I thought because when reading the actual source materials for these shows I was very engrossed into everything and everything is more in ...

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Mar 2, 2021

Pandaman10

Recommended

Preliminary (14/? chp)

Bruh what can I say about Overlord that hasn't already been said? This is about everything I'd want out of a story of this nature. But for this review, I want to focus on something most people probably wouldn't give so much attention to in this story: comedy.

I'll admit, the comedy isn't a huge part of it but for me really adds to my enjoyment. Overlord, in its real sense, is an ironic comedy and does a fantastic job of showing it through Ain's (Momonga) character. This guy has to be the luckiest man alive. He's about average intelligence and highly over or under ...

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Sep 10, 2017

BStrifeSword114

Recommended

Preliminary (11/? chp)

I have read the first 11 volumes, and this review will be based on that. Overlord begins with a player of an MMO in the future. The servers were about to shut down for good as it was an old game. As Ainz, the protagonist, is reminiscing about his time spent there in the marvelous fortress he and his guild members built during that time, it turns out that the servers were not shut down. Instead, Ainz finds that all of the NPC's (non playable characters, a term for video games) have been given life and can speak, and that they are now in an ...

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Apr 18, 2018

Zamics

Recommended

Preliminary (6/? chp)

I'll keep this brief. I really like Overlord. Excellent story that both fulfills a desire to feel a bit villainous, rational, but sometimes "good" through our main Character. For a "transported to another world" premise, the cliches are for the most part avoided and the issues related are dealt with in reasonable, rationable ways. I don't mind an overpowered MC every once and awhile, and this novel does seem to provide the views of plenty of the poor underpowered saps.

Anyway,
Pros:
Story is great. Really hits a good itch that I love to scratch, with fantasy, magic, crazy powerful characters, battles of ...

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Nov 25, 2020

Frying-_-Pan

Recommended

Preliminary (13/? chp)

[This review is spoiler free!] TL;DR: If I had to rank the Overlord series, the LN is supreme. If you are a detailed oriented person, I would definitely recommend this. If you are curious and don't like lots of words, the manga is the right one for you. If you are interested and like good animation (and that's about it), the anime could be it for you!

I would like to preface this review by saying that I have not finished Overlord in its entirety. I have watched the entire first season and skimmed through the second season of the anime. I've also read 13 ... chapters of the manga and just barely started the Light Novel today.

This review in particular will be mostly focused on the light novel and manga, respectively. If you haven't or are considering watching the anime, don't. Honestly, don't even bother with the manga either.

In terms of writing, the light novel is superior in every way, shape and form. The chapters are long, and detailed. Although I've just started the light novel, the amount of detail greatly impressed me. It was more than enough to convince me that Overlord might actually be somewhat worth the hype it gets. Everything the anime and manga lack can be found in the light novel; although, it is also told at a considerably slower pace.

In the first chapter of the LN, a single NPC maid that is never mentioned again gets probably 1000+ words of pure description. From her slender build, to her "ample bosom", all the way to her expressionless manner and the former guild member/mangaka that designed her maid outfit. That is the level of description we are talking about. Albedo, the fan favorite, gets 5 beautifully descriptive paragraphs about her looks alone too, In terms of writing, the LN outshines any other forms of Overlord. However, if you hate reading and get tired of looking at words for an extended period of time, the LN is **NOT** for you.

Even I, a big fan for LN and reading, grew a bit tired after the first chapter. It felt like it went on forever, and ever. Reading all 90+ of these will definitely be a treat though.

The LN expands on so much more lore and background than the manga or anime could ever dream of. Not only does it give a better perspective on the real world that Ainz and his former guildmates lived in, but it better details his motivations.

To begin with, in the anime, I thought Ainz was simply looking for his friends just to do so. He was very quick to accept the reality of the situation and settled in without a second question. Without a doubt, this aspect is still present in the manga and LN, however there is a semi-proper explanation about it, which I greatly appreciate. Any details you might be confused about or simply curious on could most likely be answered from reading a chapter of the LN. (Add: The characters are a lot more fleshed out too.)

As mentioned earlier, if you are not interested in a ton of words, you should then look into the manga, which is the second best thing. Compared to the LN, the manga feels like more of a cash grab. However, this doesn't mean it's a bad thing. You can expect some chapters that break the fourth wall though and tell you to buy the newest volume though. Overlord got adapted into an anime surprisingly fast compared to other hit series, which isn't totally shocking. Nonetheless, the manga is much faster paced than the LN and anime.

This does have it's own faults too. During certain arcs, characters will mysteriously pop in and out of scenes at their convenience. At first, this puzzled me. The anime does a better job at explaining these random appearance, but they can be easily overlooked. If you are someone like me, who watched the anime before reading the manga, you might feel like the pacing is **too** fast, however, after the 7th or 8th chapter you will quickly adjust to it.

Comparing the anime to the manga, I definitely liked the Ainz manga design. Although the manga tries to be too edgy at times by hinting at sexual punishment and rape at times, the darker and less animated/cutesy Ainz is definitely my preferred. After the anime adaption notice, I found the art improved a bit which was also nice.

If you've read this far into the review, I take it you are interested in the Overlord series. You can read my anime Overlord reviews, which are also located on MAL. Given how harshly I've critiqued Overlord until this point, the manga and the LN (mostly) certainly are something. I reviewed season one of Overlord to be mediocre at best, and season two to be a total snoozefest. If you truly are interested, start with the LN if possible. If you aren't into that, the manga isn't half bad either!

(Almost anything is better than the anime, in my opinion,,,)

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Jun 26, 2019

Demonul123

Recommended

Preliminary (5/? chp)

[ I've read polish version of the book so my review may contain some diffrences]

In the year of 2138, DMMORPG was a very popular word. It states for Dive Masively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.
But.... There was a title that was was well better than any other DMMORPGs...
YGGDRASIL

After 12 years of service, the game is about to be shut down for good. Momonga - The leader of guild called "Ainz Ooal Gown" decides to spend last hours in the game before he'll be forced to log out and leave all that he and his friends built throughtout the years. He went to the throne room to ...

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Aug 12, 2022

Golden_Rectangle

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

It was a pleasure to read this series as a whole. The books look fantastic and the story is great, because of how much details the author, Maruyama Kugane, provides. With the help from the illustrations from So-Bin, Overlord sets itself out even more.

The descript way the author tells the story had the power to draw my consciousness deep into the world of Overlord, as if we were experiencing the view of all the characters firsthand. Even as stoic as I am, I found myself expressing emotions when reading this. Needless to say, I am sure that a portion of my happiness commensurate with ...

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