Realistically, I came into the third season with moderate expectations. The first episode didn’t exactly get me excited after seeing everyone getting a reintroduction. Ainz is still the same as ever while we see the daily lifestyles of his minions. He is trying to live up to his name even though some of his character behavior comes downright as extremely silly. (I mean, he takes a bath in his “skeletal form”. That’s pretty much throws logic out window) No, what we have here is a season that tries to get fans to invested into the story.
Frequently, I see Overlord’s world as expansive. It explores places with fantasy details that you’d expect from an anime like this and from this season, we visit the Carne Village. Here, we’re introduced to a place where goblins exist. Goblins are a common trend in fantasy shows so seeing them exist this season wasn’t much of an excitement. However, the real attention to pay attention to is a girl named Enri. Serving as a leader of the village, she commits to protect its people and ensure peace. Which is to say, she is a key supporting character this season. One of the more noticeable trends I noticed about Overlord is how it’s able to develop its supporting cast. Enri is a character that I grew to admire for her selflessness and courage. This is especially true with the village facing exterior forces who threatens its peace. Similarly, there’s Nfirea, a character with an inferiority complex yet isn’t afraid to take action when the right time calls for it.
But meanwhile, there’s also Ainz and his own goals. Supported by his servants and minions, there’s no doubt that world domination is part of their agenda. Yet, Ainz is a calculating character. Despite being incredibly powerful, he isn’t the type that directly goes on the frontlines often. From this season, he commands his servants like Lupisregina on important missions. His other servants such as Demiurge offer their own advice to him. In later episodes, he begins to show a more dominating personality to prove the testament of his powers.
You better get used to a diverse and growing character cast. In the latter half of the season, we are introduced to Worker Groups of adventurers that includes Foresight, Green Lead, Heavy Masher, and Tenmu. At this point, I feel like it’s where Overlord takes a step back for its character cast. Because let’s face it, some of these characters are going to be jobbed out and treated like fillers. This is proven when some of them fall to victim of the denizens at Nazerick. I can’t even remember some of the names of these adventurers like the one that got tortured by Neuronist Painkill or those killed by monstrous cockroaches. Ainz himself also makes some of these adventurers look fools such as the ones from Foresight. In one particular episode, he shows the difference in their power while crushing all their hope for victory. And to be honest, none of this should come as a surprise. We know how powerful Ainz is and this season continues to prove that. There’s no one who can truly stand a chance against him whether it’s Emperor Jircniv (a character that appeared at end of Season 2) or army by numbers. Even an alliance between The Baharuth Empire and Kingdom’s army feels more like a desperate struggle to survive. When it comes to war, Ainz is able to decimate forces with his powerful arsenal of spells such as summoning death knights and the Dark Young. It’s the type of curb stomp battle that doesn’t last very long.
With season 3’s unorthodox story structure, I feel like it’s important that they don’t make us forget about its established cast. Remember Albedo or Shalltear from the previous seasons? While they get their moment of fame, it’s definitely not on par when they were first introduced. Others like Sebas is pretty much forgotten despite their development from season 2. To me, that’s a bit of shame since I grew attached to some of the main supporting characters. I do have to admit that Season 3 managed to commit to some of its other supporting cast such as Enri though. Hell, even the goblins became relevant with names given by her. I just wish more characters got treated in such a way.
By now, the meme of Madhouse not making sequels should be more long disregarded. Not only did Overlord receive a third season but the break is only 3 months. This implied that the second and third season may have been planned as a split cour from the start. Regardless, I feel like Madhouse should’ve committed more time for at least a half year break to boost its production quality. Don’t get me wrong though. The third season definitely had some great visual quality moments especially during some of the battle segments. World building in Overlord still stands out as a prominent feature that people shouldn’t overlook. And those character designs really evoke emotions. Just looking at characters such as Neuronist Painkill or Shalltear’s killing instincts should be enough to get a reaction. Unfortunately, not all reactions for this season will be positive such as the case with the Dark Young. Thanks to the atrocious CGI, their presence reminds me exactly how NOT to adapt character models for a show like this.
Three seasons of light novel adaptations doesn’t come by too easily these days. And often, they get treated poorly with the pacing or omission of content. Overlord doesn’t fall under those pitfalls but still suffers from its character building at times. I’m not going to lie. I enjoy the novels but this adaptations isn’t really a great representation of value. The fact is, Overlord is a reputation by name but is far from perfection.
