Why is Overlord so good
Overlord, a fantasy isekai themed anime, does a lot of things right and is amazingly good even for the non-fans of the genre. The serie does a few interesting things to achieve that feat.
Published on Thursday, February 15, 2024 by Le Fantôme
A fantasy world, a reincarnated character, a demon lord.
I’m usually not a huge fan of isekai settings or having the protagonist getting sucked into a video game world just for the sake of having a fantasy playground. Moreover, let’s not forget the overpowered MC situation where we watch all the obstacles get taken down in one hit, all those themes that we are seeing more and more after the success of Sword Art Online and other similar anime. But Overlord gave me totally different lenses.
It made me realize I hated those stereotypes even more.
After binge watching Overlord and reading all the light novels, I wanted more and went seeking for recommendations of similar anime. I recommended mostly Isekais and kingdom management such as “That time I reincarnated as a Slime” of “Log Horizon” but that wasn’t it, something was missing.
Overlord manages to go beyond those established standards, and after binge watching the show again and again, I can tell you how Overlord manages to stand out differently and be so entertaining.
My take will not have any spoilers, only minor and common knowledge, I wouldn’t want to rob anyone of the pleasure of getting sucked in.
Overlord is more than a simple Isekai
Most of the time, the whole isekai premise is here only so that we can set the starting pieces in motion. The usual fantasy world can be set in place and the “looser” main character can receive an overpowered ability in order to roam the world.
Overlord’s world is based on a video game, Yggdrasil and our MC has been playing it for a decent amount of time. Yes, it is still the main character being thrust into a new world situation, but what makes it different is that our MC is now playing his character in a game he has played for hundreds of hours in order to achieve the level he has.
He is overpowered not only because of his level, he has a vast amount of knowledge in game items and strategies and has amassed a vast number of abilities. The world has a set of rules, with a tailored magic system defining the fights and interactions, in a world like that, knowledge is power.
Having the whole reincarnation situation being turned to the main point of advantage gives a new perspective, because even though we are ultimately watching a power fantasy, the dynamic is more nuanced than just a broken ability.
The world and characters
In a typical fantasy world, we usually follow our MC and his party on their journey to defeat the main villain, most often a demon king. A simple script which is so simple and yields so much result, so why ? Why is Overlord not like that ?
It’s simple, Overlord chose to create a world that if we simply could watch unveil, we could have been watching several saisons without our actual MC never appearing in it.
The world of overlord comprises several empires each with their own distinct objectives and cultures, within those empires place different characters so distinctives and fleshed out that they could be main characters of different shows and you place these characters in a world with well established magic rules, that is the world of Overlord.
This is one of the greatest strengths of the show and it makes you think about all the possibilities of interesting stories in a fantasy world.
Each character, whether they hail from the various empires or Ainz Ooal Gown’s own ranks, is imbued with motivations. The protagonists and antagonists of “Overlord” are not defined by the simplicity of their roles but by the depth of their desires, fears, and the decisions they make in pursuit of their goals. This depth transforms the characters from mere occupants of their world into living, breathing entities with whom the audience can sympathize, despise, or even find themselves conflicted about.
These characters, with their own aspirations and virtues, further blur the lines of morality, making the narrative a complex web of intersecting goals and ideologies. It’s this complexity that makes “Overlord” particularly captivating; viewers find themselves empathizing with characters on opposing sides of a conflict, understanding their actions even if they don’t agree with them.
This moral ambiguity is a compelling reason why “Overlord” stands out. It refuses to offer easy answers or neatly categorized heroes and villains. Instead, it invites the audience into a world where every character can be the protagonist of their own story, depending on the perspective from which you view them.
Getting the MC right
The demon lord is the typical enemy representing the big threat in the world. The threat that could end the world and only the hero can defeat it. In overlord, on a spectrum, it is safe to say that our MC is closer to being the Demon lord than being the hero. Being an undead with his goal of extending his guild’s name, Ainz may appear as the main threat when seen from other characters’ perspectives.
This creates a situation where Ainz struggles aren’t about the usual demon king quest. They are more about carefully managing his domination plan and putting all the chances on his side for different encounters. This creates an interesting dynamic combined with the complex nature of the world. Every situation is a chance to see new and refreshing outcomes emerge and steer the world toward different situations affecting the lives of multiples of our beloved characters in different ways.
Another aspect which I personally find very endearing is the serious tone that we get from Ainz. Being the supreme lord in Nazarick, our MC, who was an average salary man, finds himself having to roleplay a confident and ruthless supreme ruler.
His undead nature helps him get all his emotions suppressed, only letting a confident facade appear.
His cautious nature and will to protect his people are the only anchors to relate to his actions. But it doesn’t completely feel off to have a capable character for once.
This changes a lot from our usual overly joyous or shy and nervous protagonist. Overlord barely lets his MC get out of character making the whole show seem more adult which I think is a plus.
Getting the overpowered MC right
The story
Kugane Maruyama the author of the light novel said that he created the Overlord based on his situation of wanting to play dungeons and dragons with his friends which were unfortunately too busy. Overlord story arcs sometimes feel like a curated dungeon and dragons quest.
The vastness and the variety of the characters allow us to experience the challenges and the consequences from different perspectives and that is what makes the story so endearing.
The overall plot is not amazingly good, but it’s the responsiveness of the world to the different actions, the reactions of different characters, the consequences, those are elements that keep us invested and rooting for different characters.
It’s very easy for the show to create tension through having different characters facing each other. We almost everytime find ourselves rooting for the underdog to survive or for the overpowered one to spare his life.
The slow empire expansion side also allows us to experience a different type of tension, the tension of not knowing how powerful the next enemies are going to be. Which subverts our expectations given that we are following an overpowered character, but I’ll let you find out more about that aspect watching the show.
Where to watch or read
All seasons of Overlord are available on Crunchyroll. We are now waiting for a new movie that will cover the next chapter of the story and that movie should also be available on Crunchyroll.
If you are more inclined to read, the light novel is ahead by a large margin from the show, you can find some of the officially translated light novels on Amazon in ebook format. As for the newly released one, a passionate community of fans has been translating them directly, by following them on discord or reddit you may be able to get your hands on them as soon as they are translated.
Conclusion
The success of Overlord can be attributed to a set of minor and major factors. The major factors are the incredible world which truly feels alive with or without the main character and the huge cast of interesting and distinctive characters driving different subplots effectively dynamizing the world.
As for the minor factors, a lot of care has been put into the main character and his interactions with the other characters. A plot with enough tension to keep us engaged and a set of rules shaping the fights and encounters and taking the word over powered in a different direction.
If you haven’t watched Overlord, I can only recommend giving it a try, but if you already have It’s unfortunate, but I’m not going to recommend you another Isekai.