Overlord S1

8.5/10

Overlord is a perfect example of something super awesome flying under the radar hard core. I personally think it is better than SAO(Sword Art Online) but, I imagine there is a heavy fan base that would argue with me however, not a single one of them can deny the fact that Overlord feels more badass. Basically the beginning of the story which you can find in the synapse of the anime if you look it up. Is that our main character Ain Ooal Gown (Momonga) played a very popular MMORPG to its bitter end. The day it shut down he decided to watch it die only one problem...It didn't and now he was stuck in the world he loved so much! Which, in his eyes isn't really all that bad. Since he was max level in the game with every item at his disposal he decided to take over the world and become the very first Overlord of this new world!  Which, lets be real just sounds awesome. The creator obviously wanted to peer into the heart of ever gamer who doesn't want to be the very best that ever was? This anime had many strengths including its characters, music, story, and pacing. With all of these things going for it the problem with this anime is that since the characters except for Ains are all supposed to be NPC that kills their character development though, with the announcement of the second season I could be proven completely wrong. If that is the case then this anime rivals even the legendary .Hack and I don't say that lightly.

The story is fairly straightforward with little deviation considering that Ains explains why he does each and every step of the whole process even though he doesn't really need to. I guess thats just the classic super-villain thing to do but either way Ains is still a badass. Specifically, in the very first episode you see Ains as a very normal person (in his mind at least) until he ends up trapped in the game where his outward personality reflects that of what he has become instead of just some guy with a mic. Further into the episode after some initial laughs that make you think this anime will mostly be giggles and butterflies someone gets chopped in half in gory fashion which is the first sign of where this anime is REALLY going. Another thing I can say about Ains is that the creator really wanted it to feel like Ains was a end gamer of an MMORPG since he literally lays waste to pretty much every single opponent that he comes across with little trouble. This anime came out at the same time as One Punch Man so the wastage that Ains was putting out went largely unnoticed. The only real difference between OPM and Overlord is that Ains only really holds back a few times and most of the time he just says screw it and gives the poor noobs a taste of the end game. Despite it appearing that Ains was in trouble at one point I never really felt that he was as it still feels to this day that he never actually went one-hundred percent though, I might be wrong about that.

Some other fun bits about this anime is that the music for it was phenomenal at making you feel like you were watching an evil Overlord do his thing (Skeletor on steroids) so if you have the need for evil Ains is your man. Also, there are many MMO facts that hold true in this anime such as Guilds, NPCs, Items, Shop Items, and Consumables. All of these things really make Overlord feel very gamish and truly appeal to anyone who has every played an MMO extensively. Considering that there is a SAO vs Accel World game coming out the MMO bit leaves Overlord open to some level of combined efforts should they wish it though, I seriously doubt that any character from either of their worlds is on the same level as Ains but, that is my opinion and maybe a future collaboration will prove me wrong.

In conclusion, this anime is really good and has many strong points unfortunately it doesn't get the 10 because it appeals to a certain fan bases and others who have not been involved with those activities will not get any of the references or lingo used in the anime or this post so a lot of the comedic factor dies if you don't get the references. Not like it isn't cool to watch Ains go Overlord on somebody but, without the comedy and ability to recognize the references I am not entirely sure it would hold a person's interest. It would be like standing in a group of friends while a pair of them were telling inside jokes you wind up either moving to a different conversation or just talk to someone else. The fights in this anime are really something else (Especially the last one) it really makes you feel like you're watching some gamer's go at it mainly because everyone has to stand around and buff for a few minutes but then you get to Ains and you're like "Bro....you need to stop there's no way...DUDE STOP!" then they fight and its super badass. Considering the target audience I would recommend this to people who are into anime for the fight scenes or fellow gamers.

Thanks for reading catch you next time! All hail lord Ains!!!