Overlord (Season 1) - Putting the Dark in Darklord

Overlord is a light novel series written by Kugane Maruyama and illustrated by so-bin. It began serialization online in 2010, before being acquired by Enterbrain. The manga adaptation was handled by Satoshi Ōshio, with art by Hugin Miyama and was published in Kadokawa Shoten's manga magazine Comp Ace. The anime version was handled by Madhouse, the animation company responsible for Black Lagoon and Death Note.

I plan to review all the three seasons of Overlord. This will be my review of Season 1 of the anime which covers the three volumes of the light novel. Also there might be possible minor spoilers ahead.

With the once popular virtual reality game Yggdrasil but Momonga, decides to stay logged. In standard isekai fashion Momonga surprisingly found himself still in the body of his game character Ainz Ooal Gown. He also found out that the 41 powerful NPC of their dark guild has started to develop individual thoughts and emotion hailing him as their great lord and master.

Plotwise the anime Overlord is pretty much what you would expect in the typical Isekai anime genre. What sets this anime apart from the usual was that the main character is an overpowered bad guy that wouldn't blink an eye to kill characters or an entire country just to get what he wants. The anime doesn't pull punches but isn't overly crazy evil enough that viewers would find the characters hated or pure evil. there is a reason to his evil even if the reason is pretty shallow.

The series does try not to be overly dark by introducing some comedic elements and a running gag of how Momonga tries to hide the fact that he is a clueless MC viewed like some sort of all knowing god person by the 41 guardians of their dark guild. There's some sprinkle of harem comedy falling for a dense MC in there for good measure.

Overlord does fall into episodic enemy of the week with characters that comes and goes with very little to do with the main plot aside from they needed some cannon fodder character to test how crazy evil and over powered Momonga's undead character Ainz and his superhero alter ego Dark Knight Momon. The show does hint of bigger things in store but sure takes its time to get to the point like a sword or item Momonga seem to recognize.

As character design go Overlord has some very impressive design specially when you think that Momonga and the 41 servants under him has at least 2 outfits/form, one being their casual attire and their battle outfit. Each design is unique to each character that you can easily tell most of the characters apart. The only issue is this series has way too many characters that makes the story far longer and dragging than it should be.  It tends to be really overwhelming at times.

Animation is pretty good as you would expect from the great studio that is Madhouse. Some of the cgi elements seems out of place but not so much that it's going to turn you off from the experience. The cgi is nice but it's when during big fights with none cgi effects is where the series shows how good it can get. Just watch the fights involving the loli vampire Shalltear and Ainz to see how really good the fight scenes can get.

I feel Overlord does has issues in its pacing as some scenes drag on way too much while some are rushed. As an Isekai it doesn't have anything that wasn't done before aside from an MC that is probably viewed as the bad guy from the get go and won't lose sleep from killing anyone should the situation requires it. The series has way too many characters that a lot of the characters tend to take the back seat a lot.

Despite the anime's shortcomings Overlord is a fun and entertaining series specially if you're tired of the Isekai being the good guy in the series. Aside from having an evil MC without a conscience this show is still the typical Isekai show overall. If you wanted something a little variety from the typical Isekai shows out there. Anyone who is into isekai genre or into fantasy and action anime this is definitely watch this series you need to watch at least once.