Overlord (light novel)
DO NOT discuss the source material beyond this chapter. If you want to discuss future events, please use separate threads.
DO NOT ask where to read/download this chapter or give links to copyrighted, non-fair use material.
DO NOT troll/bait/harass/abuse other users for liking or disliking the series/characters.
DO read the Manga Discussion Rules and Site & Forum Guidelines.
DO NOT ask where to read/download this chapter or give links to copyrighted, non-fair use material.
DO NOT troll/bait/harass/abuse other users for liking or disliking the series/characters.
DO read the Manga Discussion Rules and Site & Forum Guidelines.
| Great volume as always. Especially the parts in which the narration was from the bear's and from the Elf king's perspectives were really well written. The Elf king is probably the most evil character in the whole universe of Overlord, whereas Zesshi Zetsumei is quite humane, but also seems to be very powerful, and I'm guessing that in volume 16 both the Elf king and Zesshi will appear having a relevant role as the war between the Elves and the Houkoku will reach its climax. It was nice to see Ainz telling Maare to stop cross-dressing, and the illustration with Maare dressing up normally is also great, though unfortunately Maare will keep cross-dressing after the mission is over. The volume ended with a mystery as to who is the ruler of that organization of undead. And I just find it a bit strange that Maruyama decided to write that in the end of the volume, considering how that didn't seem to have any connection with the current plot, but maybe the two things will be connected somehow in the next volume. Mod Edit: Modified title for clarity and/or easier searching. |
KarinaraAug 4, 2022 9:25 AM
| “Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.” ― Saint Augustine |
| I'm not use to this amount of relativity short content out of Overlord's volume anymore. Thus, it quite felt unsatisfactory somewhat. Not the story but itself. Since it said "first half" on the title, I kinda expected it already that there'll be more introductory tales in every new area/country and will have more setup such as how it goes for environment of the elves and dark elves. And honestly, the residents of the dark elves are boring, they're a cut and dry NPC to put it simply. The elders are more intriguing in the fact that they seem to at least have some information their holding back to divulge at the moment. Who knows if this Fey's blessing is real or just merely a misinterpretation as Ainz' surmised. And for the most appealing part of this chapter, it has to be this key characters for the upcoming volume such as the elf king, zeshi of the black scripture and those in the undead organization. For now, I don't really have much to say about the elf king's personality since his power still remained to be seen, normally I think it's cool when arrogant/prideful being can back up their talk with an impressive amount of force they have but if they can't, then they're just a plot device if not a waste of time. Zeshi's introduction was quite a good one, she could be twisted for all I care, it's justified, right? And as for those lurking in the dark, they really might be the last boss. Although it didn't really specified that one, it might be the same species/class as Momonga since it's a gathering of the higher class of the undead. And in contrast, it's a literal black company that Ainz' always joke about his Nazarick. He might be the final adversity assuming the rebellion fails. |
 |
| Man, I cannot believe 2 years have passed since when this volume was initially dropped and I cannot believe it's also been 2 years since I read volume 14. Post-pandemic years are surreal. The difference between Volume 14 and 15 is staggering, from the scale of it both literally and figuratively. There were almost 400 pages in Volume 14 whereas in this volume, we barely made it past 220, not counting the pages taken by So-Bin's masterful illustration. I absolutely enjoyed reading this volume, as opposed to the utter destruction of the Re-Estize Kingdom and the methodical annihilation executed via sophisticated schemes, this entire volume has just been... "Being the Godly ruler of overpowered NPCs is exhausting, I wanna take a vacation!". It's such a huge contrast! The first chapter was rather relaxing as we follow Ainz taking a tour of the beautiful 6th floor of Nazarick with Aura following his 30-minute/day work schedule. The 3 rescued elves were a nice aspect to give an outsider's POV of Nazarick (outside their residence on the 6th floor) of this chapter, reading how they went from being fearful and overly cautious to joyful and relaxed as Ainz took them along to the canteen was amusing, it seems like they're peculiarly interested in Mare, I recall Maruyama is planning to write a private doujin of a grown-up Mare 'interacting' with these 3 elves. I am highly intrigued by the Elf King, he's the type of individual who sees the strong as admirable and loathes weakness, though he himself came from a normal beginning as he is just a normal elf, if not for his royal status and overwhelming capability. We do not know yet of his full extent by the end of this volume, but considering that he labelled his 8-years-old looking daughter (probably around 80 years old, give or take?) as a failure despite being capable of taking down 1000 Theocracy soldiers singlehandedly and needing the joint efforts of mages conjuring 100+ magic arrows to kill her. This fucker must be one absurdly powerful individual by the New World standard. If even the Slaine Theocracy poured in so much effort to kill him to even be willing to sacrifice tons of their human resources and time, he is probably in possession of some crazy power. It'll be interesting to see him clash with Zesshi in the next volume. It'd be the reunion of a bastard daughter and the father who seeks to have an army of powerful children. It's been a long time since her debut in Overlord. Just as it had been a long time since Ainz thought up the idea to visit the Elven and Dark Elf kingdoms/villages, they're finally doing it now. Considering that Ainz is travelling independently with Aura and Mare, even their modus operandi is different with Ainz becoming more of a stealthy scout, performing solo reconnaissance missions. And just like how he depended on [PERFECT UNKNOWABLE] back in Volume 12, he did so yet again here to the point that he's pretty much spamming that ability, lol. The covert mission involving the abduction and interrogation of that single elf was cool to read, it seems like the gang is going straight to the Dark Elf villages afterwards. Now this is wonderful. The illustration of Aura smiling cheerfully as she saved the village from the 'Ursus has got to be the cutest and most adorable depiction of her by far! Damn, she straight-up made the Blueberry dude completely infatuated with her to the point of making him a creep. If Aura, a 76-78 years old dark elf is considered a kid who's about 7-10 years old, then this guy being 254 years old is a grown-ass adult who's head over heels for her, instead of a friend, Aura found herself annoyingly devout fans and guys who have crushes over her, yiiikes... Let her make some friends people, smh. ================================ The epilogue is rather strange as it has little to no apparent connection to everything in this volume as opposed to the prologue. An organization of Night Litches who all cooperated to 'peacefully' research and cultivate themselves, with some capable of 8th-tier magic. Alright, this is by no means some nobodies, and whoever 'that one' might be must be some form of undead existence even higher than the Night Litches. Perhaps a top-ranking Undead Dragon. Nevertheless, Ainz Ooal Gown shall reign supreme! Lovely relaxing volume with bits of excitement, loads of amusement and even more of Ainz's internal dialogue. |
  |
| I can understand the fandom's seeming dissatisfaction with this arc. For one, you had to wait longer for it to be published only for it to turn out to be a far shorter story than Vol 14. Secondly, Overlord's previous arc featured lots of brutality and violence (it was probably the most graphic story in the series yet) but then in Vol 15 you get to see Ainz just chilling with Aura, Mare and the elf girls as they guzzle down cola and talk about eating pizza. And then Maruyama takes us far away from all of the already established characters and territories and introduces us to (the admittedly kinda bland) dark elf villagers, the regular elves and the elf king, and teases powerful Slane Theocracy foes and a society of powerful and secretive undead moving in the shadows of the New World, all without giving us any meaningful or tragic action. Even though this was very different from the last content, it still felt quintessentially like Overlord to me. In both the LNs and the anime, these moments of downtime where Ainz gets to simply hang out with the floor guardians are just as if not more entertaining than when he's roflstomping all the poor NPCs in the land. However this is also coming from someone who didn't have to suffer the long wait for this book to be published - I've crushed the last 15 volumes in a little over the last two weeks and am probably going to be joining everyone's painful wait for Vol 17 in only a few more days. Seems really crazy to me that Maruyama wants to end Overlord by Vol 18. There is so much more he could still write about and I've really enjoyed hanging out in the Overlord universe as I've been reading. Though I guess he has been writing Overlord nonstop for the last 15+ years, that and probably advising the anime staff throughout the seasons/movies, attending conventions, starting a family, would definitely burn a guy out. On a completely unrelated sidenote, the more I read this series, the more I like the comically absurd fan theory that Maruyama is/was in IRL some sort of salaryman manager, given how much of Ainz's perspective is constantly filled in by detailed thoughts of the sort. |
StewedBeefHaunchJan 22, 2:28 AM
 |
More topics from this board
Poll: » Overlord Volume 16 DiscussionColtBuntline - Sep 18, 2022 |
11 |
by StewedBeefHaunch
»»
Jan 23, 11:10 AM |
|
Poll: » Overlord Volume 8 Discussion-Karoshi- - Sep 28, 2015 |
16 |
by StewedBeefHaunch
»»
Jan 13, 4:32 PM |
|
Poll: » Overlord Volume 2 Discussion-Karoshi- - Oct 30, 2014 |
7 |
by StewedBeefHaunch
»»
Jan 8, 11:57 AM |
|
Poll: » Favourite Arc? (Possible spoilers)FreshSalmon827 - Apr 30, 2022 |
2 |
by Azuchi
»»
Oct 13, 2024 10:31 PM |
|
Poll: » Overlord Volume 9 DiscussionStark700 - Oct 31, 2015 |
29 |
by FFTHEWINNER
»»
Oct 13, 2024 7:05 PM |