Jan 14, 2023
(Contains minor spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 but not 3)
The Overlord anime presents a protagonist with dubious objectives, confusing character, and half-baked sociopathy. Characters who have no concern for ethics in their quests for a clear objective can be very enjoyable to watch when written well, as exemplified by works like Death Note. The Overlord protagonist, in contrast, lacks both a clear objective and the resolve commonly possessed by such characters to achieve said objective. After being transported to a different world, Ainz's main goal shifts randomly between "being someone fit for his position", "spread his name so former friends can easily find him",
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and "protect the legacy of him and his friends". However, he does not demonstrate a strong interest in any of these goals, not to mention that none of these hold any weight or significance from the audience's perspective. The main quest he and his servants embark on, "conquering the world", originates from a literal joke and the protagonist himself doesn't even realize this goal until 3 seasons in. In other words, he spent two seasons just doing random stuff and he doesn't even know what he is doing. This would've been fine if this is a slice-of-life-ish anime, where we just watch characters relax, be funny, and be themselves. However, Ainz in his story consistently ends up killing people, and I mean a lot of people, all while demonstrating a clear but also inconsistent lack of empathy towards living beings. At the very beginning of the first season he saved a village being attacked out of what we can only assume to be empathy (he admitted that he didn't have any grand plans at the time). However, he later goes on to wage an entirely pointless war against a bunch of lizardman villages resulting in large number of casualties. Okay maybe he does not see lizardman as humans...? Apparently not because he later goes on in Season 3 to kill literally 100,000+ people for no reason at all. Why?? A sociopath who kills for an understandable reason is a likeable villain, even someone who kills for fun has at least something interesting, notable, and consistent about their character. The Overlord protagonist is a villain for no apparent reason. He's a villain just for the sake of author wanting him to be a villain. His character is such a train wreck that you would wonder how did the author/adaptation team screw this up so bad. He doesn't like killing people but then kills people regardless; he saves a village out of empathy but then casually murders 100,000+ people for no reason. He does not have a reason in his killings. Not for some greater objective stemming from his chracter or even just plain sadistic tendencies. His villainy is the product of some random thought of "what if I conquer the world". He doesn't treat killing as a sacrifice to a greater goal, a necessary evil, or anything of significance really. Most of the times his plans result in massive deaths he treats it as "they had the resolve to die" and try to pretend he's less a twisted mess that he is. Furthermore, none of his plans stand up to 3 seconds of thought. His entire character is "muh friends" to the point of flanderization, like that's his single motivation and defining characteristic. What makes this worse is that the author is apparently capable of writing consistent and likeable characters with their own motivations, when it comes to the side characters that is. However, half the likeable side characters only get the fate of being either killed or horribly mistreated by the terribly written main cast. A confused and unlikeable main character is bad enough, seeing them tower over actual likeable characters only makes this more painful to watch. Ainz is a pathetic pushover that treats everything as childish play of being a villain. He has absolutely no understanding of the consequences of his actions, and doesn't even hit the passing mark for a villain. Why does this exist? Does the author want to experiment with fiction where the main character is extremely flat and hateable with zero redeeming qualities? Does the author enjoy writing well-written characters and killing them randomly for no reason? Does the author want to appeal to edgy teenagers?(Probably this one) Overlord is a confusing mess acted out by confused characters with confusing motivations, resulting from the author's inability to write coherent villains and also his decision to write a villain anyways. This is the only anime that I regretted watching. Not recommended to anyone except people who are like "haha overpowered main character does genocide and killing that's very realistic cool and mature"
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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