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This will be the shortest review I have ever written and possibly will ever write.

Goshuuoshou sama ninomiya kun is arguably the least substantive anime I have ever watched... and that is saying an awful lot, let me tell you. The plot is rehashed from any harem anime you have ever seen with a small "twist" that changes nothing of the show.

The protagonist , the titular "Ninomiya" Shuungo encounters a girl that is secretly a succubus, this is established in episode 1 so I am not presenting any spoilers, he is somehow resistant to her strange pheromone control over men so he is then tasked to ... "Train" her in dealing with the opposite sex.

That is the backdrop for a lot of messing around. ecchi and comedy. The problem is, it is incredibly flimsy... the story literally goes nowhere, the characters are exactly the same in episode 12 as they are in episode 1. Nothing is resolved, nothing changes. This show is 100% pure fanservice... and it's not very good fanservice.

But let me give it some honest praise; some of the rare action sequences were good, some of the interactions occasionally yield great comedic results, but these are all rare. The writing is piss terrible from beginning to end aside from those rare exceptions.

There is no story. Things just happen.
There is no character development. Characters behave in completely illogical and irrational ways.
There is no setting.
There is nothing here.



If you truly just want to see T&A, there are better anime for it.
I do not recommend this, I actively recommend against seeing it.
My expectations were low and I was still disappointed.
This is a terrible anime. Avoid at all cost.

Overlord is a very complicated show to talk about because, on the face of it, it is one of the best anime series release we've had in years... the plot is a twist on the modern cliche of "Guy in MMORPG world", placing the main character effectively as one of the villains with an army of minions already set-up. The plot is actually very well thought-out and some of the action scenes, though simplistic, are absolutely fantastic.

And yet it is one of the most deeply flawed anime I have ever seen... due to something that is rarely taken into consideration when reviewing/viewing an anime series; ... The direction. This anime has, quite possibly the worst director I have ever seen. Some scenes drag way too long, other scenes are cut absurdly short depriving the viewer for crucial information (Repeat viewings reveal this to be quite egregious). The pacing of the story is very poor, there are several episodes where barely anything happens at all, and others where the story is so drastically rushed that they set up an entire major story arc and many subplots in a single episode , making for a disjointed, incoherent mess (Ex: Episode 10 and 11 are a perfect example of what I am talking about).

I know this is a strange complaint to make, but directing is one of those things that you only really notice if it went horribly wrong and in this case, it went horribly wrong. It has some fabulous scenes and sequences that are perfectly paced and executed, but these are very rare and sandwiched in between a lot of awful choices. For example, there is a scene somewhat early on where there is a huge setup for a massacre against some mages... but when the time comes for the actual massacre to occur, it just smash cuts to them walking back to base. What actually happened? who knows.

Conversely, some great examples are the end scene fade-out during a major fight towards the end of the series (You'll know it when you see it) and a slow moving murder that is absolutely beautiful. These are rare but precisely because of their rarity, they stand out a great deal.


So let's move on to a more traditional reviewing style now that the major flaw is done;


CHARACTER:
The characterization is very poor. There is very little character development for any of people we follow with the sole exception of the eponymous Overlord. Ironically, there are tertiary characters that get more development than most of the primary cast (Narberal Gamma, Nphirea Balear and Demiurge) which should tell you right there how little we get to know any of the main characters/how flat they are.

The thing is, there is a wealth of substance here with all of these characters ... but because of the poor directing, very little comes across. A lot of pivotal characters are portrayed as one-note and dull (Ex: Albedo, Cocytus, Aura/Mare, Shalltear Bloodfallen, etc.). But as I keep saying, there is a lot here, but it was just poorly executed.



STORY:
The story is executed very haphazardly, the reason for this is that it is adapting the story arcs from the Overlord novel, jumping from one to the other with very little setup and often times with very little pay off.

A young man with a fairly bad life is somehow trapped in a game world. The entire plot revolves around him exploring the game world very cautiously looking for other humans rather than the NPCs he is surrounded by. There is not much in the way of a unifying thread , but that's fine... the whole season is basically world-building, setting up location, characters and establishing strengths, this is very good... the problem is, a lot of these things are done poorly. I'd hate to sound repetitive, but the bad direction makes it difficult to get a good grasp on where each location is and what the internal politics of the region are.

Basically, there is no story, it is just world-building... but it is a very clear setup for a greater story to come. If there is a season 2, it will use the established story base to launch into a potentially epic storyline, we will see.





ENJOYMENT:
There is a lot to be said for a main character that is depicted as actually being intelligent. It is so rare that when you see this series, you might not even catch how careful and calculated all of his actions are. Add to that the , frankly, irresponsible levels of fanservice-y scenes and you have a great combination. I would say I loved everything about this series except for most of the fight scenes.

The variety in characters, the surprisingly clever dialogues and actions made it a treat to watch.



OVERALL:
The terrible direction absolutely buries a fantastic show. The voice actors are clearing giving it their all, the animation while not good, is at least helped by wonderful art. The story and its twists are quite original and the general tone of the show shifts quickly but is pulled off masterfully (The one thing the director got right).

If you are a fan of the current cliche "Guy trapped in video game world", this is for you.
If you want to see a main character actually make subtle, but very intelligent actions, this is for you.
If you like non-sexual video game fanservice, this is for you.
If you want a complex , overarching epic story, this is NOT for you.


Though this is now one of my favorite animes, I cannot deny that it is deeply flawed... if it has a season 2, it will probably be legendary, but as it stands, the first season suffers from too many issues for me to give a broad recommendation.

Having watched the fantastic R.o.D. OVA I decided to check out the series... first thing that must be known is that it does not directly follow the storyline of the OVA but instead takes the route of coming up with three completely new protagonists; "The Paper Sisters".

I do not want to give any spoilers but this is something you learn very early on in episode 1;
Each of these sisters is a papermaster with the ability to manipulate paper in a variety of ways.... the big problem is, each of them ONLY manipulate paper in a specific way. The major draw of Yomiko Readman in RoD ... OVA was that she could be wildly creative with her manipulation of paper, creating airplanes, swords, shields, parachutes, etc.... by limiting each of the characters to one specific form of paper manipulation it turns each encounter into a highly predictable and dull scene.

They literally kneecapped the best part of the OVA.


So let's put the action scenes aside for awhile, what is the main story? well, it struggles to find its footing but it is allegedly about the three paper sisters becoming the bodyguards of a published author named Sumiregawa Nenene, so because the set-up is such a passive affair, the plot falls into stagnation pretty quick and struggles to find something for the characters to do... so much so that half-way through the series they just throw their hands up in the air and say EFF IT (You'll know what I mean when it happens), destroying the little story they had so far and restarting from scratch.

Okay enough about the story for a bit, let's talk about the characters;
Oh boy, they completely went overboard, in the OVA there were hints of lesbianism and it was cute, it was sexy, it was intriguing... but in RoD the TV the undertones became 'overtones', though we don't see any actual lesbian acts, the characters are blatantly lesbian. That is not something that bothers me but it very much distracts when every single female character is blatantly lesbic, in some cases having that being one of their defining characteristics.



So let's recap;
- Very weak characters that are poorly developed and put through awkward/forced development
- A non-story that is abandoned half way through the series
- Action scenes far inferior to its OVA counterpart


There is nothing to recommend here.
If you want action like the OVA, you will not find it here.
If you want creative, strange characters, you will not find it here.
If you want a complex, intriguing overarching plot, you will not find it here.
If you want to see more Yomiko Readman as the focus, not here either.

Pure Pure Pleiades is a series of shorts taking place in the same universe as the "Overlord" series. It features the main character 'Ains Ool Gown' and Albedo interacting with the Sento Maids, the titular Pleiades.

Now, going into this you must understand that this is not part of the main story, they are simple omakes that serve to provide some comedic value while simultaneously developing some of the characters that are not featured in the main series.... and that is where its value truly shines.

The Pleiades are meant to be major characters in the story but were not given much to do. There are 6 ... Pleiades and we barely get to know one in the main show; thus it is very good to endear the rest to the audience, giving us a good idea of what kind of characters they are (Ex: Lupusregina Beta is a genki girl, Shizu Delta is (seemingly) a Kuudere, Solution Epsilon is a sexy/flirty assassin type, etc.).

The situational comedy is incredibly silly but that is the idea; the art style is chibi and semi-deformed so if you are not into comedy or hyper-kawaii scenarios, this is not for you.

Special mention has to be made for the seiyuus performance; every episode opens with the voice actor for Ains delivering a quick explanation with a manic delivery, couple this with the performances of Albedo (Top guardian) and the rest in these strange situations and you have a great vocal cast clearly giving their A game, elevating pretty mediocre material up to quite good.



I know I haven't talked about the story, that's because there is no story. It's just an excuse to deliver comedy and character development, which is fine by me.


If you enjoy Overlord and have even a passing interest in comedy, this is highly recommended.
Score is low because it has two major qualifiers; be a fan of Overlord and also enjoy comedy/chibi/complete madness.