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This show should be called "Why Have You Not Had This Conversation Yet?: The Anime".

When putting characters together from different time periods you will naturally, in Episode 2 at the latest, have "This Conversation" that I referenced before - that being the realization that their lives were cut short, uncertainty about being revived in the future, and so much more (such as actually getting to know each other before each girl's designated episode). There would be immediate drama, conflict, and wonder. What does the girl from 1870ish think about the modern era? Does she find everyone's manner of speech too casual and slangy? Perhaps she ... thinks it's vulgar that they're wearing skirts that show their knees. These are just some of the conversations that should be had IMMEDIATELY because they are immediately relevant to that character. They would be the first things on her mind. And EACH girl should have her own concerns.

Instead they all seem to adjust to their new existence in less than a single scene, with only a few quirks reminding us that they're from a different time. Really, there are other problems I have with the show, but they pale in comparison to this one. It overshadows everything and renders the characters invalid. The girl from the Meiji Restoration is a lie. Her entire character is a lie. How can I get invested in the characters when I can see the writer moving them around from scene to scene? They're like puppets on strings that we're simply TOLD are from different time periods, without being sufficiently shown.

And it isn't like it has to be all drama either. This is a comedy after all. With a premise like this, the jokes write themselves! Imagine, they're talking about taking pictures, and the one girl is flabbergasted and makes a huge deal out of not having to sit still for as much as 30 minutes for each one. That would probably be hilarious, but we won't know because the writers decided to go the blandest, most cliche route instead, with repetitive, unfunny gags, the delinquent girl being insufferable, and their producer shouting, being lol-so-random, and being oddly mean to the girls under his care. Oh, and one of the girls not regaining their humanity and being a brain-hungry zombie. Peak comedy, that right there.

As a side note, despite the constant jokes about them being undead, it's hard to actually tell. Why can a zombie sleep? Why can they feel touch? Why can they taste? Why do they smoke? Do they really need to eat? And since they do eat, do they need to use the bathroom? Zombies? Using the bathroom? Madness! Just like the characters themselves, their status as zombies is a lie. There's almost nothing differentiating them from any other living, human girls living in 2018 anime-Japan.

Have you ever heard that shouting does not automatically make something funny? The same goes here. People have no chill in this show. They're also all one-note characters, and in no way does their behaviour resemble that of normal people. It's quite honestly bizarre and frustrating:

Tomo isn't a tomboy, she's written to be a full-on boy with the character design of a tomboy. It's too much to take seriously, especially when her mom seems pretty well put-together. You'd think she would've been involved with her daughter's life and already taught her how to be a girl, even if Tomo didn't take naturally to it. Apparently ... not, because Tomo doesn't know anything - not how to wear makeup, not how girls socialize or bully each other, how to attract a man, how to pick clothes - not a single thing.

Misuzu is just awful. She's just mean-spirited for no discernable reason. That's all there is to her.

Carol is stupid. But not in a realistic way. She just acts weird and doesn't understand social conventions. That's it. I know it's an anime cliche, but imagine if she were real. It's not cute, and it's only sometimes funny.

Tomo's dad shouts almost every line, even when talking to children. It actually gives me a headache.

I understand slice of life, but here there is actually a point - the point being that Tomo wants to attract Jun. Yet all too often the show falls into the slice-of-life trap of spinning its wheels. I'm sure every scene contributes to a larger whole, but moment to moment it feels like there's no progression. Entire episodes go by and it doesn't feel like anything has been accomplished. It's not a surprise, therefore, my favourite part so far was the birthday episode because Tomo tried something new (even if her friends forced her). The way it played out, especially the hijinks that ensued, felt like a growing moment, where she went outside her comfort zone, learning from the experience to become a more well-rounded person. In other words, it FELT like an actual advancement, regardless if it may or may not even play a factor later on.

So now is the reason I decided to write a review in the first place. I'm really tired of the 'creepy guy' cliche. There's so little conflict and so little actually happening that the show feels the need to have creepy guys come be pervy and gross then get beat up or told off by our heroes no less than THREE times in SEVEN episodes. Once in a series is already getting tiresome for me. It's lazy, and worse, it takes up time that could be used in a better way. Instead of having a random guy hitting on Tomo only for Jun to beat him up so the audience can feel morally superior to the defeated strawman, we could have something meaningful: For instance, Tomo's friends are making her try different hair accessories to look cute, and not liking their recommendations she picks one that SHE likes, showing she's willing to change for love but wants to guide those changes herself rather than simply going along with what her friends think is best for her. That would be a good character moment. But NOPE! rAnDoM gUyS aRe CrEePeRs!

I usually prefer dubs for all the well-known reasons, and I personally like to compare the sub and dub to see how different actors interpret their characters. There's no one 'right' way to portray a character, instead there's 'uninventive but functional', 'good', and 'even better'. Unfortunately, there is definitely a WRONG way to interpret a character. I nearly fell out of my seat when I started Episode 1 at how BAD some of the performances were. It was mind-baffling! And I don't even blame the actors, because as I listened I noticed some good deliveries and tone of voice here and there. They got better over time as well. I blame the voice director. It was like the actor said a line to get feedback on how they should change, then the director just said 'It's almost perfect, but can you do it worse?' Tomo's actor (in dub, I remind you) sounds like she's actually more feminine in real life and has to force her voice to be lower and more gruff, and it comes off as unnatural. Misuzu's performance is actually pretty okay, but it's hard to screw up monotone. Jun sounds like he's trying a bit too hard, and it's grating. I hate Carol's baby-voice, but it's an anime cliche, so I don't blame the actor. The sub meanwhile is completely serviceable - no more, no less.

I don't recommend this show, but I'm a romantic at heart, so the premise alone is going to keep me watching to the end, though I might crank it up to 2x speed for the rest of the runtime.

I knew almost instantly what this show was going to be barely into the first episode, then I confirmed it by checking the latest chapter of the manga. This show is, and will only ever be, a constant string of 'romantic' moments without any foundation, nor any chemistry between the characters. There is no point.

The main character is pathetic and spineless. It's hard to properly quantify just how frustrating it is watching him babble and whine and allow himself to be verbally abused and physically dominated (the main girl forcefully grabs his shirt a couple times in the first episode and he just takes it). ... Bafflingly, the abuse quickly lessens, but it isn't because he establishes boundaries. The story needs to move on to the next phase, after all! There's no time to have organic relationship growth from a frigid one into something more stable! Nobody wants to see that! They want to see love triangles that never go anywhere!

And by the way, on the topic of relationship growth, our protagonist likes one girl because they were childhood friends - understandable - but then he starts liking the main girl too for no reason and flip flops between them. The script says that he is conflicted between two perfect girls, so now he is. He is physically close to the main girl sometimes, therefore it only makes sense that he would fall in love with her instantly. Who cares that they share no common interests, habits, or values. They were embarrassed that they were sitting next to each other and then they blushed! WOW!

The writing is just so transparent and on the nose. Every interaction our protagonist has with a girl makes him blush and wobble at the knees. Nothing romantic is happening onscreen, yet he reacts like there is. The show has to make every moment romantic even when it's not. Take out the blushes and the music and it's like a sitcom without the laugh track - you realize how awkward and out of the blue the interactions really are, and realize there's no actual reason for the characters to say or do the things they do. It's summarized as the following: The protagonist is paired off with a girl he has a general dislike for, then overnight and without any concrete reason, he starts acting weird like he has a crush on her and gets jealous that she likes someone else. There's a disconnect, as I said previously, of effects without cause - the correct beats, the correct payoffs, but without the buildup to justify them and give them meaning.

The main girl leaves a VERY bad first impression as verbally abusive, rude, arrogant, vain, and physically aggressive. It's strange though because by only Episode 2 she's mellowed out considerably. There's a major whiplash to her character where she starts overly nasty then instantly just becomes a typical tsundere. After all, we need to get her into love triangles as quickly as possible! We can save time by just skipping her character development entirely! Any normal romance show wouldn't have her act like that until maybe Episode 5, after having time to get used to her situation and come to terms with the main guy. It would only be after a series of increasingly relaxed interactions that she'd realize she was feeling differently around him and try being flirty or jealous. But that sounds like a lot of not-love-triangles happening. Can't have that!

Still though, despite suddenly becoming tolerable, the bad first impression the main girl gave off sticks in my mind, and when she's being kind and acting cute I'm reflexively disgusted. Beyond that change she shows no character growth, continually stuck between liking one boy because he's handsome, cool, smart, and athletic, and liking the main guy for no apparent reason other than because they're in close proximity and breathing each other's pheromones. Speaking of which...

The premise is absurd but I initially gave it a pass because it's the setup for a romcom and a unique situation to put our characters through. Every second that went by though I became increasingly distressed and annoyed by it. This fake marriage apparently goes beyond simply learning to cooperate with other people you may not know or actually like - like a teambuilding exercise - but full-on is forcing highschoolers into an intimate relationship with a virtual stranger under the threat of academic failure, all while having no privacy because they're being watched by cameras. I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to weird stuff in anime but this crosses a very creepy line. I do however believe a better execution was possible and would eliminate the creepy fetish factor.

Don't waste your time watching this. The colours are pretty though.

Korean cinema seemingly never fails to have an interesting, if not great, premise and execute it spectacularly until about halfway, where the tone whiplashes - fine enough - only to annihilate any goodwill it built up with me in the first half.

It turns out this isn't just a Slice of Life-Genderbender-Comedy, but also a Mystery show, as is readily apparent just from the title: Why and how did the protagonist turn into a girl? It's pretty cool until you realize the protagonist isn't genre savvy. This starts, as I mentioned, about halfway through, but goes beyond the pale at about Episode 9 or 10. I ... was screaming at the screen I was so angry.

Maybe I'm just too smart or something, but I only needed until Episode 7 to build a functioning model in my head of what happened. The mystery wasn't solved, I didn't know all the details, and certainly neither did the protagonist, but I knew ENOUGH. Even from only his perspective I knew enough. If I was the main guy, as of Episode 6, I'd be seriously concerned, and by Episode 7 I'd be taking *immediate* and *decisive* action and the rest of the story wouldn't happen because I would have solved the conflict. I wanted to be reasonable though, so I figured the guy just didn't have enough information to realize what was really going on. Then the rest of the show happens, and even when the mystery is completely revealed, he's STILL making pants-on-head level stupid decisions. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

It was at that point that I sped the whole show up so I could finish it, because I still wanted to know what happened, but I didn't want to have to spend another hour watching it.

I saw the last twist coming a mile away, and though I didn't think it would save the show for me, I still thought it could be really cool. It wasn't. I understand why it took so long before the twist happened, because certain prerequisites weren't met, but the timing of it felt off, like the story beat was late. The flow of it felt wrong. What's more, I was expecting a big hero moment - hoping! - and we got one. It was a good start, if late, but oh boy it didn't stick the landing; more like it tripped and fell down the stairs. I was appalled. I can understand why it wouldn't be some glorious superhero victory, but it was groan-inducing, eye-rollingly bad.

The final reveal felt like a retcon and doesn't quite make sense. I do really like the final explanation for the magic of him turning into a girl though, chronology and complete and unabashed visual LIE that it is. I'd talk about it, but since I'm labelling this as a mixed recommendation I don't want to spoil anything. If you've seen the show you probably know what I'm referring to.

The romance didn't happen the way I wanted either. Maybe that's a matter of personal opinion and it won't bother anyone else, I don't know, but based on what was built up I was expecting/hoping for it to be a bit more *solid* at the ending for all the characters. I can't think of a better way to describe it. And let's not forget one them has a COMPLETELY unresolved romance thread which makes it feel very strange indeed.

Finally we have the positives that stand out to me, everything not mentioned here or previously receiving my general approval:

I really loved the art style for the faces. Those lower eyelashes put a smile on my face. The fanservice is mostly treated as a joke, and is actually pretty nice because it's restrained and part of larger moments, or is directly linked to the plot. Part of the conflict is rather serious business and it's refreshing that the show doesn't pull its punches. I also REALLY enjoyed the portrayal of genderbending. It's a trait of poor writers to want their characters to go on a specific journey and end up growing in a specific way, so they rush things and have them immediately adjust to whatever's happening so they can get on with the almighty PLOT. Here, not so much. Despite being genderbent the protagonist still lived his life up to that point as a guy, creating male habits and mannerisms, and it shows. Good on you, show. Good on you.

And now that I think of it, the moral of the story was really fumbled and a bit insulting to the protagonist.

The way I judge art is by starting with whether it's good or not, tempered, or even sometimes overruled, by whether I like it or not. From there, I decide just how good or just how bad it is. In this case, I decided Bagel Girl is bad, but it's not 'Very Bad', 'Horrible' or 'Appalling', so while I think 4 is too low a score, I mostly agree with the label of 'Bad'. Still, recommendations count for a lot more, I find, either a definite Yes, No, or Give-It-A-Try-And-See-How-You-Feel. In this case I give Bagel Girl a very firm recommendation of 'Mixed Feelings'.

STORY: 1

I'd like to begin by asking the following: What story? What exactly is this show about? Season 1 of Overlord couldn't really make up its mind either, but at least it was an enjoyable time enough for me to not mind. In fact, I marathoned all of Season 1 faster than I have ever watched an anime before in my life. Season 2 of Overlord got lost in a rabbithole.

After Momonga becomes a part of his MMORPG, but is simultaneously transported to a different setting (starting to get a little convoluted, but it's workable), he decides to do... Well, it's not really clear. He ... eventually decides to spread the name of his guild across the lands with the hope that someone else from his MMORPG is there also, which is a rather weak goal for an entire series to hinge on. BUT! Earlier he considers taking over the world as an evil overlord since he and his crew of NPCs have all the powers they acquired in the game while the people of the world they find themselves in are comparably weak. It would be the same as waking up in DragonAge Origins as your max-level character from World of WarCraft.

The problems start right out the gate because Momonga doesn't want to start a conflict he can't win, so is very slow and deliberate, scouting the world to see what powers he might be up against and if other players like himself are there. This grinds the pacing down to less than a crawl. The fact that Momonga can't be sure if he's 100% invincible in this world is an artificial barrier that prevents the story from pumping along at a nice even pace. More importantly though, while much is cut out from the original light novels, I believe much more should have been cut. For example, most events (in both seasons) take several episodes to complete when they could be done in just one, (mostly by removing extraneous dialogue that accomplishes nothing), making that event more impactful and freeing up time for more character development and story progression. It would bother those who have read the light novels since they would know just how much was excluded, but it would be necessary for the sake of making the adaptation into an anime even slightly functional.

The pacing problems carry on in Season 2 but are far worse. We never really know what the story is about because we don't see Momonga or his crew enough to stay saddled onto the overarching story. We divert to new characters as they rally to defend their homes from an invasion by Momonga's forces. That may sound interesting, but it's not. Seeing the conflict from the lizards' perspective (they're lizardmen, by the way) could be good, but it's jarring to focus on them so completely when this isn't their story to tell. This is Momonga's story of how he slowly learns more about the setting and, we assume despite him never really confirming it's actually his ambition, take over the world. This season doesn't allow us to follow along with that premise because we get bogged down in the immediate plot and endless and awkwardly written info dumps about history that really doesn't matter going forward, and could be safely left out, freeing up time for more interesting and relevant world building.

As we continue in Season 2, we shift focus to another series of new characters that aren't all that interesting as they go about their generic lives. They all have goals and pasts to tell, but none of it is relevant to the story of Momonga (presumably) taking over the world.

Just as an aside, I must mention the indecisiveness of the character of Momonga. He never really decides to be a villain protagonist. Even until the end of Season 2 he is only acting in small ways to gain resources and information and otherwise just react to events rather than causing them. He doesn't clearly act towards a greater goal, and many times appears to go out of his way to not be a villain. It's hard to describe, but it's like the writer couldn't make up his mind what kind of character he wanted Momonga to be. Does he want to be an evil overlord? Does he want to be a compassionate ruler who all the people love? We really need to stick to one or the other so we can have a unified point to the story.

I could ramble at length about the utter atrocity Overlord Season 2 is in the story and plot department, but I'll leave it here for now.




ART: 8

I've seen talk of the art quality going down and up and being overall bad through the middle of Season 2, but I didn't notice it. It looks quite nice to me, but doesn't have the flair for a higher score.




SOUND: 5

The sound is there. The music works, but it's very generic. Some of the pieces are overdramatic and it makes me roll my eyes. Sometimes less is more.




CHARACTERS: 1

What characters? We rarely see the protagonist, Momonga. The scenes with his crew of other main characters (that we didn't really get established in Season 1 but we loved all the same just because we appreciated them being there and the promise of new and interesting interactions when they got to make their debut in the story) are similarly shafted in favour of bland, generic characters that, in some cases, are simply frustrating to watch. Characters like Stronof or Climb (what a name...) are the embodiment of NPC. No one has ever wanted to know the entire life story of an NPC. A little background is nice, little humanizing moments are great, but giving so much focus on characters that can't drive the story forward (think Yamcha) and are boring anyway, is an awful decision for the writer and doubly bad for the team who adapted the source material. It's a season of anime that you weren't sure you were even going to make, and without any certainty that there would be a Season 3. You can cut these characters or at least give them less screentime without having to worry about needing them later. Just look at the lizardmen for example. We got all that development for them, but does it pay off with them doing something later in the season? Nope.

It's been said side-characters are what's interesting and important about Overlord. This is absolutely mind-baffling. Side-characters are great! Do you remember Jeremiah Gottwald from Code Geass? I DO! But he was also interesting from his first appearance, which is something Overlord can't do with its side-characters to save its life. The show is trying to reassure us with each episode that these characters will be important later, which I doubt, but regardless, they're worthless now. And even if they do become important later, they're still only side-characters and should never overshadow the main cast when it's not their time to steal the scene completely, otherwise what's the point of having a main cast or protagonist at all?

I'm not saying the main characters have to be in every scene, but if they are quite literally absent from the show, not even being in some way related to the events that are being portrayed onscreen, then you're doing it wrong. They aren't really main characters if that's the case. If the show is about the setting and showing it off, then don't have main characters. Make it an anthology series.




ENJOYMENT: 1

The pacing is a sin. Most the characters aside from the main cast (which you can largely rename Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Anime) are cringe. The dialogue is trite and redundant and forced. Every episode is a 'build-up' episode but without there ever being an equal payoff. Characters are dumb sometimes which strains our ability to stay invested. For example, Sebastian and Solution are going to leave their recon assignment but first they have to go on an errand - "Better leave the human girl who's completely defenseless and also wanted by the mob completely alone for a long period of time so she can get kidnapped, otherwise the rest of the season's plot wouldn't happen!" It's contrived.

And the action! Oh, the action... One isn't automatically an action junkie for demanding SOMETHING happen that we can all be invested in at constant intervals. All we get is extended dialogue scenes between two or more characters who we don't really care about on a subject that we don't really care about because it doesn't relate to the main cast.

When we do get fight scenes they're abysmal. The characters just shout names of attacks and stuff happens, usually after a transmutation circle appears. Then they stop to talk. Then someone else comes and they all stop to talk. Then the new guy fights the other guy calling out names of attacks, usually accompanied by transmutation circles, then they stop to talk again, then the fight's over. It's not the definition of heart-pounding, I'm telling you now.

One reason I keep seeing why there's so much dialogue and time spent without the main characters is because the show is trying to do world building. While I'll agree that's what it's trying and succeeding to do, it's doing it wrong. Completely disengaging from the overarching story is bad. Completely disengaging from the overarching story for characters we don't know or care about or are actively annoyed by just to have a meaningless conversation or practice swordfight is very bad.

Even if the world building wasn't shoved in your face like a child showing off how much spaghetti they got on their hands, it would still be bad because the world itself isn't interesting. For all intents and purposes, the world that Overlord takes place in is a reskinned Middle Earth or generic D&D setting, just like a lot of fantasy stories, whether high fantasy, dark fantasy, or whathaveyou. As a result, we don't need to spend an exceptional amount of time exploring the world because looking at a map is enough for us to begin guessing the state of the world and who exists in it. Simply looking at the side-characters is enough for us to more or less understand what they're like going forward. And if that isn't enough, a few lines of dialogue makes it clear.

Compare this to Swort Art Online. How that show does world building is by having the protagonist go on many unrelated adventures to various, interesting locations, meeting new friends and enemies along the way. We see the world, we hear the world, Kirito interacts with the world. We get enough of the world to feel like we know it without being inundating with information, while also implying that there's much more to the world than what we've seen. This is not the only way of doing world building, but it's vastly more effective than whatever Overlord is doing. I imagine it's trying to go for the Lord of the Rings approach, but you never read in the books or saw in the movies that one time when Jim and Pillock were standing on the walls of Minas Tirith before the armies of Minas Morgul showed up, talking about their pasts or explaining the hierarchy of their government to each other. To sum this up, what I'm saying is Sword Art Online does better world building than Overlord. To say that Sword Art Online does anything better than anything else is not a compliment.

Just as a side-note, I don't know if it's just Japan or what, because I've seen this in other anime too: Nobody ever mentions the fact that a kingdom is a kingdom in real life unless it's because they're being formal. If a guy was a messenger in Medieval France and was going to travel across the border to Aragon, he wouldn't say that he's going to the Aragon Kingdom. He'd just say he's going to Aragon. The Re-Estize Kingdom, the Slane Theocracy, the token evil empire that I've already forgotten its name (Bahamut? Or is that Final Fantasy?) really should not have their form of government mentioned aside from when it's revealed what kind of government it is. Imagine if we went around saying that we took a vacation in the France Presidency, or the United States Representative Republic. It's just silly.




OVERALL: 2

This season of Overlord misses the mark in every single major way, undermining what was good and making the whole thing an absolute slog to get through. To top this review off, I'll paraphrase something I once read on the subject of the main cast and action: I would rather watch Ainz (Momonga) sit at his desk and do his taxes for an entire episode than see characters we don't care about fighting in an epic battle. Because I don't care about those characters or that battle.