Isekai anime are so oversaturated that only making more of the same isn't enough these days. The thing is, Overlord will be redundant no matter what crap they shove down our throats during the filler episodes. The only plausible reason for the story breaking off from Ainz to follow the lizard people is to keep his harem junk from becoming too repetitive. It's rare for anime to put me to sleep, but Overlord's first three (lizard-focused) episodes truly tested my fortitude. In the end, the stories come together, but does the moderately entertaining end justify the tiresome means? Not at all. We're forced to watch them fighting in their stupid battles and their boring melodrama, and all of it barely connected to the characters introduced in the first season. We got classic stories to be loved for ages, like the tribe of lizard idiots who inevitably get taken over by Momonga, the compelling backstory for Momonga's butler (aka Plank of Wood), some random knight guy, and a princess with a dark secret! Remember how Overlord's first season had somewhat slow pacing at times? This is 10 times worse! Entire episodes are dedicated to characters that we don't have a reason to care about. For some reason, whenever the story follows any character other than Momonga, it becomes insufferably dull.

This new season of Overlord isn't all harem bullshit it tries a few new things… and fails at all of them. Skeletor, he wins nearly every fight, and there is no substance. Here it feels like a pandering fest the characters bend over backward to praise Mr. A story's world should ebb and flow without the audience needing to be there. It's funny how Overlord shamelessly admits that its female characters are coded to love Momonga, but that doesn't make it better writing. The philosophy of: 'How can I self-insert if my main character isn't a good guy?' breaks any potential this show had to become something original. If the villain protagonist isn't even a villain, then this show is literally just the same as anything else… Like the meek voice hiding behind the intimidating demonic skeleton exterior, Overlord masquerades as something far better and more original than it actually is. It's lovely how nice of a guy he is really–wait, stop right there. He's always speaking in his friendly guy voice in his head to remind us, he's not actually a real villain. Everyone still loves him anyway, and he acts like the generic 'nice guy' harem protagonist. Momonga being a villain changes almost nothing.

His skeleton face remains unanimated in conversations his voice is undeniably booming, the actor puts on a fantastic show, but there's no impact. The light novel's designs look amazing-but this adaptation's art lacks detail. Even his character art fails at conveying the intimidation. He is entirely devoid of substance, only existing to continue the story. I like them as much as the next guy, but he's not a very interesting character beyond his intimidating design. An overpowered character doesn't become good just by not being a teenage boy. What's the appeal of it? Is it that Momonga is a ridiculously overpowered self-insert protagonist and his legion of ladies all want him? Both this season and the first were at best disposable entertainment, like any other isekai light novel adaptation. The character designs look cool, and all but that isn't enough to carry a boatload of mediocrity. Overlord is not mature, it's not remotely well written, its visuals don't even look good. It is practically a generic isekai light novel adaptation, but with older characters, giving it the illusion of maturity. I have never understood why Overlord receives so much praise.

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