English Dub Review: Overlord “War of Words”

Emperor Jircniv vs. Sorcerer King Ains Ool Gown. The match of the century.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

After Aura and Mare demonstrated their power by killing an entire courtyard of people in front of Emperor Jircniv, the young emperor decides to take to take the threat of Ains Ooal Gown seriously. To that end, he ventures to the Tomb of Nazarick to meet with Ainz and discuss what is to come.

Upon their arrival to the tomb, Jircniv and his entourage are quickly impressed by the incredible power that Ains Ooal Gown possesses, namely the ability to control an army of mighty undead and control the weather. A terror fills Jircniv’s men, but the maids of Nazarick try to soothe their tension by providing refreshments to calm their nerves.

After their reception, Jircniv and his men walk through a portal to meet with Ains inside the tomb. Negotiations are a bit tense, with Demiurge and the other Floor Guardians not respecting Jircniv, but Ains is quick to accommodate his guests. Diplomacy conquers all, however, and Jircniv, cognizant of the immense power Ains possesses, swiftly offers to make an alliance with Ains, if only to preserve the power his empire holds without being subjugated.

Their alliance is cemented, and Demiurge deployed to act as an envoy to the Empire. The Floor Guardians are curious as to why Ains is bothering to make an alliance with the Empire, but Ains explains that he doesn’t want the reputation of Nazarick to be sullied. Much to Ains’s surprise, Demiurge seems to think Ains actually has a more complicated plan in store.

On this way home, Jircniv reflects on what has just occurred. He’s found a respect for Ains and his position, but upon analysis, realizes something vital. The old sage Fluder Paradyne, who accompanied him on the trip, must have already known about Ains’s power from the beginning, and because of this deception, he is most likely a traitor to the empire. Jircniv believes Fluder to be in the service of Ains Ooal Gown and hatches a plan to resist Ains Ooal Gown along with the other countries, while pretending to be allied with Ains Ooal Gown.

This is exactly the plan that Demiurge has figured out, despite Momonga not having any idea about this. Demiurge believes that the time to conquer is now, and to that end, the Floor Masters offer him a new title, that of “The Sorcerer King.”

Our Take:

Well, it looks like things have gotten away from Momonga this episode, as the usually concise machinations of Ains Ooal Gown evolve into a shadow war of diplomacy and subterfuge. There’s a lot to like in this episode, with each scene doing an excellent job of keeping the episode’s pace along with providing heaps of political intrigue and planning to keep the mind interested. While most of the episode is focused on dialogue, its written with enough alacrity and cunning that it doesn’t get bogged down in extraneous scenes of painful exposition like other, poorer quality anime tend to do.

While Momonga is still the most powerful guy in the room, its Emperor Jircniv who proves himself to be the most interesting character we’ve seen for some time. While certainly a bit conceited, he’s much less of a “King Joffrey”, and more of a “Tirion Lannister”, a natural tactician with a mind for politics and an eye for the future. He seems like a character who can actually stand up to Ains Ooal Gown; if not in arms, then at least in strategy. That’s an interesting prospect because so far, there hasn’t been anyone who really gives Momonga and his crew legitimate trouble. Any conflict they have tends to be solved with their supreme magical power and legions of undead hordes, but one gets the feeling that things won’t be so easy when dealing with Jircniv. This battle of wits is off to a great start with Jircniv already figuring out Fluder’s betrayal, and no doubt there will be plenty of maneuvering and machinations to come.

As the inevitable war between Nazarick and, well, almost all of humanity moves ever closer, the disparity between Momonga the otaku and Ains the overlord becomes more and more noticeable. This conflict is usually played for laughs, but one gets the feeling that Momonga is no longer in control of the powerful monsters he rules. This builds a tension throughout the episode and pulls the audience into the story further since it becomes clear that Momonga isn’t as powerful as he’d like to be.

With some great new characters introduced and some important developments in the old ones, this episode continues moving the story along at a confident and quality pace. Overlord doesn’t always keep me on the edge of my seat, but its grabbed my attention this week, and as the season moves on, it only seems to be getting more and more interesting.