English Dub Season Review: Overlord Season Three

Overlord is back again, but perhaps the third time is not the charm.

Overlord is a series that certainly has something of a Cinderella story going for it. Its first season made a pretty big splash, but the series only received its second season a few years after the first debuted back in 2015. Its second season once again earned a lot of positive attention from its fanbase and cleared the way for its third to come around the year after. So, here we are, taking a look at Overlord season three. As a series, I found this season to be a bit baffling, but also challenging in the actions of its main character, Momonga, who is looking more like an evil overlord and less like a human officer drone getting a chance to play god in a fantasy setting. This season is quite different from its predecessors, since it follows three smaller arcs instead of focusing on one large story, and, as such, feels more scattered than what I’m used to from the show. As I understand it, though, this is a structural artifact from the light novel series, which is more of an anthology focusing on short arcs in the world instead of a long, linear tale.

Our season presents us with a few new stories to look at, Carne Village and its going-ons, the story of an adventurer team that invades Nazarick, and Lord Ains’s moves made on the Baharuth Empire, the new political faction threatening Nazarick and its denizens. This makes the season wide story…eclectic, to say the least. It feels like the series should be on to more major villains and struggles by now, but there is a feeling of smallness that accompanies these tales. The weakest is easily the Carne Village subplot, though it does get a fun battle scene at the end, with the strongest being the tragic tale of the four heroes who try to pilfer from the Tomb of Nazarick.

Overlord is a unique show in that its main character while having to deal with problems, very rarely struggles. He’s essentially got “God Mode”, and is so supremely powerful that no one, not even entire kingdoms, can stand up to him. This means that his stratagems and wars with neighboring nations can feel…lukewarm. One already knows that Re-estize and Baharuth have no chance of ever stopping Ains Ooal Gown, and the extent of his success will be determined by the strength of some convoluted plan involving incredible magic. It was fun to watch at first in season one, but now I need something to wet the palate. Ains can’t just keep dominating every conflict he comes across, it makes for boring episodes and uninteresting characters.

Yet, one story, in particular, stands out this season, and its the story of the four Baharuth heroes, comprising of Team Foresight. These characters are introduced and bonded to the audience quite skillfully, just in time for them all to die horribly at the hands of Nazarick’s floor guardians. When this moment hit me, I was on the verge of tears. This team, though only having existed for a couple of episodes, had drawn me into their dynamic, their motivations, and their friendship with each other. I wanted them so desperately to succeed, but they end up being completely slaughtered, without any mercy from Ains Ooal Gown. This is brilliant because its the kind of story that can only be told because Ains and his guild are so insanely powerful. There’s a cosmic irony here to know that no matter how likable you may be if you try to delve into the Tomb of Nazarick, you’re dead at the hands of the overlord, and that’s all there is to it. This also made me reconsider Momonga, whose motivation and the moral spectrum is becoming increasingly muddled. I can’t quite tell if this is on purpose or accidental, but seeing Ains so callous to the loss of human life makes him seem like a far cry from the Ains we saw in season one.

Personally, I enjoyed season two a lot more in terms of its story and tension. It felt much more real and dealt with the inner workings of Re-estize, all the while hinting at some major things to come. Season three, in contrast, feels like a break from those long-term plans to do a couple of one-off arcs. They’re not bad, but they’re not great either. As with every story, conflict is the engine of the plot, and if there’s nothing to make Ains Ooal Gown struggle, then it won’t be satisfying to see him grow. This series still has quite a bit of maturing to do, and with it potentially going into its fourth season, it better start wising up quick.

And yes, there’s still plenty of bad CGI.