English Dub Review: Overlord “Giant of the East, Demon Snake of the West”

Not listed: the giant demon snake of the south.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

We’re back at the Tomb of Nazarick, where Momonga is chastising Lupusregina, who failed to share her knowledge with him about the monsters known as the Giant of the East and the Demon Snake of the West. Momonga laments her lack of basic communication skills but decides its best to explain why Carne Village is important so she understands the significance of its impending conflict.

Lupusregina presents Momonga with the potion Nfirea gave her, and after some back and forth, the lord of Ainz Ooal Gown explains his plan to make more potions in the future. Pleased with Nfirea’s progress, Momonga decides to head out to Carne Village with Aura to find out more about the Giant and the Demon Snake.

Once there, he finds a cave full of monsters who are less than accepting of Ainz Ooal Gown’s plans to settle the area. Of course, the monsters are no problem for Momonga’s vast power. He annihilates them all with powerful magic, save for a naga named Ryrayus, who ends up pledging himself to Ainz.

His cleanup for the day done, Momonga returns back to the Tomb of Nazarick, where he consults Demiurge about what food would be appropriate for a child. Just then, he receives a report that Lupusregina has passed her first test.

Our Take:

This week on “Momonga and His Wacky Monster Pals”, we’ve got another in the series of lighthearted comedic episodes that are becoming the norm for Overlord this season. While enjoyable, the episode is lacking in some ways, while developing out Momonga’s character a bit more. Once again, the quality is middling, but not unacceptable. If you’ve stuck around for the show this far, I imagine you’ll find a lot to enjoy here, but this episode certainly won’t impress anyone new.

Momonga sure loves to play the Chessmaster, and I’m loving his characterization not just as a powerful mage, but a whippersnapper trying his best to be a brilliant mastermind. Obviously, Lex Luthor Momonga is not, but his finesse at playing things by ear and accidentally impressing everyone around him is pretty funny. His character is a lot more interesting when he isn’t just the “Deus ex Machina Good Dude” who goes around solving everyone’s problems like its no big deal. His awkward college student ways are endearing and create another layer of character to interact with the rest of the Tomb of Nazarick.

This episode is a bit too exposition heavy at times, and that weighs it down a good deal, especially when I want to get to the good bits about these new enemies who are supposed to show up. Overlord has a lot of potential in it to be a story about warring kingdoms and the strategies they employ against each other. We already saw a bit of that in the first and second seasons, especially with Ainz Ooal Gown’s precise destruction of The Eight Fingers, and I’m definitely still yearning for more.

Sometimes it seems like this show forgets that its about a boy trapped inside of a video game. That plot point has been relatively untouched since the beginning of the anime but sometimes leaks into the main story as Momonga tries to dissect and understand the ins and outs of the world he finds himself in. I would prefer that these things were more relevant or that Momonga faced more challenges in this new world, (Other than beautiful monster women throwing themselves at him) but what are you gonna do.

This episode focuses mostly on entertaining and sometimes cute dialogue between Momonga and his monster pals. It’s a little too shallow for my tastes, but for what it is, the episode is pretty enjoyable. The writing has a good flow to it, even if it is exposition friendly, and the characterization is solid and consistent.

Score
7/10