English Dub Review: Overlord “Massacre”

Looks like Momonga is going full overlord.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The battle between the kingdom of Re-estize and the combined forces of Nazarick and the Baharuth Empire is about to begin, with both armies lined up and ready to fight. As the two armies stare each other down, Sorcerer King Ains steps forth with a procession of death knights to herald his arrival. With a delighted grin, he uses a magic item which sends a wave of sweeping black death across the battlefield, wiping out thousands of enemy soldiers in a single moment.

There is a pause on the battlefield, and soon an enormous black orb descends from the sky, releasing a herd of titanic eldritch creatures; nightmares composed of a swarm of mouths atop five gigantic legs. The creatures, called the “Thousand Young”, charge the Re-estate forces and route them almost immediately in a horrifying massacre.

Ains cackles with delight at this victory, while the Re-estize forces reel from their swift defeat. Marquis Raeven manages to escape, while King Ramposa is escorted away from the battlefield. Before he leaves, however, he grants Climb a noble title, so that he may one day marry his daughter, Princess Renner.

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, Gazef stands alone, but is soon joined by Climb and Brain, who wish to fight with him. Lord Ains soon meets with Gazef, riding atop one of the Thousand Young. He descends from his horrifying mount and speaks with Gazef, offering him a proposal: serve him as his subordinate, or die.

Gazef, a man of honor, refuses to betray his king. To make his last stand, he challenges Lord Ains to a duel to the death.

Our Take:

Boy oh boy, just when I think I’ve got this series all figured out, it pulls the rug out from under me and throws me for a complete loop. This latest episode confirms my running suspicion that Ains Ooal Gown isn’t such a good guy after all, and in fact, may be one of the evilest mamma jammas that ever walked the earth. Perhaps, that shouldn’t surprise me, considering this show is called “Overlord” and Lord Ains leads a guild of monsters, but it does throw a wrench into the series’s setup thus far. That aside, this was an intense, overwhelming episode, dragged down somewhat by poor production quality, (And lets be honest, when is this show not?) but still quite entertaining for what it is.

Since the start of this series, I had considered Ains Ooal Gown to be listed in something of the “Chaotic Good” or “Lawful Neutral” categories of alignment. He wasn’t above using his insanely powerful magic to get what he wanted, but his interests were generally positive early on, and were mostly about saving lives and preserving the local peace while expanding his interests. But this latest season, and this episode in particular marks a radical shift in morality for Momonga. This is no longer a story about a good guy who is willing to be ruthless to survive, this is the story of a monstrous skeleton man who can easily commit genocide at a moment’s notice. Frankly, this shift is jarring, and more than a little confusing. I’m confused by Ains’s motivations, and I’m repulsed by his actions so much that I’ve lost a lot of character empathy for him. Why would he save Re-estize from a vast criminal organization last season and then massacre thousands of soldiers from that same kingdom the next season? Why is this considered just “The cost of doing business?” It’s bizarre, and more than a little disturbing, how okay Momonga and Gazef are with Momonga’s actions.

This is a bit frustrating, and its compounded by the fact that the show has done very little to demonstrate Momonga “Turning to the dark side” save for a throwaway line about how he doesn’t feel anything for the soldiers he’s killing. Perhaps this will yield something later, but it doesn’t seem especially likely since this hasn’t come up thus far.

If you like the show, you’ll probably continue to like it, but I’m finding that is this plot goes on, the original charm that brought me to the series is starting to rapidly diminish. At the very least, I’m glued to my screen to see what will happen next, but I don’t have a lot of hope that I’ll like it very much.

Score
6/10