#moman

Okay, I’ve managed to blow through Konosuba, Re:Zero, and The Rising of the Shield Hero in the past several years. Now, I think it’s time I blast through this isekai so I can get to Isekai Quartet. I know it’s absurd to push up a wonky spin-off like that. But I watched Carnival Phantasm when I clearly didn’t know half of those characters. We learn from our oopsies and mistakes. I’m older and wiser now. Once I finish this, I’ve watched all…

But don’t you have to watch Tanya of the Evil too?

(ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ︵ ┻━┻

Momonga is a working man, who in his off-time plays an MMORPG named Yggdrasil and plays a character known as Ains. After so many hours playing this game, the servers are going to shut down and he is the only one left with his memories of the good times playing. He decides to stay on the server until midnight when the servers plan to go dead. Midnight strikes and he’s still logged in. Problem is, HE CAN’T LOG OUT! Welcome to the Isekai rabbit-hole! But unlike many other isekais, Momonga has a legion of loyal servants to do what he says. Hell, he can cop a feel on a hot girl and she’ll just moan and beg for more.

Albedo is all kinds of kinky!

So, let’s watch as Momonga (or Ains Oon Goal) navigate this world where the NPC’s do a lot more than you’d expect and a world that’s different from the game. He is the overpowered overlord that will one day rule the land. Get ready. There’s about four seasons and a million chapters of light novel to this.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Say what you will about FUNimation, they do give us some quality dubs from time to time. And in the first season, I was so happy to hear Ed Blaylock’s voice in what was probably his final role (that wasn’t One Piece related) before his passing. I’m also impressed with Chris Gurrero’s voice going from Momonga to Ains like that. I almost thought it was two different voice actors, so color me impressed. If you’re wondering, I did watch some of this series subbed. A lot of the specials and movies were sub only so I had no choice in the matter. But by the time season four came around, I was already caught up so I caught the sub there.

Hey, I wasn’t going to miss out on Mamoru Miyano acting dorky. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Ains is played by Satoshi Hino (known for Sai on Naruto Shippuden, Kamui on Gintama, Rengoku on Demon Slayer, Yuuji on Shakugan no Shana, Hamazura on Index, and Gauche on Black Clover)

*Albedo is played by Yumi Hara (known for Takane on Idolm@ster and Kosame on Magical Girl Site)

*Narberal is played by Manami Numakura (known for Pieck on Attack on Titan, Rio on Assassination Classroom, Brandish on Fairy Tail, and Hibiki on Idolm@ster)

*Shalltear is played by Sumire Uesaka (known for Nagatoro on Miss Nagatoro, Chloe on Miss Kobayashi, Dekomori on Chunibyo, Aya on Tonikawa, Nanase on In/Spectre, and Anastasia on Idolm@ster: CG)

ENGLISH CAST: *Ains is played by Chris Gurrero (known for Moriah on One Piece, Valtos on Black Clover, Nobuta on Assassination Classroom, and Ichiya on Fairy Tail)

*Albedo is played by Elizabeth Maxwell (known for Ymir on Attack on Titan, Uo on Fruits Basket 2019, Caulifla on DB Super, Lisa on Fire Force, Jenny on Fairy Tail, and Cordelia on Gosick)

*Narberal is played by Anasatasia Munoz (known for Gracia on FMA: Brotherhood, Minerva on Fairy Tail, Mayu on Fruits Basket, and Monomi on Danganronpa)

*Shalltear is played by Felecia Angelle (known for Hagakure on My Hero Academia, Georgie on Miss Kobayashi, Asahina on Danganronpa, Tetia on Black Clover, Frill on Wonder Egg Priority, and Perona on One Piece)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: So, I hate this sick, sadistic bitch right here.

I know it feels weird to stick it out with a season one villain. Especially because season four had a treasure trove of idiots that deserve to be hated. I just hate Clementine.

SHIPPING: God damn, Albedo and Shalltear are THIRSTY for Ains.

Um…so which girl? Which girl or girls are to be Lord Ains’s wife or mistress or concubine?

Okay, obviously we will never get an answer to that unless we read the entire light novel series. And even then, is there really an answer? We know it’ll never be Evileye from season two despite her sorta falling for Lord Ains.

Let’s just chalk this section up to the only true ship in this series is Nferia and Enri. Cute moment from them in season one and savior moments in season three. And now they’re married. Oh and I suppose the lizards from season two. Last I saw, they mated and have offspring as of season four. Call it a win if you’re married and still alive by the end of season four.

MUSIC: All of the songs are lit. There’s really nothing more to say on the matter.

Voracity is my favorite.

ENDING TO SEASON ONE: Throughout the series, we’ve seen Ains in disguise when going on mini-missions throughout the land. He goes by the name of Moman and travels with one of his Pleiades maids Naberal (or Nabe). After killing off these dead-raisers and a very unlikeable villain, he returns to his base to learn that there’s been a betrayal amongst one of his loyal followers.

It would seem odd for any of these characters to turn against Lord Ains or anything like that, especially when you see it was Shalltear. But whoever caught Shalltear certainly has Ains sweating (if it’s humanly feasible for a skeleton to do so). Not many can compare to his strength. However, Shalltear is a different story. Statistically speaking, there’s a less than 50% chance that Ains can win against her in a fight. When Ains decides to deal with this situation by himself, this frightened many of his disciples. Ains is the only person left of his original group that brought life to many of these characters. If he’s gone, Albedo might lose her sanity. Not just her, but the rest of the characters too. So, when Ains went after Shalltear, it looked like his power was useless to zap her out of her trance. And she did seem somewhat conflicted going against her lord and master. Could it be that someone besides Ains was stuck in the game as well? Could it be one of his former comrades from before the game shut down?

The end of this season doesn’t give us that answer. But we were not disappointed by the Ains vs. Shalltear fight. Ains didn’t hold back in this fight and ended up using many items crafted by his former comrades who used to be a part of the game before the permanent shutdown. I know there’s a lot to be said about overpowered protagonists and how boring a show can be with one of those, but for some reason I can live with Ains taking down a rogue servant. Ains ends up killing Shalltear, but then resurrects her (for a very steep price).

Shalltear is unaware of what happened during that time she was being mind-controlled. And I suppose we will not know until the following season.

PLEIADES SPECIALS: What the hell? Is this shit animated by the same company that does Isekai Quartet? Son of a gun, it is! Every season, there will be these short episodes. These episodes have everything you would expect from your average short-run special including; fanservice, main focus on characters that we never focus on, out of place dialogue, and no one acting like they would in the main show (except for Albedo). As the name indicates, we focus on the Pleiades combat maids; Yuri, Lupusregina, Narberal, Solution, CZ, and Entoma. And there’s only one thing I want to say about the specials.

I got to watch Clementine die six more times.

Oh yeah, there’s also a Clementine special with the Pleiades. More Clementine torture! I can’t say no to that. But that’s just the first season. Later seasons feature many crazier characters like Pandora’s Actor. Mamoru Miyano is having so much fun with this role. I know he is.

SEASON TWO: Three years, two recap movies, millions of Rule 34 artworks featuring Albedo, and a multitude of Isekai Quartet-style specials later…

We’re watching the story of dragon tribes getting a stark warning in the sky, working together, and then defeating armies of the undead. Wait, did I pick up some other anime by mistake or is this really Overlord? Yeah, the first few episodes of this season we’re watching a lot of these dragons, learning about these characters, and then watch them die off (this time by Coctys). That is until Ains comes in and forces the remaining dragon clans to answer to him.

The rest of this season had a lot of screentime to Sebas. Sebas was found interfering in the human world. He took in and healed a prostitute named Tuare and assisted with helping the bodyguard of a princess. With Sebas doing a lot of questionable actions while undercover with Solution, Lord Ains might fear of another betrayal much like last season with Shalltear. But as we all know, the opening theme told us that Demiurge was going to betray Lord Ains. Maybe! Ains gave his decision and will not punish Sebas and will see to it that Tuare will be taken care of by having her serve at the Great Tomb of Nazerick.

As it turns out, a lot of factions in this part of the story want to put an end to a crime syndicate known as “Eight Fingers”. The kingdom (particularly Princess Renner) has her close allies (Blue Rose) and loyal bodyguard (Climb) take out their organization. Sebas has had his moments with these gentlemen, as the crime syndicate consisted of brothels with injured women. Along with Sebas, we also have season one veterans Brain and Gazef get involved. However, things get messy when several of these groups get a nasty meeting.

I mean it, this season is full of new characters that are either in several episodes in great detail or die off faster than their appearance in the opening sequence. And in usual Medea-fashion, I’m going to have to give these people stupid nicknames. Let’s see…

Fluffy and Fuzzy’s Guide to You-Know-What

Thing One and Thing Two

Isekai Jasper

Odvall

Fat Royal Armin

Blonde Yuno Gasai

Dead One, Dead Two, Corpse One, Corpse Two...

Feminine Obvious Ian Sinclair character

Gilgamesh Knock-Off

END OF SEASON TWO: What do you suppose is going to happen when Lord Ains’s diciples get involved in a messy situation? You’ve got Entoma eating humans and Demiurge slaughtering members of the princess’s allies in Blue Rose. And then Lord Ains shows up in his Moman disguise right in the middle of this cluster-fucking mess. We do get the fight between Demiurge and Ains, it’s just that Demiurge wasn’t under a spell like Shalltear was last season. This was more of a bigger plan as both of them are using their alias names. It’s all an act.

Things get messier when Ains gets involved in Blue Rose matters. First of all, Evileye shouldn’t be falling in love with Ains. Ains has no interest and two other thirsty ladies back home. Second of all, this story is already more twisted than Lombard Street in San Francisco. Well, we get a satisfactory conclusion for Ains as he was able to make more connections in order for his alias (Moman) to be the great adventurer. Fake fighting with his allies of the Great Tomb of Nazerick and “defeat” the bad guys. And we close with seeing knock-off Gilgamesh plotting something. Oh, I’m sure we’ll see it in season three.

SEASON THREE: One anime season later…

God damn, that’s pretty fast for a Madhouse production!

Okay so, there’s still no word on who possessed Shalltear back in season one and no word on anyone else in this world from Lord Ains’s time as Momonga. Meanwhile, the guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazerick are planning their next plan of attack. Entoma wants revenge on Evileye from their fight at the end of season two. Solution wants to eat more humans. And Demiurge is looking forward to total world domination. And Ains is trying his best to stay the strong leader in front of everyone and still put out signs in case anyone from the game is there and finds him. With all of that happening isn’t it the perfect time for everyone to take a day off? Yeah, the first episode of this season was almost a throwaway.

Thankfully, we get back to the engaged storytelling and killing soon after. For a couple of episodes, we follow those humans from season one, Nfirea and Enri. And of course, they are the special kinds of humans Lord Ains trusts the most as they actually know Lord Ains by name and are indebted to him. Plus goblins! Enri controls a horde of goblins. I gotta give this girl some credit, she is pretty bad-ass.

END OF SEASON THREE: So Ains was not too pleased about random human scum entering the Tomb of Nazerick uninvited. In fact, that downright pissed him off. He kills the trespassers, has Shalltear kill off any runaways, and sent Aura and Mare to send a message to the kingdom with a pretty clear message of, “fuck around and find out”.

Now the emperor (Gilgamesh knock-off) made a legitimate attempt at forming an alliance to avoid more deaths like what Mare and Aura did in front of him. The royal family however decided to take matters in their own hands. One of the princes (not fat royal Armin) led an army to E-Rantel to take control. In another edition of “fuck around and find out”, Enri led an army of ogres into victory. That and Lupusregina annihilated any survivors. So now we’ve got a full-blown war between the Tomb of Nazerick and the kingdom. Ains has an army of goats that he’s bred to take out…

THOSE ARE NOT GOATS! No, don’t give me that “Baaa” shit. Those are not goats! Those aren’t even crimes against nature! They’re worse than that. They don’t have a name that they’re so…they shouldn’t even exist. Lord Ains, you are truly a wonder to behold!

And one warrior actually is given an opportunity to end the bloodshed by becoming one of Ains’s men. It was survivor of season one and two, Gazef Stronoff. Gazef refuses. Let’s see what happens in this edition of “fuck around and see what happens”. Gazef dies in 0.000001 seconds. The end result of this battle, the kingdom lost soldiers somewhere in the tens of thousands including Gazef, who was an essential warrior for the kingdom. Victory goes to Ains and the Tomb of Nazerick. And that’s where we end season three!

Still no word on who brainwashed Shalltear in season one! Still no word if Ains has found any contact with any comrade from before being sucked into Isekai Heaven over here. Let’s see what happens when Season IV comes out.

Hey, I only had to wait six months for this.

SEASON FOUR: The opening is still a banger and Ains is now supreme overlord of the entire kingdom (now known as the Sorcerer Kingdom). He is now using his actual form with those he’s never shown before instead of hiding behind his other persona of Moman. Though he will pop in as Moman or have Pandora go in his stead. The important thing is that Ains will be heard and will be obeyed.

We get some stories involving other creature characters including wolfmen, dwarves, and dragons. But other than that, we see more diplomatic scenes now that Ains and Albedo are frequently present at the kingdom. Gee, wouldn’t it suck if something were to happen to this kingdom? Like if something were to go wrong, do you think Lord Ains would do something so extreme like kill all humans?

ENDING: Something went wrong and now it’s time for humans to die.

“Someone” stole from the Sorcerer Kingdom. Yeah, this is the night bitches die.

Look, the kingdom should know to walk on eggshells with Lord Ains. Aura and Mare left a clear and present message for the kingdom in season three not to fuck with the Tomb of Nazerick. But leave it to one big, dumb, idiot, fucking asshole to ruin everything. Yeah, we’re talking about Phillip! The same idiot that tried to hit on Albedo this season, glossing over any other female in the room is the mastermind in stealing from the Sorcerer Kingdom. The balls on this man! Well, I’m pretty sure by the end of this season, the balls on this man will be torn asunder.

Prince Zanac (the guy I call Fat Royal Armin) took over royal duties for his ailing father. He has hopes of quelling Lord Ains’s fury and prevent the entire kingdom to be wiped out. And it went over as one would expect from this guy. His negotiations with Lord Ains fell flat and his own men mutinied and sent Fat Royal Armin’s head in a bag for Lord Ains. This is in hopes that these men and their families would be spared from Lord Ains’s wrath.

I gotta say, seeing Fat Royal Armin’s head in a bag brought back School Days memories. But I was just surprised Crunchyroll showed this. We see more season two survivors pledging loyalty to Lord Ains. And a shining armor guy with a fake name try to stop Ains from destroying the entire kingdom. Almost had Ains on his knees. I say almost because that wasn’t really Lord Ains meeting the knight, but Pandora’s Actor dressed up like Lord Ains.

The kingdom genocide is about to proceed as Cocytus comes through parts of the kingdom by freezing everything in sight. He also wound-up freezing Brain (one of the few characters that survived since season one). Princess Renner and Climb stay behind while their comrades of Blue Rose leave. The slaughter commences. Mare leads her army through the kingdom. Meanwhile, Lord Ains and Demiurge take out the king. Albedo ends up taking care of Phillip, that big, dumb, idiot, fucking asshole I mentioned before. Whether or not Albedo tears this guy’s nutsack asunder is up for debate, but I’d like to think she did. As it stands, it looked like Climb and Princess Renner were the last two seen alive. Climb ends up trying to fight Ains. He puts up a decent fight, but we all know the overlord was going to take him out. And now for the most disturbing scene of the season.

Climb wakes up to Princess Renner who is now a demon with ties to Lord Ains. She asks him to become a demon with her as well so they can live happily ever after for all eternity. The princess was behind this mass genocide. Most of the plans was from her. I KNEW IT! I KNEW THIS BITCH WAS TROUBLE FROM THE START! I KNEW THERE WAS NO GOOD IN TRUSTING PRINCESS BLONDE YUNO GASAI! NO GOOD! And then she sings a demonic Disney princess song while many viewers are pissing themselves in utter fright.

And with the fourth season’s end let’s check out the mysteries that remain so. Still no word on who possessed Shalltear in season one. No sign of any allies from Momonga’s time before the MMORPG became for real. Unknown connection with the latest characters we saw in the fourth season. And the kill count is infinity +1.

Overlord was not what I expected. Going into this, I thought this was going to be like the other Isekai animes that came out at the same time. For starters, there were characters I thought were going to have more screen time than they really did. The first 2 seasons, it felt like that when it came to Shalltear and Albedo. Most of the time we just saw Lord Ains in disguise with one of his maids, Narberal. But that’s the funny thing, we rarely saw any of the Pleiades in season four.

And then there’s the massive cast list for every season. Adventurers in season one, lizardmen in season two, goblins in season three, and dwarves, dragons, and wolfmen in season four. Add to that a myriad of humans that are going to be dead soon enough. You know when you’re watching Overlord’s many bomb-ass opening sequences and we see many characters with bomb-ass entrances? Many of their appearances are about as long as their couple of seconds in the opening. Don’t get me wrong, there are characters that have extended episodes dedicated to them. But some of them I don’t even remember when I replay the opening themes. I play them a lot. They’re all bangers!

So, what’s next? The light novel is still in publication and last checked it’s nowhere near being finished. One can wonder what we’re to expect next. Although, the final message in season four means we’re heading to a final arc of some sort or something might change if we’re to get another continuation. Whatever the case is, I’m all in and waiting for the next installment.