History YMMV / Overlord2012

** Lampshaded. Prince Barbro's boorish antics at Carne Village rattled the citizens, but not their loyalty to the kingdom, until he got the self-proclaimed "brilliant" idea of using flame arrows against one of the town's watchtowers. Burning buildings being a [[TraumaButton trigger]] for the people of Carne Village apparently never occurred to him. This one act motivated every single one of the villagers to take up arms, and fight him, even if it meant certain death. [[spoiler: For quite a few of them, it did.]]
** Ainz's attack on E-Rantel in vol 9. Using a super tier spell to insta-kill some seventy thousand soldiers—many of whom were conscripts— is one thing, but using their deaths to fuel the summoning of five unstoppable abominations who proceeded to kill countless more is another. While these events are indeed horrible, and Ainz didn't feel even the slightest bit of guilt from any of it, the only reason Ainz was there was at the insistence of the Emperor of the Baharuth Empire. The emperor was hoping to negotiate and make the Great Tomb Of Nazarick his allies. Moreover, Demiurge saw through the emperor's plans to assess the Great Tomb of Nazarick's capabilities and then possibly turn on Ainz by allying with other countries. It was at Demiurge's instance that they made a display of force so that all parties involved understood what it means to make the Great Tomb of Nazarick an enemy. While Ainz's strongest reaction to all this was a sense of achievement for having summoned more abominations with that spell than anyone in YGGDRASIL was known to have managed, his actions were very calculated and practical.

** Ainz's attack on E-Rantel in vol 9. Using a super tier spell to insta-kill some seventy thousand soldiers—many of whom were conscripts—using their deaths to fuel the summoning of five unstoppable abominations who proceeded to kill countless more is another. While these events are indeed horrible, and Ainz didn't feel even the slightest bit of guilt from any of it, the only reason Ainz was there was at the insistence of the Emperor of the Baharuth Empire. The emperor was hoping to negotiate and make the Great Tomb Of Nazarick his allies. Moreover, Demiurge saw through the emperor's plans to assess the Great Tomb of Nazarick's capabilities and then possibly turn on Ainz by allying with other countries. It was at Demiurge's instance that they made a display of force so that all parties involved understood what it means to make the Great Tomb of Nazarick an enemy. While Ainz's strongest reaction to all this was a sense of achievement for having summoned more abominations with that spell than anyone in YGGDRASIL was known to have managed, his actions were very calculated and practical.

* TheWoobie: Climb clearly qualifies. Born in abysmal poverty, orphaned, went to bed hungry every night, adults destroying the house he built for himself at the age of 5, [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], left under a makeshift roof of rags in a downpour to die of disease, taken in by a beautiful princess, [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe out of pity]], and hated by the nobility for it, [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming bullied by the "noble" castle knights because ''he'' is the only one the princess can trust to be her bodyguard]], [[ShaggyDogStory and every time he performs a legitimate act of heroism, he fails to make a difference.]] [[HardWorkHardlyWorks That and the fact that he inherently has no talent for martial skills or magic,]] and it's a wonder he can even function at all. It gets worse when it comes to light that Renner is in love with him and that due to her own psychological baggage, her idea of "love" consists of chaining up Climb like an animal and making him her SexSlave. [[spoiler: It somehow got ''worse'' after he valiantly stood against Ainz, knowing he couldn't win anyway, and after being killed and revived, learned that Renner had become a Demon of Nazarick, at which point he's so desperate to protect her he offers to become a Demon as well.]]

* DracoInLeatherPants: Nazarick all get several huge pairs from fans who justify their atrocities as "just looking out for Nazarick's interests" and insist that they [[AboveGoodAndEvil cannot be judged by human morality]]. [[spoiler: Not even the genocide of the Re-Estize kingdom could convince them otherwise]]. Ainz is probably the biggest case, as even to this day, there are several people who choose to see Ainz as an anti-hero or at least a neutral character rather than an evil Overlord, which could be explained by most of these people being fans who'd only have watched the anime or manga adaptation and haven't read the light novels, thus being unaware of his most despicable actions. However, his servants, particularly the guardians, don't have that excuse. They are depicted as being (most of them anyway) evil monsters with no redeeming qualities or morals beyond their loyalty and care for Ainz and Nazarick, with many committing several horrible crimes, in particular, Demiurge's "farm". People still like them and ignore their monstrous personalities because of their funny/emotional moments around Ainz, being attractive humanoid creatures (specially Albedo, Shalltear, and the Pleiades) and as some people argue, they are not guilty of being that way, since they were created and programmed to behave like that.

* DeathOfTheAuthor: Some fans were so put off by [[WordOfGod Maruyama's statement]] on Arche's (and her sister's) fate in the light novel [[labelnote:explanation]]While in the Light Novel and the Anime we do not see what happens to them afterwards, according to Maruyama, they are then sold by their parents for slavery and died from overwork[[/labelnote]] that they decided to pretend it never happened and substitute it with the Web Novel version, explaining their absence in the later books as being PutOnABus.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Some fans were so put off by Arche's (and her sister's) changed fate in the light novel that they decided to pretend it never happened and substitute it with the Web Novel version, explaining their absence in the later books as being PutOnABus.

** Demiurge easily crosses it when he set up a parchment farm right inside Holy Kingdom territory where he kidnaps innocent people to use as parchment farms for magic scrolls, peeling off his victim's skins and regenerating them using healing magic, then forcing the women inside to eat each other's sons (that he didn't force them to eat their own sons is considered mercy). Said farms also have experiments that create human chimeras though inter-species rape. If that doesn't cross it too, then there's his attack against Holy Kingdom that he mostly does through proxying with a summoned Demon Lord. Demiurge indirectly conquers the demi-humans in the hills next to the Holy Kingdom this way, and using his new army, Demiurge conquered the Northern Holy Kingdom. Aside from the borderline acceptable massacre of the Holy Kingdom's armies (it's war after all and soldiers are prepared to die), the treatment suffered by the humans under the demi-humans in Demiurge's army was atrocious and [[ANaziByAnyOtherName invokes images of the Holocaust]]. Even worse is that the ones following Demiurge were the worst and most dangerous of the demi-human tribes, as the demi-human tribes that didn't want to get involved and, you know, ''commit war crimes'' were captured and treated no better than the humans. [[WhatMeasureIsAMook One could excuse the horrible stuff Demiurge and his army do to the combatants on the battlefield]], you most certainly can't towards the treatment of non-combatants.

** More on Ainz for Volume 12, [[spoiler: when Demiurge put his plan for the Holy Kingdom into effect. Using an alternate persona, Demiurge conquered the demi-humans in the hills next to the Holy Kingdom. Using his new army, Demiurge conquered the Northern Holy Kingdom. Aside from the borderline acceptable massacre of the Holy Kingdom's armies (it's war after all and soldiers are prepared to die), the treatment suffered by the humans under the demi-humans in Demiurge's army was atrocious and [[ANaziByAnyOtherName invokes images of the Holocaust]]. Even worse is that the ones following Demiurge were the worst and most dangerous of the demi-human tribes, as the demi-human tribes that didn't want to get involved and, you know, ''commit war crimes'' were captured and treated no better than the humans. While it seems that Demiurge probably didn't encourage this severe treatment (he enjoys pain when [[TortureTechnician he causes it personally]]), he did allow it to happen by doing nothing to curb the behavior of the racist asshats he had working under him. While at a serious stretch, [[WhatMeasureIsAMook one could excuse the horrible stuff Demiurge and his army do to the combatants on the battlefield]], you most certainly can't towards the treatment of non-combatants. All of this inevitably falls on Ainz as Demiurge's superior and while Ainz never says to act like a [[ForTheEvulz sadistic]] nightmare, ultimately, Demiurge is acting on Ainz's behalf with his consent. And while Ainz will probably rule in peace after he takes over the Holy Kingdom as he did for the area around E-Rantel (in fairness, [[TheGoodKing he is actually doing an amazing job and everyone under his rule are genuinely happy]]), oceans of blood and pain are being spilled for his EngineeredHeroics. In the end, the reader has to decide whether or not UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans.]][[note]] It should however be said that Ainz is overall ignorant to the depth of Demiurge's depravity and would likely curb such tendencies if only for pragmatism's sake. [[/note]]

** Although this may sound incredibly bizarre, there's a one-sided rivalry between the fans of this series and the ones from ''ComicBook/AlbedoErmaFelnaEDF'', a FurryComic, since the comic shares the same name with the character of the same name, and for many fans of the former, it's very difficult to find information about ''Albedo'' in the net, only just to end up finding pics of the ''Overlord'' one. The same could be also applied to any other character with the same name, like [[VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} Albedo Piazolla]] and the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'''s one.[[note]]It doesn't help that sites geared to the furry fandom have fanart from ''both'' franchises, on the grounds the Albedo from ''Overlord'' is a demon with feathery wings and curved horns, despite her being basically a humanoid being compared with the aforementioned comic, which is an honest-to-god (pardon the pun) furry comic.[[/note]]

* ThatOneBoss: For the ''Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick'' this title can easily be assigned to Victim, Guardian of the 8th Level. The irony of it all is that [[spoiler: Victim is only level 35 and the weakest Guardian. His power comes from being able to sacrifice himself, which causes an onslaught of crippling status debuffs and movement lockdown effects, allowing the rest of Nazarick's forces to kill the invaders at their leisure.]] To emphasize this point: no Raid Party in Yggdrasil [[TotalPartyKill had ever gotten past it]].

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Ainz's entire backstory (him not being able to move from playing an MMO and his current state) is supposed to deconstruct escapist power fantasy. But Ainz coming from a CrapsackWorld, getting to be an InvincibleVillain who faces no real challenges, and getting a bunch of servants who love him unconditionally, undermines the entire thing by making the idea of escaping from reality far too appealing. His villainy and incompetence as a leader are also supposed to deconstruct the same thing, but since he has not yet faced any kind of consequences for his villainy or incompetence, it can be hard to see the deconstruction, since it looks like the series is wanting you to revel in what he does.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** All of the opening songs, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMoVmSV4yA8 "Clattanoia"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWdizrP0Gcs "Go Cry Go"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-LXfVLL5Tc "Voracity"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j2iDZ_NgRk "Hollow Hunger"]]. Hardcore metal songs that suit the main character's situation. "Voracity" also got English covers from two of the dub's voice actors -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZsvL7-ovGw Amanda Lee]] (Crusch) and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s7RyGCX-bQ Corinne Sudberg]] (Arche).
** The first ending theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6TsX_7xlkU "L.L.L."]] as well, likely sung from Albedo's point of view...but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkEGcTPXRbk it can also be taken from Crusch's.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkfSk-6q_BA "I Am Ainz Ooal Gown"]], the theme that plays when Ainz stops playing around and shows his enemies just ''who'' the hell they're messing with.

** All of the opening songs, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMoVmSV4yA8 "Clattanoia"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWdizrP0Gcs "Go Cry Go"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-LXfVLL5Tc "Voracity"]]. Hardcore metal songs that suit the main character's situation. "Voracity" also got English covers from two of the dub's voice actors -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZsvL7-ovGw Amanda Lee]] (Crusch) and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s7RyGCX-bQ Corinne Sudberg]] (Arche).

** Another, slightly more understandable, and also mostly one-sided rivalry between this series and ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline''. [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch Dunking on Sword Art Online]] is pretty popular in anime circles in general, admittedly, but with ''Overlord'' there's the additional connection of being fellow isekai with video game elements (even though ''Overlord'' promptly dumps its when the New World comes into play and is revealed to be completely distinct from the game ''YGGDRASIL''.)
** Another one-sided rivalry, this time from ''Overlord'' fandom against fellow Isekai ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'', came as a result of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover comedy anime ''Anime/IsekaiQuartet'' showcasing [[TheDitz Aqua]] doing considerable damage to Ainz with [[HolyHandGrenade a single basic Turn Undead.]] This puts a significant crack in his InvincibleVillain status, so expect certain Overlord fans to see red whenever the water goddess is brought up, or deny the scene altogether.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The CGI is vastly improved in Season 4 compared to Season 3.

* FriendlyFandoms: With ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'', many Overlord fans hopped on board with this series during the wait in-between seasons and got a similar albeit more lighthearted experience.

** In-universe, Neia worships the ground Ainz walks on and believes him to be the incarnation of justice, even performing mental gymnastics to explain away or justify his more despicable actions.

** The denizens of Nazarick, the Guardians, in particular, can fall under this. Yes, they are sadistic, evil racist monsters with almost no morals beyond their loyalty (some are worse than others, though) but they are like that because they were created that way by the supreme beings, who were having a hard time in their lives. And they feel like they've abandoned by whom they consider their parents, which is why they are so loyal to Ainz since he was the only one who didn't left.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: The main characters are hopelessly overpowered when compared to the rest of the cast, and also, for the most part, extremely evil. Even the one exception to this--Sebas--is willing to punch the girl he spent several episodes nursing back to health to death at a moment's notice if Ainz asks him to, though fortunately, it was only a test. It's very clear how most plot arcs are going to turn out; the only question is the level of collateral damage caused in the process. And the third season is dominated by a lot of what could charitably be described as torture porn. Even the far more sympathetic non-Nazarick characters (Climb, Brain, Gazef, etc) are destined for mostly horrible ends and have no chance of interfering with Ainz at all. And even if you ignore Ainz and his servants, almost everybody in Overlord is either evil, cowardly, smug, amoral, depraved, pathetic, or all in one, with some characters being even worse than Ainz or any of his most evil followers. Depending on your level of tolerance and patience, it can become very difficult to care about how any of this ends. This is especially the case as of 2020, where the story leads to many good-aligned characters dying or suffering horrific fates, leading to some feeling the story is getting too bleak to enjoy. While the whole point of Overlord is exploring the story with an evil protagonist, Ainz and Nazarick's ridiculous power superiority and lack of ANY challenges at all (that do not necessarily include battles) along with them being so over the top evil, racists, arrogant, lacking punishment and basically being absolutely unstoppable in every way, can make the story empty and repetitive even for those who enjoy watching the villains win. In fact, several people (particularly anime-watchers) dropped the series once they couldn't stand the dark tone of Overlord anymore.

* UglyCute: Victim's portrayal in the manga. In Chapter 22, he gets wide-eyed apprehensive at Momonga expressing regret at the thought of sacrificing him, and he waves his stubby little arms wildly in protest. His default posture is also semi-quadrupedal, making him seem more like an angelic baby hippo than a fetus, and avoiding UncannyValley.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHX2lAHyfYo "I Am Ainz Ooal Gown"]], the theme that plays when Ainz stops playing around and shows his enemies just ''who'' the hell they're messing with.

* [[spoiler: TooCoolToLive: You will be missed, Gazef Stronoff. Hell, let's not even sugarcoat it. When the newly self-appointed resident EvilOverlord goes [[VillainRespect HEADLONG out of his way]] to try and recruit you to his side ([[CantCatchUp despite the fact that he himself and all of his top subordinates are all far far FAR stronger than you're ever gonna be]]) thanks to [[HeroicSpirit your sheer charisma alone,]] you know you're this trope.]]

** Ainz is supposed to be a TragicVillain who had a miserable life when he was a human and is suffering from EmotionSuppression causing him to go onto greater acts of villainy due to the influence of the Floor Guardians. But his frequent villainy, which he serves no punishment for, makes it hard for many audience members to feel bad for. In particular, the fight where he had to kill Shalltear is often viewed as him getting what he deserves. There's also the fact that he is a hypocrite who never realizes how terrible his minions actually are.

* WhatAnIdiot: In one memorably nightmarish scene, [[PsychoForHire Lady Clementine]] pursues Ainz, who is in the disguise of an armored warrior -- people whom she normally specializes in killing -- with the intention of slaughtering him as well after [[ItsPersonal torturing and killing one of his allies]]. During their fight, [[TheLawOfDiminishingDefensiveEffort Ainz barely moves or defends himself at all]] and puts very little effort into his greatsword swings, but calmly talks down to her all the while and [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastically thanks her for showing him all kinds of lessons about melee combat.]]\\
'''You'd Expect''': Clementine to catch on and realize that Ainz is setting her up when she sees that [[NoSell he isn't flinching from her hits even at the typical weak points]], up to where he outright [[SheatheYourSword puts both his greatswords down]] and casually chats to her without a hint of fear or pain; as well as how his boasting is clearly being done to rile her up. Since fast physical attacks -- which Clementine specializes in -- are established in-universe to be especially weak against liches or the undead (of which [[DemBones Ainz]] is both), she could have realised enough of those warning signs to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm flee upon it becoming clear she's picking a fight she can't win]]. Or at the ''very'' least, use her speed to keep her distance and buy some time to try different moves or attacks that ''would'' more likely work.\\
'''Instead''': Clementine, in a major bout of SuicidalOverconfidence, takes no note of ''any'' of the above even though she charges Ainz twice -- with her doing literally ''no'' damage with her standard FragileSpeedster arsenal either time -- despite having all the time and speed advantage in the world to get away, with him wearing heavy concealing armor. What's more, she [[SanityHasAdvantages full-on takes the bait from his taunting]] thanks to her [[SmallNameBigEgo massive ego]] and [[AxCrazy bloodlust]], and fruitlessly [[AttackAttackAttack keeps on attacking Ainz the same way]] she always does.\\
'''The Result''': All Ainz has to do is keep up the charade to the point where Clementine thinks she's just scored a killing blow on him with her knives. At which point, he immediately grabs her as she's boasting and reveals that he was playing [[StupidEvil her tendencies]] against her all along; noting [[LampshadeHanging how little effort he had to put into "fighting" her]] when she did all the work for him by [[LeeroyJenkins repeatedly leaping blindly into range of an opponent]] that [[TooDumbToLive she herself established several times she couldn't even harm]], let alone kill. [[KarmicDeath Slow, violent and painful splattering]] by DeadlyHug ensues.