Overlord (2015)

Damn finally caught up with where the translations are thus far (the novel), now we wait.

I've given up on the LN. I think the translators are native Japanese speakers, because someone who actually knows English isn't going to screw up tenses, plurals, first/third person view, and formatting that badly.

They're actually Chinese and I think the first 2 volumes are translated JP —> Chinese —> English. I heard the later volumes are JP —> English but I'm not 100% sure on that.

Huh, that's actually better than I would expect a double translation to come out.

Still nigh incomprehensible at times, though.

As for whether Momonga is OP, he was one of the stronger Pv P oriented mages in the game but not THE strongest. For the most part, what the early portion of the story is, is what happens when you take a character that's hit the end of his growth after a long adventure, and make them start that adventure again with the same stats and equipment.

A cakewalk.

I've started reading the second volume again. It's a bit better about conflict with you wondering what the NP Cs are going to do, act against Momonga's wishes, hurt the humans and whatnot; but I don't think even that would bring him and the NP Cs into conflict. After seeing some more of the things he does, I don't think he's going to blink twice if his people slaughter a village or two. The man isn't playing an evil persona for the sake of keeping everything running smoothly, he is straight up, no-bones-about-it, evil. I frankly find it confusing why the story expects me to empathize with him.

It's actually not quite confusing. You empathize with him because thus far, he's still the only player we know of.

Shit, this is going to be Origin Spirits Of The Past all over again, isn't it?

-reads trope page- No. Nowhere near that level of hamhanded stupidity.

Squish. Dead.

Things are picking up, but the exposition at the start was just really really blatant.

32: Overlord is basically a Dad Anime. It's about an abandoned grown-up trying to take care of a lot of abandoned kids in a world that none of them really get and where they don't really belong.

The funny thing is that the first time I said Overlord was a dad anime, I was half-joking... Then I realized that, yeah, this is what the story is actually about. The Log Horizon comparison half-fits, but it's very much unlike SAO.

That makes sense. I'm just having a really hard time getting over the things that Ainz does and allows to be done, like interrogation and execution by torture, vivisection, and forcing his prisoners to eat the flesh of their comrades as well as making them choose which comrades to eat first. He is literally committing war crimes, And That's Terrible.

The story brought up the issue of his morality and it has to address it. But the more he acts without thinking about what he's doing, the less I want to see him succeed or redeemed and the less I think it's going to be resolved.

edited 21st Jul '15 4:08:33 PM by CDRW

I don't think that's gonna change. You got into a premise where the MC is well, an OP skeleton monster. Not exactly the paragon you're gonna want.

Haha, Touch Me.

38: Morality comes up again in Volume 4, which is about as far as we have translations. It's very much in the early stages of being addressed there, though, so it's hard to say where things'll end up... Plus, judging from the OP, the first cour ends on Volume 3 and I THINK this is a one-cour season.

edited 21st Jul '15 4:33:24 PM by Einander

13 episodes total.

@ Einander: That's much further down the line than I'd like, but it's good to know that the books at least address it.

@ Vicarious:

edited 21st Jul '15 4:40:56 PM by CDRW

Talking about the hero of justice that saved Momoga.

What a guy to choose such a name.

Well, I mean, I can get behind a good villain protagonist ever now and then, so.

it's fine if he's a villain protagonist eventually. as long as he's entertaining/interesting, sympathy isn't necessary.

Eeexactly.

Also, until the event, this was all vidya to him. That might take a while to wear off (if it ever does).

I'm not getting that from him- if anything, he's going too far the other way- he seems to be assuming that the game mechanics don't work anymore unless he's given evidence to the contrary.

He's not acting bad because it's all a game to him; he's acting bad because that's what Momonga, the character, would do. So partially because he's keeping the persona for the NPCs' benefit and partially because his personality is being rewritten.

It's kind of hard to categorize the mood of the series. On one hand, all of the NP Cs swear absolute loyalty to Momonga and sometimes have their own cute little moments, giving a somewhat warm feeling to their interactions. On the other hand, the merciless treatment humans get that sometimes borders on outright horror and sadism seems to suggest that it's really a dark, sociopathic series.

As a result, I initially had some trouble characterizing Albedo. Is her love for Momonga meant to be played out for comedic purposes? Or is the series dark enough such that it is actually some kind of twisted obsession that will evolve into something beyond Momonga's control and become a major problem? Thankfully, they seem to establish that the NP Cs' loyalty and affection are genuine.

Moral Myopia, tribal thinking. For most of human history, this attitude has been the default. "Fuck you, got mine." "Us against the world."

edited 24th Jul '15 7:08:39 AM by TheHandle

Bland episode, nothing really besides one-shotting.

Yumi Hara freakouts still good, she must laugh at such a goofy role.