Anime Review: Overlord

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“Wait, why do I feel kind of conflicted right now?” That was me with Overlord. I didn’t go into it expecting to feel much—honestly, I thought it was going to be just another “trapped in a game” anime, you know? Cool fights, flashy powers, guilds, that whole vibe. But then Ainz Ooal Gown showed up, and suddenly I realized this wasn’t just about leveling up or conquering dungeons—it was about power, loneliness, and what happens when you lose sight of who you used to be.

And this is the part that I found to be quite memorable: Ainz is not a bright, upright hero. He is this bone-dry, collected overlord, cool and collected, and creating the image of an ideal, godlike headman when inside he is really a mere man who just sat down to a game and never got up. I was struck more than I anticipated by that duality. Since is not that more or less like life? How do we mask-up, be it confidence, competence, even indifference, when half the time we can’t tell that we are winging out, not letting the cracks show? It was strangely human to see him ordering armies, behaving mercilessly, and playing with kingdoms, when he is aware that he is still Momonga inside.

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I laughed a lot too. I was laughing at the guardians of Nazarick--and above all at Albedo, with her grotesque devotion--prostrating themselves. Her infatuation with Ainz is so much over the top as to be almost ridiculous, but somehow it brings this bizarre sense of warmth to the novel. And Shalltear... man, how she throws back and forth between grace and utter anarchy? She illuminated every scene in which she appeared. The moments provided me with a rest, an opportunity to breathe out and savor how ridiculous all of this was before the show pulled me back into its more serious subjects.

Not everything was humour and show business. I was hit in the gut by some of the scenes. Such as when you find out how cruel Ainz can be towards strangers–those scenes where he kills or plays with people. I would be sitting there and think, Wait wait, am I supposed to root for him? And yet, I couldn’t stop. That ethical grayness, the manner in which the anime makes you doubt the identity of the good guys even in the first place, always stuck with me. It made me remember how untidy the actual power is. It is not necessarily about right and wrong. At times it is a matter of survival, loyalty, or simple point making.

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And I believe that it was that underlying sense of loneliness that made Overlord so memorable to me. Suppose you were in that world where everybody thinks of you as this untouchable sovereign, only deep inside you are still human enough to desire others, appreciate them, perhaps even to be vulnerable. That contrast haunted me. I wondered whenever Ainz assumed that unshakable front whether some part of him was simply seeking someone to peer behind it.

So, Overlord was a surprise to me. It was not only watching a skull lord conquer the world--it was about unraveling layers of power, identity, and lies we tell ourselves to continue living. That was laughing one moment and doubting your own value of moral grounds the next. And now, sitting here with this coffee, and telling you about it, I find--that is why it stuck in my head. Since it did not simply amuse me. It brought to my mind the concept of masks, loneliness and the burden of bearing an image so heavy that it cannot be put down.

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Thumbnail is designed by me on pixelLab and other images are screenshot from the movie