Review of Overlord II

The funny thing about Overlord season 1 is that it didn't really do anything special or notably unique in its story, art or character design. It just worked out what other people wanted and executed to such a polished degree that it stood out among a sea of bog-standard shows. Kind of like the best of the mehs. Now, in season 2, we dare to extend beyond the bog-standard and instead brave into what COULD be considered world development by some but is what I would rather refer to as "being a shitty tourist" in a world that's showing off about as much of the actualworld as launch day Elder Scrolls Online did (which isn't that much at all). While it's rare for me to throw in such a criticism in my "first impressions" paragraph I must highlight that this is an issue that has its roots in every plot of dirt. Yes, unfortunately for us, this anime has 'one of THOSE' overarching issues that just keep on going until the very end like some kind of cheap joke... except it's not a joke... it's more of an engine failure... for cartoons.

Story -

The story for this one can be cut up into two arcs, both of which do the 'game of thrones' thing where everything your watching simply seems like preparation for something greater. The one difference in structure between this anime and the single most popular western television program in creation is that GoT doesn't make itself seem like a prequel until about two seasons later, everything you see at the time feels like a current affair and you're glued to the screen like melted horse feet. Overlord 2, just for clarities sake, makes the mistake of not doing this. It feels like everything I'm watching is just in preparation for something greater. It doesn't help that any mention of the nemesis from season 1 and the characters from the first arc of season 2, simply aren't mentioned later on. Which I could understand for the mysterious buggers from season one but certainly not for the lizards, which just completely disappear, despite contradicting indications. Will we ever get a follow up to the Lizards? or the Attackers ? or the Slane Theocracy? Maybe... But not here and probably not next season, or the one after that if this pattern is to be followed accurately.

Did I mention Lizards? Yeah... What the f*ck happened there guys? We spent an entire arc with a bunch of uninteresting lake dwellers with some of the most poorly executed and awkward sexual tension in history while our ACTUAL main characters are building an army and doing exactly what I came here to see... bad guy stuff. I don't give a sh*t about some random snake-outcast who's playing Blues Brothers with his whole "let's get the clan back together" crap, which by the way, we simply know will not work because, well, duh.

The second arc revolves around a massive new cast of characters whose sole purpose is to be ignorant until they finally meet one of Ains' minions. That's it. While it's fun to see happen for the sheer "look on his face" reaction you can expect from basically everyone, it does get a bit tiring after a while, especially when its basically the only thing the climax of the arc has going for it.

However, I don't want to seem like I'm bashing the second arc too hard. It was certainly more interesting than the first arc despite the fact it was basically all staged and expected from the get-go. A few things also came out of nowhere which were certainly welcome to me and at some point I did kinda forget how overpowered some characters were and I actually became invested in the fights.

Art and Sound -

I've gone on for a good while so I'll summarise this section with the standard "It was fun, colourful and good" comments that I usually put in because I'm lazy.

In all seriousness though, I enjoyed the soundtrack about as much as the first season, which I enjoyed a lot. The art is colourful and varied, however, there were fewer opportunities for the artists to show off the big sprawling grasslands that you'd typically expect from a fantasy based world. In that sense, I suppose the one time the Lizard arc takes the cake is in the number of amazing set pieces that you can feast your eyes on. At the end of the day though, it's not enough to redeem the arc.

Character -

Honestly, the characters in this anime are relatively typical of any normal anime. The difference between this season and last season is the immediately recognisable lack of both Ains and Mononga, the most important, interesting and entertaining character(s) in the show. He is THE main character and he's absent for 85% of the time, why? WHY?

As I've mentioned before, the Lizards were the main characters in the first arc, and as you know, I f*cking hate that. Enough said.

In the second arc, however, there are some interesting characters who have some interesting interactions with the guardians which I can't really mention because it could be considered worthy spoiler territory. Just know that I didn't really mind spending a good percentage of screen time with these characters, contrary to the f*cking lizards (I really hate them)

Enjoyment and Conclusion -

This is a solid follow-on to season 1 however it doesn't really do more than make me anticipate season 3. Should you start watching it? or regret watching it? (if you already have). SIMPLE. Yes to the first, No to the second. This is in no way a deal breaker for the Overlord franchise, it's just not a big boost that'll send it to the top of the charts. But... at the end of the day, did we really expect that?