Review of Overlord II
That OP song is wonderful though. Story: Overlord’s story is, in my opinion, one of the better isekai genre stories of recent years. It manages to not fall into too many unbearable clichés and the few that it does have are played off well enough to feel enjoyable, and at times as if a fresh take was applied to the same old idea. Overlord II is no different, as we see the return of our villains in the long-anticipated sequel. The story of Overlord II manages to improve on its predecessor by speeding up the pacing, and taking a step back from the main character, Ainz.Instead choosing to focus on the Guardians and civilian(ish) characters and telling their stories. It manages to cover a similar amount of source material as the first season, but much more seems to be happening and we are even gifted with some character development from the Guardians of Nazarick. With the method that this series has decided to take in this season, Ainz is now appearing to be the powerful and all-seeing overlord to the audience as well, not just the characters. The story arcs centralise around a Guardian’s exploits, and none of them overstay their welcomes. Unfortunately, at times there were some unneeded or, built-up and then irrelevant plot points, so I will reduce the score to an 8/10 for story (more of a 7.5, rounded to an 8).
Art/Animation: Overlord II has cool character designs that are almost always well-drawn, the animation is usually quite fluid and the use of CGI in some scenes, especially the battle scenes works very well. There are a couple instances of unfortunate CGI throughout the show, as well as some animation issues with background characters, but as a whole it is well done and smooth. Unfortunately, I do not have the best eye for animation and art (nor the best ear for sound), so anything I say should be taken as someone with no experience in either field, and only a general statement of the overall quality. I am giving Overlord II an 8/10 for art/animation (Raw: 8.4).
Sound: The sound for this anime was definitely good. The voice acting never felt too forced or unfortunate otherwise, and the sound direction was very well done. The music, whilst not being wholly unique, was well orchestrated (pun not intended) and always help accentuate the moments that they were a part of, enriching the experience as a whole. The OP song was really good (this is more of a side note) and the animation used in it (bit off topic) matched up very well and was done almost perfectly, in my opinion an improvement over OP 1 (they graduated from standing in a void, to walking with a background) (I am now ready for the riots of the OP 1 fans). Overall, I’m giving this category a raw 8.5, and personally rounding up to a 9, but objectively will round it down to an 8, as my personal preferences of music shouldn’t bump up the score.
Characters: This category has also seen a marginal improvement from the earlier season, as the audience is now shown the goings-on of characters other than the big man himself, Ainz. As previously stated, this allows for more character development and explores the motivations and personalities of the previously 2D Guardians. They are now fleshed out, and unlike the first season, the antagonists have now also had some of their own development, as they now appear to be actual human beings (except for, like, the Lizardmen). As always the character designs were as cool as ever, and some of the new additions were believable and understandable. There were a couple let downs here and there with my expectations for characters, and it was disappointing that the series did not innovate with them as much as I had wanted to, but overall, I’m giving Overlord II an 8/10 for its characters (more of a 7.5, rounded to an 8).
Enjoyment: This is the part where my personal preferences CAN bump up the score. Using an amalgamation of all of my past points throughout this review, I would give this a solid 9/10 for enjoyment. This series was the one that I looked forward to the most each week from its season, and I never felt the need to skip the OP (meaning the OP was good and the show wasn’t unbearable). Personally, I am an Overlord fan and thus, this specific point may have a bit of bias, but I would like to believe that the rest of the review does not. The animation was appealing, the Albedo… fan service… was dialled back a bit from the previous season, I got to see more of the other Guardians (and unfortunately more of Demiurge, I honestly have no real reason to hate him, he just rubs me the wrong way) that I really enjoyed. Personally I think S3 should feature more of Best Girl Delta, but I know that is merely a pipe-dream. All in all, I really did enjoy this, and now that I’m done trying to annoy as many people as possible with me ‘personal preferences’, I’ll move on with the review.
Overall: Overlord II is getting a raw 8.1 from me, landing it on a solid 8/10 overall score. Taking into account all of its flaws, and all of its achievements, I believe this is a fair score. The last season would be pushing the 8 I gave it ( more of a high 7), but this 8 was earned. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the first season (of course), and anyone who would like to witness one of the better recent isekais. Yes, it does have flaws and clichés, but they are handled well (and y’know, the characters do have some personality to them, even if Ainz can occasionally get a bit 2D) and I’m really looking forward to the upcoming season 3. That’s my final word on the topic, I hope I was helpful.