With this kind of power, will you become a hero or a villain?
What They Say:
Momonga continues his efforts to protect Nazarick from the unknown forces he may be up against in this world. As he manipulates the Mirror of Remote Viewing, he notices a village being attacked and decides to test his strength against humans.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Momonga has found himself in a fantastical new world continuing from where the game of Yggdrasil left off, becoming a supreme leader and also a stranger in the setting he had grown so close to over years of patronage. Things were different than he remembered, and moreover he could observe notable changes within himself, bringing him gradually closer to the monster he appeared as compared to the timid man he lived as in the real world. After a very thorough period of having all the powerful beings he knew as NPCs shower him with respect, servitude, and affection, Momonga finally gets to see some of the greater world outside this area of great comfort, and as the one apparently destined to act as a great ruler, it presents the opportunity to interact with people who may not only be less inclined to worship him but also oppose each other.
There’s no major villain battle happening just yet; Momonga’s story is moving fairly slowly, and he’s still mainly getting settled in. At his leisure he takes a peek at a village and notices some knights attacking villagers. That sounds like as good an opportunity as any, so Momonga suits up and gets between them. As he continues to note subtle shifts in his own character, he shows little mercy to his opponents, and ultimately tests out his powers as they currently exist with the knights as his guinea pigs. While he recognizes that even the brutality would’ve gotten to him before this all began, he ends up showing about as little remorse as mercy, and has a sense of having made the right decision after seeing how extreme his actions were. In truth his crusade was hardly out of justice, instead prioritizing getting his name out there, especially as others from or familiar with his guild might respond and desire to regroup if any of them might’ve similarly found themselves trapped in this world. In his current state Momonga can still look at the rationale for his actions and see that it makes sense, but the logic behind his actions are clearly veering more in the direction of a villain, which is likely to happen more quickly than he can realize.
Similar to the last episode, this is really the value to be had in a story otherwise slow and generic on at least some levels. While we thankfully got a reprieve from the extremely direct wish fulfillment, Momonga is still the biggest badass around, accomplishing anything he feels like doing with basically no effort. That’s still something that really has to change, but for now it’s not as bad as it could be, only because the enemy is really the clash of personalities within Momonga’s mind. In fact, it’s more compelling because it’s not some great clash so much as noticing changes but, because of those very changes, not grasping how problematic they might be enough to try to hold back before it might be too late. Overlord may very well prove to be the story of a villain, which is something that we don’t get very often, and could be quite intriguing.
In Summary:
Momonga’s first big day out is not the most eventful, but he finds some relatively petty enemies to try his skills out on. There’s hardly a challenge for him, but the takeaway is how brutally he does so, and how out of character that would’ve been before this world became his reality. He realizes he’s changing, but as it’s his own mind evolving, he effectively has no concerns about his actions, setting him on the path to become a villain before he can become the just ruler he likely imagined.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
