Overlord III – 13 (Fin) – Another Easy Triumph

Gazef Stronoff knows there’s no way he can win, but he’ll fight Ains Ooal Gown anyway. As Head Warrior he is the sword of his kingdom; if he doesn’t face their greatest foe, who will? All other considerations are secondary.

While an argument could be made there was far more Brain, Climb, and other warriors of the kingdom could have learned from Gazef, staying alive to teach them would have meant some kind of surrender against Gown, which his code simply would not allow.

Gown defeats him easily by stopping time and casting True Death upon him. It’s pretty anticlimactic, but it’s also efficient, and Gown had no real reason to do further bodily harm to such an impressively stalwart opponent.

Emperor El-Nix is driven half-mad by the results of his new “ally’s” overwhelming victory over the royal armies. Climb surmises that Gazef may have given his life as a message to him, Brain, and others not to bother fighting the likes of Gown and instead building a future. Brain ain’t hearin’ it; after drinking with Climb, he’s jumping right back into the fight.

As for King Ramposa, with his eldest son gone too long and his second son already jockeying, he agrees to cede E-Rantel to Lord Ains. Princess Renner has a simple task for Climb: to deliver her handpicked roses to the memorial of the fallen armies, flashing her trademark evil smirk once his back is turned to her.

Ains’ dark forces march into E-Rantel without resistance, save a pebble thrown from an angry little boy whose father died in the recent battle. Albedo, who hates humans, prepares to execute the whelp for his disrespect, but she’s blocked by Momon.

Even weirder, however, is that Lord Ains appears behind Albedo to offer Momon a job as their law enforcer in the city. No harm will come to the innocent, as long as Momon makes sure to deal with the guilty. I imagine either Ains simply used a cloning spell or Demiurge disguised himself as Momon or Ains.

Whatever the deal was with two alter-egos of Momonga being in the same place at the same time, the effect is the same: the townsfolk see Momon as their protector, sacrificing his honor for their sake. I’m sure they’d much rather have an adventurer like him enforcing laws than the myriad undead beasts under Ains’ command.

With that, Sorcerer King Ains Ooal Gown takes a seat in the throne room of E-Rantel’s royal palace, all the Floor Guardians and Battle Maids assembled and offering him congratulations on his triumph. But as usual, he didn’t have to actually do much, and a lot of the plan that was just executed wasn’t even his, but Demiuge’s.

Still, as far as Demiurge, Albedo, or anyone else in that room is concerned, everything that happened happened because their lord and sorcerer king made it happen. E-Rantel is now the capital of his new “Sorcerer Kingdom”, Ains Ooal Gown.

No doubt OverLord IV will deal with the political transition and administration of the city, dealing with any resistance that crops up, and perhaps further expansion of the new kingdom. I’ll be here to watch, as always.

Overlord III – 12 – No Chance

In giving Lord Gown the task of giving the signal to start the battle against the Kingdom with one of his magic spells, Emperor El Nix plans to observe how Gown fights in hope of determining a strategy for fighting him, a fight he knows is on the horizon. But as we know, no NPCs, or humans for that matter, have a snowball’s chance in hell against the undead Gown and his minions.

To demonstrate just how hopeless it is to resist his might, Gown takes the ball El Nix gives him and runs with it. The “signal” spell, Tribute to Dark Fertility, Ia, Shub-Niggurath, is actually an offering to one of the game’s dark deities. The Empire is outnumbered 240,000 to 60,000, but the tribute ends up massacring seventy thousand of the kingdom’s forces in one fell swoop.

Both sides of the battle tremble in fear at what they witness, and anyone with a head screwed on right starts running like hell, including Marquis Raeven. But the tribute was only the beginning of the spell; a great black sphere floats over the masses of corpses and absorbs them in black goo.

Five gigantic, many-mouthed beasts Gown calls “adorable baby goats” are summoned, which he believes to be a new game record. As they’re “goats”, the beasts do what goats do: devour everything in sight. Only they’re twenty-story-high goats with more legs and mouths, so they make quick work of the remaining kingdom forces that haven’t fled.

Among those who don’t run are whom I imagine to be three of the four individuals Gown has ordered his dark forces not to kill: Climb, Brain, and Gazef. Climb and Brain are prepared to lead a decoy force in order to facilitate the king’s safe return to E-Rantel.

When King Ramposa asks Brain what he would ask in return, he wants Climb to be able to marry Renner, which the king approves, though it will mean giving Climb a worthy title. Meanwhile, Gazef tries to take on one of the “goats”, and gives one of them his best shot, but even his badass blue sword can’t make a dent, and he’s sent flying—though not fatally.

Climb and Brain end up with Gazef as the goat being ridden by Lord Gown arrives. Gown and Gazef exchange pleasantries, and Gown cuts to the chase: he wants Gazef as a subordinate. If he agrees, Gown will spare the rest of the army. But to agree would mean betraying his king, and as we know Gazed would never do that. Instead, he challenges Gown to a duel.

Gazef would rather go out in a blaze of glory than forsake his monarch, but honestly I don’t think it will go well for him…after all, he’s mortal.

Overlord III – 10 – Prelude to War

Emphasis on prelude: this episode is all kinds of setup with no real payoff; a calm of political wrangling in the Kingdom before the storm of war with the Empire. Chief Warrior Gazef Stronoff knows what Lord, er, Sorcerer King Gown is capable of and makes it known to his king, but at the same time knows the king could never heed his advice to simply give up land without a fight.

A fight there must be, even if it won’t be like the other wars with the empire, all of them relatively quick, clean, and predictable. In a compromise to the noble and, er, ignoble factions, King Ramposa names Marquis Raeven as the leader of the forces who will defend the kingdom. The ep injects a bit of humanity in the guy by showing how much he loves his son. Unfortunately, Princess Renner has only a moment of screen time and no spoken lines.

While Raeven will lead the fight, the kingdom is counting on two months of stalling before the fighting actually begins, so they can prepare as much as they can. Of course, with another noble estimating Gown himself is as powerful as 5,000 men (five times Gazef’s strength), they face a very uphill battle.

Gazef comes through as honorable and levelheaded as ever, and reunites with his pals Brain and Climb prior to the war. The three agree to meet at a place in the capital to eat, drink, and celebrate when the war is done, but Gazef also warns Brain that he’d better not face off against Gown, or it will be the end of him.

99% of the episode is from the perspective of the opponent Gown has chosen, as part of his (really Demiurge’s) larger plan to gain power and territory for Nazarick. The final 1%, in which Gown takes the field of battle, opens a gate, and unleashes and entire legion of death knights, only comes during the end credits.

Renner’s King Ramposa’s eldest son and heir to the throne Prince Barbro, meanwhile, is sent to Carne to gather information, an errand he feels is both beneath him and meant to prevent him from achieving greatness, despite everyone’s insistence he’s the future king. But he should thank his lucky stars if he stays far, far away from the core of the battle in which Gown himself will take part; staying away means he’ll actually be alive to succeed his father.

Overlord III – 06 – Incapable Nobles and Dirty Jobs

Far from Nazarick and Carne lies the vast, mighty, and vibrant Baharuth Empire, led by the dashing young “Bloody Emperor” El Nix, and backed up by his Court Wizard Lord Fluder and his Four Imperial Knights, whose titles represent the four elements.

El Nix orders both parties to investigate Jaldabaoth, whose recent attack on the Re-Estize has led the empire to delay their annual war with the clearly militarily inferior kingdom, as well as Momon, who defeated him. Of course, we know “Jaldabaoth” was merely Demiurge, and Momon is Ains.

Demi’s plan to make Nazarick a great country and make Ains’ name known throughout the known world is grand and intricate, and involves Ains going to the imperial capital Arwintar as Momon of Darkness, with Gamma AKA Nabe in tow, the Adamantite adventurers on the prowl once more.

Meanwhile in the kingdom, the eldest son Prince Barbro attempts to insert himself in a position of power above his younger brother and his sister Princess Renner, neither of whom seem too concerned. Barbro takes offense to a commoner like Gazef having his father’s noble ear.

Gazef endures Barbro’s barbs and later spars with Brain Unglaus as a delighted Climb observes. Gazef is by the king’s side, while Brain and Climb are by the princess’. Big or small, they’ll doubtless all have roles to play in this new arc.

The episode than shifts to yet more new faces: the four members of Fortnight, one of the many teams of “Workers”—mercenary adventurers unsanctioned by the guild. Workers do the jobs official guild adventurers either can’t or won’t do. In this case, the “dirty” job is to investigate a certain tomb. I wouldn’t be surprised if the name of this tomb rhymes with “Jazamick”; then again, maybe not. We shall see.

Fortnight (note the different spelling from the popular video game) is composed of the fighters Hekkeran and Imina, the crusader Rober, and the mage Arche, daughter of one of the “incapable” (i.e. incompetent) noble families that Emperor El Nix has stripped of their nobility. Arche is a third-tier magic user who can also detect the levels of other users.

She uses these talents to make money to pay off her family’s debt, but when she returns home to find her father still spending money he doesn’t have on trinkets, she decides to officially freeze her folks out (her mom doesn’t get to speak), and vows to take her little sisters and make her own way—which would mean no more dangerous adventuring.

The other members of Fortnight declare other reasons, but you can tell they care about Arche and want to help her and her sisters stay above water, though if she leaves them they’ll definitely miss her magical prowess.

The next day, Fortnight joins a bunch of other Worker teams of various dispositions on the grounds of their client, Count Femel. They are also introduced to Momon and Nabe, who’ll be joining them on their quest.

Their presence makes me less sure that the tomb they’ll explore is Nazarick, but whatever tomb it is and whatever’s waiting for them, with Momon and Nabe around, the Workers are going to get a good show.

Overlord II – 10

This week Sebas must deal with the fallout of his individual actions which drew undue attention to him and by extension Nazarick. However, as expected, Lord Ainz is understanding, and also convinced of Sebas’ absolute loyalty when he orders the Butler to kill Tuare and Cocytus has to step in to stop him.

When Ainz asks Sebas how it benefits him to have Tuare come to Nazarick with them, Sebas says she can cook. This leads to bickering between Sebas and Demiurge about what kind of cooking is “worthy” of Nazarick, which reminds Ainz of the bickering his fellow players once engage in; a pleasant memory.

Tuare, for her part, is ready to follow Sebas wherever he leads, and wouldn’t mind even if he had to kill her for real, giving him her first happy kiss; possibly his as well.

Over at the palace, Princess Renner is getting ready to unleash Blue Rose on Eight Fingers, but knows she’ll need more men, so she invites Marquis Raeven to her chambers for a chat.

Her brother, the Second Prince, also tags along, and is a lot less antagonistic, especially when he learns just how much his sister knows about the complex political tapestry draped across the kingdom; not to mention when she shows her “real” side, which Raeven likes, but decidedly not if it means betrothing his five-year-old-son to her.

Renner intends to bear children with Climb, but her official, noble-born husband will make those children legitimate. Or something. It’s all…a little arcane? Bottom line, Renner has the troops she needs to bring Eight Fingers down, and she intends to add Gazef Stronoff to those numbers. It should be quite a raid.

Meanwhile, Lord Ainz ordered everyone from Nazarick back to Nazarick, but first orders Sebas and Solution to take care of a grain purchase for Demiurge’s sheep. Why neither Demiurge nor Sebas on his own could accomplish this errand, or why Tuare is left so exposed and vulnerable, is not explained. All we know is Tuare has been re-kidnapped by Eight Fingers, and Sebas intends to rescue her.

I’m certain such a rescue mission, for which Sebas orders Albedo to arrange assistance, will be entertaining, but it seems rather artificially created crisis borne out of abject stupidity on the part of all involved parties. It makes me wonder if the kidnapping truly was set up, perhaps so Ainz could further observe just how far Sebas’ attachment to one lowly human really goes.

Overlord II – 09

While Sebas, Brain and Climb agree to take on the brothel together, they take different entrances, with Sebas going right in the front door, tearing through any hapless resistance, and delivering swift justice to the fat bastard whose name isn’t worth remembering. Epsilon might not care what pitiful humans do to other pitiful humans, but Sebas definitely has a soft spot for the weak and helpless.

Meanwhile, it isn’t long before Brain and Climb split up, and Climb happens to end up in the very room where Succulent (one of the Six Arms) and Cocco Doll (human slavery extraordinaire) happen to emerge from a secret entrance. Climb figures out Succulent’s trick, combining swordsmanship, invisibility, and illusion to show his opponent a fake arm, a fake sword, and even fake clones of himself.

Succulent’s just a half-step ahead of Climb, and delivers what should be a fatal wound, but like his encounter with Sebas’ killing strike, Climb summons the power of his love and devotion to Princess Renner to stand up and hold out just long enough until Brain arrives. Brain has the boy heal himself while he takes care of Sucky with one strike, showing just how far ahead of Climb he is in pure swordsmanship.

With that, Sebas appears and the three celebrate the apprehension of Succulent and Cocco and the taking down of a truly awful brothel. It’s all in a day’s work for Sebas, but he still has to come home to learn Solution has tattled on him; Lord Ains is waiting for him (though no doubt Ains will be proud of what Sebas did). Back at the palace, Climb gives a full report to a worried-sick Renner.

Brain celebrates by having drinks and a meal with his new best bud Gazef, telling him that despite Climb’s obvious lack of talent, he might just exceed his own pure will to live and fight, judging both from his scrapes with Sebas and Succulent.

As for Renner, after she sees Climb off, she summons a maid she suspects “made fun” of Climb with the intent to kill her and anyone else who would do such a thing, revealing a heretofore unseen sinister side. I kinda like how she’s not some pure naive princess, but has her own dark side…it makes me worry a lot less about the five remaining Six Arms we meet. If they want a knock-down, drag-0ut fight, Renner is most definitely game.

Overlord II – 08

Climb and Blue Rose prepare to go to battle with Eight Fingers, and Climb mentions his little sparring session with the great Stronoff. He wants Evileye to train him in magic, but she doesn’t think he’s ready or talented enough; Gagaran notes that Evileye is simply worried about Climb.

Evileye also mentions the fact that their colleague Lakyus may be having trouble controlling the cursed sword in her possession, and that leads to the mention of Momon and a quick overview of their great deeds. While they may be rivals, Evileye might also see them as potential allies in the fight against the Fingers.

Meanwhile, Sebas walks the city streets thinking about the position he’s in, and more specifically what needs to be done to keep Tsuare safe from her former tormentors. A haughty jackass happens to be stomping on a poor kid who happened to bump into him when Sebas arrives to put the bully in his place. Not only does climb witness Sebas’ good deed (and his fancy moves), but so does Brain Unglaus.

Climb tracks Sebas down and begs him to teach him the move he saw. Sebas does a quick character survey of Climb, learning from his hands, his sword, and his words that he’s a decent chap, then warning him that the move he shows him could kill him if he has no one he cherishes and vows to protect.

Climb has Princess Renner, so there should be no problem, but still…damn, Sebas is scary when you’re his target, even in a supposed training session. Climb manages not to die of shock, and proves he’s a loyal and true servant to his mistress. Brain witnesses all of this and introduces himself to Sebas and Climb…just as five assassins from Eight Fingers come for Sebas.

Now, I have no doubt that Sebas could have easily taken all five attackers on his own, but one doesn’t turn down an extra pair of hands, so he lets Brain and Climb take on two of the five. They handle themselves pretty well despite Climb’s greenness and Brain’s rust.

Sebas then decides to head to the brothel where he rescued Tsuare and nip things in the bud, and Climb and Brain join him. I must say, it’s an inspired party, and I look forward to seeing what they can do. I just wish this show didn’t look so dang rough.

Overlord II – 07

As “Momon” contends with mounting expenses for his various ventures, Gazef (who considers Ainz his savior) seeks out Climb, the princess’ bodyguard. He may have come from nothing and is young and inexperienced, and Gazef seems certain there’s a ceiling to his ability, but Climb is still someone who can hold his own against Gazef in battle, which is more than he can say for most other fighters.

Climb needs to be strong. His Princess, Renner (voiced by The Heroine herself), is called a “monster” by her own older brother, the second prince. There is all manner of wrangling and under-the-table deals between the royals and nobles and Eight Fingers in this kingdom. As such, despite noble warriors like Climb and Gazef, it’s a kingdom slowly rotting from the inside.

Princess Renner, one of the kingdom’s few principled, moral leaders, seeks to cut out that rot, but without any kind of military force of her own she needs willing swords and shields. She has them in the elite adventurer group Blue Rose, who we were introduced to last week burning Eight Fingers’ drug fields.

Renner welcomes Climb to a meeting she’s having with members of Blue Rose, who are preparing to hit other Eight Fingers targets. Renner doesn’t want Blue Rose’s Lakyus Aindra to sully her name and that of her families in such activities, but she has little choice, as she can’t very well send Climb out alone. Instead, Lakyus will “borrow” Climb.

Meanwhile, in the mansion seemingly occupied only by Sebas and Solution, the former has made Tuare a maid, much to the latter’s chagrin. Solution does not like humans and doesn’t see Tuare’s presence as anything other than a nuisance at best and a threat to Ainz at worst.

When unsavory parties arrive who wish to get Tuare back from Sebas, and they give him until the day after tomorrow to surrender either her or the “lady” of the house, Solution. These guys are obviously scum, but they and Solution are alike in one important way: neither of them give a shit about Tuare’s well-being.

Only Sebas does, and since only 41 or so people in the whole dang world are stronger than him, Sebas would normally get his way, and Tuare would remain safe. But even he can’t be everywhere at once, which is why when he goes for a stroll to think things over, Solution breaks protocol and contacts Lord Ainz to report the possibility that Sebas has turned on them.

That seems farfetched to me, in that so far all he’s done is demonstrated his empathy for humans and been a Good Samaritan for a woman who had nothing and no one else. If anything, if Ainz hears the whole story he’d find a way to applaud Sebas’ actions. Is Solution overreacting, or does she sense something Sebas a mere human such as myself cannot?

Overlord II – 06

And now for something completely different. Head Butler Sebas Tian witnesses a man tossing a sack into the street; a sack containing a horribly battered and bloodied human girl. Because Sebas does not detest humans as many Guardians of Nazarick do, he takes pity on the girl, takes her back to the mansion, and has Solution heal her wounds.

Solution considers it beneath Sebas to bring human in, and beneath herself to heal her, but Sebas offers no explanations; he only issues orders, which Solution obeys. The girl is a new person when Sebas sees her post-healing, and offers her some porridge. The girl, whose name is Tuare, offers tearful thanks to Seba for saving her when no one else would.

Meanwhile, we check in with Brain Unglaus, who has been shaken to the core by his defeat at the hands of Shalltear. Gazef Stronoff plucks Brain off the rain-soaked streets where he had apparently lost the will to live, insisting he eat something before making the rash decision to go off and die. All Brain can think about is how weak and puny even the strongest humans are against the likes of Shalltear.

Sebas, Solution, Brain, and Gazef not enough for you? Don’t worry, there’s more: two kunoichi stealthily kill a patrol, then set a series of fields ablaze.

We learn the twin ninja are part of a group of powerful-looking adventurers determined to destroy as much of the of the super underworld syndicate Eight Fingers’ drug production and distribution network as possible. Solution mentioned that Tuare was most likely addicted to a drug; most likely the “Black Dust” the adventurers speak of.

Finally, we get a look in at a meeting between the leaders of Eight Fingers, including the one in charge of human trafficking and slaving, who laments he recently lost the girl we know as Tuare. Something tells me that as tough and connected as these guys might be (an adventurer says 8F can “topple nations”), they’re no match for Sebas, who won’t be letting Tuare get hurt anymore.

While I almost lament the conspicuous lack of lizardmen in this episode, a change of scenery is welcome. This is a huge, rich world, after all; focusing on just one small part of it would be a shame.

OverLord – 04


Everything about the mages the Slane Theocracy sends to Carne, led by Nigun Grid Lewin of the Sunlit Scripture, indicates they’re tough customers by any measure, and there’s no better way of demonstrating that than by methodically beating down Re-Estize’s head warrior Stronoff with wave after wave of summoned Escaflowne-style mecha-angels.


Stronoff has offensive magic and is able to carve through a few dozen, but they just keep coming, and his soldiers aren’t strong enough to help him. On the edge of defeat and death, Lord Momonga—sorry, Ainz Ooal Gown—uses the item he gave Stronoff to switch places with him, with Stronoff ending up in the villager’s shelter and Ainz and Albedo facing off against a huge and confident Slane force.


Lewin and his forces look strong and they feel strong, and they definitely did a number on Stronoff. But as great and famed a warrior as he is, Stronoff is still only a human, and so are they. And the strength and magic of humans turn out to be of no consequence to Ainz and Albedo. He entered the battle prepared for a tough fight, but he turned out to be overly cautious. But that’s okay, because expected them to put up a fight too.

Which is why it’s so strange that I don’t feel cheated in the slightest by the fact Luwin and the Slane mages are nothing but ants before the power of Ainz. After watching them have their way with Stronoff, watching Ainz utterly turn the tables by defeating every weapon at their disposal with comical ease was a lot of fun. I keep using that word because that’s what this show is: loads of badass, giddy, contagious fun.


Even Albedo (who granted is infatuated with Ainz) can’t restrain her glee at the spectacle she witnessed, setting aside her objections about him even bothering to face such puny opponents and reveling in his awesomeness, along with the way he used Stronoff as a pawn to collect more information on the strength of the local powers, which he’s determined is pretty pathetic.

Back home at Nazarick, Ainz declares his new name and orders the assembled guardians to make sure it becomes an eternal legend that spreads across the world. That, Inner Ainz believes, is the best way (not to mention the most entertaining way) for him to attract the attention of other human players from Yggdrasil. If they made the trip with him to this new fantasy world, he intends to find them.


OverLord – 03


From his magic mirror in the Tomb of Nazarick, Momonga is able to watch a group of knights sack a village, brutally slaughtering men, women, and children with impunity, and he realizes something: it’s not really bothering him. The sight of such real violence would have made him sick in the world he came from, but here he finds himself unusually hardened. Instead of watching the pillaging with outrage or disgust, he sees it as an opportunity both to test his abilities and gather information.

But he also wishes to repay a debt to “Touch Me”, another player who once saved him from a band of enemies because “it was common sense”. Do unto others, and all that. Momonga didn’t even have to ask, and neither to the villagers of Carne, as Momonga practices various magics while saving a couple of little kids from their doom, for which they’re grateful, if a bit freaked out by his scary looks.


It’s immensely fun to watch as he uses lower-level spells to smite the murderous knights, and a slightly higher-level one to reanimate one of their dead into a giant, virtually invincible zombie warrior. Even if he’s a stranger in a strange land figuring things out, he has the advantage of being one of the most powerful beings in that land, at least compared to the people he’s encountered.


Other than Sebas in the cold open, the fully-armored Albedo is the only one of Momonga’s guardians who appears this week, and while it seems like she’d rather smash all the lowly pathetic humans into jelly, she stays her hand and obeys every order her beloved issues.

It’s great that not only are we following extremely powerful, elite beings in relation to their world, but they might not even be the good guys. Only Momonga, who is, at least in his thoughts, still human, even bothered visiting this village, dragging Albedo along more for procedure/precaution than necessity.


Touch Me’s words about rescuing the weak being common sense ring true, as Monomga, AKA Ainz Ooal Gown, collects some useful info about some of the geography and politics of the world he finds himself in. But he also reflects an empathy for humanity his beastlike guardians lack; reflected in the Chief Warrior of the Kingdom of Re-estize, Gazef Stronoff, who came from a village much like Carne Village, always wished for help to come when trouble struck.

Help never came for him, but now he works to make sure other villagers aren’t subjected to the same disappointment and neglect. The strong have a duty to protect the weak. Momonga just happened to beat him to it in Carne. And as Stronoff arrives, ahead of another wave of potential enemy knights, Momonga may end up in deeper than he wanted at this juncture, but with all the tools he needs to prevail.