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Overlord Season 2 Review

The second season of Overlord premiered in 2018 and it was another pretty good season of this very underrated isekai series.

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“If I can bring happiness to the ones I treasure,

I don’t care about what happens to anyone else“

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This is a different type of season than the original one in that it focuses less on its protagonist and more on the world of Nazarick and its numerous NPCs and their conflicts. Ainz was still quite memorable and he remains a strong villainous presence on the show, but his role was significantly reduced here for better and for worse. He should have appeared more often in those episodes where he was absent given his importance, but his absence led to the other characters’ much stronger development.

The first arc concerns these Lizard Men, who consist of these tribes of very weak people that could easily be beaten, which is exactly what happened. The final twist brought the two main men back, which was quite lovely, but this resurrection element means that there are even less stakes than usual, signaling what I call the Marvel problem. The lack of stakes overall in fight scenes continues to hurt the show, but the action is so good that it manages to rise past that.

So that first act was pretty good. I disagree that it was too boring and lengthy. It was also important in emphasizing just how inhuman and immoral Ainz is. But the second arc is clearly the highlight of the season. This is where the show became immensely entertaining and enjoyable. Suddenly, politics were included and I’ve had a blast with that.

Sebas is easily the MVP of this season as this man with a great moral compass. He’s by far the most likable person of the bunch and the most complex personality as he is both sympathetic and badass. Climb and the princess character needed more development, but Gazef and Brain are quite interesting and solidly realized.

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I didn’t quite care for the last couple of episodes’ lack of stakes as the artificially orchestrated fights made the entire affair feel a bit pointless, though obviously a lot of fun. But this season worked because the animation is better than it was the last time and the action is superb. There are numerous battles here that were actually more evenly matched than any that we got before, plus they incorporated many interesting moves, skills and power-ups, which led to utterly delightful chaos on screen. The humorous dialogue also continues to shine and the versatile tone remains Overlord’s best weapon.