One of my favourite anime tropes from the last five years is overpowered characters. Now I’m not talking about characters that take a good 200 episodes to get overpowered (I’m looking at you Goku), I’m talking about characters who are at the top of what they do right from the get go in episode one. Saitama from One Punch Man, Mob from Mob Psycho 100 and even Kirito (to some degree) from Sword Art Online, all display this attribute, making the anime enjoyable.
Ainz Ooal Gown, the main character from Overlord, fits this bill to a T. After finishing the first season, I was eager to see Ainz in action again but was extremely disappointed. Season one put all of its attention on Ainz, whereas season two was more concerned with other minor characters and developing the political plot.
The season opens with some very interesting plot points and details about the world Ainz resides in. This fire of intrigue, though, was slowly extinguished over the course of 13 episodes and these details aren’t expanded upon for the rest of the season. Here’s hoping the writers touch on these points next season! (SPOILERS: They don’t…)
There are three main stories to be told in season two: the lizard men arch, Sebis’ ‘quest’ and Demiurge’s plan. The latter and most interesting of the three happens right at the end of the season. Each of these arcs, as mentioned previously, focused on different groups of minor characters and attempted to develop their backstory and create new motivations for them against the potential impending threat that Ainz and Nazarick represent to the world.
It felt like such a slog to get through this season, only watching each episode to hopefully see some good ol’ Ainz action. But alas, there was no major villain to be fought and no good guy to triumph. The concluding ‘big’ fight of the season ended up just being adventurer Momon (Ainz’s alter ego) battling with Ainz himself. It was all rather anticlimactic. I would have thought that after all that power in season on, the stakes would be raised slightly, but everything seemed so safe. I will admit, I haven’t read the manga of this series and I’m hoping I can find what I’m looking for there.
At the end of the day, Overlord II was a necessary slog that seemed like it needed to happen to push the story towards a finale encounter, that is likely to be found a number of seasons away. It’s just unfortunate that this extremely slow season happens right after a fantastic first season.