Overlord III

Episode 2

Isn't it great when your minions know that you want world domination before you do?

One of the running jokes of Overlord has always been that Ais's struggles to sound like a proper despot are being interpreted far more ambitiously by his underlings that what he actually intends. That pretty much blows up in his face in the first few minutes of this episode, resulting in the story's signature sense of humor as Ains is floored by Demiurge's assertions about his ultimate goal of world domination and flummoxed that he can't get Demiurge to specify what led him to those conclusions. His skeletal form doesn't allow for much expressiveness, but the animators did an excellent job of visually representing Ains' reactions. When looked at from an outside perspective, Ains's mercurial actions can easily come across as a world domination plot, whether it's putting Carne Village under his thumb, dealing with the Eight Fingers, and so on. The interesting idea to come out of this, which will doubtless have major plot implications, is Demiurge's proposal that Nazarick declare itself to be its own nation. I'm also curious about Demiurge's offhand comment that there's one worthy person in the Re-Estize Kingdom. Undoubtedly that's who he was meeting with in the scene near the end of last season where he flew off on his own for an appointment, but was that Princess Renner or someone else?

The rest of the episode involves the expected return to Carne Village, which was heavily suggested by both the opener and closer. If nothing else, that whole sequence reinforces how great Overlord is at developing its supporting cast, turning at least some of the goblins from generic thugs into characters in their own right. The advice that one gives to Nphirea (complete with signals!) over how to win over Enri is priceless, as is the near-fight which breaks out over the goblins competing for Enri's heart. I did like how the episode made it clear that Enri's interest in Nphirea has nothing to do with his machismo; she seems more taken with his nerdy side. There were a lot of other great characters moments too, such as the brief mention of Enri's younger sister and her attempts to adapt to the situation, the muscles that Enri has developed, the way she slings an unconscious Npihrea over her shoulder, or even the villagers' open cooperation with the goblins. (This is yet another case where Ains acting on a whim developed consequences far beyond his imagining.) I also liked seeing the personnel shortages at the village being addressed and was surprised but pleased to see that Britta, the red-haired adventurer from the first season, had wisely retired and joined the village.

The end of the episode, with the goblin child and the Barghest, also provided a good hook for where the story will go next, as the Giant of the East and Demon Snake of the West sound suitably intimidating. But are those the name of goblin tribes or should those names be taken more literally? Guess we'll find out next episode.

Rating: B+

Overlord III is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.