With Overlord joining Netflix’s massive catalogue, anime fans have a fresh chance to watch the classic isekai series. While it seems a bit quaint now, this only belies how impressive Overlord was at the vanguard of today’s trends of inhuman protagonists, power fantasies, and the use of game mechanics. With the popularity it commands even today, now is the best time to go and see what the excitement is all about.
Even with the wide variety of shapes and escapades isekai stories place their heroes in, none have tried copying the setup of a lich and his multi-floor dungeon. This attests to both the unique vision of Overlord and the influence it has.
If one tries watching the show on Netflix, they may be pleasantly surprised at how familiar, yet different, the story is from other modern isekai that are currently available.
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Overlord Helped Revolutionize & Popularize Modern Isekai Setups
Original novels written by Kugane Maruyama; anime adaptation by Madhouse
The series follows the former Satoru Suzuki, who finds himself inhabiting his in-game avatar, the lich Momonga, while he, his guild headquarters “The Great Tomb of Nazarick”, and other former NPC characters within wind up in a new world. The early story delights in Momonga – renamed Ainz Ooal Gown – trying to fool both the world’s populace and his minions by pretending to be an evil overlord, though its scope shifts and expands into Nazarick’s efforts to conquer the land and fend off invaders. While the cast is overpowered, as is standard for isekai series with this style of setup, it does have the added power fantasy twist of empire-building.
Isekai series with bodily transformations are a common trope now, with light novels trying everything from low-level slimes to vending machines. Overlord‘s lich, however, might be one of the first, and certainly at least a trendsetter for the genre. Ainz and his cohort also popularized the use of villain protagonists, allowing the army of monsters to run roughshod over all opposition with RPG-esque magic systems that they also helped make commonplace. The series’ main cast appearing in the comedy Isekai Quartet alongside other big-name fantasy shows like Konosuba only shows how casually recognizable Ainz and the others are now following Madhouse’s animated adaptation of the series.
Every Isekai Fan Should Watch Overlord
The series remains one of the best, even now that the genre is over-saturated with new ideas
With four seasons and a movie under its belt, Netflix viewers have plenty of material to enjoy. While Nazarick’s increasing violence and manipulation of the region may be off-putting to some, fans of the isekai genre still owe it to themselves to see at least a few episodes of Overlord, and see just how many tropes and themes were popularized by the iconic franchise. It is not hyperbole to say that while Sword Art Online set a foundation, Overlord helped pave the way to the isekai genre’s modern domination, and with a new movie planned for this autumn, now is no better time for a fresh viewing experience.
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