You May Want To Overlook Overlord II…For Now – First Impressions
For those that might be somehow be unaware, the second season of Overlord is among us and there is a considerable amount of hype. Apparently studio Madhouse doesn’t do sequels but here it is anyway.
Also Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card is another sequel appearing this season from Madhouse so some people are bitter about not seeing One-Punch Man in the near future.
Looking at the anime at hand, Overlord II is something I feel ill-prepared for. The first season aired back in the summer of 2015 and my brain can only retain so much information before it’s declared obsolete. Here I am almost 30 months later, all hyped up ready to continue the journey but it dawns on me, immediately after clicking play, that I have no fucking clue what is going on in this world. So a word to the wise, re-watch the first season or maybe even the last couple episodes of it. I honestly can’t tell how much of a gap there is between the first and second season.
I think the main factors you want to get out of your re-watch, if you are willing to do so, is who, what, where, and why. Who are all these people you see in the first episode of season two? You don’t really get a sense of how important they are to the story and they spout out a messy pile of information that may or not be relevant later. Who is this creepy scythe wielding bitch that talks about Shalltear, not by name but her attack against some bandits(?)? Who is this old lady that talks a fucking dragon like it’s her old drinking buddy? Who are these men having a meeting about going to war? There’s just too many new faces in the first 5-6 minutes and it’s guaranteed to leave you confused.
The next question you want answered is, What the actual fuck is going on? I mentioned that I wasn’t sure how large the gap was between the two seasons. Based on the first conversation we hear, it would seem like the gap is fairly small. I vaguely remember talks about wars between regions from Momonga’s first adventure out of the guild castle. Later we get a short recon, using a map Momonga forged, of all these regions and their possible endeavors within the land/world. I’m not sure this is enough for someone who hasn’t watched the first season since it aired. Then we get completely displaced from their point of view and we follow lizard men instead for the next two episodes. I’m sure there’s people that can connect the dots that they provide but everything just feels incomplete for me. I’m missing too much information.
I inadvertently answered the where question as well above with the map, so i’ll skip to the why. Why are all these factors presented to us in the first episode? Why were the lizard men so important that they were put under the microscope? I’m sure there are viewers out there that know exactly what’s going on. Whether it be readers of the source material, fans that re-watched the first season one or more times, or people that have greater memory than I do.
Usually, we here at BAYOG talk a lot about giving an anime series the three episode test. But that almost always applies to new series and not continuing series. Personally, I only had a problem with the first episode being such a cluster for viewers, such as myself, that might not have the prior knowledge. I enjoyed the episodes following the lizard men and the series seems to be hinting, just a little bit, about the plot progressing more. I just want everything to be meaningful in the end and I want my questions answered. I will keep watching to see things through but I likely won’t go for the re-watch as I don’t have the time.
To close out this article, if you’re a big fan, go ahead and dive in but if you’re unsure of your ability to recall the story, please re-watch season 1. Save yourself from the layers of confusion I have ranted on about.
no more confuse please.