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Overlord
Episode 8

by Theron Martin,

How would you rate episode 8 of
Overlord ?
Community score: 4.3

I asked this question a few episodes ago, but in light of what transpires in this episode, it bears asking again: how much of Momonga's shtick is him just play-acting, and how much of it is him actually becoming an arrogant bastard because of his overwhelming power? And does Momonga even know where that line is anymore?

Not that this is a problem, mind you, as him being all full of himself as well as legitimately bad-ass can definitely have its entertainment value; for instance, Dark Schneider from Bastard!! was one of the most unbelievably arrogant protagonists anime has ever seen, and yet he was so much fun to watch because of it. Momonga has not gone to that ridiculous extent yet, but he is sliding in that direction with lines like the last one of this episode. This is also a nice reversal from a recent trend of stone-cold-emotionless bad-asses as protagonists. With him finally squaring off against the insufferably arrogant Clémentine, next episode should be quite entertaining.

This episode does not do badly, either, as it finally shows Ains (nee Momon) getting into direct action for more than just a brief scene. It seems that not only Clémentine but also the necromancer were lying in wait for Nphirea on his return home, which spells bad news for the Swords of Darkness. When Momon finally catches up to the scene after registering the giant hamster, he finds himself having to fight the zombies of the Swords of Darkness. After rather ruthlessly convincing Nphirea's grandmother to hire him to rescue Nphirea, he has Narbarel use magic to detect his location, then goes with her to confront the army of undead being raised on that spot. How easily he ravages a path through the undead certainly makes an impression on the overwhelmed gate guards, and eventually he gets to the core of the matter: the necromancer, his fellow cultists, and Clémentine. While leaving Narbarel to deal with the casters, he leads Clémentine off for a proper battle. Only this time Clémentine's normal efforts to goad and tease opponents are not exactly having the desired effect.

The way the episode works in occasional bits of humor – such as the bit about the giant hamster having to be carried by Narbarel because his living presence attracts the undead, or how clumsily Momonga has to cover when Narbarel points out a strategy that would have been more tactically wise – is a nice touch, as it shows that a series does not have to resort to cheap visual asides (which have always irked me) in order to work a little levity into a serious matter. The action scenes are nothing too special (the CG on the undead is not distracting but definitely not top-tier), but Momon makes up for it at the end with the snide “retribution” he delivers to Clémentine. Her facial expressions are not quite as fun as Albedo's, but the series shows once again that it does wicked smiles better than just about anything else. On the downside, it still drags a little in places, as Momon's walk through the cemetary and his conversation with Clémentine both feel like they were drawn out so that the episode could end on a suitably dramatic note. And what was that mysterious contact from Entoma about?

The one other interesting point which comes up plays off of a comment from last episode which generated some discussion: the one about how the presence of a woman might disrupt the harmony of an adventuring group. We see early in this episode how layered that statement actually was, when the wizard “boy” is revealed to have actually been a girl. That raises the question of whether or not her comrades knew about it (in retrospect, their behavior towards “him” last episode suggests that they did) and whether or not that comment was meant to refer to the wizard playing down her true gender in the interest of keeping the peace in the group. Sadly, we will never know the full truth of the matter, since they are all now dead.

Rating: B

Overlord is currently streaming on Funimation.


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