Christories.com logo

ChriStories

A Book is a gift you can open again and again...

Overlord: An Introduction to the Manga, Anime and Novels

Overlord: An Introduction to the Manga, Anime and Novels

Overlord is one of the Best anime series right now, which easily outshines every other anime on its genre of isekai! With a story that goes beyond expectations in the Novels! Do not miss it!

The story of its creation

Overlord is a Japanese light novel series, which has been adapted into manga and an anime series.

As a watcher of anime; I was introduced to it by a friend at the time where its second season was about to be released, about 2017 to 2018. I admired its concept and got intrigued by its plot that I decided to buy the books and read the ‘original’ work.

I have to be honest; the novels are fantastic! At that time, I was 18 and a concept of the main protagonist being the overpowered villain in his world, without him even realizing it, got me excited.

I made research about the story, its creator/author and I found something that got me emotionally inspired! It began it serialization online as a web-novel back in 2010. In case you are interested here is the website https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4402bd/ After it was acquired by the company Enterbrain, it started publishing its first novels in 2012. The story in the webnovel could be considered as a rough draft and the original idea, while the novel is the ‘final version’.

Maybe that was the time, the idea of creating a website began. A Blog where I could post my own Stories and Chapters, at my own pace.

Overlord is an inspiration to me, both with its way of writing and concept but also with how it started, by being a web-novel on the internet.

I strongly recommend the books even to those who watch the anime and are familiar with its story and plot. I promise, you will find a richer world, inside the novels! Without further ado let us begin with our Story – Analysis!

Overlord Story

As the story begins, Overlord takes place in 2126. At that time there was a popular game called YGGDRASIL, which was a DMMORPG, a Full Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.

Overlord first Novel

-DMMORPG

To put it simply for someone who is not familiar with its concept; it is like a VR Game, where you actually dive consciously into the Digital world! You stop feeling your body and senses in the “real world” and it is as you live as a character in the game’s Digital World! The following term (MMORPG) is a commonly known term as a game where you create your own character and participate in a world where other people as well have access. You can interact with them, take actions, cooperate, fight etc. A modern example of this kind of game is none other than World of Warcraft, a very popular game in the gaming community and industry.

-Ainz Ooal Gown

Back to YGGDRASIL. After a twelve-year run the game servers are about to be shut down. The game would stop existing as its company decided to close its servers and running. Inside the game there was a Guild, named Ainz Ooal Gown, which was considered as one of the strongest guilds in the game. Meaning, the players owning and running the guild where as well some of the best! The Guild had 41 members, though many had quit in the process with only 4 being extremely active. The guild leader was the most active, he had an undead/skeletal character named Momonga.

Ainz Ooal Gown Momonga on his throne in Overlord

-The End and the Beginning

Minutes before the game’s final shut down, he invites the other guild members in order to bit a final farewell. But only one appeared, who after a quick chat, also logs out. Momonga was saddened by this, but accepted reality as the lives outside the game were more important to his friends. He bittered that the game is being shut down and decided to stay until the end.

While he was enjoying his last moments in the game, he noticed something… weird. He wasn’t logged out! The game shut down indeed, as he had no access to various options such as entering a digital keyboard or send a General Message or even Log out! He realized that the game took life as the digital world stopped! And the once NPCs (Non-Player Characters) became actual living beings! Momonga has been trapped in the form of his game avatar in a World that once was of a Games.

With no other option, Momonga decided to explore this world and learn if any players like himself were also trapped in this new world. Would he try to escape and return to his original body and world? In the meantime, he also ruled his Guild and legacy as its own Ruler or rather… Overlord.

He demonstrates no moral qualms as he is taking up to his evil characters avatar nature. He is literally like a god-like creature with powers that would seem unreachable! There is not much into the story before you can realize that his actions are beyond ethical concerns. Who or what could stop him anyways?

Overlord Novels

The Novels at the moment are counted to 16. With 18 being the total to be released as the Author and creator Kugane Maruyama had planned. Which means that the story is closing to an end.

I would totally recommend the Novels, as their context of detail, inside thoughts, rich dialogs and much more, are sadly not included in the manga or anime series. Even though you get a feeling of the story’s theme, you miss out a lot by only watching the anime!

For someone who is not familiar with any of the story’s concepts (Novel, Manga, Anime) I would like to suggest that you can always watch the first episode of the anime and get a first look of its concept. But I promise you, you will find details in the Novels that you could never imagine being on the Anime Show.

Be sure to check the Kindle and Hardcover Books of the 1st and 2nd chapter below!

-Personal View

In the end this story means a lot to me, both emotionally and inspiring. It is a story which concept was always intriguing to me! Mainly I fell in love with how it started.

It is a dream of mine to start publishing and so your hobby inside a website and after a worthy recognition your work actually to become a Hard Cover Novel with a fan-base around the world you build, not to mention an adaptation to an animated series! My work at this moment which is a long project as a story is Zepar, which has a long future ahead of it. While my other Book, the Child of Ragnarok will be finished by the start of the new year!

This is Overlord … I will be both happy and sad when the last Novel gets released, signaling the end of the series.

P.S. Thank you Mr. Maruyama

Arigato

Add A Comment

We're glad you have chosen to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our privacy policy, and all links are nofollow. Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

We are always available for you!
We wish to create a healthy community to share our interests with you!
Lets start together our own story here on ChriStories.com

  • Do you want some sneak peaks of our Projects?
  • Perhaps you wish to join?
  • For any clarifications we are always available!

Copyright© 2023 ChriStories.com