Overlord (novel series)

Overlord (オーバーロード) is a Japanese light novel series written by Kugane Maruyama and illustrated by so-bin. It began serialization online in 2010, before being acquired by Enterbrain. Sixteen volumes have been published since July 2012. A manga adaptation by Satoshi Ōshio, with art by Hugin Miyama, began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's manga magazine Comp Ace from November 26, 2014. Both the light novels and the manga are licensed in North America by Yen Press since 2016.

The novel has been adapted into an anime television series adaptation by Madhouse, consisting of four seasons with thirteen episodes each, with the first season airing from July to September 2015. Two compilation anime films recapping the events from the first season were released in Japan in February and March 2017, respectively. The second season ran from January to April 2018, the third season ran from July to October 2018, and the fourth season ran from July to September 2022. An anime film, The Sacred Kingdom, premiered in September 2024.

Plot

In 2126, a Full-Dive massively multiplayer online role-playing game or DMMORPG called YGGDRASIL was released, standing out among all other DMMORPGs due to its unusually high ability for the player to interact with the game. After an intense twelve-year run, the game servers are about to be shut down.

Media

Light novels

The light novel series written by Maruyama, with illustrations by so-bin, began its serialization online in 2010 via the novel publishing website Arcadia. It was also uploaded to the novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō in 2012, prior to Enterbrain's acquisition. The first volume was released on July 30, 2012. As of July 29, 2022, sixteen volumes have been released. In the afterword in the second part of the sixteenth volume, it was announced that the series is set to end with its eighteenth volume.[5]

Yen Press announced its license to the series in October 2015 for North America and began publishing the novels in English,[6] with the first volume releasing on May 24, 2016.

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Manga

A manga adaptation by Satoshi Ōshio, illustrated Hugin Miyama, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's manga magazine Comp Ace from November 26, 2014,[39] to May 25, 2023.[40]

A sequel manga series, titled Overlord New World, illustrated by Matsuki, started in the same magazine on April 26, 2024.[41]

Anime

A 13-episode anime television series adaptation by Madhouse aired between July 7 and September 29, 2015.[84] The opening theme is "Clattanoia" by OxT, and the ending theme is "L.L.L." by Myth & Roid. Both are bands of the musician Tom-H@ck. A 30-minute original video animation was bundled with the eleventh limited edition volume of the light novel series, which was released on September 30, 2016.[85] Two compilation films acting as a recap to the anime television series were released in 2017;[86] the first compilation film, titled Overlord: The Undead King (劇場版総集編オーバーロード不死者の王), was released on February 25, 2017,[87] while the second compilation film, titled Overlord: The Dark Warrior (劇場版総集編オーバーロード漆黒の戦士), was released on March 11, 2017. The films' theme song, titled "Crazy Scary Holy Fantasy", was performed by Myth & Roid.[88]

Video games

A mobile game Mass for the Dead was launched in late 2019 in Japan, with a global (English) version launched in early 2020.[106] It received poor reviews, with reviewers noting it was rather simple and did not offer anything new compared to many other similar gacha games.[107] The global version has been shut down as of March 31, 2021.[108][109]

A Metroidvania game titled Overlord: Escape from Nazarick was announced on December 17, 2021, for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam[110] and was released on June 16, 2022.[111]

Reception

By June 2015, prior to the release of the anime and manga, the light novel series had about 600,000 copies in print in Japan with eight volumes. By August 1, 2015, the light novel and manga series had a total of 1 million copies in circulation in Japan. On August 4, a 600,000-copy reprint of the novels was announced. By August 20, 2015, the nine-volume Overlord light novel series and two-volume manga series have, together, more than 1.5 million copies in circulation in Japan.[112] By September 18, 2015, Overlord light novel and manga has over 2 million copies in circulation.[113] By May 2016, the Overlord light novel series had 2.5 million copies in print.[114] Overlord was the top-selling light novel series of 2015.[115] By April 2018, the light novel and manga combined had over 7 million copies in print.[116] By December 2021, the light novel and manga combined had over 11 million copies in circulation.[117]

The light novel ranked first in 2017 in Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, in the category.[118] It ranked fourth in 2018.[119]

In reviewing the anime adaptation, Kotaku called the Overlord anime a "magnificent power fantasy" which "brings up a very relatable theme for anyone who has played an MMORPG before."[120]

Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom

In November 2024, Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom earned $1.16 million in its U.S. opening weekend, ranking at #12 in the box office.[121]

Phil Hoad of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars, writing, "At least in this instalment, we never see the real-world frame story outside the game, but there's a fatalistic sense that all this is being decided elsewhere. Coupled with expansive, heroic visual character-work, the film has a classiness that, with a bit more focus, could in future put it in Princess Mononoke territory."[122] Randy Myers of The Mercury News gave it 3/4 stars, writing, "Director Naoyuki Itô obviously relishes classic world-building elements and oversees some rather astonishing visual set pieces. All the staples are there, too: bloody battles, surprising revelations and dormant powers within unlikely sources."[123] IGN's Mike Mamon was more critical, calling the film "more of a footnote to a long-running anime series than it is an entertaining movie experience" and adding, "The arc that inspired the movie receives only a passing mention on the TV show; The Sacred Kingdom lackluster execution makes that short shrift feel justified." He gave the film a score of 4/10.

type	TV series
director	Naoyuki Itō
producer	Kazufumi Kikushima Satoshi Fukao Noritomo Isogai Yūki Yoshida Shō Tanaka (I) Toyokazu Nakahigashi (II–IV)
writer	Yukie Sugawara
music	Shūji Katayama (Team-MAX)
studio	Madhouse
licensee	Crunchyroll
network	AT-X, Tokyo MX, Sun TV, KBS, TV Aichi, BS11, MBS
first	July 7, 2015
last	September 27, 2022
episodes	52
episode list	List of Overlord episodes