Overlord II

Overlord II is the second season of the dark fantasy anime Overlord. Like the first season, it was made by the studio Madhouse. It has 13 episodes and aired from January to April 2018. The opening song is "GO CRY GO" by OxT, and the ending song is "HYDRA" by MYTH & ROID. The season adapts books 4 to 6 of Kugane Maruyama's light novel series and starts right where the first season ended.

The main character used to be a normal player of a virtual reality game. When the game shut down, he was trapped inside the body of his character, a powerful skeleton magic user. He now calls himself Ainz Ooal Gown, after his old team of players. He rules the Great Tomb of Nazarick, a huge underground fortress that was carried into a strange new world along with him. The game's computer-run characters became living beings, and they serve him with total loyalty.

By now, Ainz has started to accept this new life. The world looks a lot like his favorite game, but it still has many secrets. He has also become more careful. At the end of the first season, one of his own servants was brainwashed, which means her mind was taken over by an enemy. That scare makes him worry about a powerful human nation called the Slane Theocracy, and about the chance that other players from the game are hiding somewhere in this world.

This season spreads its story across many places and many people. In the first part, Ainz orders his servants to attack the Lizardmen, a race of lizard-like people who live in villages by a lake. For many episodes, the show follows the Lizardmen themselves. They are brave warriors who must decide how to face an enemy far stronger than anything they have ever seen. Watching the story from their side makes Nazarick look even more frightening.

Later, the story moves to the Royal Capital of the Kingdom of Re-Estize, a human country. Here the show follows some of the people who live in the capital. Sebas, the calm old butler of Nazarick, also plays a large part in this arc. Trouble slowly builds in the city, and it leads to a big clash near the end of the season.

The guardians of Nazarick are busy too. Albedo, Demiurge, and the others work hard on plans for their master, and they get ready for Nazarick's first real war. These servants are loyal to Ainz, but many of them hate humans, so their plans are often cruel.

Overlord II is less about Ainz himself and more about the world around him. It gives time to people who are not heroes and not villains, and it shows how one powerful being can change the lives of everyone nearby. Fans who enjoy dark humor, politics, and a hero who acts like a villain will find more of what they liked in the first season. The story continues in Overlord III.