Written by Kugane Maruyama Published by Enterbrain Demographic Male Genres Action fiction, Fantasy | Illustrated by so-bin English publisher Yen Press | |
Original run July 30, 2012 – present Publishers Yen Press (NA), Enterbrain, Kadokawa Shoten | ||
Overlord (オーバーロード, Ōbārōdo) 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. Eleven volumes have been published since July 30, 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, with a release date of November 8, 2016.
Contents
A 13-episode anime television series adaptation by Madhouse aired between July 7 and September 29, 2015. Two compilation anime films recapping the events from the television anime series were released in Japan on February 25, 2017 and March 11, 2017, respectively. A second season of the anime series has been announced.
Plot
In the year 2126, a Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game or DMMORPG called Yggdrasil was released. It stands out among all other DMMORPG's due to its unusually high ability for the player to interact with the game. After an intense 12-year run the game servers are about to be shut down. Within the game exist a guild, Ainz Ooal Gown, once consisting of 41 members and credited as one of the strongest guilds in the game. Now only 4 of the members remain, the other 37 having quit the game. Of those 4 only one actually continues to play; His name is Momonga and he remains the guild leader, maintaining their headquarters, The Great Tomb of Nazarick. He invites the remaining guild members but of those only one appears and only for a short while before leaving. While saddened by this, he accepts the reality that his friends had their real lives to take care of. And so, he stays in the guild alone until the servers shut down.
Then, he realizes that the game does shut down and he cannot seem to use the normal player function, such as General Message, or even quit. Then when the NPC's of Ainz Ooal Gown start talking to him he decides to take things seriously and find out if anyone from 'the real world' is also in this new world with him. Taking on the name of Ainz Ooal Gown, a message to any other players, he begins exploring the world. He tries to figure out what has happened while trying to find anyone, or anything, that could help him solve this mystery.
Light novels
The light novel series written by Maruyama, with illustrations by so-bin, began its serialization online in 2010 prior to Enterbrain's acquisition. As of September 30, 2016, the series has been published by Enterbrain in eleven volumes, with the first volume releasing on July 30, 2012, and the eleventh volume releasing on September 30, 2016. Yen Press announced its license to the series in October 2015 for North America and began publishing the novels in English, with the first volume releasing on May 24, 2016.
Manga
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.
Anime
A 13-episode anime television series adaptation by Madhouse aired between July 7 and September 29, 2015. The opening theme is "Clattanoia" by OxT. The ending theme is "L.L.L." by Myth & Roid. The anime adaptation covers light novel volumes 1-3. 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. Two compilation films acting as a recap to the television anime series were released in 2017; the first compilation film, titled Overlord: The Undead King (オーバーロード 不死者の王, Ōbārōdo: Fushisha no Ō), was released on February 25, 2017, while the second compilation film, titled Overlord: The Dark Warrior (オーバーロード 漆黒の戦士, Ōbārōdo: Shikkoku no Senshi), was released on March 11, 2017. The film's theme song, titled "Crazy Scary Holy Fantasy", was performed by Myth & Roid.
A second season was announced at film screenings of the second compilation film.
Reception
In 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 8 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. As of 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. As of September 18, 2015, Overlord light novel and manga has over 2 million copies in circulation. Overlord has since been named the top-selling light novel series of 2015.