Overlord IV

New Season, New Characters

I’d argue that Overlord IV is the best Overlord has ever been. In general, I think the series gets better with each season. And the fourth season is no exception. The characters, world, and plot all develop further and become more interesting.

Also, for the first time, this season actually looked better than the season preceding it. It had been the norm for each new season of Overlord to look worse than the last. Do you remember how terrible the CGI used in Overlord III was? Well, Overlord IV doesn’t look that bad even though it still uses subpar CGI at times.

To me, one of the biggest improvements of Overlord IV is the cast. Overlord has a lot of characters. And this season introduced even more. We met some dwarves, dragons, and most importantly, adventurers. Right now, I want to talk about the adventurers.

Before this season, we knew of 2 adventurer parties. These are Darkness and Blue Rose. Darkness is Ainz’s Adamantite-ranked adventurer group. The members are Momon, Nabe, and Hamsuke. Blue Rose is the all-female Adamantite group of Lakyus, Gagaran, Tina, Tia, and Evileye.

In Season 4 alone, we learned of 4 additional adventurer groups. They are Silver Thread Bird, Four Armaments, Red Drop, and Black Scripture. Technically, we don’t know if Black Scripture counts as an adventurer group. But, they’re from the Slane Theocracy and seem to be the strongest characters we’ve met other than Ainz.

Silver Thread Bird and Red Drop are both Adamantite groups, like Darkness and Blue Rose. Red Drop and Blue Rose are actually “sister” groups. The leader of Red Drop, Azuth, is the uncle of the leader of Blue Rose, Lakyus. Four Armaments is a Mithril group, 2 ranks below Adamantite.

Of Dwarves & Dragons

The middle third of this season is all about Dwarves and Dragons (and Quagoa). Basically, Ainz wants to forge an alliance with the Dwarves. He believes that their rune technology has the potential to revolutionize warfare. If they can advance it enough, it’ll be far cheaper and more effective than enchanting.

But, the Dwarves have some issues they need Ainz’s help with before they can consider an alliance. Their capital city was overrun by two other races: Dragons and Quagoa. The Quagoa are werewolf-like creatures that aren’t very interesting. The Dragons, however, are Dragons.

From what I remember, we saw a single Dragon in one of the earlier seasons. I don’t remember anything else about it, though. This time, we have a whole Dragon community ruled over by a king. And I thought this Dragon king could have been a match for Ainz. I was mistaken.

The dragons are probably the most disappointing part of the entire season. I love seeing Ainz and his followers obliterate anyone who stands in their way with ease. But, at the same time, I do want to see them have to actually fight every once in a while. The Dragons could have been an opportunity for that.

On the other hand, we have the Dwarves. Individually, the Dwarves aren’t all that interesting. But, I’m excited to see how Ainz’s alliance with them will impact the series down the line. The idea that runes could be the next warfare “meta” is intriguing.

This is a technology that was cast aside by most. Enchanting is better than runecrafting in pretty much every way. But, Ainz has reason to believe that the current limits on runecrafting can be overcome. Sure, it’ll make his army even more overpowered. But, it’s neat to see him innovating.

Re-Estize Is Dead; Long Live Ainz Ooal Gown

Something I wasn’t expecting to happen so soon was the downfall of the Re-Estize Kingdom. Ainz completely destroyed it. And the season ends with a shot of him sitting on a thrown of rubble. It was a great shot.

On the one hand, I like that the Re-Estize Kingdom is no more because it shows the world isn’t static. The lines on the map can change. Just because a country, a ruler, or a people are around right now doesn’t mean they will be in the future.

Ainz’s attack on the Re-Estize Kingdom also made the other countries in the region take notice. After all, he destroyed it to make an example out of it. This is what happens when you betray the Sorcerer Kingdom. But, at the same time, it now means the other countries recognize the threat of the Sorcerer Kingdom.

The one thing I don’t like about the fall of the Re-Estize Kingdom is that it coincided with the death of Prince Zanac. Prince Zanac was a good character. He had a lot going on and I wanted to see how he navigated “ruling” under Ainz.

In fact, Ainz was also interested in him. When Zanac’s men mutinied and killed him, Ainz lost interest in the Re-Estize Kingdom. He did say he was going to attack anyway. But, it seems that Zanac’s death sealed the fate of the rest of the kingdom.

I’m still holding out hope that Ainz resurrects Prince Zanac. However, that could set a dangerous precedent. We know resurrection exists in the world Ainz is in. But, I kind of like that when a character dies, they stay dead. I wouldn’t want resurrection to become a normal thing in the series.

Conclusion

Overlord IV is a 7/10 from me. It’s a good season of a good anime. And I’m looking forward to what comes next. Also, while I wasn’t a huge fan of the OP for this season, I did like the ED quite a bit.

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