I've rarely been interested in rewatching shows or movies, but suffice to say this changed with Overlord. Somehow, for some reason, I never tire of this series-genuinely able to rewatch it and then be fully ready to rewatch all seasons of it again as soon as I finish.

From what I can tell, Overlord was the 20th anime I watched which uniquely places it as my first Isekai, and 2nd fantasy anime (just behind Goblin Slayer. I guess it's not surprise then that I got so heavily attached to the genre then (especially since immediatly following this I hunted down just about every Isekai I could get my hands on)! While I've never been into things quite like an MMO guild I do still understand the experience they were latching onto at the start, but moreover I've been quite heavily stuck into medieval-esque fantasy mentally for so very long that it was easy to imagine the type of story that Overlord ended up being. This of course being so strengthened with how Ains is certainly the protagonist but far from being the hero. Even now I crave seeing shows like that, as while I don't have any issues with the perfect hero archetype inherently, its just become so worn out after seeing show after show after show with the same rightous characters.

In regards to the actual show, it hit so strongly on the power fantasy moments with things like Ains going to Carne Village for the first time-or meeting characters and demonstrating the monstrous power which of course is just a fun staple of many anime at this point; but then mix this with genuinely interesting and both likeable and hateable characters to create such a great set of attractions to complement the great plot itself. I'm not necessarily claiming it to be the craziest plot out there, but I am claiming it to have been executed greatly---even the minor things like killing off so many characters subverting the expectations (but still in ways that gave those characters enough time and 'life' in the plot, appose to simply just cutting them down with extreme shock).

I still think seasons 1 and 4 are by far the best, but thats not necessarily to deride the others (though not to claim any of them are truly flawless either). Maybe I'll get around to make a true proper reviews of stuff but ultimately as it stands I think all I can really get myself to express is that while Overlord isn't my absolute favorite anime with everything considered-it is the one I can never seeem to tire of and is easily a 2nd place contender (it just can't hit quite the same emotional beats as my the other contenders; nor should it since it's not that kind of story).

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I don't necessarily have that much to say about the show...coming in at my 159th anime watched (not counting dropped shows) it was very enjoyable certainly-holding my interest throughout and liking all the characters without feeling as though there were any real detractors nor dead-weight on the cast. Simply put, I think the show succeeds at what it sets out to do for most scenes, especially for the primary duo; with Raeliana being fun to watch and Noah having his own sort of interesting act as a well placed-if stark contrast.

I think the thing that really gets me here, and with this type of story in general is sort of that...fantastical world. Not necessarily in the sense of dragons and monsters like one would normally think with that phrasing, but more-so as in the fantasy of romance. It's well known that real life romance isn't as its written in fiction (else its fiction wouldn't exist!), but this disconnect plus my own disconnect from never having delved into any kind of relationships gives me a very untarnished...immersion? Whatever the best descriptor is, it makes it very easy to really get invested into the story from an emotional sense, and really just have some sort of deeper-seeded enjoyment derived from it that can be a bit harder to manifest without some special events in the story (ie. think of any story typically considered emotionally heavy, and the type of beats they have to hit vs something like this that can come kinda close to that level without using the same strength of event). Whatever the case, it certainly helps keep my attention. Plus I won't lie, something about the royal life--especially the sort of isekai version (ie. learning to live in a royal/fancy world) is for some reason especially appealing to me. I suppose you like what you don't have (fantastical or not)...

I'd like to take special mention of one scene in episode 7 with the "Is she asking me to bring back a dragon?" line asked by Taylor. On it's own it was definitely amusing and I enjoyed it alot for some reason (as most of the time I'd be semi-impartial to those types of jokes), maybe because I just liked the characters more--or because the tone of the show made it more vulnerablew to the impact of that scene...whatever the cause, it was actually really very nice to see it expanded into them taking so far as going so far to 'try' getting a dragon and otherwise taking it so seriously-which again is funny that I liked it as most often with that type of joke I'd normally prefer to just glance over it since I tend to not really find it funny...I suppose it really could be chalked up to the characters and tone of things as a nice foil in a sense. I never expected them to take it so far, and am very happy that they did as it felt like it brought some extra character to the story, both in terms of distinguishing itself (or rather, the characters), but also in committing things a little more-so than one might feel. It was almost like how people typically regard the slow moments between action in something more intense (personally I think of Made in Abyss), just something about this interaction really just kind of set an extra attachment to the characters and their interactions with eachother.

Overall, I can rate an easy 4.0 stars-though passing on a 4.5+ because while very good for what it does, it did lack some of the more hard hitting moments that I have come to really like in my anime. I don't know if it would truly be doable in its current state as it really doesn't seem too written for them, but nonetheless it could use a little something (or maybe not everything needs to be a 5.0 stars, in a sense?). Other than that though I can't pull it down because it really isn't very flawed, I liked everyone and enjoyed the story + had high investment in the romance itself. Which granted does give me one complaint...at the very very end having that sort of...cold, almost mean send off with Raeliana basically just being like "Oh ur sick? Well I'm fine now so see ya loser!" to Noah really left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I get it might have been more of a teasing sort of way, but it really just felt kind of rude...cliche as it might be, I would've rathered it end on them having a bit more of a mutual affection by that point. Regardless though, not only do I recommend it, but I really hope to be able to find my stories like this.

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