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Anime is a great expanse of engaging animated media that many readily fall in love with. To every average man and woman, there likely exists a show that will catch their eye or attention.
Anime can unquestionably be as bizarre as it can also be captivating. The shows provide exhilaration, comfort, sadness — a true full range of emotions. With so many different types of anime out there, it is impossible not to find an attractive piece.
Much like any other art created by human beings, anime explores these vast and bizarre genres, themes, and situations to explain the truth about the human spirit and condition.
The goal of anime is understanding, to learn a human truth about oneself or about another through a Anime series of entertaining arcs and storylines. Overlord is absolutely no foreigner to the fantastical world-building and narrative that ultimately resonates with the notions of the human experience.
What to Watch Following Overlord
The reasons why someone would like or love Overlord are as endless as the adventures found within the show itself. With the conclusion of an anime, there is an impetus and craving to continue and further seek the experiences had in the journey that was watching the show.
Following the ending point of an anime can also leave one as empty and bittersweet as Ainz in the many epiphanies and experiences he has. Fortunately, the emotions and experiences, while unique to the experience of watching Overlord, can exist outside of it also.
There is much anime that can be watched, and much good anime that are similar in nature to Overlord. So, while you may have caught up with staying on top Overlord, for now, rest assured that while we wait for a new season, there is more to explore in the world of anime. The following recommendations revolve around similarities to overlord, albeit potentially tangential, or more concrete similarities.
Please note that the following anime shows will not contain spoilers, so as to preserve the feeling of freshness and excitement of discovering a new anime for you, the viewer.
The list will venture into the world of anime and provide a starting place to do so. It is important to be aware that the list follows no particular ranking order, but is rather a list of suggestions. There is a section towards the end dedicated to the best recommendations from the list (subjectively tiered, of course!).
The list is as follows:
- Log Horizon
- The Saga of Tanya the Evil
- Knights and Magic
- One-Punch Man
- Sword Art Online
Perhaps you may find a new favorite show once you grow better acquainted with these five anime.
What Makes Overlord a Great Show?
The greatest appeal to Overlord is that it is a fantasy story in the purest sense. None of what happens, much like in almost any work of fiction, could ever happen. Overlord explores that itching sensation to ask, “But what would this world be like if it could happen?”
Everyone knows what it is like to be a normal person, as we all are subjectively more or less regular people. Bound by the conventions and limitations of our reality, there is only so much possible. Yet within Overlord, Ainz really is one of the absolute most powerful beings around, filled by magic, mystery, and great feats and challenges not ever really experienced in the real world.
What is the connection, then? Well, all those accomplishments — all those journeys, friendships, and problems solved — are because of the human aspect and component to the series.
We are all normal humans who want to accomplish extraordinary feats, as the real-world feats are tougher in practice. Through the show, and much like Ainz himself, we realize that we are normal people capable of great and truly grand feats outside of the game, and outside of the anime.
These feelings of introspection and struggle, paired with all the awesome fights and real-life-like friends made in the show are the reasons why Overlord is so beloved.
Every betrayal, every friendship, and every accomplishment is a reflection of an earnest moment we’ve each held and experienced. The following anime share these characteristics to some degree, and as such is worth considering giving a watch or two.
Log Horizon
Log Horizon is set in the realm of Elder Tales, a massively multiplayer online game much like that of Overlords. 30,000 or so players are trapped within this world. Shiroe, the main character, is poor when it comes to interactions and social settings. To move on through the game, he forms a guild called Log Horizon.
What makes Log Horizon so great and worth watching is, first and foremost, the main character Shiroe himself. Shiroe is soft-hearted and struggles with many of the same themes as everyday people do in their own lives.
While having a different persona through the game, what one finds is that the roots of what makes us individuals follow regardless of who or what we inhabit. Shiroe learns to be himself in the game and learns to make friends and explore his neighbors in meaningful ways.
The show itself also has incredible world-building, and really develops all the side characters well. This anime also does a good job at exploring the lore and the cultures and races that many games create.
The show also captures rather well, and superbly realistically, the dynamics of massive online multiplayer games themselves by including non-playable-character realistic dialogue, as well as currency and bartering systems.
This show is a good fit for any Overlord fan and appreciator because of its well-developed world and the relatable main character, with an exploration of the side characters and world-building as a whole.
The Saga of Tanya the Evil
The story of The Saga of Tanya the Evil follows Tanya, a Japanese businessman who is relentless and cruel. When the man finds himself dead and revived as a girl in a World War One type universe by a god, he faces new and bizarre experiences.
Tanya is just as cruel, intelligent, and ruthless as before, but now must kill enemies and fight in order to fulfill his belief in the god which put him in that world in the first place. Through a divine gem, Tanya experiences incredible abilities and luck which guide him to success while also leading him to struggle with the reality of his situation.
The Saga of Tanya the Evil explores religion heavily, and it is a truly self-reflective piece, much like Overlord. What makes the show so unique is the setting and time period of the show, while also grappling with the philosophies of predestination and its collision with free will.
The show is fun to watch for its visuals, story, and occasional comedy, but its truest feature is its philosophy. How can a god be benevolent and gracious when it forces one to make terrible decisions and act cruelly only to prove that its luck is on your side and therefore good? The show deals with more themes following hard questions humanity faces and is best left to watching on one’s own.
What makes The Saga of Tanya the Evil a solid segue for fans and appreciators of Overlord is the exploration of the human self, and what our inherent selves mean when put in a different universe and setting that challenges our core. The show is well written, and fun to watch, and very much worth checking out.
Knights and Magic
Knights and Magic follows a computer programmer who loves mechs. This may seem like a bland and unremarkable premise for an anime show, but it is anything but.
When the programmer dies, he is reincarnated into a fantasy world and universe where mechs are giant knights and defense robots piloted by noble people, who are knights in their own right. Being reborn into a child, the story is about the growth of becoming a pilot and fulfilling that fundamental dream he had as a kid in his former real life.
As the boy recalls more about his former life, he finds himself truly falling more and more in love and in pursuit of his dream and passion that never became fulfilled in his former life. This show explores fewer missions and side quests of a tangible villain and rather focuses on the growth of the individual seeking to become the person they had always wanted to be.
This makes for a good segue for an Overlord fan and appreciator because we have all had some impossible fantasy and dream that we wish we could pursue. What does it mean, though, if you could actually achieve it? What do we learn about ourselves in the process of attaining our dreams?
And finally, to what extent of willpower do we exert ourselves to achieve those dreams? Knights and Magic explores all these themes and is a truly entertaining and beautifully animated show that warrants and deserves a watch.
One Punch Man
Not so much a fantasy genre, this anime show revolves around the main character, Saitama. Saitama is a normal man who discovers that, through sheer will and fortune, he has the potential and destiny of being an overpowered superhuman. The rest of the show follows his adventures, and the struggles he faces internally regarding being a superhero, and yet somehow a normal man.
Saitama is a normal man, with no hint as to his hidden talent. He lives a normal life, and yet, he still seeks adventure and challenge. When he gets to be a hero, he tragically realizes he is too powerful to find any meaningful combat.
What ensues is the creation of a semi-existential superhuman who faces normal human problems. He has too much power to really challenge himself, and as such is forced to be a normal person due to the nature of his situation.
Exploring what makes us human, One Punch Man begs the question that Overlord also poses: who are we without the abilities and powers of fantasy and magic? How do having these powers and abilities help one learn more about themselves, and how does the focus draw the viewer back to what is truly important and realistically tangible to grasp — our identities and ambitions, our very source of derived meaning.
Overlord fans and appreciators are sure to enjoy this anime, though it is a bit different from the traditional Isekai genre. It also helps that Saitama is overpowered much like Ainz, and it makes for some pretty incredible and amazing animated fight scenes.
Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online follows the story of an eponymous game by the same name. The game draws massive intrigue, and it is followed by an equally massive wave of individuals flocking to play it. With the game executing so successfully, there is a twist catch to the game: everyone is stuck in it.
Furthermore, everyone is not only stuck but transformed into their normal selves. Their complete human self is transported, creating a mortifying and shocking reality for many.
This is a fantastic anime because it explores what it means when you are normal. While Overlord explores what power means for the normal “boring” self, this anime completely tosses that on its head and explores how our normal selves are forced to be extraordinary. This exploration really takes fantasy to a new level, truly making the viewer feel immersed in their normalness to the shock of the strange world that is Sword Art Online.
When we are normal people who cannot hide behind characters, who are we? Who were we when we knew we could mask our identities, and who do we choose to be now that we know we are only ever ourselves? This makes for a good show for any Overlord fan and appreciator because it carefully explores, in literal means, the human self as it is. It is unquestionably a must-watch for anyone.
Recommendation Overall
All the shows mentioned before are notable and worthy for all the reasons mentioned in each respective segment. There is, however, one toppling subjective preference to recommend — and for several reasons, too.
This list is created with the intention of providing anime that are similar and worthy of viewing for an Overlord fan or appreciator. All the anime in the list tend to run similar and have strong parallels to Overlord in some way or another. But if the purpose of a recommendation is to directly provide the next step, this is instead a whole new exploration of anime as a world of entertainment.
One Punch Man is our recommendation for the next anime you should watch. It is animated beautifully and is a true genre shift from Overlord, while also ensuring that the qualities that were loveable transfer over and make for a profound new transition.
If Overlord was your first foray into the world of anime, it makes even more sense to watch One Punch Man. Indeed, anime is a beautiful world vast and wide and touches on themes that are all worth exploring. The shows are brilliant and teach us a lot about ourselves and the world around us, and One Punch Man is no exception.
The story of Saitama follows one very similar to that of Ainz. Both are absolutely plain as day normal and average people. There is nothing particularly exceptional or remarkable about either. Still, their stories and characters gravitate our intrigue and hearts as we see them develop, and as we develop with them. Their evolution follows not their powers, but what their powers’ absence can reveal about them.
Their true nature is the remarkable aspect, the individual factor which highlights their separation from any importance of power level or ability. That is the nature of their lovability. The genre itself is great and both have their strong points, but ultimately the characters themselves are what makes the anime so compelling.
If you are interested in an anime that will boost an understanding of yourself, and also provide beautiful animation and a community of fellow appreciators, look no further than One Punch Man.
The creator truly has a way of telling a story visually, and the themes explored throughout — as well as the friendships made — rival and also parallel any that were featured in the beloved series of Overlord. The show is a phenomenal watch, and again, while not necessarily genre similar, it will certainly draw intrigue and appreciation from any Overlord fan out there.
The option to watch any of the anime lies in your hands and free will, so take this recommendation with a grain of salt. But you should also bear a reassurance that this is a well-developed recommendation for your viewing pleasure and experience, based on the knowledge that you share a mutual liking for Overlord.
FAQs
Answer: In 2019, the author and creator of overlord announced on Twitter that Overlord will conclude with its 17th volume. The anime up to the third season covers up to volume 9. Likely there are more seasons to come. The creator of Overlord has also been known to extend the series, despite saying that Overlord will conclude. The answer to the question on when Overlord will end is in favor of those who are fans, as the anime will not likely end for the next couple of years.
Answer: There are three mediums by which Overlord has been produced. It has a manga, light novel, and an anime interpretation, with there being consistency amongst all. The anime and manga cover the main details and essential events thoroughly, with the light novels having some more details and side-stories present.
Much of the details not covered in the anime revolve around lore, dialogue, and more in-depth views into non-main characters. Overall, the anime and manga are close and not far from the light novels, ensuring that the story told is as close to its full self as possible.
Answer: There are a few ways that Overlord can be classified. Conventionally, Overlord is a dark fantasy anime that is based on its novel counterpart, as written by Kugane Maruyama. The anime also falls into a broad genre of anime known as “Isekai.” Isekai refers to an anime genre where protagonists find themselves being transported to a different reality or transformed accidentally. Typically, as with Overlord, the protagonist is a regular and average human who undergoes wild adventures.
Answer: Overlord is a fun online player game in the series of the same name. However, unfortunately for fans, it is also entirely fictional. There are, however, games that are very similar to it in nature and in theme. Everquest II, World of Warcraft, Black Desert, Guild Wars II, and Elder Scrolls Online are all games that greatly resemble the world Overlord oversees. These all include fantasy themes and different races of characters that require world-building and development.
Answer: Yggdrasil was likely shut down for the same reason that many massive online multiplayer games are shut down today: a lack of following or player base warrants servers to close down and online games to discontinue. The game was already old and had lots of competition with other games, and as such, it makes sense that Yggdrasil would also eventually shut down.
Final Thoughts
The world of anime truly is a beautiful world to explore. What makes anime so beautiful is that it takes a wild fantasy or conjured fiction, and draws out our own reality and relation to it through its art and storylines. With the specific case of Overlord, what does it mean when we are all-powerful?
How do we change when we have all the power in the world? What does it mean if our fates feel inauthentic and if the characters we interact with don’t feel real? Are characters of fiction even that different from the real characters we interact with?
Being conjured by a human, an idea carries humanity with it by the very nature of being a product of its creator. So long as a human invents something, it will relate to or reflect the human experience or some human truth in some way.
Overlord is heavy fantasy fiction, and yet, we find ourselves relating and empathizing with the inept but hopeful and curios Ainz — for we all are Ainz. To every anime, we are that protagonist, the main characters of our own stories, and we share our worlds with other characters who also have their own journeys and stories to share.
While this list is by no means scientific, it is based in close relation to aspects of Overlord, and many fantasy anime for that reason, carry with it. Whichever anime you decide to watch and explore, or even if you do not, may it always be that the human experience and a story follows with you.
