Overlord: The Undead King- The End and The Beginning

This blog discusses the first episode of season one of Overlord, covering one and a half chapters in volume one, which will be discussed in this post.

The episode starts with several players facing off a horde of undead skeletons at the entrance- a non-diegetic clip hinting at the 1500-player raid on the Great Tomb Of Nazarick, which was recounted many times by Momonga in the Amphitheatrum and the Throne Room(in the light novel)- this was also an excellent use of analepsis in the narrative. 

Coming to the story, most of the locations in the Great Tomb Of Nazarick are identical to the ones in the real world. The most striking intertextual reference is the antehall known as Lemegeton, named after The Lesser Key Of Solomon or Lemegeton, a grimoire on demonology; the hall consisted of 67 golems inside the alcoves based on Solomon's 72 demons. I appreciate the depiction of the Throne Hall based on Neuschwanstein Castle though, the throne room and the singer's hall of the real one seemed to be blended and replicated to create this one; there was also the Amphitheatrum which was based on the Colosseum in Rome.

Singer's Hall, Neuschwanstein Castle

Throne Room, Great Tomb Of Nazarick
 

This episode has its focus completely on Ainz(first-person point of view in contrast with the light novel, which has third-person and internal focalisation), but as the story progresses, it shifts to other characters. This is the first time Momonga experiences emotional inhibition as an undead, which is portrayed with a glow of light enveloping him; no such type of effects was mentioned in the light novel. This is when two personas come to be- Satoru Suzuki(human) and Momonga(undead), whose voice actors differ and are cued with two different sets of non-diegetic soundtracks.  

Coming to fidelity, although there were many differences and things that weren't shown in the anime, such as Momonga's halo, his and the Guardians' passive skills, Lemegeton, golems in the spectators' stands, the Moon Wolves and many others, the first episode depicts what it has taken in perfectly, luring the viewers to watch ahead.

-Sai Pranav Reddy Rakasi

-2019B2A41538H

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Classroom of the Elite

Image
  Hey guys. I welcome you all to the second Blog of my assignment. Here I am going to discuss intertextuality and Anime's aesthetics. Intertextuality - Adaptation with multiple source texts. Every episode starts with a quote that was taken from other sources as these quotes are nowhere to be seen in the Light Novel. For example, The first aesthetic we are going to talk about in the adaptation n is the Anime's visuals, to tell you, in short, Marvellous. The Anime was released in 2017, were in the Anime Industry has grown very much compared to the one released in 2000. Coming to the audio, I just love the opening and closing songs of this Anime, and I never miss them, which was not the case with other Animes I have watched. Some special effects such as: Camera angles while closing the door and opening the bag zip.     The non-diegetic sound of a bell at the start of every episode. The intense background music when there is a turning point or some interesting fact is revealed. All
Read more

Overlord- Openings, Endings and Intermediality

Image
In this fourth blog, I shall be focusing on what makes anime, anime! Many of them know them by the name of OPs and EDs or Openings and Endings. These are some of the elements which other media don't have, and as an anime enthusiast, I am proud and happy to talk about these that are made with special care and consideration and are the major constituents of beauty in this art form. The visuals, paintings and cuts along with the music or song make great sense and give the viewers an epiphany if they observe well. And to all those anime watchers who complain that openings and endings spoil the series, my answer is 'Silence, lower lifeforms! You do not qualify to speak!' "...just bow your heads and wait for the end, full of gratitude." Please don't take this personally; this is just a reference from  Overlord.  Nevertheless, I shall say that you are missing out on what anime has to offer to the community. The Opening of Season one can be regarded as equivalent to t
Read more

Violet Evergarden (Part 1)

Image
  Hey guys, this week I will be covering the anime adaptation of the light novel called Violet Evergarden. The movie is also called Violet Evergarden. It is a story about an ex-female soldier who takes up the job of an Auto Memory Doll at a Writer's agency The anime has 13 episodes in total whereas the light novel contains 6 chapters. For this post I will be covering 4 episodes from the anime and 2 chapters of the light novel. If we judge the adaptation based in fidelity from the light novel, then the adaptation is not so loyal to the novel. The anime shows the life of Violet Evergarden  in the order of succession. This shows the rise of Violet into a well reputed Auto Memory Doll. Whereas the novel starts in the middle, go back to the beginning and then go to the end. This sets a mystery towards the protagonist as her story is not completely clear until one point. This puts up an anachrony. The focalization in the anime is variable because Violet Evergarden's perspectives are
Read more