Overlord (Novel Series)

Overlord (オーバーロード Ōbārōdo) is a light novel series written by Kugane Maruyama and illustrated by so-bin. It began serialization online in 2010, before later being acquired by Enterbrain. Presently, sixteen volumes have been published in Japanese since July 30, 2012.

On the other hand, the light novel series is also licensed in North America by Yen On. Currently, sixteen volumes have already been published in English since May 24, 2016.

For the chronological timeline of the progress of the Overlord series until now, including related events, visit this page.

Plot
In the year 2126, a Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game or DMMO-RPG 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 four of the members remain, the other 37 having quit the game. Of those four 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. Though Momonga is saddened by this, he accepts the reality that his friends have their real lives to take care of. And so, he stays in the guild alone until the servers shut down.

Upon waking up, Momonga realizes that the game may not have shut down properly as he is still in his avatar form and he cannot seem to use the normal player function, such as Message, or even quit. Then when the NPC's of Ainz Ooal Gown starts talking to him, he decides to take things seriously and find out if anyone from World of 2138 is also in this New World with him. Taking on the name of Ainz Ooal Gown for the sake of his guild, Ainz wanted to send a message to any other players out there facing the same circumstance as he have. Henceforth, he begins exploring the world that is supposedly different from YGGDRASIL. He tries to figure out what has happened while trying to find anyone, or anything, that could help him solve this mystery.

Web Novel

 * An online novel, that the Overlord series is based on until the eighth volume deviates from its Light Novel counterpart.

Drama CD

 * Special side stories of events that took place in the Overlord series, and were mentioned and spoken of in the Light Novel.

Manga

 * It is drawn and written based on the Overlord series' Light Novel plot. A manga adaptation with art illustrated by Hugin Miyama began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen manga magazine.

Anime

 * Based on the Light Novels, the Overlord series had its own anime television adaptation done by Madhouse for four seasons.

Specials

 * Bundled with the Overlord series, it has inspired an anime special based on the Pleiades, aptly titled, Pure Pure Pleiades, featuring super chibi characters.

Music

 * So far, two songs have been composed for the first season of the anime in the Overlord series: Clattanoia and L.L.L. The second season songs include Go Cry Go, by OxT, and Hydra, by Myth and Roid. The third season songs include Voracity, by Myth and Roid, and Silent Solitude, by OxT. The fourth season songs include HOLLOW HUNGER by OxT, and No Man’s Dawn by Mayu Maeshima. In addition, two songs for the Overlord Movies were written: Crazy Scary Holy Fantasy by Myth and Roid and Laughter by Slaughter by OxT.

Trivia

 * According to Maruyama, one of the reasons why he started writing the Overlord series is because his TRPG group of buddies stopped gathering and that they were too busy to play "Dungeon and Dragons" with him. Even within the settings of Overlord, TRPG plays a big part in it.
 * Also, Maruyama stated that the world of the Overlord series operates on the law of the jungle, so he writes as if the strong are good and the weak are bad. While some may view their actions as evil, they act on their perception of good.
 * According to Maruyama, he builds/hype up enemy characters to seem strong and then having Ainz defeating them in an instant is kind of a running gag of the Overlord series.
 * Overlord is ranked #1 among the best selling light novels in Japan, 2018.
 * According to the author Maruyama, once the Overlord Light Novel series is entirely over, he plans to someday release detailed class levels for all characters.

Gallery
Overlord (Light novel)