Overlord: The Undead Oh! Chapter 30

Live-Action Nazarick (イメトレ実写化ナザリック) is the thirtieth chapter of the Overlord: The Undead Oh! series.

Summary
In the Throne Room, the Floor Guardians and Ainz Ooal Gown are called to a meeting by Albedo, who is urgent to speak of news of the most importance. Ainz who is in the dark on what it could be, picks up on a pattern that Albedo has been doing and suspects that a new game or animation of the Overlord franchise is coming soon. To the utter shock of all, she announces that today's agenda will be an Overlord live-action film. While having no proof that such a film will be made, the Overseer Guardian believes that it is only a matter of time and wants everyone to be prepared. Some of the other Guardians are a bit uncomfortable with the idea of humans playing as them, even thinking that it is blasphemous. Demiurge though believes that the actors would actually be CG animated to look like them. Albedo agrees that with today's technology, CG could reproduce their characters, though is a bit concerned that their designs might be changed a bit.

And even if the visuals are convincing, there are still concerns on the script, even the possibility that new material would be added. Given that humans tend to seek "a hero who can sympathize," Ainz's story might be altered to make him seem more loving to humans, so they could sympathize with him.

Albedo provides a brief storyline of a potential love-action film plot with Overlord: an American high school student character, named Max, who lost his father when he was very young. The character goes through an ordinary life, when one day an earthquake occurs and he finds a mysterious entrance in his home's basement. Upon investigating Max discovers that Ainz and the Great Tomb of Nazarick have been transported under his house. The secret is then shared with a female companion. Ainz meanwhile seeks a way to return to his original world when a portal in the skies appears bringing a large number of monsters that are out to chase Ainz and his allies. To stop them and save humanity, Ainz then fights against them with his human allies. By the end of the film Nazarick and Ainz return to their own world, however, there is a scene at the end that hints at a sequel.

Whatever the plot of the live-action film, Albedo says they shouldn't worry about it too much. Demiurge brings up that the live-action will be limited to at least two hours and Albedo's story idea might not be feasible. Instead maybe a serial sit-com drama would be a better fit. A sitcom called "Overlord," where Ainz would be living with a mediocre family. A serial drama can afford a lot of flexibility as they can depict parts or even characters the Overlord franchise hasn't yet visualized, like Nigredo, if the audience has enough horror tolerance.

Albedo sees there many possibilities but understands that in order for a live-active film or drama, a budget of 200 million yen is needed. Of that budget at least only one season would be produced with ten episodes, that's not enough to tell the whole story of Overlord which other estimate would take ten or forty-one seasons to explain, and the latter costing 820 billion yen. The 7th Floor Guardian sees that things are getting out of hand and tries to calm things down, but Albedo stresses over the budgeting issues even though it's just a hypothetical idea.

She then falls into a depression at the costs for a live-action film and laments on the rising disappointed fans of the original work who experienced poor expectations of the previous adaptions. Demiurge though thinks it might be a blessing as the fans of the original work will not be disappointed if the live-action film will not be made. He then proposes the idea of a live-stage action play. Calling it "Obaste", he says that Overlord could be performed with actors playing their roles to reproduce a decent enough production as it would be cheaper than relying on CG. However concerns are drawn with some characters not being to able appear without CG, requiring some compromises. Another draws concern over how some of the battle scenes will be depicted, as Ainz's Super-Tier Magic cannot be effectively reproduced in a live-stage setting. But such things can be left to the imagination of the audience or even using special lighting to display magical effects.

Albedo gets over her anxiety on the live-action productions visual effects, becoming more concerned with the length of the product. Even the longest segment of making a three hour production seems insufficient. It may be also necessary to cut some parts from her original script that she proposed to her disappointment. Mare Bello Fiore though believes that the live-stage play version offers a better element than a film. He proposes the idea of creating a musical play called "Obamu." The idea is appealing especially if their actors use musical lines when casting spells or buffs. In addition it leads to the possibility of singing praises to Ainz Ooal Gown, even a new song like "This Is The Overlord." Albedo is overcome with feelings of such possibilities. But she tinkers with one thought, the fans who have a deep love for the series might expect it to be of the highest quality, what if they don't enjoy it? Demiurge and the others feel that it shouldn't be much of a problem as an old fans of the series would probably not expect too much from a live-action production. Instead it would garner the attention of new fans to the Overlord series and spread awareness of Ainz. All those in attendance to the meeting, anticipate the coming of the live-action adaption of Overlord, which sadly never happens.

Character Appearance

 * CZ2128_Delta
 * Neia Baraja (Cameo)
 * Cocytus
 * Albedo
 * Demiurge
 * Shalltear Bloodfallen
 * Aura Bella Fiora
 * Mare Bello Fiore
 * Crusch Lulu (Cameo)
 * Victim (Cameo)
 * Nigredo (Cameo)
 * Sebas Tian
 * Nigun Grid Luin (Cameo)
 * Zaryusu Shasha (Cameo)
 * Pandora's Actor (Cameo)

Known Locations

 * Great Tomb of Nazarick
 * Throne Room

Chapter Notes

 * This chapter first appears in the Monthly Comp Ace September 2019 Issue.