Overlord

Last updated: 1 November 2026

About Overlord

When the game YGGDRASIL shuts down, player Momonga stays logged in until the last second, and wakes up inside his character, the undead sorcerer Ainz Ooal Gown, in a world that is suddenly real. His NPC servants now think for themselves and worship him as a god. Overlord is a dark power fantasy told from the villain's side of the story, as Ainz builds his legend one kingdom at a time. What makes it gripping is the gap between the two Ainz: inside, he is an ordinary, lonely office worker improvising desperately to keep up appearances; outside, his loyal guardians read world-conquering genius into his every stumble. Around Nazarick, human kingdoms scheme, heroes rise and armies march, never grasping how hopelessly outmatched they are. Animated by Madhouse, the anime runs four seasons of thirteen episodes each, plus recap films and the 2024 feature film The Sacred Kingdom, which fills in the war the fourth season skipped.

Overlord is a TV anime from 2015, first released in Summer 2015. It belongs to the Action and Fantasy genres and is listed as a completed series. The summary above is written by the AnimeYug team in our own words.

Official Trailer

▶TVアニメ「オーバーロードⅣ」第3弾PV · KADOKAWAanime

Story & Plot

In 2126 the virtual-reality game YGGDRASIL, famous for its freedom, is ending after twelve years. Momonga, leader of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown, sits alone in the Great Tomb of Nazarick among the NPC guardians his old friends created, and stays logged in past the shutdown to say goodbye. Instead of logging out, he finds Nazarick transported to a real, unfamiliar world, and the NPCs alive, loyal and waiting for orders. Trapped in his skeletal avatar, his emotions dulled by undead calm, he takes the guild's name as his own to draw out any other lost players.

To learn about this world, Ainz poses as the dark adventurer Momon while his guardians quietly extend Nazarick's reach. Every kingdom that tests the Sorcerer King learns the same lesson at a different price: the lizardmen, the Re-Estize Kingdom, the Baharuth Empire and finally the Sacred Kingdom all bend, break or burn. It is a conquest told from the throne room, where the scariest thing is how easily it all happens.

Story Arcs & Episode Guide

The Overlord anime is split into story sagas. Here is every saga in order, with its episodes and years.

Why Watch Overlord

• A villain's-eye view: the story is told from the overwhelming overlord's side, not the heroes'.
• Ainz's double life (genius conqueror outside, improvising office worker inside) never stops being funny and tense.
• Nazarick's guardians are a full cast of monsters, each loyal, terrifying and oddly endearing.
• Human kingdoms get real stories too, which makes Nazarick's shadow falling over them land harder.
• Four complete seasons plus a feature film, adapted from one of the best-selling light novel series ever.

Who Is It For?

Overlord is rated TV-MA in the US, so it is for adults and older teens. Expect graphic battlefield violence, mass death treated coldly, dark humour, some sexual content and a hero who is often the monster of the story.

Ainz Ooal Gown

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Albedo

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Shalltear Bloodfallen

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Demiurge

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Aura Bella Fiora

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Mare Bello Fiore

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Cocytus

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Sebas Tian

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Narberal Gamma

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Evileye

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Brain Unglaus

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Gazef Stronoff

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Clementine

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Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself

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Neia Baraja

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Voice Actors

The Japanese voices behind the main characters of Overlord.

• Ainz Ooal GownUndead ruler of Nazarick and the Sorcerer Kingdom
  Japanese voiceSatoshi Hino
• AlbedoOverseer of the Floor Guardians, devoted to Ainz
  Japanese voiceYumi Hara
• Shalltear BloodfallenVampire Floor Guardian of Nazarick's first floors
  Japanese voiceSumire Uesaka
• DemiurgeDemon Floor Guardian and Nazarick's strategist
  Japanese voiceMasayuki Katou
• Aura Bella FioraDark elf Floor Guardian who commands magical beasts
  Japanese voiceEmiri Katou
• Mare Bello FioreShy dark elf Floor Guardian with nature magic
  Japanese voiceYumi Uchiyama
• CocytusInsectoid Floor Guardian and honourable warrior
  Japanese voiceKenta Miyake
• Sebas TianHead butler of Nazarick and a master martial artist
  Japanese voiceShigeru Chiba
• Narberal GammaBattle maid of the Pleiades who poses as an adventurer
  Japanese voiceManami Numakura
• EvileyeMasked adamantite adventurer of Blue Roses
  Japanese voiceSaori Hayami
• Brain UnglausGenius swordsman haunted by his duel with Shalltear
  Japanese voiceKōji Yusa
• Gazef StronoffThe Re-Estize Kingdom's Warrior Captain
  Japanese voiceHiroshi Shirokuma
• ClementineSadistic former Scribe of the Black Scripture
  Japanese voiceAoi Yūki
• Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle VaiselfBrilliant princess of the Re-Estize Kingdom
  Japanese voiceKiyono Yasuno
• Neia BarajaSquire of the Sacred Kingdom's paladins
  Japanese voiceYoshino Aoyama

Staff & Production

Original Creator

Kugane Maruyama

Animation Studio

Madhouse

Series Director

Naoyuki Itō

Series Composition

Yukie Sugawara

Music

Shūji Katayama (Team-MAX)

Manga & Source Material

Overlord is a light novel series by Kugane Maruyama with illustrations by so-bin. It began online in 2010 before Enterbrain picked it up for print, and it is planned to end with its eighteenth volume.

• Written by Kugane Maruyama and illustrated by so-bin
• First serialised online on Arcadia from 2010, then published in print by Enterbrain from 30 July 2012
• Sixteen volumes were published as of July 2022; the author has announced the series will end with volume 18
• Volumes 17 and 18 had not been released as of late 2026
• The official site reported over 14 million copies in circulation for the series
• A manga adaptation ran in Comp Ace, with a sequel manga, Overlord: New World, from 2024

Music

Two acts define the sound of Overlord: OxT and MYTH & ROID swap opening and ending duties across all four seasons, and OxT also performs the theme of The Sacred Kingdom film, “WHEELER-DEALER”.

Opening Themes

• “Clattanoia”by OxTSeason 1 opening (2015)
• “Go Cry Go”by OxTSeason 2 opening (2018)
• “Voracity”by MYTH & ROIDSeason 3 opening (2018)
• “Hollow Hunger”by OxTSeason 4 opening (2022)

Ending Themes

• “L.L.L.”by MYTH & ROIDSeason 1 ending (2015)
• “Hydra”by MYTH & ROIDSeason 2 ending (2018)
• “Silent Solitude”by OxTSeason 3 ending (2018)
• “No Man's Dawn”by Mayu MaeshimaSeason 4 ending (2022)

Series Timeline

1. 2010

   Kugane Maruyama begins serialising Overlord online.

2. 2012

   Enterbrain publishes the first light novel volume on 30 July.

3. 2015

   The Madhouse TV anime premieres in July; Season 1 runs for 13 episodes.

4. 2017

   Two recap films, The Undead King and The Dark Warrior, retell Season 1 in cinemas.

5. 2018

   Seasons 2 and 3 air back to back across the year, 13 episodes each.

6. 2022

   Season 4 airs from July to September; volume 16 of the novels confirms the series will end at volume 18.

7. 2024

   The film Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom opens in Japan on 20 September, adapting the skipped volumes 12–13.

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