English Dub Review: Overlord “Enri’s Upheaval and Hectic Days”

Enri tries her best to hold it all together.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Enri and the goblins return to the village and find Lupusregna waiting for them, and soon after Nfirea and Breta. The goblin boy rescued in the forest delivers an ill portent about how the Giant Snake of the East and The Demon King of the West are preparing for a war on “the ruler of the undead.” Doubtless, they seek to attack Ainz Ooal Gown.

Enri and friends decide to prepare for the possibility of war at their walls by getting in touch with the Adventurer’s Guild. Nfirea also gives Lupusregna a prototype of the red potions he’s trying to make to show to Lord Ainz.

That night, Enri is informed that five ogres wish to join Carne Village. Enri earns their loyalty and impresses the village with her strong leadership. The next day, Enri heads into town to contact The Adventurer’s guild but finds numerous obstacles on the way.

When she returns, she brings gifts and good tidings for the rest of the town, who decides to elect her as the village chief, despite her age and lack of experience. Enri is shy at receiving such power, but proud to bear it, and looks to the future to see what’s next for Carne Village.

Our Take:

We have ourselves a happy little time this week on Overlord. Eri’s struggle to fill the shoes of the village chief continues, while the rest of the story focuses on just how nice it is to be in Carne Village. It’s quaint and non-threatening, but not terribly interesting either.

As the story of Overlord continues to grow and expand, its ever-increasing cast of characters is certainly not an easy thing to grapple with and do justice to. Sometimes, it feels like previously important or seemingly important characters are just bit players there to deliver a line or two before disappearing. I imagine this is because Overlord in its first iteration is a series of light novels, where screen time isn’t nearly as precious. Yet, it does feel like Overlord has a problem with moving forward without buckling under its own weight. With all that being said, there is some due diligence to try and give time to most of the cast. The return to Carne Village this season is a sign of that.

Its cool to see Carne Village evolve as something of a medieval utopia, where goblin, ogre, human and I guess whoever else can all get along. It embodies the kind of “Meta-fantasy” setting that Overlord lives and breathes on. The village itself feels like a character, and as it continues to grow, so does the plot of the larger story. Though, Enri isn’t terribly interesting to follow. She’s far too demure to keep the plot moving or hold a fast pace in the episode, but I did find her escapade in the city to be pretty funny, mostly because of the eccentric silliness she encounters around her.

This episode just feels very small, like there wasn’t a whole lot of story be told and the rest was just padded out to meet a 22 minute run time. Everything is just too pleasant, too comfy and positive. Without the focal point of Momonga or the rest of The Tomb of Nazarick, things are just kind of floating right now, without much of importance going on. But it seems like interesting things are on the horizon; it seems like Carne Village is going to be embroiled in a war much larger than its sleepy self. Perhaps the significance of this episode will be revealed in the long run; it might be the emotional foundation to the conflict later.