‘Overlord’ Season 3 Release Date: ‘Overlord’ Anime Spoilers Based On The Manga, Kugane Maruyama’s Light Novel
The release date for the anime Overlord Season 3 has been confirmed to be in the summer of 2018. Thankfully, studio Madhouse has plenty of source material to work with this time around. Overlord light novel series writer Kugane Maruyama has been quite busy since the summer of 2015 and both his original isekai story and the Overlord manga are currently ahead of the anime adaptation.
When the second season aired, Kugane notably thanked anime fans for their support in the opening episode of Overlord 2 (or Overlord II).
“To all who have supported Overlord, both domestically and internationally, it is because of you that we obtained the chance to produce this second season,” Kugane wrote. “Allow me to offer my deepest gratitude along with this second season to all of you.”
Light novel sales for the Overlord book series received a huge boost due to the anime. Although Madhouse is infamous for not doing second seasons of anime when the Blu-Ray/DVD sales in Japan reached over 12,000 (or $4.4 million for just the first volume sales, not the entire series) it seemed certain the anime would be renewed.
The only disappointment for fans is that the Overlord 2 anime was only a single-cour season rather than a lengthy two-cour season. That meant the finale in Overlord 2 Episode 13 aired on April 3, 2018. Madhouse director Naoyuki Itou was only able to cover the conflict with the lizard man heroes and the kingdom of Re-Estize.
The good news is that Overlord Season 3 (which will be titled Overlord 3 or Overlord III) could happen sooner, rather than later, because of the short season. The first season covered the events of three books and the second season covered volumes 4 through 6 (Episode 12: The Final Battle of the Disturbance was named after a chapter in Volume 6). That means the third season of Overlord is likely to cover the next three books with another single-cour season of 13 episodes since Volume 9 ends with a good stopping point for the anime adaptation.
Overlord Volume 13 Release Date Delayed
The story for the light series is based on the Japanese-language Overlord web novel, which started way back in 2010. Beginning in 2012, Kugane teamed up with illustrator so-bin to publish the story in light novel format. The story of the light novels and the web novel is largely the same, but they began to diverge significantly beginning with Volume 10.
As of this article’s publishing, the light novels released by Japanese publisher Enterbrain are up to Volume 12, but the release date for Overlord Volume 13 is scheduled for April 27, 2018.
During a 2017 interview with the magazine Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, Kugane mentioned his future plans.
“If nothing goes wrong, volume 12 will be released August 2017, and volume 13 in December,” Kugane said. “I thought the [story arc] was going to be long, which is why I split it into two volumes. But the schedule isn’t set in stone, so you’ll have to wait a bit.”
Apparently, something did go wrong, since Overlord Volume 12 came out a month late in Japan on September 30, 2017. It’s also possible Enterbrain decided to delay publishing of the books to coincide with the recap movies’ Blu-Ray/DVD and the second season of the anime. The delay was similar for Overlord Volume 13, which meant that the book’s release date in Japan was pushed back to April of 2018.
Kugane’s comment also allows reasonable speculation on how Madhouse might handle future sequels. If Overlord Season 4 is ever made, it will probably cover the events of four books since stopping with Volume 12 would not be a good stopping point for the anime.
Overlord Manga Compared To The Anime
Starting in late 2014, writer Satoshi Oshio and illustrator Hugin Miyama began serializing the Overlord manga in the monthly magazine Comp Ace. As of March of 2018, the manga is up to Overlord Chapter 36 and eight volumes have been released in the tankobon format.
The ending of the first season of the anime corresponded to Chapter 14 of the manga. That’s when the mind-washed vampire guardian Shalltear Bloodfallen was resurrected after being defeated by Momonga/Ainz Ooal Gown. Overlord 2 Episode 1 actually spent some time reintroducing the world to audiences while manga Chapter 15 jumped straight to Albedo pretending to be a newly-wed wife greeting her husband.
The anime adaptation leaves out some details contained in the books and manga. For example, when Ainz and Albedo discussed the world map the anime skipped mentioning the nation of wyvern riders and a floating castle city. The interaction was also a bit different and the manga made explicitly clear from the beginning that the forces of Nazarick planned on harshly subjugating the lizardmen.
Otherwise, the ending point was the same for Episode 1 and Chapter 15. The pacing of the manga was quicker from there, so chapters 16, 17, and small parts of 19 corresponded to Episode 2. The lizardmen story arc ends with Chapter 27 and the anime concluded that plot by the halfway point of the second season.
Warning: The following paragraph contains minor spoilers for Overlord Season 2.
The story of Volume 5, The Men In The Kingdom book, follows the character Climb, bodyguard of Rana Tieru Sharudorun Rairu Vaiserufu, the teenage Golden Princess of the Re-Estize Kingdom. A returning character is Brain Unglaus, the mercenary who confronted Shalltear and lost to the loli vampire in the anime’s first season. Sebas Tian, the head butler of Nazarick, is sent by Ainz to conduct reconnaissance on the Re-Estize Kingdom and he ends up saving a young woman against his better judgment. The intertwining plots of the three men eventually lead to them confronting an underground criminal organization called Eight Fingers and their elite battle group called the Six Arms.
Unfortunately, the Overlord manga ends before finishing the story events involving Sebas and Demiurge in the Re-Estize Kingdom capital. Based on where Overlord 2 Episode 13 ended, the manga will need several years worth of chapters to catch up to the anime.
Release Schedule For The Overlord English Translation
Yen Press is publishing the Overlord English translation for both the light novels and the manga. The English light novels are up to Overlord Volume 6, with the seventh volume scheduled for release on May 22, 2018, and Volume 8 for September 18, 2018. The English manga adaptation is up to Volume 5, while Volume 6 is scheduled for April 24, 2018, and Volume 7 for July 24, 2018.
There are multiple fan translation projects that cover all of the available light novels up through Volume 12. However, Skythewood announced that they have discontinued the fan English translation due to the Yen Press acquisition and several popular manga sites have taken down their Overlord manga translation.
Overlord OVA Episodes, Recap Movies, And Side Stories
Overlord: The Undead King and Overlord: The Dark Warrior happen to be the titles of the first two volumes in Kugane’s original Overlord light novel series, but they are also the names of the two recap movies released in 2017. The movies had some minor artistic differences from the original anime, but otherwise, they were mostly the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIwuGi1EqY
There are also eight Overlord OVA episodes based on the battle maids the Pure Pure Pleiades. The specials were bundled with the Blu-ray and DVD volumes of the recap movies and featured chibi character animations. There are also five Drama CDs that feature the voice actors from the anime.
For all the book readers out there, Kugane has written multiple side stories and Skythewood provides an English translation for all of them.
- Prologue Part 1
- Prologue Part 2
- Emissary of the King
- Drama of the Three Ladies
- Girl’s Talk
- Pleiades Days
Overlord Season 3 Release Date
The publisher has officially confirmed that the Overlord Season 3 release date is scheduled for July of 2018, although the exact Overlord Season 3 air date has not been announced. This article will be updated once the exact premiere date is known..
“The first season of Overlord started airing in July 2015. The second season starts in January 2018. That makes it 1.5 years between the two seasons. That’s a lot of time. However, in this long time, we were able to make an anime we don’t have to be ashamed of,” Kugane wrote before Overlord 2 aired, according to Manga Tokyo. “On another note… so-bin wanted to do an ending illustration for the episodes like in the first season, but when so-bin said it would all be Crusch, the producer immediately refused. Too bad!”
For Overlord 2 the 13 episodes will be released on three volumes of Blu-Ray discs. The first volume is coming out on April 25, 2018, the second volume is set for May 20, 2018, and the final third volume is scheduled for June 27, 2018.
(This article will be updated with Japanese sales numbers when they become available.)
Overlord Season 3 Spoilers Based On The Light Novel Series
Tread lightly, dear reader, for here be spoilers. With that double warning out of the way, let us proceed. When we last left Ainz Ooal Gown and his (not so) merry band of guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Demiurge had taken on the guise of the Demon Lord Jaldabaoth so Ainz could stage a demonic invasion of the Re-Estize Kingdom’s royal capital city in order to attack the Eight Fingers criminal syndicate.
While that ending was action-packed, Overlord Season 3 will slow things down a bit since volumes 7 and 8 are mostly side stories about the daily life of Ainz and Nazarick. That’s not to say those books lack action completely. A group of workers called the Foresight make the mistake of investigating Nazarick and end up facing the guardians.
Volume 8 sits a bit oddly in the timeline since it takes place in Carne Village before the events of Volume 5. That means the third season of Overlord will have flashback episodes showing how Enri Emmot, wife of Nfirea Bareare and the woman Ainz saved in the first season, became the chieftain of Carne Village.
The Carne Village story gives meaning to the impact of the events in Volume 9, which chronologically takes place months after the second season. It’s necessary to build the character of Enri up since she blows a magical horn given to her by Ainz as a major part of the next story arc. The action will be kicked up a notch at the end of Overlord Season 3 since Volume 9 features total war between nations.
The Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire have an annual war which is about to come to an end. Ainz allies his Sorcerer Kingdom with Emperor Jircniv of the Baharuth Empire in an attempt to give himself cover for Nazarick’s actions in the world, but Ainz’s involvement only escalates the annual war.
When the court of King Ramposa in the Re-Estize Kingdom hears about the Empire allying itself with Nazarick, the nobles dismiss it as a bad joke since the Sorcerer Kingdom declares war over the territory of E-Rantel, the border city between the Empire and the Slane Theocracy. Not heeding the warnings of sword master Gazef Stronoff, the nobles believe the declaration is merely an excuse for the Empire’s annual war and they willingly declare war against Ainz.
However, the Bloody Emperor becomes terrified of Ainz’s power and seeks to form a coalition against Nazarick by uniting with the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy. But Demiurge easily sees through the emperor’s plotting and Ainz seeks to demonstrate to all nations the foolishness of opposing him.
The resulting confrontation quickly develops into a total war between nations on the Katze Plains, a foggy open area where the annual war is held. Meanwhile, Crown Prince Barbro of the Re-Estize is sent with 5,000 soldiers to Carne Village to gather information on the powerful sorcerer. The crown prince resents missing the main battle on the plains and thinks he can quickly recruit Carne Village and return to the war. But when the villagers realize this army is at war with their savior, they resist the soldiers. Out of desperation, Enric blows her second Horn of the Goblin General and summons 5,000 powerful goblins to combat the invasion of the village.
Back on the Katze Plains, Ainz leads Death Knight and Soul Eaters into battle while riding a fiery mount. Ainz calmly launches a super-tier vortex magic spell that decimates 70,000 soldiers in an instant, terrifying all witnesses. The undead sorcerer then used these dead bodies to summon five Dark Young, nightmarish monstrosities composed of drooling maws and ropy black tentacles straight out of a hentai.
“Marvelous. This is a new record. In all of history, I might be the only one who ever managed to call forth five at once. Remarkable. I must give my thanks to everyone who died here today,” Ainz declares in that chilling moment.
Then the real massacre begins. While most in the army either ran or were killed, Gazef stands strong and Ainz requests that the Re-Estize Kingdom leader join Nazarick in return for ending the war. But Gazef declines and instead challenges Ainz to a duel.
The culmination of this epic confrontation would make a great stopping point for Overlord Season 3, but that possibility depends on whether the third season is a single cour or 26 episodes. Creator Kugane has admitted to plans for more largescale warfare in future volumes, but volumes 11 and 12 are literally focused on Ainz being OP (overpowered).
“Building them up to seem strong and then having Ainz defeating them in an instant is kind of a running gag in the series,” Kugane admitted. “It’s funny. And it also serves to show just how much of a gap there is.”
As for the ending of the overall story, Kugane says he has “50 volumes worth” of ideas, but he has “no intention to drag the story on and on.” He is “writing with an end in mind” and believes he will end the light novel series somewhere around Volume 20, which means the story is more than halfway complete. Meanwhile, anime-only fans will just have to wait until the Overlord Season 3 release date for the boning to commence.
