Generally, I'm content to briefly jot down my thoughts about anime I watch in a nice and tidy comment on my page, however, something about Overlord hit different. I have a LOT to say about Overlord, and it would not fit in a nice and tidy comment...So here I am!

Premise

The idea of an isekai protagonist actually getting stuck within his in game character and having a conflict of interest between the fantasy persona and the real world persona is SO COOL.
Sadly, I feel like this anime doesn't take advantage of this nearly as much as it could. The most we get is a VA change between his internal and external dialogue, the realization that he can deal with violence better as an undead, and a "calming mechanic" that goes into effect when he becomes too emotional. On occasion, it also seems like he has to exert energy to continue role-playing as his character, putting on a show to fit the role of leader to the people around him. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's a very fun aspect of his character. I REALLY WISH THEY DID THIS MORE! Seeing him struggle with this would make him feel so much more relatable. More conflict between the two sides of him in general really would have made his character stronger.

I also thought Ainz's drive to find real human connections again is a great one but doesn’t come up much apart from the times he is sentimental about the past, and the goal to make his name known, which honestly doesn’t seem to be attempted much since he takes on a second undercover persona pretty quickly. There was a reason for it- as he wanted to learn more about the world he is now stuck in without giving away his identity, but it just kept going on and ultimately felt like a bunch of side quests unrelated to his main goal.
There’s so much potential for questioning the authenticity of his relationships with the NPC characters that were once pixels on a screen VS the urge to find real human connection that would’ve been really cool to explore.

The points in these last two paragraphs honestly left me feeling like (apart from the semi-present desire to meet human friends) there was no real reason for this to even be an isekai. If the MC is not strongly motivated or affected by his human past, then why is he not just a sorcerer in a fantasy world full stop? I just really wish the premise was taken advantage of more.

I will say I like the idea of the isekai protagonist already having a ton of experience in the world though. Getting stuck in a game you've maxxed out your level on is an interesting change of pace. There’s some comedic moments where characters are stunned some random guy has that much power (a la one punch man) which is very fun. Especially when it's a smug villain.

Characters

Unfortunatley, most of the characters in Overlord fall into the classic anime pit of being rather one note. There is a lack of strong motivation or goals from all the side characters, at least not any that go further than "I want to kill" or "I want to win a woman's heart" or "I want to serve Ainz." That being said, I wouldn't call the characters totally uninteresting. The floor guardians especially have fun designs and personalities and the fact that they were created by Ainz's friends back in the day adds an interesting layer to them. They're afterimages of his past friendships.

I didn't feel any connection to the NPCs outside of Ainz's subordinates, with the exception of Clementine (who I despised) and Ninya (who I sympathized with). Big spoiler content for both of them here briefly:

On another positive note, a big draw for me was seeing Albedo and Ainz interact. I'm a sucker for obsessive one sided romances and Albedo certainly fills the role of obsessive! They have a really funny dynamic and origin behind said dynamic. Very cute and silly.

Final Thoughts

When everything is said and done, I did enjoy this anime (especially when I think of the potential it has) but I feel like that potential was the main thing that kept me watching and not necessarily what happened in the show.
Here's hoping future seasons take advantage of it more!