Overlord S01E13 Review: PvP

Overlord, Season 1, Episode 13: PVN

Definitely a fun bit as Ainz talks about just how Shalltear has never played PvP, and apparently PvP in Yggdrassil includes some really bizarre mind games. Among Ainz's false information from the previous episode includes Ainz pretending to take damage from fire while resisting holy damage; Ainz knowing all about Shalltear's skills; as well as apparently casting a skill called "False Data: Life" to fool with Shalltear's perceptions, and basically goad Shalltear into using all of her powerful skills in order to finish the battle quickly (and presumably use up all her spell slots, to borrow a D&D terminology). Oh, and if the world-tier mind control happens to be nullified when her first resurrection skill kicks in, so much the better.

And then suddenly Ainz is clad in full regal armour, which the peanuts gallery in Nazarick is amazed that not only is a sorcerer like Ainz able to wear armour... the armour is Lord Touch Me's personal armour, something that Ainz is able to wear with the class-changing skill Perfect Wariror, allowing him to fight without the mana points he's supposedly spent.

(Also, who names their video game character "Touch Me"? Jeez)

And then Ainz breaks one of those wooden sticks and instantly summons a powerful weapon belonging to another member of the Supreme Beings, and Ainz gives a pretty badass boast that he's representing all 41 Supreme Beings because he is the guild. "There is a reason they chose me as leader!" is a pretty damn badass line from Ainz, too, and he then quickly cycles through the different sticks, summoning a bunch of other weapons including a pair of daggers, a gigantic glove, and finally Peroroncino's own Houyi Bow, which pisses Shalltear off. Oh, an Ainz's little watch voices an alarm, which tells him that "time's up".

Apparently these weapon-changing sticks are "cash shop items", which... okay, apparently Yggdrasil was an instantly pay-to-win game. Also, did Ainz just have a lot of these lying around? That's the only real reason because how else would've he accessed the shop in this new world? The peanuts gallery declare that Ainz is a genius for using cash shop items... okay, no. But the subsequent observation that Ainz has the advantage by forcing Shalltear to charge in on all the offensive and get into the range of the powerful melee weapon is okay, I guess. Still, Ainz doesn't defeat Shalltear with the magic items, but instead notes that the timer was just counting his cooldown, and all he has been planning to do is to just chip away Shalltear's health that another super tier magic can take her out.

And as Ainz unleashes Fallen Down again, we briefly see a fleshy, creepy eye on Shalltear's shoulder, which... okay, so the world item mind-ccontrol is some sort of a parasite? Whatever the case, Shalltear is completely obliterated.

And then we cut back to the resurrection, because, well, whether it's a video game or a D&D campaign, all fantasy settings have resurrection mechanics. With everyone assembled, Ainz unleashes the spell that consumes some 500 million gold (well, it's not like the currency is worth anything in this New World), and Shalltear is back, naked and amnesiac. Of course she is. The mystery on just the true nature of whoever took control of her is still there, and as Shalltear tries to cover up her actual smaller breasts by going "oh no, my breasts are gone!" all the other Floor Guardians end up getting pretty angry at her for turning that dramatic moment into a joke. We get an actually neat bit as Ainz sits down on the stairs, and briefly sees his old guildmates within these NPC's (which he views as his 'children', apparently)... and in a pretty touching bit, Albedo offers her hand to Ainz. D'aww.

And then it's back to business, as we get a montage of scenes as Ainz resolves to stop dicking around since there is now proof that there are people in this New World that can threaten Nazarick. Albedo has discovered a lake with lizardmen with which Ainz plans to use to bolster his undead army, while Ainz makes up a bullshit story that Momon's magic-sealing crystal unleashes a large amount of magic that tore up the area while he was totally slaying the vampire, earning him the adamantine rank.

Sebas and Solution has apparently taken up residence in Re-Estize's capital as 'bait', while Nferia and his grandmother moves to an increasingly militant Carne village where they are greeted by one of the battle maids, Lupus Regina Beta. So Ainz is just moving his people to infiltrate all of these places, apparently? Ainz also orders the activation of "Gargantua" and "Victim", apparently two other Floor Guardians that we haven't seen.


And while the final shot of the season is appropriately Ainz walking towards the screen, we have a couple of other interesting teasers. The first is Gazef Stronoff, the knight, finding the broken Brain Unglauss in some random alley, which... okay, I certainly didn't expect Brain to be relevant. More interestingly is the Slane Theocracy, where the higher ups discuss that apparently a good chunk of their forces, including the Lady Kaire who wielded the world item that hypnotized Shalltear, were wiped out by the vampire. Oh, and Nigun is "missing in action", after his pitiful defeat at Ainz's hands in episode 4. Their recovery of the Crown of Wisdom has also failed, with the Slane Theocracy not realizing the item was destroyed. They're basically making it a point to be wary of not the vampire, but also the creature that defeated the vampire. So these are our Big Bads for the next season, then? Maybe? Slane definitely has a Yggdrasil player working for them, right?

Overall, it's definitely a bit of an interesting way to end the first season. And while the battle with Shalltear is pretty epic, a battle between two of the overpowered god-like beings from another world instead of the constant curb-stomps that Team Ainz has been delivering to everyone, basically all three main arcs in this season ended up just seemingly being distractions without dealing with the mystery of  other Yggdrasil players or Ainz himself revealing himself to the world proper, which I think is definitely the right move. Properly establishing the characters that we're supposed to be invested with (as well as the workings of the world) is definitely the right move before we go and go all in on the huge conspiracies and characters. I'm definitely hooked, and you can expect me to go through Overlord seasons 2 and 3 in quick succession.