Overlord S03E03 Review: Enri's Big Adventure

Overlord, Season 3, Episode 3: Enri's Upheaval & Hectic Days

We continue with the Enri/Nfirea/Goblins arc, and it's a fun, light-hearted one which kind of actually makes me fear some sort of darker, downer ending.

Still, for the most part, up until the very end, this episode actually plays off pretty simply. We've got the information dump from Agu, who tells them of the Monument of Ruin, a place surrounded by undead that appeared in the great forest of Tob that caused the Giant and the Serpent to get riled up. Clearly, this is a reference to the fake Tomb of Nazarick that Aura is constructing, isn't it? We also get to see Lupusregina, one of the battle maids, as sort of a cheerful, energetic watchman over this village, popping up in between conversations to ask what's going on. I'm not the biggest fan of Lupusregina's dialogue (although that may be because of translation issues) but her voice actor's exaggerated mannerisms really sell the character's energy for sure. Enri and company make it clear that they don't want to trouble Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, so calling him for help is going to be their last resort... although Nfirea does give the purple potion he brewed last episode to Lupusregina.

We also have a bit role by Britta, which is a recurring character from season 1 I didn't expect to see return -- she's the lady that Momon gives a potion to in E-Rantel, as well as part of the adventuring team that Shalltear wiped out. Apparently she's retired from adventuring (a wise decision, really) and has ended up as one of the residents of the new and improved Carne Village.

We get a hilarious bit as everyone starts to sort of depend more and more on Enri -- the remnants of Agu's tribe, as well as a group of ogres, end up kowtowing to Enri, who is kinda forced to pretend to be this imposing leader of the goblins. "So scary, small boss!", to quote the ogre. And in one of the funniest moments in this series for me, we get Enri bemoaning why someone clearly unprepared with the burdens of leadership finds herself having to pretend to be an all-imposing ruler respected by everyone, cutting to Ainz on his desk going "mm?"

Enri then goes to E-Rantel to sell the herbs and post a request for help on the Adventurer's Guild, but she gets stopped in customs because she carries a super-powerful magical item -- the second goblin-summoning horn, which is apparently worth thousands of gold according to the random customs mage, whereas Ainz had treated it like a disposable fun trinket.

In a contrived coincidence, Momon/Ainz of all people show up and very nearly breaks his cover when he recognizes Enri (Momon isn't supposed to know Enri; Ainz is), and manages to pull strings to let her get into the city without the customs officers bothering her. That's nice! Also nice is the moment in the Adventurer's Guild, where the receptionist basically ignores Enri's poor-villager status, and after Enri takes a brief nap... the receptionist returns, beleaguered and panicked, asking for just the specifics of Enri's request. Poor receptionist lady!

We also get a fun bit when Narberal gets to interact with Enri, and while she initially acts dismissively against yet another "maggot", when Enri compares Narberal as being pretty "like Lupusregina", you can see Narberal suddenly warming up to her while keeping the same stern expression on her face.

Also a heartwarming moment? Enri showing up with new weapons for the goblins, who certainly don't expect this from her.

So it's no real surprise that when Enri returns home to Carne village, the older village chief basically asks her to take over the position of village chief officially, because of all the great things she's done recently, something that the entire village's population apparently supports. Her attempt to ask Big Sister Lupusregina for help ends with her shrugging it off with "eh, make your own decision, I only know 41 people who can't make mistakes." This leaves Enri to go off with Nfirea and the goblins to confirm that, yeah, she's going to take over.

A very fun, heartwarming and light-hearted story... up until the post-credits scene, where we see Lupusregina hovering over the village. Throughout the episode, Lupusregina is constantly portrayed as this supportive big sister style of a character that makes you think that, oh, maybe there are other people who can befriend humans. After all, Cocytus gained respect for the lizardmen, and Sebas made a lot of human friends...

But then Yuri shows up to talk to Lupusregina, and she says, without breaking her cheerful smile, how she is trembling with excitement at the thought of just what expressions the villagers will make if everything burns down and gets destroyed at this great turning point when a leader is born... apparently Lupusregina is an extreme sadist, and shares the rest of Nazarick's NPC's disdain for humanity. I'm curious to see just how badly this will end for poor Enri and her goblin buddies.