Review: OVERLORD

The only thing more common these days than manga licenses being spurred by animated adaptations are manga based on light novels.  Today's review allows me to cover both, along with a couple of all-too-common subgenres: the "otaku is transported to fantasy world" and "otaku trapped within a video game."

OVERLORD (Obarodo), adapted from the light novel by Kugane Maruyama & character designs by so-bin, with scenario by Satoshi Oshio and art by Hugin Miyama.  First published in 2014 and first published in North America in 2016.

PLOT:

In the world of virtual reality MMOs, none are more renowned than Yggdrasil.  Sadly, the game's servers are being shut down after 12 years, and only dedicated players like Momonga are still around.  He stays until the very end as tribute to the dungeon he built and the friends he made, but when the timer end, he finds himself transported into the world of the game inside the hulking skeletal avatar he created for himself.  Now Momonga has a new goal: to rebuild his army and find anyone else who might be trapped in the game.