Originally published on The Fandom Post

What They Say:
“Enri’s Upheaval and Hectic Days”

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Carne Village’s story continues as Enri learns who the Giant of the East and the Demon Snake of the West, the two creatures whose forces were pursuing Agu, actually are. It turns out they’re two of the three powers in the forest, with the third being the Wise King of the Forest AKA Hamuske. With Hamuske gone thanks to having joined Ainz, the balance of power was upset and the two formed an alliance to combat the ruler of the Monument of Ruin, which is almost certainly their name for Nazarick. Since the two of them are still attempting to capture more goblins for use as foot soldiers, Carne village is likely to be their next target. With that in mind, Enri heads to the city to gather weapons, attempt to hire adventurers, and sell the medicine produced at Carne Village.

This episode follows the same trend as last week’s, devoting its entire focus to Enri and the inhabitants of Carne Village. Ainz (disguised as Momon) makes a brief appearance to use his influence to help Enri get out of a bind with the city guards, but the bulk of the episode is spent on Enri. The interactions between Enri, the villagers, and the goblins continue to be solidly executed, especially as the show looks at why the goblins are so devoted to her. The reveal that it’s because she’s kind to them and treats them as people is a cliché, but still works pretty well. Their general banter, especially when Enri’s involved, is charming enough to keep a slower episode like this entertaining.

Enri is also forced to make a decision when the village chief asks her to take over his position. Enri’s struggle over whether she’d be up for the job does a lot to help flesh her out. Her worries are the same doubts that anyone would have in her position: that she would be good enough, or make mistakes and harm the village. After her friends encourage her to do so, she ultimately does and accepts that nobody’s perfect. It’s a nice little subplot, only hampered slightly by the fact that we never got to see her grow into her role. We see everyone in the village look to her as a leader and her doing her best to fill that role, but we don’t actually know why they treat her that way. Enri’s a good person who does the best she can, but nothing about her screams “leader.” Without a solid reason for everyone looking to her, the whole thing feels a bit hollow compared to what it could’ve been. It’s still reasonably compelling, just not great.

Unfortunately, this episode continues to fall prey to the same problem I discussed last week. Overlord just isn’t able to maintain much investment in secondary characters like this when we know Ainz and his floor guardians are eventually going to get involved and pretty much take over the show again. That, combined with the fact that we haven’t seen most of these characters since season one, makes the arc so far feel like filler, even though it’s adapted from one of the novels.

Even so, having a clearer connection to Nazarick at the start helps this arc feel less out of place than the lizardmen arc. Lupusregina, one of the Pleiades Battle Maids, visits Carne Village several times throughout the episode. She’s pretty much instantly likable, joking around with Enri and generally seeming like a friendly and fun person. Of course, this is Overlord so that doesn’t last. In the episode’s best scene, we learn that she’s actually just as sadistic as you’d expect from one of Ainz’s subordinates. As it turns out, she wants to see the village burn so she can watch the expressions on the villager’s faces as their chance for a new life is destroyed. Thanks to Overlord’s trademark facial expressions and great acting from Mikako Kotmatsu, this brief scene at the end captures the same sadistic entertainment as Overlord’s best moments. Here’s hoping for more Lupis next week!

In Summary:

With all the pieces in place, it looks like we’ll be seeing the climax of this arc sooner than expected. While Enri’s content is good, it’s nothing compared to when Overlord focuses on Lupisregina and the other inhabitants of Nazarick. As is, this arc is shaping up to be a bit better than the lizardmen arc, although still a step down from Overlord’s best. Hopefully we’ll be returning to the main story soon enough.

Grade: B