What Makes Overlord A Great Adaptation? The Director and Screenwriter Discuss Season 4

The Overlord anime reached new heights in season 4, adapting a highly anticipated story from Kugane Maruyama's light novels. Anime News Network spoke to director Naoyuki Itou and screenwriter Yukie Sugawara about the challenges of adapting Overlord, and why it's a great anime to both newcomers and novel readers alike.

What do you want viewers to take away from the fact that other rulers are concerned about Ains not being a living human? Is Ains going to try to live up (or down) to their expectations?

Naoyuki Itou: Ains' exterior is that of a skeleton; he is a monster called Undead within the lore of this series. To people unfamiliar with him, he appears only as a beast. They cannot imagine him as a being that possesses reason and intelligence. He himself believes that he is no longer human. His form is a reflection of the circumstances in which he came to the world, as well as his tastes. There is also an element of roleplaying involved. That said, I believe that viewers can grasp that he is an extremely human character from his monologues and the way he carries himself. This mismatch of perceptions could be a certain brand of comedy—was my first impression of this series.

The reason I say first impression is because as the story progressed, it started to dawn on him that the world's happiness is linked to how society exists, as seen through his eyes. It also depends on the fickleness of human relationships and how people pursue their own ideals. Given that state of affairs, Ains should be trying to act the part of the ideal superior and head of a household. I see it as my role to present that possibility through this series.

How difficult is it to portray emotion in a character who has one facial expression? What's your approach to working with both animation and voices for that and does season four present any unique challenges on that front?

ITOU: The general premise of Ains is that he's a “cool skeleton.” I thought that if we were sloppy about the way we made him move, he would come out looking like transforming manga panels. It would be somewhat challenging to express how cool he is with that style. I also decided that, given that his appearance is that of his former avatar, he would generally be expressionless.

In Japan, we have traditional theaters such as Noh and Bunraku (puppet theater also called Ningyō jōruri), where the masks (for Noh) or the puppet's faces are blank. In those performances, it's possible to present things in such a way that the faces appear to have expressions by tilting the heads and shining lights from certain angles. Also, I didn't envision using CG, so I thought it would be possible to express emotions through hand-drawn animation, even after taking into account any miscalculations in the drawings. That said, I imagined moving his chin in order to enable comedic expressions.

Also, there was a drama CD before we started work on the anime. Satoshi Hino displayed extreme deftness with his acting and ability to switch between voices. Because of this, I felt that if I could just ask him to keep that up in the anime, I wouldn't need to rely on awkward, cheap tricks.

I doubt that aspect has changed in season 4, but because there are more scenes comparatively where the lines are spoken mentally, there were occasions where I deliberately changed the spoken lines from Satoru Suzuki to Ains in order to maintain the character's identity.

With the addition of more political intrigue in this season, what specific challenges did season four bring? Is there a balance you're striving for or a specific theme you'd like viewers to take notice of?

ITOU: The political nuance has existed since the previous seasons. However, there were many sequences that did not reach their payoff. I suppose that in this season, those elements have come to the surface, so it feels as if there is more political intrigue. In that sense, it was somewhat difficult in the previous seasons to visually portray scenes where the action does not come to a head.

On the other hand, what's distinctive about this season is that the amount of text in the source material was denser than ever. There were a lot of descriptions and conversations in particular, so we arranged the material to prioritize the pacing of each episode. In doing so, we secured the screen time for the conversation sufficient to convey the minimum amount of essential information and the weight of the emotions. With the remaining time, I endeavored to portray as much action as possible, however brief, in a way that doesn't diminish the essence of the source material. This has always been my unfaltering plan since the very first season.

The production is determined one season at a time, so there's no guarantee that all the foreshadowing will get its payoff, but the anime does portray as much foreshadowing as time allows. Because of this, you might discover a new side to this series if you look back on the previous seasons after this one. Perhaps you'll see something new or understand the meaning of a portrayal that you didn't before. We, the members of the production team, hope the anime can give you that kind of perspective, and that it sparks your interest in the original novel.

You've worked on all of the seasons of Overlord to date. Are there any specific challenges to working on it or that season four brings to the table?

Yukie Sugawara: Whenever we take on a new season, the first difficulty is always the sheer volume, I think. When I accepted the request and received a copy of the novels, I wondered how on earth we could fit three thick tomes into one cour. Then, when I actually sat down and read the novels, I found myself thinking all over again how difficult it would be to adapt such extensive material to screen.

Whenever I adapt something, I'm always conscious about conveying the good qualities of the original work. However, that does not mean “put everything into the script as-is.” To give an example, it's like turning a painting into a sculpture and trying to make it so that it gives the same impression to the onlooker.

In this regard, Overlord was extremely challenging to work with, since many of its good qualities come from the fact that it's told as a novel. Every character, especially Ains, has a complex way of thinking about things. Also, the magic and world are depicted with fine detail and are closely related to the story. If I tried to turn those literary strengths into anime, then the show would consist entirely of explanations.

Because of this, I structured the anime's first season around Ains' viewpoint in a simple way and intentionally diluted the novel's appeal. At the same time, I was scrupulous about the actions, items, and the background scenery from the scriptwriting stage. I aimed to satisfy the source material fans by creating visuals that don't misrepresent the original work, even if the explanations are not addressed in the dialogue. I also arranged things so that even people finding out about Overlord for the first time would be able to easily understand the story of the anime through the script itself. This dual structure of pleasing both anime and novel fans became the guiding principle of the Overlord anime's script ever since.

Throughout seasons 2 and 3, the anime shifted from a story told through Ains' viewpoint to a multi-protagonist tale. Ains was getting less screen time, and the number of things the story had to establish was increasing. Given that context, it was a challenge every week representing the scenes viewers wanted to see and the interesting conversations.

I was surprised when we were given the order for the anime's fourth season: skip the Holy Kingdom Arc and adapt volumes 10, 11, and 14. I was also told to adapt volumes 10 and 11 in three episodes apiece. The orders are always challenging, but this time was particularly difficult, so I ended up using four episodes for volume 10. Conversely, I was able to depict the Falling Kingdom Arc in detail in the second half of the season—were you able to enjoy it?

The original light novels for Overlord can be very dense and are filled with world and character details. How do you go about writing a script based on such dense material? Did the length of later novels have any impact on how you wrote for season four?

SUGAWARA: The Overlord anime was my first ever work as a series composition writer. I learned and put shape to many things through the process of creating season 1, and because of that I came to grasp certain things. I asked myself: “What story does it become through this structure? What kind of theme does it have as an anime?”

In other words, I asked, “What is Overlord?” And the answer I came to was “Ains' story.”

What does Ains feel? How does he think and act? Ains is the foundation of Overlord and the source of what makes it interesting. You might think that's an obvious thing to say, but it's surprisingly difficult to convey. It's also the reason I handled nearly all the scripts myself. I felt that I was securing the base of Overlord throughout all the vicissitudes in the anime.

You could say this about pretty much every work of fiction, but there is an unshaking essence to a story's theme and characters that exists regardless of the changes in scenes or dialogue. I learned this through the Overlord anime.

When creating the structure of the fourth season, I decided on the following theme: “A story of choice. What does it mean to be blessed or unfortunate?” Season 4 begins with Ains becoming the Sorcerer King, and it culminates in a decision between Jircniv and Zanac as king. In the course of this epic tale, many people encounter Ains and are compelled to make choices because of the calamities he causes. I thought that season 4 would be interesting if I structured it as a tragicomedy.

What does becoming a king mean for Ains as a character? How do you see his evolution and what do you hope viewers will notice about him in season four?

SUGAWARA: Some might consider this to be a surprise, but Ains hasn't changed at all since his first appearance. Only the environment around him has transformed; his own way of thinking and actions are hardly different. Even after becoming the ruler of Nazarick and the Sorcerer King, he is still just desperately acting a part that others seek from him.

To begin with, what exactly is a king? I think that if you look at Jircniv, Zanac, and Ramposa III, you'll find yourself asking that question. Ains also learns what it means to be a king through them. But I think that what makes Ains interesting is that he cannot become a king in spite of all this.

Why doesn't Ains change? Is it because he is undead? I don't know the reason myself. This is just my personal thinking, but I suppose that as long as the memory of the Yggdrasil casts a golden beacon, Ains will forever remain as he is.

With the addition of more political intrigue in this season, what specific challenges did season four bring? Is there a balance you're striving for or a specific theme you'd like viewers to take notice of?

SUGAWARA: The challenges of adapting a large amount of text hasn't changed, but the act of scriptwriting wasn't particularly difficult. There is the political intrigue, but Overlord has always included extensive explanations, comical scenes, and action. This time, like all the other times, I was conscious on an episode-by-episode basis about maintaining a balance between the eventful and quiet scenes, and the serious and comical scenes. Compared to the original novel, I upped the comic relief and made the quiet scenes more pronounced. However, one of the appeals of this series is that it's got complicated dialogue and lore. Even if the meaning doesn't fully get across to the viewer, it deliberately uses a lot of tricky phrases and terminology.

I deliberately make sure not to lay down all the themes and key points that I want the viewers to clue in on. That said, when writing the script, I do make sure to organize the themes and subjects.

There are all kinds of ways to enjoy this series: for the comedy, the serious political drama, the lovable characters, and the complex lore. At the same time, one could say that I am trusting the viewers to interpret the story how they like. It doesn't matter if you enjoy it casually or read deeply into it. I want the Overlord anime to be enjoyable to everyone on their own terms. Overlord has the power to make people do everything they can.