Overlord Manga, Vol. 1

Overlord Manga #1

by Hugin Miyama (Illustrator), Kugane Maruyama, so-bin (Character Design)

What do you do when your favorite game shuts down? Momonga decided to stay logged in right up until the very end. But when the servers go dark, he finds himself transported into the game world--and he's been transformed into his skeletal avatar from the game, awesome magical powers included! But what if he's the villain of his own story?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Fiction, High Fantasy

180 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2015

About the author

MIYAMA Hugin
Name (in native language): 深山フギン

Zodiac: Leo

Blood Type: O

Pixiv: 深山フギン

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the end of service approached for the game YGGDRASIL, the guildmaster was transported to a new world. However, the guildmaster did not come empty handed for they had all the equipment that the entire guild collected, and the former NPCs have come alive. The former guildmaster just became the strongest being in this new world.

That is gist of the beginning of the story of OVERLORD. It's an isekai within a game, but unlike other stories of its ilk (Sword Art Online), the protagonist is not a black-haired teen dual wielding swords, but a salaryman with an evil class alignment.

I like how it subverts the expectations of the isekai genre and makes a niche for itself that has been copied by other stories.

[Phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

ITS AMAZING PLEASE READ!! It is certainly just as good as the anime and it's easier to understand.

[Shae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this completely blind, and I am glad I did. I was able to enjoy this story without any preconceived notions. I plan on picking up the next volume as well!

[Victor The Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This manga centers on a young man who gets transported into the MMORPG🕹he plays as his skeleton-like💀 lich character and slowly begins to embrace it, pixels and all. It’s a good start with its dark fantasy environment and MMORPG elements, but the story and characters could be more better developed. B (75%/Good)

[Andre Engco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This man took video game addiction to a whole other level

[May Freighter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing series!

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those series that I knew, I’d enjoy so I picked up the first 4 volumes and binged them. Whilst I knew it’d be good, I wasn’t expecting it to be so good that I’d buy the rest of the series after reading the 4 I had got.

So now I am the proud owner of the whole Overlord series, not a lot of light novel manga adaptations get enough credit, I think this one really knocks it out of the park.

[Christl Bücher NewsWelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Titel: Overlord
Drehbuch/Manga: Kugane Maruyama / Art Hugin Miyama
Verlag: Carlsen Manga
Sprache: Deutsch
Seiten: 196 Seiten ∞
Reihe: Ja, dies ist Band 1

Im Jahre 2126 wurde ein Spielehighlight veröffentlicht - das Game "Yggdrasil", welches Fans von MMORPGs ganz neue Möglichkeiten zur In-Game-Interaktion zwischen den Spielern ermöglichte. Begeistert erstürmten die Spieler die neue Fantasywelt und mächtige Krieger und Magier erschufen Gilden und Gemeinschaften, um die Geschicke ihrer Server basierenden Onlinewelt zu gestalten. Zwölf Jahre später ist das alles ein alter Hut! Yggdrasil hat kaum noch Spieler und die Server sollen abgeschaltet werden, sodass einige Spieler einer der mächtigsten Gilden mit 41 Mitgliedern zu einem Online-Gildentreffen aufrufen, um die letzten Sekunden ihres Yggdrasil-Lebens gemeinsam zu verbringen. Doch nur noch traurige vier Mitglieder tauchen auf, um den Schwanengesang mitzuerleben, einer von ihnen das Gildenoberhaupt mit dem Alias "Momonga". Nach und nach loggen sich alle bis auf Momonga aus, der wirklich bis zur Serverabschaltung online bleiben will. Der Countdown läuft runter... und... Nichts? Nichts passiert?! Halt!! Doch - die Messaging-Funktionen sind abgeschaltet... der Logout funzt auch nicht mehr!!! Und die ganzen NPCs fangen plötzlich an, mit ihm, dem großen "Momonga", zu interagieren?! Yggdrasil und seine Bewohner wurden zum Leben erweckt... und "Momonga" ist jetzt in dieser Welt gefangen! In einer Welt voller Magie, Ränke und Intrigen und Monstern, die im Spiel eigentlich ziemlich gut zu "farmen" waren und jetzt eine tödliche Gefahr darstellen...


Meine Meinung:
Overlord hat mich angesprochen, im Grunde nur durch ein Wort - "Yggdrasil". Da ich Griechische Mythologie liebe, musste ich den Klappentext lesen. Gut, es hat wenig mit der Mythologie zu tun(rein gar nichts) aber der Klappentext hat mich doch angesprochen, also musste ich diesen Manga probieren.
Der Klappentext war wirklich ziemlich umfangreich, sowie der ganze Manga eigentlich auch ist.
Wirklich gut umgesetzt und hat mir richtig Lust auf den Anime gemacht. Jedoch kann ich euch gleich sagen das im Manga alles viel viel detailreicher erklärt / gemacht ist. Wirklich toll.

Hier gefallen mir auch besonders die verschiedenen Charakteren. Es wird hier wirklich nicht langweilig!

Total super ist auch die Kurzgeschichte am Schluss. "Overlord Special" ! Für Fans des Animes sicherlich ein muss.

Meine Schnellwertung

Zeichnungen

4/5 Masken

Story/Geschichte

4/5 Masken

Aufbau

3/5 Masken

Cover

5/5 Masken

[Toastkat · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I'd seen screenshots of an anime about a tribe of lizard people, and I wanted to read the manga adaptation of the anime these screenshots were from. Come to find out, the lizard tribe is only one chapter of a-whole-nother anime. Okeefine, so I get the first volume of the manga.

Overlord.

Oh-boy-lord. Being a child of the 90's, I was there when the trapped-in-a-video-game trope was written (though a connoisseur might argue this began in the 60's with Tron, but that's a beast of a different color). So coming into Overlord wanting one thing and getting that same-old-same-old trope of loner guy sent to a video game where he's essentially a god, I felt... bored. There was nothing here new, different, or exciting enough to give me hope for my lizard people. I'll stick to screenshots and writing my own story rather than go through this slog again. None of the characters were interesting, and the premise wasn't unique enough to make me want to read on. Next time I have a craving for stuck in a video game, I'll go back to .hack.

[Sheepy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overlord is one of my favourite anime easily!

So picking up the manga was a no brainer, I had been waiting to get a few volumes before finally diving into this amazing isekai and it really doesn't disappoint.

The first volume sets the series up perfectly, the illustrations are immaculate and really makes me enjoy turning each page to see whats next, the characters are all interesting and unique in there own rights so im looking forward to seeing more of them in the coming volumes!

I highly recommend this series in all formats, anime, manga, LN cause its just amazing to me!!!

Onwards to volume 2 😍

[James Bruun · Rating 5 out of 5]

just reread the first volume and all I have to say it was so worth it!!! every turn of the page leads to a new page of excitement and joy. For the ones who haven't given this manga a chance I say go for it. don't let the few pages fool you. the book goes from comedy to action from page to page without spoiling anything I promise the manga is amazing cant wait to reread part two.

[DJay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this a lot more than the manga and the anime. There is a lot of internal dialog that's left out in the other mediums that greatly expand the main character as well as the other characters. Side note, if you're not a fan of some crazily OP main character, you should skip this. I rather enjoyed this LN and I'm currently marching towards trying to finish the series.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yggdrasil, a land in a virtual world of a video game starts that's about to shut down for good, is owned by a powerful wizard named Momonga. Momonga gets on in the final hours of the game closing down, greeting off an acquaintance out of many that had helped him become as powerful as, to figure out that when he tries to log off of the game, he can't. Momonga then realizes that the AI (artificial intelligence) of the game come to life and move on their own in unfamiliar ways that they aren't supposed to. Momonga then realizes it's well past the time of the server shut down and tries to sign off again, realizing that his console doesn't show a log off button anymore. Momonga, being one of the greatest wizards, acts fast and controls the AI as they seem to still be obedient to him still as if they were still in the game. Although the manga is actually very interesting the idea of the story isn't original as the plot does come across like many other animes. Even though the idea may not seem original, the story line of the actual anime catches my attention by grabbing me into the idea of him learning about the world and how he can control the AI that guards the most powerful building in Yggdrasil. Not only does he have to control these AI's but also have to take into consideration that his kingdom may be targeted by others because of just how strong he may be. Not only does it do a good job recovering from an unoriginal beginning, but the main character gives off a vibe of not wanting to harm anyone even though he is a creation of a monster in game and takes into consideration that he is still a human in some type of way.

[Tvrtko Balić · Rating 3 out of 5]

The protagonist is a guy who practically lives in a video game. All his friend have moved on and the game is shutting down, but he is unable to let go of his massive virtual achievements. He then finds himself actually living in the video game as the virtual world around him becomes a reality that he is stuck in for no apparent reason. Now that this world has become a reality, is there a way back and does the protagonist even want to do so? Will it be a dream come true? Or will he realize something important about the world he was previously in? Or will it lose its charm now that it is real? And most importantly, can he live up to the expectations that he has built around his character? Oh, and to make things more interesting, he is in a role of an exaggerated villain.
It's a pretty cool concept and it is decently executed. Looking at my description makes me think maybe I should have given it a star more, but it is only the start of a journey, it is only set up. I liked it, but I should keep on reading to see if there is more to it, if it delivers, how strong of a foundation for serialized storytelling it is, what themes other volumes could play with... Maybe it would have bigger punch if I was a gamer, but I liked it, the second volume as well as the novel are going on my to-read list.

[Sunae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its pretty hard to judge that one, because at the one Hand, it feels oddly disjointed about its Plot, and Supportingcast, at the other Hand it is very focused on its Worldbuilding, and progress of the Maincharakter.

The entire Guild is extremely big, and has a lot of Charakters who ones getting Focus, and a lot of it. developement, and a Goal, just to vanish for a while.
The world is pretty big, and a lot of Races, political Alliances, and Culturs have to be explained, and flashed out, and that might overwelm it.
At the same Time, the main Plot is about discovering this World, and its rules, and rebuilding a new Existence, and Identity in that Place, while finding out what the fu. happened.

The Art is very stale, many Charakterdesigns make it hard to draw them over multible Pannels, and that makes everything a bit stiff. Not unlike its Anime Adaptation.
I havent finished it yet, and I dont even know if the Story finishes whit the Manga, or just ends whit an open Ending resolved in the Visual Novel.
But im not against revisiting it, its a smart story, surprisingly smart in Fact. The low Rating just cames from itselfe beeing a bit overwrlmed whit the things there wanted to do.

[Amarinske · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about someone ending up stuck in an RPG? That sounds fun, especially since this one had some inspiration in Nordic folklore/mythology and some Christian influences too.
Sounds like something I'd want to give a shot.

This had a very slow start. I was on the verge of quitting for the first ~100 pages (which tells you something. Manga volumes usually don't even hit the 200-page mark). The end made it worth it and I feel like I want to read the second volume since I finally got sucked into the world and story when the exposition/info dump of the beginning was over.

Through reading other reviews (I didn't know what to rate this so I wanted to see what other people had to say and such) I discovered there is an anime made from this story. I might see if I can find and watch that instead. I feel like colour and depth (maybe some music/sound effects) would add a lot to the atmosphere and storytelling of this one.

Near the end, as I said, this got interesting and well-paced enough, but I don't know how long feeling to want to progress in this series will remain.

All in all a decent story, especially the end, but nothing really special outside of that.

[Pramit · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things I really liked about this is the ultra realistic way that the protagonist behaves in the world. He doesn't act like a hero, but he doesn't act like a villain. He wants to survive and to do that he has to be careful, even if he's the "overlord", because there might be a bigger fish in the occean. So he makes plans and takes a lot of precautions, most of which are due to not having enough knowledge. As opposed to traditional "genius" steryotypes, he's not omniscent and doesn't pretend to what he's not, he's just a guy trying his level best to live and perform the role he's given. The other characters as well behave as they should, they never have access to information and often act according to wrong information (just like in the real world). Overlord also plays a heavy emphasis on the point of view of characters other than the main character, and it does a lot of world building, in that sense it is very descriptive. Overall, I would highly recommend this series.

[Shekinah Mbwambo · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a gamer, it hurts when your favorite game shuts down. Momonga, a normal teenager who is eager to play his favorite video game one last time, is randomly transported into a new realm where he faces many problems as a leader of the most powerful kingdom in the new world. I enjoyed the humor in this book created from the hilarious yet embarrassing moments Momonga encounters as king. I also admire the efforts Momonga puts into being a great and wise emperor in the new world filled with mysteries. I would absolutely recommend this manga series to those who find adventures, drama, and even video games interesting.

[The Book Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unnamed protagonist-kun stayed logged into his favorite game right up until the servers were shut down, thinking that the game would just stop working. Instead, he finds himself in the body of his grotesque style avatar, Momonga, still leading his guild which is now composed of custom made NPCs that are now alive. Now, Momonga must figure out his new life, powers, environment, everything, and hopefully be able to find other stranded gamers like him.

So far, this is a standard isekai with a small twist (that the protagonist is not a hot/decent looking anime guy). Nothing really big stands out yet, but it's still pretty good. I look forward to reading more.

[Drine Psylook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Je m’attendais à une histoire typique de fantasy, mais pas vraiment. Ça commence par un jeu vidéo. Le héros est particulièrement inintéressant.
L'histoire est un non-sens total. J’ai relu certains passages deux ou trois fois pour comprendre ce qui motivait cette histoire puis vers les trois quart du manga, j’ai abandonné l’idée de comprendre. Ça n’a pas rendu cette lecture moins laborieuse.
Les dessins sont assez sympa dans l’ensemble, mais ça ne sauve pas l’histoire.
J’ai détesté cette lecture et je donnerai pas sa chance au prochain.
https://psylook.kimengumi.fr/2022/10/...

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Transported into the video game that he decided to stay on with until the very last minute, readers are caught up in the video game world of Overlord with it's rambunctious characters, small amounts of fan service, and entertainment for the gamer readers.

This one was a little overactive in the illustrations and because they were black and white I had to spent more time deciphering what action was taking place because it's a lot on the page. More so than others that I can clearly follow the action.

[Jesus Ascencio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó mucho este tomo de manga,el diseño de los personajes me encantó sobretodo el de Ainz y Albedo. Me gusta mucho que en esta adaptación de manga si tenga muchos momentos con dibujos chibi, son muy graciosos. El único problema es que, como adaptación, se salta muchas cosas y se siente que la historia avanza demasiado rápido, quitaron algunas partes que me gustaban mucho. Pero un punto a favor es la información adicional con la que cuenta además de una pequeña historia extra que viene con una ilustración muy buena. Ya quiero ver cómo es el tomo 2.

[Simón · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnífico de principio a fin, tanto la historia como el dibujo; trazo preciso, fuerte y bien definido que nos traslada totalmente junto a los personajes; la miel en los labios. El dibujo final deja con ganas de continuar.

Una vez terminas el tomo, en la parte trasera hay una historieta, no más de cinco o seis páginas: genial.

Continúo diciendo que Albedo es mi personaje favorita >\\\<

Veamos qué nos aguarda en este universo ♪

[Nadine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one had me glued to the first pages. A famous computer game has turned less popular than it used to be and is now about to be turned off, but something goes wrong and the hero is still in the game and things in the game are changing, Non-Player-Characters suddenly getting active and seem to have a life of their own.
But things got a bit too action laden and crazy for my liking pretty soon. The artwork is great, lots of wild action spreads. I will follow the series, just because I already borrowed the next (final?) two parts from the library.

[Arska-täti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yggdrasil, massiivimoninpeli, joka on vetänyt valtavan määrän pelaajia linjoillensa 12 vuoden ajan, on viimein kokemassa pelien pahimman kohtalon; Yggrasil on avoinna viimeistä päivää. Momonga, erään voimakkaimman killan johtaja, on päättänyt pysyä pelissä aina viimeiseen hetkeen asti. Mutta tuona hetkenä kun peliserverien pitäisi sulkeutua, tapahtuukin jotain odottamatonta; Momongan ympärillä oleva pelimaailma herääkin eloon. Yhtenä pelin voimakkaimpana hahmona Momonga alkaa tutkia, millainen tämä uusi "pelimaailma" oikein on ja onko mahdollisesti joku muukin pelaaja jäänyt vangiksi sen sisään.

Hyvinkin viihdyttävää ja kiinnostavaa isekai-fantasiaa pelimaailman höystettynä pelimaailman sisäpiirin vitseillä. Toivottavasti seuraavissa osissa hahmoihin ja tarinaan tulee vielä vähän lisää syvyyttä.

[Lochnyss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent isekai, une patte artistique propre, un classique en son genre. Les non-geeks seront sûrement largués sur l'univers même si je pense que le scénario suffit à lui même

Titre qui rappelle le même thème de jeux vidéos créés dans les années 2000, à ceci près que les minions sont bien humanoïdes et sentients, et les buts du personnage principal bien plus terre à terre que la conquête du monde (il reste un petit coeur humain sous les os de liche ❤️)

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the MMO which was his life ends, the game should turn off. His world should be gone.

But it isn't. Instead, sucked into a world which is familiar and not, Momonga tries to figure out how to find out if anyone else from his world is there.

I found the plot a little confusing on the first volume of this, but the art was interesting. Being locked into a virtual world isn't new, but being one of the bad guys definitely is. I'm curious to see where this goes.

[Nore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly fun read despite a few hints of ecchi here and there. Not gonna lie, I love Albedo's design so much I went hardcore in AFK Arena back in the day grinding out the currency for her without knowing a damn thing about the manga, so........ a little bit biased, maybe!

Nothing groundbreaking or terribly unique so far - classic trapped in a video game isekai. I put more volumes on hold, though!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've come to this manga late (and haven't seen the anime), and I can see why so many people enjoy this series. Although we have seen many trapped-in-a-fantasy-world stories by this point, this one is interesting since it is from the perspective of a guy just trying to figure out how people and the world now work, albeit with tons of power. The first volume also teases the idea of a big rivalry, and I'm a sucker for enemies-to-friends stories.

[Karlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim at Barnes and Nobles a couple days ago. Was intrigued by the synopsis on the back of the book. Was a very quick read, and I really enjoyed it. I will be continuing with this story. The main character made me think of a cross between Yugioh's Summoned Skull but with the face of Skeletor from He-Man!!!!