Is Overlord Season 4 up for renewal? Is Overlord Season 4 up for renewal? Overlord is a Japanese light novel series written by Kugane Maruyama and which is illustrated by so-bin. The novels began serialization on the internet in 2010. Later, the rights of the series were taken over by Enterbrain. The Overlord series has published fourteen volumes until now. The author also made it official that the show would translate into a total of 17 books. As of now, three more volumes are yet to publish.
As all popular light novels go, this one also got its manga adaptation. The manga anthology was created by Satoshi Ōshio, and the artwork was done by Hugin Miyama. The manga began its serialization in Kadokawa Shoten’s manga magazine Comp Ace in November 2014. Just like the novels, the manga audience also received the adaptation with much love. And so, the Overlord series gained its popular position among the renowned mangas of Japan. So, let’s enter the world of the Overlord series and explore the possibilities of Overlord Season 4.
Overlord: The Anime
Just like all the popular mangas, this one also got its anime adaptation soon. The anime television series was made by Madhouse Studios. The production company created three seasons over the course of three years. Each season consisted of 13 episodes. The first season was aired from July 7 to September 29 in 2015.
The series also managed to release two feature films in between the seasons. One was released on February 25, 2017, and the other one rolled out on March 11, 2017. The next two seasons made their debut in a single year. The sequel got its run between January 9 and April 3, 2018. And the third one premiered in the same year on July 10, 2018. The last episode of the Overlord series aired on October 2, 2018. Since then, no animated product of this popular franchise has come out. Fans are eagerly waiting for the release of Overlord Season 4.
Overlord Season 4: What Happened So Far?
The story of Overlord is set in the futuristic world of the year 2126. There exists a Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), which is called YGGDRASIL. This game is unique in its own interface as it allows the user to interact with the game incredibly well. But, the game has been up for twelve years, and now it’s time to shut it down. All the servers are about to be destroyed. In the game world, there is a guild of 41 players that goes by the name of Ainz Ooal Gown.
Of this strongest guild, only four members are still there, while the other 37 have left the game. The guild leader happens to be a skeletal “Overlord” character named Momonga. He is the one who manages all the chores in the headquarters in The Great Tomb of Nazarick. As a farewell bid, Momonga invites the remaining guild members for the last meeting. But, only one of them arrives. And so, a saddened Momonga decides to remain logged in until all the servers are finally destroyed and shut downed.
The Plot Continues!
Everything turns upside down when the time of the final shutdown arrives. Momonga learns that the game has not really vanished. Instead, he finds out that the Great Tomb of Nazarick has been transmitted into a completely different world. Even all his NPCs gaining sentience are transported along with the world. Momonga is then trapped within the game in his existing avatar. This prevents him from performing general tasks like sending a message or even logging out. So, Momonga sets out on a journey to explore the new world he is stuck in. He wishes to find other humans in the world.
And so, he functions under the guild of Ainz Ooal Gown to look for other beings in the virtual world. He tries to send messages to other players but fails to do so. The lead does all this while also ensuring the safety of Nazarick. The story revolves around the psychology of a human within a virtual world. We also get to see how Momonga escapes the reel world of the game.
Overlord: The Source Material
With so many existing anime series of a fictional world, almost all of them use light novels or manga as the source material. The most important thing is to keep an eye on the chronology of the source novels. We need to check is how many light novels the series released and are covered in the story. Here, the story of Overlord has covered half the novel series so far. Right now, the Overlord light novels are still ongoing. And three more novels are yet to be released. So, to say that the animated series will reach a conclusion.
Which Novels Are Covered So Far?
Overlord has been running chronologically with the novel series. For the first three seasons, the show adapted three light novels. And so, Madhouse Studios bought the rights to the first nine-light novels. This means that if the show makers decide to make further episodes, they will continue the series from the tenth book. They may also look for newer plotlines from the later novels if they skip something.
Overlord: Worldwide Collections
The Overlord series did exceptionally well in terms of numbers. The inaugural season of Overlord sold around 12,500 copies of each volume. When the second season was released, it performed weaker than the first one. It just sold 7,000 copies worldwide. And the final edition sold only a small number of around 6,500 copies. This drop-in Blu-ray sale is significant as the platform itself is dying. If we compare the sales with other animes, Overlord is still doing better than most of them. Most series struggle to sell even 2,000 discs.
Talking about the light novel series, the numbers here are even more surprising. In terms of sales, Overlord happens to be the second best-selling light novel per volume. The first one in Japan is the Sword Art Online series. For Overlord, every book sold more than 200,000 copies each. The thirteenth volume sold over 235,000 copies. The last one was the fourteenth volume which sold more than 228,000 copies. You can guess the craze of this series just by sheer numbers.
Gaming And Merch Collection
Most of the revenue of the show is generated from merchandise sales around the globe. Around 30 figures are sold under the name of Overlord. The figures consist of Albedo primarily. Some are Ainz plus one for EvilEye, Narberal, and Shalltear. Officially, Overlord manufactures more than 300 goods for trading purposes. But, it seems like it is a smaller number as compared to other franchises out there. For example, Konosuba Season 3 didn’t even happen yet, but Konosuba sells more than 1100 merch pieces and 105 figures. The first season of Overlord made 40% more merch figures than the second and third seasons.
Gaming is also an arena that is captured by this series. The Overlord mobile game is called Mass For The Dead. The game is only available in the US and Japan over the Google play store. The numbers collected by the game are considerably high this year. The game made more than 700,000 Dollars in Japan in March 2021.
Overlord Season 4: What To Expect?
As mentioned earlier, each season of the Overlord series follows one of the volumes of the light novel. Considering the fact that there are currently 14 volumes of the book, five are yet to be covered in the anime. So, we can easily judge that Overlord season 4 will cover volumes ten, eleven, and twelve. The tenth volume is titled “The Ruler of Conspiracy.” The story here follows Ainz Ooal Gown and his choice of turning his kingdom into a paradise where all races coexist peacefully. Ainz started this action by empowering the Adventurer’s Guild and then moving on to the Empire.
Moreover, the tenth volume also contains the storyline of the rulers of other countries. The other empires are seen constantly working against Ainz Ooal Gown in order to break it down. It seems like the rulers are taken aback by the sudden emergence of a new kingdom. This is the reason they decided to overthrow the Ainz Ooal Gown in the first place.
Story Of The 11th Volume
Coming to the eleventh volume, it is titled “The Craftsman of Dwarf.” In this volume, we see that Ainz is approaching the Dwarf Kingdom to look for the lost rune magic that will help them in the future. He is accompanied by Shalltear Bloodfallen and Aura Bella Fiora on this quest. But, they reach the Dwarf Kingdom only to find out that even that kingdom has it’s own set of troubles. Ainz finds that the Dwarf Kingdom is under attack by a demi-human race called Quagga. And so, they decide to help the people of the kingdom. The Dwarf Runesmiths promises Ainz to help him if he fights the Quagoas for them.
The final twelfth volume continues the story that was left in the eleventh edition. The volume 12 is named “The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom.” In this volume, we meet the ultimate antagonist, the Demon Emperor, Jaldabaoth. Moreover, the demi-humans have succeeded in their conquest to destroy the Great Wall of the Holy Kingdom. For reference, the Great Wall was a pride symbol of the Holy Kingdom, and it was also one of its best defenses. Jaldabaoth is now the supreme commander of all allied forces, and he wants to destroy all the other kingdoms except his. Now it becomes Ainz’s duty to summon the remaining warriors of the Holy Kingdom and fight against the demon emperor to save other realms as well.
Overlord Season 4: Renewal Plans
For now, it is hard to state a confirmed date of release for the fourth season. The Scriptwriter reported that show maker Yukie Sugawara talked about the renewal of the show lately. He said at the 2019 AnimagiC convention that a fourth season is a near dream. Due to the popularity of the series, it is likely the show will continue for a fourth season. Considering the fact that the third season ended on an intriguing cliffhanger, it is likely that the 4th season will be happening soon. Since it has been a long time since the show has been off-air, a trailer or teaser might be on its way anytime soon.
All the makers have not announced officially about the pots and support there will be included in the upcoming third season received mixed reviews from both critics and viewers upon the characters of the show. Hence, it seems likely that the fourth season will focus more on character arcs rather than fight sequences and action.
Overlord Season 4: Release Date
The Overlord season 4 release date has not been announced yet. As mentioned above, in the AnimagiC convention in 2019 that took place in Germany, the novel’s originator Kugane Maruyama and the anime scriptwriter Yukie Sugawara talk about possible releases of their work. When they were asked about the fourth season of Overlord, they only revealed that the show would be happening and nothing more.
Considering the health conditions that the world is in right now, the productions of the show must be suffering just like any other anime work. We are most likely to receive positive news by this year. For the confirmed release date, there is only a wait for now.
What are your thoughts about Overlord season 4? Are you excited to watch the fourth edition? When do you think the show will release? Let us know in the comments section. For more updates on animes, keep an eye on this corner.