Title: Overlord Vol. 12
Author: Kugane Maruyama (Story), Hugin Miyama (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Genre: Shounen, Battle
Publication Date: May 26, 2020
The Story
Volume twelve of Overlord sees Demiurge’s plan in the kingdom take shape. The Blue Roses are forced to interfere when a bug maid shows up. Tia and Gagaran try to take the fight to the bug maid but they are no match for it. That’s when Evileye of the Blue Roses shows up and seems to hold her own against it; however, after a combination attack, Demiu—er… Jaldabaoth shows up and lays waste to both Tia and Gagaran in a single blow. All hope seems to be lost with the famous dark knight Ain—er Momon shows up to even the odds. He chases Jaldabaoth away and summons his partner Nabe.
Together, they travel to the capital where Jaldabaoth has surrounded the city with a fire barrier that is also concealing lesser demons inside. A full-scale invasion is about to begin so Princess Renner instructs Climb to go out and rescue survivors. Brain also tags along for this mission who runs into Shalltear, telling Climb to run as he holds her off. Meanwhile, the demons begin their invasion and that’s when Momon shows up to save the day.
At least we know what Demiurge meant by Gehenna being phase two of the plan but we still don’t know what that plan is. There was talk about stealing an item from the kingdom; however, it’s pretty obvious that it was a ruse. Also, there is talk of the leader of the Blue Roses being able to use resurrection magic which drew Ainz’s curiosity. Still, Princess Renner is up to some sort of scheme that hasn’t had its full light shed on it just yet… but it does involve Climb and her obsession with him.
While all the dots haven’t been connected as of yet, I’m sure they will begin to do so in the next volume as this battle wages on. It’s still interesting and seeing how Ainz is directly involved, I’m sure this plan has something to do with gaining some sort of advantage, alliance, item, power or something of the sort. Ainz’s true goal is to take over the world so he would only involve himself in matters if it provided some sort of gain for him or if he needed to intervene to stop something from ruining his grand scheme.
Characters
I’m not sure we got much in the way of character development here. Nobody seemed any different this volume with the exception of Evileye who just seems like another girl that wants to bear Ainz’s children. In that regard, she doesn’t seem all that different from Albedo… or any of Ainz’s other female cohorts, for that matter.
Outside of her, Brain is still brave, Climb is still naïve and an idiot, the Princess is still two-faced, Ainz is still calculating, and everyone else we’ve come to know hasn’t really changed all that much.
Final Thoughts
Not a bad edition of Overlord. This volume definitely felt like it was still laying the groundwork for bigger things. With the battle heating up, it makes me wonder if we will see the fruits of Demiurge’s plan next time around. In the meantime, this story just kind of felt “there” in the sense that it progressed but felt like it didn’t really go anywhere. The key players have arrived and that’s about all there was to it.
I’m sure things are about to pick up as they typically do after a volume like this so I can’t wait to see everything come together! I know this seems like a shorter-than-usual review but, to be honest, there were 208 pages in this book and there really wasn’t much to talk about.
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**This item was provided for review by Yen Press
