Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom

While this is a good addition to the Overlord series, I'm afraid it falls a bit short of the series. The lack of the guardians and the interplay between them and Ains is completely lacking in the movie, as Ains is going in alone. So many of our favorite characters are either missing or minimized. The battle sequences with Ains are also a bit lack luster, more of a firework's display rather than the epic thought out battles of the past. Also, the running joke of the Hard Sell is funny but may get somewhat annoying as it goes on and on. This film does contain several truly gruesome moments far beyond what the series contains, so expect some splatter. All in all, it is a decent film and Overlord fans should enjoy seeing Ains back in action.

Movie just released a few hours ago, just got home from the theatre having watched this in IMAX and- wow, if you could see the smile on my face.

Yes, being a long-term fan and reader of the novels and a huge fan of the word-building and lore of this series, I had a blast seeing Neia, Shizu and all my favorite characters from these particular volumes brought to life. The sound design and voice-acting was even better than I had hoped for. Each spell cast feelt extremely impactful, and Shizu's lines consistently got a laugh out of me and the rest of the theatre I was in, for example.

However, I REALLY don't think this movie will bring in any new overlord fans. It gives a BRIEF super-condensed run-down of the general concept of the story at the beginning, so someone unfamiliar with the series COULD watch it without consuming anything beforehand, but I imagine that it'd leave them... confused and concerned. Honestly, I don't think they should've even put that in there- this really is a movie only for the people already into the series.

To explain, the movie plays off and delivers a lot of it's fun to viewers through circumstance and character relations in ways new watchers simply wouldn't have the background knowledge and previously-established intrigues in order to recieve said enjoyment, or even be fully-aware of the fun to be had. That all being said, I still have a few criticisms keeping it from a 10/10 even as a avid fan:

A negative aspect of the anime that unfortunately carried over was their habbit of leaving too much on the chopping room floor. Of particular irk was the exclusion of the fight between Ains and Buser, talks between Remedios' help party and Blue Rose, and the throne room scene. These scenes would've helped the pacing and would've likely helped those that didn't read it prior to follow along, plus they are very fun scenes in the novels.

Also, since this movie is the product of two volumes smashed together, it feels really long due to there being a good 'ending point' feeling halfway through, and then it just keeps going. It's for this and the previous reason that I really think they should've just done two movies and made it a two-parter with a cliffhanger. That being said, if it HAD to be both volumes across a 2-hour runtime, they did much better than I imagine most studios would've done with the assignment.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and thought that it was great. There's a lot of enjoyment to be had here, just, I do NOT expect a bunch of positivity for this movie as new-comes wouldn't enjoy it as much, there isn't as much fighting as one would expect, and I can easily see some of those cuts not going over well with the more fervent and hardcore side of the fanbase, but again, if you're a long-term fan like I who's read all the novels but are not so into it you own an Ains body-pillow of your own you'll definitely have lots of fun.

The movie felt very rushed, whoever the director is did not know what important parts are in the story to keep. As someone that read the novel, they cut out way too many important parts there are essential to connecting the new characters to the audiences. This should had been either a 2 part movie or just left it as a season for the TV show.

Skipping the build up of the new religion of the sacred kingdom is also a build choice, since its an important part of the arc and for other events in the overall story in the arc that follows.

If this is not Overlord I would not have given it an 8, because the company's choice to rush this and their bad choice of director has ruined the best arc in the whole of Overlord.

I am a huge Overlord fan, and The Sacred Kingdom is a movie that I very much enjoyed watching. The movie's pacing of the story is quick and leaves out much of the Light Novels original source material, but is still effective in telling the story involving the Sacred Kingdom. The new characters introduced, Neia and Remedios, are both well written characters directly adapted from the Light Novel, and each have their own unique charm and characterization. Ainz himself is also great in the movie, as he always is, and continues to dominate as being the strongest. The visuals and animation used in the movie are also incredible while being accompanied by an amazing soundtrack, effectively capturing the grandeur and spectacle of the fights and setting. One critique I have for the movie is that the fights are way too short, and that I would've loved to have seen more action up close instead of the panned-out camera shots used during the fight scenes. Overall, the movie was very good and was well worth watching twice.

I watched Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom (2024) on theaters last night. The storyline follows the Sacred Kingdom which is attacked by an almighty demon. The kingdom and world quickly comes under the demons rule until undead Sorcerer King Ains Ooal Gown arrives and offers to help the kingdom, but only if they follow his rules...

This picture is directed by Naoyuki Itô, who also directed 45 episodes of the original series, and contains the voices of Kristian Eros (Chainsaw Man), Nasim Benelkour (My Hero Academia: You're Next), Douglas Gill (One Piece) and Sean Letourneau (One Piece).

I'm one of the few people who went into this without watching the series first...but I will definitely watch the series now. The animation and universe is magnificent and really captures the imagination with a nice blend of super natural and fantasy genres. The battle and fight scenes are tremendous and make the movie, and I'm sure the series, and absolutely must watch. There's gore, a wide variety of weapons and cool dismemberment scenes. The storyline has an air of mystery over the picture but comes together well and keeps the audience intrigued. My only complaint would be the anticipated cheesy dialogue at times.

In conclusion, Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom is an elite addition to the anime movie genre that I would strongly recommend. No would score this a 9/10.