Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Overlord IV: Season Four Blu-ray Movie Review

Overlord IV is an action-adventure fantasy. Created by Kugane Maruyama, Overlord IV features original character designs by so-bin. Overlord IV features animation production by Madhouse (The Ambition of Oda Nobuna, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad). Overlord IV features theme song performances by OxT (opening), Tom-H@ck (opening), and Mayu Maeshima (ending). Executive produced by Asuka Yamazaki (Astra Lost in Space, The Eminence in Shadow), Fumiki Yamazaki (Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest, Infinite Dendrogram), Sanae Tashiro (Bibliophile Princess), Satoshi Kobayashi (Midnight Occult Civil Servants, The Rising of The Shield Hero), and Shō Tanaka (Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp).

Produced by Kazufumi Kikushima (The Eminence in Shadow, Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina), Noritomo Isogai (Aria the Scarlet Ammo AA, Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater), Satoshi Fukao (Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest), Toyokazu Nakahigashi (Midnight Occult Civil Servants, The Rising of The Shield Hero), and Yuki Yoshida (Bibliophile Princess, A Place Further Than the Universe). Overlord IV features voice-performances by Satoshi Hino and Yumi Hara. Fans of action-adventure anime with a grittier aesthetic style than usual may want to check out the series and longtime fans will want to continue the journey.

Ains Ooal Gown (Satoshi Hino) is determined to succeed with his plans. Ains is a leader who wants to be both powerful and elite. Can Ains create a perfect world – one that will fulfill every dream in his head?

Determined to be a great leader and form his own utopia, Ains works on a plan to change kingdoms – bringing them into his own alliance. Along the way, Ains has to deal with his alter-ego Momonga. An easy walk in the park? No.

Ains has a lot of challenges ahead of him – including even making allies in the first place. Most of the opposition don’t play nice with him and a lot of the opponents seem to think he is tough to work with. Despite the constant hurdles facing Ains in his goal to rule the kingdoms, Ains has set forth on his task and is ready for any challenge that comes his way – including the blundering people in his way.

Now that a new challenge has arisen in the Dwarven Kingdom, Ains might finally have a chance to prove himself to others. Can Ains maneuver the epic power dynamics and be the one ruler to rule them all? The quest might not be easy but ego-driven Ains wants to be the ruler to lead the way. Heave, ho!

Ains is not a typical hero and is someone with a rough demeanor that is different from what one might expect for an action-adventure series. The character has to push-forward in order to try and fulfill his plans while dealing with the fact that other kingdoms aren’t so quick to want to work with him as he envisioned. The character certainly looks intimidating and has a grim-reaper aesthetic that is well presented by the character design work by Satoshi Tasaki (Rideback, Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals). The character designer does a solid job showcasing the central design for the main protagonist and his larger-than-life aesthetic quality alongside the supporting characters. Some of the supporting cast of characters have a more grounded aesthetic quality similar to other anime series, which is no surprise to see but interesting as a juxtaposition to the lead character.

The animation is well-done and one of the essential highlights of the production. Overlord IV features art direction by Shigemi Ikeda (Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040) and Yukiko Maruyama (Maria the Virgin Witch, My Hero Academia). The series features chief animation direction by Satoshi Tasaki (The Princess and the Pilot, Rideback) and Taiki Imamura (Chihayafuru 2, Chihayafuru 3). The animation team provides a dark aesthetic quality for the production alongside certain brighter and sunnier dispositions. The animation has a nice contrast of dark- and-light art. Aesthetically pleasing, the animation team did a solid job with the production. A solid job by the animators and the intended aesthetic is well achieved.

The score composed by Shūji Katayama (After School Dice Club, Loner Life in Another World) is one of the key components of the production. The score by Katayama is solid and works well as background music. The score helps to highlight the action beats and the grittier elements of the production, too. Composer Katayama also provides some lighter musical tones for some of the airier elements.

The cinematography by Yoshio Watanabe (The Vampire Dies in No Time, In This Corner of the World) is solid and adds to the production quality. Watanabe is a solid cinematographer and does a good job balancing the visual sensibilities of the series. Overlord IV often has a darker aesthetic quality but sometimes can be a nice mixture of aesthetics and the cinematographer highlights the colorful spectrum of the animation well.

Written by Yukie Sugawara (The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, The Vampire Dies in No Time), Overlord IV is a solid enough anime series for fans of darker action-adventure anime with fantasy elements. For established fans, the series will continue to provide more of the characters and setting that made the series a successful program. The series continues to expand its scope and the fandom will appreciate returning for more.

Directed by Naoyuki Itō (Digimon: Data Squad, One Piece: Strong World Episode 0), Overlord IV might not bring in a ton of new fans or viewers but it will certainly appeal to the core fanbase. Fans of the franchise should certainly consider checking out this part of the series franchise. The target demographic should be pleased with the return to this action-adventure world.

Overlord IV: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Overlord IV is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series has an impressive high-definition presentation. The cinematography is well highlighted on the release. A wonderfully crisp and clean high-definition presentation. The native high-definition visuals are well reproduced and look better than a lower- quality upscale would have provided, so it is nice to see the native HD animation shine on the release. The encode by Crunchyroll capably handles the adventure, too.

One of the key strengths of the Blu-ray disc format is the superior video encoding compared to streaming video services. Streaming video services often offer lower video bit-rates when compared to physical media. For home theater enthusiasts wanting to eek-out the absolute best presentation quality, Blu-ray provides an advantage. It might not always be night-and-day but it does offer an advantage, nonetheless. Enthusiasts can appreciate this about the presentation.

Overlord IV: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The sound direction by Fumiyuki Go (Death March to The Parallel World Rhapsody, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World) is well-preserved. The audio quality is crisp and clear on the release. Dialogue is well-reproduced. The soundstaging is well handled on the release. The English surround sound option does provide a somewhat more robust soundstage with more emphasis on the rear channels while the Japanese language option is a bit more limited by 2.0 audio encoding. Nonetheless, the Japanese language option is an easy choice for fans of the original language versions. The English subtitles are well done and are free from egregious spelling or grammatical errors.

One of the advantages of the physical media format is the superior audio quality. Blu-ray provides lossless audio encoding. Streaming video services only provide lossy (non-lossless) audio encoding. Home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles seeking the absolute best soundstage possible with the superior bit-rates and bit-depth of the format can appreciate these audio quality differences.

Overlord IV: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release comes with a nicely designed o-card slipcover. The slipcover artwork is well-done and offers distinct artwork different from the key artwork highlighted underneath the slipcover. The effect of the two cover-art selections is a "dual art" sensation and it makes the packaging design all the nicer for enthusiasts. Slipcover fans will be especially pleased with the results. The package looks nice both in hand and will look nice on the shelf of collectors.

On disc supplements include:

Animated Shorts (HD, 26:27)

Episode Previews (HD, 7:07)

Web Previews (HD, 7:53)

Trailers (HD, 10:55)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song (HD, 1:32)

Overlord IV: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Overlord IV continues the saga. Fans of the anime franchise will want to continue the journey of the franchise. The series has some compelling production values and is going to appeal to the target fanbase. The Blu-ray release provides a solid high-definition presentation and lossless audio encoding. The release also comes with a nice o-card slipcover. The set also provides some animated shorts in the extras section – adding some nice value to the package overall. Fans of Overlord IV will want to consider a purchase. Recommended.