Starting with the customary lore-hosing and predicated on the usual tumescent brawls and characters declaiming their power moves, Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom is still a bit removed from your average battle anime. The first standalone film adapted from the high-fantasy novel and manga series that kicked off in 2010, it has a quaint courtly dialogue style and, alongside the punch-ups, a penchant for realpolitik intriguing that sets it apart.
Targeted for conquest by sharp-tailored demon Jaldabaoth (voiced by Masayuki Kato), the Sacred Kingdom is in a world of hurt. So its stressy head paladin Remedios Custodio (Hitomi Nabatame), against her instincts, heads for the neighbouring Sorcerer Kingdom to beg its king Ains Ooal Gown (Satoshi Hino) for reinforcements. Distrusting the undead liche wizard – actually an avatar for a player trapped in the online RPG Yggdrasil where all this takes place – she assigns her squire Neia (Yoshino Aoyama) to escort him.
