The following contains spoilers for Episode 1 of Overlord IV, "Sorcerous Nation of Ainz Ooal Gown" now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The long anticipated fourth season of Overlord commences with the main character Ainz Ooal Gown assuming a new wardrobe, and his duties as the ruler of the Sorcerer Kingdom. While not quite ready for the kind of administrative work that it will demand, Ainz is relied upon by his subjects.
However, like always, the overlord's search for his comrades from his time as a player continues as the character struggles with the unending reverence from the NPCs, and the uneven relationships he experiences as a result. While coming in after a long delay, the first episode of the new season leaves much to be desired.
A New Kingdom
As the ruler of the Sorcerer Kingdom, Ainz is highly revered and despite his best efforts, he is yet to find someone that he can relate to as an equal, the way he would with his comrades from the Ainz Ooal Gown guild. His subjects have expectations of their king, and he feels the pressure, particularly because he isn't especially competent when it comes to matters of the law, or running a country.
Despite his status in the world, Ainz feels rather unfit for his role, so he delegates his duties to two of his most powerful underlings; the Floor Guardians Albedo and Demiurge. Together, Albedo and Ainz go through various anonymous proposals for laws and policies that should come into effect in the new kingdom, giving the series an excuse to show us the familiar dynamic between Albedo and Ainz. The episode takes on a very light tone for the most part, and aims for a lot of comedic value very early on; however, much of this is hit-and-miss.
The First Order
Albedo reveals that the merchant city of E-Rantel is experiencing a continuous drop of goods in circulation, owed to the lack of merchant thoroughfare in the city since Ainz's takeover. Albedo and Demiurge have already initiated a plan to remedy the situation, but Albedo needs to go to Re-Estize Kingdom to sort out a few matters. This leaves Pandora's Actor, Ainz's body double, to take care of affairs while Albedo is absent.
Ainz goes over to see Pandora's Actor, and is quickly reminded of the NPCs quirkiness, but disappointed that he hasn't quite developed consciousness in the ways that he'd hoped. Ainz seeks someone with whom he can interact as an equal, but everyone around him treats him with a special reverence not unrelated to their programming; which is something for which he is directly responsible. Ainz tells Pandora's Actor that he sees him as one of his children, and hopes that he and the others will develop their own desires, quirks and personalities beyond what is prescribed to them.
As Adventurers Should Be
Ainz visits the Guild of Adventurers, where he is surprised to discover that there has not been a steady flow of new job requests since the establishment of the Sorcerer Kingdom. This is due to the fact that adventurers, a faction whose main functions had been mostly protection and escort work, have been rendered obsolete in the region due to Ainz's powerful forces. Saddened by the developments, Ainz arranges to meet with the elderly former leader of the adventurer's guild with the intention of creating a new partnership between the Sorcerer Kingdom and the Guild of Adventurers.
The elderly leader of the Adventurers seems taken aback at Ainz's proclamation of wanting to create the ideal kingdom that protects the rights of beings of various races – not just humans. After Ainz explains his desire to bring the Adventurers to a greatness beyond anything they have ever experienced, he receives the promise of loyalty; however, his role as the ruler hasn't even truly begun, and there will be many more problems for Ainz and his loyal band of supporters to overcome.
Lukewarm Ruler
While the series' return was greatly anticipated by fans, the first episode of the new season of Overlord leaves much to be desired, and has barely begun laying the groundwork it would need to live up to the immense expectations. At this point, Ainz's journey to find others like himself continues, but also seems to have reached a point of stagnation.
While an appearance change for the overlord was welcomed, it ended up being one of the most notable achievements of the first episode of Overlord IV, which spent a fair amount of time attempting to elicit comedy from the jealous interactions that occur between loyal supporters and minions of Ainz, who constantly vy for his favour and attention. While familiar, something about Overlord IV feels stale, but perhaps time is what the new season needs to build into something interesting.