u/PitifulAppearance509

Hi,

Let me preface this by saying that I am not talking about which story is more enjoyable to a wider and bigger audience. From what I know, Tensura is a vastly more popular story than Overlord.

But I had a discussion some days ago with a Tensura fan that put Tensura at S-tier writing wise whereas he put Overlord below at a A tier.

Both tell a similar story where the MC was Isekaied, has godlike powers and their subordinates are absolutely loyal. Both are a type of nation building story and both are on their way to dominate the world they are in.

The guy I had the discussion with argued with all the literature awards, how prestigious they apparently are and how great the world building is.

To be fair, I have only watched the anime of Tensura and I enjoyed the first two seasons. However, I couldn't get invested enough and read the LN. Overlord however, did impress me so much that I picked up the LN.

My issue with Tensura is that it's not that deep. The MC, the world, the villains and side characters seem to be kind of superficial. I don't know where all the praise for great writing comes from.

The other thing is, for a nation building story, the geopolitics seem to be kind of weak and other nations aside from tempest are all just generic medieval european cities and are also not that deep. So I don't really see where the great world building is coming from. Overlord has the same kind of cities and kingdoms we see in a typical Isekai world but goes more in depth with every Kingdom the story visits. We discover many aspects of past Isekaied players influencing the world until the main story line.

From what I have heard, Tensura changes later to a shonen style of story with constant power ups and gaining reality warping skills. And the LN suffers from the "show not tell" issue where information is just narrated down and not told in an engaging way from the perspective of a character for example..

So to me, it is a kind of a delusional take to put Tensura above Overlord in terms of writing and world building.

Are these points valid or is the Anime adaption not doing the LN justice? Is there anybody here who has read both and can confirm or deny these arguments? If I couldn't get invested enough from the anime, would reading the LN change my mind?

Tensura is in many aspects very similar to Overlord. Both are building a nation of monsters and both are Overpowered compared to the world they are in. The subordinates are absolutely loyal and they grow to dominta the world they are in.

I had a discussion with a Tensura fan the other day. He put Tensura at S tier writing wise while putting Overlord only at A tier.

His argument consisted mainly of some literature awards Tensura got and how prestigious these awards apparently are and how great the world building is.

I have to admit that I have only watched the anime and I enjoyed at least the first two seasons. However, unlike Overlord, I never found the story to be that interesting and it fails to keep me invested and read the LN.

My main issue with Tensura is that it is overall too light hearted. The protagonist is a goody two shoes and does not really retain his identity from his previous life. I don't remember any actions being influenced by the fact that he was originally from our world in a meaningful way. He becomes friends with every likable and morally good character while the villains lack depth.

Raphael is a very lazy plot device for anything complex. For Ainz everything falls into place even though he is clueless but it's done in a witty comedic way. The opposition is Rimuru gets a Dragonball-like power up and beats the bad guy with a poor build up.

The comedy is weak and as a power fantasy it also fails to scratch the itch for me.

The world building also does not compare to Overlord. To me, it is unimaginable to put Tensura over Overlord in terms of writing.

Is there anybody here that knows both and rates Tensura higher? Why is it good? Or is the anime adaptation just bad? Any arguments on why Tensura is better in your opinion?

Tensura is in some aspects very similar to Overlord. Both are building a nation and both are Overpowered compared to the world they are in.

I had a discussion with a Tensura fan the other day. He put Tensura at S tier writing wise while putting Overlord only at A tier.

His argument consisted mainly of some literature awards Tensura got and how prestigious these awards apparently are and how great the world building is.

I have to admit that I have only watched the anime and I enjoyed at least the first two seasons. However, unlike Overlord, I never found the story to be that interesting and it did not convince me to read the LN.

My main issue with Tensura is that it is overall too light hearted. The protagonist is a goody two shoes and does not really retain his identity from his previous life. He becomes friends with every likable and morally good character while the villains lack depth.

The comedy is weak and as a power fantasy it also fails to scratch the itch for me. Even the harem aspect fails since the protagonist spent most of his time either as a slime ball or as a little girl. The side characters are childish and boring.

The world building also does not compare to Overlord. To me, it is blasphemous to put Tensura over Overlord in terms of writing.

Is there anybody here that likes Tensura and rates is highly? Why is it good? Or is the anime adaptation just bad? Any arguments on why Tensura is better in your opinon?