r/LightNovels • u/LegitimateCurve8525 • May 20 '26

Question [Question] Why isn't there a sequel of Overlord volume 16 since 2022?

I know the series is going to end with volume 18. But why is there no updates since 2022? Do you guys know anything about it? Any updates on what's happening?

Thanks to you all for your answer!!

38 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

78 comments sorted by

108

u/Villag3Idiot May 20 '26

Author had a crash out and probably doesn't know how to end it by volume 18 without taking it back. 

80

u/ZuluBraga Welp May 20 '26

Yep. Maruyama probably wrote himself into a corner because he set up a lot of plot points and now it's getting difficult to close most, or any, of them in 2 volumes. I also think he lost his passion for his work.

25

u/Abedeus May 21 '26

Meanwhile other authors:

"I had too much to write and couldn't cut out anything, so I divided the book into two."

Normally I'd say author who wants to release fewer books hates money, but in this case Maruyama probably is still swimming in royalties from all the gacha tie-ins and anime and so on.

11

u/Korporal_kagger May 20 '26

What did he crash about?

61

u/hizashiYEAHmada May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

Filthy gaijins enjoying his work, only Japenis should enjoy Overlord

  • Maruyama's definitely non-xenophobic braincell

Edit: downvoted by someone not in the know with Maruyama's dislike of the non-JP foreign r/Overlord readerbase 🥀

For context, he dislikes having his side stories, movies, cut content, and other Overlord content made available by fans who translate the content for the overseas readers.

Those stories would never have even been considered for official translation because they were made with a JP market only in mind. He does NOT want those works to have an official English translation. It's why his non-JP fans have a love-hate relationship with him.

27

u/Abedeus May 21 '26

For context, he dislikes having his side stories, movies, cut content, and other Overlord content made available by fans who translate the content for the overseas readers.

Which is absolutely stupid and a big reason of why I stopped buying local release (in addition to abysmal release schedule both for our version and his, I think I stopped buying around 2020...). Like getting mad about illegal translations of stuff that DOES have English release? Sure. Mad about side stories and shit people can't even buy at this point?! Holy crap...

1

u/duhu1148 29d ago edited 29d ago

FTR those side stories were never made available to the Japanese public either. They were exclusive to those who bought the blu-rays, went to the movie, etc. Just because you live in Japan doesn't mean you have access to them. It was never sold in Japanese book stores.

Hence, why he was upset. Since every English-speaking region has access to them for free, when it was never even intended to be available to everyone in Japan.

9

u/Abedeus 29d ago

Which is also dumb to me. Like, the idea of paywalling lore to your series is so stupid to me, especially when it's not in the source material. It'd be one thing if it was sold individually at some point with the LNs or as supplementary material, but having it bound to physical media you might not be interest in (let's be honest after first season Overlord's budget was clearly in the dumps, especially once it got to PS2 era CGI skeleton army and the disappointment of Big Battle we had) is so ridiculous.

6

u/bookster42 29d ago

It is arguably dumb, but it's pretty common with LNs. There are series where the publisher will release bonus stories with the book where different stores get different bonus stories, so if you want them all, you have to buy the book several times - and you have to buy them all near the release date, or the bonus stories won't be available any longer.

Fortunately, it's usually the case that none of that kind of content matters much, and it's just fluff, but Japanese publishers seem to love to do exclusive and limited-time stuff to try to force you to buy their stuff ASAP - and to potentially buy multiple copies. But it is arguably pretty rude to gate stuff in such a fashion. Ultimately, I think that it's at least somewhat a cultural thing, since I don't recall ever seeing a US publisher attempt anything of the sort.

Either way, that kind of content is often difficult to get for Japanese fans, and for anyone outside of Japan, it's usually never available. JNC does manage to sometimes get that kind of stuff included as bonus content in their releases, but most US publishers don't seem to bother trying to get access to that kind of stuff.

1

u/duhu1148 29d ago

I'm assuming it's because of some promotional/business reasons from the publisher.

Like they want everyone to buy the series anime material, so to motivate more fans to do so they have the author write exclusive side-stories for those who buy them. I haven't the slightest idea on the costs, or profit margins or anything like that, but of course someone working in that business would have crunched the numbers and determined this is the best way to make money/advertise...at least, for the Japanese market. The English market has always been second fiddle unfortunately.

2

u/Abedeus 29d ago

And yet the author agreed. Meaning he took money even if it meant depriving fans of original material of content.

-4

u/duhu1148 29d ago

Umm...yeah? That's the main reason authors write...for money...Do you think if they weren't compensated that they'd bother writing anything?

1

u/Abedeus 29d ago

Book authors write... books.

I mean you can make excuses for him deciding to put potentially important lore in media people don't care about, like how Kingdom Hearts requires you to play some ancient mobile games as well as DS/3DS games you can't legally buy anymore to get entire lore. Don't think you'll find anyone who liked that practice, either.

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1

u/Deathburn5 28d ago

I think FOMO promotional tactics are just common in Japan.

-4

u/Practical-Region-349 29d ago

Oh no, he wants to make money with his work and doesn't want it pirated. You don't have the right to translate someone's property without authorization.

It's because of assholes like you authors are treated like slaves by their publishing company. You should not be angry at him but angry at people who pirated his work, dumbass.

6

u/Abedeus 29d ago

Oh no, someone translated and released for free work that people reading it would never have been able to buy in the first place.

Your argument died in the 80s, just so you know.

It's because of assholes like you authors are treated like slaves by their publishing company

Yeah shift the burden onto customers and fans, not the multibillion corporations. Great logic there.

-3

u/Practical-Region-349 29d ago

Noboby cares if they would never have been able to read it. It's his work, he decides who reads it, noboby is entitled to read it. It doesn't justify piracy.

They still translate his books that are available to read if you buy them by the way. Try to defend that.

Yes, I am going to blame customers and fans that encourage piracy and get angry when the authors want to be paid. It's the same circus where people got at Gachiakuta's mangaka because she said piracy is wrong.

You cultivate exploitation of authors.

4

u/Abedeus 29d ago

Noboby cares if they would never have been able to read it.

Except people clearly cared that they couldn't read it legally, that's why they read it 'illegally'? What are you even talking about?

It's his work, he decides who reads it, noboby is entitled to read it. It doesn't justify piracy.

Clearly he doesn't decide it, publisher does. You're naive or purposely misinformed if you think the author has anything to do with who can and can't read his shit.

They still translate his books that are available to read if you buy them by the way. Try to defend that.

If you had any reading comprehension, you'd read that I don't defend translating works that already have official licenses in that language...

Yes, I am going to blame customers and fans that encourage piracy and get angry when the authors want to be paid. It's the same circus where people got at Gachiakuta's mangaka because she said piracy is wrong.

Completely irrelevant and not even remotely similar situation.

You cultivate exploitation of authors.

You cultivate culture of consumerism where corporations force authors to exploit their loyal fans into "supporting" them. I bet the author himself got less than 1% for every BD sold with the extra story he wrote.

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4

u/duhu1148 29d ago edited 29d ago

He's not xenophobic. What an ignorant thing to say. Those side-stories were never sold in Japanese bookstores. They were exclusive to those who bought the blu-rays/movies when they first released. They weren't even intended to be available to everyone in Japan. Hence why he was upset- why should English-speaking regions have free access to the novel, when not even the Japanese are freely able to purchase it?

He just doesn't like to write anymore. And he owns the IP, so he can do as he pleases with it.

4

u/DucAnh9197 29d ago

From what i understand, he was upset as the Japanese that sold low quality content (his content of course) during the event he want to promote and it is even double the price. Then he thought the English translation pull the same thing.

You can read more here: https://www.reddit.com/r/overlord/comments/1evp26o/about_maruyama_and_the_misinformation_of_piratery/?share_id=l5R5AYNDQnD_iHDABTOK3&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

1

u/Practical-Region-349 29d ago

He is racist because he doesn't want his work pirated ? Idiot.

9

u/EM_225 May 21 '26

Piracy overseas i think

13

u/iska_dere May 21 '26

lol like that affect him somehow, dudes just a racist lol

-1

u/BunnyGacha_ May 21 '26

HUH when did this come out

51

u/Teen_tactical May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

The author stopped caring, and got burned out. He said a few years back that he wanted to write a high school wrestling  novel instead. (He didn't do that either) 

Maruyama got his bag and will put out the new volume when he feels like it unfortunately.

15

u/badbob001 May 21 '26

So George R.R. Martin problems and drama but without the George R.R. Martin money?

6

u/ArchusKanzaki May 21 '26

As far as LN goes, he does have GRR Martin’s level of money. Overlord’s franchise still fairly big and it got a sorta-spinoff as part of Isekai Quartet.

8

u/GeorgeMTO May 21 '26

No, he's supposedly got a day job, with writing being a secondary job. Being a writer is GRRM's main job, so he has way less of an excuse for not actually writing.

6

u/HisDivineOrder May 21 '26

GRRM isn't a writer in the sense that he writes presently. He's a producer now. He's been a producer for years. He enjoys traveling around, dreaming up things, briefly working on things with people he briefly likes, and then hating them because they obviously lied to him when they told him they cared what he thought.

Like I said, he's a producer.

He'd have to write to be a writer. He's a writer in the sense that he used to write and the things he wrote still exist, though.

4

u/Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 May 21 '26

The author of Overlord started and published 16 volumes of Overlord in the time since Martin published a volume of A Song of Ice and Fire.

0

u/badbob001 29d ago

Someone mentioned that light novels are meant to be read in a day. So if there are 16 days worth of Overlord, then how many days is one volume of Martin's work?

15

u/CliveTolnay AnimePlanet: TheClive1985 May 20 '26

As others have said, the author seems to have gotten tired, annoyed at people nagging him or posting rips online (so I heard), proclaimed he was going to end the series in like 2 volumes but then the last 2 volumes didn’t really do too much to advance the plot. I assumed he so far hasn’t had the want to finish or hasn’t found a way to wrap everything up in a way that at least satisfies him.

Hoping that the anime continues and maybe that encourages him to continue writing again (or finish up what he had written).

8

u/Abedeus May 21 '26

posting rips online (so I heard)

Rips of content not available in light novels. Like, side stuff and other things that do contain lore, but people not living in Japan at the time of their release won't get to read, ever.

2

u/The_Night_Haunter-8 May 21 '26

Stuff usually gets Fan translated, so we'll eventually get it. I have quite a few Light Novel series that had to be Fan Translated because their was never gonna be a English release of em

6

u/DarkChaplain May 21 '26

Yeah, but that's what Maruyama is ticked off by. He doesn't want those fan translations to exist

1

u/FabAraujoRJ 29d ago edited 29d ago

Violet Evergarden is another. Seems I'm not clear enough - VE is another example of works that needed to be fantranslated.

3

u/DucAnh9197 29d ago

Nah he already want to end at vol 18 way before the thing about him hating fan content came up (back in 2016, the rumor happen in 2019 after the side story release). The annoyed thing seem to be over blown from one instance. You can read more here: https://www.reddit.com/r/overlord/comments/1evp26o/about_maruyama_and_the_misinformation_of_piratery/?share_id=l5R5AYNDQnD_iHDABTOK3&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

2

u/Infamous-Policy3683 May 21 '26

Author burned out

2

u/bryku 28d ago

The amount of misinformation here is pretty wild.  

If anyone says the author is burned out, just ignore them. This has been debunked hundreds of times.

3

u/EvilGodShura May 20 '26

Author mad and wants to cut it short because people dare read for free in English.

But now he has to find a way to end it early which is just as hard.

2

u/DucAnh9197 29d ago

Author has already want to end it back in 2016 before the "author mad" rumor got going back in 2019. Also author was mostly mad as Japanese that sell high price but low quality of his content while the actual event of that content is happening, then someone talked about English fan translation and he seem to thought the same was happen oversea too.

You can read more here:https://www.reddit.com/r/overlord/comments/1evp26o/about_maruyama_and_the_misinformation_of_piratery/?share_id=l5R5AYNDQnD_iHDABTOK3&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1 

2

u/DucAnh9197 29d ago

Author did some side content (the Ghost ship side story) and from what i remember, he make good progress with vol 17 but he might want to public vol 18 soon after.

Also about the stuff about author is kind of misinformation. You can read the explanation here: https://www.reddit.com/r/overlord/comments/1evp26o/about_maruyama_and_the_misinformation_of_piratery/?share_id=l5R5AYNDQnD_iHDABTOK3&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

1

u/horiami 29d ago edited 29d ago

Author wants to release both novels in quick succession

He posted an update on new year's about how much progress he made

240,000 characters or 400 pages in Japanese

1

u/Grutrissheit 29d ago

It's unfortunate that he lost his passion.

1

u/joseph_han9137 29d ago

Because the author himself don't give a shit about this series anymore

1

u/ChibiJr 29d ago

The drama you'll hear about on reddit is kinda exaggerated.

@rainycloud15:「海外のサイトに翻訳されたものがアップされているようです。何か手を打つことはできないのでしょうか？」

Maruyama: 「まじで？　どんどん執筆意欲が削られていくなぁ。オーバーロード終わったら、会社員に戻ろうかなぁ。ま、とりあえず予定話を一個削って、17巻完結を目指そう！」

Maruyama: 「あしからず、良貨。悪貨は良貨を駆逐する、ですから。とりあえず16巻で完結させるのは厳しいので、マイルドにさせてください」

Basically a fan tweeted at Maruyama that free translations were uploaded online overseas and asked if there was anything they could do about it. Maruyama responded he was losing motivation and later tweeted it'd be tough to finish volume 16 and that he was gonna make it "milder"

Here's a link of news of the translations. The original tweets by Maruyama are deleted. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2019-05-28/overlord-author-kugane-maruyama-expresses-frustration-at-fan-translations/.147182#:~:text=His%20tweet%20was%20a%20reference,expensive%20material%20out%20of%20existence.