Even the best-written scene can be ruined by subpar animation. There’s no better example of this than one specific moment from season 3 of Overlord. Any Overlord fan will instantly know what we’re talking about: yes, it’s the CGI goats scene.
Episode 12 of the Overlord III adaptation with the telling title “Massacre” starts off tense to set the scene properly. We learn that the Re-Estize Kingdom decided to send over an army against Ainz Ooal Gown in order to subjugate the great sorcerer’s powers. Ainz instantly annihilates thousands of them without breaking a sweat. At this point, the audience is on the edge of their seats, wondering what powerful weapon the Supreme One is about to direct towards the enemy lines. The episode builds masterfully to its climax.
And that’s when we get the goats.
Ainz summons several gigantic, goat-like monsters called Dark Youngs to quickly kill off the rest of the army soldiers. These pitch-black creatures are almost thirty feet tall, with leaking mouths full of giant teeth and tentacled flames growing out of their spines. They are supposed to be so terrifying that they have people on both sides of the conflict flee the battle in fear. Unfortunately, they didn’t appear that scary to the viewer due to awkward CGI effects the studio used in an attempt to add realism to the animation.
The reveal of these Lovecraft-inspired creatures was supposed to be a huge, epic moment in the light novel and turned almost comical when brought to life by the animation studio. The scene did leave the fans speechless, but not in a good way. The bleats that the Dark Youngs give out are supposed to be creepy and unsettling, contrasting their appearance. Instead, they inadvertently add to the hilarity of the scene.
Many viewers also questioned whether it was necessary to use CGI for the Kingdom’s army, as it served no purpose in the scene and only further cheapened the look of the monstrous goats. The blood and gore were predictably edited out as well, even though they could have been the saving grace of the episode.
The animators seemed to learn from their mistake, though, as the rest of the season went by more or less smoothly without any similar mishaps. That being said, we’re sure the infamous goat scene is one of the reasons Season 3 is considered one of, if not the worst, of the series.