Friday, August 26, 2022

[Repost] Ask Ziggy - What's the deal with Ainz's stupid outfit in Volume 10/Season 4

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] Neia: i think maru was literally joking when he put this outfit
[1:07 PM] Neia: or there is some other meaning behind it
[1:07 PM] Neia: @Ziggy『NINE』  do you knwo anything?


There's a few ways to look at it.

Part of it's a gag to explain why Ainz is normally in the same outfits in most of the illustrations(he's uncomfortable in most clothes that aren't selected for their stats). Maruyama lampshades the illustrations and how characters are normally in the same outfits all the time. He does that with Renner when Zanac wonders why she doesn't wear other outfits more often.

This was a significant figure, perhaps the greatest among all the orphanages  in the Kingdom. Despite that, Renner had not sought external support in  running the orphanage’s operations, which were funded entirely through her
privy purse. Although as the Third Princess her allowance did not amount to  much, it did substantially increase once her two older sisters were married off.
It’s certainly not impossible for her to fund the orphanage on her own, but big  cuts in the number of maids tending to her must’ve been made to allow for that.
Now that he thought about it, his sister seemed to only wear one set of  clothes.
The royalty should never do something that’ll make the nobility look down on  them. Zanac felt somewhat irritated but also proud that Renner knew how to spend her funds wisely.
[V14]

Another part is thematic, narrative, and characterization. Where Ainz gets different impressions based on his seasonal outfits (eg Jircniv, Neia,etc) which fits broadly in the narrative motifs of identity, acting, and masks that is prevalent in Overlord. How you want to interpret it is open to personal readings since it's a broader concept. (edited)
[3:14 PM] Ziggy『NINE』: eg: Ainz having no confidence leaves his dressing up to the maids. You can read between the lines here as "Ainz lacks confidence and ends up getting painted/stylized by those around himi into what they think he is and not who he truly is. "

This is the same personality trait behind why the Kingdom ended up getting wiped out since due to their misunderstanding of who Ainz is and what he wants they ended up not interpreting his actions for something else.

So in a broad sense this is a character moment.

Another though is this is also a metaphor for Ainz feeling "dressed up" as the Sorcerer King a role established by a show of force to conquer this area. But he's uncomfortable with it himself and doesnt feel like it suits him. It's commentary basically alluding to Ainz's feelings about being the Sorcerer King.

i think maru was literally joking when he put this outfit
 Well you can see it as a joke about how overly designed MMO outfits can be.
[3:15 PM] Ziggy『NINE』:
If he had no confidence in himself, then all he needed to do was hand the task  to someone else ― like how he had allowed the maid to pick for him.
Ainz was very troubled by the crimson robe she had selected, however. The  red color was so bright that it almost hurt his eyes, and it was further adorned  by many huge button-like gemstones. It might have been acceptable if they were  all the same color, but the many gemstones reflected half a dozen different  colors of light. In addition, the garment was edged with strange characters  embroidered with gold thread.
―Is this really normal clothing? Can it be considered clothing in the normal sense of the word?
He felt like a sandwich-board man illuminated by neon lights. He would never  have picked this clothing of his own accord. Or rather, Ainz began to wonder  why he had ever bought this in the first place. Since he had no recollection of his  guild members forcing it upon him, by process of elimination, he himself must  have obtained it somewhere.
Was it a gift? Did I win it in a lottery or some kind of an event? … Still, well, it can’t  be helped, huh.
Even recalling how he had obtained it would not make the crimson robe  before him vanish.
[V10]


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