Revision – I wanted to tell you that I answered another question on this site: How much does Shalltear love Ainz?
If you click on the title I just mentioned you'll be redirected there. Search for my answer and you'll see another translation example. I also included a link to my Pastebin and Google Docs where I make a long and thorough analysis of Shalltear’s love for Ainz. This includes more translation comparisons as well as lots of quotes from the light novels and side stories, so you should get plenty of the content examples that you wanted.
What's the difference between the Overlord novel and manga? Are they
the same?
If they are not, is the novel illustrated like the manga with visual
presentation?
Overlord is a Japanese light novel series written by Maruyama. A manga adaptation by Satoshi Ōshio began serialization in 2014 and an anime adaptation started running in 2015.
Both the manga and the anime are just adaptations and don’t contain as much detail as the light novels published.
Light novels and manga are quite different types of media. While light novels have some pictures, they're text for the most part and therefore have more in-depth setting descriptions. As you know, manga is basically Japanese comics.
I recommend reading the light novels over the manga as you’ll be able to read it exactly the way the original author wrote it and its quality is superb.
If anyone has a light novel or manga, would it be possible to share
some contents in it by taking a picture and posting it? Thanks.
I tried some searching myself for the information, but I didn't get any clear picture!
If you want to see how they physically look, here you have an unpacking video of the English light novel and another video where the manga is displayed:
About the samples of the "content" itself that you want, I own the light novels so I can transcribe the first 2 pages from volume 1. As I said, I recommend you read the light novels over the manga because of their superior quality. Now that you get to see the full "picture" I’ll also use this chance to answer your translation doubt and show you how the official translation works. I'm including the fan translation as well for reference.
So as to be completely unbiased, I made a super-literal translation without looking at the already existing translations. As far as I am aware there are no Overlord light novel Japanese PDFs, just scans, which means I had to type the Japanese text myself from my physical copy.
It is a bit long, but you can see my literal translation with the word by word breakdown if you go to these links: Pastebin: Overlord. Comparing official and fan translations and Google Docs: Overlord. Comparing official and fan translations. Right now I’m going to show you the first 2 pages from volume 1 with the fan and official translations.
Page 1
少女とそれより幼い少女を前に、全身鎧に身を包んだ者は剣を振りかぶった。
一撃で命を奪うのが慈悲であるとでもいわんばかりに、大きく振り上げられた剣が日差しを反射しギラギラと輝く。
少女は目を閉じた。その下唇を嚙み締めた表情は、決して望んでの姿ではない。ただ、どうしょう もなくてそれを受け入れたに過ぎない。もし少女に何らかの力があったなら、目の前の者に叩きつけ 逃がれただろう。
しかし⸻少女に力は無い。
だからこそ結末は一つしか残されていなかつた。
少女はここで死ぬ。
剣が振り下ろされ⸻
Official translation
Before one girl and another even younger one stood a figure in full plate armor brandishing a sword.
The blade swung, sparkling in the sunlight as if to say that taking their lives in a single stroke would be an act of mercy.
The girl shut her eyes. She didn’t want to be biting her lower lip. She just had no choice but to accept what was about to happen. If she had even a little power, she probably would have been able to shove the figure away and escape…
But she was powerless.
And so there was only one ending.
She would die.
The blade came down—
Fan translation
The knight in full plate armor stood before the girl and her little sister, his sword raised high.
His blade gleamed in the sun, and he poised himself, ready to end their lives in a single merciful stroke.
The girl squeezed her eyes tightly shut and bit her lower lip. She had never asked for this. She had been forced into her present circumstances. If only she had some strength, she might have resisted the enemy in front of her and fled.
However — the girl did not have that strength.
Thus, there could only be one outcome to this situation.
That would be the girl’s death, at this very place. The longsword fell—
Page 2
⸻痛みはいまだ来なかった。
ぐっと固く閉ざしていた瞼を開く。
少女の世界に最初に飛びこんで来たのは、振り下ろしかけて止まっている剣であった。
次に映ったのは剣の持ち主。
騎士はまるで凍りついたように動きを途中で止め、少女の横に注意を向けていた。その完全に無防備な姿は、騎士の内面の
驚きを強く体現していた。
騎士の視線に引きずられるように、少女も同じ方向に顔を向ける。
そして⸻絶望を見た。
そこには闇があった。
薄っぺらな、ただ、どこまで行っても終わりが無さそうな深みある漆黒。それが下半分を切り取った楕円の形で、地面から浮かび上がっていた。神秘的であると同時に、言葉に出来ないような強い不安を感じさせる光景。
扉？
Official translation
…The pain still hadn’t come.
She unscrunched her eyes.
The first thing she saw was the sword, stopped mid-swing.
The next was the figure holding the sword. The knight was practically frozen, looking at something off to her side. His unprotected stance manifested his internal shock.
The girl turned to follow his line of sight…
…and saw despair.
It was darkness.
A patch of raven black, ultrathin but so deep it seemed as if it went on forever. It was an oval rising up out of the ground, its bottom half cut off. It was a curious sight, but at the same time, it made her feel indescribably uneasy.
A door?
Fan translation
And yet there was no pain.
The girl gingerly opened the eyes which had been squeezed shut.
The first thing she saw was the suddenly motionless longsword.
Then, she saw the sword’s owner.
The knight in front of her was frozen in place, his eyes looking somewhere off to the girl’s side. His completely defenseless posture clearly displayed the fear that filled him.
As though drawn by the knight’s gaze, the girl could not help but turn and look in the same direction as him.
And so — the girl gazed upon despair.
What she saw was darkness.
It was an infinitesimally thin, yet unfathomably deep blackness. It was a half-oval of obsidian that seemed to protrude from the earth. It was a mysterious sight that filled the ones watching it with a powerful sense of unease.
Was it a door?
