Judging by its looks, KonoSuba is one of THOSE fantasy, trapped in a game/world/whatever action anime, which is one of the growing trends these days. However, KonoSuba isn't an show where people are to take it seriously. That itself was evident, after watching its first episode. Following the protagonist, Kazuma who is resurrected and sent to the fantasy world, he's given one task: to defeat the so-called "Devil King". But there's just barely any progression in its plot. All of the episodes just have him and his party completing quests; majority are trivial and a few "compulsary" ones.
So, where's all the fun?
KonoSuba's saving grace is its comedy. Unfortunately, its strength is also its own Achilles' heel. Why? it delivers only about HALF of the time. Let's start off by mentioning a few okay ones: Kazuma's stealing ability. Megumin's single use per day spell. Darkness's masochistic personality. All these are funny, yes, but it quickly gets dull when recycled over and over. Even the best jokes only made me crack a smile. Alas, when the humor fails, well, I just cringe. Living cabbages that attack people!!...HAHAHA...nope. Just stop.
The characters are merely just comedic versions of existing stereotypes, so they aren't special. First off, there's Kazuma. Despite being a shut-in and Otaku he's the most rational, in comparison to his other three members who conveniently, are all females. At least, he isn't a complete beta male. Nonetheless, he's still generic.
The other three members are: Megumin the mage, "Darkness" the crusader, and lastly Aqua, a Goddess whose attitude is identical to that of a spoiled child. Her role in the show is be a constant irritation. Obviously, her whining is supposedly meant for entertainment purposes, for me its nothing but infuriating. Megumin is like-able, but my interests for her just disappeared about halfway in the series. Supporting characters such as Wiz(a gorgeous big-breasted waifu) and Chris had some potential but having only meager amount of screen time, I didn't particularly care that much about them. Wiz is definitely hot, don't get me wrong. But like I said, she needed more screen time for me to actually start caring for her. All in all, most of the characters were simply boring.
KonoSuba's animation by current standards, barely holds up. The backgrounds are great, but animation of characters are so-so. Not the best, not the worst either.
Not much to criticise about the sound aspect; decent voiceacting, okay soundtracks/OP/ED. Although, Aqua's voice would make my ears bleed.
Ultimately, both of KonoSuba's major strengths and weaknesses lie within its own comedy and humor. There's also lack of story progression, so it just ends up as a slice of life/comedy anime. KonoSuba is passable, at best. Not sure if I should recommend this or not, but perhaps to fans of comedy anime with slice of life elements. Despite that, I cannot guarantee they will have an enjoyable experience. Some people can fully appreciate this anime, while others will loathe it.
