“Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!”, or, as it is primarily known in English-speaking countries, “KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!” is yet another seasonal “LN-about-video-game-world” adaptation. Instead of being gritty and edgy (looking at you, Grimgar) or focusing on overly-the-top OP characters (SAO, Mondaiji), it is a nice and light-hearted comedy about a guy trapped in a fantasy world and his friends and their adventure. If you think that it isn’t original, I won’t say anything: it is definitely not something unique.
Why is it bad? It uses the trapped-in-MMO formula again. Why is it good? It uses the trapped-in-MMO formula again. However, if after reading these words you decide to leave, I’ll recommend you to stay: KonoSuba is a nice show to spend a couple of evenings on, and for a variety of reasons.
Let’s start with the storyline of the show, shall we? Our protagonist dies in a completely stupid way and gets reborn in a MMO-like world, where he should defeat an almighty Devil King and become a hero. So cliché. Our hero meets several girls during his adventure and forms a party to farm those mobs and gold. The story isn't the most important part of the show though, but jokes are. They are constantly poking fun of MMORPG tropes (grind, useless skills) and are genuinely funny for experienced players. Even if you aren’t a huge fan of MMOs, you’ll find the humor nice anyway, so don’t worry about it.
The problem with this anime is that it falls into the same pit where other comedies tend to fall to as well: jokes stop being as fun as they were before. After episode 4 or 5 they aren’t that hilarious anymore. They reach the peak of fun right in the middle of the show, but then they become not worse, but… dryer, I guess? Can’t say that is a good thing, but it isn’t really bad, to be honest, since KonoSuba still manages to remain good over the whole course.
And what saves the show and makes it actually good are the characters. The characters are the catalyst of enjoyment in this show, and are the thing that differs KonoSuba from other game-like adaptations with generic af heroes. They have nice designs, which is important in this kind of anime, they are well done overall and, of course, they are genuinely fun. A brainless goddess, an EKUSUPLOSIONNNNNN archwizard, a masochistic knight, a succubi, your average otaku with a little bit cynical look at life and many more adventurers on their way. While being cliché, they have great interactions between themselves, which are truly fun to watch, and this is great. Chemistry between characters is one of the most important things in adventure anime series, and I’m glad to see that KonoSuba succeeded in this category.
“Another nice aspect of this show is its art. I refuse to believe, but DEEN actually have made a really good-looking show. No jokes. They have finally found a way to make really beautiful anime series” – that’s what I wrote in my preview about the art in KonoSuba. Unfortunately, I’m taking my words back. While the first half of the show is pretty good in terms of art, the second gives us our missed DEEN quality back. The character designs are nice, the graphics itself are not nextgen, but actually beautiful and nice, and that applies to both halves of the show. Animation is crisp and tasty… until episode 6-7 where the lack of budget clearly shows with screwed faces, badly drawn animations and more. Sound, though, isn't anything to write home about: it doesn't stick out, yet it isn't bad, and OP is pretty decent.
But lack of good art doesn’t necessarily make KonoSuba bad. It is a nice show to watch, to be honest, which actually tries to bring something new into videogame-LN-adaptations genre and succeeds. KonoSuba is one of the main contenders for comedy of the season or even AOTS. You like MMOs? Watch KonoSuba. You like SAO-like shows? Watch KonoSuba. You want to have a good time? Watch KonoSuba.
You won’t regret it.
