Summary:
Konosuba is a delightfully funny and entertaining anime that works on multiple levels. Its comedy often hit’s the bullseye repeatedly with its punchlines, the characters are all loveable and cute because of how lame they all are and it parodies mostly other anime like SAO, Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (seriously, what’s with some anime and their overly long names? IWPUGD is not a good acronym) and Log Horizon cleverly and subtly (for the most part). It very much feels like the beginning of a Dungeons and Dragons or any other tabletop/video game RPG and embraces/uses it really well. There are some issues, mainly with the occasional hiccup in pacing and a surprisingly short episode length at 10. However, if what you are looking for is an enjoyably silly and hilarious anime, this is a great pick. Overall: 8/10.
Background:
Admittedly, I haven’t been keeping much up to date with recent animes this or previous seasons. The last time I was caught up to speed was last year while watching Your Lie in April (DEFINITELY reviewing that one sometime). I have mostly been playing catch-up with series I haven’t watched and should have and been busy with life in general. I saw a video on this series that explained why this show was great and I was immediately intrigued. So here are my findings after watching all 10 episodes.
Plot/Story:
From the first few minutes of the first episode, this plot would look standard and even a little dull if this was a high school anime. But it quickly turns everything on its head by showing scenes which in other more dramatic anime would be seen as emotionally stimulating or depressing. Instead, it frames it in a much more pathetic way and is even amusement for someone else who’s supposed to be empathetic. This completely caught me off guard and had me laughing the entire time. More often than not, the story defies my expectations and pre-conceived notions of what happens in an anime like this. This made the story much more enjoyable and unpredictable, having several scenes that made me laugh hard (I would say which ones… but any audience member should go in not knowing much). One last thing I will mention is that while most of the anime is goofy shenanigans, there is an episode which surprisingly got emotionally heavy. Not surprisingly, it quickly turned to a more humourous tone but having that scene in made me (along with our sarcastic main lead) that I cared more about these people then I initially thought. It was a really well done scene and one I hope comes back a little more often for the planned second season (whenever that comes out… please come out).
Overall, the story and are much more representative what happens initially in RPG’s or adventures and makes it enjoyably silly. The most mundane and boring tasks become, fun, energetic and humourous as these characters bumble around and try to make themselves useful in a town of essentially useless people (but in a good way). Overall: 8/10.
Characters (this is long and kinda spoiler-ish since I go into depth about each main characters trait):
I will be frank, the characters in this anime are the best part of Konosuba. Let’s first start with the main character:
Kazuma! Kazuma! (Yes, he is Kazuma): Our sarcastic and rather cynical main character is not a particularly new character trope. It has been done before and despite that, the framing makes this more relatable and the audience helps sympathise with him. For one, he isn’t amazingly overpowered and mostly gets by on pure luck. He also deals with bumbling imbeciles for party members on a daily basis and has to be patient and endure the ridiculous scenarios he’s constantly dragged into. Honestly, I am grateful (and ecstatic) that his characters was much more of a Kyon then a Kirito. I also loved how he seem so annoyed by the often gorgeous and beautiful women he encounters and steps far away from the generic nice guy MC (main character) in a harem who just so happens to be a chick magnet. Deep down, I also get a sense he really cares for these people. He just has to shake his head and sometimes his head on the desk.
Aqua: The incredibly obnoxious and kinda overpowered main heroine is someone who could easily be grating and annoying. Oddly enough, I found her charming and endearing. She has a lot of sass but also gets fairly attached to these people. She is often a great source of comedy, being uber-powerful but ends up using those skills on cheap party tricks to entertain guild members. Unlike others, I never found her that irritating or overbearing.
Megumin: Most people say she is best girl (or simply the best character in the anime) and… I both agree and slightly disagree. Megumin is an explosion loving wizard whose sole focus is just on blowing stuff up… and then passing out soon after from exhaustion. She is very powerful in incredibly small doses. She also seems to be a case of eighth grade syndrome (AKA: Hardcore larping) and is generally an adorable/loveable character. She tries her hardest and never gives up, which is a very admirable trait. I really do like her character as she reminds me of someone like Rikka from Chuunibyou.. but I might have a VERY slight preference to Aqua (for whatever reason…). Regardless, she is a great and loveable character amongst our tiny party of silly characters.
Lalatina (the masochistic paladin): This might be my least favourite of the four, but I still really like her. Her biggest attribute is that she is incredibly masochistic in a weird fetish way. She is also the tank of the group and is seen taking multiple hits for our party. She is also the Lawful Good typical Paladin-esque character, having a stronger sense of morality then most of our fellow main characters. She sadly does get a bit shafted in terms of development but a sad past was hinted in the final episodes, so who knows if she gets any more development (I really hope so). Her character is mostly used for comedy, but I can see her expanding her role and becoming more sympathetic like Megumin.
One small point I would like to add is that how each of these girls were introduced to Kazuma was hilarious. Kudos!
Lastly, the side characters were generally enjoyable. There is also (sorta) a villain who shows up in the main town and has some great dialog and comedy, making him seem less intimidating by the minute (as usual, in a good way). Overall: 9/10.
Sound:
The soundtrack… is alright. It’s perfectly serviceable but I had no desire to go out and seek it to listen to individual tracks. The opening was decent and the closing theme was alright. Sadly, there isn’t much that stands out. In some ways, its good because it perfectly blends in with the scenes and really, the comedy/parody is the focal point. But I was a little disappointed it didn’t have any track in particular that made me immediately go seek out the OST and find what song that was. Overall: 6/10.
Animation:
Konosuba as animated by studio Deen. They have done WAY more anime then I knew of and did some ones I enjoyed (Is this a zombie?, Log Horizon, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, etc). Honestly… I really like the fact that the animation is drawn much more like how it would look in real life. I feel that it works with the anime being a parody/comedy of recent MMO animes/video game related animes rather than against it. After being used to seeing hyper-stylized anime with beautiful animation and clean, crisp edges, it’s nice to see animation that is more grounded with our own human figures. The art style is easily identifiable and is rather unique, which is something I really appreciated. Another comparison to SAO is its use of fanservice. It also does it here, but since it feels more like a parody, I give it a pass here since it blends in with the rest of the satirical elements in Konosuba. Is the animation perfect? Of course not. But overall, I really liked the different approach to animation that’s somewhere in between SAO and Ping Pong the Animation. Not too clean but not too rough/dirty. Score: 8/10.
Enjoyability:
This is another incredibly strong element of Konosuba: it’s entertaining as hell. It has some of the funniest and enjoyable scenes I have seen ever since I first saw Ouran High School Host Club (another great comedy and subversion of anime tropes). I was nearly dying of laughter in some scenes, seeing the ridiculousness presented before me and how dysfunctional the party was. I won’t say much here so that you all can enjoy the shenanigans and madness for yourself. Overall: 9/10.
Final Thoughts/Conclusion:
Konosuba (the first ten episodes, anyway) is one of those animes that I feel will be seen as a hidden gem in years to come. While it’s fairly popular with the fans like me, other satirical anime like One-Punch Man get much more buzz and hype (undeservedly, in my opinion). One of the downfalls of this anime is that it’s too short and the pacing gets a tad rushed in the last few episodes. I don’t know what the second season will bring or if it will measure up to this one but when your biggest problem in your anime is that the audience was enjoying it so much and wished there was more, it’s a good sign that it is really good. I am more than to recommend people to give this a try and hopefully, they have a good time like I did. Overall: 8/10.
