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Y'know what? I think this OVA was better than the majority of season two. It brought back a lot of the charm that I missed with Konosuba's second outing and instead of recycling the same jokes and creatures, they ended up giving us a cute story that was just good enough, in my opinion.
Season two was bogged down by stale character dynamics that were already getting old in season one. It also didn't employ any of the tactics its similar sitcom brethren tend to add to their second seasons, such as an additional cast member or a small over-arching narrative. Instead, we got the same old stuff. To the point where the series was re-using creatures from the first season to virtually the same results. It was a bit of a bore. While it improved as it went on, it was still disappointing when compared to the first season.
With this OVA, it provides exactly what I've missed in this series. Goofy antics and characters in a slice-of-life adventure, but also some originality. While the dynamics are as banal as ever, what ends up elevating this episode is the frantic pace and constant progression of the isolated narrative. From the rather mediocre second season, we get a surprisingly sweet detour with the OVA that thankfully doesn't focus on the unbearable fan-service that the first season's OVA became plagued by.
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[Robots, Masochism, and Fangirls]
This story starts with Kazuma realizing that his reputation has increased in this starter-town. So much so that he even has a fan now! Her name is Ran and her design is utterly hideous. Distractedly so. Konosuba generally has solid, if a little lazy designs, but this character who plays a solid secondary role in this episode was difficult to look at. Regardless, she's there to create the main conflict for Kazuma.
She explains how much of an inspiration he is for her, and in regular Kazuma fashion, he lets that get to his head. He flaunts his successes. Firstly, being the eradication of a massive golem, and the second being the excavation of some secret ruins. This of course leads to two separate, yet equally entertaining flashbacks that make up the meat of the episode.
We even get some potentially cannon lore about the previous, Japanese visitor that roamed this world before Kazuma, which was fun. The story, in predictably comedic ways, ends up creating some solid sequences of both action and banter that, while undoubtedly cliche for the series, are ultimately fun enough. That's the easiest way to describe the OVA. Fun enough. It isn't standing out in any way, but then again it is a comedy anime and it is an isekai and it does have fans to please. If all those things add up to something it is relatively predictable humor and character interactions.
If you weren't a fan of a screaming blue-haired god or an eccentric loli or a masochistic warrior, then I doubt you'd enjoy this. There isn't much new here. But there is a charm in the old, especially during the glimpses where I felt like I was back in the first few episodes of season one, seeing these characters for the first time and truly loving this series. While these moments didn't last long, they were there. One such moment involved some wicked banter before the Golem attacked. While I always seem to shit-talk this series for its less-than-creative character dynamics, when these four are stuck together and are bouncing off each other, there is enjoyment to be had. It's only when they become separated where you begin to truly see just how shallow these characters are in terms of the kinds of insights and reactions they can provide.
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[Key Frames, Smears, and Color]
The animation is in-line with the rest of the series. They thankfully don't rely on goofy faces taking up the majority of the punchlines because while that felt unintentional and funny in season one, it quickly became overdone and forced in season two. The animation here is as cartoony as the series usually is.
Low-detail models and wonky over-exaggerated character animation has always been the highlight of the presentation in this series. Their use of smears in the fill-frames is great and makes for really elastic and entertaining models to play around with. The presentation apart from that is very mediocre, of course. We still have a plethora of generic backgrounds that don't have any actual, interesting detail to them and of course the less-than-impressive directing.
I do want to shout-out the editing though, as it is quite good here. There are a few jump-cuts that got me to breath air out of my nose, and that's a good sign. Konosuba's abrasive music queues are still there and still hit-or-miss. We get some good moments where the music cuts and the character delivers a stinger, we also get the same swelling choir that we've gotten a hundred times before. These just get somewhat old.
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I'm quite happy with the way this OVA turned out! It could've easily been yet another pandering bore like the previous one, and it could've easily been just as boring as a lot of the first half of season two was. Instead, we got twenty-five minutes of frenetic moments that while yes, undoubtedly rested on this series' previously established laurels, occasionally recaptured the essence of what made the first season so lovable.
The series was never laugh-out-loud funny to me, but then again most shows aren't. It was always quaint and easy to enjoy. I hope that if we do end up getting a third season, that it follows route with the OVA and delivers more quests, more adventures, and less redundancy and repetitiveness.
