PART 1: “””Plot”””
Satou Kazuma, an average high school NEET, gets Tractor-kun’d into the afterlife, where a certain useless goddess enlists him to travel to a fantasy world and slay the terrible Demon King. Upon granting him any parting gift he desires to aid his quest, Kazuma, ever genre-savvy, chooses the goddess herself. Turns out that being a goddess doesn’t necessarily equal being competent, and even a fantasy world structured like a stereotypical video game setting doesn’t necessarily come with cheat codes intact. Kazuma’s broke, his adventuring party is practically useless, and there are pretty much no opportunities for him to begin his quest to slay the Demon King.
It’s a parody of the isekai genre, not a subversion, so the plot beats are pretty obvious. Can you tell I don’t want to spend any more time on this than necessary? Okay, time for the part that people actually care about!
PART 2: Characters & Comedy
Throughout the first half, the jokes are great. Though their primary character traits are pretty trope-y, the characters have these surprising hidden depths to them that serve to keep the comedy fresh. I was worried that an anime about an isekai protagonist with three beautiful (albeit useless) female party members would quickly turn into some misogynist garbage, but—for the most part—it manages to dodge this by not centering their personal brands of insanity around their interactions with Kazuma. In particular, Aqua’s dependence on Kazuma and low intelligence stat doesn’t necessarily give him the power in their dynamic: it just goes to show that she’s a spoiled brat who, as a goddess with very straightforward duties, never actually needed to develop common sense.
Kazuma is properly pathetic, as all isekai protagonists should be, but it’s played straight—his pathetic-ness isn’t just a result of him being underpowered, he’s just genuinely a loser, through and through—and the anime gleefully pokes fun at him as much as it does the other characters. Kazuma’s pain and hardship is just as much a result of his bad personality and weakness as it is the fault of his party, which is what makes them all so fun to watch. In KonoSuba, everyone’s fair game, and that’s what makes the comedy and character dynamics shine.
KonoSuba has a strange tendency toward suddenly jamming in new characters, instead of showing us the actual sequences of how they met (specifically Wiz and Yunyun). I’m really not a fan of this revisionist-esque writing—show not tell, and all that—but that’s a pretty minor gripe.
Speaking of side characters, most of them are pretty generic, and not especially interesting or memorable. Maybe I’ll feel differently if they get more screentime in season 2, I dunno. I specifically had an issue with the more competent side characters, like Chris and Wiz. By virtue of actually knowing what the hell they’re doing, they act as a stabilizing force in an anime that’s at its best when it’s absolutely unhinged. I’m not saying everyone has to be useless, but I think that competent side characters should either act as obvious foils to the main cast (exaggerating their flaws) or slowly be dragged down into the party’s endless cycle of stupidity (become worse off by knowing them). The guild lady and Kyouya kinda fill those roles, but not really. The side characters need to commit more, or else they’ll remain forever boring.
PART 3: I Complain About Fanservice For A Hot Minute
Unfortunately, the fanservice detracts from the comedy in a way that’s borderline uncomfortable. (Looking at you, succubus wet dream episode.) Having to sit there and watch anime girls blush and stutter as they breast boobily about gives me an insane amount of secondhand embarrassment. Kazuma being a douchebag perv can make for funny scenes (the scene where he frightens Kyouya’s two companions away via horrifying hand motions and disgusting implications cracks me up), but a lot of the time, it falls flat, and then you just have to sit tight and watch anime girls get sexually harassed for minutes at a time. It’s not funny, it’s weird. I came here for comedy, not ecchi garbage. Again, I know that ecchi comedy can be funny—I watched AND enjoyed B-gata H-kei, okay, I get it—but Konosuba doesn’t make it work, because the fanservice actively goes against the main draw of KonoSuba’s comedy.
The primary issue is that it gives Kazuma a LOT of power over the female characters, which screws up the whole point of them all being just as useless as one another. KonoSuba is at its best when it’s a bunch of idiots all dragging each other down further and further into stupidity, and it definitely suffers when it forgets that. (I also feel that the fanservice detracts from any emotional connections you might have made with the characters, but that’s not as much of an issue in season 1 as it is in, say, certain godawful OVAs about cursed chokers!!1! -_-)
PART 4: Art, Soundtrack, etc. (also more complaining about fanservice: it's relevant, I swear)
The art style is pretty generic, and the animation isn’t especially notable, though it has its moments (see Kazuma’s pervy hand gesture scene). The opening theme is an absolute joy to watch, though. The facial expressions and little details—like the shiver that runs through Kazuma’s whole body when he tries slashing that rock monster in half—are delightful!! The expressions are generally pretty top notch. Anyways, get ready for me to complain about forced fanservice again:
I’m no stranger to jiggle physics, but something that really bothered me is how KonoSuba intentionally ignores opportunities for good framing, interesting angles, and impactful sequences, just so that they can squeeze in more fanservice. It starts off kinda funny, by virtue of how stupid and over the top it is, but it quickly becomes aggravating when a whole shot is dedicated to some random background character’s Big Mommy Milkers. I remember one particular shot in the guild, where the camera was pulled so far back you couldn’t see anyone’s faces, but you *could* see the desk lady’s ass sticking into the edge of the frame, for some reason. It’s not only uncomfortable, it’s just plain lazy.
The character designs are pretty cute, while remaining *juuust* practical enough that I don’t get distracted thinking “damn, how is she even moving around in that?” Importantly, they also reflect the characters’ personalities, and suit how they would want to present themselves: Megumin’s cape, oversized belt, and asymmetrical stockings definitely give off the vibe of a kid playing dress-up; Darkness’ armor is relatively practical, and she keeps herself covered up, but her leggings still show off her body; Kazuma’s is practical enough, but with the extra flair of a cape to show off how he’s actually a giant nerd in denial. Honestly, the only one I kinda have an issue with is Aqua's, because I really don't see how it suits her role as a goddess. Either way, their designs are cute and fun in a way that’s not distractingly stupid. I also love the color coordination!
The soundtrack didn’t stand out at all to me (including the opening and ending themes), but what did stand out was the voice acting--specifically, Kazuma’s. Most of the other girls’ voices were basically identical (aka so breathy that, once you notice it, it becomes almost hard to listen to), but Kazuma’s deadpan delivery and screams of rage makes the jokes hit way harder. While
watching, I would genuinely go back and just loop his lines over and over again.
I think I pretty much hit on everything, so let’s wrap this up!
PART 5: Conclusion
KonoSuba is a great anime that is, unfortunately, plagued by frequent fits of generic-ness. It uses fanservice as a safety net for when its comedy falters, which is silly at best and horribly uncomfortable at worst. It certainly exceeded my expectations, and I really had a ton of fun watching it (except for the mind-numbingly boring and generic finale, lol). The core of the anime is really strong, though, and I would recommend it, albeit with a grain of salt. As of right now, I haven’t seen season 2 or the movie. Hopefully they go beyond what the first season had to offer!
