Common Name: Konosuba
Alternative Names: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!, God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!
Score: 8/10, 5/5
Length: 2 Seasons of 10 Episodes, 2 Bonus OVAs
Genre: Isekai, Comedy, Action, Adventure, Magical, Ecchi
Summary: When Satou Kazuma dies in what is likely the least dignified way possible he finds himself seated before God, the Goddess Aqua to be precise. Taking pity on the young boy, Aqua gives Kazuma a choice on what will become of him upon his death--continue his journey to heaven or awake in a fantasy world in desperate need for a hero. What's even better, she'll grant him a boon, a magical item that will work to his advantage in this new world. Kazuma, out of spite, chooses to take the Goddess herself with him. Now the unwitting hero and the bumbling goddess must find a way to survive in a world terrorized by demons and crazed adventurers.
Review: It holds true that with every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In much the same way, with every genre there will be shows that take the genre seriously and try their best to make it engaging and there will also be shows that make a joke of it through deconstruction and and utter insanity. The genre on the chopping block today though is the one called "Isekai" which refers to any title that occurs within a different world. Virtual reality, alternate timeline, fantasy worlds, and other such concepts make up the bulk of the genre, but it can be primarily identified from the fact that the main hero or heroine is transported from one world ,typically ours, to another. Konosuba stands to be one of those less serious titles that props itself up on deconstructing the Isekai genre on top of standard fantasy tropes and an arguably healthy dose of shameless perversion. More than that though, I stand to argue that Konosuba is a title that openly mocks the anime industry and the medium itself, as if to say that people like me take this stuff way too seriously. Here's the thing though, I agree 100%. For a show about a pervert skeeving his way through a basic fantasy plot line, I took and likely still take this show way too seriously.
Trying to stall from reviewing the show's plot as long as I can since there really isn't much to say.
While character comedies are both fun and easy to watch, there's not much to their plot outside of the characters interacting with one another and repeating their characteristic jokes ad nauseam. Take our main character and reluctant hero, Satou Kazuma for starters. For almost the entirety of this show's run time, he plays his role as a plays his role as a lazy and sex-obsessed loser perfectly. When he's not busy complaining about all the work he needs to do to just survive in this world, he's finding ways to generally disrupt the peace with perverted antics. To be fair though, Aqua and his other companions don't make his life any easier in either regard. Luckily, there's more to Kazuma than just his shut-in NEET past. When push comes to shove, he's actually pretty reliable, willing to risk his life for his friends, and something of a master strategist when things get desperate. It also helps that he has the luck of the gods, perhaps even more than that if you consider Aqua to be the godly standard. Too bad he never let's these aspects of his character surface too often, otherwise he'd be a fantastic hero instead of a deviant and panty thief.
Like I said, not exactly prime hero material here.
Then there's of course the primary cause of all of Kazuma's problems, the idiot goddess who brought him to this world to begin with, Aqua. Much like Kazuma, there are two sides to Aqua's character--one that is regal but rarely seen and one that is undesirable that's seen more than anyone would like. On one side, she's a powerful goddess capable of giving peace to the dead and purifying nearly any evil. On the other, and due in no small part to her godly powers, she's an arrogant braggart who will do nearly anything for a cheap thrill or a little attention. For example, since her abilities only express themselves during battle against the forces of evil, she reduces what little dignity she has to learn useless circus tricks and slight of hand to amuse her drinking buddies. Oh, did I forget to mention she's the sort to drink the day away until she blacks out or pukes rainbows? Every now and then, though, she does a feat worthy of praise and representative of her godhood. Purifying corrupted lakes, turning hoards of undead, and resurrecting those whose souls already passed on are all things that she can do and does when the time comes. Too bad she often begs for praise and devotion afterward to the point that any good she did becomes more of an annoyance.
She is the actual worst.
Following the worst, I suppose it would be best to continue on with the best...best girl anyway (ugh, I feel gross just for referencing that concept typical of harem shows). I am, of course, referring to Megumin, the resident loli, chuunibyou, and master of explosion magic. Unlike the rest of the cast, her only flaw is her personally harmful infatuation with explosion magic, which drains her entirely of energy whenever she casts it. If there's any solid complaint that can leveled against her, it's that she refuses to make herself more useful to the party by learning something other than explosion magic and skills that support that single use she has. To be fair, though, if the party ever runs into a problem her explosion magic is usually the answer since it's power is an equivalent to a magical nuke. Aside from that, she's just a playful trickster who has fun messing with others and expressing her chuuni nature (apparently typical of her family) in a manner that isn't particularly harmful and makes her far more tolerable and endearing than the rest of the cast.
Not to mention she's the only capable of giving Kazuma a taste of his own medicine.
Last but not least is the party member who is, despite her best efforts, only the second worst character on the team: the masochist crusader, Darkness. I say masochist, but I don't think that really does her justice since I can't think of too many masochists who actively want to be emotionally battered, physically trampled on, and raped within an inch of her life. Yes. I'm absolutely serious. I am not even remotely exaggerating this. Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse are what turn her on, and she actively seeks it out while acting like a noble crusader willing to life an limb for her friends. Why is she only second worst though? Simple. When she's not being a general hindrance to herself and others while trying to get off on life-threatening situations, she's actually something of a kind and decent person. While she is often self-centered like Aqua, there's more to her than her selfishness. If asked, she will help no matter the cost. If she can get hurt while doing it, even better.
Oh, I forgot to mention she's also the most "mature" of the group, for whatever that's worth.
You may have thought I was joking about that being the gist of the plot, but I'm not. The entirety of the show is centered on this group of weirdos skeeving around and managing to slay the servants of the Demon King through little more than guts, luck, and a goddess whose only purpose is to obliterate these things whenever they suddenly show up. It's cringey humor at its finest and offers a strangely refreshing parody to what is widely considered an over-saturated genre. What's interesting though is the strange commentary, or rather mockery, that this show appears to offer on the anime industry itself. For starters, each season of Konosuba only lasts for 10 episodes, rather than the usual obligatory 12 or 13. Instead of fluffing out the season with filler like every other show does, Konosuba is content to remain simple and succinct, telling the story it wants and then ending. More than that little rebellion, however, is the noticeable change in quality between the two seasons out thus far. Where the first season was beautifully animated and compelling, the second season looked horribly cobbled together at the last minute and seemed content to repeat the same bad jokes over and over until the show abruptly ended. It, of course, had a few good moments and was well done at times, but that was a rarity instead of the standard. While simplicity might dictate that the Konosuba team just didn't expect to do another season since the original was something of a hit that came out of nowhere, I can't help but feel that the drop in quality was deliberate--a statement of how second seasons rarely meet the same standards when they're made to be blatant cash grabs. The hints of this deliberate sabotage can only be seen in the flaws, though, so I'll admit my argument isn't a very strong one, at least, not until the very end of the show. Typically, when an anime ends, the show gives a farewell outro and maybe a promise that the story will continue. In the case of Konosuba's second season, however, the standard farewell is cut off suddenly when they attempt to suggest that the show isn't over yet, as if they ran out of time or the end was deliberately cut off. It's a minor suggestion of my larger claim, and perhaps I'm trying to read into something that isn't really there, but it'd certainly be an amusing subplot to a series that has gotten worldwide attention and praise. Either way, though, Konosuba is a crude and crass comedy that is well worth the attention it gets so long as you can tolerate a comedy centered on a few disturbing characters.