KonoSuba - Kono Subarashii (20 Episodes 2 Seasons 2 Ova's) 7.94 out of 10 Stars
Going into Konosuba season 2 I felt really positive and excited of where the first instalment left off and what was to come. Having a great jumpstart for Kazuma's unexpected journey, that began with shamelessly hilarious fun, and the awe of a visually brilliant adventure, with gorgeous animation to boot. Being adapted from the humble origins of Natsume Akatsuki's original web novel, quickly being revised into a light novel a year thereafter, and later on into a Manga, then into the anime we see today. We left the first season with a lot of hope and positivity, having characters such as Aqua and the rest of the dysfunctional rag tag team of adventurers finally triumph, and have their own moments and a sense of accomplishment. S1 started off with Kazuma's shut in life being quickly turned on it's head, quickly ensuing a most wacky and hilarious adventure to come. S1 was balanced with a great amount of comedic banter and innocent adventure, along with a great sense of timing with a nice amount of progress to end the first season.
Konosuba S2 finished airing just last March, but how did the last season fair?
Plot & Narrative Aspects
Before we get into that though, we need to start off with Kazuma. You see before embarking on his wacky fantasy adventure, Kazuma was a shut in, a NEET (Not in Eduction, Employment or Training). Though one day he decides to go outside to attend an exclusive video game release exclusive to one store. After stretching his muscles from his early morning errand, he notices a girl caught in front of headlights crossing the street and quickly makes a heroic dive to save her.. Only that it was the headlights of a tractor.. Making it's way down the country rode side of Japan. The next thing you notice is he's in the afterlife as a Goddess relates the story of what happened afterword, as he soon finds out that he threw his life away for no reason at all, and on the odd day that he actually did go out side he died a most pathetic and hilarious death, which those involved, doctors, parents and even the goddess herself couldn't help but laugh at Kazuma's death as well (I Even Died of laughter). The goddess has an offer, giving Kazuma a chance to, instead of reincarnation to be sent to a Parallel Fantasy world to stop the Devil King & his armies from advancing, also offering a wish to help him in his journey to take down the Devil King. Having been humiliated and shamed by the sleazy Goddess, in spite of her his wish is to take the Goddess Aqua with him. Soon after being transported to the Fantasy world with the Goddess Aqua, he soon finds out that she's actually pretty useless. Making Aqua far more of burden then she is a help, shamelessly clinging to Kazuma, as until the Devil King is defeated, can Aqua return to the afterlife.
Before we get into that though, we need to start off with Kazuma. You see before embarking on his wacky fantasy adventure, Kazuma was a shut in, a NEET (Not in Eduction, Employment or Training). Though one day he decides to go outside to attend an exclusive video game release exclusive to one store. After stretching his muscles from his early morning errand, he notices a girl caught in front of headlights crossing the street and quickly makes a heroic dive to save her.. Only that it was the headlights of a tractor.. Making it's way down the country rode side of Japan. The next thing you notice is he's in the afterlife as a Goddess relates the story of what happened afterword, as he soon finds out that he threw his life away for no reason at all, and on the odd day that he actually did go out side he died a most pathetic and hilarious death, which those involved, doctors, parents and even the goddess herself couldn't help but laugh at Kazuma's death as well (I Even Died of laughter). The goddess has an offer, giving Kazuma a chance to, instead of reincarnation to be sent to a Parallel Fantasy world to stop the Devil King & his armies from advancing, also offering a wish to help him in his journey to take down the Devil King. Having been humiliated and shamed by the sleazy Goddess, in spite of her his wish is to take the Goddess Aqua with him. Soon after being transported to the Fantasy world with the Goddess Aqua, he soon finds out that she's actually pretty useless. Making Aqua far more of burden then she is a help, shamelessly clinging to Kazuma, as until the Devil King is defeated, can Aqua return to the afterlife.
From their on their daily lives & adventures are completely filled with shameless hilarity and dumb fun, being that Kazuma's idealism of what an MMORPG fantasy type setting is supposed to be like, completely betrays his expectations of what a Parallel Fantasy world would actually be like, being that his newly aquatinted dysfunctional rag tag team of adventurers that he now travels with are anything but practical or ideal. Konosuba feels hilariously familiar, yet is filled with a lot of beautiful adventure as well, in a helplessly dumb and innocent fashion. Poking a lot of fun at the familiar cliche's and archetypes having to do with Kazuma's experience with fantasy RPG's. Their day to day lives consists of having familiar enemies and characters, though done with a comedic twist to poke fun at both Kazuma and other general archetypes one would associate with RPG's. Their story ranges from being rich, living in poverty, to being terribly in debt, showing us how snobbish and whimsical a goddess can actually be, Kazuma's extremely bad luck, and how odd other Japanese people like him can be.
Kazuma often sets his expectations high when trying to find "Ideal" party members, quickly finding adventurers with advanced classes who seem promising, though turn out to be anything but. As Kazuma already finds that having to deal with Aqua as a burdensome she seems to be, he soon finds himself stuck with the lowest common denominators for his narrow options other for party members, as characters such as Megumin and Darkness are quick to vastly up their skills and talents, clinging onto Kazuma and Aqua's party for dear life, even after being rejected outright due to Kazuma's keen suspicions on them being more potentially useless baggage that he doesn't have time to deal with. Kazuma soon finds himself with a completely helpless, over specialized and unbalanced party to even seemingly have the slightest chance in opposing the Devil King & his armies.
Kazuma's party's daily routine whimsically surrounds their daily adventures as they opt to complete quest from their local guilds bounty board, trying to survive above the poverty line and being debt ridden as they are. Konosuba is more so a situational comedy placed within a stereo typical fantasy setting, rather than actually being a traditional adventure type with a strong goal in mind, having a very loose connection to any particularly over arching narrative or logical sense of progression. Moreover Konosuba tends to loan itself to being more all about the characters, rather than the other way around, and this remains true throughout the entirety of the series. So if you're familiar with other gag anime such as Gintama or Arakawa under the Bridge, Konosuba will indefinitely be up your alley, especially if your a huge Gintama fan like I am. I feel Konosuba got so popular because how against the norms the story is, and how Natsume Akatsuki would go about poking fun and satire against the well understood mannerisms and general etiquette a country like Japan would have. It's this collective of dysfunctional everyday events and oddball relationships that really makes Konosuba a joy to watch, even despite having more glaring issues as a whole.
Natsume Akatsuki on what it's like writing comedy -“I think it’s a surprisingly difficult thing to pull off. Like if you prioritize too much on the jokes then the story becomes difficult to progress”
Though that is to say the loose overarching narrative is met on occasion with Kazuma's unlucky run ins with some of the Devil King's commanders, and despite being whimsical and nonsensical most of the time, it's where characters such as Aqua and Megumin are able to shine and show off their powers, and in these establishing moments they begin to prove they're not as useless as they seem to usually be, showing how they've grown and developed as a team. In their occasional romance and/or confrontations between the Devil King's commanders always seems to bring out the best of characters such as Aqua or Megumin, often providing a magical visual spectacle in addition to their feats as well. To me it's how the First season was able to come out so strong that made me feel so hopeful and positive for the next instalment to come, and despite enjoying the oddball comedy and episodes on their whimsical daily lives, I had a lot of expectations and felt as if there was going to be a shift within the general story that was going to be more development focussed and such in S2.
Though having watched the rest of Konosuba, S2 did not change it's original formula of situational comedy and general antics, leaving me to feel like it was just more of the same with S2. I think it's fine to have more humble and silly beginnings, and you can still balance that enough in the second season, though repeating the same formula S1 offered, it really does just feel a repeat of the same general scenario, and that we really haven't gotten anywhere with since S1 of Konosuba. I feel progression and growth is an important part of any story, and while I love the simpler times of lets say when Gintama was far more about Gin, Shinpachi and Kagura just fooling around living above the poverty line, I still acknowledge the sense that the story wasn't getting anywhere, though luckily enough Gintama is just such a warm and bat shit hilarious program to watch, and just does comedy so well, also having enough of a touching back story to keep me coming back for more every time and I was rewarded for it. As over the course of 300+ episodes, Gintama has begun to get serious and take itself seriously, and has already gone through that process. Though I do acknowledge it did take around 126[Ish] episodes to finally get the ball rolling, and huge breaks in between, not to mention just the privilege of being able to have 300+ episodes.
For various reason having to do with the characters, especially Darkness, I felt it just kind of got a little bit old with Konosuba, as I believe it's completely fine to rely on comedy as your sole product of entertainment, it's not fine if you just recycle material that's more or less has already been used a dozen times over. S1 felt innovative and fun - Whereas S2 felt derivative and already done. For example Arakawa under the Bridge without a doubt has a very similar formula to Konosuba, however the story was still able to show and gel in more developments, regarding relationships and smaller story arcs having to do with various important characters - Konosuba seemingly never takes itself seriously enough to actually touch base on that level, which is a shame.
"Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up" - Pablo Picasso
It's fine to keep it lighthearted and comedic, but if you stop innovating and keeping it fresh, flaws which aren't so apparent as they were before [S1] begin to come more obvious, due to the lack of emotional variety and range each character and generally story has to situate or offer. I'm totally fine with S1 being like this because it was just the first step of the 10 episodes we were given. But I believe in every story having a beginning, middle and end - If the first was the beginning, as a logical progression I expected more development from the second. Simply put, I feel S2 lacks the emotional foundation to substitute it's more comedic and lighthearted ones. Underneath the surface, I feel there's very little, if any substance or complexity for that matter beneath the surface in any relationship between any given characters. No development, very little complexity, and bare bones relationships makes for a very simplistic story from very simplistic progenitors to actually tell, and move it forward.
Konosuba's story mechanics can really just be summed up into 5 aspects:
Shameless Characters> Dysfunctional relationships> Situational Comedy in Adventures> Occasional Confrontation with D.K Commanders > Triumph over Glorious Visual Spectacles From Battles
.... Oh And EXPLOSIONS!!
Konosuba lacks a lot in the relationship department, and as a result character progression suffers, as relationships are supposed to always bring out the most of us in our efforts to coexist or separate our selves from one another - Though in Konosuba asides from the more simplistic one's, they're virtually non-existent. Having such simple relationships and characters, they'll always be progenitors to a simplistic story due to the lack of emotional variety and complexity they inherently have to offer or situate into the entirety of Konosuba's story as a whole.
None the less, I still find myself thinking positive of my experience with Konosuba, even despite the moderate issues, as positive aspects from the story, from the characters and various production aspects seem to handily outweigh the cons. Collectively, I think Konosuba is a good series and conversely a great production, with a great sense of laughter, adventure and beauty - Just don't expect an amazing story.
Kazuma often sets his expectations high when trying to find "Ideal" party members, quickly finding adventurers with advanced classes who seem promising, though turn out to be anything but. As Kazuma already finds that having to deal with Aqua as a burdensome she seems to be, he soon finds himself stuck with the lowest common denominators for his narrow options other for party members, as characters such as Megumin and Darkness are quick to vastly up their skills and talents, clinging onto Kazuma and Aqua's party for dear life, even after being rejected outright due to Kazuma's keen suspicions on them being more potentially useless baggage that he doesn't have time to deal with. Kazuma soon finds himself with a completely helpless, over specialized and unbalanced party to even seemingly have the slightest chance in opposing the Devil King & his armies.
Kazuma's party's daily routine whimsically surrounds their daily adventures as they opt to complete quest from their local guilds bounty board, trying to survive above the poverty line and being debt ridden as they are. Konosuba is more so a situational comedy placed within a stereo typical fantasy setting, rather than actually being a traditional adventure type with a strong goal in mind, having a very loose connection to any particularly over arching narrative or logical sense of progression. Moreover Konosuba tends to loan itself to being more all about the characters, rather than the other way around, and this remains true throughout the entirety of the series. So if you're familiar with other gag anime such as Gintama or Arakawa under the Bridge, Konosuba will indefinitely be up your alley, especially if your a huge Gintama fan like I am. I feel Konosuba got so popular because how against the norms the story is, and how Natsume Akatsuki would go about poking fun and satire against the well understood mannerisms and general etiquette a country like Japan would have. It's this collective of dysfunctional everyday events and oddball relationships that really makes Konosuba a joy to watch, even despite having more glaring issues as a whole.Natsume Akatsuki on what it's like writing comedy -“I think it’s a surprisingly difficult thing to pull off. Like if you prioritize too much on the jokes then the story becomes difficult to progress”
Though that is to say the loose overarching narrative is met on occasion with Kazuma's unlucky run ins with some of the Devil King's commanders, and despite being whimsical and nonsensical most of the time, it's where characters such as Aqua and Megumin are able to shine and show off their powers, and in these establishing moments they begin to prove they're not as useless as they seem to usually be, showing how they've grown and developed as a team. In their occasional romance and/or confrontations between the Devil King's commanders always seems to bring out the best of characters such as Aqua or Megumin, often providing a magical visual spectacle in addition to their feats as well. To me it's how the First season was able to come out so strong that made me feel so hopeful and positive for the next instalment to come, and despite enjoying the oddball comedy and episodes on their whimsical daily lives, I had a lot of expectations and felt as if there was going to be a shift within the general story that was going to be more development focussed and such in S2.
Though having watched the rest of Konosuba, S2 did not change it's original formula of situational comedy and general antics, leaving me to feel like it was just more of the same with S2. I think it's fine to have more humble and silly beginnings, and you can still balance that enough in the second season, though repeating the same formula S1 offered, it really does just feel a repeat of the same general scenario, and that we really haven't gotten anywhere with since S1 of Konosuba. I feel progression and growth is an important part of any story, and while I love the simpler times of lets say when Gintama was far more about Gin, Shinpachi and Kagura just fooling around living above the poverty line, I still acknowledge the sense that the story wasn't getting anywhere, though luckily enough Gintama is just such a warm and bat shit hilarious program to watch, and just does comedy so well, also having enough of a touching back story to keep me coming back for more every time and I was rewarded for it. As over the course of 300+ episodes, Gintama has begun to get serious and take itself seriously, and has already gone through that process. Though I do acknowledge it did take around 126[Ish] episodes to finally get the ball rolling, and huge breaks in between, not to mention just the privilege of being able to have 300+ episodes. For various reason having to do with the characters, especially Darkness, I felt it just kind of got a little bit old with Konosuba, as I believe it's completely fine to rely on comedy as your sole product of entertainment, it's not fine if you just recycle material that's more or less has already been used a dozen times over. S1 felt innovative and fun - Whereas S2 felt derivative and already done. For example Arakawa under the Bridge without a doubt has a very similar formula to Konosuba, however the story was still able to show and gel in more developments, regarding relationships and smaller story arcs having to do with various important characters - Konosuba seemingly never takes itself seriously enough to actually touch base on that level, which is a shame.
"Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up" - Pablo Picasso
It's fine to keep it lighthearted and comedic, but if you stop innovating and keeping it fresh, flaws which aren't so apparent as they were before [S1] begin to come more obvious, due to the lack of emotional variety and range each character and generally story has to situate or offer. I'm totally fine with S1 being like this because it was just the first step of the 10 episodes we were given. But I believe in every story having a beginning, middle and end - If the first was the beginning, as a logical progression I expected more development from the second. Simply put, I feel S2 lacks the emotional foundation to substitute it's more comedic and lighthearted ones. Underneath the surface, I feel there's very little, if any substance or complexity for that matter beneath the surface in any relationship between any given characters. No development, very little complexity, and bare bones relationships makes for a very simplistic story from very simplistic progenitors to actually tell, and move it forward.
Konosuba's story mechanics can really just be summed up into 5 aspects:
Shameless Characters> Dysfunctional relationships> Situational Comedy in Adventures> Occasional Confrontation with D.K Commanders > Triumph over Glorious Visual Spectacles From Battles
.... Oh And EXPLOSIONS!!
Konosuba lacks a lot in the relationship department, and as a result character progression suffers, as relationships are supposed to always bring out the most of us in our efforts to coexist or separate our selves from one another - Though in Konosuba asides from the more simplistic one's, they're virtually non-existent. Having such simple relationships and characters, they'll always be progenitors to a simplistic story due to the lack of emotional variety and complexity they inherently have to offer or situate into the entirety of Konosuba's story as a whole.
Now It's probably because of me being somewhat unsatisfied with the way some things ended despite enjoying continuing series such as Naruto, Gintama or Konsuba, but I still felt a little bummed out at the end. Though I like Konosuba, after the first season I did have higher expectations (though I try my best to avoid having them), Konosuba did end in a somewhat disappointing manner, as I thought they would once again capitalize and seize their next opportunity with next cour, though looking back I really don't think they did. Don't get me wrong though, I really enjoyed it, it's just I felt it was a bit anti climatic and since things are as they are in Japan's animation industry, not many series actually get renewed for a S2 let alone a S3, no matter how popular the given series is. So I felt that it was really riding on the people at Studio Deen to create this absolutely awesome experience and replicate or rather surpass the success they had in the first season, and build of of the small developments within the first season to enter new territory, which I don't feel they did with the second season.
None the less, I still find myself thinking positive of my experience with Konosuba, even despite the moderate issues, as positive aspects from the story, from the characters and various production aspects seem to handily outweigh the cons. Collectively, I think Konosuba is a good series and conversely a great production, with a great sense of laughter, adventure and beauty - Just don't expect an amazing story.
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