First Impressions / Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku Wo!

「この強敵に爆裂魔法を！」 (Kono Kyouteki ni Bakuretsu Mahou Wo!)
“Explosion Magic For This Formidable Enemy!”

Takaii here, filling in for Stilts as we dive into the greatest un-adventure I’ve ever seen.

Explosion Magic

So, I have this friend who always plays the magician/wizard in any game — even if there’s a good reason not to do so. His reasoning for being so stubborn about this has always been wanting to cast the flashiest spells that have giant explosions. Because if he’s going to be playing a game, might as well do it with style right? Which honestly, is something that I could maybe get behind if MMORPGs weren’t so focused on the whole min/maxing game. Because if we’re being realistic, there is almost no use case for such a slow casting and interruptible spell that isn’t even guaranteed to hit!

But in Konosuba’s world, where the hard numbers aren’t the end all, I love that someone took the opportunity to ignore common sense and went straight for the biggest spell possible. And while most people wouldn’t be able to understand the beauty in that, I love that Kazuma did. Sure, it might have taken some time for him to come around to the whole thing, but you can’t deny there was some lighthearted charm as we watched the two share the magical experience of watching a huge explosion go off day after day.

Max/Min

Seeing how I probably won’t get an opportunity to write a post until Stilts runs into another situation, let me take this opportunity to talk about how much I love the system Konosuba uses to integrate RPG elements into the world. Ignoring the typical number game for the most part in favor of using a more realistic experience system (you kill things and literally gain experience), I still get shivers whenever we see that fancy double helix show up when Kazuma learns a skill. Partially because it looks awesome and partially because of the notion you can apply your experience any way you want.

Things Finally Looking Up? And Looking Ahead

Well, that’s not how I was expecting an interaction between one of the Demon King’s subordinates was going to go down. Especially when he has someone as epic as Dulahan aka The Headless Horseman! And instead of him going to town on the novice adventurers staring at him, I was dying trying to hold my laughter in when he got pulled down to Megumin and Darkness’s pace. But then, to see his epic death curse get cleansed by Aqua without her even breaking a sweat and I was almost dead. While it remains to be seen whether or not our wacky adventurers are going to deal with him, I can’t wait to see what epic adventure await them next week.

Hopefully we’ll get more of what we got this week since I definitely wouldn’t mind that! See you!

 

Preview

58 Comments

  2. “Look at Dullahan’s filthy eyes, hidden beneath his helmet! Those are the eyes of degenerate who plans to take me back to his castle, tell me to shut up and submit to him if i want the curse removed, and demand i perform hardcore acts of perversion for him! You may do as you please with my body, but don’t think you’ll be free to do as you please with my heart! A lady knight imprisoned in castle, having outrageous demand made of her by Devil King’s minion….”

    Oh God why

    Rorschachfan
    Reply

    1. Well, at least we’re hearing a different range of voice acting out of Kayano Ai/Darkness. I almost couldn’t believe it was her when I first heard her…ummm…masochist voice.

      I’m really enjoying this series so far (despite the minor changes from the manga), so I’m just praying Studio Deen doesn’t end up killing this series. I remember both seasons of “Kore wa Zombie Desu ka”: great start, fun characters but horrendously butchered and disappointing season endings…

      Aoihoshikage
      Reply

  3. Oh what an unexpected bummer..
    First Lala gets sexually harassed by the spider girl in Monster Musume.
    Then Celty gets hit on by Shinra in Durarara.
    And here its almost reverse sexual harassment for poor Dullahan.

    Dullahans didn’t sign up for these stuff.
    #Promote the welfare of Dullahans everywhere. =D

    On an off topic note, seems like the cipher for the alphabet of the world has been derived,
    have fun checking how your own name looks like.
    https://i.imgur.com/GuYXqh0.jpg

    Techim
    Reply

  5. …So are all the “next episode previews” for this series going to be cut off in the middle? Because they all have been so far, at least on Crunchy’s versions. And nobody I’ve found has released any versions that are any different.

    I liked how the characters (with the exception of Aqua, who was just… herself) treated the dullahan and his death curse as something serious. Megumin accepting responsibility for having blown up the castle, rather than passing it off to that innocent novice mage, looking genuinely terrified when she was about to be hit by the curse, and then horrified when dullahan told her it was her fault that Darkness was going to die. As crazy as they act, these kids actually do know that this isn’t a game, at least not for them.

    Yeah we still get our comedy to fix things in the end, but it’s still reassuring to see that these characters can still recognize that their world is real to them, and that someone dying is a serious matter.

    …I can’t explain it well, but for all that these girls are nuts within their areas of fanaticism, they haven’t actually lost their grip on the reality that they live in. They can act like a normal person under circumstances that justify it, rather than continuing to ham it up.

    Wanderer
    Reply

    1. If this anime went all serious fantasy adventure, it would become your typical average shonen anime.
      Kazuma and gang’s adventures and shenanigans are probably the most unorthodox ones you’ll come across in fantasy rpg anime for a long time; and arguably the main selling point of this series.

      Techim
      Reply

      1. I don’t WANT it to go serious. That’s not the point. Arg. I can’t say it right. What I liked was that, outside of her mania, Megumin is sane. Yeah, she tried being chuuni to run a bluff towards the dullahan, but in the end he really scared her, and it showed. She isn’t truly incompetent or a lunatic.

        Same for Darkness: when she jumped in the way of the curse, I don’t think that was a “ooh, a new way to get hurt!” kind of thing, but rather an instinctive reaction to protect her friend.

        Underneath the madnesss that creates antics which make us laugh, these girls are good people.

        Wanderer
        Reply

      2. I agree with Wanderer. These characters are stupid beyond belief, but they’re not ‘cartoon characters.’ They behave in a semi-logical, and even somewhat noble, way within the confines of their insanity. Even Aqua is an idiot but what she did was actually good, just hilarious.

        KaleRylan
        Reply

      3. “Same for Darkness: when she jumped in the way of the curse, I don’t think that was a “ooh, a new way to get hurt!” kind of thing, but rather an instinctive reaction to protect her friend.”

        I think it was both.

        quigonkenny
        Reply

  6. This is Kazuma.

    He has great common sense and sarcastic wit.

    He says bluntly what we’re all thinking and pulls no punches, even if it makes the (stupid) girl in his party cry.

    He actually cares a lot and freely offers help to his party members when they actually need it.

    Be like Kazuma.

    Teikun
    Reply

  11. So Aqua is implying Kazuma does lewd things at night huh? Anyways I was actually expecting this to be a two-parter story, so Aqua removing Darkness’s curse caught me off guard. And even if some of the elements were predictable, like the Dullahan being the owner of that castle and Darkness enjoying that curse, it was still so fun to watch. My favorite bit of all has got to be Dullahan’s reaction to Darkness’s masochism. She was practically demanding to be taken prisoner and tortured, and Dullahan’s face pretty much says even he’s not deranged enough to do what Darkness wants. The other thing that got my attention was Kazuma and Aqua’s scene in the barn because of the brutal verbal lashing he gave Aqua. I can’t decide if Kazuma went too far because on one hand, most of what Aqua did would merit Kazuma calling her a useless Damegami, while on the other I had a feeling Aqua was crying crocodile tears just to get Megumin and Darkness to symphatize with her. Can’t deny though Aqua has a cute crying face. I also gotta say they Ending song and animation is growing on me because of how relaxing it is.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  14. Oh man, this episode was hilarious. From Aqua being a baka, Megumin’s explosion training, Dullahan’s appearance (poor, poor Dullahan) to the massive anti-climax at the end – it had me in stitches so many times. Dullahan’s whole pathetic stick also solidified the idea that this show will never take itself seriously – works for me!

    I sure don’t mind the overload of Megumin this episode either, because she remains best girl. I quite liked the comraderie Kazuma built up with her as well – she’s probably the party member he gets along with the most (cause Aqua’s a jerk and Darkness weirds him out). Their little trips to go nuke a castle together were almost heartwarming, and they were so ready to go on an adventure together before Aqua ruined it for them. I guess they’re kindred spirits in some ways (also makes me wonder if Kazuma will ever get around to learning explosions himself).

    Keep on truckin’, show.

    Dvalinn
    Reply

    2. Which makes me wonder – if Dullahan, one of the Devil King’s higher-class leaders is like this, what the Devil King himself must be like; turn out to be like Sadao or Lucifer in Hataraku Maou-sama? XD

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

      1. I do think it was funnier in the manga, though. The joke gets an extra layer when she’s giving her usual chuuni routine from behind Kazuma, who looks like he doesn’t want to be there.

        Guile
        Reply

  18. Kazuma is the type of MC that says exactly the things I always wish other MC’s would say when subjected to the ridiculousness of anime girls. I can’t believe I’d rather look at his annoyed face than any fan service shots in this anime (not that they’re bad, he’s just that awesome).

    JayDrink
    Reply

  20. While I won’t argue that Aqua needed (and probably will need again) someone to tell her to get a grip and help focus on working towards their goal, I was in fact rather displeased when Kazuma snapped at her in the middle of the episode. Particularly since several of the things he complained about are his fault.

    He complained that he didn’t have any powerful skill or ability that would allow him to defeat the maou: well, that’s because he chose to kidnap Aqua rather than take one of the super-powerful skills, abilities, or weapons that were specifically offered to him to allow him to defeat the maou. He said that she was useless in actually fighting the maou or his minions: she told him that as he was kidnapping her, warning him right from the start that her powers were completely unsuited to fighting the maou. He chose to bring her with anyway. He got her stuck there: it’s his fault that she needs him to defeat the maou, and his fault that he doesn’t actually have the tools to do so. He has no business basically telling her “because you’re useless we can’t win, so just go live out your life as a peasant. Now teach me your recovery magic so I can dump you somewhere.”

    Aqua may be stupid, and almost certainly needs someone to babysit her to keep her from wasting her money and skillpoints on useless things, but that’s just BECAUSE she’s an idiot. She has no attention span to keep track of what she should be doing with that stuff. She isn’t being malicious. Kazuma, on the other hand, was being a dick on purpose, and I find that much harder to excuse.

    Wanderer
    Reply

    1. Well, she wouldn’t be in this predicament if she wasn’t a condescending jerk to Kazuma in the first place. It’s not like they had “take backsies.” Once he made his wish, that was that. He didn’t know the goddess would be so useless.

      The running gag in this thing is basically how unmotivated Kazuma and Aqua are about actually fighting the Demon King. IF they can just screw around all day and not worry about anything, they would do it

      wicked
      Reply

    2. Tbh, both of them aren’t anywhere near innocent. They do try to get back at each other. But as far as it goes she caused him more trouble than he did for her. At the end of the day though, he will help her if she really needs it and re-evaluate her if she did something good for once (until she destroys that herself).

      Kazuma can be a dick, but that’s as much as the flaw of the girls around him have imo. He is reasonable when you are being reasonable with him. Like how he accompany Megumin everyday for explosion ship.

      Takurannyan
      Reply

    3. Incidentally, Aqua was the best available option that Kazuma brought with him on that fantasy world.

      Warning HUGE spoilers ahead. Click at your own risk.

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Raiu
      Reply

      1. And since it was revealed that ushering dead souls to the afterlife or to that fantasy world was a recurring thing and a few souls actually accepted such contract from Aqua and other godesses, what happened to those humans with OP skill that got transported there? They should have killed the demon lord by now. But its still sunshine and rainbows for the demon army there.

        That means no matter how OP that one skill was, at one point that will be countered.

        So that cements the fact that Aqua was actually the best option at the cost of Kazuma’s own sanity.

        Raiu
        Reply

      2. I totally agree with this.

        Equipment, no matter how legendary, can be lost, stolen, or broken at some point. This will be like King Arthur all over again who lost his “invulnerability” when the scabbard of Excalibur was stolen.

        Abilities are only good when they’re unknown. The moment a person becomes famous because of that single ability, it becomes open to counters if the Maou prepares himself (or just takes the initiative and sends a minion that has an advantage against the said ability.) Prime examples of this are Achilles (his heel) and Siegfried (his back.)

        But bringing a goddess herself means he got the bang for his buck. Aqua’s below average intelligence fortunately causes her to use her abilities only when absolutely necessary. In this case, removing the curse. Not to mention since Aqua’s a living being, she can grow, or heal herself when necessary. Something a weapon or piece of equipment can never hope to accomplish (with some exceptions like living weapons.. but that is another story.)

        ClarionMemoria
        Reply

    4. 1. It’s best not to go too far in overthinking a comedy series about crazy people. It takes away some of the fun and it’s important to remember that these people are painfully stupid. This is like Dumb and Dumber in a fantasy RPG world.

      2. Aqua is very much malicious, she’s just not malicious about THOSE SPECIFIC THINGS. She will happily laugh at Kazuma’s misfortune and try and use him and anything he has/does for her own selfish gain.

      3. It is her fault that she’s stupid about the specific things he’s talking about.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

    5. Kazuma is another game expert, so when Aqua presented him with equip and skill to choose he found out it was all crap. So, he chose Aqua in retaliation for the attempted scam.

      Solaris
      Reply

      1. His statement of “these are all totally broken” actually means the exact opposite of them being garbage. That is a term used to indicate that an item/ability/skill/skill-combo/spell/whatever is what’s known as a game breaker: meaning that it is SO powerful that it breaks a game’s normal balance of difficulty, allowing someone to use that thing, whatever it is, to to pretty much win absolutely. Game breakers can be fun to go on a power-fantasy with for a bit, but most gamers don’t actually like to use them, because the game gets boring when you can just stomp everything, even things that should be way too powerful for you.

        Wanderer
        Reply

  22. Now poor Dullahan’s gonna have everything set up for a whole week and no one’s gonna show… You know he’s just gonna be sitting in his chair waiting the entire time. Ah, well, at least Aqua reminded us that she has a use! XD

    Aex
    Reply

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