Alternative titles: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!
Light Novel Adaptation by Studio Deen.
Streaming on Crunchyroll.

Premise

A video game-loving NEET dies but is given the chance to continue living in a parallel universe. MMOs are apparently all the rage these days so now he’s in one of those.

Euri’s verdict: …Could be worse?

If you like middle-of-the-road shows, then boy do I have something for you! Konosuba is yet another anime that has spawned off the boom in MMO settings recently popularised by Sword Art Online‘s two seasons, with shows like Overlord, Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation and this one trying to jump on a bandwagon that’s already lost its wheels. Fortunately it seems that the setting isn’t particularly important outside of a few ways in which the world works, as after one episode it seems to be heading more in a No Game No Life direction more than anything else, low angles and all.

That said, the biggest issue with this show is that the characters are just awful. Kazuma is a stereotypical anime-loving NEET with a foul attitude, and Aqua is a complete shit who finds fun in tormenting someone who has only recently died. It’s easy to understand that the story needs Aqua to present herself as above humans in order for Kazuma to want to pull her down to his level, but these scenes are intended to be comedic and just come across as embarrassing instead. It’s a horrid first impression.

Towards the end of the episode we see a short montage of Aqua and Kazuma working together as builders, which seems to be for a pay-off on a joke about how they’ve forgotten about their situation. However, I must give this show credit for using it not only as a joke, but to also skip the first few days these two spend together in this new world. We already know that they are angry at each other for their current predicament, but this short montage skips most of the whining and baggage that comes with all that, to the point where we rejoin the couple when they’re enjoying each other’s company and are ready to quest together. I’m sure they’ll have their moments in future episodes where they’re fighting with each other, but I feel like it sidestepped a big chunk of annoying dialogue, so bonus points from me.

I honestly think that the show will be a reasonably okay watch from here on out, though the shows fixation on low camera angles, see-through skirts and Aqua not wearing underwear means I’ll be putting my time into other shows instead. If that doesn’t bother you, I’ll be very curious to hear from you how this show evolves over time.

Marlin’s verdict: I’m Very Conflicted

Let’s get this out of the way, there are some really garbage moments in this show. The protagonist is a little shit, his heroine is little better, and the whole front half of the show is just sleazy. Where that turns around is, the show doesn’t make claims to the contrary. Our main heroine Aqua is immediately super unappealing, with her unnecessarily short see through skirt and unlikable attitude. After seeing the LN art, I was fascinated to find out the anime actually made her clothes even skimpier, usually the Light Novels do the job for them. To complement her terribleness, the NEET main character is also an asshole and the anime makes damn sure you know it. It’s the bold-faced acceptance that most likely an otaku who wishes to go to another world is a terrible person that made this show fascinating to watch. They aren’t special, they’re utterly normal people desperate for any implication to the contrary. That doesn’t mean people can’t change, and honestly that’s where I could see this show actually going places. The end of the episode shows this hero actually integrating into this new society, obviously something he didn’t do in his old life. Granted, I may be reading way too much into how far this author wants to go with this plot, but I want to believe it can go somewhere with this. We get a glimpse of two supporting characters who I assume will round out the party, both girls naturally, so there’s plenty of time for this to exhibit all the worst characteristics the genre can throw at us. Until then… it’s complicated.

Aqua’s verdict: :<

You know, I’d expect a better reception of my anime debut from my so-called ‘friends’.

Pictured: Aqua’s anime debut