Score: A

While I’m sure it was surprising for many to find out that Konosuba has ended with episode 10, I’d say the official announcement of a second season should cheer people up. If nothing else the show went out with a bang and delivered yet another entertaining episode that washes away the frustration of last week. This was exactly the kind of episode this show can deliver and the reason why it is one of the top shows of the winter season. There was plenty of comedy, some entertaining magic used, and just pure entertainment in watching this group take on the monstrous Destroyer. One would have thought just bringing down the Destroyer would be enough, but the show just kept on pulling out one major threat after another. It was kind of amazing to watch really.

It’s kind of funny that the first stage of the Destroyer battle kicks in the OP song. The majority of the time that is really used for the last ditch effort that leads to victory. I was almost expecting them to fail miserably in order to make a big joke out of it XD. Instead though they let them bring the Destroyer down before moving to the next immediate crisis. Still, it was a pretty spectacular effort and first part of the battle. Having Aqua smash what is probably a very high level magical barrier, followed by Wiz and Megumin unleashing explosion hell upon that thing. That was a pretty spectacular way to deal with any kind of threat really. With Darkness pointlessly standing there like a badass waiting for this thing. Goes to show that when one explosion isn’t enough….two will generally get the job done.

In some ways it is just fun to see the whole cast freaking out. While they all have their strengths, it’s not easy to stay calm the whole time. Wiz wasn’t sure if this was really going to work out, Aqua was freaking out a bit, and Megumin was really freaking out. If she couldn’t get the job done they were all going to die. Plus that is a massive machine of utter death approaching, it’s not shocking she got nervous when really faced with doing this. Shows the usefulness of having Kazuma around though since he was able to prod Megumin forward and thus get her to launch the attack.

It kind of amazing how this thing was an utter death machine. Every time they stopped it, the thing found one more way to nearly kill them off. As Aqua and other adventurers were setting off flags left and right. After beating down a nearly impossible to stop death machine…the thing decides to try and self-destruct on them. It was a good laugh to see the quest message change into basically a “oh god, red alert” mode XD. Even the quest was losing its cool at that point.

Of course it would be at that moment that Darkness would go into full blown masochist mode. Deciding that she’d charge that thing and probably get as close to the coming explosion as she could. She did have a nice moment earlier when she revealed the (semi-obvious) situation of her being a noble in charge of this area. Either way I suppose it was helpful since she did convince everyone else to rush the fortress and thus made it easier to find the power source. As usual Darkness was misunderstood, but really it’s not like the rest of the adventurer’s had pure motives either. The majority of the guys were basically charging because they wanted to protect the succubus shop XD. Everyone uniting for a cause.

The flashback with the creator of the Destroyer was funny in a way that fit with the show. This guy was just an oddball. Frustrated not that he was being asked to make a super weapon, but make it on a budget. Throwing around random requests for an extremely rare power source and shocked when it was actually delivered to him XD. In the end he got it moving but was just “oh well…everyone is dead.” Just chilling out on the Destroyer to the end of his days. Truly a random idiot and the expressions on everyone’s faces fit perfectly.

Goes to show as well that while Kazuma can act mature and avoid some clichés, he’s still a fool in his own way. Despite his calm tone with Wiz, he was completely sucked into expecting a kiss (probably a drain kiss) and in the end just got sucked dry with her just holding onto him with her hands. He even considered it a letdown XD.

In the end I loved how it all turned out as well with teleporting being used to toss the power supply away. Kazuma banking it on his luck…but well things not quite working as expected. I suppose there are a lot of reasons for it. It wasn’t really him using the spell. Plus I suppose you could say the teleport worked since it wasn’t sent into a market or something, but rather blew up someone’s house. Whether that Overlord is a good guy or not…well we’ll find out. He could easily have been a bad person or a major villain and thus it was “lucky” to send it there. Either way it was hilarious how things ended up with Kazuma this time ending up arrested. He did say that he’d take responsibility for it.

As expected when we first saw Kazuma getting that spell, Drain Touch was the key to solving the big issue of the arc. It allowed for the teleporting and also what people thought it could be used for. A way to bypass Megumin’s weakness of only being able to use explosion once a day. Thanks to using Aqua’s insane amount of magic, they could give Megumin enough to use her most powerful explosion shot ever. It worked like a charm, Destroyer was obliterated and the day was saved. More or less.

It was fun though seeing how Aqua was again her extreme self. Actually calculating that it would be better to let the town get annihilated and thus get rid of her debt XD. But also Aqua showing that she isn’t all bad. Pointing out that if Kazuma transferred magic from her to Wiz that it would probably destroy Wiz. She is a lich after all. A bit of magic is one thing, but a lot of it is dangerous. It was a good combo with Megumin who looked utterly thrilled at having that much magic pouring into her XD. And yeah a cute moment with her accusing Kazuma of sexual harassment by touching her neck XD.

Final Thoughts

So yeah, that’s the end for Konosuba. It is kind of shocking that it’s already over. This was easily the most surprising show of the season for me. I never expected this show to be this good or this enjoyable. But outside of episode 9, it was a really fun ride. Almost every episode was at the very least a great deal of fun with some being outright hilarious. This show knew the comedy it was going for and just kept delivering that from start to finish.

The whole cast was really fun. Kazuma was a solid main character. Not a perfect person, flawed enough to make the show fun. He wasn’t just the straight man and wasn’t just some jerk either. He had his pros and cons which made him the perfect fit with his party. Aqua was the ridiculous goddess from start to finish. She really was a great main character as well. She’s very selfish, but not a bad person, can be a bit mean, but also is pretty stupid. She’s the kind of character you can’t help but still like because of all her flaws.

Megumin remains my favorite of the cast. She has some real flaws and her addiction to explosion magic can be a problem, but she’s so darn likable. One of the more sane members of the main cast. Often having as much common sense as Kazuma and getting some great lines. Darkness….really is something. This honorable knight who is also a masochist. Someone who does want to protect people, but just has an additional motive on top of it all.

I’m really going to miss this show and hearing that there is a season 2 coming was a huge relief. I think this show was a surprise hit for everyone involved. Despite the DEEN level budget it had, it actually worked visually. They gave a nice boost for things like the Destroyer or Megumin’s magic which looked great, but then would have these hilarious expressions that kind of worked with the somewhat weak art and animation.

I was hopeful that this would be a solid show and it blew my expectations out of the water. A very fun show and one of the best of the season. Too bad there won’t be any more episodes this season, but at least we can look forward to another season of Konosuba.