Score: A

The familiarity and comfort of this episode really made for a strong first episode. It was great seeing Megumin again along with a few other familiar faces. The Konosuba movie originally aired back in 2019 so it’s been a good wait for new content for this show. Of course, Season 3 was announced, but it feels refreshing to return to this franchise once again. Doesn’t hurt that it’s focusing on my favourite character in the show. Megumin was such a treat in the previous anime, and she hits the ground running here. It will be fun to dive into her backstory. A good amount of her background has been explored already, but this should make for a fun buildup leading to the events of season 1.

That really is a spectacular sight

It’s no surprise that Megumin was drawn in my explosion magic. She was a young kid that saw something truly spectacular. It probably helps that the mysterious woman didn’t show the negative effects of explosion magic either. She must have some serious magical reserves to be able to fire off a blast like that and casually keep walking around afterwards. It might not have impacted Megumin to have this woman just collapse after firing that spell since the spectacle was amazing. But it couldn’t have hurt to be left with an impression of this woman being extremely cool.

The love this series has for making explosion magic look cool remains even now. Studio Drive is of course different from DEEN that handled seasons 1 and 2 or JC Staff that handled the movie. There’s been a nice consistency between the various studios for the character designs and the magic. Explosion magic just looks awesome. Taking down the “mysterious creature” just looked great and just set up the whole path for Megumin’s life going forward. How could she focus on things like the ability to summon storm clouds when she could instead focus on blowing up an enemy with one shot?

Really left a mark on Megumin

That woman really did set everything up for Megumi. This person saved her life and showed her the magic that would define her existence going forward. There must be an interesting connection as well with the person that bought that item from Megumin’s parents too. I’d have to presume the woman helping Megumin was the same one that person was looking for. But regardless, the two women really did quite a bit. It’s nice for Megumin that she didn’t have to go to school in whatever customized uniform that her mother used to wear. Considering the…quirks of Crimson Demons I’m sure it would have been quite the uniform.

These people really have embraced their…entertaining culture

Crimson Demons are quite interesting people. They are all about flash, posing, and hilarious names/introductions. Yet they also seem very concerned about practicality. The most powerful offensive magic is considered a joke to them for having a high cost and limited ways to use it flexibly. Yet…they think being cool is the most important part of battle. Isn’t being able to blow up your enemy in one shot extremely cool? I guess the mp cost preventing them from using even more magic just for the sake of looking cool is too big a negative.

Yunyun will be a treat this season

Yunyun remains a real treat. She’s the most normal person in a village where that’s extremely abnormal. She’s a sweet girl though. Her connection to Megumin is kind of nice in its own way. The episode shows how alone she’s been in that village. The kind of reaction of seeing people walking by and just clamming up while they do. She watches since she’d love to be around people but can’t bring herself to speak up. In a sense Megumin was right that her eyes looked hungry. But it was less a hunger for food and more a hunger for interaction. I like that the only way she could reach out to someone like Megumin was to challenge her as a rival. That friendship being a huge source of relief for her!

Megumin can be stern with Yunyun, but she also clearly helps her out. Yunyun was having a tough time with their teacher since he couldn’t really give her the support she needed. Instead, she got herself out of class so there would be even numbers and gave Yunyun a more reasonable partner to start building herself up with. And honestly the way Megumin got out of class proved she’s well ahead of the average in terms of posing and showing the theatricality that Crimson Demons are known for.

The girl that will accept world domination as a prize!

This was a fun episode. I was pretty sure this show would be one I’d talk about this season and so far it has lived up to those expectations. I’m just looking forward to seeing more of Megumin. She’s a fun character and I appreciate her dedication to a singular passion. That girl loves explosions and there’s nothing wrong with that. Konosuba is back in the best of ways! It will be different not having the other cast around for this, but I think it will be an absolute treat regardless. If nothing else, I think it will be fun watching these goofball Crimson Demons be themselves for a whole season. These people are an absolute treat.