Random Anime of the Week: Konosuba

Let's talk a little bit about the plot of the show before we get into that. The show's main protagonist is Kazuma; he is your typical fantasy protagonist in the sense that he is a gamer shut-in. He doesn't see the light very much and spends way too much time playing video games. We start off our story by Kazuma doing something very different than his normal routine, he plans to go outside! Well, kind of. He is taking a bus round trip to some location in order to get his hands on a limited edition copy of a new game. Upon his return ride, he exits the bus and makes his way walking down the street when he passes a young woman. Kazuma glances back momentarily to see that the woman is about to be hit by a truck. Out of character, which he even comments on, Kazuma throws himself in front of the truck, knocking the woman to safety, and inevitably ending his own life.

He awakens in a smallish, dark space with a young lady sitting directly across from him. She introduces herself as Aqua, a goddess that helps young souls on their journey in the afterlife. This is when the goddess confirms our main characters beliefs that he is, in fact, dead. The goddess informs him that he has a choice he can make; he can go on to heaven, which she describes as a boring, good for nothing place, or he can be reborn in a fantasy, game-like world where he can become an adventurer. Of course, Kazuma's gaming nature takes over and he ponders the decision. To sweeten the deal, Aqua says she will grant him one thing to take with him on his journey to this world where his goal will be to kill a demon king that is terrorizing the land. Of course, this is an important decision, so Kazuma ponders for quite a while. Eventually, the goddess gets bored and starts pestering him to make a decision already. After some time, he gets fed up with the goddess, and says that his wish is for her to accompany him to this new world. Another goddess soon descends to take Aqua's place, and the two, one more reluctant than the other, are transported to this new world of adventures.

So that's the basic start of the story, pretty typical right? It has some unique aspects to it, such as the whole afterlife deal and choice. For the most part, however, it is the typical fantasy, RPG set up, just with a different way of getting to the fantasy world. Instead of "diving" into the game with virtual reality technology, or suddenly waking up in the fantasy world, they chose that his entrance to such a world would be through death. Now as the story progresses through the fantasy world, we see that they take an approach that would relate this anime more to SAO and Log Horizon. They spend a descent deal of time explaining that the world is based off classes, and each class has certain skills. So in that aspect, it is exactly like a game. We also learn that, unlike a game, you can't die. If you die, you die. No respawn. Which that makes sense since this is supposed to be a "real world."

Now what does this show do differently? Upon looking over the characters and their relationships, it's kind of hard to pick something out that is unique. However, the party that forms that makes up our main protagonists (male and female leads (Kazuma/Aqua)) and their supporting characters, seems to be a harem. The anime takes a different aspect on that, as the supporting characters aren't drooling over the main, and the main wants nothing to do with his "harem." This is nice, despite the random acts of fan service. I also am thoroughly enjoying that I have two main characters, male and female, and they aren't destined to be in a romantic relationship. The two are keeping things strictly platonic, which is a nice twist on the typical fantasy genre. I would also like to mention that this anime focuses heavily on comedy than other aspects such as action, or adventure. It is clear that this is supposed to be a comedy fantasy, unlike others like Grimgar that are more dramatic.

As a whole, I like the anime. It doesn't do a whole lot that is out of the ordinary, but it caught my attention. The characters are easy to fall in love with and their relationships seem to grow as the show goes on, giving it some continuity. Don't expect too much depth out of this anime though, as it does focus more on a comedic aspect rather than an engrossing story line. Watch it if you want a few laughs, but if you are wanting a more serious fantasy anime, you should probably look elsewhere (Log Horizon, SAO, and Grimgar would satisfy your taste).

Written By: Kyle Hawk

If you are looking for more fantasy-like anime series, our random anime generator can filter the shows to only include fantasy shows for you!

Related Articles - Konosuba, Random Anime, Anime Review, Anime First Impression, Anime Show, Kazuma, Aqua,

Email this Article to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!