Review of KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! 3

KonoSuba is the kind of series that never manages to get stale. It’s consistently a funny watch, and like many great comedy shows, I chalk that up to a central cast that is just firing on all cylinders when it comes to how terrible and yet surprisingly relatable they are… well, except for Aqua. This season, the situations they find themselves in are varied and entertaining enough as always, but if I had to nit-pick a bit, it does feel like it’s lacking more in the whole group dynamic. Characters spend large portions of the season apart, and though the settings can be entertaining and meaningful,it does feel like it misses opportunities to make the most of its cast. I love Kazuma, but he needs his girls to balance out some of his worst tendencies, and having Darkness spend much of the season as the one keeping everyone else in line was interesting, but meant she wasn’t super entertaining this time around. Granted, her role as a masochist can get a little stale, and her role drives much of the plot of the latter half of the season, so it’s not bad by any means.

And, yeah, the plot itself is just a vehicle for more hilarious situations. Whether we’re crashing a wedding, playing Gotta Catch ‘Em All with some magical items from previously isekai’d humans, fighting a massive hydra day after day, or just hanging out with some royals, the series finds lots of opportunities to keep the laughs coming. Occasionally, they’re tempered with a serious moment or two, but this season knows its strengths and generally sticks to them.

Still, at the end of the day, this season does feel like it’s missing something. It’s not so much in its moments, but in its bigger presentation. I think KonoSuba is at its best when it’s offering opportunities to build out the world in crazy and insane ways, and much as its smaller stories are still fertile ground for the series to get its laughs, I don’t think this season did much for the broader narrative. I love learning about the isekai’d fucks ups and what they did in their time in this world. I love learning about the Demon King’s Generals and what crazy nonsense they’re up to (or being subjected to). This season seems like it’s teeing up more of that in the future but feels lackluster in those elements.

I still love it all the same.