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

What’s a comedy show without comedy? The characters on screen seem familiar and comforting, but they behave lifelessly, as if they’re just there to grab my attention—attention worth its metaphorical weight in gold according to ad companies. This season of Konosuba feels like a low-budget, cash-grab attempt. The animation studio for this season changed from the reputable Studio Deen, which did the first two seasons, to the new Studio Drive. I thought Studio Drive was only going to handle the Megumin spin-off, not take over the entire IP. Studio Deen essentially pulled a Madhouse on us, making two great seasons and then handing it off to asmaller studio to milk it dry. They did the same thing to Promised Neverland S2, Seven Deadly Sins S3, and many more, where they hooked an audience with an IP, then fed them subpar content and robbed them blind.

I can’t believe they’ve done this!

My concerns started with episode 2 when I watched the entire episode without laughing once and wondered if I’d suddenly lost my sense of humor. Watching Kaiju alongside this season of Konosuba added to my worries. But then I watched an episode of Dungeon Meshi, laughed my ass off, and realized, “it’s not me, it’s you.” The show was the problem. There are entire stretches of 20-30 seconds of just PowerPoint-like slideshows disguised as animation, switching between two sets of pictures like a beginner animator on YouTube. Compared to the vibrant animation budget and love given to the previous two seasons, it feels like a different show. Yes, animation matters. In a comedy show, animation is crucial. Even a soundless comedy can be funny if it’s animated well enough. I feel bad for the supremely talented voice actors who participated in this debauchery. I can hear them trying to convey a certain scene with their voices, but what’s on my screen doesn’t match their passion and direction.

Maybe I’m deaf, but it feels like the OST is missing in half the anime. I like the ending theme, but the opening is generic. The story stands out a lot more in this season due to the lack of comedy, and not in a good way. The generic background story that’s supposed to stay in the back of everyone’s mind is now pushed to the forefront, making the show look like a bad theatrical drama.
WHOEVER DID THE SOUNDTRACK FOR THIS SEASON WAS TRASH!!!!!

They ruined Kazuma’s big moment that I didn’t even know about, but it makes so much more sense once you have the context. This really was a slimmed down, bare-bones satirization of the previous seasons.

If you’ve seen the first two seasons of Konosuba and liked them, I suggest you just watch episodes 5, 8, 9, and 12, which were the peak of this season.

Episode 10 was especially bad. There was nothing but panning shots, mouth movements, dismally empty soundtrack, and a complete lack of comedy replaced with the cheapest melodrama you’ll ever see.

The biggest disappointment of Spring 2024 Anime for me.

Ratings:
Art: 6/10 Not as good as it should be
Animation: 5/10 Bare minimum for a show airing on TV
Sound: 3/10 Whoever did the sound design for this season needs to be fired asap
Story: 3/10 This isn’t supposed to matter since this is a comedy
Characters: 5/10Caricatures
Enjoyment: 6/10Wouldn’t watch this if it wasn’t Konosuba. I’ll never forgive Drive!
Overall: 6/10 I know the math doesn’t math but I love this series.

“I’LL NEVER FORGIVE THE JAPANESE!!!”