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

This is an overall review of the show. I don't like this genre at all. Shows with an ecchi/harem setting that focuses around rom-com in an isekai world is about the most generic thing you get with Japanese shows. Yet, I bow my head down to this show anyways. It's the best of it's kind. Why is it so hard to get this type of show done right? Well, most of the time, the girls are just lovestruck idiots that get themselves in embarrassing situations with the MC and they're so infatuated with the seemingly generic/boring protagonist that it brings a lot of wish-fulfillment vibes. Examplescould be Tate no Yuusha or Mushoko Tensei. I mean, if the main character's supposed to be some loser that got reincarnated, then why the hell is there so much wish-fulfillment going on? At least make him like, extremely handsome, charismatic, likeable or something. It's...as if the show's selling point is you projecting yourself onto the main character whose extremely successful with little to no effort and as a result, you feel fulfilled.

So, Konosuba dodges this. After all, Kazuma is a loser virgin who also is obsessed with women. Despite being surrounded by beautiful woman, there's this vague veil surrounding the relationships between the other characters in his party. After all, it's a rom-com. Let's be real, if there was any actual coupling go on, the comedy and story would fall apart. Of course, the women in his party play into the comedy as well. None of them are proper ladies who act cutesy and feel embarrassed when holding hands. Well, maybe a little, but in this show, they're more known for their other attributes. An archmage that can only cast a single spell, a crusader that can't land a hit, and a useless Goddess. If I had to go into each character in-depth, this review would go on for ages.

The manzai is impeccable. It uses the settings and character to their full extent. There's some teasing and ecchi scenes that pair nicely into the tsukommi that Kazuma frequently delivers. Sometimes the party will argue with each other over simple things, laze around, or they'll actually be doing questing. The natural flow of dialogue just is so fun to watch sometimes. And the animation studio knows it well enough too. The comedic timing, the facial expressions that are blown out of proportion, and the voice acting match the tempo of the manzai. I actually read the first volume of the light novel series, and it's rare I say this, but the novel's just really unfunny. There's no extra detail that the anime misses, and in fact, due to the voice acting, animation, and attention to detail, the fairly average/cringe scenes in the novel comes to life. It's not like the anime is super high budget, but the way the storyboarding is done fits the dialogue and scenes.

Finally, the actual story. And when I mean story, I just mean the quests that Kazuma and his party take on, or the people that they end up helping out are actually fun scenarios. It's not something boring like "killing a dragon." The encounters that Kazuma has and the way he deals with situations keeps the anime fresh. Sometimes he'll actually be trying to kill demon kings, and sometimes he's helping them cover their track so they escape detection. The show is at it's best with its mix of character development, comedic scenes. and a bit of a vague overarching plot of the party trying to do something.

I used to vehemently deny that shows like this could be fun to watch. After all, it's kind of cringe. However, I evolved past that. What's fun is fun. Even this genre can produce some miracles. I won't lie that it's cringe as hell to watch this, but it's quite enjoyable nonetheless.