Isekai Quartet 2

Episode 8

Taking on a bevy of part-time jobs in order to be able to afford a special gift or other purchase is a tradition of school and college-based series which dates back at least to the early '90s. (I know it appeared in the Oh My Goddess! OAVs from 1993, and it may have earlier origins.) There have been variations to this over the years, such as taking on jobs like that to support one's self while living on one's own, and occasionally humor has been directed at the practice. This episode, which focuses almost entirely on that gimmick, more savagely parodies that tradition than most previous attempts and winds up with some surprising results in the process.

Of all of the staple character, Viktoriya (aka Visha) is the one most suited for the role of the character who would do something like this, and it gives her a rare opportunity to shine; she's always been around and often involved but almost never has been the focal point character. That she is spotted by various different class members doing an impossible number of different jobs in an impossibly short time span is, of course, a key part of the joke here; the kicker joke is that Ruffian (aka Mohawk Guy) also appears in all of those locations. The eventual explanation for why she's doing it is just as silly: she's on a quest to be able to afford the mysterious, massively-priced “special menu” item in the school's cafeteria, which no one else has ever ordered, either. That gets many of the others to try their hands at part-time jobs themselves, which leads to some good side jokes.; my favorite was probably Subaru interacting with the Pleaides (aka the battle “maids” from Overlord) because of all of the jokes at work there; CZ doesn't talk in the source series, for instance, and the blond-haired Solution uses the fact that she's actually a slime to snatch the food Subaru was delivering.(1) Yunyun being picked on again for her solo activities was also a good touch.

That just provides the set-up for the big reveal of the “special menu” item: it's just a mammoth-sized portion of a common meal. The joke that is being played here is not actually based on her being a glutton in Saga of Tanya the Evil; it's instead an extrapolation of one of her defining characteristics being that not even the most troubling and dreary situation throws her off from eating, a fact that other soldiers in her series comment on more than once. Still, the shot of everyone being tensed up for the big reveal is priceless.

Among other little details, Chōmusuke from KONOSUBA and Puck from Re:Zero seem to be getting along quite well if you watch carefully in the backgrounds. It also looks like the series isn't done with the Destroyer, the ultimate-weapon automaton from KONOSUBA which was used at the end of last season to liven up the cavalry battle. Could its eyes turning red mean that it's about to go berserk and become a general threat this time? We can only hope. . .

1 – Solution eating the snack could also be looked at as a joke on the fact that she's known for killing enemies by absorbing them into her body.

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Isekai Quartet 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.