The Spring 2024 Anime Preview Guide

KonoSuba – God's blessing on this wonderful world! 3

The dysfunctional party is back, but they may be short a member soon 'cause Kazuma is over it. Disillusioned with adventure, he wants to become a monk, but Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness call bull. However, the career dispute gets put on hold when a princess requests to hear all about their tales. Will the taste of fame at the royal castle keep them together, or will this mark their farewell tour?

KonoSuba – God’s blessing on this wonderful world! 3 is based on a light novel series written by Natsume Akatsuki and illustrated by Kurone Mishima. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

Hands-down, the climax and ending of the KONOSUBA movie, KONOSUBA - God's Blessing on This Wonderful World– Legend of Crimson is my favorite part of the entire series so far. Not only do they serve as the perfect capstone to Megumin and Yunyun's arc but they also reaffirm the bond between Megumin and Kazuma—and hint at where it could go in the future. So starting season three by focusing on the fallout of these events? I couldn't ask for more.

The events of the film have mentally scarred Kazuma—not only Sylvia's obsessive, oppressive love for him but also their lover's suicide that got him hit with explosions and sabers of light. Not to mention that, for a brief moment, Kazuma had been the ladies man he always wanted to be. Now he's not sure that's even what he wants anymore. It might be better to go off and become a monk—and forget about adventuring (and women) altogether.

While this allows all the silly shenanigans we've come to expect from KONOSUBA at this point (and the ones in this episode are legitimately hilarious), it also allows Megumin the chance to repay Kazuma for what he did for her at the end of the film. At her lowest point, she lost faith in herself—was willing to give up what made her herself for the sake of her friends. Yet, Kazuma, as perhaps her truest friend in the world, would never ask her to do that—never want her to do that. And by his actions, he let Megumin know that she was okay as is—that she was accepted, quirks and all. Now, just as Kazuma led Megumin back to herself when she was led astray, she does the same for him—well, for the most part anyway.

The rest of the premiere is a mix of one-off jokes and setting up the first big arc of the new season. Once again, the worlds of Darkness and Lalatina are colliding (much to her utter despair) while their own greed so blinds the other three they can't see the dangers of schmoozing with royalty. All in all, this makes for a fantastic start to the new season—taking time to reminisce on the past before moving on to the future. Like I said at the start, I couldn't ask for more.

I'm a latecomer to the often crass, frequently politically incorrect humor of KONOSUBA. When it first streamed in 2016, I gave it two episodes, then ditched it in disinterest. Only upon relentless bullying from online friends did I give it another chance, and I was surprisingly glad I did. KONOSUBA can be really, really funny. It's also spectacularly, deliberately stupid – or at least its characters are – and the humor is predominantly character-based, so if you dislike the leading quartet of barely-functional idiots, you're not going to enjoy the show.

Season three kicks off by adapting some segments from light novel volume 5 that weren't used for the preceding movie, Legend of Crimson. This does make the episode somewhat bitty and scattershot, but that's not entirely unexpected from KONOSUBA, with some episodes often not a lot more than a string of loosely connected comedic vignettes slapped together, interspersed with short eye-catches.

Kazuma's main issue this time is his newly-developed dread of women and relationships, triggered by his uncomfortably up-close-and-personal encounter with terrifying chimera Sylvia's unexpected genital anatomy. This dread triggers unpleasant nightmares, flashbacks, and personality instability. Kazuma switches from weirdly ethereal and distant to terrified and defensive at the slightest provocation. Clearly, the answer is for him to run away from all women and become a monk.

His friends are worried for him – though Aqua's mostly concerned about who's drunk all her "bubbly." During the movie's events, Kazuma and Megumin got a little bit closer, and we're blessed with another cute scene between them here, where Megumin attempts to tell Kazuma how she envisages her future before falling asleep… (She had just exhausted herself exploding a nearby mountain.)

Obviously, constantly hindered by his friends and the random occurrences in their path, Kazuma never does reach his monastery destination—an encounter with a sweet-looking girl by the roadside is particularly funny. She's really a monster who preys on good-natured travelers with some kind of moe hypnosis. Kazuma's party, despite their flaws, are all kind-hearted, sweet people, so it's up to perpetually suspicious Kazuma to save them all. Sort of.

Despite changing studios, I believe most of the previous seasons' and movie's staff have remained with the franchise, so KONOSUBA looks as colorful, hyperactive, deranged, and fun as it ever did. The animation often looks intentionally "bad," especially when characters' expressions deform for comedic effect. So far, things are looking good for KONOSUBA's third season – its mix of fast-paced scattershot screwball humor generated by genuinely likable characters looks set to maintain a high bar.

Man, I missed these idiots so much. It feels like forever since the last time we got any KONOSUBA content. I know we have the Megumi spinoff, but I don't think you can beat the comedic chops of these four idiots bouncing off each other. From the minute the episode started until the end, I had, at worst, a giant grin on my face, and at best, I was rolling on the floor. I greatly appreciate that the premiere didn't waste any time getting into the next wacky antic with little to no recap. There is a lingering tie to the movie that acts as the inciting incident for the story of this episode, but considering that it's predicated on a joke that still doesn't sit well with me to this day, I'm glad that it was kept vague and just moved along.

The plot of this episode is that Kazuma is fed up with the trauma he experienced in the movie. They got a nice reward by defeating Sylvia, but sure enough, things still find a way to go badly for Kazuma. I don't blame Kazuma for being frustrated. Despite being a lazy and lecherous teenager, he is still arguably the most sane person in the room compared to the rest of his companions. The skit revolving around the plant mimic monster perfectly summarizes why these guys worked as a comedy group. You have Kazuma trying to get everybody under control while the three girls find themselves in trouble. He tries to go along with their craziness, only to be the primary one disillusioned by everything happening. I like that he gave up on his journey to be a monk because he was just so disappointed after seeing through the plant mimic's act.

I was waiting for that twist for the entire skit because that's just how the show has trained me at this point, but I still laughed because of how the animation and voice acting elevate many of the show's comedic bits. The actors are screaming at the top of their lungs, and the facial animations are the perfect blend of fluid and goofy. There's also a snappiness here that I don't think has been emulated by that many other comedy series lately. If anything, we've seen a rise in a lot of action shows in the past few years, so seeing something with this pacing land consecutive jokes in such succession feels perfect.

I can watch twelve episodes like this and not get bored, but I'm curious to see if there are other overarching setups. It was nice to hear Kazuma talk a little bit about what his life was like back home, and this new diplomatic situation that he finds himself in sounds like it'll be interesting. But I'm curious whether there will be a follow-up on the relationship between Kazuma and Megumi. Those two seemed to be developing a budding romance the last time we saw them, and there are hints of that still being the case here, even if it did result in a punchline. I'd like to see that romance blossom at least a little bit to satisfy the romantic comedy appreciator in me, as well as the comedic possibilities.