Monday, February 25, 2019

Book Review: KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World 1 – Oh! My Useless Goddess!


Review:  #818
Title:  KonoSuba:  God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World 1 – Oh! My Useless Goddess!
Series:  KonoSuba:  God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World - 1st volume
Author:  Natsume Akatsuki
Comments:  KonoSuba is another take on the “trapped in another world” genre but a more comedic, and unexpected, take.  It follows Kazuma who dies an embarrassing death and he is offered by the (annoying) goddess Aqua to be sent to a fantasy world to defeat the Demon King.  As a perk, he gets to pick any one thing he can think of to take with him to the new world, whether this be super strength or a legendary sword.  However, Aqua annoys Kazuma so much that out of spite he picks Aqua and thus begins the adventure.  KonoSuba constantly defies your expectations.  You would expect Kazuma to have some sort of special ability but he has some of the worst stats available and starts out in the lowest class.  He is forced to live in a stable and to do physical labor in order to earn enough to eat.  While scouting for a party to actually start some adventuring, he is “blessed” with other wacky characters.  There’s Aqua who has low intelligence and is petty for a goddess, Megumin who can only do one spell a day and Darkness who is a masochist.  To its credit, the team dynamic works really well.  The only thing holding the first volume back is its lack of direction.  It is little more than a collection of slice-of-life elements in this new world with a (admittedly exciting and funny) finale against a boss.  Despite this, KonoSuba holds plenty of promise and is already filled with humor.
Rating:  6.5/10
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