KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! is based on the light novel series, which itself is a spin-off from the main KonoSuba series. It is 12 episodes long and follows Megumin in a prequel from before she met Kazuma and Aqua. When Megumin was very young, she saw first-hand the power of explosion and that was what kickstarted her obsession with explosion magic. The thing with explosion magic is that it is powerful but also extremely impractical. It requires an absurd amount of MP that most people don’t even have enough of to cast it. And even if they do, they won’t have enough MP to do anything else afterwards. Furthermore, explosion is so powerful that it just wipes out everything in the area.
Megumin is just old enough to start at the magic academy in the Crimson Magic Village and there, she also meets Yunyun. The point of magic academy is to train and teach the kids about magic, get enough skill points for them to learn magic, upon which point they officially become an adult. This being the Crimson Magic Village, everyone is a bit out of the ordinary. Exaggeration is a key skill that is highly regarded, and this is what makes the anime so funny. You can never anticipate how a character would act, or how a situation would pan out because it’s so unpredictable.
Megumin was always a bit cruel to Yunyun in KonoSuba but she’s a bit more of an obvious tsundere here. She can be mean to Yunyun, but at the same time, shows that she cares about her very much. Megumin is a lot more practical and cruel-hearted due to the poor situation of her family. We learn about her little sister Komeko and the black cat that is Megumin’s familiar. Yunyun remains the socially awkward lonely girl who’s easily intimidated.
It’s good to know that Megumin hasn’t changed from before she met the KonoSuba cast. She is still irrationally obsessed with explosion and still causes a lot of trouble with it. Megumin can be quick and clever enough to take opportunities when they present themselves. The backstory with Yunyun is fleshed out and while Megumin does constantly take advantage of her, their friendship can be seen as strong.
Despite not having the rest of the KonoSuba gang, especially Kazuma and Aqua, this spin-off still manages to hold its own. Megumin is interesting enough of a character to be able to carry the whole show. Coupled with the crazy antics of the Crimson Magic Clan where commonsense is out the window, and flashiness and style are what is most important, and this results in a very entertaining anime, despite the simple animation at times.
There is a little bit of an overarching plot across the season, being that the seal of the dark goddess has been weakening, which is causing more and more monsters to appear. Throughout all this is the normal life of Megumin as she goes to school and deals with all of that. The dark goddess subplot is played loose in that it shows up for a short time, and then subsequently disappears for a length of time before randomly reappearing. It’s not at the forefront and sometimes it isn’t even at the back of your mind.
The anime doesn’t stay only within the village as it chronicles Megumin’s journey up until she meets Kazuma and Aqua. We get to see some of the events that were referenced in the main series, and how her actions have consequences. When Megumin travels to Arcanletia, you’d know that the anime is going to ramp up the craziness. You can’t believe your eyes when you see just how much Megumin has influenced the Axis Church. The reactions of the characters to the unbelievable events that are unfolding in front of them are priceless.
There are times where the animation is nice and others where it is of a poorer quality. It likes to play off the poor quality with onscreen gags, but it’s still distracting even if the scene is funny. However, as per usual, the voice acting saves it and the voice actresses of Megumin and Yunyun has done an amazing job. Despite the lack of action, the series wasn’t known for them anyway. Megumin doesn’t get many chances to showcase her supreme power, but when she does, it will remind you just how powerful explosion magic is. This has the side effect of causing Megumin to be a bit too egotistical, being mostly all talk, in many situations as she doesn’t have a chance of displaying her abilities.
Like the main series, with the lack of a more complex plot, the season finale does its best to do some sort of satisfying ending. Megumin and Yunyun does indeed close off the big plot points and defeats the big bad of the season, if they could be called that at all. It’s a good stopping point given that it ends upon Megumin’s first real interaction with the wider cast of KonoSuba.
Overall, KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! is a good spinoff. As it is a prequel, it is forced to focus only on Megumin, so the interactions and camaraderie can be weaker than the main series. However, Megumin, being such a colorful character, managed to hold up the season on her own. Coupled with the funny moments and interactions with several characters, thanks to the craziness and absurdity of the Crimson Magic Clan, there are plenty of laughs and it makes for an enjoyable anime.