After a lengthy wait, KonoSuba: God's Blessing in This Wonderful World! 3 is the third season based upon the light novel series, taking place after the movie. It is eleven episodes long, so it’s not a long season. The first episode of the season encapsulates what the series is about: Kazuma, and his whims. He can be very relatable, and not the perfect protagonist. Despite that, there is a certain charm to his genuine and honest behavior, not to mention how hilarious it can be.
On the face of it, if you look in as an outsider, Kazuma is living a good life. He has his own harem, being the goddess Aqua, the wizard Megumin, and crusader Darkness. yet the truth is that it’s not the stellar life that Kazuma thought he would be in such a scenario. Everyone has their own weird quirks: Aqua is dumb, Megumin is obsessed with the uber powerful Explosion magic, and Darkness is a massive masochist. Yet, despite their dysfunction, somehow, they manage to work very well as a party.
Like the first two seasons, this is mostly a slice of life anime, with only a very vague objective of defeating the Demon King of this world. As such, the plot moves very slowly, and daresay, without much direction. It meanders towards the overall goal but constantly gets distracted. Just like the characters, the anime takes it as it comes and there can be a certain charm to it.
Unfortunately, that slow plot is used as an advantage with the animation, or rather, the lack of quality of it. The show always seemed to be low budget, with many scenes have low detail, and limited animation. This season, despite having a new animation studio, and the success of the anime, continues with the low quality. There is very limited movement in a lot of the scenes, and it constantly has the characters pausing, with the whole scene being static, for comedic effect. Unfortunately, it pauses for much too long so that it ends up feeling like a waste of time, rather than cleverly using the effects for humor.
The poor animation is compensated by fantastic voice acting. All the voice actors seem like they’re having fun with their characters. However, this is a love it or hate it feature, as the anime as a whole can be loud and noisy. Characters are constantly screaming with over-the-top reactions. This can be hilarious to watch, and you can’t help but be caught in the moment for many of those scenes. It can quickly turn a boring scene into one that splits your sides.
Surprisingly, there are no massive Demon King moments in this season. The characters are thrown into the capital city without much choice. The capital contrasts with Axel, which was a beginner town. The capital is constantly being attacked by the Demon King’s army, and here we see that they are a threat. It’s just that Axel is such a beginner city, and the characters accidentally fall into the way of the Generals, where they fluke their way to victory, do we feel that it is all a joke.
After the capital, the focus returns to Axel and it develops the relationship between Kazuma and the rest of his party. The romantic side of the relationships doesn’t really progress too much, but rather it’s on the camaraderie. The anime is best when the party comes together, hatches a plan, and while they might botch the execution, they still pull through. This culminates into a heartwarming event towards the end of the season and really shows off the potential that the party has.
Overall, if the anime hasn’t won you over by now, KonoSuba: God's Blessing in This Wonderful World! 3 won’t. It’s more of the same, but in a good way. Yes, the anime is loud and noisy, and there can be a lot of bickering, but it’s also funny and Kazuma being such an unsavory, yet realistic and still quite reliable character, sets him apart from other isekai protagonists.
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