English Dub Review: KONOSUBA -An Explosion on This Wonderful World!

As a prequel to the Konosuba Franchise, This feisty young wizard will stop at nothing to master the spell that saved her life: Explosion! Megumin, the “Greatest Genius of the Crimson Magic Clan,” has chosen to devote her studies to the powerful offensive magic used by her mysterious savior. Then one day, her little sister finds a black kitten in the woods. But this cat isn’t just a new furry friend—she’s the key to awakening a Dark God!

On the technical side, the series was produced by Studio “Drive” and directed by Yujiro Abe, with chief direction by Takaomi Kanasaki. The rest of the main staff are returning from previous seasons. The opening theme is “Stay Free” by Machico, while the ending theme is “Jump In” by the Japanese voice actresses, of Megumin (Takahashi) and Yunyun (Aki Toyosaki) respectively.

In terms of plot, this was quite simple. It was practically a side story/prequel that showed Megumin’s life starting at the Crimson Village academy to the start of the Main story within Konosuba Season 1 but it expands a decent bit about her characterization and especially her goals as it helped flesh out her character more by nailing a lot of points about her personality, which can explain why she’s so cemented to her main goal of why she’s so set on wanting to learn Explosion magic and nothing else.

In a nutshell, it’s Megumin’s signature attack and practically the selling point of the title and anime itself. Following her adventures, we take a much deeper look into how she became an explosive mage, her life at a magic academy, and how she became who she is today. Be aware that because this is the spinoff, we are not going to see the familiar faces of Kazuma, Aqua, or Darkness from the mainline series (not immediately at least). But we are however greeted by her friends such as Yunyun, Arue, and Cecily among others.

Watching this immediately gave the impression that you should not be expecting a deep narrative. The storytelling is very loose and has an almost slice-of-life story structure. Every episode focuses on Megumin’s life and as we can tell, she becomes talented in explosive magic. Like most standard fantasy anime in today’s age, she joins guilds, makes friends, and takes on quests. like most traditional fantasy/adventure stories or the occasional Isekai or two…

The animation is of high quality, just as Studio Drive usually delivers. It is better than one would expect, and certainly an improvement on the series overall. The scenes look very crisp and clear, the backgrounds look very expressive, the movement looks seamless, there is a nice flow to them, the bright color palette and lighting add more life to the animation, and even the low-budget meme faces look hilarious as someone mentioned in a forum post. Upon research, the staff is the same as the main series (that produced this spin-off alongside the actual season 3), but more polished.

This somewhat works as both a prequel that rewards longtime fans, while welcoming new ones who have never even heard of the world of Konosuba. The wacky humor might not be for everyone, but if you embrace the character engagement, dialogues, and humor of Konosuba, this anime will be no less than a respectable return to the franchise. Upon research, a third season was recently announced meaning you can most likely expect more from Studio Drive in the future…