English Dub Review: KONOSUBA – God’s blessing on this wonderful world! – Legend of Crimson

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After another failed quest the gang gets the news that Megumin and Yunyun’s village is in danger. After a psychological scar from the female orcs, they arrive in the Crimson Demon village. Megumin’s parents question Kazuma’s relationship with their daughter and immediately they perk up at the news that he’ll get rich soon. Megumin’s mom locks them in her room and Kazuma wakes up Megumin who goes out the window after Kazuma’s antics. The next day after Kazuma apologizes, Megumin shows Kazuma and Aqua around her village. She shows them to a mysterious building while Darkness goes to a blacksmith. Meanwhile, Slyvia, one of eight generals of the demon army tries to attack the village, but she retreats after a conversation with Kazuma’s group.

After another night with Megumin, the devil king’s army attacks again. This time Slyvia kidnaps Kazuma and takes him to the mysterious building, where she tries to break the seal, and it turns out that Kazuma can read the ancient language. After Slyvia threatens him, Kazuma uses an old gaming combo to unlock it. Then he locks Slyvia along with the weapon, but Slyvia merges with the weapon and sets out to destroy the Crimson Demon village. The villagers evacuate as a result while Slyvia’s army charges forward to destroy them.

Afterward, Kazuma’s group figures out that the only way to stop is with a rifle from the clothing store. However, the rifle doesn’t work until Megumin tries her explosion spell which actually powers it up. The rifle breaks after one use, and Slyvia holds on to life with her willpower after that shot. Kazuma quickly comes up with a plan and uses himself as bait. Megumin and Yunyun use the magic from everyone in the village and they land the killing blow against Slyvia. Afterward, Megumin gives Kazuma her card to upgrade her skills to something else other than her unique spell. To her surprise when she casts the spell she realizes he placed her points into it. The two rejoin Aqua and Darkness on their picnic.

Our Take:

After a long wait, the Konosuba movie is finally here. This movie is a fun and explosive movie from the Konosuba series. The animation was great with the magic and comedic character movements. The comedy scenes were hilarious and the voice acting helped with that like with Kazuma’s horror to Slyvia’s modified body. Megumin’s mom and her antics after hearing that Kazuma would be getting rich soon was entertaining as well. The transition was often in the beginning, but slow down after to make room for the action. The parodies on the isekai genre from the Konosuba were present as well in this movie. It worked well in keeping me guessing on how they were going to defeat Slyvia after the rifle broke.

Now the movie goes through the three acts. The first part is Kazuma’s group arriving at the village after getting the news from Yunyun’s dad. It introduces the downside to Megumin’s explosion spell at close range. Furthermore, the strength of the village against the devil king’s army is no joke after that display of their chaotic magic. The second part is Kazuma and Aqua on a tour around the village by Megumin. We get hints of the conflict like the clothing store rifle and mysterious building at the end of the tour. Also, there’s the devil king’s army attacking the village. Then there’s the third act where everyone joins in taking Slyvia down before she causes more damage to the village and the aftermath of that.

Megumin gets the spotlight in this movie along with Kazuma. The conflict revolves around the sealed anti-magic weapon her village has in storage and Slyvia. Her rivalry with Yunyun in this movie offers short bits of their pasts as Yunyun’s sacrifice of her points to save Megumin’s younger sister gives context to their rivalry. There’s Megumin’s doubt on being unable to use any other spell than her explosion spell. Her doubt is washed away with Kazuma’s decision to place her points into the explosion spell. It works in renewing her belief in explosion magic is the best magic out there. I enjoyed how her last explosion spell had the added sparkles.

Kazuma and his desire for popularity and romance offer a good comedic moment. His interactions with Megumin were good at showing their bond as teammates. A notable example was at the end when he chose her explosion spell. He’s creepy sometimes, but Kazuma doesn’t go too far down that line thankfully. Megumin comments on that when they share the bed the next night as she notes how he tenses with Darkness’s antics. Aqua and Darkness didn’t have much of a role in this movie, but their presence was helpful nevertheless. There are also the villagers of the Crimson Demon village which has a lot of references. Take, for example, the catgirl tablet to the Japanese on the stone tablet from the creator of the anti-magic weapon. It provides a decent explanation of Megumin’s character and her introduction.

Overall it was an enjoyable movie with a decent conflict and funny moments. It’s a good movie for anyone to watch if they want to just laugh and see destructive chaos.