First Impression – Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo 2
Overpowered and Useless, Megumin and Aqua are back
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It’s a second series for KonoSuba, but really, nothing’s changed or even different. How was the reintroduction? |
What Reintroduction?
Ditching Kazuma faster than a car running off the road
Aqua is a special kind of special
There wasn’t anything here except for jumping straight back into the story that we left with in the first series. After our lucky group managed to defeat The Destroyer by teleporting the Coronatite core away before it blew up, we found out that the kicker is that it was teleported to the local lord’s mansion and blew the place up, thankfully with no casualties. That wasn’t popular with the local petty jerk lord, so he’s having Kazuma accused of treason and working with the Demon King’s army. And in the fine tradition of fickle friends that we’ve seen from this party, and even the Town of Beginners before, everyone’s support evaporates when their necks get anywhere near on the line, leaving Kazuma to face the charges alone.
Just submit to the questioning
Don’t tick off the single lady
It’s kind of surprising that we haven’t seen things like the magic truth detector before, you’d imagine that if something like that existed it would be everywhere. But give Kazuma credit for being able to figure out that it’s best to just say the truth when faced with the inability to lie. And also give him credit for exploiting the chance to answer the right question truthfully without incriminating himself. In the trial, he ends up holding back on revealing Wiz’s identity, but when it becomes evident that the trial is a sham as Lord Aldarp basically orders the judge to find Kazuma guilty and sentence him to death, Darkness reveals her own identity as a daughter of the Dustiness family to out influence Lord Aldarp, but even then she still needs to pledge herself to Aldarp. Hopefully Darkness isn’t out of the picture for long for the rest of the show, as she walked away at the end of this episode, but having Kazuma’s head out of the noose is worth doing.
But I don’t *see* any kangaroos…
Stupid Medieval Ruffly Collar on Stupid Medieval Feudal Lord
Darkness saves Kazuma’s neck
This was what was expected of the show. Same look from Studio Deen, same malleable faces, same comedic timing, same shamelessly self-absorbed characters. There’s not a lot to say about it, because it’s not the most complicated of plots, so you don’t need me to recap it. The important part is that the show seems like it’s unchanged from before, and that’s good. There’s a lot of comedy in these characters, and they just need to put them in enough situations that they can react to the plot, rather than just turning into ‘reactions for the sake of reactions.’ The reactions are great, but it’s how they fit into the show that makes them funny, if you ask me.
Lalatina.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I don’t know which is funnier…Lalatina or Dustiness Ford, but I guess it depends on who says it.
So yeah, I heard some blowback on Deen’s animation for this episode. I’ve always thought the lower budget look really suited the show; I mean as much as I would like to see KyoAni/PA Works level everywhere, would it really go with this sort of lowballing comedy?
The direction is tight, the pacing is on point, and these selflish idiots are still loveable…that’s what I want!
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
That sounds like people wanting to complain about Deen “Because it’s Deen and they suck!” No, they haven’t sucked for 5 years. And if you’d get rid of that old idea, and quit looking for excuses to dump on the shows, maybe you’d enjoy yourself more.
KonoSuba goes off-model because it’s funny. Kazuma’s malleable face is funny. I think you’re exactly right: it looks “low budget” because it doesn’t need to be more. Plus it’s what works for the comedy. Are they going to complain that we didn’t see Aqua get accosted by the guards while Kazuma thought about the hacksaw? That’s part of what makes it funny.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, they don’t just drink the HaterAde, they have it on permanent drip…
Oh, I forgot…
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
It’s a second series for KonoSuba, but really, nothing’s changed or even different.
The animation’s gotten worse, but everyone’s too busy laughing to notice or mind.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
On other note, is anyone watching the Chain Chronicle anime? How was it?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
To me, this is really begging the question. What is “worse”? They are certainly using more malleable characters, but in my estimation it’s for effect, not due to a slip in quality. That points to a conscious choice, and while I’d support people’s privilege to hold an opinion about it, I don’t know that I think it’s correct to place an absolute value judgment like “worse” on it, at least as we usually discuss the idea of “better” or “worse” as it applies to animation.
Now, I can definitely worry about flanderization, in that I never like it when a show goes too far in emphasizing one aspect of characters to the detriment of the rest of the show for reasons of fanservice. And that could certainly happen with a change like this, but to me it’s too early to claim that.
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
While i disagree with the notion that konosuba has “bad animation”, i can definitely understand opinions that speak negatively of the show’s visuals; there is some legitimacy in the critique that konosuba’s visuals are a bit messy (both season 1 and 2). If anything, i absolutely agree that a good amount of anime fans tend to misconstrue simple art with “bad art”. Konosuba’s beauty lies in the fact that its a show that looks visually interesting and engrossing regardless of the fact that it embraces a bit of its “ugly” nature. Mob psycho had simple character designs however there was a certain refinement to the art. While it was rough and sketchy, it was intentionally so; and more importantly, the artistry was almost always concise. Even when it needed to bend to the whims of the animation, it did so in a uniform and meticulous manner to bring out the most in the abstract art direction that mob psycho was going for. Konosuba doesnt really have that in its art style tho. Line art switches between being refined to being choppy and most of the time it’s on the choppy side. Character features are ill-defined at times and the way shadows (lowlighting and highlighting) are implemented on characters and environments make them seem as if they have no depth or consistency. Just look at some of the episodes from season 1 and you can clearly see how off-kilter the art gets; and this is when the characters are not being animated in some extreme way.
Mob psycho’s art decision is clearly an intentional choice so that they animators could free explore new ways to play with animation. Konosuba’s art choice is semi-intentional in that its more of a compromise than some it is some inventive transformation of an art style. If anything, the animation staff was probably like “Our art is going to look a bit messy, but we’ll make it look interesting to watch by distorting characters in fun, creative ways and letting our animation skills cover those blemishes”. Konosuba has some really nice sakuga moments: things like megumins’s explosions to some of the expressive character animation; konosuba is a good show to look at, but this is a consequence of its animation not the art itself (the artstyle works by abstraction; tho not as well as something like mob psycho for the reasons i listed above). Konosuba is the kind of show that looks visually striking in motion. I could take a still of mob psycho and it would still look badass because the talent in the drawings jump off the screen but someone could look at a still of konosuba and be inclined to think the opposite. I think the animation is konosuba is vibrant but i can understand why people would think it’s messy especially since it does look ugly at times
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Definitely. Konosuba’s animation (moving pictures) is perfectly fine. But you look at the art itself its bad XD.
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
They skipped out on some stuff/added some stuff and I really noticed it… that’s what I get for reading the LN. And yes nothing has changed, Studio Deen wants to shoehorn Konosuba into comedy and gags and only that. Was still pretty funny but it really hurts to know that the show is more then Deen is portraying it to be. Curse me for reading the LN…
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
I’m not sure if I want them to get to Princess Iris’ arc or if I don’t. I want to see it animated but I’m pretty certain they won’t be animating it to my satisfaction.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
This is one of the situations where you really need to consider the different media as more completely separate. But I also think that one has to be really careful what they wish for, especially for adaptation of things like LNs into tv shows. It is key to remember that the number one raison d’etre for an anime is (nearly always) to sell the anime. And in service of that, there can be a serious problem with changing the tone of a series, or even a seemingly minor thing like a single character. Changing the balance of a successful show can be something that can move the needle for the whole franchise.
I do think that you’re maybe a little unfair in characterizing KonoSuba as *only* comedy and gags. There is quite a bit of serious implication throughout this episode, especially in the overhanging death penalty. But getting all serious about that would not suit the show.
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Lol, I forgot about the death penalty thing yeah… but what I meant by only comedy and gags is more a general feeling I’m getting. I was just seeing so many derpy faces and random unnecessary fanservice. I almost feel like the quality of the show has retrograded since the last season. They left out a lot of the funny parts of the court scene which may be due to time constraints. I just feel Konosuba could use some polish. It feels extremely crude atm. Though its probably too late for me to be thinking this 😀
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Just when you thought Aqua is an idiot she comes up with escape plans that show she’d even more of an idiot than you thought. I guess intelligence isn’t a necessary quality for a goddess.
KonoSuba picks up right where it left off, not just as far as the story goes but also for the comedy. Welcome back!
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 35 comments
I can see it next bethesda game lock evolve to combination lock XD.
About Aqua being special XD. cant wait to meet her Fan Club which is much more special (if The God Emperor of Mankind is replaced with Aqua) kind of special XD
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
More of the same…and I’m glad to have more. I missed these goofballs! ;w;
I also hope Darkness isn’t away for too long. I really like her character, and she’s sometimes needed as the voice of reason…when she’s not being a super masochist. But really, she just makes me laugh.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
You do know that saying, the voice of reason, in the context of this show is just barking hilarious, right?
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I thought I was being reasonable
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I find that Megumin and Darkness kind of switch off on being reasonable. Aqua never is, and Kazuma pretty much always is, so the show gets a lot of laughs and mileage out of the inconsistency of Megumin and Darkness.
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Yep Aqua is that one person in class that makes being an idiot their job & duty. And I was about to say “Darkness is the voice of reason? I thought that was Megumin’s job”. but yeah they both are at times I suppose.