Monday, December 23, 2024

KonoSuba: God’s Blessings On This Wonderful World 2 Part 2 Episodes 4-6

Darkness returns to Kazuma and the others with a desperate plea: helping her escape an arranged marriage.  While Kazuma thinks he can get a sweet deal out of this arrangement, trouble is brewing back at Keele’s Dungeon.  Another of the Devil King’s Commanders has appeared and he has the ability to turn members of Kazama’s party against each other.  It’s do or die time for Team Kazama: to save their town, to deal another blow to the Devil Kings forces…and maybe find a way to get out of their crippling debt if theyre lucky.

Is it possible KonoSuba 2 might be quickly becoming one of the best Anime sequels ever?  Quite the claim to make at the start of a review but I think it’s a pretty sure yes.  Especially if, like me, you’re a big Darkness fan then this set of episodes is for all of us.  But we also got a new Devil King General, Kazuma upping his game and getting the band back together for some classic KonoSuba adventure.  Let’s jump back into this sucker.

Whether it’s because she was absent for a large amount of time after the Season Premiere or not, two thirds of this middle act were very Darkness heavy.  Personally, Darkness is close to my favorite character so I don’t mind this.  Plus, her epic return to ask for Kazuma’s help in getting her out of an arranged marriage gave me probably my most favorite episode of the series so far (across the first two seasons anyway).  To get rid of her actually decent would be suitor, Darkness let her inner perverted self fly free and she did not hold back, especially once Kazuma got directly involved.  Maybe the funniest bit of the episode was Darkness describing her ideal man to Kazuma and Aqua…and it’s basically Kazuma, right down to her dead on impression of him with the gut busting line “Yo Darkness, get your fat *** out there and earn me some money.”  Letting the real Darkness out to play was a blast, as were everyones reactions from the kind hearted Walther growing more attracted to her because of her free spirited nature to Kazuma doing everything he could to get Darkness to marry so he could get a better Knight on his team.  As if I don’t praise her enough, Cristina Vee really kills it in this episode, especially the “Yo Darkness” line, I cant believe I heard her say that but oh it made my day.
 
Reaching the mid point of the season, we got a showdown with another of the Devil Kings Generals.  Vanir’s highly theatrical personality made him fun to listen to and fun to watch in action, also he makes the most adorable mascot Explosion Dolls.  However, despite his fiersome power and ability to possess anyone with his mask, he was totally unprepared for Darkness.  Let’s just say he picked the wrong person to posses and hold hostage.  It occurs to me now that this is the second Devil King General who got incredibly creeped out by Darkness’ love for pain and suffering to the point of arousal.  No matter how evil they claim to be, even they cant comprehend someone like this exists.  Still Vanir and Darkness had some great chemistry and I’m glad Vanir is sticking around, now helping out at Wiz’s shop.  Personally I’m hoping for another pair up with him and Darkness for a stand alone quest.
 
I will say that while it’s good to have the gang back to full strength, Kazumas reunion with Eris after another unfortunate death taking on the Dinosaur like Lizard Runners had me thinking: can we trade Aqua for her?  I l know I asked this back in Season One but the more time I see her and Kazuma together, the more I grow to like her.  Eris is just the ideal girl next door you’d love to get together with for coffee or just hanging out.  Aqua basically complains anytime anything isnt going her way.  Heck, the show had to pause itself in the middle of one of her tirades because it was getting to be too much.  I get that Aqua is a vital part of the team equation but still, Eris is too great.  Her tease that she visits the world every once in a while and only tells Kazuma makes me think we could see Kazuma try to win her over as a love interest and I wouldn’t mind that at all.  Also I bet everyone would believe Eris is a Goddess far easier than Aqua.
 
Not to leave her out, Megumin had some nice bits in this set as well.  She provided Kazuma’s tiny Katana dagger with a super cute Crimson Demon name, Chuchumaru, which I think is cute for what it is.  But I was kind of touched by Megumin going the extra mile to bring Kazuma back from the afterlife.  Even if we didn’t find out til the end what she did to Kazuma, seeing Megumin in tears because Kazuma threatened to not com back was kind of touching.  Kazuma has mentioned she’s the most level headed of the three girls and it’s clear Megumin truly values Kazuma’s friendship, same as Darkness considering how her father approves of how close she and Kazuma are.  Moments like these remind you that for all the mile a minute comedy, KonoSuba isnt a show without a little heart…then you see what Megumin actually did and all is right with this world regardless.
 
Aqua’s whining getting a little too obnoxious aside, this middle section of KonoSuba 2 was just about as perfect as the show can be.  Great humor, decent character development and the continued penchant for taking deadly serious situations and turning them into hilarious comedy gold, this is KonoSuba in top form.  Can Season 2 close out just as strong as it began?  We’ll find out Next Monday with the Season Finale of KonoSuba 2 right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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