Tuesday, April 1, 2025

KonoSuba: God’s Blessings On This Wonderful World 3 Part 1 Episodes 1-3

After a near disastrous adventure with the Crimson Demons, Kazuma’s enthusiasm is at an all time low.  But when he gets a summons for a meet and greet with the Kingdom’s First Princess, Kazuma sees the opportunity of a lifetime.  Even better, Princess Iris wants to about Kazuma’s adventures so much, she virtually kidnaps him.  It’s the start of a new life for the wayward adventurer…until Aqua, Megumin and Darkness arrive to drag his butt back home.

I cant imagine what it was like for fans of KonoSuba to wait for this one.  Here at the Anime Corner, it’s only been a few months since I looked at the first two seasons and the movie.  For others, there was a seven year gap following Season 2 in 2017, even with the Legend of Crimson movie in 2019 that’s still five years.  That’s a long wait, especially for a breakout Isekai hit that was on fire from the get go.  Thankfully, that fire has not cooled and KonoSuba is back and just as fun as you remember it for its third Season Premiere. 
 
First off, I’m glad that Season Three establishes that the Legend of Crimson movie is cannon and that Kazuma is suffering PTSD from his time with the sexy villainess of that film.  Him having a bit of an existential crisis (by Kazuma standards) and wanting to change things up a bit, so much he goes with becoming a Monk, is very much a Kazuma overreaction.  As interesting as it would be to see Kazuma ruin the Faith for everyone, the highlight of this little episode and the sign that KonoSuba was truly back in business was seeing his reaction to the true colors of the Tranquility Girl everyone took pity on, even him.  Seeing her for the fraud this adorable, helpless creature really was is easily one of the funniest moments in the entire series.  Oh yeah, KonoSuba IS BACK BABY!!!!
 
Season Three looks to be expanding on the world once more by introducing a faction I’m surprised hasn’t popped up sooner: The Royals.  Princess Iris is our first ruling authority figure in KonoSuba and she does go against type and expectations a bit.  She’s a tiny little adorable little sister type who is so shy that she has to pass her words through her two trusted servants, Claire and Rain.  Actually, the overprotective Claire feels more in line with how you’d think a royal figure in KonoSuba would behave, quick to anger and instant kill mode.  Still, Iris’ energy is fun and she very much embodies the young fan eager to hear endless stories of adventures she cant have.  My only problem: Kazuma getting…whatever he is hearing Iris call him “Big Brother”…no…just no dude…that’s freaking weird.  That being said, does it surprise anyone Kazuma loves being pampered as he’s now the Princess’ new bestie/big bro?
 
Not to be outshone by the adventures of Kazuma and Iris, the other KonoSubs girls haven’t lost a step during their hiatus either.  While Aqua’s still kinda useless, Megumin and Darkness get a lot of great moments to shine.  They actually continue on the potential romance between Kazuma and Megumin that took center stage in Legend of Crimson.  Megumin’s clearly upset at the notion of Kazuma leaving the group for anything else and her fireside scene with him is as close to a romantic confession as we’ve gotten so far (before she totally snoozes off, classic).  Darkness though steals the show too as she navigates being understandably stressed that her friends are going to embarrass her in front of the Royals while also standing up for Kazuma when Iris and her bodyguards throw shade his way.  It was equally good to see Kazuma have her back in return by trying to pretend he’s Darkness’ side affair to keep suitors off her back.
 
One little thing of note before we close out is Kazuma’s side hustle with Vanir.  Turns out Kazuma is starting to bring some modernization to this fantasy world…by inventing lighters.  It might seem small but as some noted, in a world where Flint and Tinder are the main tools of making fire, this is a huge game changer.  It’s got the potential to make Kazuma richer than ever, maybe even set for life.  But I’ll be honest, the concept pails in comparison to one of the best jokes where Aqua isnt allowed a free lighter because she didn’t do squat to help make them unlike Megumin and Darkness.  Wonder what other little modern inventions Kazuma and Vanir have in the works.
 
It looks like we wont being seeing much of those side projects, or Axel, anytime soon since it looks like Kazuma managed to keep himself and the gang with Iris a bit longer.  The only question is: how much of Iris’ Kingdom will they end up burning down to find one thief?  Who knows but the prospect of such mayhem only adds to the magic that is back in full force with KonoSuba.  Season Three continues Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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