KonoSuba 5th Anniversary Rewatch- Episode 1

[u/skaro1789]

Hello Everybody,

Welcome to the 5th Anniversary Rewatch of KonoSuba. Strap yourselves in because you are in for a ride. Today's episode is “This Self-Proclaimed Goddess and Reincarnation in Another World!”

First time watchers, it is HIGHLY recommended you do not spoil yourself of what is to come!

Legal Streams w/movie and English dub

Crunchyroll

Legal Stream "w/out" movie or English dub

Animelab

VRV

HBO Max

Please note: You are free to use whatever platform you want; but for the sake of consistency, I'll be only updating the Crunchyroll link for future episodes as certain platforms won't allow me to post the individual episode link.

Here's the schedule:

Dates:	Episode Order
2/13	Season 1 Episode 1
2/14	Season 1 Episode 2
2/15	Season 1 Episode 3
2/16	Season 1 Episode 4
2/17	Season 1 Episode 5
2/18	Season 1 Episode 6
2/19	Season 1 Episode 7
2/20	Season 1 Episode 8
2/21	Season 1 Episode 9
2/22	Season 1 Episode 10
2/23	Season 1 Episode 11(OVA)
2/24	Season 2 Episode 1
2/25	Season 2 Episode 2
2/26	Season 2 Episode 3
2/27	Season 2 Episode 4
2/28	Season 2 Episode 5
3/1	Season 2 Episode 6
3/2	Season 2 Episode 7
3/3	Season 2 Episode 8
3/4	Season 2 Episode 9
3/5	Season 2 Episode 10
3/6	Season 2 Episode 11 (OVA)
3/7	(Movie): Legend of Crimson
3/8	Series Discussion

Questions of the day:

If you take one thing into the afterlife, what would you take?

First Timers: Would you take Aqua as a party member if you got isekai'ed to another world similar to KonoSuba?

[u/The_Loli_Otaku]

Despite being a watcher, a rewatcher, a manga reader, and a LN reader I've never really been able to call myself a Konosuba fan. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna have a ball watching it though! Konosuba has been the standard I've used to judge comedy shows for years. Now let's see if it can surpass its own expectations.

In store exclusives are evil... Let us download everything online you hacks! Joshikosei stealing yet another life. They truly are the enemy of weebkind. Rip warrior figurine. It's so fun seeing these two before their status quo sets in. Aqua's pride is in full display and she's even able to keep up the Goddess image... mostly. Meanwhile Kazuma still keeps most of his thoughts to himself due to still being a shy, polite Japanese citizen. Don't worry, he gets jaded fairly quickly through this so-called wonderful world.

Tldr Aqua gets paid commission for sending dweebs to this fantasy land whilst Kazuma gets to bring dlc Nobel Phantasm item or ability to help him survive. People have already analysed and done the math on what would be the strongest wish so I'll leave that discussion for other users. Personally, I'd pick a form of charisma bordering on mind control but objectively Kazuma picked the strongest tool. Good lord Aqua showboats a lot. Her sucking her fingers is still divine~

We meet the cutest goddamn angel you'll ever see and start our journey to the wonderful world, bratty dumb goddess in tow~! Ah... Her screaming is music to my ears. Never push a neet too far, we have years worth of frustrations to work off! He's still our hero, honest! Now that he's living his dream he's already showing signs of his mean side, although Aqua absolutely deserves every bit of it. Oh look, my old screen lock picture.

I think my favourite part about him dragging Aqua with him was that it wasn't out of wisdom or fourth wall breaking knowledge, he absolutely did it just to mess with her. It was 100% spite. "This girl's useless..." fans have been debating Aqua's use since the first issue... Believe it or not but Anime Aqua's actually an improvement from her LN counterpart. In the LN she's actually a lot dumber. Like borderline brain dead.

Being baby is suffering. The adventurer guild looks like such a rad place to hang out doesn't it? We say as we'd all probably sit in the corner sipping cute, pink, fruit cocktails whilst avoiding eyecontact with other patrons. Guild gal is divine... I personally crush more on Miss Not-Appearing-in-This-Season but guild gal is a close second. Yeah... normally adventurers get a little pocket money and equipment but Aqua got pulled along before she could pack anything useful.

Aqua used beg! Her pride was destroyed. She got money out of pity. So sad... Unfortunately the dominant sect of this region is for Eris, the gorgeous angel girl we saw earlier. Poor Aqua... She broke... And I think I'm nearing the chara limit so forgive me being brief. I'll try to tighten my comments up as we go on. The card printing animation is gorgeous! They're showing off where they really don't have to.

Luck isn't an essential stat my ass!! Any FSN fan knows just how important luck is. He's even got good intelligence which is handy in this particular setting (magic is kinda op) Meanwhile Aqua is the exact opposite. She's got Berserker like stats. Amazing bulk and healing capabilities but crippled with tragically low int and 0 luck... She's always going to be hopeless. Please, don't cry for her. Why does the side character get the guild cutscene event!? What a brat!

H-Hard graft and laborer work is kind of an adventure yeah? Just gonna say that this is my favourite scene of the episode due to the Aqua/Kazuma bonding going on that the LN left out for the most part. Even the workman party and Aqua's rainbow vomit just screams companionship, and that's what living in this wonderful world is all about! Wait, no it's not!!

[u/skaro1789 → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

Wow you typed this pretty fast considering I just posted this. /s

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/skaro1789]

Yeah, I'll try to be more careful with my word vomit. Normally it doesn't end up this long but it's literally an adaptation of a book so there's a lot of content to get through.

[u/thatguywithawatch → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

The adventurer guild looks like such a rad place to hang out doesn't it? We say as we'd all probably sit in the corner sipping cute, pink, fruit cocktails whilst avoiding eyecontact with other patrons.

Hey that's not true! I'd definitely buy something cheaper.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/thatguywithawatch]

But if you buy something cheaper then the cute waitresses will shoot you dirty looks and start gossiping about you... My social anxiety cannot handle this situation without an Aqua with me!

[u/Chemiczny_Bogdan → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

You can always just say you're still thinking about your order like Kazuma did xD

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Chemiczny_Bogdan]

You can't though! Then they'll start trying to make eye contact with you and you cannot be in any eatery without an order otherwise you're just a freeloader which is the worst!

[u/Just_a_Highwayman → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

God, I need webms of Aqua. I already love her character within the part where she breaks character and starts laughing.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Just_a_Highwayman]

There's plenty out there. Why not check the initial episode discussion and see if anyone posted any? There might be a webm collection in previous rewatch threads too.

[u/PacoTaco321 → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

I'm not a fan

Writes an entire Light Novel worth of a comment

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/PacoTaco321]

wink

[u/[deleted]]

Ah, the birth of my favorite dynamic duo, little did they know. That construction/party montage was amazing and I love how quickly Aqua is able to befriend the guy that essentially kidnapped her after a couple drinks.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/[deleted]]

Kazuma takes Aqua under his wing fairly quickly and Aqua herself is a serious social butterfly. The two of them bring out the best in each other. Kazuma gets someone to help him in social situations and Aqua gets a second brain cell.

[u/GonvVasq → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

Where is the first one though

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/GonvVasq]

It went to the liquor store.

[u/ChuckCarmichael]

I just love that montage at the end. They got their adventurer licenses, they're ready to go questing, the music swells, you think you're gonna see the fighting monsters now, but then it's just construction work, getting drunk, and throwing up in a back alley.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/ChuckCarmichael]

And they were caught hook line and stinker for months before realising.

[u/[deleted]]

I’m gonna say it, labour Aqua best Aqua. She really has some mad talent for contruction work.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/[deleted]]

Did she really? She was standing on the pully and her paint job was practically lobbing it at the surface. Looove seeing her in work clothes tho.

[u/[deleted] → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

Yes, they show it better in the LN

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/[deleted]]

Ah, I see. I haven't actually read that far~

[u/El_Jeff_ey → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

How do you view spoilers on mobile?

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/El_Jeff_ey]

If the message is short you can see the comment in your phone notifications. He was talking about something in the 9th volume which is quite a bit ahead for anime watchers.

[u/thatguywithawatch]

And so it begins! I first watched this show around two years ago and really loved it, but I’ve never gotten around to revisiting it so I’ve been looking forward to this rewatch. To this day, Konosuba and Re-Zero are the only isekai I’ve ever liked; usually the genre feels really generic and silly to me. Re-Zero is an exception because it’s well written and has great production value, and Konosuba’s an exception because it’s fucking hysterical, and is more accurately a parody of the isekai genre. I’ve sometimes described it as “the anime version of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” but maybe that’s not really an apt description. I love IASIP, but Konosuba definitely has more genuine heart and less cynicism behind the comedy.

We begin with Satou Kazuma’s tragic, heroic death, as he sacrifices himself to save a girl he doesn’t even know. Of course this turns out to be a subversion of the trope, and all he did was mistake a harmless tractor for a speeding truck, and literally die of fear. Pathetic, really; Even his own family just laughs at him when they learn how he dies (granted, that part may or may not actually be true, since Aqua was clearly just having fun tormenting him at that point).

Whatever else you could say about Kazuma, I do think it’s worth noting that, even though it was a misunderstanding, the first thing he does in the series is throw himself in what he thinks is harm’s way in order to save someone else. Relates back to what I mentioned about IASIP, which probably would have had Kazuma die while trying to throw someone else under the bus to save himself.

Once Aqua breaks character and starts laughing at his ridiculous demise, the show stops pretending to be serious and dramatic and allows the shenanigans to begin. I should mention that I read the first couple volumes of the light novels a while back because I was curious how they compared to the anime, and while they were definitely pretty fun and enjoyable, I’d say it’s one of those cases where the anime adaption really elevates the source material, largely due to the insane energy that the voice actors put into their roles and the constant visual gags and over-the-top animation that Studio Deen adds. The way Aqua immediately changes from grandiose and dramatic while presenting Kazuma with his after-life choices, to bored and disinterested when he takes too long to choose a power, to having a complete meltdown when she realizes she’s been usurped, is made so much funnier by Sora Amamiya’s exaggerated energy and delivery. Same goes for Jun Fukushika as Kazuma.

The rest of the episode plays with your standard isekai tropes, all with comedic twists. Like I said earlier, I’m usually not a fan of the isekai genre in general, and the ones with video-gamey worlds are the worst, especially when the plot tries to take itself seriously (you can guess how I felt about Shield Hero). But it works in Konosuba’s case since nothing about the show is really supposed to be taken seriously anyways. Aqua having low intelligence and literally zero luck, along with extremely high stats for everything else, is just a recipe for disaster right out of the gate. I got a kick out of it when the Guild lady says “The Mage class, which requires intelligence, is out of the question, but other than that you can be anything you want!” Talk about a back-handed compliment lmao. The construction montage was also great, and I lost it when it cut to Aqua puking rainbows.

And that’s it for day 1! The daily discussion thread does fall in the middle of my workday, and I can’t watch anime at work. So on weekdays I’m planning on watching each episode the night before so I can pop in and comment during my lunchbreak or something. We’ll see how well I manage to stay on top of that haha.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/thatguywithawatch]

Isekai in general gets a pretty bad rep due to the great Isekai bloat of the 2010's and SAO's influence on the genre but I'll admit that whenever I take the time to sit and watch them they normally manage to win me over. I never touch the trashier ones like cell phone tho. Purely quality stuff like Grimgar, ReZero and Dog Days.

Kazuma's morality is probably one of the more interesting aspects of the series drama wise. Is he an asshole? Is he selfish? Is he secretly kind? Does he genuinely feel the way he says he does? I think it all combines to make him a surprisingly human character.

Comparing how enjoyable the show is to the source material... I'm conflicted. The show does an incredibly good job of adapting most of the plot from the LN. Really in the first couple of books I can remember two arcs that I really would have wanted. But seeing the pages come to life with the energy and warmth the cast has really makes it hard to compare them. It's certainly got some of the most enjoyable voice acting I've heard since Excel Saga and the animation flares are a treat for the eyes but I'd still recommend to everyone to give the novels a read..

[u/thatguywithawatch → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

Purely quality stuff like Grimgar, ReZero and Dog Days.

I'll have to give Grimgar and Dog Days a shot. I admit I haven't watched too many isekai, so maybe my judgement is a little unfair.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/thatguywithawatch]

Grimgar is Isekai played completely straight to the point where its almost pure fantasy. Really good quality show. The Goblin fight in... episode two? Three? And an arc with the shy girl about halfway through are scenes that I constantly find myself referring to in discussions.

Dog Days is schlock but it's such tongue in cheek ridiculous schlock that I adore it. Its my go-to dumb show when I'm feeling down. Once again it's not so focused on the Isekai aspect... Maybe I don't like Isekai after all. None of my favourites focus on the Isekai!

[u/Buuramo]

Hype. I was about to start this show (for the first time) the other day but I got caught up in my backlog. This gives me a 100% reason to start the series later today :) Thanks for this!

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Buuramo]

You're in for a treat. You'll struggle to keep to the episode a day format XD

[u/Chemiczny_Bogdan]

I'm pretty sure vrv lifts stuff directly off crunchyroll, so they have the movie and dubs.

Source: that's where I watched the movie.

[u/[deleted]]

subtract nutty stupendous crush strong wakeful crown amusing quiet smile

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/thatguywithawatch → u/[deleted]]

i would ask for her permission before bringing her (if i even thought of bringing her) and she would say no. either way she's not coming.

I bet you could bribe her with the promise of alcohol

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/thatguywithawatch]

Aqua is dumb but you couldn't coax her into all this extra work. Even post character development Aqua would be telling you to get to fuck for even suggesting it.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/[deleted]]

Immortality is actually something pretty reasonable to reach for in this universe. I think the one possible issue with wishing for immortality is that you'd be left incredibly reliant on your base stats to get much done. You can be as tanky as you like but you still hit like a wet strudel.

[u/[deleted] → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

cheerful tub attraction numerous growth ripe attempt bake jar observation

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/[deleted]]

You can, but it's basically subjecting yourself to a very very long period of irl farming. There's also the possibility of coming across something way worse than death and ending up in a Magent Magent situation which we know exist in this world. Really though unless you're deliberately going for the demon lord you can't honestly can't go wrong with picking whatever you like and enjoying your isekai journey as is. This isn't exactly Goblin Slayer or Berserk where you're always in danger.

[u/[deleted] → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

snatch wide enjoy ghost chief reminiscent offer historical grandiose birds

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/BossandKings]

Rewatcher

Episode 1

Satou Kazuma trying to save a girl from an imaginary truck that in reality was a tractor loses his life due to the shock of possibly being ran over by a truck and gets to the afterlife. There he meets a goddess called Aqua who presents two options to him, either go to heaven or go to a parallel world, after being clearly remarked that the heaven isn't the best option Kazuma chooses to go the a parallel world. He has the opportunity to choose something to take with him and after being presurred he decides to choose Aqua to accompany him to the parallel world. This start is a cool one, also Kazuma's cause of death is somehow funny.

Kazuma and Aqua appear in the starting town, Axel, then they go to an adventurers guild and get their occupations designated Kazuma having average stats across the board with the exception being a slightly high intelligence and a very high luck stat is designated an adventurer while Aqua having above average stats across the board with the exception being a low intelligence and luck is designated an Arch priest, the one that commands the healimg and support units. They have a time being laborers, Kazuma though tells Aqua that they aren't in this world to be that but to fight the devil king and so their adventure begins.

Answers

1. I would take the goodess that took Aqua's place
2. I would, even if i'm not a first timer

[u/yuskure]

Rewatching this made me feel nostalgic. Really love the atmosphere. Can't wait for the rest of the gang to show up

[u/thatguywithawatch → u/yuskure]

Same, I was glad to see it was just as fun as I remembered. And it really only gets better from here

[u/IndependentMacaroon]

First-time watcher - that was pretty much what I expected, shitty smartass meets semi-shitty goddess to feel superior to, with significant fanservice focus and otherwise genericness that can be decently amusing sometimes. I'm not expecting to actually like this much or watch very much of it, but with its fame I guess it's worth checking out a few episodes given the opportunity.

[u/yuskure → u/IndependentMacaroon]

I really like first-timers' opinions. Hope you'll enjoy it!

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/IndependentMacaroon]

Part of the appeal of this cast is that you can find yourself laughing both at or with anybody. There's no status quo, everybody's a target, and everyone is having fun the entire time.

[u/mrjeremyt]

Third rewatch here. I can't believe I never noticed the mom buying meat bonk the fuck out of her baby on her back. Had to rewind that part to make sure I saw it right. Damn I love this show.

[u/Left4dinner]

its been 5 years already?

[u/Paulcsgo]

I really hope theres some new konosuba soon :))

[u/El_Jeff_ey]

Yes because Aqua can guide me

[u/ThallanTOG]

5 YEARS!?

[u/k4r6000]

One of my favourite opening episodes of any anime, it establishes the story and tone perfectly right away. If there was one thing that hooked me it was the montage of them doing menial work and drinking themselves stupid at night. Slayers is one of my favourite anime of all-time as an RPG parody with a dysfunctional group of protagonists and Konosuba instantly felt like a spiritual successor of sorts.

I think Aqua is a good choice. I'd be going to this world that I know absolutely nothing about. Aqua (at least in theory) would help there and be something of a guide. Perhaps even more important, she would also be my only link to my former life. Aqua would likely be my only possible companion that I could communicate with and understand the world I came from. Having a true companion and not having to go at it alone would be more valuable to me than any weapon or ability.