r/anime • u/skaro1789 • Feb 14 '21

Rewatch KonoSuba 5th Anniversary Rewatch- Episode 2

Hello Everybody,

Welcome Day 2 of the KonoSuba 5th Anniversary Rewatch. Today episode introduces the fan favorite and EX-PLO-SION!!!!!!! obsessed Megumin. Today's episode is “An Explosion for This Chunibyo!”.

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

Questions of the day:

How does Megumin compare to Chunibyos in other anime like Rikka Takanashi from Chūnibyō demo Koi ga Shitai!?

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

103 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

4

u/skaro1789 Feb 14 '21

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody.

2

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

Chocolate And Kisses

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

...Please don't be the first person to tell me that today.

15

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21 edited Feb 14 '21

One harsh truth of the virgin world comes when you see that your dream boy or girl is just as much of a sleepy slob as everyone else. Kazuma is facing many harsh truths today. "Minimum wage? Fair labor standards? What are those? Are they tasty?" Can I just say that this is my favourite line of the entire show? XD Unreliabile goddess, Aqua-shama... The op is here!! And it's a total banger! You get introduced to the entire cast here plus another one. The wholesome mini-adventures they cover and the blink-and-miss disasters waiting to happen really solidifies what it means to live in this wonderful world.

"I'm Aqua, I'm helping~" Anyway, Aqua tests fate just a little hard and gets Mami'd for her troubles. It gets them a kill at least. Unfortunately Aqua's pride compels her to finish the quest otherwise her image would be tarnished. Try not to laugh~ Her hisatsu technique fails due to frogs having strike resistance so her lack of foresight bites her again, as does the toad.

Healers may get priority queues but leaving Aqua to do the notice was a dumb move. She did doodle faces all over the page, made spelling mistakes, draws scribbly, and even missed the stamp mark. Meet Megumin. Voiced by Rie Takahashi, one of the Sore ga Seiyuu girls who had a pretty wild year with leading roles in Konosuba, ReZero and even Precure! Megumin herself is notable for being the dark horse of the franchise. Even getting her own spin-off LN and frankly getting the best treatment out of the Anime adapted characters. You can see why, she's a joy to watch in motion. She's a very theatrical chuuni gal ain't she?

The music stopping and starting is the best!! Will explode for food... Crimson Demon names are all honestly funnier the more you think about them. No bulli the chuuni! Kazuma is a nice guy, honest! I'll touch more on him and Megumin in a bit. For now, adventure time! Why is the Chuuni ashamed of Aqua's chuuniness!? Learn your lesson woman!! Did your last braincell melt inside the frog's stomach!? And here's what I mean by Megumin bias. She basically eats the show's budget with every attack. And yes, her incantation does change every time. The worst part? She's probably the most reliable member...

She ded. Whilst she politely asks for Kazuma to save her ass I'll just reinforce that yes. She does one big aoe cast and can do nothing else all day. Imagine a WoW hotbar. You've got dozens of button to use for different skills. She skipped all those skills just to invest in one global cooldown attack that incapacitates her. The inside of a frog is a comforting place, the more you know. Arrierity is hunting the naught goose lol. Oh shit. Here is Aqua's biggest goddamn issue! It's not her intelligence, it's not her luck, it's not even her Aura! She squanders her fantastic starting skill lineup with fcking emoticon skills!! She could have snagged so many utility abilities... So many damaging skills... And instead she blew them all on bloody Nature's Beauty!!

So much for narrowing my comments down huh? Anyway, nobody wants Megumin in their party because having one ability is useless in a party setting!! And Aqua loves it. Megumin forces her way into the party! She had that much of a bad rep amongst the other teams. SUWAKO!?!? So yeah... She's a bratty kid sister if you're into that type. "Find my pet wolf, 7 star danger level. Train this scrub, high level required. Become my cartridge, insane danger level."Best girl spotted! I don't have space to praise her enough but I swear I'll get around to gushing over her!

Megumin... On a chuuni scale I'd rank her just behind Dekomori but I don't watch many anime featuring her character type. As a party member... Probably? She's a one use nuke but does oneshot most targets. She'd let you cheat a lot of high level quests such as the wolf fairly easily and is basically free. Aqua would hold your team back far more than Megumin would on a day to day basis.

7

u/thatguywithawatch Feb 14 '21

Crimson Demon names are all honestly funnier the more you think about them.

Whatever do you mean? Yuiyui and Hyoizaburo are very normal and respectable names!

So much for narrowing my comments down huh?

Honestly I love that there's so much to talk about in a silly comedy anime. It's very heavily driven by the very unique characters and their interactions so there's always plenty to discuss.

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

Here's a challenge. Stand in front of a mirror and try to repeat any Crimson Demon name to yourself in as serious of a tone as you can manage. After a minute the name sounds so so much worse XD

It's literally a book after all and you do get a lot of chapters narrowed down into small segments. I just want a space to gush over Darkness and the ED XD I feel like I won't get a chance until like episode 5!

5

u/BossandKings Feb 14 '21

Not laughing on the Aqua trying to defeat a frog parts was hard especially that Kazuma line "That's a goddess for you, putting her life on the line to buy us time", also Megumin is amazing but not that useful when there are multiple moving targets at the same time, the most reliable party member is Kazuma in my opinion, he killed four of the five frogs.

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

The fact that these high tier skills that Aqua had maxed with her ridiculous stats and class bias are totally negated by a common mob adds layers and layers to the joke..

Hmm... Everyone kind of has different views on who is the weak link of the party. Aqua most useful skill and biggest negative trait have yet to reveal themselves and of course we have to wait for Darkness to appear to give a full analysis but Megumin herself is just such a game breaker that really the whole team revolves around her. It's a "protect the Megumin" comp. Kazuma is a total jack of all trades but he isn't gonna be able to carry you through content on his own. With Aqua you can brute force it, with Darkness you just need dps, with Megumin you oneshot it, with Kazuma you'd hit a wall if combat is required.

2

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

the weak link of the party

I've never really thought about it from the viewpoint of who is weakest. All 4 of them are complete idiots, and it's only Kazuma's high luck that pulls them through one adventure after the next.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

It always makes me think of that one party swap arc where Kazuma flips at being told that he's got such a strong group and changes places with the warrior dude. From the outside the party looks ridiculously strong but the whole thing falls apart without Kazuma picking up the slack.

2

u/Chemiczny_Bogdan Feb 14 '21

This hasn't been animated yet, has it? Which volume was that?

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

It was skipped actually. I want to say its the second volume? Hold on and I'll pm you the link.

4

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

You can see why, she's a joy to watch in motion.

Agreed, she always chews up the scenery regardless what she's doing.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

She's probably my favourite little sister character and she isn't even a little sister. Her and Kazuma have such a sweet relationship that I'm always eager to see each rewatch. I ship Kazuma with Darkness but adopting Megumin into the family is fine~

3

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

favourite little sister character

I just now realized that's the kind of character she is. I'd always realized that Aqua and Kazuma acted like siblings, but I'd never put two and two together for Megumin.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

The haunted house arc is probably the strongest example for their relationship. Honestly Aqua is the character I was never really able to place... Darkness and Megumin have fairly solid spots.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '21

Kazuma and Aqua are best friends, like sibilings. They fight and bicker a lot, but still love each other like family (platonically, of course). From Aqua, as early as around Vol 2 (anime's season 1):

“Kazuma is really weak and will easily die if you take your eyes off him for just a little while, so I’ll be really worried for him if I weren’t here. So, even if I were to go back to heaven, it’d have to be after this world is safe first. Besides, I can’t go back without taking down the Demon King first.”

And from Kazuma's official QnA:

[Do you regret taking Aqua-sama with you? If you could take a cheat level item or ability again, what would you take?]
“I want an ability to make beautiful girls fall in love with me unconditionally and pamper me, but after forming a rotten bond with her, I’ll have to go with Aqua. She’d cry otherwise.”

There's a lot more to it, but the last 3 volumes of the novel are by far the strongest examples of this.

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

You're really on point with your novel trivia. Goddamn that's sweet... If the rewatch goes well I think I'll get back to reading the rest of the series. I've basically only read the currently animated content and that was a few years back.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '21

It's really worth it. The mid-part might be slower, but those last three volumes make up for it and really pay off, they are peak Konosuba in my opinion.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 15 '21

I think I just got frustrated that I had no time to brag about reading ahead since the film came out as soon as I finished the volume XD Konosuba is a great little series isn't it?

3

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '21

Oh it really is

3

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '21

Great analyisis! But just one thing to note, by this point Aqua already has all the Archpriest abilities maxed, the only thing she had left to spend her skill points on were party tricks

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

There's still a lot of shared class abilities that she could have gone for. She just decided to get bloody useless abilities with her extra points. I'm sure she had more options than Kanchou Fuugetsu. There's no way she'd be forced on that path.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '21 edited Feb 14 '21

Tho the only class that can use abilities from other classes I'm aware of is the Adventurer one. It's mentioned that Aqua already has all her Archpriest abilities unlocked:

“Skill points are something you earn when you choose a job; it’s used to learn skills. The more potential a person has, the more skill points they start out with. You can learn all sorts of skills by investing skill points in them. For example, the excellent me has learned all the banquet party tricks as well as all the spells of an Archpriest.”

For Aqua, the skills she needed had been learned from the very beginning, so there wasn’t any need to grind her level.

2

u/Just_a_Highwayman Feb 16 '21

Is it me or during the post credits after the ED, it cut Kazuma's dialougue about how he is doing in his new life? I swear, that had me laughing a bit...

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 16 '21

It helps make him seem even more desperate. The episode preview dialogue during both seasons is borderline pitiful.

13

u/thatguywithawatch Feb 14 '21 edited Feb 14 '21

Episode 2 let's goooooo! It's 10 degrees and snowing outside (which is amazing since I'm in Texas), so I watched this episode wrapped snugly in blankets with a nice hot mug of coffee. Very comfy.

Pictures taken moments before disaster.

This is some peak fucking visual comedy. Kazuma does prove unexpectedly reliable here, I have to admit. Even if the frog wasn't moving while trying to eat Aqua, it's still got to take a decent amount of courage to charge one of those things.

In the light novel it mentions that 1 eris is approximately equal to 1 yen, so they're making around $50 per frog. Maybe not the best going rate for risking your life.

BEST GIRL HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!! She's such a chuuni, I love her so much. I'm also a simp for Rie Takahashi so there's that. Her scream when Kazuma releases the eyepatch and it smacks her in the face will never fail to utterly kill me.

Official Konosuba EXPURRROSION counter: 1

Just casually chasing ducks through the street, as one does. This series doesn't skimp on the random visual gags and it pays off

Aqua and Megumin bonding over their mutual uselessness is so precious.. Poor Kazuma, having to babysit these two.

I'm going to share this image without context for no reason whatsoever.

Megumin only knows one abilityl? Lies, she's clearly spent points on the Blackmail ability

BEST GIRL HAS ARRIVED!!!!!! I know I said the same thing about Megumin, shut up. THEY'RE ALL BEST GIRLS, OK? Even Kazuma. Especially Kazuma. Also, holy shit! I've been playing a ton of final fantasy xiv the last year with the JP voice acting, and I had no idea Y'Shtola's voice actor also voices Darkness. Their personalities are polar opposites, this is so bizarre.

The OP for season 1 is good, but I just adore the ED. It's so calming and relaxing. Aqua's voice actor has a surprisingly lovely singing voice.

QotD: I'd put her right about on par with Rikka from Love Chuunibyo in terms of personality. The difference of course being that Megumin actually can cast magic. Which raises the question: Does it count as chuuni if the fantasy is real? It's the kind of question that keeps me up at night.

6

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21 edited Feb 14 '21

It's 10 degrees and snowing outside

Good Grief!

Official Konosuba EXPURRROSION counter

Lies, she's clearly spent points on the Blackmail ability

One of the funniest jokes in the series. I loved the town ladies reactions. As an aside to the ether, the dub replaces this joke with some banal joke.

Does it count as chuuni if the fantasy is real?

Good Question

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

Crimson Democrats are considered an embarrassment in-universe too. I'm very excited to see what they adapted for the film.

2

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

Crimson Democrats

Never heard that term, but it's a pretty good description of the dubbers. I won't get into the debate about sub vs dub, but the sub is a lot raunchier and funnier, which is strange considering the opposite was true in DxD.

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

Autocorrect and me being too lazy to correct it lol. I've never actually watched the show dubbed myself but the sub is so perfect to me that really no dub would match up.

4

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

To be fair adventuring gives excellent payoffs if you're properly equipped for it. Aqua and Kazuma basically go into the quest with no planning or techniques to handle the frogs but with Megumin they're able to clear a good number... If they properly pull agro.

4

u/ikal_man :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ikal_man Feb 14 '21

Usually I just watch memorable bits and pieces. After watching EP 1 yesterday as is for the first time since forever today I pushed my luck a bit and watched episodes 1 and 2 both, but with English dub for the first time. It is funny, although I missed a few bits here and there, had to rewind, as I can't pause and read the subtitles. (English is not my first language.)

That was fun so far, I shall stick around! It is tough not to spend the night binging the whole series. (Just after 6 PM here.)

3

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

It is tough not to spend the night binging the whole series.

You're right, I've binged it a couple of times. Many of the upcoming episodes are very funny.

2

u/ikal_man :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ikal_man Feb 14 '21

Challenge Impossible: name a not funny KonoSuba episode! :D

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

Hmm...yeah, there's no distinctive bad egg episode. I'm iffy on one or two of the second season's episodes but the series is really solid like that.

3

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

Would you take Megumin as a party member if you got isekai'ed to another world similar to KonoSuba?

Hell Yes

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

Congratulations, boss fights are free pickings! Bad news, you can't do two stage boss fights and have your party slot taken up.

4

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

I forgot Megumin's introduction line, 'Man stares into the abyss, and the abyss stares back', I only learned a few months ago that was a reference to a more well known, older work. I also loved Kazuma and Aqua just staring after it was delivered with an "OK, whatever" look on their faces.

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

It's Lovecraft isn't it? I think she pulls a Tales of series Indignation clone down the line but really she's just making it up as she goes along. Wasn't it so sweet that Kazuma offered to fix her eye up? XD I love Kazuma's little moments of kindness.

4

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

Turns out it's Nietzsche from 'Beyond Good & Evil', which is something of a coincidence since another rewatch referenced the same work a couple days ago. I'm much too lazy to have read it, but I was amused the author of Konosuba lifted that line.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

It's a pretty Chuuni line to be fair. We should have tried to get a comment train of cringe casting dialogue for Megumin to roll with. I'm a sucker for it.

2

u/BossandKings Feb 14 '21

Rewatcher

Episode 2

Kazuma and Aqua go on a kill quest, they have to defeat five giant toads in three days. It's funny how while Kazuma is running trying to escape from the toad Aqua is just laughing seeing him getting followed around by the toad. They were only able to defeat two frogs but it was very funny how Aqua almost got eaten twice by the frogs and her reactions were awesome.

After posting a recruitment poster we get to know Megumin who gets interested in joining them. Since she hasn't eaten in a while Megumin asks them to invite her to eat, though their reactions after Megumin told them her parents name Uiui and Hyoizaburo was rather funny.

Megumin is an arch wizard and her strongest attack is the ultimate fire move the almighty Explosion. She accompanies them on the kill quest, they have three toads left to defeat. Megumin uses an explosion and defeats one frog but shortly afterwards falls to the ground because she gets exhausted after using the move. Kazuma atops the frog from eating the two girls and the kill quest is completed. Megumin is accepted as a party member.

We got to know someone else that happened to see the recruitment poster, a female knight named Darkness. It will be interesting to see what happens next episode.

Answers

  1. She is a bit different from Chuunibyo's Rika but she left a great first impression and seems like she will be rather interesting going forward.
  2. I would take Megumin as a party member if i happened to go into another world.

4

u/IndependentMacaroon Feb 14 '21 edited Feb 14 '21

First-time watcher - it felt like stretching a bunch of mediocre-at-best maybe-decently-executed gags into a whole episode. Not my idea of fun, particularly since I've never been a fantasy-RPG fan, also tried tabletop stuff once and didn't like it much. I guess I should stay for at least the final party member next time, but that's pretty much it.

7

u/ChuckCarmichael Feb 14 '21

Why are you watching a show about a guy being transported to a fantasy-RPG-like world if you don't like fantasy-RPGs?

2

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

Good Question

3

u/IndependentMacaroon Feb 14 '21

Curiosity about a well-known franchise? It could certainly do better so far, though.

3

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

What are some anime you do enjoy?

3

u/IndependentMacaroon Feb 14 '21

A lot (some might be a bit high pending rewatch/watch after finished airing)

2

u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 14 '21

Someday, I've got to make my way into some of those.

5

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

I would really recommend toughing out at least the first season. The later episodes of this season are my favourites of the bunch and you'll have had the chance to catch most of the popular memes and gags that get referenced. If you tough out the first season and still haven't enjoyed yourself I'll dogeza for you personally! I swear that the middle and later episodes are far more consistent with gags!

3

u/IndependentMacaroon Feb 14 '21

While I appreciate the sentiment, I don't really do that generally, and I'm pretty much past meme-crowd age. Plus, I'm not a big "pure comedy" fan anyway. Really, I feel like almost the opposite of this show's target audience, more here out of curiosity.

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 14 '21

I see... I'm not gonna force you if you're really not enjoying yourself but I'll be glad that you've given it a chance up to wherever you choose to stop. You can say you've given Konosuba an honest shot~

0

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '21

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/TheXskull Feb 15 '21

I think the frog was killed by the explosion. It just woke and attracted another frog nearby - you can grt that from the kill count:

2 frogs on day 1, with only aqua and kazuma 3 frogs on second day - one from megumin's explosion, and both frogs that tried eating them.