Anime Review – KONOSUBA: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World – Legend of Crimson

The Crimson Demon village that Megumin and Yunyun are from is facing a threat that could mean it’s ending. Kazuma and his gang follow Yunyun, who returns to the Crimson Demon village intent on saving it when they are faced with their greatest threat yet. – ANN

Availability: Theatrical Release

Episodes: 1 Film

Source: Light Novel

Review: Note: This review contains some plot spoilers for the film.

Sometimes it’s good to go outside your comfort zone; in other cases, it’s good to be reminded why your comfort zone exists in the first place. I had the opportunity to attend a screening of the Konosuba movie recently. To be honest, the extent of what I know about the series comes mostly from memes, gags, and general fandom osmosis, because the original anime adaptation was released when I was at a low point and I never found the time to go back and catch up with it. I assumed it wouldn’t be too difficult to get my bearings, especially since it’s difficult not to have some passing familiarity with the main characters and their foibles at this point in the anime fandom game. That, and when the cold hits in Minneapolis there’s really not that much else to do than join your local fandom friends in a fun indoors activity, so why not?

The beginning of the film sees Kazuma, Megumin, Aqua, and Darkness in trouble again, having “accidentally” caused a local tuna shortage (due to an errant explosion, of course). As they’re nursing their feelings at the pub, Yunyun arrives and approaches Kazuma with a frantic and unusual proposition – according to a prophecy (of dubious origins) she needs to get pregnant with Kazuma’s baby, who will then grow up to defend her village. The situation turns out to not be quite as dire as that, but there are baddies threatening Crimson Demon Village and in the process of addressing that issue the party has the opportunity to meet Megumin’s and Yunyun’s families, friends, and other various co-conspirators (as it turns out, Megumin’s chuuni (adolescent delusional) behavior is a matter of local culture rather than her own individualism – who would have thought?).

The demons ramp up their attack in a major way while their leader, Sylvia, by some matter of Kazuma’s carelessness, is able to join with an ancient weapon and actually wreak some havoc against the otherwise OP villagers. It’s through the intervention of Megumin’s little sister, the cooperation of Megumin and Yunyun, and ultimately Kazuma’s unabashed horniness that turns out to be the deciding factor in the conflict.

At its high points, this film is gut-bustingly funny. I don’t typically enjoy stories about completely garbage human beings, but in this case I think the rapport between the characters, their grudging acceptance of each-others’ quirks, and the limits to which they put up with one-another’s behavior work well. Kazuma is sort of that guy you love to hate – basically incompetent, more than willing to throw other people under the bus, and almost always a slave to whatever is going on in his groin at that moment. The women around him treat him with eye-rolls and derision, only to turn around and behave like trash humans themselves. It’s a delicate balance and not ever property can manage it, but coupled with the goofy animation style and voice acting, a lot of the character comedy really works.

There are, unfortunately, some major misfires that rob the film of some of its comedic impact. There’s a gag partway through the film in which Kazuma, having been trapped next to a large pair of breasts, basically surrenders himself to temptation, only to realize that the same woman who sports this luscious rack also has a penis. The ensuing reaction is about as terrible as you might expect, falling backwards into a cess pit of “tr*p” humor before eventually clawing its way back out and moving on. I feel like this probably shouldn’t have been so unexpected – the showing of the film began with a bonus interview between the two main voice actors during which they expressed their hope that American audiences would “appreciate” the Japanese-style humor, and the other time I can remember hearing this sort of sentiment recently was in reference to the slavery-related content in The Rising of the Shield Hero during the Kinema Citrus interview at Anime Central. Needless to say, I don’t believe that progressive social values are only the purview of the West, and I believe that Japanese humorists can (and often do!) manage much better than this.

Likewise, there’s a good amount of vaguely non-consensual sex humor between Kazuma and Megumin that toes a very fine line. The scenes ultimately skirt responsibility by making it unclear whether Megumin welcomes Kazuma’s overtures or not (just your typical tsundere sort of material). Obviously I’m not sure how much of this is just an extension of their interactions within the show proper, but while I’m not overly-offended by how things are framed in this film it’s the type of humorous balancing act that’s not to my tastes.

In its best moments, the movie is entertaining because of its unrestrained animation style and its propensity for ridiculous plot escalation. As I mentioned before, Kazuma’s horniness turns out to be useful in resolving the final conflict, while some of the more endearing side characters (Megumin’s little sister being my favorite) get their moments to shine. Ultimately I was fairly entertained despite not having the amount of experience with the franchise that most of the other members of the audience likely enjoyed.

One thing that I always consider when I watch something out of order is whether or not what I’ve watched prompts me to go back and begin a property from the beginning. I’d argue that even without context, some series reveal just how good they are no matter where you jump in (case-in-point: I started watching Revolutionary Girl Utena from near the end of the first cour and immediately went back to watch from the beginning because why the heck wouldn’t you?). After seeing this film, I’m honestly a little bit ambivalent about the prospect of watching the series. For all its obviously meme-able moments and all the interesting animation cuts I’ve seen posted around sakuga enthusiast blogs and twitter accounts, I get the impression that some of the character content just never escapes from the kind of humor that punches down and makes me uncomfortable (though I’m willing to hear otherwise from fans of the series). In any case, I think this is a fun film for fans who are more in step with what the franchise has to offer, but I wouldn’t recommend it to people I know who have some of the same reservations about certain types of content.

Pros: The loose, goofy animation is even more effective on the big screen. The characters are crappy in all the best ways.

Cons: Some of the humor dives right past lowbrow into harmful and insulting.

Content Warnings: Jokes at the expense of Trans/Intersex people. Some cartoonish violence. Some mild nudity. Suggestive non-con situations.

Grade: B-