Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!

Episode 5

Episode 5 of Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! takes an interesting tack this week and brings a unique blend of its comedic and dramatic stylings to the table using the same core elements.

This episode leans further into Megumin and YunYun's character progression, literally and figuratively. Whereas prior episodes were similarly character-focused, those were more of what I would call horizontal character episodes. What I mean by that is that the situations they were put in often illuminated pre-existing facts or truths about the characters to the audience, but they were not exactly advancing the characters in new directions. We have largely been in a discovery phase so to speak, going from scene to scene and seeing how the characters react to novel events, but the core truths of who they are as people have largely remained in place.

This episode by contrast pushes YunYun and Megumin into new territory. Faced with a threat they cannot surmount and with the only help being too far away (and actively about to annihilate them by accident), they were faced with a life-or-death situation. In this moment they both unlocked new understandings about themselves and their powers, unleashing big bombastic blasts and clearing the skies of any nasty monsters. They've officially hit the big leagues (or at least are out of the minor leagues), and have graduated now. This is the end of the beginning as it were, and they're off on their next adventure.

Along with this wonderful character growth is a metric ton of wonderful little moments. There are great gags – particularly Megumin completely flopping the dagger toss and blaming it on a wind spell. There are excellent line deliveries both for comedic and dramatic purposes. There are silly moments with Komekko and her boisterous naivete. There are some gorgeous spell effects, particularly Megumin's capstone spell rising high into the sky and the waves of color washing over the clearing. And there is terrific sound design too, with a big satisfying “clunk” noise just before she fires off the spell like a bullet being loaded into a chamber.

It all comes together to make really wonderful twenty-or-so minutes of animation, and it has me pumped to see what happens next week.

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Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.