Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!

Episode 8

Much like last week, I find myself wondering what the takeaway is supposed to be with Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! episode 8.

There's just… not much that happens in this episode, and not much to laugh about either. We get a brief bit about the church voting, the arrival and exit of the demon lady, and an extended bathhouse scene. That's… not much to work with.

The Axel church shtick has already worn out its welcome with me. The priest bribery for votes thing just lands completely flat, with both characters listing off debaucherous bribes in a way that could have been funny if there had been any comedic timing or visual gags. Instead, it's just flat delivery and then immediately a waste of time that goes nowhere plot-wise or comedically.

Then the demon woman chasing Chōmosuke arrives. There's a bit of pervy priest talk about her outfit, then one (1) spell gets bounced and the crowd chases her off. No joke, no plot relevance, no character discovery, just… another waste of the audience's time.

Finally, we get the extended bath sequence between Megumi and Cecily which is, well, about as generic as it gets. Whatever your feelings are about anime bath sequences, this one probably won't change them as the two of them sit and have a meaningless yet bizarre conversation that fails to entertain. Also, Megumin shoots a fireball, which has some nice imagery and is played off like a big character moment but didn't land for me.

The one big benefit I can say is that the ending gives me hope for next week. Megumin and YunYun are on the road again, meaning that they're leaving this boring setting with its bad jokes behind and heading off on more adventure. One of the big problems is that this entire set has sidelined their relationship, which only adds to the feeling of it dragging out. The two of them are the best characters in the show thus far so I hope that we get more great interactions with them as far away from this town as possible.

Rating:

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.