After two TV series and two OVA episodes, KonoSuba finally gets its theatrical debut with KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Crimson Legend. But while it does feature all the KonoSuba heroes you know and love, make no mistake: This is Megumin’s movie.
Crimson Legend follows the KonoSuba quartet (plus Yunyun) as they head to Megumin’s home town which is currently under siege by the Demon King’s Army. However, no sooner do they arrive than do they learn the truth: Megumin’s Crimson Demon Tribe are all insanely powerful and have no fear of the Demon King’s army at all.
Of course, this gives the story a good excuse to explore Megumin as a character through the environment that she was raised in. The rest of the Crimson Demon Tribe are all pretty much what you’d expect from the people who produced Megumin: They’re all 100% over-the-top–making poses and screaming attack names whenever they can.
Her family situation likewise explains why she is the way she is. Poor as dirt and generally irresponsible, it makes sense that Megumin would try and sponge off of others to survive–she doesn’t know any other way to live. We also get a bit of her personal past–namely her complicated relationship with Yunyun and her true feelings about it.
But while the focus of the film is clearly Megumin (and, by proxy, Yunyun), that doesn’t mean the other characters are completely ignored. Darkness, Wiz, and Vanir all get their moments to shine–especially in the film’s action climax.
Aqua, while largely relegated to the background, is interesting to watch throughout the movie–especially in regards to Kazuma. While the pair do tease each other, they truly support each other in their most vulnerable moments with no ulterior motive whatsoever. It’s a great example of “show don’t tell” to show their continuing character growth as friends.
Kazuma actually gets the most amount of spotlight outside of Megumin. His whole arc for the film is him dealing (badly) with the fact that he’s not popular with the ladies. He truly feels that it’s his turn to become a chick magnet and repeatedly has his hopes dashed whenever things appear to be going that way. At this point, he’s pretty much ready to settle for anyone: be that Yunyun, Megumin, or even the film’s baddie, Sylvia.
At this point, it’s probably important to bring up the aspect of the film that will make or break this film for most viewers: the humor. Basically, Crimson Legend dials the series’ prevalent sexual humor up to 11. And beyond Darkness’ usual masochistic freakouts and an insane amount of breast jiggling, there are an awful lot of rape jokes.
There’s a full (and surprisingly graphic) scene where Kazuma is nearly raped by a horde of female orcs as his companions look on in horror. Another scene is basically an internal monologue where Kazuma struggles with whether or not he should sexually assault the sleeping (not to mention underage) Megumin. Yes, it is all played for humor–and if you’ve seen the series it probably won’t bug you at this point–but if you stop and think about what’s going on, it can get real problematic real quick.
What truly stands out about this film is just how amazingly good it looks. KonoSuba isn’t exactly the type of show you’d expect to have a massive animation budget. Action scenes are few and far between with most of the runtime being spent on conversation and comedy. Yet this film pays ridiculous attention to its animation–it’s so smooth it feels like the framerate is double what it should be. And while most anime tend to spend their budget on making their key actions scenes as amazing as possible (while leaving the rest of the anime looking mediocre), Crimson Legend’s quality remains top-notch throughout. It’s just as amazing as it is unexpected.
In the end, KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Crimson Legend is a fantastic chapter in the KonoSuba series–and honestly the one I have enjoyed the most overall. Getting to learn about Megumin’s past and people is a real treat. And while the humor might cross lines for some people, others will find it as uproariously funny as it is wonderfully animated. Fans of KonoSuba won’t be disappointed in the slightest.
KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Crimson Legend was released in Japanese theaters on August 30, 2019.
Top image source: アニメ『このすば』公式ツイッター on Twitter
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