KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world! 2

Episode 10

Despite not giving any clear indication up front that this is the final episode of this season, that's exactly what we get this week. That probably shouldn't come as a surprise, since the first season was also only 10 episodes, but it's still a disappointment. After all, this feels more like the capping episode for an arc (which it is) than an entire season. Of course, this has never has been a series about sustained story arcs. Between getting to Arcanretia and dealing with what followed, this arc has actually lasted four whole episodes, which makes it the longest continuous narrative thread in KONOSUBA yet. And what better way to finish a season than with the longest of several story arcs?

The actual episode content spins a quite interesting tale. Finding out that the other guy in the hot springs from last episode is actually one of the Devil King's most powerful lieutenants isn't too big of a surprise, (but who does that make the woman he was in the bath with?) and the notion of someone so powerful being overwhelmed by the Axis Church recruiters even more than Kazuma is rather funny. So is the irony that Aqua wasn't actually lying when she claimed that a minion of the Devil King was poisoning the city's water source. (Is that actually a sign of the Apocalypse for her world?) This all leads to easily the most dynamic and exciting fight scene of this series' second season, with everyone getting involved to one degree or another as Kazuma orchestrates one heck of a bold plan. Seeing Wiz actually step into action and prove her devastating powers as an ice wizard was neat, but even she got outshone by Aqua, who stops the poisoning, feeds off the prayers and cheers of her worshipers, and proves to be a badass at something other than just purifying undead or generating water. Her use of God's Blow and God's Requiem are visually dazzling scenes, something you can't often say about the series.

Of course, the episode doesn't forget to be funny. The axioms of the Axis Church are rather amusing, especially in the way that some of them so thoroughly reflect Aqua's personality, and the speed with which her worshipers turn to rejecting her again reminds us that the series has no intention of letting these characters off the hook for long. Yunyun showing up again at the end to finish her running joke was expected, but sadly, we don't get to find out what might have happened regarding the people that she was pleading with not to come. Perhaps they'll show up next season? I have to think that there's going to be a season 3 eventually. This franchise is just rolling along too well.

If the series doesn't qualify for another season, then at least it had a very good run. I consider this the comedy champ of the season (by a narrow margin over Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid) and one of the funniest fantasy RPG anime comedies to date.

Rating: A-

KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world! 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.