is a Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series written by

Natsume Akatsuki Natsume Akatsuki (暁なつめ, ''Akatsuki Natsume'') is a Japanese light novel author and manga writer from Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. He is best known for writing the ''KonoSuba'' series. Career In 2012, Akatsuki entered his debut work ...

. The series follows

Kazuma Sato is the main protagonist of the light novel, manga and anime series ''KonoSuba''. He is voiced by Jun Fukushima in Japan and by Arnie Pantoja in English-speaking regions. He was a shut-in NEET until being sent to a parallel world and became the l ...

, a boy who is sent to a fantasy world with MMORPG elements following his death, where he forms a dysfunctional adventuring party with a goddess, an archwizard, and a crusader. Originally serialized as a

web novel Web fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines. Unlike ...

Shōsetsuka ni Narō is a Japanese novel self-publishing website created by . It was launched on April 2, 2004. Users can upload their novels free of charge and the novels are also free to read. As of December 2022, the site hosts close to 1,000,000 novels, has ove ...

between December 2012 and October 2013, ''KonoSuba'' was published as a printed

series by

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

under the company's ''

Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko Kadokawa may refer to: *Kadokawa Corporation, the holding company of the Kadokawa Group **Kadokawa Content Gate and Kadokawa Mobile, both former names for BookWalker **Kadokawa Future Publishing, a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the publis ...

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

from October 2013 to May 2020. The light novel series features a divergent plot and illustrations by Kurone Mishima. A

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptation, illustrated by Masahito Watari and Joseph Yokobori, began serialization in

Fujimi Shobo , formerly , was a Japanese publisher that specialized in light novels, manga, role-playing games and collectible card games. Founded in 1972 and reorganized three times, it was at times an independent company and at times an imprint of Kadokawa F ...

's ''

Monthly Dragon Age is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Fujimi Shobo. The magazine began as a combination between ''Monthly Comic Dragon'' and ''Monthly Dragon Junior'', two former magazines published by Fujimi Shobo. The first issue was published in ...

'' magazine from October 2014. A radio

drama CD Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

was released by HobiRecords in March 2015, and an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation produced by

Studio Deen is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1975 by Sunrise producer Hiroshi Hasegawa and ex-Sunrise animators. The studio owns three subsidiaries: Danny Donghua (丹尼動画), a Chinese sub-contracting studio; Megumi (め組), a digital work sub-c ...

aired in Japan between January and March 2016. A second season of the anime aired between January and March 2017. A spin-off light novel series, ''KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!'', began publication from July 2014. Both the light novels and the manga are licensed in North America by

Yen Press Yen Press, LLC is an American manga and graphic novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published ''Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, Yen Press ...

. An anime film adaptation produced by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

, titled '' KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! Legend of Crimson'', premiered on August 30, 2019. Drive intends premiering a third anime television series on April 2023, through its adaptation of ''KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!''. The first

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

released series is a Mobile RPG game called ''Konosuba: Fantastic Days'' for Android and

IOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

on August 19, 2021. The game was developed by

Nexon Nexon Co., Ltd. is a global video game publisher, listed in Japan, that specializes in online Virtual World games for PCs, consoles and mobile. Nexon is one of the world’s ten largest interactive game companies based on market capitalization a ...

, A South Korean

video game company The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. ...

Premise

Following an untimely and embarrassing death,

, a Japanese teenage shut-in

NEET NEET, an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training", refers to a person who is unemployed and not receiving an education or vocational training. The classification originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s, and its use ha ...

, meets a goddess named

Aqua Aqua is the Latin word for water. It is used in many words which relate to water, such as aquatic life. In English, it may also refer to: Arts * Aqua (color), a greenish-blue color Business * Aqua (skyscraper), an 82-story residential skysc ...

, who offers to reincarnate him in a parallel world with MMORPG elements, where he can go on adventures and battle monsters. Despite being offered a superpowered item or ability to use in this new world, Kazuma, following some provocation, chooses Aqua herself to accompany him to the town of Axel, quickly finding her absent-mindedness to be less than beneficial. With Aqua unable to return to the afterlife until the Devil King is defeated, the two form a party and recruit two other members; an explosion-obsessed magician named

Megumin is a fictional character from the light novel, manga, and anime series ''KonoSuba'' written by Natsume Akatsuki. In the universe of ''Konosuba'', a parallel world with MMORPG elements, Megumin is a sorcerer who joins protagonist Kazuma Sato's p ...

and a masochistic crusader named

Darkness Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low ...

. Due to the party's dysfunctional abilities, Kazuma quickly gives up on the idea of defeating the Devil King and tries to live a comfortable lifestyle, only to find the circumstances of his daily life are forcing him and his party to encounter and battle the Devil King's generals.

Publication

Web novel

The original

series written by Natsume Akatsuki was published on Syosetu between December 2012 and October 2013. The author also wrote a side story featuring Wiz and Vanir. Akatsuki, who enjoyed playing fantasy video games like ''

Wizardry ''Wizardry'' is a series of role-playing video games, developed by Sir-Tech, that were highly influential in the evolution of modern role-playing video games. The original ''Wizardry'' was a significant influence on early console role-playing ...

'' and ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...

'', also derived much of ''KonoSuba'' fantasy elements from

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

Light novels

version with illustrations by

Kurone Mishima Kurone Mishima (三嶋くろね) is a Japanese illustrator from Saitama Prefecture. She is best known as the illustrator of the ''KonoSuba'' and ''Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor'' light novels. Works Light novels *''KonoSuba'' *''Ma ...

was released under

from October 1, 2013 to May 1, 2020. The light novel diverges significantly from the web novel's plot from the sixth volume onwards, and also features changes to the characters' ages. The final book in the series, Volume 17, contains information in its Afterword on possible future development that the teased "After Story" spin-offs might contain. A Megumin-focused spin-off light novel series, also written and illustrated by Akatsuki and Mishima respectively, titled and takes place a year prior to the main series, was released from July 1, 2014, to June 1, 2015 in three volumes. A two-volume sequel, was released on December 28, 2016, and March 1, 2019. Another spin-off featuring Vanir was published on April 1, 2016, called A third spin-off series titled began publication on August 1, 2017. It is written by Hirukuma and illustrated by Uihime Hagure, and features Dust as the central character.

announced on May 20, 2016, that it had licensed the light novels for release in North America. The first volume was released in conjunction with the second manga volume on February 21, 2017.

Media

Manga

adaptation of ''KonoSuba'' illustrated by Masahito Watari began serialization in the October 2014 issue of

's ''

'' magazine on September 9, 2014. As of November 8, 2022, sixteen ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes have been released. A manga adaptation of the ''KonoSuba Fantastic Days'' smartphone game by Kasumi Morino began serialization in

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was possi ...

's ''

Monthly Comic Alive is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Media Factory. The first issue was released on June 27, 2006. Serialized titles *'' Absolute Duo'' *'' Alice or Alice'' (until 2015, part of the supplement magazine '' Comic Cune'') *'' Ano Ko ni ...

'' magazine on March 26, 2022. Yen Press announced its acquisition of the manga adaptation at the same time that it licensed the original light novels.

Anime series

television series adaptation produced by

aired on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

between January 14, 2016, and March 16, 2016; later broadcasting on eight other networks and several

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

streaming networks. The series was simulcast by

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

in several regions such as North America, and by

AnimeLab Crunchyroll Pty. Ltd., trading as Madman Anime, is an Australian distribution company focused on anime and Japanese media. The company handles licensing and distribution of anime in Australia and New Zealand. Originally part of independent film ...

in Australia. The series was directed by Takaomi Kanasaki and written by

Makoto Uezu is a Japanese anime screenwriter. Filmography Anime television 2000s *''Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan'' (2002), Script *''Bottle Fairy'' (2003), Script *'' Maburaho'' (2003–04), Script *'' Yumeria'' (2004), Series composition (with Yōsuke K ...

with character designs by Koichi Kikuta. An

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

(OVA) was bundled with the ninth light novel of ''KonoSuba'' in June 2016. The anime's opening theme is "Fantastic Dreamer" by

Machico Machico () is a municipality, parish and city in the southeast part of the island of Madeira, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The easternmost municipality on the island, it is also the third-most populous area with a population of 21,828 in ...

while the ending theme is performed by

Sora Amamiya is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She is affiliated with the talent agency Music Ray'n. After passing an audition held by Music Ray'n, she made her voice acting debut in 2012. She played her first main role as Kaori Fuji ...

Rie Takahashi is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with 81 Produce. She had a leading role in the anime series ''Seiyu's Life!'', where she became part of the musical unit Earphones. She voiced Futaba Ichinose in ''Seiyu's Life!'', Megumin in ''K ...

, and

Ai Kayano is a Japanese voice actress. She was represented by the Pro-Fit talent agency until 2014. She has been represented by Office Osawa since 2015. She played leading roles in several anime series, including Meiko "Menma" Honma in '' Anohana: The Flo ...

. On January 7, 2019, Crunchyroll announced that the series would receive an English dub. The first season's dub made its debut on January 25, 2019, with the second season's dub being released on February 25, 2020.

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...

released the first season on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

in North America on May 25, 2020. The series was animated by Koichi Kikuta and Momoka Komatsu, with the former working on odd-numbered episodes and the latter on even-numbered. While Komatsu's character designs closely resembled those of the light novels and had more attractive appearances, Kikuta based his designs on children's shows like ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' as he felt ''KonoSuba'' story was similar to those found in such shows. A second season aired between January 12, 2017, and March 16, 2017. The second season's opening theme is "Tomorrow" by Machico, and the ending theme is by Amamiya, Takahashi, and Kayano. Crunchyroll later added the second season. A second OVA was bundled with the twelfth volume of ''KonoSuba'' in July 2017. Discotek Media will release the second season on Blu-ray in North America in 2021. On July 25, 2017,

Jun Fukushima is a Japanese voice actor and narrator who is affiliated with Arts Vision. He is most well known for his role as Kazuma Sato in the anime/light novel series ''Konosuba''. He has been acting since the 1990s. Personal life He is the eldest of thr ...

and Takahashi, the voice actors of Kazuma and Megumin respectively, announced plans for a new ''KonoSuba'' anime project, later revealed to be a new movie, '' KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! Legend of Crimson''. On July 18, 2021, the official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account for the ''KonoSuba'' anime confirmed that a new anime project was in production. The project was later revealed to be both a third season of the main series and an anime television series adaptation of ''KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!''. Both series will be produced by Drive and directed by Yujiro Abe, with chief direction by Takaomi Kanasaki. The rest of the main staff are returning from previous seasons. ''KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!'' is set to premiere in April 2023. On October 6, 2018, it was announced that characters from ''KonoSuba'' would appear in ''

Isekai Quartet is a Japanese anime series that serves as a chibi-style crossover between the light novel series ''KonoSuba'', ''Overlord'', '' Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World'', and ''The Saga of Tanya the Evil'', all published by Kadokawa Corpo ...

'', a crossover anime also featuring characters from '' Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World'', ''

Overlord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or serje ...

'', and ''

The Saga of Tanya the Evil ''The Saga of Tanya the Evil'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese light novel series written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki. It began serialization online in 2010, on the user-generated novel publishing website Arcadia. ...

''.

Theatrical film

On June 25, 2018, a film adaptation was announced to be in development at

. The cast and staff reprised their roles from the TV series. The film is titled and it premiered in Japan on August 30, 2019. Crunchyroll began streaming the English subtitled and English dub version on March 25, 2020, and on January 1, 2021, respectively.

Video games

A PC

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by game creator Tachi, titled is bundled with the first Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume of the anime series on March 25, 2016. The game is developed using the software

RPG Maker VX Ace is a version of PC program RPG Maker series. It has been superseded by '' RPG Maker VX Ace'', which is an improved and enhanced version of RPG Maker VX. Both ''RPG Maker VX'' and ''RPG Maker VX Ace'' are developed by Enterbrain, following its pr ...

. Another video game, created by Team Ladybug and Krobon, titled is bundled with the limited edition of first Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume of the anime series' second season and was released on April 28, 2017. The game is a

side-scroller '' A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller), is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphic ...

with gameplay resembling the ''

Mega Man ''Mega Man'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man (character), Mega Man". Mega Man (video game), The original game w ...

'' series. A visual novel adaptation for

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

, was developed and published by 5pb., and was released in Japan on September 7, 2017. The game features an original story, in which Kazuma discovers a cursed ring that allows him to steal the underwear of others near him. He learns the only way to undo the curse would be by raising enough money. ''Judgment on this Greedy Game!'' introduces an "Underwear Judgment" system, where the player assists Kazuma in returning lost underwear to its rightful owner. Like the anime, Machico performed the opening "Million Smile", while Amamiya, Takahashi, and Kayano sang the game's ending theme "101 Pikime no Hitsuji". A Nintendo Switch port of the game was released on the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

on December 17, 2020. Another game for the PS4 and Vita, titled was released in Japan on June 27, 2019. An updated version of the game, was released in Japan on August 27, 2020, for the PS4 and

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

. A mobile game titled was released for iOS and Android devices on February 27, 2020. was released on September 24, 2020, for the PS4 and Switch.

Audio CDs

A radio

, featuring a different voice cast to the anime, was released by HobiRecords on March 1, 2015. A second drama CD, along with an original soundtrack by Kouda Masato and a

character song An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album (often called an image album or character album) for an anime, game, ''dorama'', manga, or commercial product that is sometimes sung by the voice actor or actor of a character ...

album, was released in March 2017.

Reception

Popularity

The ''KonoSuba'' light novels have been quite popular. As of March 2, 2016, the 11-volume series has a total of 1.5 million copies in print, each volume selling 136,000 copies. In January 2018, the light novel series ranked first among the top 50 best selling digital manga and light novels in worldwide stores by BookWalker. As of February 2019, the light novels had 6.5 million copies in print. In a review of the first novel, Andy Hanley praised the series' comedy reflected in the "tired genre" as well as its cast finding them appealing based on their traits. However, Hanley criticized the short length of the first volume. The series won BookWalker's 2016 Grand Prix Award. In 2016, the anime was voted the tenth-best TV anime in the ''Newtype'' 2015–16 Awards. ''KonoSuba'' also finished runner-up for Best Comedy in the Anime Awards 2016 to ''

Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nami Sano. The manga follows a high school student named Sakamoto, who has a reputation for being the " coolest" person among the entire student body. The series has been licensed for an ...

''. In 2019, the anime was chosen as the favorite isekai series in the

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

'Decade of Anime' fan polls, where they vote for the favorite anime series through decade in various genres.

Critical response

Like its light novel counterpart, the anime has received positive reception for its comedy, parody of the isekai genre, and faithful adaptation of the light novels. Reviewing the first few episodes,

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

(ANN)'s Theron Martin described the second episode as "the funniest episode of anime I have seen since ''

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Tsubaki. The chapters are serialized online in '' Gangan Online'', and have been published in both physical and digital releases of Shoujo Romance Girly and ''tankōb ...

'' aired", while also praising the series' musical score. The voice acting has also been a subject of praise; Nick Creamer of ANN commended Sora Amamiya and Rie Takahashi's roles as Aqua and Megumin for the energy provided in their performances, while Martin applauded Jun Fukushima for his work in voicing Kazuma, considering his dry tone an additional factor in the show's humor. From the ''Legend of Crimsons release in Japan, Daryl Harding, writing for Crunchyroll News praised the story and comedy of the film noting that the "classic humor of (the TV series) translates well to a film runtime." Daryl Harding did criticise the film by stating that "It doesn’t look too different than the TV series" even with "more effects placed over the animation during scenes of explosive magic." In contrast, a common criticism of the anime was its inconsistent character animation, one that was described as "low budget" as characters appeared

off-model Off-model is a term used in the animation and visual arts industries to describe art that does not match the style, design, or proportions that have been previously established for a given project (i.e. any work that is not on-model). Any kind o ...

. Koichi Kikuta responded by stating such design was intentional, hoping to "bring out the individuality of each character" rather than the prettier artwork in the light novels; to do this, Kikuta's animation displayed "their more human sides, like their unflattering traits and their distressed moments."

's Kim Morrissy considered the animation to be humorous, especially fitting in a comedic anime.

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

writer Richard Eisenbeis explained much of the series' humor derives from the deconstruction of Kazuma's hopes of becoming the hero of a fantasy world, instead realizing he is forced to struggle his way through the world. Comparing Kazuma's problems in a fantasy world to those in real life, Creamer wrote about a sense of relatability between the series' protagonists and the audience, as the party deals with issues like debt and taking questionable jobs because of high pay. On a critical note, Creamer disapproved of Kazuma's negative attitude, which he felt harmed the comedy in the series. ''KonoSuba'' characters, especially those in Kazuma's party, have garnered favorable reactions in the anime community. Creamer described the group as possessing a "strange but endearing chemistry," as the members are unfriendly with one another, yet are close. Morrissy added the party's "emotional bond is also evident in the ways they interact with each other. My favorite thing about the anime is that it takes the time to draw these nuances out onscreen and express them with visual flair." Megumin in particular has been considered one of the series' most popular characters, winning Sneaker Bunko's official Favorite ''KonoSuba'' Character poll. She was also the sixth-highest vote in ''

Newtype is a monthly magazine publication originating from Japan, covering anime (and to a lesser extent, tokusatsu, manga, Japanese science fiction, seiyuu, and video games). It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985, with i ...

'' 2015–16 Awards for Best Female Character (Kazuma was third in the male category) and received the most "Other" votes in the Best Girl category in

's Anime Awards 2016. In an interview with internet personality

The Anime Man Joseph Tetsuro "Joey" Bizinger (born 28 September 1994), known online as The Anime Man, as well as his stage name , is an Australian-Japanese YouTuber, voice actor, songwriter, and podcaster. His video work focuses on Japanese popular culture, w ...

, Natsume Akatsuki described Megumin as giving off "a pure and elegant atmosphere" like one of an anime heroine or

waifu The following is a glossary of terms that are specific to anime and manga. Anime includes animated series, films and videos, while manga includes graphic novels, drawings and related artwork. ''Note: Japanese words that are used in general ( ...

, hence her popularity among fans.

Ban in Russia

In May 2021, ''KonoSuba'' was one of five

isekai is a Japanese genre of speculative fiction—both portal fantasy and science fiction are included. It includes novels, light novels, films, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to ...

-oriented anime titles (along with ''

Zombie Land Saga is an anime television series produced by MAPPA, Avex Pictures and Cygames. The series aired in Japan between October and December 2018. A second season titled ''Zombie Land Saga Revenge'' aired between April and June 2021. An anime f ...

'', ''

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime , also known as ''Regarding Reincarnated to Slime'' and short name , is a Japanese fantasy light novel series written by , and illustrated by Mitz Vah. The story is about a salaryman who is murdered and reincarnates in a sword and ...

'', ''

Princess Lover! is a Japanese visual novel and the first title developed by Ricotta. It was first released as an eroge for Microsoft Windows on June 27, 2008, in both limited and regular editions, which was followed by an all-ages release for the PlayS ...

'', and ''

Nekopara , taglined ''Cats Paradise'', is a series of adult visual novels developed by NEKO WORKs and published by Sekai Project. The first game in the series, ''Nekopara Vol. 1'', was released in December 2014. Taking place in a world where humans ...

'') that were given a limited ban by the Russian government for their depiction of reincarnation, which was alleged to encourage suicide by lawmakers.

Notes

LN notes represents the light novel series in X.Y format, where X represents the volume number and Y represents the chapter number. Original titles

References

External links

* * * * {{Monthly Shōnen Ace 2013 Japanese novels 2014 Japanese novels 2016 anime OVAs 2016 Japanese novels 2017 video games 2023 anime television series debuts Anime and manga based on light novels Book series introduced in 2012 Comedy anime and manga Crunchyroll anime Discotek Media Fiction about reincarnation Fiction about the afterlife Fujimi Shobo manga Isekai anime and manga Isekai novels and light novels Kadokawa Dwango franchises Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko Light novels first published online Light novels Massively multiplayer online role-playing games in fiction Mass media franchises Media Factory manga Medialink Monarchy in fiction Novels about the afterlife Shōnen manga Shōsetsuka ni Narō Studio Deen Sword and sorcery anime and manga Television shows based on light novels Television shows written by Makoto Uezu Tokyo MX original programming Upcoming anime television series Visual novels Works banned in Russia Yen Press titles