Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!
Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!

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God, Don't even know where to start talking about this masterpiece.
There are things I think could be better, but there's zero doubts that the good points extrapolate the bad ones in number.
The read is extremely enjoyable and I think the way the author builds the environments and the characters encounters is just peak.

Art: 9
Normal anime art. The drawings are not usually an important aspect of LN, like it is regarding manga, anime and VNs, but well, it is still nice to comment about.
Art is cute, depicts the characters in an enjoyable way. Not much more to say.

Story: 7
Hear me out. It's not like I'm ... saying the story is bad or something in those lines, it's just that it's a normal story with normal plot events, but the story is not what really makes this novel a 10 (IMO). There's not really a more profound view in the aspects of the world, like the cultures, countries (geo-social-political way) or psychological insights, but it's a comedy, so we can leave that aside.
Even though I said that, it's important noticing that, even with me saying those aspects are not really exploited, if not just not exploited at all, the comedic build-ups and the general pace of the events is just top-tier. Made me giggle in more scenes I can count with my fingers. And those last, idk, 3 chapters of the 17th volume T-T

Characters: 10
This is where the story shines, and it shines really bright.
Each character is specific, meaning every individual has it own traits. Each character is highly memorable and each of them serves a purpose in the story as some "archetype". Each of them is a gear, without which, its not presence would be highly perceived. Sometimes the whole machine would stop working. Every character is different in many ways, and the interact with each other differently. That's where it shines. If you would take Aqua off the equation at some point, for example; her missing would be perceived. The characters interaction would feel a little less brightfull. It would feel like definitely something's not right. Even though she is sometimes annoying as fuck, she would still be missed, for her being a important character in the general web of interactions. Not sure if what I'm saying is strange, but that's it.

I picked it up after watching the anime and I was surprised at how funny this is even knowing what's going to happen. I won't take your time to explain what this story is about as i'm sure you already know the anime or you can read about this anywhere else.

So if you are wondering if you should read this I would say absolutely go for it. The writing is lighthearted and funny, and, what surprised me the most, it keeps pace and originality the whole way through.

There has not been a single chapter that bored me. I remember at some point probably around vol ... 5 or so I was laughing my ass off and thinking "ok now this will get repetitive and jokes will start to get old" because I just couldn't fathom how the author could keep up with ideas coming. And boy was I wrong. Then the castle arc started and I was mindblown. The tricks the characters use, the ways they blow through obstacles and the crazy situations they get themselves in. It's just absolutely brilliant.

Sure there is not some deep plot twists or big romance dramas or meaningful philosophy. It's just pure genius, absurd fun, and pure adventure. And everything is written and developed perfectly from start to finish.

This is peak D&Desque adventure comedy 10/10

KonoSuba is a perfect case of the writer trying to have her cake and eat it too.


The initial volumes seem to be a parody of the many fantasy settings and harems found in other LNs. And it was done pretty well. The protagonist and his companions each had a distinct personality, and the hijinks they got up to could be pretty funny, even though I think their full effect is felt much better through animation.


However, in the later volumes, the novel falls prey to the tropes and cliches it was initially parodying. That too in a pretty blatant way, though the serial nature of the ... novel might be to blame for that.


For example, at the end of one of the volumes, one of the female characters comes up to the main character Kazuma, and tells him she wants to have his kids. Now, this is pretty clearly a 'tease', a hook to get the reader to buy the next volume.


It reads like the author knows exactly what she is doing, and is making use of it to get more male readers. There are three types of stories: stories the author thinks would be good and able to stand on their own (see: Les Miserables), stories the author writes as a form of wish fulfillment for themselves (see: Mikael Blomkovist in the Millennium trilogy), and stories the author writes as a form of wish fulfillment for the readers (see: 50 shades of Grey). Most stories are a combination of these three (as are the aforementioned books). KonoSuba is clearly leaning towards the third one, and I think that is a shame. It cannot really effectively parody what it itself has become.


Still, it has its moments I suppose. Don't let this review dissuade you from reading it, just know what you're getting into, and don't set your expectations too high. Nothing wrong with waiting for the upcoming anime, having read the LN and having watched the season already out, I have to say the anime is better, or rather, Konosuba's premise, characters and jokes transfer over to anime much better.