Konosuba: An Explosion On This Wonderful World! Episode 1: The Crimson-Eyed Wizards
The deranged explosion specialist, Megumin, is the first of her party to grace our screens in nearly 4 years now. A large gap (though not quite a decade like some other series), a prequel story, the third studio for the anime series. The cards are quite stacked against it, no? Well, through perseverance, chance, or some matter of fate, Megumin not only makes it to our screens again (and before Kazuma), but does so in impressive fashion. So, where to begin?
Maybe I'll address the changes first. Konosuba is under new direction (and storyboarding), found in Abe Yuujirou. A relative newcomer to series director, they've got a good few credits under their belt for episode direction. The biggest (and most important) being Kaguya-Sama. In total, they only did 4 episodes from S1+S2, but I think the impact of being an episode director for Kaguya-Sama is plain as day.
Visual comedy is an important aspect of both titles, so having worked on such a visually creative show beforehand gives me a lot of confidence in Yuujirou's approach. Sure, it might be a little "flat" at times, as in it opts for a lot of 2 dimensional scenes, but I think there's plenty of moments that help accentuate the comedy of various interactions, like this one.
Though to temper expectations, I'd still caution at the fact that it's not stellar direction on all fronts, as more often than not you'll get a "left-right" representation of a scene, almost like a stage play.
I'm a pretty big advocate for avoiding this sort of thing when you have (an imaginary) 3D space to work with. I wouldn't say it's the end of the world, but it's like the bare minimum in a two-way conversation for showing their involvement.
At the end of the day though, I don't think it really gets in the way of the visual comedy, and even sometimes, the more lax layouts can help with it. Take this scene for example. It's pretty straightforward, but does it job of showing how comically large the school is in comparison to the number of students that it takes in.
I guess to put a cork in my waffling, the overall direction and storyboarding isn't quite as outstanding as I'd hoped, but at the end of the day it ends up aiding quite well in the delivery of the overall comedy. The heart of the Crimson Demons of course is what runs away with the episode, and we get a lot of that on display in almost exclusively a flashy nature.
But oddly enough, the core of the Crimson Demons isn't near as much a driving force as Kazuma's ability to parody isekai anime. Sure, it dominates the episode and brings about the vast majority of the best parts, but peeling back that façade you get a more genuine approach with characters as well. Just little bits and pieces that keep the ball rolling and help Megumin find her way to being an explosion specialist.
And of course, who could say no to an explosion to cap the episode off?
Well apparently, Drive.
Overall, I think with tempered expectations, this first episode back is a treat. Its comedy hits just right, the visual effects look ridiculously cool still, and Takahashi Rie is killing it as Megumin once more. With the change in course towards a more fleshed out and directed story, I think there is certainly bumps in the road that stop it from being really great, but that's tertiary to the main point of watching this. You want funny and hilariously overpowered chuuni magic users as the main course, it's just that you get a little bit of story as a side dish.