AN EXPLOSIVE EXCURSION!
Creative Staff
Story: Natsume Akatsuki
Art: Kurone Mishima
Translation: Kevin Steinbach
What they say
After discovering that Megumin’s home is in danger, Kazuma and crew rush to protect the fabled Crimson Magic Village, home to powerful wizards, mysterious secrets, and world-ending weapons—along with a plethora of definitely-not-fake tourist destinations! But Kazuma’s adventures are never this straightforward, and he has his hands full just surviving his Arch-wizard’s kin, much less saving them!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I feel like Akatsuki Natsume-sensei is getting better at his craft. While volumes 1-3 weren’t very funny (the anime was hilarious but the light novels were only so-so), volume 4 was pretty good and volume 5 is even better. This particular volume has a number of great comedic moments with good timing and a fast pace. At the same time, I can’t help but feel like some of the moments in this volume are a bit too fast-paced.
Our story begins when Yunyun, Megumin’s childhood not-friend/rival, arrives on Kazuma’s doorstep asking him to have a child with her. This is perhaps one of the funniest moments of the entire series. I just can’t get over how all of the characters react to this. While Megumin is freaking out and Darkness is trying to convince Yunyun that Kazuma is slime and not to be trusted, Aqua is ignoring the entire situation and Kazuma is all up for making some babies. I really love how Kazuma is just like, “Yes. Let’s do it right now.” It’s honestly really refreshing to have a protagonist who’s this gung-ho about having sex. Of course, he is cockblocked by his companions from every direction, but that’s part of what makes this series so funny.
We soon learn that the reason Yunyun wants to have kids with Kazuma is because she received a letter. Written by her father, the letter claims that he will likely be dead by the time Yunyun is reading this, and then goes on about how the demon lord sent some top-notch general with magical resistance to fight their Crimson Magic Clan. It then goes on to detail a prophecy that states Yunyun will fall in love with an irresponsible, worthless, and completely useless layabout, have a child, and that child would grew up to defeat the demon lord. Naturally, there is only one irresponsible, worthless, and completely useless layabout who she knows of: Kazuma.
Fortunately, this entire thing turns out to be the next chapter in a fictional piece of literature written by someone named Arue—or is it? Kazuma seems distressed to learn this.
What I really like about this volume is how every moment is basically a set up for hilarity. I mentioned before that the comedy is pretty much nonstop in this volume, and it is. The jokes are not only funny, but they all flow smoothly and aren’t bogged down by too many words, making for an overall enjoyable read. However, there are some problems with the writing.
While the comedy is nice, the story is very threadbare. We don’t get much in the way of description, details, or anything extraneous, which means it feels more like reading a script than reading a story. While this does mean it would be very easy to adapt into an anime if they ever decided to give this another season, it does not translate well into a piece of literature. I think the worst parts of the writing was definitely the combat. Sure, some of the mid-combat gags were funny, but everything else about the fights were just terrible. There were also some scenes where I felt adding extra details would have helped flesh out the story more.
In Summary
Konosuba vol. 5 is definitely the funniest volume of this series and had some really good laugh out loud moments. The volume was bursting with excellent humor, well-timed gags, and some really trappy twists. While it wasn’t a perfect volume, it was better than any volume of Konosuba I’ve read so far. Kazuma had to deal with all kinds of crap from Yunyun asking him to conceive a child to a horde of female orcs attempting to turn him into a breeding mare. We also get to meet Megumin’s parents and younger sister, which was a lot of fun.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 24, 2018
MSRP: $14.00
