“Explosion!….. Wait, wrong anime!”
What they say: Agent Six has an important mission: Investigate a new Earth-like planet as a member of the evil organization Kisaragi, which has almost conquered the world. Upon arriving, he must act as a spy and accumulate and spend “Evil Points” to upgrade his abilities and take over the planet. Together with “Kisaragi Pretty Girl Android Alice,” the two set out to complete their mission, if they’re evil enough to handle it!
The review:
Content (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
From the creator of KonoSuba comes a new light novel anime adaptation by J.C. Staff and like its predecessor, it’s hilarious. The story follows Agent Six and Alice, who must conquer a new planet for Kisaragi. These aren’t just any run-of-the-mill villains. These are Mermaid Man “eeeeeeeeeeviiiiiiilllllll” baddies. They must accumulate “Evil Points,” which they spend to upgrade their equipment and abilities. They do this by committing dastardly deeds such as flipping up the skirt of a girl in a wheelchair and forcing the princess and King to say naughty words to use their technology. Truly these are some seriously wicked heathens.
Right out of the gate, once Six arrives, Alice uses a translator program so everyone can understand each other. Although later it seems to be that Six and Alice have learned the new planet’s language, as shown when Six and Alice bicker over how to use their salaries as new members of the King’s armed forces and slip back into speaking Japanese (which sounds like gibberish to Snow, the captain of the Princess’ Royal Guard). An indicator that Alice dropped the translator at some point.
Six and Alice are able to woo everyone with their modern tech and strategy and are made high ranking members of the King’s armed forces. Their goal is to defeat the evil Demon Lord whose army they are constantly fighting. Of course that’s not the only similarity to KonoSuba the series had to get in.
After becoming a prominent commander in the King’s army, he assembles the most equipped squad possible to take down the demon lord’s army. A little chimera girl named Rose, a wheelchair-bound archbishop named Grimm desperate to find a boyfriend, and Snow (now demoted to serving under Six). They get right to work when the demon lord’s army attacks by using cheap tricks. They destroy the supply unit (which Snow considers cowardly) and later climb up the side of a tower (instead of going head in) and pushing one of the top-ranking demon soldiers off the edge and blackmailing the other with the first one’s life. Of course, Six’s original idea was to just set a fire inside the tower, which did not pass the King’s council of commanders.
Like KonoSuba, there isn’t much actual action in the series, and much of your enjoyment will depend on how the humor does it for you. Combatants features a very similar comedic template to KonoSuba so if you’re a fan of that series, you will probably like this one as well. You have the jerk party leader and his incompetent female party members. What sets this one apart, though, is that you also have Alice to balance out the party as another straight man (or straight pretty girl android in this case). The humor isn’t lopsided which is good. The banter between these goofballs as they tackle the demon lord’s army has been a real treat so far. I mean, come on. One of the best punchlines in this batch of episodes is that Grimm is wheelchair-bound because she can’t wear shoes.
It does fall into some of the same pitfalls of anime humor, though. There’s a lot of “ecchi” humor which involves Six flipping skirts and fondling breasts to gain evil points. While it’s not entirely unwelcome, I much prefer it when he acquires them through his sneaky and underhanded planning. It’s less cliched and much better when you see how much of a jerk Six is to his own enemies. Another potential issue is that it lives in KonoSuba’s shadow. Similar plot, similar character structure, and a similar style of humor. It also hasn’t had the time to flesh out a real narrative of its own quite yet. Six’s goal is to take over this new planet and in the meantime defeat the demon lord. Some world-building outside the King’s domain would strengthen the series. They need to venture out and carve the series its own identity. If it manages to do those things, it could end up as a solid comedy series. Until then, I’m willing to give it some time as it treads the waters.
In summary:
Combatants Will Be Dispatched is a funny series from the author of KonoSuba but it relies a bit too much on its pedigree and traditional anime humor. However, there’s still plenty of time for it to find its footing as its own series and it can offer plenty of laughs along the way. Whether you’re a fan of KonoSuba or comedy anime in general, this is another decompressing laugh session you can add to your schedule every week.
Grade: B+
Streamed by: Funimation