KonoSuba – The Legend of Crimson

• Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure
• Movie: 1 hour, 35 mins
  
• Studio: J.C. Staff

 

The Crimson Demons are a proud and mysterious people. Ancient and powerful wielders of mystic forces beyond most mere mortals’ ken. But even such a grand race of the Crimson Demons can be threatened by grand enemies with impressive powers all their own. In times of danger, it’s important for people to bond together. So when Yunyun gets an ominous letter that the Crimson Demon village could be destroyed, she hurries home along with fellow Crimson Demon Megumin and her brave adventurer’s party. But the Crimson Demons are a particular folk. It’s a good thing Kazuma, Aqua and Darkness are so good at fitting in…

There’s a lot going on right now. And I thought to myself: self, you should watch something that will make you laugh! The next day Crunchyroll added the KonoSuba movie to its library. And I thought to myself: self, you should probably be using your powers a bit more responsibly but hey, I’ll take more KonoSuba any day of the week!

I don’t know how many of you are reading this without having seen the original KonoSuba series. I hope that’s not a lot of you cause I’m going to be comparing the movie to the series a whole lot. For instance, the movie has a visible animation and art boost. It looks better, more detailed, there’s a much wider range of colours and much more shadowing. But you should remember that Konosuba was never a particularly beautiful series. It was ok. A bit subpar at times even. The boost has made it perfectly…par…

But there’s something about this show. A plucky charm if you will, that just fits with the occasionally naive art style and the complete lack of design consistency. Can visuals be endearing? Cause that’s how I would call them.

The voice acting I love. It sounds a bit like a stand up routine, or a bit rather. A sketch maybe. The voice acting has always been one of my favourite parts of the production and I think it adds a lot to the comedy. The actors have fantastic comedic timing and know how to land a punchline.

This said, you don’t watch KonoSuba for the eye candy. Well you kind of do, it’s a fanservicey show. Whatever, humour me here. You watch KonoSuba for the comedy!

Now I love comedies and I actually really loved both seasons of KonoSuba. A lot. I was excited but also a little apprehensive to watch the movie. I haven’t had a great track record with movies based on series. So I was delighted to see that the spirit of the series was alive and well. The fun is there and so are the characters but there’s a lot of necessary adjustment’s made to fit the format of a 90 minute movie as opposed to a full season.

For one thing, the movie had a thigh focus on the battle for the village of the Crimson Demons. Sure there are plenty of Shenanigans to be had but there’s a lot more adventure and a much more cohesive and linear narrative. Which means there’s less slapstick and just aimless slice of life moments.

Similarly, all our favourites are there. In fact they managed to cram in an impressive amount of returning characters along with an entire roster of new ones. As a result though, most are reduced to cameos. Even Aqua and Darkness are at most guest stars with hardly any screen time at all. This is Megumin and Kazuma’s story, everyone else is pretty much window dressing.

I love all the KonoSuba ladies and I understand that Megumin is fan favourite so it would make sense to give her the starring role. I’m not disappointed by this at all. I just hope Aqua and Darkness get the same treatment at some point. Or maybe the merry adventures of Wiz and Vanir.

As far as anime series ti in movies go, I have to say KonoSuba: The Legend of Crimson, is a particularly successful example. It caters openly to fans of the series but gives us a nice self contained story that can be enjoyed by newcomers (although some jokes will go over their heads). It trades some of the parody aspects for more actual traditional fantasy adventure tropes but that’s not a bad thing. It’s an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half. If you liked the series, there’s no reason you wouldn’t enjoy the movie.

Also, I’m going to bring it up again because I’m weirdly obsessed by the design and personality parallels between Rita Mordio and Megumin.

Favourite characters: I really love Darkness but we hardly saw her in this movie. Still I’m gonna be true to my lady.

What this anime taught me: Try to memorize all the cheat codes you can.

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they always worked for me.

Suggested drink: Crimson Tide

• Every time Kazuma talks about points – take a sip
  
• Every time anyone is called a Tsundere – take a sip
  
• Every time Kazuma get’s “porpositioned” – take a sip
  
• Every time Yunyun embraces her inner chuuni – cheers
• Every time there is an eyecatch – take a drink of water
• Every time a quest fails – drink to cheer yourself up
  
• Every time there’s an explosion – take a sip
  
• Every time Kazuma does something right – you might as well finish your drink.
  
• Every time you wish Aqua was around more – take a sip
• Every time Kazuma mentions his “popular phase” – take a sip
• Every time Megumin needs to be carried – smile
• Every time a Crimson Demon introduces themselves – raise your glass dramatically
  

There’s a lot of lying around in this movie, but there’s other stuff too!