Wiz continues to rock the final episode slot, just like last season.
Episode 10 of Season 2 of Konosuba bring the arc and season to a close, because Eris forbid they make it 13 episodes. With the crowd closing in, Aqua and the others make a break for the water source in order to purify it when they find the way blocked by members of Eris’ sect. She makes things worse until they flaunt Darkness’ family authority. There they find that the water actually is polluted and trace the source along the pipelines to find the guy from earlier tainting it.
It turns out that his name is Hans. He’s a member of the Demon King’s army and a poisonous slime. Since Wiz outed him, he reveals that she has a pact that as long as she doesn’t interfere with them, she can run her shop in peace. Though in this case, it was her genuinely happy to see him rather than suspecting him of screwing the hot springs up. He also drops hints that she was a badass who hunted members of the Demon King’s army before she became a lich.
Anyway, Kazuma makes the mistake of assuming a slime to be the weakest of monsters from too many RPGs and Aqua is pissed, so they believe he’ll be easy to kill. Then he reveals he’s a leader in the Demon King’s army and that slimes in this world are top-tier monsters. And even Aqua can’t revive him if he’s fully-digested, so Kazuma cuts and runs until they run into the mob heading the other way around.
Since Aqua can’t let them die, she heads back to confront Hans and they follow. It is then he reveals he ate the original overseer, which was the moment where he screwed up, since Wiz’ neutrality only applies as long as they keep civilians out of it—adventurers and knights put their lives on the line, but they know what that entails and they kill monsters, so it can’t be helped.
He basically goes full-on monster mode in response to Wiz deciding to get serious. Aqua tries to purify the hot springs as well, despite the pain and danger, and this absolves her and the group in the eyes of the mob. They then throw in their support until Kazuma comes up with a strategy for everyone as the background music plays.
He uses himself as bait to lure Hans into a spot where they can handle the rest before getting himself eaten. Megumin blows him down to around half-size, Darkness, tanks a blow for the annoying little girl, and Wiz seals the jerk inside of a block of cursed ice and then shatters him. And when that’s not enough to finish him off, Aqua does the job with the backing of her followers.
Unfortunately, because Aqua tried too hard for once, she pretty much purified all of the hot springs in the town. And hit Wiz as well, leaving her too weak to teleport them out. So once more all of their effort only resulted in them suffering as they headed back home the slow way, where poor Yunyun was waiting for them. Thus they end things much like the first season—albeit more pleasant than him being arrested.
Tell me this shot didn’t look gorgeous. I dare you.
On the episode as a whole, it pretty much rocked. I mean, the animation was downright gorgeous where it counted and the final boss was an epic scale threat that matched what you would expect a leader in the Demon King’s army to be capable of without losing any of the humor, even as Kazuma was digested.
As for character development, we had plenty to go around. Kazuma going back for Aqua despite the knowledge that it would lead to a painful death and then throwing himself into it for the greater good is something you’d never expect to see in the first season. Likewise, we had Aqua showing that she does love her followers, even if it is one-sided, and would put her own well-being into making them happy. And then there was Wiz, best-girl of the show.
Her development came late, but not only did Hans reveal that she was an epic-class adventurer at some point who had the title of “Ice Witch” but she shows that she has some very strong thoughts on when it is acceptable to kill or not to kill. If you are willing to kill monsters or risk your life for a reward, you should do so knowing the consequences. However, civilians are those who have the right to protection and so if her allies endanger that by attacking them, she will go to bat for them personally. Considering how much of a nice girl she is, you wouldn’t expect her to have such backbone, but damn does she deliver.
As for the season itself, it’s a thing of true beauty, much like the first season. All of the positives of the show were amped up and all the characters were given depth. The only gripe I have, beyond the episode where the jiggle was too much, was that they screwed us over with another 10-episode season.
Season 3 when?
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