KonoSuba Volume 5 Review

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Finally! The 5th volume! The volume focused on my waifu, Megumin! The premise is simple. The party receives a help letter from the Crimson Magic Village to help fight the advancing Demon King Army led by the general Sylvia.

Again, this volume introduces a couple of new enemy types and a whole new setting, the Crimson Magic Village. Though the village isn't very big and it's mostly a very generically designed village, it does give insight into Megumin's customs and culture.

Before the start of their journey to the village, Vanir tells Kazuma that there will be a time where a great decision will be placed in his hands and it can severely change the life of one of his comrades forever. We'll come back to this, at the very END of the volume.

On the journey there, we get insight into how Megumin really appreciates her party, more so than anyone else. She's really thankful for them and she wants to be with them forever. We've seen in the previous volumes that Megumin is the party member who cares the most about her team but this volume really shows her affectionate side a whole lot more.

We also find out that no one in the village knows about Megumin's Explosion spell. It's actually looked down upon and while she's still seen as a great wizard, that's simply due to their assumption of her capabilities.

Sylvia as a villain was very much like Veldia. She's intimidatingly awkward but unlike Veldia, she is more aggressive. I expected more out of her character aside from the fact that she's a he but what they showed was good enough I suppose. None of the general in the Demon King Army actually seems at all normal.

Also, the amount of fan service in this volume is amazing. We get to meet Megumin's family and have some great scenes between her and Kazuma that involves a locked room and a single bed. I mean, I don't really ship Kazuma and neither does the author (I believe) but it's clear here that this volume appealed greatly to the masses around the fact that Megumin is waifu.

We get more insight into the history of this world with the great surprise being that the Crimson Magic Clan was actually created by a Japanese person, having reincarnated into that world and learned magic. He also created several artifacts and scriptures in an 'ancient, unreadable text', until Kazuma came along and discovered it was simply Japanese.

The Crimson Magic Clansman, although powerful, seem to weight the importance of the 'cool factor' over anything else. They want their people to appear cool rather than actually contribute to fights. That's not to mean they aren't strong, they're incredible powerful. They're just odd. Very odd. After having read this, you can really feel for poor Yunyun. Having born a normal person to a clan of crazy people. Well, at least she got her chance to shine now and is finally acknowledged as a proper Crimson Magic Clansman.

After having fought and defeated Sylvia, Megumin became very wishy-washy about her feelings towards Kazuma. She openly admits it but then denies it a second later. She claims him as her own in front of her friends, but ignores when he questions the fidelity of the claim.

Now, the real kicker in this volume is the ending, where Megumin asks Kazuma whether he wants a better mage. She mentions that she will give up on furthering her Explosion spell and learn advance magic for her team. She will forgo her love of explosions to better the potential of the team and THAT is a great display of self-sacrifice. Much like Aqua trying her utmost best to save her people, Megumin was willing to give everything she loved up to be the best mage for their party. To be the best for Kazuma. It went against everything established thus far and showed how much she really cared about her teammates. This was the pivotal point that Vanir foresaw, especially so when Kazuma was given Megumin's card to alter to his preference.

Kazuma, being the lovable ass that he is, decides to put all her points in her Explosion spell. This, of course, moves Megumin to tears and thus begins the start of the harem. Megumin is the first girl to fall for Kazuma and although it is played down heavily in the series (considering it's a comedic series and not a romance/ecchi light novel), Megumin genuinely does like Kazuma. Heck, if he were to grow some balls and actually go to bed with her, I very much doubt she wouldn't agree to that.

In the epilogue, we see the princess of the kingdom call for Kazuma and his party's presence. Remember how I mention that Kazuma was the strategist of the group and when it comes to actual presence, he usually has none? After all, the three girls possess the highest job class in their field while Kazuma has the weakest job class among all. Well, next up is Volume 6 and it's time to ready yourself for Kazuma's true potential!

If this isn't fanservice, I don't know what is. And yes, Megumin was happy.