KonoSuba Season 2 Episode 1!

So, having watched the first episode of KonoSuba 2 that released over the week, I've noticed that a lot of people seem to have very large opinions of the series. These people are all fans but for some reason or another, have not touched the light novels and therefore are causing much speculation and judgement about the series. As a KonoSuba lover, I will not sit by and let that go untouched! Therefore, I intend to answer some of more popular comments regarding the show over here. Be mindful that obviously, some spoilers follow. I'll try my best to make it a very general discussion of the novels however.

Everyone's quick to hate Aqua and that Kazuma gets too much flack from his teammates. There's also an argument regarding the regression of any character development that has happened thus far. The animation department is also taking huge critique from the fans.

KonoSuba is a series built around tropes, cliches and comedy. Kazuma gets flack because that's the whole point. He's in a harem scenario that doesn't actually work out in his favour. This part parodies that of traditional harem animes whereby the protagonist will always win over every female and no matter what, he is always revered and loved regardless of his personality, which more often than not, plays towards a dense, male Mary Sue. Kazuma is not a Mary Sue character and his party isn't a harem. At least, not a traditional one.

So complaining about Kazuma getting 'betrayed' is uncalled for. His party members love him and they will always remain by his side. They give him shit and definitely act like brats but when push comes to shove, they'll follow him to the ends of the world.

Everyone's also complaining about Aqua's stupidity and that she's more annoying this time around and that she's useless. Well, truth is she IS useless and she IS dumb. Her idiocy has caused lots of trouble for the party but Aqua is crucial to solving so many different issues. Sure, she caused most of them but hey, at least she fixed it too.

Aqua's first arc happens in Volume 4 which I reckon will be covered in the second half of season 2. Not going into details but you learn that Aqua is more Godly than you think. Even after that, you learn that Aqua supports the team a lot more than you might think. Sure, you can argue that she's annoying and useless and stupid but do you still love her at the end of the day? You do. You do love her regardless of all her shortcomings because Aqua does a lot of things solely out of good intentions. They just end up being bad because she's dumb as all hell.

As to character development, there wasn't one to begin with. The only ones that you can consider to have changed is Kazuma in Volume 6 and Megumin in Volume 5, and even then, the development never shifted away from their base personality traits. Aqua went from "HELP ME" to "WORK HARD" in an episode. That's about the extent of the character change. Everything else that we've seen is less of character development and more of character showcasing. The characters don't develop over their arcs. We, the readers, just end up learning more about them. Basically, there's no distinct shift in which I can categorise as proper character development.

Everyone thought Aqua was simply an ass until Volume 4. Everyone thought Megumin was just a selfish pyromaniac until Volume 5. Everyone thought that Darkness was just a noble masochist until...actually, that's it. Relationships, however, THAT develops albeit not in every novel. The romances, the friendship. Those things change. But not the characters themselves. They're all still brats by the latest volume and they're all still unfairly powerful.

Now the animation for the anime has changed. But I think the change suits the show. I find the characters to be more expressive and flamboyant in nature, which suits the theme and atmosphere of the series. I can see why people think it's ugly but to say that it turns them off completely is like me saying I don't like Re:Zero and Kimi no Nawa because of their premise. Which is true, I don't. But the argument here is so petty that it should be attributed to personal tastes rather than a studio-level error.

That's pretty much the major comments regarding the show. There are other smaller things though. Like Megumin's 'new' cat for example. It isn't a new cat. She always had the cat. In the light novels, the cat is illustrated quite a few times with Megumin in volume 1 and 2. It just never played a role until Volume 4. Even then, its role is subverted until Volume 9. Kazuma's debt? I wouldn't go crazy on the internet over it. It's an issue that resolves itself pretty quick.

Can't wait for Vanir

Also, gotta love that new opening. And all the references to popular fiction that couldn't have been done in the novels! Most notably, the Star Wars opening and the Monogatari reference.