KonoSuba movie review: KonoSuba Crimson Legend brings Megumin’s story to U.S. theaters with English subtitles

Explosion! KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Crimson Legend is blasting into U.S. theaters near you, thanks to Crunchyroll Movie Night. We decided to do a little KonoSuba movie review that gives you an idea of what to expect.

Screening in over 600 movie theaters nationwide in America, the KonoSuba movie release date takes place over two nights: November 12-13, 2019. Fathom Events is providing a theater locator tool for finding KonoSuba movie tickets in America.

Here’s the official plot synopsis for the KonoSuba movie:

“The Crimson Demon village that Megumin and Yunyun are from is facing a threat that could mean it’s ending. Kazuma and his gang follow Yunyun, who returns to the Crimson Demon village intent on saving it… when they are faced with their greatest threat yet! What will become of the unremarkable adventurer Kazuma’s life in another world?!”

To celebrate the release of the KonoSuba movie, the Crunchyroll Store is providing on an exclusive KonoSuba collection featuring six items, including a T-shirt with art, unique to the KonoSuba movie.

“Crunchyroll Movie Nights are a powerful way for anime fans to connect with other fans in the Crunchyroll community,” said Mary Franklin, Crunchyroll’s head of events. “We are excited to present this new Konosuba film for them, which we’re bringing to the U.S. only months after its premiere in Japan.”

The Crunchyroll Store also has a Megumin figurine where she’s wearing a school uniform from a scene in the film. There are also other figurines like Darkness in a bikini and Yunyun in a bunny suit.

KonoSuba: Crimson Legend review

To properly start this KonoSuba movie review, I need to get one thing out of the way. Yes, fans of the first two anime season must watch the KonoSuba movie. The film is a direct sequel to the anime series, not an original story, and thus it bridges the gap between the second season and KonoSuba Season 3.

Based on the events of light novel Volume 5 by author Natsume Akatsuki, the film features a story focused on Megumin and Yunyun of the Crimson Demon clan. With a runtime that’s the equivalent of four episodes, the movie does an excellent job of condensing the major story events from the book, but I’d argue it’s not a perfect adaptation.

I watched the KonoSuba movie with a bunch of normies other Monsters and Critics writers. They had never watched the anime, so before launching the film, we watched the first four episodes of the KonoSuba English dub so they could be introduced to Kazuma, Megumin, Darkness, and Aqua.

Based on this brief intro to the series, it became readily apparent that the KonoSuba movie isn’t for the casual anime watcher. Audiences who had never watched the One Piece anime series could enjoy the recent anime movie One Piece: Stampede, but the same can’t be said of KonoSuba: Crimson Legend. If we hadn’t watched the first episodes, almost none of it would have made sense since the film doesn’t attempt to introduce the setting or the characters except for Yunyun and the Crimson Demon clan.

While everyone enjoyed watching the KonoSuba movie and laughed at all the comedy, the other writers had trouble following some of the character development and the meaning of the ending scene. Since I was familiar with the light novels, I was able to provide the context that was missing from the film.

Megumin firing off a big explosion. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

The OP mages of the Crimson Demon Clan. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

Kazuma discovers exactly where he wants to be and he ain’t leaving voluntarily. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

Aqua being Aqua. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

The village of the Crimson Demon Clan looks pretty normal… from a distance. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

The poor foot soldiers of the Demon King’s army keep getting picked on by these OP mages. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

Yunyun also gets to show off her true magical powers. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

The explosions can only get bigger in the KonoSuba movie. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

I honestly forget why Kazuma is yelling. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

Kazuma meets Megumin’s parents. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

But then Kazuma relies he may have finally entered his moment. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

Neither is Kazuma. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

The girls aren’t exactly happy with their predicament. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

Yay, another explosion! Pic credit: J.C. Staff

You know what that guy has to say. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

Kazuma and friends. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

Yunyun delivering a letter from the Crimson Demons. Pic credit: J.C. Staff

As for animation quality, the KonoSuba movie was produced by J.C. Staff rather than Studio Deen, which produced the original anime series. At first, the film was a bit disappointing since the animation quality was about the same as an average KonoSuba episode. But the finale contained in the last 30 minutes pulled out all the stops, meeting my movie-level quality expectations with fluid villain animations.

And the explosions, oh, the explosions! Never mind giving full credence to Megumin’s abilities, the Crimson Demons pretty much consists of OP mages wielding powerful attacks. And all of that was gloriously animated to the tune of chaos and mass destruction.

To conclude this KonoSuba movie review, I can readily say that the film can’t be missed by any fan of KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Even the normies your friends should find the experience enjoyable. Let’s just hope the film is popular enough that a third season is greenlit for production.