Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Fantastic Days Review

Konosuba is currently back on our screens in the form of a third TV anime season and if you want even more, there’s always the original light novels and manga adaptation on the market. Of course, for a franchise as popular as this there are also several spin-off titles including the one I’m here to review today: Fantastic Days. Does it prove a must-read? Let’s find out!

Our story takes place on your average day in the world of Konosuba. Kazuma, along with his party members Aqua, Darkness and Megumin, get themselves into trouble after Megumin casts an explosion on a group of monsters and accidentally destroys a wagon containing money meant for the nobility and supplies for a dance troupe who were headed for the city.

Now saddled with a huge debt, Kazuma must figure out a way to make money and fast. Going on high-level quests with his party is certainly too much effort and runs the risk of incurring more debt should anything go wrong (and with his particular group that’s likely to happen). So, when Kazuma runs into the dance troupe made up of Cielo, Lia and Erika he realises that there could be a way to make money here.

The group are known as the Axel Hearts and they travel the land singing, dancing and generally putting on a show that’s not dissimilar to idol performances in Japan. Kazuma feels guilty about the fact his party destroyed all their stuff with Megumin’s explosion but more than that, he senses that with his knowledge of Japanese idol culture, he could make them into stars – and rake in loads of cash!

Naturally, Kazuma’s bright idea comes with a whole host of problems. Lia has amnesia, Erika is searching for her birth parents and Cielo has an extreme fear of men which leads her to attack them should they come too close to her. Still, their talent is undeniable and provided they can be kept out of trouble, they’re sure to win the hearts of many. Unfortunately, they also win the hearts of a former almost-general of the Demon King’s army and his companions…

Fans of Konosuba may already be familiar with the story of Fantastic Days due to it being based on the storyline in the Fantastic Days mobile game, although author Hirukuma has changed things to better fit a novel format. As a fan of the franchise, I had fun reading this, but there’s no denying that it lacks the charm of Natsume Akatsuki’s original work.

Hirukuma, the author behind Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon, is familiar with the franchise thanks to writing a spin-off series about one of the adventurers, Dust, but when it comes to writing Kazuma’s party, the dialogue and their interactions with each other just feel off. I think it lacks the snappiness of Akatsuki’s writing. Here the characters act exactly as you would expect if you’re familiar with them, but Akatsuki always had an unexpected piece of dialogue or twist that would come out of left field and keep you on your toes. I suppose this is a problem when you’re trying to work with someone else’s characters.

That’s not to say Fantastic Days is bad as there’s still plenty to enjoy here as we watch over the cast. It’s a fairly unique story that makes sense for the series and doesn’t feel like it’s disconnected from the main story as some spin-offs do. By and large, I like the Axel Hearts as characters and enjoyed watching Kazuma make fun of idol culture and fans while using it to his advantage in a world that doesn’t know better. The book is also illustrated by Kurone Mishima, who provided artwork for the main series and has picked some particularly good moments to depict which adds to the fun.

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Fantastic Days comes to the West thanks to Yen Press under their Yen On imprint and has been translated by Kevin Steinbach, who also worked on the main series. Because of the consistency in the translator, there are no issues here with character voices reading as you’d expect them to and terminology staying consistent with the main series. The release opens with colour pages drawn by Kurone Mishima depicting Aqua and Lia; there’s also a set of character profiles which are always useful to have.

Overall, Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Fantastic Days is a welcome addition to the franchise. It may not be quite up to the standards of the main series, but if you’re simply looking to follow the cast on another misadventure, it certainly does the job well enough.

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.