By Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!: Chūnibyō demo Majo ga Shitai!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

First of all, I would like to state, for the record, that it was Yen On’s decision not to use an oxford comma in the subtitle. I am merely replicating their choice. And if you think that’s a somewhat silly way to start a review, then you’re clearly not the right audience for KonoSuba, whose second light novel is content to replicate the choices of its first, showing that it is quite happy to have its dysfunctional cast behave badly in hilarious ways. Kazuma whines and moans (and tries to get laid with a succubus, which works about how you’d expect); Aqua is the brattiest goddess you’ll ever see (indeed, the book begins with a much nicer example); Megumin cares about explosions and nothing else, and Darkness’ masochism is in full force. There’s a hint the next book will advance what passes for a plot, but in the meantime, enjoy the antics.

The book starts off on the right foot – indeed, it may be my favorite part – with a story about a foolish young man, seeing Kazuma surrounded by hot girls and not much else, offering to switch parties with him for the day. Kazuma, who is no fool, accepts, and you’d think we’d stick with other guy and watch the fallout. But no, instead we follow Kazuma and see his normal day with a normal party. He uses his adventuring powers wisely, helps save the day, gains the respect of his teammates – it’s peaceful, heartwarming, and would no doubt be incredibly dull it it lasted any longer than it does. We then return and see the aftermath of Dust’s day with Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness… and yup, he’s begging to switch back. Predictable, but still hilarious.

Even when the book takes a turn for the slightly serious, there’s still gags lurking in the background. That’s a good thing, to be honest – this really isn’t a series you want to see depth and feeling in. Taking it too seriously would ruin the point. So when we get the climax with everyone fighting against the giant spider mecha with the bomb inside it, it’s undercut by the creator’s hilariously mopey diary about the building of the thing. There’s even some mild romance in this, though as ever I see the group as more of a family than anything else. When Kazuma requests a “dream visit” from a succubus, he’s clearly expecting Darkness based on his reactions – we’ve heard before that were it not for her masochism, she’s exactly his type – and Darkness’ atypical reactions seem to suggest she’s far more open to this than you’d expect a comedic harem girl to be. Of course, nothing comes of it…

The book ends on a cliffhanger, and the afterword is already announcing side-stories to be released (which have not, as of yet, been licensed here, I add for clarification). Clearly it was a runaway success in Japan. You can see why. It’s mocking a very popular Japanese light novel genre, and doing it well.

By Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!: Aa, Damegami-sama” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

In the current light novel boom that North America has been experiencing, there have been many novels that fall under the broad category of ‘funny’. They either take a relatively serious plot and give it a funny touch (The Devil Is a Part-timer!), expand on a completely ludicrous situation (Psycome), or are an outright parody (I Saved Too Many Girls And Caused the Apocalypse). KonoSuba’s first volume is most like the latter of these options, but I have to say as I was reading it that I can’t think of a single series, even Little Apocalypse, that was as dedicated to wringing as many laughs out of everything as KonoSuba is. Never mind plot complications or depth of characterization. This series is damned funny, and that’s why you should read it.

The archetype being parodied will be most familiar to readers of the manga Mushoku Tensei. A young man who is something of a loser dies performing one noble act, and is given an option to reincarnate in a fantasy world so he can be a hero. Except here, Kazuma’s death turns out to be so pathetic that even the doctors who tried to save him and his own parents laughed when they heard about it, and the young goddess who wants to send him to a fantasy world seems to be doing it so that she can fill her quota more than anything else. She’s so annoying, in fact, that Kazuma, rather than wishing for a fantastic sword or unbeatable magic powers to go along with him into this world, wishes for… the goddess herself. Fans of Oh My Goddess will be especially amused, showing that the subtitle of the first volume isn’t just for show. Kazuma and Aqua could not be more different than Keiichi and Belldandy, though, and when they both arrive in Generic Fantasy world X, he finds this goddess to be a lot less help than he’d hoped.

Everything that follows amps up the comedy, as it should be. Kazuma, because he didn’t pick an insane superweapon but a useless goddess, as average stats and minimal weapons to defeat a giant demon king. He has luck… but that merely seems to allow him to use thief abilities to steal girl’s panties. (Yeah, sorry about that, it’s still written for guys.) We meet Megumin, a teenage overdramatic girl who likes explosions and not much else. We meet Darkness, a knight with elite defensive powers who can’t hit the side of a barn door with her sword, and who seems to get off on just about anything. Together, these four take on giant frogs (which I won’t spoil), supposedly evil lichs (another great scene), and in the end a demon general who is a dullahan (were these always in anime even before Celty, or is their resurgence all Ryohgo Narita’s fault?). And what’s more, they win!

It’s tricky to review this, because I don’t want to give away the best gags. I will note that, while I’m sure this will change, I was pleasantly surprised at the utter lack of romance in this first book. Kazuma and Aqua act like bratty siblings, Megumin is too young for him, and while Darkness is basically what he finds attractive, her masochism creeps him out. That plus his tendency to yell at everyone and everything makes this party dynamic more family than harem, and I appreciated that. But when all is said and done, you read this book because it will make you laugh. Even if you aren’t familiar with the tropes of isekai and reincarnation novels, you’ll still like this.