That’s why it’s the most popular anime of Spring 2024.
Summary:
- KonoSuba stays relevant despite the first season airing almost a decade ago.
- Many series fall off in later seasons.
- KonoSuba’s nature and how consistently good it is make it a good watch all the way through.
To many viewers, the popularity of KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! (Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!) in the Spring 2024 season might be incredibly surprising. The first season came out 8 years ago, and, unlike something like My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia), it hasn’t been getting continuous seasons over the years.
Normally, fans should have stopped caring about the series or about anime overall. Yet in the case of KonoSuba, there’s barely any dropoff in the watching rate. This might seem like a strange effect at first, but it’s easily explainable: KonoSuba just didn’t become worse with its further installments.
Many Anime Series Fall Off in Later Seasons
Many anime turn worse near the end. It’s not even limited to anime, actually: it’s the same for live-action TV series. The plot gets more convoluted, the cast becomes too bloated and it becomes hard to care about them, and one or two bad plot twists and suddenly the entire fandom starts hating the series.
It’s especially prominent nowadays. With just one bad season, the relevance of the series can instantly be reduced to nearly 0.
The biggest example is by far The Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari). The first season was controversial, but it had its fair share of fans. And by the time the third one was airing, no one actually cared — because S2 adapted a very boring arc and was a huge downgrade visually. People just went on to watch something else instead.
KonoSuba Doesn’t Fall Off
Yet KonoSuba, of all things, is immune to this effect. In fact, it’s competing for the most popular anime of Spring 2024 with Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) — the biggest modern anime series out there.
The reason for this is actually very simple. KonoSuba didn’t become bad at all. It’s always been what it was initially presented — an isekai gag comedy. That said, even those get tiring, but KonoSuba fixes it by sprinkling in some genuinely hype or heartfelt moments. It’s fun to watch even as a fantasy adventure series — a lighthearted and comedic, but still an adventure series.
There’s not much plot to speak of, but we see actual progress occasionally. More importantly, we see characters progress and grow accustomed to each other more. It’s a good thing, and it kept the fandom alive for all these years. Even without new seasons, KonoSuba stayed relevant, and it will stay relevant as long as it keeps being as good as it is.