Konosuba

Was there ever a better bromance, between a guy and a girl?
Not talking about romantic involvement, but 100% pure, unfiltered friendship.
some highlights:
>"Apparently, when teleporting, there’s a small chance for a rare accident to happen that causes you fuse with other small animals that get inside the magic circle! According to some rumors, this is how werewolves and lamias are made you see! You see!”
>Aqua, as if to scare me, suddenly said things like this, but…
>“Then next time, why don’t we capture three or so goblins and teleport them with you? If the fusion goes correctly, I think your intelligence might increase.”
>“What are you saying you stupid NEET. You’re the one that needs to teleport with ants and raise your body to NEET ratio.”

Also
>when Kazuma goes to steal Aegis, the first thing he steals is a gem for Aqua, because he remembers she collects odd rocks
>When Aqua throws a festival for herself, the first stall she builds is a goldfish scooping pond, because she hopes it will remind Kazuma of home

There has never been a more honest, unfiltered boy/girl friendship in anime. It is a known fact

and the strongest point in case:
>"What do you mean Kazuma? I'm a goddess, I can see in the dark just as clear as if it was day"
>...
>"Aqua?"
>"hm?"
>"Those times when we slept in the stables, did you..."
>"When you went *fap fap fap'? You had your back turned, so it's fine"

She never called him out on jacking off next to her, and never used it against him.

Can't really think of one since they all turn romantic basically at some point.

Yeah, it's honestly a shame, since a solid, honest friendsship, without any romantic hints, is actually quite enjoyable to watch

Didn't he eventually just outright find her too annoying to think of her in any sexual terms?

Thank god this wasn't ruined by relashit since it's just Megumin vs Darkness

their interactions are the best, it's one of the reasons i still read the series.

He was fapping, but not to her.

I think she actually use that on him once, just to force Kazuma to help her on a quest to get money since Aqua was broke, again, and was desesperate to get the money, but only that ocassion.

>that time Kazuma was almost raped by female orcs
>real trauma and crying for his life
>goes for Aqua for a "safe zone"
> Aqua no only didnt make fun of him, but actually tried to comfort Kazuma.

That moment really show me, that despise all the shit withing them, if something happens that really hurts the other in someway, they will try to help instead of making things worse.

I like Kazuma, but Aqua is too good for him.

Actually completely forgot about that part. It was fucking hilarious. But you are right, when she saw he was actually traumatized, and not just faking it, she was there for him as a mate

>the countless times Aqua and Kazuma nag and fight each other
>Then Megumin and Darkness starts bullying them for being lazy and morning drunk, and tries to get them on quests
>the immidietly huddle together and fight them off
They are really like siblings: It's okay for them to bully and fight each other, but if someone else tries to start something, they stand together

>"Neh, Megumin, come help me build a castle for emperor Zell
>"Why me? Why not ask Kazuma, he's better at building things"
>"That hikiNEET would probably just shape his house into a oven and make jokes about chickens"
>This bitch..
>She's not wrong, though. After all, she has been with me for the longest time, I guess she knows me

I think that happened even before he stole her to Australia. He says something like, "This girl, just because she's a little bit cute, thinks she can say what she wants?"
Then he realizes within 10 minutes he should have picked an enchanted sword instead.

>Eris festival
>Aqua wants to get her part
>Kazuma helps her to organize that her church has a part on the festivities
>even after Aqua's group start acting out of hand he never tries to ruin her fun, just to moderate her
>that whole week was one of the happiest to Aqua

truly a family

>when Kazuma goes to steal Aegis, the first thing he steals is a gem for Aqua, because he remembers she collects odd rocks
>When Aqua throws a festival for herself, the first stall she builds is a goldfish scooping pond, because she hopes it will remind Kazuma of home
This was one of the cutest things in the entire series. His romance with Megumin is just a little too tacky, and sometimes forced.
That bit was just offhand and a nice way to establish their relationship to the reader.

Lets be completely honest, his investment in all that, was to make every hot girl wear swimsuits, and to pass the succubi off as cosplayers.
That being said, when he enjoyed the festival for leisure, he did in the Axis part, and even took the succubi out drinking there.

>he should have picked an enchanted sword instead.

Something that scares me the most of that timeline, is what was is going to be of Megumin there, on explosion, she actually tries to get in many parties, but eventually nobody wants to deal with her, YunYun is nowhere to be seen, she is alone, finally facing the troubles of only knowing explosion and how useless she is, withouth money, family or friends to help her, if it werent for Kazuma and Aqua, I bet she would be a feral child looking for food.

Darkness would be pretty lonely too, Chris cant be with her all the time, so she wont be able to go on quest as much as she wants, and probably most people will get turn off from her extreme masochism.

>and even took the succubi out drinking there.

wrong, the succubi took HIM out drinking. I actually found that really sweet from their part, he is no only a regular, but probably a nice customer if the succubi were that greatful for having a day they could go out withouth having to hide, yeah Kazuma may had want to do that mostly for the fanservice, but he actually was thinking on the succubi for a moment there and they were grateful for that.

Valid point, and I think it's an underline in the story itself.
Several times, in the first 4-5 novels at least, Kazuma wishes he could go back to Eris and have her send him to Japan.
But he consideres Megumin and Darkness, and chooses to stay.
I think you are right, if he never picked Aqua, and just went standard cookiecutter, Megumin would likely have been impoverished and went back to the village to take care of her sister.
Darkness would have had just a single friend that would show up for a few hours every other month, and otherwise be married off for noble alliances.
>yfw Kazuma and Aqua not only saved 2 main characters, but all of Australia by their irregular choices

he also protected them from a raging aqua that is about to erase them

Well, Megumin actually refused to join a fairly competent party because a mage in her village foretold that she would meet a party that would change her life. If Kazuma was taken out of the picture, that prophecy probably wouldn't have been told and she would have joined that party and Yunyun would have followed her around as always, meaning they would be doing pretty good for themselves.
As for Darkness, she would certainly be lonely but her noble status and wealth would keep her out of danger and maybe allow her to join one of the parties fighting the demon king army, although she would probably find that boring.

Oh, you're right dude. I remembered it as him showing them the town and so on, but just checked it, you are right.
I think they do value him. Like, they don't call him by his name but like "Most Esteemed Customer".
He has probably fed the entire brothel enough energy to sustain themselves for a year.
And the fact, like you say, he doesn't treat them like monsters, and want them to see and experience Axel in day time

So, this happened in Hajimete no Gal.

Gyarus have good taste in anime, it turns out.

Too bad it's ruined because the author sold out and decided to turn this into a harem after all. I guess it's true what they say, guys and girls literally cannot be just friends.

?

You are right that he "sold out". Being that his publishers and his editor bullied him into romancing Megumin. But his friendship with Aqua is still as honest as can possible be. Just a shame they don't get so many scenes together anymore

Since when did Aqua become part of the hare?

>Being that his publishers and his editor bullied him into romancing Megumin.
But no, they didn't. He didn't have editors or publishers when he was writing Konosuba on an Internet blog four years ago, but the romance with Megumin was there.

I spent a good 15 minutes trying to think of any other friendship like this and the closest was Gourry and Lina but those two two romantic at the end.

tfw, you realized Kazuma is actually a nicer MC than your avarage isekai protag, because he actually thinks and do shit for others rather than just stand on the room smiling and being polite.

I recall a bit from I think like LN7 or 8, when Kazuma is attacking Darkness one morning, over something. Aqua walks in and pours herself a glass of champagne
>What's that, hiki? Are you looking for a fight?
>Shut up you idiot, it doesn't concern you
>I will not. If you want a fight, fight me. None of your cute, little tricks you use on Darkness will work on me, you know this right? Are you an idiot?
>Most of my stats far outweigh yours, and with my divine buffs, even more. You want to fight? Come then.
>She flicked her blue hair and sipped her wine.
>This bitch...

That was an awesome powerdisplay, and 101 sibling bullshittery

Alright, I will take your word for it. Never read the WN since I can't read moon. Fair enough.

>LN ends
>Final love confession from both Megumin and Lalatina
>Kazuma rejects both
> "I love Aqua!"

Reactions?

I wouldn't really consider it a harem, not enough people

Impossible. Even if Kazuma were to fall in love with Aqua, she would not return the feelings in the same way. Same goes, if Aqua were to fall in love with him.
They love each other more than anything probably, but not in a romantic way.

You really should look into things before typing them out as a fact.

>Darkness
>Megumin
>Iris
Harems consist of 3 people or more.

She's not. Actually it isn't even a harem ay this point anymore. It's megumin and Kazuma now. Same as the web novel if his years ago.

The closest they would ever get to "romance" would be when Kazuma realizes he is just as hedonistic as the goddess of indulgence, and the suplement each other with their bodies. But that would literally only be doujins, never canon

Well Darkness got rejected. Iris is basically all fluff and Megumin/Kazuma is pretty much set in stone.

this, just couldn't see it either and I hope it stays that way.

Isn't he with Megumin now? Doesn't it stop being a harem at that point?

The Megushit relationship ruined all of this. Just because there's a guy being surrounded by girls like this doesn't he's supposed to end up in either one of them.Their interactions alone has what got me into this series,and truth to be told i wish that was shown more instead rather than that disgusting pedobait.

The fuck do you mean he got with Megumin?

Is this canon or some delusional meguminfag's shitty fantasy?

how long until Vol 11 is translated?

The LN community in Japan would probably be outraged. From what I've seen on 2ch, most LN readers don't consider Aqua a love interest and like her character that way. If it did happen, they would think that it came out of nowhere and I wouldn't blame them.

>Darkness got rejected
What?
Is that Vol. 12 spoilers?
You got any proof to back that up?

He hasn't fucked her, he is just beta-orbiting and telling other girls he is taken.

I think you mean vol 12? Vol 11 is on Crimsonmagic.

>Isn't he with Megumin now?

did they finally hook up for real? no more bullshit, no more "shit ruining the mood at the last possible moment", they are actually "dating"

Poor Lalatina.

I think every Axis poster in the world would be upset, myself included.
Anyone who started reading this (prior to the anime) did so because of Kazuma and Aquas interactions, and that whole concept would go out of the window if they got romanced.

you mean 12? vol 11 has been translated up to ch5 and just the epilogue still in progress

They're something akin to a couple, only Megumin decided to keep things discreet and tame to not break the party dynamic. That means no sex.
>fantasy
Oh, please. Kazuma is not a prize.

He told Darkness in a sincere and honest way that she currently didn't stand a chance. A very sad chapter, eventhough Darkness was always worst.
But also a little annoying, because it focused so hard on hamfisting romance into an actually very good comedy.

I can't believe he didn't grope her a bit while they were sleeping together every night in the barn

Megumin was pretty wet for Kazuma's masked thief alter ego.

Same. I was starting to think EVA and if Shinji had an honest friendship with Asuka or Rei, but had to let it go. I can't think of anything else.

Which volume was this?
I don't remember reading this.

The latest volume.

so has Kazuma used Lalatina or Megumin image in his Succubus dreams?

>tfw the author fucked up and lapped up the shipping from meguminfags

Bear in mind, in the start, when it was just him and Aqua, he was still and ultra /r9k/ beta otaku, that hadn't been in contact with a woman before. He was likely scared shitless the entire time they shared a blanked. not scared enough to rub on out though

>had an honest friendship with Asuka or Rei
It had a really heavy sexual component, like everything else in it.

Really?
I think i was in the spoiler thread, but i don't remember reading that.
IIRC it ended with Darkness going to Kazuma's room or something.
Do you have the link to the archive?

Yeah, I suppose. It was just off the top of my head.

Kazuma implies that he used Darkness quite a few times in his dreams.
He hasn't said anything about Megumin, so it's left to the reader's imagination.

about vol 11, just checked, most chapters are there, but epilogue is missing and soo the PDF isnt done yet, I like to read all in one go, so I guess I have to wait a little more.

Get fucked Megufags.

Whys is Vanir such good troll, I could kill for a second book of him.

We all now he is going to go mgtow

The hell are you talking about? Megumin pumped the breaks and is basically interrogating all the other girls on their relationship with Kazuma.

>still no season 3

Why live

I just finished up to vol 11, and that bit in vol 10(?) cracked me up.
Where he decides to stay with his imouto untill they use a forbidden memory potion on him, and send him back to Axel.
Literally the only person in the entire world that would suspect he wasn't telling the truth, was Aqua, and she went fucking mental.
When he finally tried to break into his house, and have Vanir distract her, she still smelled his old schemes and knocked his ass on the ground

what about Rukia and Ichigo, despise what Ichirukifags will tell you, for most of what I can remember, they didnt have much romance on their interactions and was more a vitrolic friendship.

>IIRC it ended with Darkness going to Kazuma's room or something.
It happens a bit after that. Darkness confesses while they're in bed, chained to each other, and gets rejected.

fair enough mate. Vol 11 isn't critical pr main storyline, it's just funny as fuck.

>But that would literally only be doujins, never canon

I love how most of the doujins with Aqua so far, dont really have romance, they are more "Aqua had a taste of sex, now her hedonistic personalitie wants sex all the time" so in character in a way.

It still was the only psuedo likeable couple in the whole series.

If I remember right, some said she was waiting for his return and even cooked his meals but never showed up.

You must only have read up to Megumin's latest spin-off. Kazuma rejects Darkness because he already has Megumin, and the rest of the volume is filler(Kazuma and Darkness going on a quest to kill some demon noble) and has none of what you described.

Lalatina is lewd and you can use her freely

Do not lewd waifu thoug.

Pretty much all of the doujins starring the quad have been in character.

I was always under the impression that Aqua didn't understand what Kazuma was doing.

She's just too much of a fucking idiot.

I honestly think her being the canon goddess of water and arts and crafts, and have lived for [insert] amount of years, that she would have at some point used and avatar, like Eris does, to explore Australia.
Then she would have discovered, alchohol, drugs, sex, gambling, violence, all that. Eventually she would have gotten bored of most of it, and fall back on alchohol as her prefered indulgence.
This is why she is never, ever intimitaded by sexual matters in the slightest.
That's my head-canon anyway

No, Aqua does understand Kazuma to an extent. They're truly very similar in how they're both complete scum, so she can easily predict his next move or understand what he thinks at the moment. But they're not perfect clones either, and Aqua is clueless about his relationships with Megumin and Darkness, simply because she can't understand romance.

True, they all waited for a week. But when he showed up and gave his explanation, Aqua was the only one that smelled something was wrong. Hence why she was so zealous about not letting him back in

>>"Apparently, when teleporting, there’s a small chance for a rare accident to happen that causes you fuse with other small animals that get inside the magic circle! According to some rumors, this is how werewolves and lamias are made you see! You see!”
>>Aqua, as if to scare me, suddenly said things like this, but…
>>“Then next time, why don’t we capture three or so goblins and teleport them with you? If the fusion goes correctly, I think your intelligence might increase.”
>>“What are you saying you stupid NEET. You’re the one that needs to teleport with ants and raise your body to NEET ratio.”

this is the worst thing i have ever read

Vol.12. Megumin doesn't want to hurt the groups dynamic and basically slows things down with Kazuma.

>All those times where his party is secretly the cause of some bullshit some people are dealing with and he feels fucking horrible when they try and reward him for fixing it

Aqua is probably the one in the party that is most aware of sexuality. She just doesn't care about it.
>and Aqua is clueless about his relationships with Megumin and Darkness, simply because she can't understand romance
Not true tbqh, she calls him out on his courtship to Megumin several times.

She basically tells Kazuma that sexual stuff is postponed at the moment, and that they should go on dates and learn more about each other instead of rushing it. Kazuma still accepted her proposal to become "more than friends" and rejected Darkness because of it.

But that's just teasing. There's one point in volume 12 where Kazuma and Megumin go on a date and decide to bring Aqua along, and she's completely oblivious to it.
Aqua is the most childlike member of the party.

How did that end up anyway, also, memory potion?

Staying in OPs topic of pure friendships, the first time Aqua notices something going on between Kazuma and Megumin, she does the coolest bro move she has ever done.
In LN5 Megumin asks Kazuma about his home, and what kind of a person he was
>(K) Well.. I protected my friends and allies at all costs. They called me things like "The sleepless one" or "The relentless one"
>(M)Wow Kazuma, you were kind of a big deal in your home nation!
>(K) Well, if you put it like that
>(A) Neh, Kazuma...
>(K)What?
>(A) Can I ask you something about online gaming?
>(K)Please don't, Aqua sama
>(A)Okay.. Goodnight, Kazuma
>(K)...Goodnight Aqua.

Best bros

...

>Megumin doesn't want to hurt the groups dynamic

Who is she? Kodaka?

not meme but is she farting or something?

what's the white smoke?