In which Aqua is actually useful.
Impression
This is so surreal. I can’t believe Aqua was genuinely competent for once! I kept waiting for the punchline, and it never really came! Even at the end, when Kazuma realised that she’s been a literal magnet for undead since forever, it didn’t really change the fact that she helped him a great deal throughout the dungeon. They might not have even gotten the treasure had she not managed to purify Keele and put his soul to rest (speaking of which, I was a little confused as to why Wiz still looks like a comfy onee-san despite being a lich as well). It’s such a weird feeling seeing her being… well, not useless. That’s not to say she hasn’t done stuff in the past too, like purifying that lake or helping out during the fight against Verdia, but each and every one of them featured her either stumbling through it while flashing her butt and being a brat, or accumulating more debt than the reward the party got for finishing the task. In comparison, she was great here! I mean, she was still overly loud and annoying, and without Kazuma she would probably have been eaten by that Mimic, but overall she did good! Even her God Blow actually did some damage. Remember how it didn’t even work on that giant frog?
In Kazuma’s words, it’s actually possible to take this Aqua out in public without being embarrassed! Both this episode and the recent frog hunt quest demonstrates that their party actually benefits quite a lot from Darkness being there. I’m not sure how long she’s going to be away, but… well, from the little we saw of her it looked like she was enjoying herself. Kazuma’s debt seems like it’ll also stay as a recurring factor. I don’t think he squandered all of the treasure he got by buying drinks for the guild members, but from his expression when Aqua was throwing up at the end, I have a feeling he ended up spending more than he wanted to. The irony of that last scene was of course that, when it came to Kazuma being arrested and put on trial, not one of them stood up for him despite being happy to accept his free drinks and watch him perform Steal with those (admittedly quite creepy) finger movements. Scumbags, the lot of them. Also, is it bad that I was disappointed that Kazuma ended up getting those same panties from Chris? I don’t mind that it’s Chris, but I was hoping that she’d wear a pair with a different design at least!
Here is a cute Megumin to end the post. I love how the art style suddenly becomes somewhat decent during any serious scene despite being a hilarious mess otherwise.
