Why was Aqua responsible for humans from Earth? 70% of the planet's surface is covered in water, the body of the dominant species (humanity) is 60% water, the habitable atmosphere is thoroughly saturated with water vapor, and every single organism on it requires the liquid for survival.
It sounds ridiculous that Kazuma mistook a farm tractor with a truck and died from the overwhelming fear of being run over by it, but remember his state of mind at the time. Remember that he had stayed up for the previous 3 days straight playing an MMORPG. Staying up for that long results in hallucinations.
It also puts undue stress on the body and the heart. Together with the possible overconsumption of energy drinks to keep that marathon going, it could account for his death by "shock".
The Anime also makes it a bit clearer... as, the sun was positioned such that he could only see the outline of the tractor, and that from his sleep-deprived perspective, it really does look like a truck barreling down on him.
Kazuma may seem like a hopeless otaku, but there's good reason to investigate the manga in the castle vault, even if that meant triggering the alarm. It has been said on numerous occasions that the locals of this world can't read Japanese, and the last time Kazuma saw manga, it was in the Crimson clan village, in the factory made by the same guy who designed/piloted "The Destroyer." This means that there's some Japanese transplant nearby targeting the royal family. After all, Iris's older brother got the divine artifact as a tribute from someone, and as of chapter 5 of volume 6, we know the artifact can be used to Kill and Replace people. Although he never learned of it, he was right. Lord Abelard, the "mayor" of Axel town, is not only the one who gave the divine artifact to Iris's brother, but he is also well aware of its powers and was planning to use it to Kill and Replace the crown prince so he could force Darkness to marry him.
Aqua's hair decoration (as seen here◊) consists in two small yellow spheres attached to a larger blue one. That's it, it's a simple three-dimensional model of a water molecule. Very fitting for a water goddess who's very in touch with modern society.
Why does Eris have levels in thief? Simple, she is the Goddess of Fortune and no other class relies on its Luck stat quite as much.
Thieves typically steal money. When Kazama registered, the Guild's clerk mentioned off-hand how a high Luck stat would make for a good merchant as well. The world's money is named after Eris.
Megumin's ideal man is someone who doesn't just loan money with an ulterior motive, has high goals, is a hard worker, and is an honest/serious person. Yunyun retorted that Megumin would attract the opposite, a lazy bum. While at first it looks like an ironic jab at Megumin falling for Kazuma, someone the complete opposite of what she looks for, but both are actually correct. While Kazuma's almost always a lazy bum, when the situation gets serious, he displays all the traits that Megumin looks for, which is why she fell in love with him.
Megumin's anime character intro PV claimed that she's the "Real Heroine", whereas Aqua's the "Main Heroine". While it seems like Megumin's being chuuni and trying to hog the spotlight, it's heavily implied that Konosuba is actually an in-universe novel series written by Arue about Megumin's adventures with Kazuma, making her claims valid.
Why do people think that Aqua is just a loony pretending to be the Goddess Aqua? Her character aside, it is not unusual for an Axis Cultist to act in that manner. Her adventurer registration card proclaims her as an Arch Priest of the Axis Cult after all. People figure she is just one with a physical resemblance to the "real" Aqua's depiction in religious texts and a delusional sense of grandeur.
When the self-destructing Destroyer is randomly teleported to Abelard's manor, this is presented as a stroke of bad luck for the allegedly lucky Kazuma because it lands him in serious legal trouble. However, the one who cast the random teleport is Wiz, and Wiz was worried about causing mass fatalities at the time. Kazuma reassures her by saying he would take responsibility for the core's destination. So the fact that Abelard's manor was evidently empty at the time, resulting in zero fatalities, means that the core appearing there was good luck. Furthermore, Wiz would have absolutely no chance if she were pinned with the "subversion against the state" charge. Kazuma is implicated as being in league with the Demon King simply for having a single lich-exclusive skill. If Wiz's true nature and past became public, she would be executed immediately, without even the sham trial that Kazuma got. So Kazuma's luck stat gave him exactly what he wanted, zero fatalities and no punishment for the cute lich who's genuinely nice to him.
The doctrine of the Axis Cult is "Do as you will so long as it is not a crime", and their seventh doctrine is "You shall not endure. Drink when you want to drink. Eat when you want to eat. Because you might not get to eat it tomorrow…". Their teachings seem to revolve on instant gratification within legal (NOT moral) limits because of how ridiculously dangerous the setting is (any and ALL food, even the vegetables, are mobile and will fight humans who try to eat them), but given the attitudes of some members, not even 'legal' really stops them. Aqua and female members of her Axis Cult do not seem to wear underwear. Try not to think why the little girl who tripped appears to be similarly attired.
Why did Sena focus so much on Kazuma? SHE DIDN'T! While she did jump to conclusions at first, the second he pointed out she was nuts... she backed off and became more friendly. Right up until her device caught out "I have never aided a member of the Demon King's army" as a lie... She's just got a case of Prosecutor's Fallacy, which is common in the Japanese justice system.
When Kazuma dies and first encounters Eris, his request is to be reborn into a family with "a pretty older step-sister and a pretty younger step-sister." You might think this is because he's a pervert, but it's more layered than that when you think about his party members Darkness and Megumin (who both fit the descriptions). It's very likely that he's asking that because he's grown attached to them, and as such, wants people like them in his new life.
Doubles as heartwarming, as later Megumin and Darkness fall in love with him.
One might wonder why a holy crusader who wears yellow and white would be named "Darkness". As pointed out here, there is a status ailment called "Darkness" in the Final Fantasy games (games usually in a setting not unlike Konosuba.) Darkness severely affects the accuracy of a character's physical attacks, causing them to miss over and over. Now, think about our Darkness' own track record for hitting things with that sword.
When Aqua kept using Turn Undead on Verdia, why was it surprisingly effective? Turn Undead is a basic ability for priests in games like Dungeons & Dragons, and is based on holy power. Aqua being a goddess, naturally has high holy power!
Additionally, Verdia's confusion as to Aqua's (and the party as a whole, in hindsight) power despite the fact that Axel is a low level starting area becomes awesome once you realize that the parties' levels are actually really low, it's just that the girl's Crippling Overspecialization makes them REALLY strong when utilized the right way:
Aqua, despite being a low level priest is actually a goddess, and thus has high holy power. Other religious adventurers have to cultivate their own holy power from scratch, through dedication and effort over a faithful lifetime.
Megumin, despite being a low level arch wizard with a small mana pool, spends all her points on the strongest attack magic spell in the world, to the point of Explosion having nuke-like power.
Even Darkness is really tough and strong, even if she can't hit anything. She regularly tanks blows, with or without armor, that severely injure or kill other tank-class adventurers in similar situations. Additionally for Darkness, the only living beings in the world of Konosuba who have not been killed in one shot from a direct hit by Megumin's Explosion Magic have all been the Devil King's commanders...and Darkness. Even Vanir lost a life when being hit by it, with Darkness surviving the spell.
To top it all off, Kazuma, despite being the weakest class (adventurer), learns multiple utility spells and uses them in clever ways, and maintains the advantage of surprise as he's avoiding the popular builds of his colleages. Not to mention that he's the one who directs the girls to use their abilities for max effectiveness when it counts.
In Verdia's defense, while he may have lost quite hilariously, what Verdia went through to be defeated deserves mention as well. He took a Turn Undead, a Sacred Turn Undead, Megumin's Explosion magic, Sacred Create Water, Kazuma stealing his head and kicking it around, and finally a second Sacred Turn Undead. Not to mention that the Turn Undeads, Sacred Turn Undeads, and Sacred Create Water came from Aqua, a goddess.
Megumin, upon explaining her love of explosion magic, says she only puts points into her magic's power and reduced casting time as she levels. Not counting montages, she takes noticeably less time to cast Explosion throughout the series.
Megumin secretly has the power to insta-cast Explosion, at least by the time when she quickdraws against Wolbach in Light Novel #10. She just does the chants so that enemies don't know she can cast so quick (until she really needs to do so) and because her Crimson Demon Clan esthetic demands drama and madness!
The Steal skill is said to steal more valuable items from the target based on the level of the skill and the user's Luck Stat. So why does Kazuma, who is stated to have unusually high luck, keep stealing panties, which only have modest value? Because the spell determines "value" based on the thoughts and feelings of the user, and Kazuma is an irrepressible pervert.
This may also explain why Kazuma never steals Aqua's panties, assuming she wears any. While he is a pervert, she is the one of the few women he cannot feel sexually attracted to... meaning subconsciously, he probably doesn't want her panties when using Steal (and thus they aren't valuable to him), simply on the basis that they are hers.
The reason why Aqua still lost to Kazuma at rock-paper-scissors despite buffing up her luck with magic is because all of her stats were maxed out to the limit already. They can't go any higher even with buffs.
As Kazuma posed while beginning to play rock-paper-scissors, he formed a spell-circle from his hands. While this was probably purely Rule of Cool and Rule of Funny, Aqua insultingly stated that it was his special ability. The spell-circle gives credence to her claims. He's never lost since he was a kid, after all. Even Kazuma quizzically looks at his hand, as if even his own luck was a mystery to him.
Sylvia has a really bad case of I Just Want to Be Loved. So it is any wonder that she falls for Kazuma after he openly declares how attractive he thinks she is? While he didn't mean what he said about liking her more than his friends, and pulls a complete 180 after finding out about her... less appealing traits, everything he said about how attractive he found her was more than enough to win her over.
The real reason why Megumin pretended to not know who Yunyun was when she first showed up in Season 2 was because Yunyun didn't introduce herself properly during their previous encounters. After she did so, Megumin introduced her to Kazuma.
Although somewhat obvious, the heroines all purposely invert the typical tropes and cliches their classes are usually presented with:
Aqua is an Arch Priest, a class based on the concept of a Priest, Cleric, or White Mage. Typically, Priests are pure of heart people who either serve a god to better people or help people, and live selfless lives. Aqua is a goddess who loves partying, gambling, and enjoys showing off with useless party-tricks, all the opposite of what a typical character of her class would be.
Megumin is an Arch Wizard, a class based on the concept of a Wizard or Black Mage. Wizards are often characterized as people (typically very old or a young student) who have studied a branch of magic or in some cases just magic in general and seek to unlock the secrets of the arcane, and often are characterized by being studious and always seeking to improve their craft or unlock the secrets of the arcane. Megumin only focuses on a single spell that uses all her power to do so, and has no interest in learning other spells or studying magic in general beyond improving her Explosion spell, the opposite of a typical Wizard.
Darkness is a Crusader, a class based around the concept of a Paladin or some kind of Knight. Paladins are usually lawful heroes who follow a religious/moral creed and stick to it, working hard to be pure in what they follow and act as heroes to most people, on top of being those who shield allies from damage. Darkness though is a masochist who doesn't have a real cause besides stopping evil and to ostensibly protect innocent lives, but even then she does so to get being hurt, and her shielding others isn't really to protect them but because she wants to be hit.
People seem to recognize Kazuma and Aqua's terms that come from modern Otaku culture despite the fact they in theory shouldn't. While it looks like Rule of Funny, given how many times someone from Japan has come over to the fantasy world, it makes sense terms like NEET, Lolicon, etc, would be understood; at some point, the Japanese language would have bled into the culture of the setting and become common terminology, especially when people like the Crimson Magic Clan are clearly inspired by Japanese Otaku culture.
What does it say about Kazuma's parents, when they laughed at his unusual death instead of being at least concerned?
In volume 9, Kazuma tells Megumin that he was a huge jerk to his parents, who paid for him to go to an expensive high school, and he repaid their kindness by becoming a shut-in and never actually showed up to class. This may have had some sway on their opinion on him.
As wonderfully karmic as Alderp's fate is in Volume 7, we all have to remember he has a son, Walther, who is actually a decent human being. Literally overnight, Walther's life was completely turned upside down by his father's bad behavior. Vanir makes a point of saying Alderp's family fortune is gone. This means Walther's both in immediate, horrific poverty, and under suspicion from the entire kingdom because they don't know about "Max," and he's the first place Alderp might go to to get aid. One can only hope the poor guy has some kind of other career he can get into than being the son of nobility, or he's SOL.
Luckily, Volume 8 Chapter 1 mentions that the authorities recognized his innocence and that he's helping Darkness's father run Axel.
There's a bit surrounding Kazuma's unfortunate encounter with the Winter Shogun. When Kazuma revives, there's a huge pool of blood in the distance, implying that either: Aqua revived Kazuma in a completely new body and his decapitated one is still there, or somebody had to carry and hold his severed head in place while Aqua did her thing. Either way, such a sight can't be good for the girls.
It might have been Played for Laughs, but Wiz was basically on the verge of passing away for the last 4 episodes of season 2.
The main characters behave the way they do because Konosuba is a parody. But if you think about it, all of them are extremely unpleasant people. If anything, infantile and narcissistic as she may be, Aqua is the least pathological of the lot.
◊) consists in two small yellow spheres attached to a larger blue one. That's it, it's a simple three-dimensional model of a water molecule. Very fitting for a water goddess who's very in touch with modern society.
