Combatants Will Be Dispatched! is a comedy anime based on the light novel series by Natsume Akatsuki, who also notably created the popular comedy series Konosuba. The anime follows Combat Agent Six, a member of the Kisaragi Corporation—an underground criminal group turned evil mega-corporation hell-bent on world domination. This corporation also seeks dominion over other planets and in order to do that, its leaders send Agent Six (after a quick dice roll) alongside his new AI partner Alice, to conquer the nearest habitable planet and its inhabitants.
In the Shadow of Konosuba
Natsume’s sense of humor comes across quite well during the first episode as the characters (Agent Six in particular) act and react exactly how a typical character in Konosuba does. The episode’s format is also quite similar. Upon landing on the strange planet, Agent Six and Alice are immediately welcomed by blood thirsty monsters. And instead of working together to resolve their issue, the two immediately get into an argument until one of them has their way.
The character dynamics are also quite common for a comedy anime. The protagonist, Agent Six, is simple, frank, easy to figure, and follows his impulses even when it is incredibly unnecessary or inappropriate, while Alice is the straight man who’s there to assist and keep him in line.
Early on in the episode they meet a Snow, a Knight of the Kingdom of Grace, who they convince to take them in, and after some more misadventures, the pair winds up working or the queen said kingdom by the end of the episode. It seems that the anime will follow this format almost exclusively: conflicts, arguments, agreements, and resolution with a few things added here and there to try and switch things up. While this isn’t a complaint as I, for one, think the format works well enough. However, I still hope the anime will at least try to do more in terms of creativity.
Setting the Stage
Other than that, the anime also does an excellent job of explaining all its core concepts and major plot points in one episode in a simple and straightforward way, such as outlining the goals of the evil Kisaragi Corporation and explaining what the deal is with this mysterious kingdom the characters have found themselves in, and even minor details like what Evil Points are and how they work. I also find the premise centered around the bad guys in a comedy anime to be rather interesting. Whether or not the anime will explore that premise well is yet to be seen.
In terms of the actual comedy of this comedy anime, it basically follows the same formula as Konosuba, only without the charm. Perhaps because the anime just started or that the characters haven’t been well established yet or are just not as entertaining. Additionally, the comedy can also be hit or miss for some as its type of humor is definitely not for everyone. Though I’ll give credit where it’s due as the anime made me laugh more than once, especially with a sneaky Konosuba reference I wasn’t expecting.
Conclusion
Production-wise, the anime is pretty standard in terms of quality. The animation is fluid, and the backgrounds, visuals are crisp, and backgrounds are detailed. While the character designs are quite simplistic, their facial expressions are hilarious and well-detailed, as expected from J.C Staff.
All in all, the first episode of Combatants Will Be Dispatched! was OK. It’s hard not to compare it with Konosuba as it follows its comedic formula to a T, which isn’t necessarily good a good thing. For now, though, the anime doesn’t show anything special about it, and only time will tell if it ever does.
Combatants Will Be Dispatched! Is available to stream on Funimation.
Have you seen Combatants Will Be Dispatched? Whats your favorite comedy anime? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.