Konosuba Aqua Theory – Aqua Is Not Aqua!

Whilst watching Konosuba season 2 I saw something strange during episode three that could change the outcome of Konosuba forever. These details are so minor that I wouldn’t necessarily give it any credence, but it’s definitely worth talking about.

This theory proposes that aqua is not running around with Kazuma, Megumin and Darkness, but trapped in the dungeon from episode three, having been replaced with an imposter. It’s extremely unlikely because of the way the episode took place, but not impossible because characters have vanished before – Darkness was left out of 30% of season 2, would they go so far to have another character miss 70% of the series just for a joke?

But what gives this theory any legs at all to stand on? There is a moment in the episode so minor that it could be missed so easily. The characters find a mimic and aqua states that “Some of them even pretend to be humans in order to prey on other monsters” which instantly gives the impression that some trickery is going on. This is the exact kind of line that you would say if someone was going to trade places. Once I’d seen this line, I was sure that aqua was a mimic or was going to turn into one. This moment would be off camera, of course, and not hinted at. But to me, her behaviour in the dungeon was very strange.

The most major thing to take note of was Aqua’s magic ability. Back in season 1 she could only do party tricks, however now, it seems that aqua is an amazing wizard! How can you explain this? Perhaps she is getting stronger, however of course, there’s always the crazy alternative.

A mimic copies the mind and body of their victim, and tries to hide and blend in with accordance with the beliefs of the victim. So what would a mimic do if Aqua (As prideful as we know she is about magic) was captured by it? It would make sense for the mimic to act in accordance with how Aqua believes she acts (a master sorceress), rather than how she actually acts (Lazy freelance witch). Therefore, it doesn’t seem like too far of a stretch to think that a powerful mimic who likes “to prey on other monsters” would mimic Aqua and use their powerful magic to impersonate Aqua so as to reveal themselves by their greater strength.

After this Kazuma even claims that “somethings different about Aqua today!” so it seems that a switch is not so hard to believe after-all.

But how could this switch have happened? Let’s examine our options.

The Kidnap Theory

We never actually saw aqua enter the dungeon, rather she appeared next to Kazuma on the stairs out of nowhere, this could easily be the place where the mimic appeared as it seems so creepy and strange. It’s also not clear whether aqua can actually see in the dark – we’ve not seen her in that position yet. This means that a mimic who could be more accustomed to the dark would be able to take her place and imitate her powers.

The contradictory part of this is that Megumin isn’t at all worried about an aqua kidnap. Aqua is also never seen with Megumin on the surface. For this theory to be true a monster in the dungeon must have kidnapped her without anyone noticing, or Megumin is in on this too, which is even more impossible.

The Switch Theory

This theory proposes that aqua did indeed enter the dungeon and was replaced midway through.  A mimic would not reveal that mimics are in the dungeon in the first place, so it must have happened later. Depending on how much power and knowledge a mimic has the change could have happened at two different points.

The first point that the switch could have taken place is directly after the mimic encounter off-camera when we’re not looking at aqua. This makes a lot of sense if you have no faith at all in the abilities of Aqua and would trust a magical chest over her power to use the magic circle!

The second place that this could happen is directly after the magic circle is used. This would mean that the mimic wouldn’t really need to know any magic and would be able to switch after. The reason why this can’t really happen at any other time is because aqua directly referenced the part where they were all attacked and Kazuma vanished – a mimic who switched later couldn’t have known this.

I don’t know which one is more likely (In this theory of incredibly small odds now that season 2 has ended and the film has been released) however it really needs to be these two or the mimic aqua is a complete idiot. Actually based off of how Aqua acts after this, it might be safe to assume that the mimic really is that stupid, meaning that the change could have happened pretty much anytime!

You’ve also got to remember just how unlikely this is from the perspective of story. Although it might be funny to have this reveal at the end of the episode or in the following one. Referencing this odd moment which took place a little bit into series 2 that most people have forgotten about doesn’t exactly scream “Yes we need to bring this back”. This is also forgetting to mention that people really like Aqua, and although it’s fun to see her suffer from time to time, after this long, with us having seen and laughed at all of the funny Aqua moments after this episode, it would just feel sad to know that this Aqua wasn’t the real one.

Explosion!

So, what do you think of this theory? Preposterous, but hopefully interesting! I’d love to see feedback on how plausible this idea is and how you would react if I was actually treat this as legitimate in any way whatsoever.