Combatants Will Be Dispatched! Review: KonoSuba's Creator Does It Again

Quick Take

• By the same author as KonoSuba — same irreverent comedy, different setup
• An agent of an evil organization sent to conquer another world finds the local heroes more competent than his bosses
• Light-hearted isekai comedy with fun characters and consistent laughs

Who Is This Manga For?

• KonoSuba fans looking for more from the same author
• Readers who enjoy isekai parody and found the genre too self-serious
• Those who like protagonists who are openly not the good guy but slowly become something like a hero
• Fans of comedy-action manga

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Suggestive content, crude humor, mild violence

Similar sensibility to KonoSuba. Older teen audience. Nothing explicit.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★☆☆
Art Style	★★★★☆
Character Development	★★★☆☆
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★☆
Reread Value	★★★☆☆

Story Overview

Combat Agent Six (real name never given, called Six throughout) works for the Kisaragi Corporation — an evil organization that is genuinely trying to conquer Earth in the most corporate, bureaucratic way possible. Six is their top field agent: unscrupulous, self-interested, and not particularly heroic.

To gather intelligence on alternate dimensions, Kisaragi sends Six and his AI partner Alice to conquer a fantasy world.

The problem is, the fantasy world already has a Demon King to fight. The local kingdom is under attack. And Six, despite being an agent of evil, ends up fighting alongside the kingdom's heroes because it turns out conquering a world requires the world to actually exist first.

What follows is a comedy about an openly bad person slowly becoming something almost like a good person, surrounded by characters who are exactly as ridiculous as he is.

Characters

Combat Agent Six is aggressively self-interested and frequently terrible. He earns Evil Points from his organization for doing dastardly things, which he uses to buy upgrades. Despite this, he has a code of conduct that is inconsistently applied but genuinely present. He is funnier than he has any right to be.

Alice is Six's AI partner, who helps him navigate the world and provides tactical support while expressing frequent exasperation at his behavior. Her growing investment in the mission she supposedly just calculates is a quiet character arc.

Rose is a paladin who is supposed to be the voice of righteousness but is routinely compromised by circumstances. Her relationship with Six is contentious and genuinely funny.

Grimm is a death priestess whose god refuses to bless her with useful divine powers, leaving her with mostly funeral-related abilities. She handles this with cheerful professionalism.

Art Style

Kakao Lanthanum's art is clean, expressive, and well-suited to comedy timing. Character designs are distinct and appealing. Action sequences are readable. The monster and enemy designs vary nicely, giving the fantasy world visual variety.

The art has more polish than many comedy manga adaptations of light novels, which often feel rushed.

Cultural Context

This manga comes from Natsume Akatsuki, the author of Konosuba, and it shares a DNA: the protagonist is sent somewhere he did not choose, is helped by a group of women with specific useless skills, and is constantly being humiliated despite having genuine competence.

But where KonoSuba's Kazuma is an ordinary guy trying to be a hero and failing, Six is actively trying not to be a hero and also failing. The inversion is clean and works well.

The "evil organization wanting to take over the world" premise is familiar from tokusatsu (super sentai, Kamen Rider) and old-school anime. Treating it with corporate-level bureaucracy is the joke that keeps working.

What I Love About It

I read this after finishing KonoSuba and expecting something similar. What I got was similar enough to feel familiar and different enough to be interesting.

The thing that got me was Six's relationship with Alice. She is an AI who calculates outcomes and provides tactical analysis. But she clearly cares about Six in a way that goes beyond her programming, and the series is careful never to make this too explicit or sentimental. It is just there, in small moments.

Also, the Kisaragi Corporation meetings are hilarious. Six phones in reports and his bosses respond with exactly the kind of middle-management feedback you would expect from an evil organization that is also somehow a corporation.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

Western readers who came from KonoSuba tend to enjoy this one as a lighter, slightly less chaotic companion piece. Readers who come to it fresh enjoy it as a solid isekai comedy on its own merits.

The consensus is that it delivers consistent entertainment without demanding much from the reader. The anime adaptation (available on Crunchyroll) got positive notices, which helped introduce more Western readers to the manga.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

There is a scene where Six has to justify his recent actions (which were transparently heroic) to his bosses at Kisaragi, and he constructs an increasingly elaborate argument for why everything he did was actually for evil purposes.

His bosses seem almost convinced. Alice does not comment. She just processes.

Similar Manga

• KonoSuba — the obvious companion piece; same author, very similar energy
• How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord — isekai comedy with a different protagonist type
• My Next Life as a Villainess — reincarnation comedy about someone in a game who is supposed to be the villain
• Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? — more action-focused isekai with comedy elements

Reading Order / Where to Start

Start from Volume 1. The series is complete at 8 volumes in English, which is an excellent length — long enough to develop the characters, short enough not to overstay its welcome.

Official English Translation Status

Yen Press has published all 8 volumes of the manga in English. The series is complete and all volumes are available. The light novel is also available from Yen Press with more story content.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Complete series — no waiting for new volumes
• Consistently funny with a likable (if openly terrible) protagonist
• Clean art that serves the comedy well
• KonoSuba fans will feel immediately at home

Cons

• Less chaotic and unpredictable than KonoSuba, which some readers may miss
• Character depth is limited compared to more serious series
• The ending feels slightly rushed in the final volume

Format Comparison

Format	Notes
Physical	Standard Yen Press volumes. Good production quality.
Digital	Available on Yen Press and Kindle.
Omnibus	Not currently available; standard volumes recommended.

Where to Buy

Get Combatants Will Be Dispatched! on Amazon →

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