Combatants Will Be Dispatched! – Episode 1

Content Warning: Fanservice

What’s it about? Word domination is nearly within the grasp of the Supreme Leaders of the Kisaragi Corporation, an underground criminal group turned into an evil megacorporation. When a dice roll choses Combat Agent Six to explore an alien planet, he finds himself in a whole new world, all who are stiff competition for a guy who wants to do evil.

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Combatants Will Be Dispatched! Is a J.C. Staff production, helmed by director Akagi Hiroaki (Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san), with series composition by Suguawara Yukie (Overlord). Additionally, Koda Masato (Konosuba) will be doing music for the series, with Sugimoto Tomomi (Fairy Tale) handling art direction. 

I’m going into this completely unaware of what all happens in this series. I haven’t ready the light novels nor the manga, both of which are currently being localized by Yen Press, nor do I even know what they’re about. I’m a complete Combatants newb, but… will that serve me well?

Episode 1, “Spies Will Be Dispatched!” kicks off the series with Combat Agent Six, a spy that’s being sent to another world. Thankfully, he’s not going a la Truck-kun: he’s just being sent by his higher-ups with the help of good ol’ fashioned teleportation. After some “funny” hijinks, Combat Agent Six and android Kisaragi Alice find themselves on an “Earth-like” planet that’s far from safe and quite evil on its own.

And… that’s pretty much the set-up . It goes as expected from there.

Let me say this: Combat Agent Six sucks. He’s a perv, and I hated him from the start. By minute two, I’d found ten individual reasons to hate this guy. Granted, I really didn’t like Combatants Will Be Dispatched because it leers at every female character any change it gets, but like… do as you will, anime. 

Do as you will.

I frequently found myself wishing Combat Agent Six was gone from the series, just to see how it would be if he wasn’t constantly screaming and groping his fellow agents of evil. Then I realized that this show kind of can’t exist without him, and I kind of got sad, but like… that’s just anime, y’all. 

And I hate it.

Still, it’s not very cash money of Combat Agent Six to behave the way he did even if he’s evil, which is by and large why I found Combatants Will Be Dispatched! to be ultimately… kind of boring. Like, the premise is interesting: I like the idea of a big evil organization being evil, but there’s just not enough villainy to satisfy here. Instead, Combat Agent Six, whose point of view we’re CONSTANTLY in, is just kind of meh since he’s constantly hamstrung by his thirst for breasts and beauties and beauties with breasts.

I don’t really know what to say other than that. Combatants isn’t really that fun, and is kind of rote. I knew what was going to happen, to some degree: Combat Agent Six would see a girl, immediately sexualize her, and hijinks would ensure. Rinse, wash, and repeat… for twenty-four minutes.

Combatants Will Be Dispatched! tried to wring a laugh out of me as if I was a wet towel. Yet there were no giggles or smiles to be found. I did, however, laugh when they booted up a super-computer “artifact”—think of that as a special, magical macguffin on the planet that they’re on—that made a Windows XP-esque boot-up sound. 

I didn’t laugh when Combat Agent Six made the new password for the supercomputer “Dick Festival,” though. He claims it was for the sake of evil, but honestly… we all know who hearing a girl say “Dick Festival” is for.

Ultimately, Combatants Will Be Dispatched! isn’t outright bad: it’s just really boring. I fully recognize that this will probably be a lot of viewer’s thing. In fact, I imagine that there’s a lot of folks who will be watching this eagerly week to week. And honestly? That’s great.

The wonderful thing about anime is that there’s something for every type of viewer. I imagine that folks who like Akame ga Kill will really enjoy Combatants. Maybe even fans of Konosuba might groove on this show, but… somehow, that feels like a slight insult, though I also recognize that Konosuba isn’t everyone’s cup of tea either.

Coincidentally, I didn’t particularly like Akame ga Kill. Both shows left me with a similar experience: an inability to focus on the show and a slight desire to be watching something else. But like I said, there’s an anime for everyone, and honestly… Combatants Will Be Dispatched! is… someone’s show this season. Combat Agent Six said “Dick Festival” for someone on this planet.

Maybe it’s you, dear reader.

Maybe it’s you.