I don’t think any of us expected to be here.

Let’s be honest, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is not a show designed to bear the weight of expectations. It’s a bawdy fanservice comedy mixed with a sweet, found-family focused slice-of-life, purposefully bright and breezy even in the rare moments it tips into more dramatic territory. And don’t get me wrong, I loved the first season as much as everybody. But amidst the weighty drama of Kyoto Animation’s current output- A Silent Voice, Violet Evergarden, Hibike Euphonium, Liz and the Blue Bird- Dragon Maid definitely stands out as a far lighter, less consequential affair. It’s the palate cleanser for when the rest of KyoAni’s work starts getting a little too heavy, a spoonful of sugar to cleanse your pores and leave you smiling ear to ear (and give you a little indigestion with its more uncomfortable elements). It was never meant to feel like a grand, meaningful statement. This goofy, wholesome, sometimes problematic fantasy rom-com was never meant to be Important with a capital I.

But then, in 2019, Kyoto Animation was targeted by a horrific arson attack. Countless incredible artists were injured and killed. Everyone was left reeling from the collective trauma. And as we’ve just recently found out, even Naoko Yamada herself left the studio in the aftermath. This wasn’t just a tragedy, this was a foul black scar across the face of the greatest anime studio on the face of the earth. I still remember experiencing the attack in real time over social media, checking my Twitter feed every few minutes in a state of numb shock, watching the death toll rise bit by bit, praying helplessly that it wouldn’t get any worse only for reality to prove me wrong over and over again. I don’t think I can ever properly describe the cold, nauseating despair I felt watching it unfold, how deeply it shook me in ways I still haven’t fully processed. And judging by everyone’s reactions, I’m not the only one who felt that way. The entire anime community, western and eastern alike, grieved for Kyoto Animation. As gauche as this comparison may be, I wonder if this is how people felt on 9/11 watching the twin towers come down. Not just the collective shock and horror, but the sensation that something representing the best of us had been violently ripped away.

And suddenly, the upcoming season 2 of Dragon Maid couldn’t just be another season of Dragon Maid. It was Kyoto Animation’s return to TV animation after almost three years. It was this incredible studio bouncing back after the horrors they’d endured, a statement of purpose that the KyoAni magic would never surrender to darkness. It was the return of sense to a world that had lost all semblance of reason. It had to be, needed to be, perfect. So we’ve found ourselves in a position where all this importance, all this symbolic weight, has been placed on the shoulders of a show where oversized titties bouncing in the face of an eight-year-old boy is a regular recurring gag. Suddenly, this adaptation of a skeevy ecchi manga has to be The Most Meaningful Thing Ever or we’ll feel like the terrorists won. And on top of all that, it has to carry that weight without the help of season 1 director Yasuhiro Takemoto, who died in the attack. KyoAni had to live up to all those expectations while also carrying on a dead man’s vision as respectfully as possible. Would you want to be in that position? Cause I sure as hell wouldn’t.

If it seems like I’m spending more time talking about the context of this show’s existence than the show itself, well, you’re not wrong. The fact is, the circumstances into which Dragon Maid S has released color it in ways that go beyond any notion of objective quality. We were so starved for Kyoto Animation’s return that whatever show they first released after the attack was going to be a phenomenon whether it was designed to be or not. They could’ve released the second season of fucking Phantom World and we’d just be grateful that they were back at all. Who would have the heart to criticize, however well-deserved such criticism might be, when we should just be happy for the return of the one and only KyoAni? Still pumping out high-quality animation that puts everyone else to shame, with genuinely great working conditions that foster healthy business practice and artistic brilliance alike? The shining representative of anime at its absolute best, shaking off the impossible tragedy it’s endured and proving that it’s still here to deliver on that promise for many years to come? Under those circumstances, I don’t think any show would be given proper scrutiny. You’d feel like an asshole for doing so.

Well, I’m gonna be that asshole. Because as fucking amazing as it is to see KyoAni back on their feet, there are two glaring problems that keep Dragon Maid’s second season from being as good as its first.

The first problem is a bit more intangible, which makes it harder to describe. Simply put, though, it feels like Dragon Maid S is leaning harder on the slapstick comedy than it should. The first season struck an extremely careful balance between goofy antics and more subdued, contemplative slice-of-life moments. Its best moments came not from the absurd fight scenes and jiggling gazongas, but from the sense of family and comfort instilled by Kobayashi and Tohru’s extended community of humans and dragons. It took time to show the realities of mundane life, the quiet moments of connection between people that made you care about them. The second season, in contrast, feels like it’s trying too hard to be Nichijou at points. The gags are almost too fast, the pacing too abrupt, the absurdity too ramped up at the expense of those quiet moments. Yeah, the sheer spectacle of this season’s battles is second to none (seriously, KyoAni, do another action show already), but none of these crazy sakuga-fests hold a candle to ten straight minutes of Kobayashi and Kanna just walking down the streets and seeing what surprises lie around the corner. That’s where Dragon Maid’s heart lies, and it feels like those moments are fewer and farther between than they should be.

The second problem is Ilulu.

Here’s the thing: as a show, Dragon Maid has always struggled to escape its origins as a fetish manga. There is no escaping that fact. Lucoa and Shota’s scenes, all the uncomfortable fanservice, they were as much a part of Dragon Maid’s first season as the working-adult lesbians finding comfort with each other. And much like with K-On, everything that makes this show great is a result of KyoAni fighting as hard as possible to escape its source material’s worst instincts. So Ilulu existing isn’t some unexpected descent into trash. This has always been a part of this show’s DNA, as much as I wish it weren’t. But Ilulu is by far the most blatant and unavoidable example of Dragon Maid’s pervier side yet. Even putting aside the fact she looks like someone superglued two watermelons onto the chest of a ten-year-old, the show can’t decide whether it wants her to be an innocent child in need of guidance or a sexually mature adults who wants to bang Kobayashi. It tries to split the difference by casting her as a disaffected teenager caught between both worlds, but it’s pretty obvious that’s only an excuse. She’s a big-tittied loli who’s simultaneously sexualized and infantilized, and while her character does eventually settle into a comfortable groove as the season goes on, it’s rough going getting there.

And then there’s that one joke. If you’ve seen this season already, you know which joke I’m talking about. The moment in episode two where Ilulu curses Kobayashi and makes her grow a dick. This is, without question, the single most repulsive sequence in the entire show. Not because “ew dicks are nasty,” but because in the space of six minutes, this extended gag implies:

1) Men are biologically inclined to lust after women and must keep their hormones in check to avoid assaulting them,

2) Women with penises are actually men, and

3) Having a penis makes you sexually attracted to little girls.

This scene lasts for less than half an episode. It’s never brought up again after it’s over, and it has no bearing on any future character beats or jokes. You could potentially watch this season and completely skip over this bit, that’s how little impact it has. But its mere presence is such a cancer that it casts a pall over everything else. It’s impossible to think of this season and not think about this one singular, awful moment, and everything it says about the author’s priorities. A better adaptation would have exorcised it entirely and created a version of the story that didn’t feel tainted with its presence. KyoAni has never been afraid to make extreme adaptational changes in order to make a story better; they absolutely could have done so here. But they didn’t, and now we have to live in a world where the definitive version of Dragon Maid contains one of the worst scenes I’ve seen in an otherwise good anime in a very long time. I couldn’t blame anyone for dropping this show based on this one scene alone.

And that’s a tragedy, because it means this one scene could keep people from experiencing what’s still one of the loveliest anime out there.

Yes, when all is said and done, for all the complaints I could make, I still loved Dragon Maid S. Even if it wasn’t as good, even if I had to put up with more bullshit than usual, this is still the same show I fell in love with. It’s still a fascinating portrayal of domestic life between two very different people. It’s still a beautiful expression of community and found family, even among the most unlikely bedfellows. It’s still got some of the brightest, most expressive animation ever, exploding with color and life and lush, lived-in beauty. It’s still so overwhelmingly gay it might just stop my heart. And honestly, that alone makes me happy people are cheering its return. Right now, the most celebrated show in the anime community, the show that has everyone has been overwhelmed with joy to see come back, is a show about women who love other women, navigating all the complexities that come from sharing your life with someone else and grappling with extended metaphors for conservative ignorance and hatred. This is the show being heralded as the return of the king, and it’s returned with all the polish, bombast, and effort you could ever wish for.

So in the end, I don’t think we have to be blind to something’s faults to celebrate its existence. We can still critique and complain and push for something to be better, even as we celebrate having it at all. Seeing the faults doesn’t take away from how overjoyed I am to see my favorite anime studio back on top, shooting for the stars all over again. The fact that Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is something that so many people care about so much, from the audience to the people making it, makes me happy. This show existing makes me happy. And I’ll continue to celebrate its existence with the rest of you, even if I have to keep eating around the bad spots to enjoy it.