Introduction
Yesterday the final episode of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S aired and put an end to the main source of joy for me during the summer 2021 anime season. Back in June, with nothing else managing to grab my attention from the new batch of shows, I played it safe with a sequel to an anime I've already seen and after getting to its conclusion I cannot be any more satisfied. Kyoto Animation is back and with full force!

What made me love this season?: - The sheer level of care that the staff put into the production of the show is nothing short of remarkable. From the very first episode the quality of the animation was unbelievable. This stays true not only for the laid-back type of situations that Miss Kobayashi is mostly known for, but also for the gorgeous action scenes, of which there is plenty. Right from the get-go we are shown that KyoAni is not planning on doing anything half-assed as the encounter between Tohru and Ilulu exceeds all expectations. One may think that this is a one-time stunt to lure an audience and then drop the quality, however this proves not to be the case. Each of the following episodes is handled with more than enough attention with no corners cut. Even disregarding the main visual attractions, the backgrounds and crowds throughout the season at times surpass the key visuals in other modern shows. All in all a visual delight.

• The main element that separates Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid from the typical slice of life is, of course, the dragons. Behind the easygoing nature of the show lies a deep layer of lore that mostly remained berried in the first season. This one however, excavates it and puts it on a pedestal right next to the fun and cute mundane stuff. A lot is explained to us as viewers throughout the season's run and it all came at the right amount (no unnatural info dumps) and with a purpose - providing layers to the relationships of the characters (most significantly Tohru and Elma's). The best part was that, every week one could only wonder whether the upcoming episode would show Kanna and her classmates looking for ghosts and having fun or the backstory of how there came to be different factions in the world of dragons.

• Lastly I cannot help but address the biggest highlight for me, being the approach to characterization. In season one we got a pretty good grasp of how the human-dragon duos (and Elma) function to the point that after half of it there was not much to add, especially to our main duo. Therefore adding new characters (Ilulu and Take) and deciding to mostly focus on the secondary cast was the perfect decision. By meticulously switching from Elma working in the office to Kanna and friends, then to Fafnir being an epic gamer and to Kanna being cute, none of the cast members feel left-out or underdeveloped. And as for Ilulu, her addition was handled extremely well as she did not simply join the party but rather went through a great character arc that bore fruit in her current position. With all this in mind, the show is still about Kobayashi and Tohru. To my surprise, their relationship was not stale but rather grew in all the right directions.

Conclusion Though it may be (is) blatantly obvious from what I've said, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S improved on the already very enjoyable first season in practically every way. The final episode left me both wanting more and fully content with this surprisingly pleasant watch filled with laughter, awe and excitement. Unquestionably a new favorite of mine. Goodbye, Miss Kobayashi, hope we meet again!