Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Summary A great series about a sexy dragon maid and her questionable obsession with a mundane working woman. The series has a bubbly, sexualized, comedic exterior that conceals a bunch of deep themes and cultural critique that I quite enjoyed. The show has absolutely kick-ass visuals, which is unsurprising given Kyoto Animation’s previous works. Season 2 is definitely better than Season 1, and I even really liked the special, Valentines and Hot Springs. The intros and outros of each season are dynamic and fun, and the series as a whole was quite enjoyable. That being said, there was some minor annoyances when it came to side characters that really held back the series in my view, though these are largely subjective critiques that I imagine not many others share with me. All things considered, it was a great series and I definitely recommend it. SCORE: 9.3/10 Story Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid tells a charming story about a dragon maid (and later her dragon friends) and her fascination (obsession?) with humans. The plot is largely disconnected from episode to episode, though there is a thematic connection across the entire series. The series sprinkles in themes of diversity, mutual understanding, adapting to new circumstances, love, and more. For a show about a well-endowed maid and her well-endowed dragon friends trying to come onto their new favourite human, there’s a surprising amount of depth in the plot. While I would have enjoyed a slightly less sexualized storyline, I do think the series managed to convey its themes and messages well. I would rate it very much above average, but not an all-time great. SCORE: 8.5/10 Characters Again, for a show about a sexy dragon maid and her sexy dragon friends trying to bone their new favourite human, there is a lot of character depth. Tohru, the dragon maid, has a deep backstory that is very nicely explained throughout season 2 (Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S). In the first few episodes she just seems like a hyper-sexual dragon, but by the end of the series we learn that she is a hyper-sexual dragon with a cool backstory and motivations. There is a lot of development of the side characters as well. Personally, I was a fan of Kanna the most (omg so cute what the hell I want to adopt her), as well as Elma and Ilulu. I’m going to be honest and I’m not sure if this is a hot take, I wasn’t a fan of Fafnir or Lucoa at all, for various reasons. Neither character was too deep, and I didn’t really appreciate the sexualized relationship between Lucoa and Shouta, which seemed both inappropriate and largely pointless. That being said, I won’t let two side characters tank the rating because the rest of the side characters and the two main characters are exceptionally well developed. SCORE: 9/10 Visuals Given that this is a Kyoto Animation work, I think it will surprise absolutely nobody that I am in love with the visuals of the show. I am continually impressed with KyoAni and its range. I thought that it would be impossible to match Violet Evergarden, so I set lower expectations for Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. As is the theme with my snap judgements related to anime, I was wrong. KyoAni managed to absolutely nail a very different, yet still wildly impressive visual style with this series. I love the studio’s ability to convey emotion through stylized animation. I would describe the visuals as very dynamic, with stylistic adaptations as the situations call for it. Seriously, this is yet another impressive work from Kyoto Animation. Additionally, the visuals in the first season were already a 10 for me, and the visuals receive a massive upgrade in season 2! SCORE: 10/10 Intro/Outro Both seasons enjoy superb intro and outros, though they are not the type of songs I would listen to in my spare time. That being said, just because they are not going to be added to my Spotify playlist, I do think that the songs were very good! I actually didn’t skip the intro once throughout the series which is something I only usually do if I really like the song. More importantly, the opening sequences really fit the music and the music really fits the theme of the show so it was pleasant to view each episode. SCORE: 9.5 Enjoyment I really enjoyed this series. When @KisaDi told me there was a lot of fanservice and to prepare myself, I knew she wasn’t kidding. Still, damn. There’s a lot of questionable design choices. Despite the fact that I am not a large fan of hyper-sexualized characters (I know, I’m a stupid old person), this series was still very enjoyable. I enjoyed the plot development, thematic connection and progression from the series’ start to end, and the kick-ass visuals. All things considered, I would definitely put this right up near the top of my list in terms of enjoyment, though definitely not the top. You won’t go wrong watching this series, it is definitely worth your time. SCORE: 10/10