It's kino. Amazing. Spectacular. Awe-inspiring. Positive superlative thesaurus dot com. It's all I've ever wanted from Dragon Maid as a series.
When I first heard of Dragon Maid, I didn't even know it was called Dragon Maid. I just saw a picture of Kanna and thought, "Wow, cute anime girl!" and that was my relationship with Dragon Maid for like two years. Then, I decided to watch the first season of the anime on Netflix on a whim and I was hooked.
It goes without saying that Dragon Maid looks amazing. That statement is general because it applies to all three permutations of the anime. It's something to be expected from an anime from Kyoto Animation, possibly the best animation studio in the history of ever, but what KyoAni brings to Dragon Maid is important. This studio has brought more life into these characters than what Cool-Kyoushinja could feasibly achieve in the pages of the manga. The mannerisms, the micro-expressions, the soundtrack, the moe, all of that is what KyoAni adds to Dragon Maid, sans the moe since that was already in the manga to begin with, but was enhanced by the adaptation. Nowhere is this more apparent than in this movie.
I'm going to be honest for a second. I didn't really care much for this arc in the manga. It was good. It did a lot for the characters and introduced some that would become great recurring characters later on, but as a whole, it didn't tickle my fancy like other arcs in the manga did. This is not true for the movie, because this movie is one of, if not, the best piece of the Dragon Maid anime. KyoAni went above and beyond, and beyond even that to make this arc one of the most enjoyable and heartfelt movies I've ever watched. When this arc ended in the manga, I smiled and celebrated its ending with mild fanfare. When I finished the movie, I cried real tears and was figuratively kicking my feet in the air because of how much joy the movie gave me. It's great.
Another thing this movie did is distil the best parts of Dragon Maid into a single package. I'd even say that you could watch this movie without watching the previous two seasons of the anime! (Though, you shan't skip watching them entirely, since both seasons of the anime are two of my favourite anime ever.) It's a great introduction to the series. The heart, Kobayashi's wisdom, the series' themes of diversity and companionship between seemingly incompatible parties is represented immaculately in this movie. They are what keep me coming back to Dragon Maid, and what makes the series live rent-free in my head. Except the comedy, you won't see a lot of that in here, but the arc is serious business, so it makes sense.
This movie is also something I can recommend watching to anyone wholeheartedly, since all of what people usually complain about is completely absent in this movie, which also brings a unique problem. Since there is no 'weird diddy blud' stuff in this movie (other than Ilulu's mere existence), it is a very different experience to the show. It's a great introduction, but it's missing some key elements that the show has that make the show what it is. There is no ecchi. Like, at all. Lucoa doesn't show up for most of it, and when she does, her usual antics are completely absent, and there aren't any questionable scenes with Kanna either (why would there be? Kanna's plights are not to be made light of!) The movie is a bit sanded down, Dragon Maid Lite, if you will, but... I'm okay with that. It's not like the absence of those elements make this film worse, every part of this movie is carefully crafted to make the best version of this movie that could feasibly be made, and that's great.
When some wise guy said that perfection is achieved not when you have nothing left to add, but rather when there is nothing left to remove, this movie is a prime example of that. It's pure, distilled, Dragon Maid Heart, and it's great.
Go watch it, seriously.
37.5 out of 41 users liked this review
