Review of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S
How to Train Your Horny, Lesbian Dragon(S). Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is back with a second season and I couldn't be happier. It's not the best of the season narratively speaking, but it undeniable that there's something really special about this show. Let's start with the obvious. This is the best animated show of the season. There's no competition. The only thing I can think of that comes close is D_Cide Traumerei and that show unfortunately has the slight problem of being shit, but that's a review for another day. The team at Kyoani is back in full force as they do what they do bestwhich is expressive character animation. There's a reason why Dragon Maid blew up the internet with it's first and second episode (well two reasons, but we'll get to that). If it's not the constant little movement details that Kyoani put's into Torhu, Kobayashi and the rest of the cast as well as the background characters it's the sakuga smothered, AMAZING fights which put almost all popular shonen battle anime to shame. It is a truly impressive piece of art.
This season has very little weak points. Being a slice of life anime will unfortunately mean some episodes will be slightly less interesting to watch than others. Episode 3 and 4 are the only real offenders I can think off, but compared to the last season of Dragon Maid it's story is overall much more engaging and episodes that focused on Tohru's back story or characters focused episodes like Elma and Kanna where a much appreciated change of pace and help delve a bit more into the shows themes of overcoming loneliness and finding something or someone who can help you find meaning and happiness in life. For all their power deep down the dragons were lonely in some way before finding their place of belonging and this season really captures those feelings whether it was subtle or not.
The cast a joy to watch as ever. I enjoyed discovering little things I didn't know about them like Shouta actually being able to use magic (I always thought he was pretending), Quetzalcoatl's dragon form and what Kobayashi would look like as a cat.
I also really enjoyed the new character Ilulu who's explosive/horny entrance in the first episode was another reminder of how deep the effects of the dragon propaganda were. I think that she was slightly under-utilised, but her character arc from fierce chaotic dragon to sweet shop assistant was a sweet one. I also like her relationship with Take, a high school boy who's shy, but starting to get interested in... well, boobs and Ilulu's lack of human social understanding and playful teasing leaving him flustered maybe a bit cliché, but was still enjoyable to watch nonetheless.
Speaking of boobs, I do think the controversy around Ilulu's design was a little overblown. Most likely by people who have never watched an anime before. There are still much more somewhat troubling aspects of the show which I think deserve more attention, but he horny aspects of Dragon Maid are much more toned down than they are in the manga and this makes the show more inclusive to the viewers who are not into seeing big, anime dragon tiddies.
Overall Dragon Maid S is a funny, fun (horny) and charming anime with a lot of heart at it's core. It's definitely an improvement on the first season. I'm really happy that Kyoani is back stronger from such an awful tragedy and even though the last episode leaves the question of a third season ambiguous at this time I still really hope it'll be green lit. Dragon Maid is kind of Kyoani's mascot at the moment and I think it would good for them to capitalise on that. That might be just me being bias though because I am sad to see it finish.
9/10 Amazing