Review of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S
TRIGGER WARNINGS: TRANSPHOBIA, MOLESTATION, PEDOPHILIA Kobayashi, Tohru, and friends return for a second season that’s every bit as entertaining, raunchy, and heartfelt as the first. Tohru and Kobayashi go through some changes, and they gain a new family member. Tohru’s character arc continues, and it’s interwoven with Elma’s arc. Both have to confront their past as enemies with very different values and worldviews. They dedicate plenty of airtime to painting a picture of their lives before they came to Japan. Facilitating their character development is Kobayashi. She remains the core of the found-family dynamic as the father figure to Kanna and now the new character, Ilulu. Fafnirand his roommate/boyfriend Takiya returned in a few vignettes. His dry sense of humor mixed with Takiya’s exaggerated gamer persona is still a lot of fun to watch. Ilulu, a rather obnoxious dragon girl, enters the picture to fight Tohru in the first episode and integrates into society as a human with some difficulty.
Rather than a continuous plotline, the show breaks itself into vignettes that follow one to three characters at a time. The structure directly comes from the gag comedy manga, and it works to varying degrees of success. We can label specific segments as slice-of-life, but others have plenty of exciting action and drama to amp the stakes. There’s a relaxing effect Dragon Maid has on its viewers. Even the artists draw every character as adorable as possible; the dialogue feels casual, not forced. There’s no babbling babies or overly saccharine one-liners like moe anime have come to make us expect.
When it needs to get serious, it works. The storyboards emphasize the characters’ emotional state with clever use of lighting and framing. There is no shortage of visual metaphors we’ve come to expect from the late great director of the first season: Yasuhiro Takemoto. Another director had to take up the mantle early in production, and his work is solid. Every fight scene is a visually appealing spectacle. There are plenty of ferocious duels in the second season that left me in awe. From the booming orchestral pieces to the subtle acoustic guitars, the soundtrack adds emotional impact to every scene. Additionally, the opening and ending themes are as iconic as the originals. Ai no Supreme is such a catchy intro that it makes you want to sing along.
The world of Dragon Maid feels lived in; the characters react to their surroundings in natural ways. That may sound abstract, but that is how I can describe it. This show feels genuine—a lot of that has to do with the realistic ambient sound effects and vivid background art. Kobayashi’s apartment is an excellent example of this: personalized decorations, posters, and organized messes are scattered around. It fits her personality to a T. Watching Tohru become more involved in society and form a community is immensely satisfying. Such as in one of the funniest skits, she works at a maid cafe and imparts dark magic knowledge onto the staff.
And then, she showed up—Ilulu is probably the worst part of Dragon Maid (except for the children pinning each other down in the first season). Guys, let’s be reasonable. She is sus. Ilulu has the arms and legs of a toddler but with giant tits. Boobs are great, but that’s not really the issue; she just looked very weird at times. Despite her bazongas, she talks, looks, and acts like a child, hanging around with Kanna and her other grade school friends. But there’s also a running gag that she wants to have sex with Kobayashi; this leads to Tohru becoming jealous in a stale love-duel sort of situation. But it’s just not funny at all. That aside, Tohru and Kobayashi's lesbian relationship progresses even more as they overcome challenges together. This culminates in one of the show's best scenes in the season finale.
In one early episode, Ilulu casts a spell to make Kobayashi spontaneously grow a dick. I’m not sure what the joke here was supposed to be. She also got horny for Tohru AND Kanna, implying it was normal because that’s just what happens when you have a penis. The author referred to her as a man as soon as she got a dick. There is an unintentional transphobic message to this episode. Aside from being a reactionary belief that has no business in a wholesome show, it is just a factually untrue statement. It was like I witnessed the author’s search history and saw all kinds of hentai tags that do not belong in a big-budget anime. It’s a shame because Ilulu has sincerely good development once we learn her backstory. The dick joke was a one-and-done thing, so I don’t want to make it seem like a big deal.
There were plenty of funny reaction faces and boisterous voice performances that got a laugh out of me. It’s practically a meme generator of a show. There were a few other jokes that got a little stale. Kanna’s nonchalant attitude towards Saikawa’s crush on her was funny at first, but it kept happening, and the gag never evolved. We get it—you like the girl. Please calm down! Additionally, that time Tohru drugged Kobayashi to make her want to have sex was pretty egregious. Lucoa, the busty goddess, continues to tease Shota. It was nice to see him grow as a mage, but I’m not a fan of the giant woman x little boy fanservice. I’m not judging anyone who likes that sort of thing, you just may be a pedophile.
Overall it isn’t as laugh-out-loud as the first season, but it got a few chuckles out of me. Elma’s gluttony, Tohru’s struggle to get Kobayashi to eat her tail, and Kanna’s deadpan reaction to all manner of absurdities. Occasionally I was worried that this franchise was stretching itself thin—the multitude of heartfelt dramatic story beats dispelled those concerns. Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S is built on genuine themes of family, friendship, and, additionally, atonement. For better or worse (mostly better), I loved seeing these characters again. After the devastating tragedy at Kyoto animation’s studio 1 in 2019, it is awe-inspiring how they’ve come back in full form. I look forward to every Dragon Maid sequel they come out with next.