Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

While I don't really watch anime much, I found myself liking this one. Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is an anime series distributed by Kyoto Animation. The series revolves around  a young woman named Kobayashi, a programmer working for a coding company. After an especially grievous work day, Kobayashi goes out to drink; following a couple rounds, Kobayashi finds herself in the forest where she discovers a dragon. The dragon had a sword thrust in its side; despite the dragon's warning that attempting to remove the sword would drive her insane, Kobayashi successfully removes it, which the dragon interpret as her having a lack of faith. Out of gratitude, the dragon becomes her maid. Yeah? How can the dragon even hope to do that? By shapeshifting, of course! Basically, the dragon transforms itself into a young human-like girl named Tohru.

Now, there are several aspects of the anime that I liked. Take the characters. Each character has something that is likable; their personalities are interesting, or dare I say adorable. Really, the animation style in general is adorable. It comes off as soft and fluffy. Definitely the most adorable of the cast of characters is Kanna, a young dragon girl who was exiled from her world after playing one too many pranks. Additionally, there are several heartwarming moments throughout the series. Sometimes the characters would share their thoughts on society with each other, to the point that I felt that there was a genuine bond forming between the characters.

As much as I love the series, there are a few issues that I have with the anime. Namely only two issues. For one, the relationship between Kanna and Riko Saikawa, a human girl. She is introduced in episode 4 of the show when Kanna began to attend school. Saikawa is originally hostile towards Kanna because of all the attention she's receiving for her adorableness, but then she quickly befriends her and develops feelings for her. Now that in itself isn't the problem; the problem lies in episode 6. In that episode, Saikawa invites Kanna to her house to play. Alright, good so far. But then things take a slightly disturbing turn... the scenes between the two girls are disturbingly provocative. A simple game of Twister ends up with Kanna rubbing herself against Saikawa, culminating in Saikawa fainting. And then when Saikawa admitted that she loved Kanna so much so that she wanted to marry her, Kanna gets on top of Saikawa, pinning her to the floor. I understand that Kanna isn't the exact same age as Saikawa (as dragons live longer lives and age differently from humans), but Kanna physically looks young by human standards. Now while I don't find anything wrong with their relationship - as I find it adorable - I would've liked it more if they didn't engage in that type of behavior.

The other problem is with Lucoa's relationship with Shouta. In short, Quetzalcoatl, or Lucoa for short, was an Aztec dragon that lost her divine status after she did a scandalous act with her sister whilst drunk. Shouta is a young boy who comes from a family of mages. Shouta was trying to prove his worth by summoning a demon. Lucoa notices this, and she enters in through a portal, thus making Shouta believe that she was a demon. What is problematic with their relationship is how Lucoa seems to try to make advances on Shouta, despite the fact that he is an underage boy. Heck, there is one instance where Lucoa offers Shouta her body in order to not go back home. While I do find these scenes funny here, at the same time, I can see how some could feel uncomfortable with these scenes. I mean Lucoa is practically over thousands of years old, has a well-endowed buxom, sometimes wears skimpy clothing...she is really a figure of lust, so it's no wonder why Shouta thinks she's a succubus.

Overall, I really loved this series, and I would recommend it. As for the manga adaptation, while I feel that the anime outdoes it in style and themes, I would also suggest reading it, but I will point out that there are several differences between mediums. For instance, there was a dragon girl introduced in the manga that was adapted out of the anime adaptation, several story lines were altered, and there is a slightly more provocative tone within. But it is a pretty good read, so I would recommend reading it if you've already seen the anime adaptation.

This review will be extremely short, not because the show lacks anything worth dedicating a detailed analysis on, but because no matter how much I elaborate on why it works, at the core of it all, the reasoning is so simple that it's almost unfathomable to think that so many creators are missing this key ingredient in their works. Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is FUN, plain and simple.

That's it, that's the magical formula. It turns out that after all the overzealous attempts at trying to make "mature/2deep4u" anime to be accepted by a general audience, all it really takes to win people over, in the end, is less cynicism and more unadulterated fun.

Using the fish-out-of-water foundation for its story, the show introduces us to a bevy of mythical dragons that take on human forms. After stumbling around in a forest in a drunken stupor from one too many shots, 9-to-5 salary woman Kobayashi finds herself coming face-to-face with one of these dragons. Fast forward later and this dragon, named Tooru, is now her maid, and the rest is history.

What I love about this show is just how whimsical and lighthearted it treats everything. And when I say everything, I mean that quite literally. Cannibalism, excessive stalking, casual homosexuality, threatening to murder someone, devouring small critters like little morsels, causing mass destruction; every bizarre situation you could think of, the show manages to flip it into a hilariously "out there" situation. There isn't a moment that passes by where I wasn't laughing at the nonsense that occurred on screen. This is a show that effortlessly flies through slapstick scenarios like it's second nature, made all the funnier when accounting for the dragons themselves.

Each dragon has their own quirks and mannerisms. From the adorable goth loli Kanna to the grimdark stick-in-the-mud, Fafnir. What the show does so well is essentially taking all these simplistic personalities, dumping them into a container, shaking it up and just sitting back and view the kind of interaction that would occur when their personalities collide. It's the same method shows like K-On adopted, but here, I think it's even more successful, as it doesn't remain relatively grounded, instead choosing to give birth to the weirdest outcomes possible. As is the case with Fafnir, who, despite his stoic persona, turns out to be a hardcore otaku in the making, or with Kanna who exudes an extreme amount of enthusiasm, but with a facial expression that's complimented with a thousand-yard stare.

This anime is essentially a slice of life with kooky characters all being placed within a proverbial pinball machine, where every episode results in left-field eccentricities and small moments of endearment.

And really, there's nothing else for me to say here. If you've grown tired of all the bleak, overly-serious melodrama and just want FUN in your anime again, this title is a must-watch. A show that carves something out for itself without all the overt cynicism usually associated with the "cute girls" trend.

I would highly reccommend watching this short series. Its hilarious and beautifully animated. The characters are entertaining, and the whole thing is very wholesome and cute.

My only complaint is the busty dragon and the little boy. Their relationship is creepy and gross, and they ruin every scene they are in. Without those two, this show would be perfect.

Fantastic show. Charming characters, hilarious writing, nice animation, wholesome lessons, and brilliant comedic timing. You'll be smiling your way through each of the 14 episodes (and some extra shorts).

Can't wait for the 2nd season.

This is amazing. You really shouldn't spoil this if you haven't watched it. I'm not going to say much because I know I'll end up spoiling it, but I seriously suggest this!