



Raise your hands if you like dragons? I'm now going to assume you all raised your hands. Dragons are probably one of the coolest ideas to come out of or brains. Giant flying lizards capable of supreme destruction and chaos but also complex creatures capable of high intelligence. I love dragons so much that I've given my car a dragon name (it's Kazonnoth The Marvelous if you were curious) so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I was excited about Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid when it started back in winter. The winter season is far over now and after a good thought, I determined that Kobayashi's Dragon Maid was definitely one of my favorite shows from the winter season. From great animation, to nice comedy, this show had a lot of good things about it which brought me a lot of joy so go get some chips (or whatever, I don't know what you like to much on) and enjoy this review of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid!





SPOILER FREE (THANK GOD!)

SYNOPSIS

Our story begins when Miss Kobayashi, a normal office worker opens her apartment door to find a ferocious green dragon at her doorstop. The mighty dragon then turns into a cute maid and offers to work in her household as a maid due to a drunk experience the two shared deep in the forests of Japan. After remembering the incident, Miss Kobayashi allows the dragon Tohru to live with her as a maid (although reluctant). What possible Hi-jinx cold this pair get into, right?! (That totally sounds like the end of a 90's sitcom commercial).





STORY

Although the premise of the show is quite simple, the show takes that simple premise and turns it into a lovely story full of different themes. I think it's due to that very simplicity. Kobayashi's Dragon Maid isn't confined to any boundaries, it's free to experiment and do as it pleases. That freedom allows the show to really thrive because the story progresses for the most part naturally and doesn't feel manufactured (except for that beach episode, we all know the animators just wanted to draw the dragons in swimsuits). The story takes its events and is able to turn them into a learning experience for the characters (mainly Kobayashi and Tohru) and in return, they grow a little more as people (or dragons, don't want to species racist). I like the themes that this shows plays with. It likes to play with the idea of family which I thought was really great. Both Tohru and Kobayashi are used to being lone wolves but then suddenly living together (along with Kanna) teaches them the good things about having someone by your side and what it means to be part of a family. It's not just Tohru and Kobayashi though, Fafnir and Lucoa also find a human companion to grow with so companionship reaches many characters of this show.





Another big positive I have to give this show is its comedy! I'm not saying it's the best comedy in the entire world (I would give that honor to Nichijou) but it does a good job and was probably the funniest show of the winter season. It answers all the hard hitting questions we ask ourselves everyday like how would dragons play dodge ball?! Ok, perhaps not 'hard hitting' but fun none the less. The majority of the show's comedy comes from the dragons' attempt to fit in with human society but as you can tell, that more or less fails! Whether it's dodge ball or a play, they find a way to give it a dragon twist! I really enjoyed seeing the dragons not fully understanding some aspect of human society and making an absurd scene out of it and along with good animation, the execution of these funny moments are fantastic! Overall, the show does a good job of telling its story and making me laugh along the way.





CHARACTERS

If I had a negative for this show it would be in this department! The characters themselves are very good. I enjoy every one of the characters because I find them all to be hilarious and well fleshed out. Their personalities may be more on the simple side but I enjoy them a lot so I don't find it to be a problem. My issue with the show is different. My issue is that there are a number of characters that do not get enough screen time. I don't know if it's because of the original source, the direction or other outside factors but I was disappointed when characters that could have made the show even funnier didn't get any time to shine! I'm referring mostly to Lucoa and Elma! I wanted Lucoa to be more than a big sister character with titanic (YES TITANIC!!!) mounds and I wanted Elma to be more than a dragon that's used for food gags! The episode when Elma finally appeared (after like eight episodes!) and it was my favorite episode! I wanted so much more from her and then the show just nipped those dreams in the bud and made her a useless gag character! (Can you tell I'm angry?) I understand that Kobayashi and Tohru are the main characters and deserve a lot of the screen time but what is the purpose of these other characters if they're just going to be used for gags! There needs to be a balance and the show did not find it (in my opinion).





MUSIC

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid has some pretty good music. My favorite piece of music is the opening, "Aozora no Rhapsody" by fhána. This song is super addicting! I generally like fhána's work but I thought they killed it with this song! It really showed off the personality that this show has; energetic, happy, and a bit random. You can't help but tap your feet along to the beat as you wait for the show to start. The ED, "Ishukan Communication" by Choro-gonzu, Yuuki Kuwahara, Maria Naganawa, Yuuki Takada & Minami Takahashi is also pretty good. I enjoy the chorus a lot and it gives off a lot of the same energy as the opening. The majority of the music in the show gives a happy strolling feeling and sometimes a feeling of curiosity. The music is used to describe the mood of the environment. Whether wanting to depict a heartwarming scene or a comedic moment, the music does a good job at laying out the scene. I would say that the music does a satisfactory job at effectively aiding the show.





ANIMATION