First Impression: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S

Tohru is the best maid out there. It’s simply an unquestionable fact—as a dragon, she’s best at everything she does, whether it’s destroying worlds or folding loads of laundry for Kobayashi, her human master. So when the local maid cafe boasts the best maids in town, Tohru can’t help but feel slighted. She decides to do some reconnaissance work to determine who, exactly, these maids think they are to threaten her standing. Of course, things go exactly as planned, and she ends up working at the maid cafe part-time. Time passes, and the maid cafe skyrockets in popularity, landing five-star ratings with all its customers. To her chagrin, however, Tohru’s maid skills have nothing to do with it; it’s her cooking (and some magical enhancements) that she has to thank. “Where are the reviews about me as a maid?” she cries, but finds no answers.

And so continues the laid-back life of Tohru and Kobayashi, until, one particularly stormy afternoon, the heavens are opened, and a pink-haired dragon descends to the earth. She has her sights set on Tohru—and she’s not in the mood for peace.

Say it with me…

KYOTO ANIMATION IS BACK!

After nearly two years, KyoAni’s made its grand return to the seasonal list with a second season of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid—and I’m overjoyed. Episode 1 of the show reminded me of why I love this studio all over again. The animation is overflowing with life and color and character; it’s easy to see the meticulous work that went into every frame. And there’s a lot of good frames packed in here too. Tohru’s cooking scene near the beginning of the episode would have probably been the visual highlight of another show’s premiere, but then we get a hilariously detailed magic sequence almost two minutes later, in addition to her lengthy fight scene with Ilulu. Kobayashi S is truly a testament to Kyoto Animation’s talent and presence in the anime world—a confident proclamation that despite the attack from two years ago, the studio still stands, ready to continue inspiring countless anime fans with its incredible works.

Well, now that I’m done gushing about Kyoto Animation, let’s talk about the actual episode. All our favorite characters are back in this episode, and they’re as adorable and wacky as ever. In fact, it almost seems like they’re more like themselves than usual this season. The maid café storyline highlighted Kobayashi’s chuunibyou-esque antics in bright tones, which was fun to see, while the introduction of Ilulu brought things back to the thematic tensions from the previous season. Tohru and Kobayashi are still struggling to understand what it means to live alongside those with sharply differing values, and that struggle will likely take center stage in Kobayashi S. I’m looking forward to seeing what this season holds in store for these two—and for all the other isekai dragons that we’ve come to know and love.

(Speaking of Ilulu, her introduction also brought something else back from the show’s previous season: the gratuitous fanservice. Seems like boob gags and other sexual jokes of their ilk are going to feature prominently this season, and if you’re turned off by that sort of thing, I wouldn’t blame you if you skipped this show.)

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S is airing on Crunchyroll. Read our thoughts on all the new summer anime series, in addition to comments from our other writers, on our Summer 2021 Anime First Impression master post.

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3 thoughts on “First Impression: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S”

  2. It’s a shame that the fan-service is still there. It always felt unnecessary in the first season.

    1. Really puts a damper on a show that I’d otherwise recommend without reservation =(

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