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Jan 11 2017

Categories: episodic review
Tagged: miss kobayashi's dragon maid

5 Comments »

“D! For dragon!”

I guess the audience of Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon is fairly limited? I mean, how many people out there are at the Venn diagram intersection of “maid,” “dragon,” and “kyoto animation” other than you and me right now? I guess it really should be a Venn diagram consisting of “well-endowed, lesbian maid,” “dragon,” and “wait this is kyoto animation?!?” to be precise, but how big is that audience? But as someone who is squarely in that target audience, I am enjoying this show. In fact, if the show is just nothing but meido worship and meido fetish jokes, I’m okay with that.

(Then again, I didn’t know I was in the Venn diagram of “gay male ice skater,” “tonkatsu,” and “villainous Canadian.” But, somehow, I’m in that Venn diagram as well.)

(A reader recently mentioned that my tastes have been changing… I think it is just no one makes anime right up my alley anymore. All I ask for is something like Mahoromatic or Kamen no Maid Guy, and instead Japan insists on making anime like The Great Passage, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, Tatami Galaxy, and Yuri no Ice. Where are the meido in Yuri on Ice?!? Who wants to watch a dead art like rakugo? Do we really need an anime about making dictionaries? We need more meido.)

“First of all, what’s with your meido uniform? Are you underestimating meido? Braid your hair and put it in a cap. We’ve got enough French meido. That’s just cosplay now.”

The best part of this episode is Kobayashi’s drunken rant. I just like how Kobayashi has a meido fetish, but it is for proper Victorian meido a la the staff of Downtown Abbey, but she instead gets a modern meido cafe cosplay meido instead. It’s like if you really wanted Bonestorm, but your mom got you Lee Travino’s Putt Putt Golf instead. Kobayashi is also an older protagonist who can drink and is a career woman, and there are very few shows with older female protagonists. That’s interesting too– given Kyoto’s history with high school protagonists. Out of 23 anime TV series that Kyoto Animation has produced, each one has starred a high school student. This is the first that breaks the high school trend.

(I like how Takiya is a closet otaku with a meido fetish as well. He pairs well with Kobayashi, and I can see why Tohru sees him as a threat.)

“We’re giving you some high-level meido conversations, so talk. Got it?”

I think Kobayashi’s drunken rants work because typically she plays the straight man while Tohru plays the comedic one. But the roles get flipped when Kobayashi is drunk. I do like Kobayashi stripping Tohru in the middle of a bar, but, in an interesting choice, Kyoto decided not to show any fanservice. Considering Amagi Brilliant Park had a naked Sento bath scene in the first episode, Hibike Euphorium S2 had a pool episode as the second episode, the stretching and bounciness of Phantom World, and Free is nothing but manservice, it is interesting to see Kyoto not do fanservice when it very well could have. Also, this show is not done with typical Kyoto style. The characters look more like their manga incarnations and don’t have the typical Kyoto facial features. Like watching Little Witch Academia, you can tell it shares a lot of visual cues (especially with the stars animation) that it is Trigger. Same with March Comes in like a Lion and head tilts, empty cities, and CG architecture for Shaft. But you wouldn’t necessarily know this was a Kyoto show by just watching it. I like that the studio is trying something different because I am getting sick of all the after school clubs that they seem to excel at.

“From now on, I’ll handle it by licking you directly, Kobayashi-san.”

One thing I really like about Tohru, besides the whole well-endowed, lesbian meido dragon thing, is that she is really blunt, really pervy, and speaks her mind. There is no filter between her dragon brain and her fire-breathing mouth. I like how she is so very direct with her affections towards Kobayashi, and I like how when asked to clarify her “love” of Kobayashi, she just said, “It’s sexual.” That’s a level of bluntness not typically seen in Japanese society let alone anime. And especially for a Kyoto Animation anime, which typically is a huge event for characters to voice their opinions and affections towards each other.

“Kill all who try to steal your treasure.”

If Kyoto needs an off-beat minor male character, you know exactly who they will call: Daisuke Ono.

Three MVPs…

1. Tohru.

2. Kobayashi.

3. Fafnir.