First Impressions / Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon

「トールと小林、感動の出会い！ （自分でハードル上げてますね）」 (Tooru to Kobayashi,Kandou no Deai! (Jibun de Haadoru Agetemasune))
“Tooru and Kobayashi’s Impactful Meeting! (We’re Raising the Bar on Ourselves)”

Okay, what I meant last week was that I’m really excited for NEXT week’s episode.

Looking Back at Tooru and Kobayashi

For a second to last episode, I must say that things were done quite well in terms of execution and setup for next week. And that’s coming from the perspective of someone who thought that there was ample potential for this week’s episode to unleash our waterworks but didn’t.

Starting from the top (or I guess the middle), I really enjoyed getting to see just what happened on that fateful night Kobayashi met Tooru in the woods. But before I even talk about the interaction, am I the only one who was super impressed with how Kyoani told us we were watching a flashback without actually telling us we were watching a flashback? I don’t know about you, but I was actually caught off guard when Kobayashi’s old manager suddenly showed up barking orders like a madman. Thinking that there was some serious tomfoolery going on for a power tripping jerk like that to get his job back, it actually felt really good when I realized that we had gone back in time (after re-watching the episode a few times I realized I was so preoccupied with what was going to happen that a normal person probably would have immediately noticed it was a flashback). Anyways, jumping back to Tooru, if I’m being honest, I felt a little depressed with how the whole thing played out. With the atmosphere set for something to really tug at our chests, we were given a rather quirky flashback that set the stage for laughs rather than for an emotional heart-to-heart. I don’t remember if it was like that in the manga, but I was holding out all the way until Kobayashi woke up from her dream that there’d be that snap moment where the mood changed and Tooru would completely open up to a gracious and loving Kobayashi. And even though things didn’t play out to the dream I had in my mind, I must admit that with a little foresight of what’s going to happen next week and some time to really put some thought into how to make a great finale, there’s no denying the stage has been beautifully set for next week. Especially when you take into consideration that when next week’s episode airs, Kobayashi and Tooru’s relationship and some of its subtle nuances will be fresh in our mind. I ain’t a dirty spoiler though, so it’s up to you if you want to ruin what’s going to happen next week.

Oh and I guess it was a nice bonus to see a nice compare and contrast of past Tooru and present Tooru. I don’t remember if that bandit-to-maid girl serves any larger purpose, but who knows what Kyoani might do with only one episode left!

Comedic Relief

It occurred to me today that I’ve never really commented about how the other dragons are typically used either as a form of comedy. Thinking about it, it’s a pretty ingenious way to give the entire cast some screentime without having to mess up the flow of whatever story the plot is trying to tell at the time. Sure there are some moments that may not resonate well (Lucoa’s breasts have grown old am I right?), but when there’s some variety thrown into the mix like Lucoa not being used as a pair of giant boobs or when Fafnir starts to show some true affection for his human friend,
it actually starts to feel weird when think about those short scenes not being there.

Looking Ahead

Welp. I thought this was going to be a 12 episode run but thankfully we get another episode next week! And boy did the show pick a good way to end the series on. Spoilers aside, I’ll catch you guys next week where we’ll hopefully see the best episode of Maid Dragon yet. See you later!

 

Preview

18 Comments

      1. @Longhaul: Second option (as noted in my post below) is simply a MUCH better choice IMO. Not even close IMO given that next episode is the final one for the season. If you’re going to add “mystery guest #1”, that should have been done like 3 episodes ago and not have the anime-only material episodes since you’d need probably 3 episodes (that should be OK) for that character & related story lines. “Mystery guest #2” not only makes sense, but also allows for ending the season with an nice emotional note. Oh, also been foreshadowing for that in previous episodes as well.

        daikama
        Reply

    2. I do think nest week antagonist is Iruru as Iruru suppose to be red dragon… also Iruru also hate human because

      Show Spoiler ▼

      also

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Well they can simply make tohru fight her dad…

      Fahmieyz
      Reply

  3. Count me in as one who thought this was the last episode. Kept thinking “This is kind of an odd final ep.” Nope. One more to go. What surprised me was the next episode preview. Two possibilities here. Since it would be a much better fit and make sense, I hope it’s… Show Spoiler ▼

    Overall, this was an OK episode. Mostly out of the manga though these chapters are short (the omurice chapter is 12 pages – including a title page!) = need some anime-only filler to pad things out. The anime-only stuff fit well enough, but also pretty much just “there”. It’s “neutral” IMO. Fits fine, but doesn’t really add anything (not even comedy this episode). :/

    Show’s definitely moving chapters around a lot which is OK, but here I think they got the order of the flashbacks reversed. By placing Tooru’s flashback before when Kobayashi meets Tooru Part II, we would see how Tooru was kind of lonely after meeting the random RPG world girl which gives more meaning & impact when Kobayashi asks Tooru if she wants to stay with Kobayashi.

    Both flashbacks contain good material, but I felt the execution was flat for both. Not bad, but a little lacking. Show’s done a better job in the past when it comes to such material.

    —“I don’t know about you, but I was actually caught off guard when Tooru’s old manager suddenly showed up barking orders like a madman.” Also, “Anyways, jumping back to Tooru…”

    I think you mean Kobayashi, not Tooru, especially for “Tooru’s manager”.

    — “I don’t remember if it was like that in the manga…”

    It’s both really. There are some funny/comedy moments which at the end are punctuated with endearing ones when Kobayashi asks Tooru if she wants to stay with her.

    Next week’s gonna be interesting. If I get my wish on the “surprise mystery guest”, should be not only a good episode, but a good way to end the season.

    daikama
    Reply

    1. The new character next week has to be Show Spoiler ▼

      They’ve been leading up to it, and we know about them from previous mentions in past episodes, especially in a flash frame from last episode. Since next week’s episode is indeed the last (as shown in the episode preview), it won’t be Show Spoiler ▼

      since there isn’t enough time to flesh out that character’s story based on what’s in the manga already.

      jcoe
      Reply

    2. @daikama

      I’m curious, why did you think the execution fell flat for the two adapted chapters? These were personally my favorite chapters from the manga, so I’m likely biased towards the material, but for all the reshuffling of chapters the Anime did, I felt that a coherent story came out of the series and this episode as well. Yeah, the Anime original padding was neutral to support the actual material, but the adapation of the chapter material was spot on for me.

      Oh yeah, the extra epsisode was certainly a pleasant surprise. I, too, thought ep 12 would end this season, but I’m glad we get one last episode with what should be a pretty good way to end this season.

      Aoihoshikage
      Reply

      1. @Aoihoshikage: That’s a fair question. The “ingredients” were there (was pretty much per source), and I agree that both those chapters are important and good stuff. To reiterate, NOT bad by any means but I did think it was a little flat/not quite there because while watching the anime, those moments didn’t have quite the impact on me that I expected. It’s similar to some previous scenes in the anime where IMO it’s close, but just not quite right. That’s the best way I can describe it.

        It was coherent, but that’s a pretty low benchmark IMO. That should always be the case with story telling (though doesn’t always happen. :<). Perhaps I'm setting the bar a bit high here, but this anime at times has cleared such a level, and other anime like Demi-chan has done so on a consistent basis. Maybe some comparison bias going on. If this was another season, I very well might be giving more praise for the show since it's done a pretty good (maybe good) job with adaptation. Saving remarks for end of season, but honestly I'm having a bit of trouble deciding exactly how good I think this adaptation is. It's not bad, it's not outstanding, but where exactly between the two extremes?

        Assuming next episode is based upon chapters 19 & 20 (two very good chapters IMO), I have pretty high expectations. Anime can and should do a very good job with that material and end the season on a high note.

        OH! Forgot this in my original post. @Takaii did touch on this (props for doing so), but the short with Shota-kun & Lucoa (around 8:30 mark) was actually pretty good IMO. Liked it. Not another boob joke (literally) and a little bit of character/relationship development (Shota is indeed growing fond of Lucoa). I don't recall that in the manga so thinking that it's anime-original, and if so, good job. That would be what I call positive anime-only material & have to give credit where credit is due.

        daikama
        Reply

  9. ep 13:

    Thank you for this nice Dragon Maid trip. It was warm and lovable

    Respect is for knowing, trust for friendship, Love comes from hearth.. These was my lines…

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *