First Impressions / Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon

「第二のドラゴン、カンナ！（ネタバレ全開ですね）」 (Dai Ni no Doragon, Kanna! (Netabare Zenkai Desune))
“Second Dragon, Kanna! (We’re Totally Spoiling Here)”

I want to believe, as untrue as it is, that someone at Kyoani reads Random Curiosity and took into consideration what we said in the post / comments.

Let’s Talk About Pacing Redux

I know that breaking up segments with a literal transition isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for Maid Dragon I think the use of literal breaks really helped with the pacing. Instead of diving from segment to segment like last week, you could literally feel the rhythm the episode was following. Alternating between somewhat serious and hilarious moments, the high points hit harder and the lull in-between those highs avoided feeling like one long joke that just blurred together.

Pacing aside, I loved how the material itself was just fun to watch. As I said last week, I was hoping that the story would really kick into gear after laying down the foundation last week — and it definitely did. I suppose you could chalk it up to the pacing itself, but it felt like the story wasn’t afraid to just do whatever it wanted to do. Unlike last week where we had the same type of joke (or specifically the same framing and shots) repeat one after another, the variety and intensity of everything was so varied that it just felt right. I also loved how we had a few serious moments woven in-between all the humor as well. With just enough focus on the issues and insecurities that might plague a dragon, it makes you wonder what other troubles someone like Tooru might have deep down inside.

Overall, I think I have to commend this second episode for coming full circle when it comes to the story and the pacing. Good on you Maid Dragon!

Kanna is Life

I hope I’m not alone in this, but god damn I wasn’t ready for the amount of cute Kanna was about to bring into the series. Retaining everything that made her such a cutie, her transition into an animated character made her ten times cuter. From the way she moved to the way she spoke, there was almost too much cute in all of it. And to top it all off, seeing how she fills in the “younger” character role (makes you wonder just how old she really is though), how could you not love any moment that involved Kobayashi’s tenderness as she tried to be an “older” sister for Kanna? God, as much as I would love to go on and on about how great Kanna is as a character, I’ll let you guys post more things down in the comments.

Looking Ahead

For a slice-of-life that involves Dragons, this second episode probably had more magic and action than most shows in the fairytale / fantasy genre. Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week where it looks like a few more dragons make their appearance and we’ll hopefully hear the edgiest Ono Daisuke ever. See you then!

P.S. I’m a little disappointed they didn’t throw Fafnir into the ending sequence. ONO DAISUKE’S CHARACTER NEEDS LOVE TOO.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「イシュカン・コミュニケーション」 (Ishukan • Komyumikeeshon) by トール、カンナ、エルマ、ルコア (Tooru, Kanna, Eruma, Rukoa)

Preview

67 Comments

      1. Um..no, what I mean is they changed some expression that tohru use in the manga, example like in the market when Kobayashi asked if tohru friends with the clerk…in the manga tohru using a cruel smile while in here she use a normal smile

        Seth
        Reply

  2. You’re not alone Takaii. Kanna is probably the cutest little thing to come out since Renge…or maybe Amaama’s Tsumugi. She’s a joy to watch. And that scene where Kobayashi asked her to stay was touching. It reminded me of Lucky Star and how KyoAni can masterfully squeeze in a little touching drama in a comedy anime. Those KannaxTohru moments were fun to watch too, especially the part with the see-saw and their little bonding moment before visiting Kobayashi at work. Speaking of KyoAni, I actually didn’t know they were the studio behind this at first. Tohru’s quick dispatch of the snatcher and her “playtime” with Kanna definitely convinced me it was KyoAni.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

    2. That’s KyoAni for you. Just look back at Nichijou or Chuunibyou and you’ll find the same thing. Their magic battle (or “exaggerated reality” in Nichijou’s case) scenes have always impressed me.

      Trippwire
      Reply

  5. This second episode was a massive improvement from the already decent previous episode. I love how they balance the comedy with some serious moments. And my god, that sakuga. I love how they executed that fight sequence. The sound design was perfect. It didn’t feel too exaggerated.

    And that the ED is so catchy.

    jcoe
    Reply

  6. What’s with the massive trend towards yuri in anime/manga lately? It seems like there are so many stories where the main guy gets cut out of the equation in favor of lesbian romance.

    Nothing against it, just curious.

    Monorei
    Reply

    1. Maid Dragon doesn’t really apply to this trend, though, as there is no main guy being shafted. The leads are clear from the start being Tohru and Kobayashi. The manga is categorised as yuri, but I’m not sure how far any romance goes in the manga. And I’m not sure if this series will go to that sort of progression any time soon.

      And there has always been yuri undertones in anime or a lesbian (joke) character. Railgun is one that comes to mind and that was a few years back. I don’t know how serious Kobayashi will be with the yuri, but I think it’s a good thing that more serious series are being announced to get anime adaptations like Citrus and NTR. And these series are different from what you described because they are yuri from the start and are yuri in the source material, unlike something like Hibike Euphonium (which I assume is what you were alluding to given the Shuuichi thing).

      jcoe
      Reply

      1. Lol no. Yuri doesn’t sell but anime creators are willing to give the genre another shot with Citrus and Netsuzo Trap. If it did sell, you’d actually see more of it, but it’s generally played off as a joke, or left as super subtext.

        You don’t get that with other types of romance.

        TitanAnteus
        Reply

    3. To me, I feel like anime and manga generally follow trends. A few years back it was the tsundere trend where almost every anime heroine was a tsundere. Then we had a mecha boom with shows like Buddy Complex and Valvrave being released.

      I feel like right now, there’s a small girl’s love bubble.

      I call it small and a bubble, because yuri generally doesn’t sell well. Full yuri anime usually do terrible in sales.

      Ah.

      Btw… Kobayashi Maid Dragon isn’t yuri imho. Tohru likes Kobayashi, but Kobayashi’s straight. So straight it sometimes makes you feel sorry for Tohru. To me, that means it’s using the yuri theme as a joke. I won’t deny that I laughed when Tohru got jealous.

      There’s another human dragon pair that’ll appear a little later on that feels like it has more of a chance to progress than Tohru’s too.

      TitanAnteus
      Reply

  7. Better. Definitely better IMO, particularly say about the last 2/3 of the episode. JMO, but I still don’t think it’s up to the same adaptation quality level as say Demi-chan or Gabriel (or KonaSuba, but that’s kind of an unfair comparison). Not general pacing, but rather the comedic timing & delivery is still a bit off at times. YMMV. However, improvement is improvement and credit is due. Hopefully the show will continue to find its stride.

    While part of the improvement later on was IMO simply just better execution, no question introducing Kanna helped. Easily one of the best characters in the series IMO. Not only does she have some funny moments, but she’s a (maybe the) center of the series heart-warming, endearing moments. *pats Kanna on head* While I’ve been critical of the adaptation at times, I do think it did a good job with Kanna which was important for the show so kudos there as well.

    @Takaii. Fafnir-san is also great (and quite funny). 😀 I hope his omission in the ED is not an indication of a reduced role in the story compared to the manga.

    daikama
    Reply

  12. I disagree about the pacing, but only because of the amateurish editing. Their attempts to reorder the chapters into an anime storyboard work, but they’re ruined by the small scenes they shove in between them. They feel like they don’t belong where they’re placed, and the transitions to and from them (or lack thereof) are quite jarring and break the tone.

    On top of that the editing feels like they don’t know how to lead one’s eye. Kanna and Tohru’s fight was a mess, especially with it shaking around like a Michael Bay action scene. Oh well, at least they didn’t screw up Kanna, I guess (though it seems it would be impossible to screw her up).

    El Goopo
    Reply

    1. Really? I got more Nichijou vibes with the anime original-ish short segments (taming Kanna with chocolate, tail meat, and see-saw), which was a plus for me. I personally enjoyed them since it builds a bit for later chapters, which hopefully show up. Also, speaking of explosions, Chu2Koi had its share of Michael Bay, so it’s just KyoAni going over the top per usual their style.

      Yeah, pacing and how a show “feels” is in the end personal. I agree the jumping around can feel a bit jarring since scenes literally jump from one scene to another. It may have helped if they simply put in dates (like “next day” or “Saturday”, etc), which would have played nicely with the ending, so may be that’s why pacing feels weird. Overall though, it’s viewers being more nitpicky than anything else. I mean, slice-of-life series tend to jump around regardless especially given the source material

      Aoihoshikage
      Reply

      1. Agreed that it’s a personal taste thing, and I didn’t mind the segments “in a vacuum”, but I can see people who haven’t read the manga feeling a bit confused as to what’s going on. Kanna went being in tears to suddenly eating caramels/chocolates in the span of a few seconds, with barely any transition. That’s tonal whiplash to me, and it doesn’t really suit the material.

        I don’t think it’s something that should be written off as mere nitpicking, either. Even if the manga isn’t an important or life-affirming series, I feel they should either respect its tone or go for broke and make their own thing. It’s disappointing to see them playing it safe without at least nailing it.

        El Goopo
        Reply

    2. Hmm, I actually thought the ordering of the scenes (in the context of this episode) worked pretty well.

      I do agree that some of the impact between Kanna and Kobayashi may have been lost with that abrupt transition, but compared to how last week’s episode was I think we are slowly improving.

      Maybe Kyoani will find the right combination of things next week.

      Takaii
      Reply

    3. @El Goopo @Aoihoshikage: Kind of agree with both you on this one other than yes, pacing (or comedy execution) is subjective. I didn’t mind fast-forwarding ch 9 here (when Kanna want’s to go play) in front of other chapters. It’s interchangeable enough. Still, can’t say that so far transitions are always utterly smooth either (though Ep. 02 was better overall than Ep. 01). The end of chapter 4-koma stuff has been a little hit & miss so far IMO.

      I can see El Goopo’s point about going from tears to eating chocolates, but if you think about it, giving kids candy is an RL way to make them stop crying. That’s how I viewed the scene so it made perfect sense to me. OTOH, this might be ‘nit-picking”, but the part where Tooru is asked how her tail meat tastes felt a little shoehorned. IMO that should have been in last episode during the bit where she cooks her tail, than eats it rather than let it go to waste. JMO, and not a big deal.

      daikama
      Reply

      1. I agree on that this ep was much better than the first, though I have the same problems as El Goopo. I think this show would have benefited from the short format (like Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken did) to avoid tonal whiplash and KyoAni should really handle those transitions scenes better, since the loading screen-like small triangles and circles are just awful. I mean with a little bit of effort they could replace it with eyecatches or infographics about the dragons or about the land the dragons come from (which would be a hundred times more interesting).

        On a side note, is it just me, or the main theme does seem pretty similar to Hataraku Maou-sama‘s? I mean the main concept is that demons and heroes (in this case dragons which can take human form which is almost the same) came from a fantasy land to find solace in our world and try to adapt to the Japanese everyday life. And while Hataraku Maou-sama had its share of pacing problems, the jokes were better in my opinion, or at least they were more on-point about the hardships these “foreigners” face.

        Faolin Eye
        Reply

      2. Hmm.. for me it’s tough to compare the two even though they have similar themes and tones.

        What makes it even tougher is the focus of the material is different, yet similar.
        But in a few episodes I’m fairly confident some of your issues will be addressed

        Show Spoiler ▼

        Takaii
        Reply

    4. Thanks for the great discussion. It’s nice to read good critiques and discussion for a series. All for better animes *salutes*

      I will come back to a point I made last episode. I think the reason we complain or nitpick about pacing is the fact that most adaptations are 1-cour. Studios (not just KyoAni) try to cram as much material as possible since this may be the only season a series gets and I totally get that. IMO, KyoAni generally does better than other studios when it comes to maximizing content with minimal number of episodes. As Takaii pointed out, the order of the scenes still made sense even if manga chronology was different. I mean, imagine if this series was slated for 2-cours (24 – 26 episodes) and chapters were extensively covered (like say two chapters per episode) in manga order, I suspect a majority of watchers wouldn’t even talk about pacing.

      The current 1-cour anime industry model boils down to business drivers (will the adaptation/anime make a profit?) versus pleasing the fans. As a Dragon Maid manga fan, I’m pleased so far and that to me a sign of a good, if not, excellent adaptation. I’ve seen MUCH worse manga adaptions. Just to name three in my book: Mahoromatic (that freakin’ ending), Rosario+Vampire (cool manga MC, crappy anime MC), Tsukiyomi Moon Phase (that freakin’ ending!)

      Aoihoshikage
      Reply

  13. Definitely didn’t expect Sakuga in a show like this, but it really enjoyed it.

    The pacing here was a lot better and reminded me of Acchi Kochi with the way it used those yellow transitions.

    Kanna is pure sugar, weapons grade moe cuteness. That moment where she and Tohru touched noses was so heartwarming and touching. Intimate yet devoid of any annoyingly unnecessary sexual subtext. This is very much my feel-good anime of the season, assuming it doesn’t give me diabetus.

    Roguespirit
    Reply

  14. EONS above Episode 1! This is so much better than the pilot in every way. The pacing felt a lot better even with the same amount of cuts, and the story pushed forward just enough to keep us watching the rest of the show. Kanna is pure adorabubbliness and we shall protect this child.

    starss
    Reply

  15. I’m a little disappointed they didn’t throw Fafnir into the ending sequence. ONO DAISUKE’S CHARACTER NEEDS LOVE TOO

    Fafnir: Kill them all. Kill all who try to steal your treasure. Kill all you suspect. Kill them with curses. Curse their generations to come.

    Aoihoshikage
    Reply

  17. Wow i just recently noticed that fafnir, the butler looking dragon will be voiced by daisuke ono, the seiyuu of sebastian michaelis, also a butler… I am seeing a yes my lord trope…

    Jeffers
    Reply

  18. Kanna: Kobayashi, where are you going?

    Kobayashi: Hmm, to work.

    Kanna: I’ll go, too!

    Damn, overload. This part literally got me hnggggg and cannot further deny Kanna’s cuteness. <3

    onion warrior
    Reply

  19. two words: cuteness overload.
    or one word: Kanna!

    on another note, loved how Kobayashi-san handled Kanna’s lack of trust.
    “You can trust only friends and loved ones, yeah. But I’m offering you a place to saty and maybe we will become friends in time…”

    ewok40k
    Reply

  20. I haven’t read the manga but I already feel that these “big boobs” jokes are just unnecessary and unfunny. I mean I have no problems with the inclusion of one or two characters with this trait, but the OP hints at that almost every dragon has such exaggerated “assets”.

    Faolin Eye
    Reply

    1. I think we’re going to get our answer next week (a certain character elaborates why they look the way that they do).

      But yeah, there’s one upcoming character who I’m not a big fan of if you’re talking about design choice.

      Takaii
      Reply

  21. Reposting from Episode 1:

    Is it because of Dragons-related theme of the show that Kobayashi is writing in Python? Ya know, Pythons = family of snakes, and snakes have a connections to/are dragons (some cultures describe dragons as being snake-like) in some mythologies?

    Okabe_Rintarou
    Reply

  23. Ep 03:

    I got hooked. You should trying to blog it, if you have the free time of course.

    Also Lucuoa-san, is she really an Dragon or more an “Heaven snake”? 🙂 She is based on the Maya or not? 🙂

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

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