First Impressions / Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon

「劇団ドラゴン、オンステージ！ （劇団名あったんですね)」 (Gekidan Doragon, Onsuteeji! (Gekidanmei Attandesune))
“Troupe Dragon, On Stage! (They Had a Troupe Name Huh)”

As much as I liked this week’s episode as a whole, there was a tiny bit too much cringe for my tastes.

Cringe Level — Over 9000!

I don’t know about you, but ever since I was a kid I’ve had trouble dealing with shows that get too cringey. I’m not sure if it’s some traumatic experience I don’t remember or just something wrong with my brain but I have to literally pause videos when they make me surpass a certain level of secondhand embarrassment. And if you think that’s some form of hyperbole — it’s not. If I remember correctly, I think I had paused the video over 10 times by the time Shouta turned into the best mahou shoujo gril. Toss in Kobayashi painfully pointing out the obvious and it took me nearly twice as long as the entire skit to finish the whole thing. Mind you, had this been a show I wasn’t covering and just watching I might have fast forwarded until we saw that amazing Kobayashi smile of approval.

Hi Mom Kobayashi!

On that point, I’m happy to see the story not easing up at all when it comes to the comparisons of Kobayashi as the mom of the group. As the resident human who at times needs to bring things back down to a reasonable level, I’m glad that we’re getting to watch Kobayashi lighten up the same way a parent starts to ease up on all the restrictions as their kids get older. In a sense, it’s like we’re getting to watch a new mom go through the paces as they become an experienced parent that knows when to pull back and let their kids experience things on their own.

For me, I think this week’s big moment was when Kobayashi was extra open with Tooru and explained just how nervous she was but ended up feeling overjoyed. Because as I’m sure we all know from growing up (or will know after you grow up), you truly realize you’ve been forced to become an adult when your parents respect you enough to truly talk to you about things that they’d never even make a peep about when you were younger.

Also, am I the only one who feels great and gets a fuzzy feeling in my chest whenever Kanna gives Kobayashi a hug? God, I have to commend the animators for capturing that “I love you hug” so damn well.

Looking Ahead

For an episode that I had prepared to write a lengthy negative post about, I’m really surprised just how much it grew on me as I gave it some more thought. Secondhand embarrassment aside, there were actually a lot of great moments even though we had the entire cast on screen. That and the whole idea of Kobayashi and company being one big family was really emphasized this week — something that I’ll never grow tired of and actually wished we had more of.

In any case, I’ll catch you guys next week where we’ll get to see some New Years antics and hopefully see a certain someone’s father. See you!

 

Preview

32 Comments

  2. I’m normally in the boat of finding the “play gone wrong” story cringey, but I thought this series made it rather funny (partially since the “effects” are real). Though it could’ve worked without Kobayashi’s frequent comments…

    Arche
    Reply

  5. https://randomc.net/image/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2014.jpg

    well… thats an interesting way to depict Santa Clause.

    https://randomc.net/image/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2021.jpg

    Kana is a good girl! I mean, look at all the signs! Santa better pay a visit if he doesnt want a dragon eating his raindeers!

    https://randomc.net/image/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2042.jpg

    I understand the pain Kobayashi… I spent nearly 2 hours in my cousin’s closet before she finally fell asleep. Being Santa is a tough job.

    Ginobi47
    Reply

  6. I’ve read somewhere that they’ve finished production with Maid Dragon, and staff are moving on to other projects (like the new Violet Evergarden commercial promoting the second novel and note an announcement on any news on the anime) or on vacation. If this is true, they’ve been surprisingly quick to finish this series compared to other productions, where some studios barely make it on time to put out a finished product each episode.

    https://randomc.net/image/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2010.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2042.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon/Kobayashi-san%20Chi%20no%20Maid%20Dragon%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2040.jpg

    There were so many moments that made me smile this week. Even if it seemed cringey to you, Takaii (especially with the reaction meme). It’s a shame Elma was introduced so late. The show is ending so soon, and I desperately need more of her!

    jcoe
    Reply

  7. Perfect, just perfect. This is how you take a simple story and
    build on it without turning it into a terrible slapstick affair.

    I though they did a great job of keeping the “it’s gonna fail”
    tension high and not turn their efforts into a series of bad jokes
    on stage. You definitely get the impression that they took their
    roles seriously and knew the limits of what they could do in
    front of their audience.

    Nice touch was the fireplace and chimney for Kanna; I was expecting
    Kobayashi to push back on it but she just accepted it as normal.
    She wouldn’t have in the beginning so her character has grown too.

    mac65
    Reply

  10. I usually hate comedy that relies on cringe(wasn’t that big of a fan of Watamote for example) so I really thought I would hate the play…but seeing the old people and the main cast actually have so much fun made it more endearing than anything else and loved the episode in the end.

    Geebun
    Reply

    1. My sentiments exactly. I personally didn’t find the play that cringe-worthy, but if it did, it was endearing in the end. Despite some flaws as a fully Anime original episode, I still enjoyed the entire episode and our lovely cast of quirky dragons. While I’m still itching to see particular manga chapters adapted, it seems this season is coming to an end without those chapters…*tear*

      My only gripe was the lack of Elma development. Yeah, I know she basically plays the role of the gluttony dragon, but if KyoAni is going to give us Anime original stuff, then I want to see a little bit more development for the late comer dragon! Though I must say that as usual, the Kanna Santa moments were- *hhhnnnggg*

      Aoihoshikage
      Reply

  11. … they had better get started on that finale where either set of parents visit, because the preview shows that it’s going to be a New Years episode instead. Unless they plan to use it for half the episode.

    starss
    Reply

  12. Still catching up on shows so I didn’t have a chance yet to go back and check the manga (source), but wondering how much of this episode is anime only. Don’t recall the play in the manga at all, but perhaps memory fail/didn’t get that far.

    Anyway, wasn’t the best episode for the show so far, but I didn’t find the play “cringe worthy” either. I think I get what Takaii is going for, but for me that’s usually when a situation is played straight or mostly straight and yet it’s so cheesy/stupid that you mentally cringe. Here, it’s just another dragon fish-out-of-water type situations. You knew it was going to be a matter of just how bad will they screw it up early on & all played for comedy so… Ultimately, wasn’t the funniest stuff though I probably didn’t get all the references (damn, that little match-girl story is pretty dark!), but had a couple amusing moments – even during the play. *shrugs*

    Unsurprisingly, the best moments were with Kanna – this time as she waited for Santa. This was both funny and quite endearing. Nice job.

    daikama
    Reply

      1. @Aoihoshikage: Thanks for the confirmation. I questioned my memory (which has failed me), the fact some material may not be translated, and/or I may not be 100% up to date on what is translated. Thus asked a question rather than make a definitive statement.

        I do get your point, but for me while it wasn’t jarring/WTF/out of place, this episode also wasn’t up to par with source. Not terrible, but weakest episode so far for the show. I’d say they did a decent to pretty good job rather than a straight up “good”/seamless job.

        Question I have is WHY an anime only episode anyway? Should still have a decent amount of source material left (sufficient for this season at least), or am I mistaken on that?

        daikama
        Reply

      2. Actually, I have been asking myself the same question since the last episode: why all the Anime original stuff?

        The only explanation I can come up with is KyoAni is likely taking “ownership” of the series to add their own touch to it. In some ways, showing off their “creative license.” KyoAni did the same thing with Chu2koi. Again, lots of pros and cons to this approach.

        But I’m with you in that there’s plenty of chapters that haven’t been adapted and it baffles me why those chapters were dropped…

        Case in point, a chapter I want to see animated:
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Aoihoshikage
        Reply

  14. OMG, I did tons of children’s theater as a stage hand in the 70’s. small theater companies trying to make do with what they got with actors and sets, costumes on a minuscule budget with pretentious preening wanna be actors, alcoholic directors make me cringe that my name was printed in any of those programs.
    this episode captured that so well. I smiled all the way through.

    psyche101
    Reply

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