The story itself is simple and benefits by having a unique setup. The story begins as a day that is seemingly like any other for the life of an office worker named Kobayashi preparing for work. As she opens the door however, she is greeted by a dragon girl in a maid outfit. The dragon, Tohru, requests to enter her home upon a promise made earlier. Kobayashi is confused at first, but a flashback reveals the once drunk office worker stumbling into a dragon sleeping in a forest. Upon bumping into her, the not-so-sober Kobayashi utters a phrase that requests the dragon to stay with her. She’s hesitant, but obliges, as Tohru promises to be a dutiful maid; “holding the fort,” if you will. After a quick adjustment, the two go about their daily lives until they meet adopt a smaller dragon named Kanna. Much of the story’s strengths are found from Tohru learning how to adjust to the human world. So, after another adjustment, Tohru and Kobayashi parent the new child, adjustments galore. This is where the bait and switch is found; it’s more of a childcare story now than it is a cute crush story. Nevertheless, sacrifices shall be made as they all adjust to a world full of both wholesome moments and mundane errands, which are mostly fulfilled in a dragon-esque nature.
At its core, it’s a slice of life series, but it also functions as a comedy. Much of the comedy relies on the characters and their respective gags, to the point where it’s difficult to praise or criticize their respective moments without bringing up their characters just yet. However, the comedy was way better and more refreshing when it's easily characterizable without relying on cheap gags. In one of the episodes, Tohru turns invisible and repeatedly trips Kobayashi’s boss over and over again. This scene was comedic because Tohru handled the situation in a comedic way that was appropriate for her character. There are other comedic moments as well, with them mostly tying into the dragons taking their likeness towards the human world. However, many of the other character’s comedic moments rely on a singular gag, which can be in any given episode multiple times. Furthermore, these aren’t any old innocent gags either due to their dubious implications. If the idea of a skank forcing herself on a child or another child making faces a child shouldn’t be making constitute as comedy to you, you’re in for a treat. Otherwise, it’s really uncomfortable, and you might find yourself skipping past bits of the series. The worst offender of the bunch is in episode six, and it lasts an entire two minutes, so you might do yourself a favor and save two minutes of your life; or not, I don’t care. Honestly, a good chunk of the series’ vast array of characters could be summarized in a single sentence; no, a single word. I shall now begin with the dragons (plus two humans), best to worst:
Tohru: (though tropey, she gravitates towards two dimensions, so unnecessary)
She’s fun and she’s cute, plain and simple. To illustrate this, her bombastic and endearing personality mixes with Kobayashi’s stoic and sarcastic nature very well. The way in which she handles professing her love for Kobayashi and large doses, while still having a superiority complex over humans, is a fun mix. She can be quite destructive when it comes to both household chores, as she handles them as a human wouldn’t. In addition, she’s also overly emotional when it comes to her rivals, which mostly stem from her affection towards Kobayashi not being appreciated as other characters would, even if it’s only for a brief moment. Despite her rather otherworldly methods in holding the fort, her duty as a maid is still appreciation by Kobayashi nonetheless. Throughout the story, her superiority complex diminishes as more people become involved in her new life as she adjusts to the human world. The only downside to her character is that she also has a recurring gag which involves her cooking her tail. However, it benefits at times since it wasn’t as annoying like many of the other “fanservicey” gags. Overall, she’s an endearing choice for a maid.
Kobayashi: (though tropey, she gravitates towards two dimensions, so unnecessary)
Yeah, she’s kind of boring, but she more-so exists to be either a mediator for the group or a headcanon for all of the wageslave viewers out there. She’s the most rational of the bunch, as she spends most of her time teaching the rest of the dragons how to adjust to their newly found house-life. Her sober nature is a but moody, but after a bit of alcohol to cope with being a wagie, she lightens up to Tohru’s antics a bit more. Given her occupation, she seems financially stable enough to buy a brand new apartment out of nowhere to two dragons. She mostly has her moments here and there when her chemistry with Tohru is shown.
Fafnir: Edgy
Despite him being way more of a side character in the series than Kanna, he is a better character overall. For one, he’s funnier than all of the other side characters. He often gets confused for a normal human, which pisses him off. He also plays video games with one of Kobayashi’s coworkers. Occasionally, there would be a reference or two thrown into one of the games Unfortunately, he is not on screen much so the series honestly doesn’t change much, with or without him.
Kanna: Child
Her presence is mostly just felt to win the audience over through cuteness alone. Basically, she just exists. Her entire character, which encomes her desires, only go as far as fulfilling the role of a child. For example, she had the desire to go to school only because she saw other kids attend as well. It’s grounded in reality, yes, and many kids who don’t go to school desire to, but it’s a bit of a “the grass is greener on the other side” type scenario. It’s more of a positive than a negative, since the fulfillment of her desires benefits the series by giving her some sort of purpose. However, her character ultimately falls flat because she’s boring and doesn’t do anything endearing or funny that Tohru already doesn’t do ten times better. A series like Dragon Maid could benefit from a comedic child character, as children are typically thought of as “not holding back” when it comes to their brutal honesty.
Lucoa: Boobs
Her entire character exists to bring attention to her breasts. Whenever they move, its exaggerated, because boob physics or whatever. To make it worse, it is accompanied by a really annoying wobbling sound effect. Occasionally, there would be a purple haired kid named Shouta (which is oddly close to Shota), whose a part of the story because Lucoa “saved” him from summoning a demon while he was casting a spell. Unbeknownst to him, Lucoa is a succubus, so whenever she’s in his presence, she harasses him by rubbing her boobs on him. She has some redeemable qualities here and there. For example, she’s surprisingly chill when it comes to her interactions with the other adults. Though, it’s not clear why she is unable to demonstrate the same level of maturity when it comes to leaving a child, who clearly doesn’t to be bothered, alone. The story never explains much of her thought process, if she even has one, of course. She’s definitively the most “hit-or-miss” of the bunch, so personally, I wasn’t really amused.
Elma: Hungry
She is introduced to the household in the middle of the story, so she felt the most irrelevant of the bunch. She doesn’t do much, either than the fact that she randomly decides to work with Kobayashi for some reason. Oh, she also likes food, hence the word.
Riko: Ahegao
She makes weird blushing faces whenever she touched Kanna. It wasn’t funny the first time, who’s to say that it would be funny the eleventh?
The audiovisuals are good, as there’s no real complaints to be found. It was with the moe artstyle that drew a lot of people into the show. Additionally, much of the backgrounds have a nice pastel watercolor touch to them. They clash with the brightly colored character designs quite well. In addition, the animation sticks out as being notable for a slice of life series. For example, series has the occasional fight scene that is well animated. Moreover, to provide an example of more eye candy, the series has more tasteful fanservice in its self aware beach episode. The only issue is the repetitive background music, it’s much like wobbling sound effect, but less annoying. Overall, the art works for what Dragon Maid was going for.
Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is only really worth watching for Tohru and Kobayashi. While yes, Fafnir could also be thrown into the mix, he’s not as present to make it worth the watch, unlike Tohru. Dragon Maid fulfills most of its promises by showcasing its fer and far in between fun characters and their dynamics with involve the occasional wholesome moment here and there, all topped off with some fluid animation. Unfortunately, the large and untimely addition of one-dimensional characters ruins the dynamic Kobayashi and Tohru had with each other. Moreover, the more useless characters were basically just cheap plugs for some tasteless fanservice and unfunny gags. However, the series still delivers when it comes to the two aforementioned characters alone. Overall, it’s difficult to perceive the series as anything other than mindless degeneracy and an indulgence in debauchery.
