Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (anime)



"The episodes are mostly comedic, but can get oddly profound at the drop of a hat. And at random times, everything will just turn into Dragonball Z."

- Bit Polar, review

A 2017 Urban Fantasy anime by KyoAnimation, Miss Kobayashi Dragon's Maid is an adaptation of the manga of same name by Coolkyoushinja.

Kobayashi is your average twenty-five year old Japanese office lady with nothing unusual happening on her life. Just as she going to work again, she opens the door of her apartment only to meet the head of a giant dragon, that then transforms into a beautiful blonde girl dressed in a cosplay maid outfit.

The girl presents herself as Tohru and manifests her desire to be Kobayashi's maid, as result of a encounter they had while Kobayashi was heavily drunk. Kobayashi initially dismiss her because she isn't all that good on being a maid, but the feeling of guilt takes over and she tells for Tohru to stay.

However, Tohru is a chaos dragon that lived in another dimension fighting humans between other dragons. In other words, she doesn't know how to be a maid only. She doesn't know how to be a human period, and the mundane life of a maid will present several challenges to her.

Directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto in season one and two, the latter released after his death. Tatsuya Ishihara co-directed season 2.


 * The Alcoholic: Kobayashi is a pretty heavy drinker. In fact, she struggles to remember how she met Tohru in first place because she was heavily drunk that time, and in fact only wandered into the mountain where Tohru was because she was drunk.
 * Christmas Episode: Tohru gets excited about throwing a Christmas party, until she learns whose birth the holiday celebrates: "What? That bastard's son?!?"
 * Color Failure: Right in the opening to episode 1. Fafnir also looks like this at Comiket.
 * Dark Is Evil: It is downplayed since he is not an villain, but Fafnir dresses mostly in black, has black hair, and his advices to Tohru resume in yelling to her to kill whatever is the reason behind the problems she have.
 * Deadpan Snarker: From the likes of Kobayashi, Fafnir, Tohru, and even the writers. That last one is because they make a snarky comment (in parenthesis) about the episode's theme in the title. For example:
 * Episode 2: "The Second Dragon, Kanna! (We're Totally Spoiling Here)"
 * Episode 7: "Beach Staples (The Fanservice Episode, Frankly)"
 * Episode 8: "New Dragon Elma! (She Finally Appears, huh?)"
 * Fanservice: There is plenty of exposed female skin of extremely curvy woman, large chests and thick thighs.
 * Gainax Bounce: Giant breasts on the series seem to be constantly in motion and doing a boing song.
 * Hot Springs Episode: Takiya organizes a vacation to an onsen for all the humans and dragons.
 * Hotter and Sexier: Season 2 adapts more loyally the manga and therefore doesn't exclude or modify any fanservice of the manga like the first season did, making it much hotter by default.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Kobayashi uses a common Japanese euphemism of "but I'm a woman" to imply she isn't a lesbian when Tohru makes advances on her.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Tohru's nightmare in the first episode involves her being impaled by a spear by humans during a battle. It's heavily implied she was having a flashback.
 * Lipstick Lesbian: Tohru is interested on Kobayashi and has very girly mannerisms and wardrobe.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Lucoa have both an incredibly curvy but also dresses skimpily.
 * Nay Theist: Played for Laughs as Tohru seems to have an inherent hate for the judeo-christian God for no reason.
 * Person of Mass Destruction: Tohru's attempt to clear the skies to dry clothes results in the clouds being cleared well into the Pacific despite she barely doing any effort, so she definitely qualifies.
 * Shameless Fanservice Girl: Justified with Tohru in the first episode. She doesn't know human's social norms and as a dragon she lived her entire life naked, so Kobayashi stripping her naked does nothing to her.
 * Puppy Love: Riko has a giant crush on Kana despite they both being in elementary school.
 * Token Evil Teammate: Of all the dragons friendly to Kobayashi in the series, Fafnir is by quite a bit the most insane and deranged.
 * Vapor Wear: Justified. Tohru can shapeshift her scales into clothes. It also explains the boing sound heard frequently in her scenes: there is indeed no bra.
 * Yandere: Played for Laughs in the first episode. Tohru immediately thinks Makoto is gunning for Kobayashi and her first option is to outright kill him.