While the majority of the series is comedy and not too deep or serious, those wanting a comedy-driven anime series, especially a shorter duration anime series at 13 episodes (plus an OVA episode), will enjoy “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” for being a fun and delightful series. And it’s an anime series worth watching!
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TITLE: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
DURATION: Episodes 1-13 (325 Minutes)
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Japanese 2.0 Linear PCM, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Funimation
RATED: TV 14
Release Date: April 24, 2018
Originally Created by Coolkyoushinja
Directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto
Series Composition by Yuka Yamada
Music by Masumi Itou
Character Design: Miku Kadowaki
Art Director: Mikiko Watanabe
Anime Production: Kyoto Animation
Featuring the following voice talent:
Mutsumi Tamura/Leah Clark as Kobayashi
YÅ«ki Kuwahara/Sarah Wiedenheft as Tohru
Daisuke Ono/Garret Storms as Fafnir
Emiri KatÅ/Sara Ragsdale as Riko Saikawa
Kaori Ishihara/Alison Viktorin as ShÅta Magatsuchi
Maria Naganawa/Jad Saxton as Kanna
Minami Takahashi/Jamie Marchi as Rukoa
YÅ«ichi Nakamura/Jeff Johnson as Makoto Takiya
YÅ«ki Takada as Eruma
Yuko Goto as Georgie Saikawa
What happens when a drunken promise leads to living with a dragon? That’s Miss Kobayashi’s new reality when Tohru, her new maid-slash-dragon appears in her life! And if one wasn’t enough, in comes Kanna, a little dragon with a big attitude. Soon, Kobayashi has a house full of adorable dragons – one serving tail and the other serving serious moe.
Back in 2013, mangaka Cookyoushinja wrote and illustrated his manga series “Kobayashi-san Chi no Meidoragon” (Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid).
The manga was serialized in Futabasha’s “Monthly Action” Magazine and an anime adaptation by Kyoto Animation would be released in January-April 2017.
The anime series was released on Blu-ray courtesy of Funimation.
The series revolves around an office worker named Kobayashi, a kind woman who is often busy at work but when she gets drunk, her wild and angry side comes out.
One day, she is visited at home by a large female dragon, shocked about what she sees, the dragon transforms to a human girl in a maid outfit named Tohru.
She came to live with Tohru, after Tohru told her (while drunk) that she could come to work and live with her as a maid. Because Kobayashi removed a holy sword from her back and saving her, Tohru wants to repay her becoming Miss Kobayashi’s personal maid and Kobayashi agrees.
The thing is Tohru has a lot to learn about human customs, especially on how to cook (she knows how to cut off her regenerative tail and serve it as food), but she also has to control her temper as she gets fired up when she sees Miss Kobayashi with another person.
But just when having one dragon is weird and challenging, Miss Kobayashi starts to meet other dragons (in human form).
The main characters for “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” are:
- Kobayashi – An office worker who saved Tohru’s life, but she was drunk at the time and told her to be a maid. Often mistaken as a boy.
- Tohru – A female dragon of the Chaos faction who can use magic to repair damage and transform into a human girl. She has fallen for Miss Kobayashi and while she can turn to human, she still retains her horns and tail.
- Kanna Kamui – A dragon who was exiled from her world for pulling too many pranks on other dragons. Her human form is of a young school student. She is taken in by Tohru and Kanna tends to look at Miss Kobayashi like a mother. She also has horns and a thin tail.
- Elma – A water dragon of the Order faction and a rival of Tohru. She works in Kobayashi’s workplace, because she is stuck in the human world and loves sweets. She is very naive and indecisive.
- Quetzalcoatl/Lucoa – An Aztec dragon goddess and friend of Tohru. She lost her divine status after getting drunk and causing a scandal with her sister. She is well-endowed and wears tight clothing and lives with a human named Shouta who fears her and thinks she is a succubus.
- Fafnir/Takeshi Ooyama – A friend of Tohru who is a male dragon and distrusts humans. But he starts to love video games and starts to live with Kobayashi’s otaku friend, Takiya.
- Makoto Takiya – Kobayashi’s otaku co-worker. He is a major otaku and has a huge video game and manga collection which allows him to befriend Fafnir.
- Riko Saikawa – Kanna’s classmate who gets very excited when Kanna does things to her (out of naivety) such as Kanna licking on her face or fingers.
VIDEO:
“Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” is presented in 1080p High Definition and for the most part, the anime looks good as Kyoto Animation did a good job with character designs. There is some softness that is typical of anime TV series.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” is presented in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Dialogue and music are crystal clear through the front channels. While the series sounds much better with the English dub as it was given the 5.1 treatment, so action sequences can be heard through the surround channels. But both soundtracks have crystal clear dialogue.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” comes a special OVA titled “Valentines and Hot Springs!” featuring Tohru wanting to do something special for Miss Kobayashi on Valentine’s Day.
EXTRAS:
“Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” comes with both a Blu-ray and DVD version of the anime series and a slipcover.
Once in a while, you come across an anime series that you want to watch, in order to get away from the numerous yet popular long-running Japanese anime series airing in Japan.
For those who are looking for an anime series that has a lot of humor and is primarily a comedy-driven anime series with only several episodes, will no doubt want to check out “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid”.
Featuring only 13 episodes + an OVA episode, the series revolves around a stoic woman named Miss Kobayashi who lives an uninteresting life, just work as an office worker and getting drunk (and losing her temper while drunk).
But life changes for Miss Kobayashi when a dragon arrives in her front door.
Not remembering why a dragon is in front of her door step, she learns that she saved a dragon by removing a sword off its back and then inviting the dragon to live with her.
And so, the dragon transforms into a happy human who will be a maid for Miss Kobayashi and most of all, live in the human world.
Of course, immediately there will be shenanigans as Tohru is not aware of human customs and does a few things that Miss Kobayashi must reminder her not to change into a dragon and behaving (as Tohru gets quite jealous when someone gets closer to Miss Kobayashi).
But thanks to Tohru, Miss Kobayashi meets other dragons that she befriends. Kanna Kamui is a dragon who looks like a young girl who comes to live with her (and Kanna starts to see Kobayashi like a mother) and other dragons with their own personal style and shenanigans.
It’s a fun and delightful anime series because of the dragons and their human forms with their own crazy characteristics.
The Blu-ray is colorful and the lossless audio is good, with the English dub soundtrack having a slight edge due to it’s 5.1 lossless track as opposed to the Japanese stereo lossless track. There are no special features but you do get an OVA Valentine’s Day episode.
While the majority of the series is comedy and not too deep or serious, those wanting a comedy-driven anime series, especially a shorter duration anime series at 13 episodes (plus an OVA episode), will enjoy “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” for being a fun and delightful series.
And it’s an anime series worth watching!
