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REVIEW: Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid — Episodes 1-13 Streaming


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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 9:32 am Reply with quote
It's been a while since I was legitimately sad to see a show end, but I was feeling it with this one.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18135
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 10:06 am Reply with quote
Agreed with Nick on all points, including the initial skepticism. Despite the pedigree, this series was a pleasant surprise.

And I think the supporting character problem could probably be extended to Kanna's friend, who is also mostly a one-trick pony.
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Joshua Zarate



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 2061
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 1:26 pm Reply with quote
This was a very sweet show for me. I also was skeptical of it at first, but now my thoughts are very similar to what Mr. Creamer expressed in this review. And I felt the exact same at the end of it as Mr. Greed above me felt as well. I'm looking forward to see more of what Kyoto Animation is working on next.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 1:39 pm Reply with quote
I dunno about plentiful comedy, definitely not Nichijou level. This is a good show, but it trade a large share of comedy for a stronger focus toward drama.

I understand comparing it to Nichijou, since there both kyoani adaptation of manga, but they're pretty different beast. Nichijou probably has more jokes in 3 episode than dragon maid does in its entire run time.

The real reason to watch dragon maid is definitely more the emotional side. The family that's established and the dynamic between characters. If anything the attempt at comedy fall flat almost as often as they work, especially with Lucoa, the character obviously meant as a teh joke character, except she has only one joke constantly repeated and it only work once.
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 2:37 pm Reply with quote
I found it to be a very light-hearted and cute show. I adore Tohru's peppy characteristic and Kobayashi's stoic demeanor. The other dragons were a fun sight as well. Smile
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Exalted Incarnate



Joined: 21 Sep 2015
Posts: 283
Location: In the memory of time...
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 7:56 am Reply with quote
Degrading one of the most honorable creatures in olden lore...

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/225/956/b3e.jpg_large
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Levonr



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 807
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 5:30 pm Reply with quote
Also one of the better broadcast dubs FUNimation has done I thought.
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leeoflittlefaith



Joined: 08 Apr 2012
Posts: 104
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 7:10 pm Reply with quote
It's "Elma", not "Emma".
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 7:50 pm Reply with quote
By and large I agree, but I can't say the adaption bit is without issues, with the sports festival being the biggest: it's was parents' day in the original, which is a bit more poignant(but that would mean losing a chance to show off the spoiler[sister-raping] Quetzalcoatl's cleavage). There's also the handling of Tohru's father: in the manga, spoiler[he backs down during the initial encounter, saying that Tohru's powerful enough to intimidate him], which is a fair bit different. The chapters were rearranged, but that was definitely one of the best decisions in the process: the natural finale they used came from volume two, but most of the chapters after that don't depend on it and fit easily in the middle.

On a side note, they ate up most of the available material: there are five volumes out and they sucked up through volume 4. The only real omissions were the Iruru chapters, which are enough material for maybe one episode. I suppose no sequel at all is better than one crammed to bursting with filler, though.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 10:14 am Reply with quote
Polycell wrote:
There's also the handling of Tohru's father: in the manga, spoiler[he backs down during the initial encounter, saying that Tohru's powerful enough to intimidate him], which is a fair bit different.

The introduction of this character came as much of a disappointment, I say. For the sake of both keeping the viewers' interests and engaging in progressive commentary, this story had no requirement to introduce an antagonist simply the sake of a climax. While Tohru's father was arguably the embodiment of the negative attitudes to which a couple such as Koybayashi and Tohru may face, spoiler[Tohru's "final battle" with her father, in which he merely slunks away in unchanged disapproval of her relationship,] was entirely out of alignment with the show's optimistic tone. It is so disheartening when a production this engaging and socially relatable stumbles at its last hurdle.
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 12:57 pm Reply with quote
This is what I wrote for my comments:

Quote:

*It's really difficult for me to decide between rating it 10/11 or 11/11.....

*Screw it: I keep on wanting to rewatch it -- when I've already rewatched a number of times! So I'm rating the sub at 11/11 and the dub -- which actually isn't half bad -- at 10/11.....

*I must remember to check out the manga.....

Pros:

1. The OP is one of the few songs that has me bopping my head to the beat!

2. Nice OST!

3. The watercolors and OST remind me of Bunny Drop.

4. The humor is surprisingly effective!

5. This anime is not set in a high school!!!

6. The last episode has me tearing up.

Cons:

1. Tohru said that that she was born into the Chaos faction. So why is her father saying that that the reason she has to return to his realm/dimension is because chaos might ensue if other dragons come here? It doesn't make sense.

2. Riko Saikawa's romantic feelings towards Kanna Kamui are simply not credible.
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Kendra Kirai



Joined: 18 Jan 2015
Posts: 187
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 4:53 pm Reply with quote
nobahn wrote:
This is what I wrote for my comments:

Quote:

*It's really difficult for me to decide between rating it 10/11 or 11/11.....

*Screw it: I keep on wanting to rewatch it -- when I've already rewatched a number of times! So I'm rating the sub at 11/11 and the dub -- which actually isn't half bad -- at 10/11.....

*I must remember to check out the manga.....

Pros:

1. The OP is one of the few songs that has me bopping my head to the beat!

2. Nice OST!

3. The watercolors and OST remind me of Bunny Drop.

4. The humor is surprisingly effective!

5. This anime is not set in a high school!!!

6. The last episode has me tearing up.

Cons:

1. Tohru said that that she was born into the Chaos faction. So why is her father saying that that the reason she has to return to his realm/dimension is because chaos might ensue if other dragons come here? It doesn't make sense.

2. Riko Saikawa's romantic feelings towards Kanna Kamui are simply not credible.


What I get from what he said was that the human world is off limits due to some ancient, possibly Godly pact or decree or other and Tohru's presence may destabilize the balance.

'order' and 'chaos' aren't necessarily the mutually exclusive D&D alignments, just the closest things to what's going on.

'Chaos' could simply mean 'do as you want until someone stronger comes along to stop you', while 'law' means 'do as the rules say no matter how strong you are'.

Or put another way, the difference between Anarchy as a social system and a lawful society.

This would explain Tohru and her dad quite well. Tohru is a maid because she WANTS to be, and only temporarily stops because of her much more powerful father. Kanna was exiled because she did as she pleased without the power to keep herself safe from parental retribution. Meanwhile, Elma seems to come after Tohru mainly because she believes that's what she's SUPPOSED to do, that she has a duty to do so, despite not having the power to fight Tohru head on, nor even the ability to get back home on her own.

(Lucoa, meanwhile, probably isn't part of either faction, being a God who resembles a Dragon rather than an actual Dragon)
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 5:20 pm Reply with quote
Tohru mentions the sword she had embedded in her was place there by a god(and she also invokes "that bastard's son" in relation to Christmas). There's little detail, but perhaps the chaos faction is a revolt against the gods? The order faction would, of course, be the ones who stood by them. Positioning Lucoa in all this is a bit more complicated, but most likely comes down to her being allowed to do as she pleases so long as she doesn't raise her hand against the order faction(spoiler[or come within one hundred leagues of her sister]).
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leeoflittlefaith



Joined: 08 Apr 2012
Posts: 104
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 7:19 pm Reply with quote
...or the father is making dumb excuses because the whole conversation is basically 'I don't approve of my daughter's choice of mate and lifestyle because I'm overly protective of her'. The whole fight and discussion is simply a macrocosm of that.

Don't overthink it.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 7:23 pm Reply with quote
Zin5ki wrote:
Polycell wrote:
There's also the handling of Tohru's father: in the manga, spoiler[he backs down during the initial encounter, saying that Tohru's powerful enough to intimidate him], which is a fair bit different.

The introduction of this character came as much of a disappointment, I say. For the sake of both keeping the viewers' interests and engaging in progressive commentary, this story had no requirement to introduce an antagonist simply the sake of a climax. While Tohru's father was arguably the embodiment of the negative attitudes to which a couple such as Koybayashi and Tohru may face, spoiler[Tohru's "final battle" with her father, in which he merely slunks away in unchanged disapproval of her relationship,] was entirely out of alignment with the show's optimistic tone. It is so disheartening when a production this engaging and socially relatable stumbles at its last hurdle.


I don't see it that way. Considering spoiler[He took her back to their world when he first came, allowing her to stay in the human world is a change in his disapproval, albeit not to total approval. That the encounter spurs Kobayashi to introduce her new family to her old one, I wouldn't say it was pessimistic.] While it is optimistic, the show wasn't blindly so. Compared to Yuri on Ice, which existed in a world where opposition to homosexual relationships doesn't exist, which is pertinent given the countries the main characters are from, a frequent refrain in Dragon Maid is worries about not fitting in the human world and the temporary nature of their relationship and Tohru's residence in the human world. Baby steps from her father is not out of line with that sentiment and it's overall optimism.
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