Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

Episode 12

Before we get to the actual story of this week's episode, I'd like to mention how adorable it is when Kanna shakes her horns back into existence after getting home from school. Along with Lucoa's efforts to dress more conservatively for Shouta and Tohru's annoyance at everyone assuming that all dragons have lolita complexes for cute little virgins, these are the little highlights of this week's generally more plot-oriented episode. The series has always had a knack for great moments, and these are particularly good tidbits snuck into a larger and more serious storyline.

We know the basics of how Tohru and Miss Kobayashi originally met – Kobayashi got drunk, ended up in the mountains, and accidentally invited a dragon home – but up until now, we've lacked the details. That's one of the two main storylines in this week's penultimate episode of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, nicely intertwined with the other major plotline of Tohru trying to make Kobayashi the best damn omurice she can. The two stories feed into each other nicely, because the first non-weird (and non-tail-based) dish Tohru cooked for Kobayashi was omurice, so the episode brings the story of their cohabitation full circle in a sense.

As Tohru spends her day trying to make a perfect meal, she's fixated on the idea that Kobayashi asked her to make a really good one. To Tohru, Kobayashi's comment wasn't just an off-hand remark; it's a hard and fast request that she needs to fulfill. To that end, she decides to take Lucoa's advice and secure the absolute best ingredients possible, dreaming rosy yuri-tinted dreams of her mission. (The screenshot above doesn't show Kobayashi's amazing tight pants, but they definitely add to the vision.) Since her bargaining skills don't work for high quality free-range chicken thighs, she decides to take a little trip back to her home world, turning the dish into something out of Dr. Seuss' Scrambled Eggs Super - I could practically hear the book in my head as she showed Kanna her ingredients. But the most important part of this whole scenario is that when Kobayashi comes home to the world's biggest omurice made with otherworldly ingredients, she eats it. Sure, she complains and gives Tohru grief for her chosen foods, but she eats the meal and later tells us in her narration that it was good. Given the events that led up to the original omurice in the show's (and the relationship's) early days, this is a major indication of how Kobayashi has come to care for Tohru and how their relationship has progressed.

There's a little hint of this while Kobayashi is on her commute home as well. Just before she falls asleep and dreams about their first meeting, we see a poster presumably meant to encourage people to start families – it says that two is better than one and three is better than two. That speaks to the situation at Chez Kobayashi and the family air that the show has been cultivating. Even the opening scenes of this episode bring us back to that atmosphere, with Tohru bustling around getting Kobayashi and Kanna out the door in a scene that has a sort of 1950s sitcom feel to it. Fafnir and Takiya have also established a comfortable companionship as close friends, which we see when Takiya comes home drenched from an unexpected rainstorm to find that Fafnir has laid out a towel and dry clothes for him. Fafnir can't allow himself to acknowledge what he's done or even look up from his game, but it's evident that the gloomy dragon has also found himself someone he cares about, even if that someone is unfortunately human.

This takes us back to the first meeting between Tohru and Kobayashi. When Kobayashi ends up in the mountains and (literally) bumps into the wounded Tohru, she's instantly welcoming to the dragon. We know that it's because she's plastered, but Tohru is utterly taken aback by the human whose first request is that the dragon give her a hug. When Kobayashi sees that Tohru's got a huge sword stuck in her flank, she immediately climbs up to tug it out, ignoring Tohru's protests. Tohru clearly doesn't know what to do with this weird human (who she at first thinks is male), so she goes along with Kobayashi at first, eventually switching to human form so she can drink with her. This isn't the first good conversation Tohru has had with a human, and Tohru's never been fully comfortable with the idea of killing people for no reason, which helps to convince her that Kobayashi is worth her time. But ultimately, it's Kobayashi's invitation to live with her that wins the dragon over. Both women recognize each other's loneliness, and it's the dissolution of that loneliness that gives this series its sweetness.

Rating: A-

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.