D Is for Dragon

It’s well known that we do the stupidest things when we’re drunk. Sending our ex-partners blurred nudes. Convincing ourselves that one more vodka and Red Bull will be fine, only to end up vomiting into our pillows an hour later. Or picking a fight with a bouncer. Kobayashi also enjoys getting drunk. The Japanese programmer is alone, and she has time. Time enough to wander into and out of the city with a bottle of sake. It goes without saying that sobriety doesn’t last long. Feeling adventurous, Kobayashi decides to drive into the forest. Between all the dark trees and the grass at night, she meets a dragon named Tohru. And she invites it to her home.

This is how the story of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid begins - and it doesn’t get any less ridiculous. Anyone looking for normalcy in this anime series will quickly be disappointed. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is an unparalleled cliché bomb, but it’s a fun one. Unlike other conventional anime, here, madness is still celebrated in grand style. Tohru transforms into a beautiful maid when she enters Kobayashi’s tiny apartment - and stays that way. Not much needs to be said about the other characters, because Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid knows it’s an anime, and it leans into it with gusto, bringing in all the familiar tropes with humor, charm, and love.

In Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, we follow the daily life of a woman and her out-of-this-world housekeeper. We go shopping with them, visit a bathhouse, and check out a comic fair. Alongside them, a cast of hilarious characters appear, causing even more chaos. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is fun, fun, fun. From the first to the last second, it’s a show of joke bombs exploding, with appreciation for the characters and the audience. I really wouldn’t recommend Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid as a first anime, but for anyone who has watched enough Japanese cartoons to appreciate the genre’s awkward quirks, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is a humorous firework.