Disclaimer
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The following review is completely spoiler-free, and is meant for users who are curious about whether to watch the show or not. While I write reviews with this focus, and the goal of presenting the show with little bias, it is impossible to write a completely unbiased review. Feel free to disagree with any of my opinions, and ultimately decide for yourself how you feel about the show after watching it yourself!
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Positives
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- Colourful Character Design
One of the things that attracted me to this show is its over-the-top, sensational character designs. The dragons are all wonderful to look at, and enjoyable in their uniqueness. Their traits and specialities shine on screen, helping keep them the focal point of the show (for good reason).
- Beautiful Art Direction
This show has absolutely wonderful art! Its backgrounds are unique in their water-colour approach, and provide a very pretty light background to many large environment shots. They also do not feel out of place or forced, but rather give off a relative serenity to be associated with the outside world juxtaposing the characters.
- Surprisingly Diverse Animation
I can't believe a Slice of Life show like this was able to pull off some of the action sequences it did so well. Any over-the-top sequence the dragons took part in (and there were many) were accentuated by a shockingly well done set of action animations. It perfectly conveyed the actual power of the dragons, and made those scenes absolutely pop out compared to the day-to-day scenes, which is exactly what they were supposed to do.
- Kanna
Kanna the tiny dragon child is aboslutely adorable. I don't think I've ever smiled and said "AWWW" so loudly or so often at an anime. Ever. Perfect example of children characters not needing to be overly annoying to still be important and cute in anime. 10/10 would watch entire side-series about her.
- Heartwarming Moments
The interactions between the small makeshift family of Kobayashi, Tohru, and Kanna provide some incredibly heartwarming moments along the way. While the show's main focus is clearly light hearted slice of life and comedy, the show never forgets to gracefully tug at the viewer's heartstrings, investing us all in the family dynamic (flaws and all).
- OP/ED
Probably my personal favourite OP of all time (so catchy), along with a very well done ED. Both match the mood of the show very well (starting on a high note, ending more calmly and sweetly). The inclusion of the show's characters in the ED song is also a huge bonus from me!
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Negatives
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- Lucoa's Lack of Depth
The character Quetzalcoatl, or Lucoa for short, begins the series as an interesting counterpart dragon to the rest. She comes off as a bit strange in busty appearance, but ultimately caring in her part-time role as Tohru's friend. Her guidance early on was a perfectly good character trait for her. However, later in the show she constantly boils down to either needing another dragon that isn't Fafnir, or full-on no thought boob humour. Don't get me wrong, I love sexual humour! But there was not a whole lot of "comedy" in how she was used in the show. This is an example of fanservice done badly.
- Shouta's Inclusion
Shouta as a character himself could be perfectly fine. He himself does nothing particularly wrong, and introducing magical beings other than dragons could provide a very interesting dynamic. However, none of that is explored as Shouta's one goal is to be the target of Lucoa's overt sexuality. Every single scene with him in it is either completely unnecessary to have him around, or it involves him running away from Lucoa's sexual advances. This could have been fine had the show decided to make her advances based on misunderstanding (she doesn't know why he's shy/embarrassed around her; He's intimidated by her overt sexuality), but instead it just comes off as creepy and unnecessary. There is one singular funny and unique moment for the duo in the show, but otherwise provide no additional value in my opinion.
- "The Scene"
There is a scene about halfway through the show between Kanna and a human her age that has been well documented in its ridiculousness. I will not spoil anything related to it (you can do that research on your own), but I personally was a bit shocked at how far it went and how it pushed the boundaries. I don't think the idea was a ridiculous one; There was much comedy to be had in the circumstances. But in my opinion they went a bit too far in their pursuit for sexual humour, and if I had the choice I'd cut it a lot short than it was.
- Kobayashi + Tohru Character Interaction
Many interactions between characters are incredibly well done and thought out, however arguably the biggest relationship of the entire show progresses at an absolutely sluggish pace. Kobayashi talks a good game about how things have changed dramatically, however it takes until the final few episodes before those words become visible actions and finally provide satisfying character progress between the two main characters. For a show that does such a good job with its other character progressions (Fafnir and Kanna as two examples), this one was slightly disappointing.
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Conclusion
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Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is a spectacularly made show let down by a few small gripes. It impressed me extraordinarily with its charm, its character design, its art, and many more aspects, all of which I would rate almost perfect.
Unfortunately for the show, it has a few weak points (mentioned above) that can be really crippling at times. Luckily, these weak points are far in the minority, so overall the show was still incredibly enjoyable and fun to watch. You can't make a memorable show without flying too close to the sun sometimes, so I won't fault it for trying a bunch of interesting ideas (most of which worked out).
The show otherwise shines brighter than many other shows I've seen, and while it might seem to stand out solely based on the whole "dragon gimmick", I can assure you that it is far from the only thing that makes this show stand out.
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Final Rating
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While it makes for nice averages and wonderful sorting, when it comes to reviews I personally do not like direct numbering systems. Instead, I am to answer the question: "Would you recommend I watch this show?".
If you are a fan of slice of life, light comedy, cute dragons, or having your heart melt in various different ways, this is a show you will not want to miss.
If you find any kind of sexualization around unambiguously child-like characters unacceptable, there will be parts of this show that you will not like (as was the case with me). I would still recommend giving it a shot (as did I), as it is otherwise a tremendous product.
