Starting off with the characters we have Kobayashi, a 25 year old woman living with multiple dragons. She works a normal boring desk job and is friends with Saiyaka, an Otaku just like Kobayashi. Kobayashi also has had a sort of falling out with her family some time ago, not really talking about her family, or even her past. She seems to be melancholic, and a very lonely woman until Tohru comes around, who she immediately takes a liking to. Although Kobayashi does have a problem with expressing the way she truly feels emotionally, she does seem to be a good person at heart and only wants the best for not only herself, but her friends. She also has back problems.
Next up is the ever popular Tohru, a dragon living with Kobayashi as her maid. Banished from her family with a sword in her body, she is saved by Kobayashi and since then has fallen in love with Kobayashi. She is a Chaos Dragon one that battles with the Harmony Dragons and is one of the more powerful dragons on her world as she is the daughter of an extremely powerful dragon. She is also friends with Kanna, a young Dragon that also lives with Kobayashi.
And speaking of Kanna, let’s talk about Kanna. Kanna is another Chaos Dragon that had gotten exiled from her world. She is a younger Dragon taking on the form of a young girl. Initially Kanna assumes that Kobayashi seduced Tohru into coming to her world. Kanna also is a unique dragon that uses electricity to recharge her powers. She is also weaker than Tohru and most other Dragons in terms of power, this is because of her age. She is mostly the comedic relief character of this series, and is used well in this way. She also sees Kobayashi as a surrogate mother and frequently refers to herself as Kanna Kobayashi
Now onto the story.
Story
Dragon Maid has simple one of those light hearted, Slice of Life stories most people look for in the genre. Something that bucks the trends of the never ending factory of High School Slice of Life romances. Dragon Maid isn’t a high school slice of life romance though, it’s far from it. The setting is primarily the small apartment complex Kobayashi lives in. To add onto that, Kobayashi isn’t a teenager, she’s a grown adult with adult problems, and she acts like an adult. Does she care about getting best girl? No. So going into this don’t expect something that’s extremely cliched in that sense. But what you can expect is a surprisingly enjoyable story with characters you’ll get connected to with surprising ease. But unsurprisingly, I think the characters most people will connect with and enjoy isn’t Tohru or Kanna, but Kobayashi. While Tohru has her problems that to take lead for a lot of the chapters, Kobayashi’s troubles are deeply human and are problems I feel people from different countries even can relate to.
Characterizations
Speaking of characters though, I’d like to go over the way they interact with each other, in other words Characterization. So to put it simply the series is really solid when it comes to this aspect of the manga. Characters like Tohru and Kobayashi interact with each other differently than Tohru and Elma. These characters have their own unique way they speak with each other, and because of that the series has a really easy time getting important things across through dialogue. There aren’t going to be many times in this manga where you read a character's interactions and it doesn’t match the way that character usually speaks. So if you’re reading this for the characters, then you’re doing the right thing because they’re well made.
Art
Simply one of the better drawn Slice of Life Manga I’ve seen, and while I haven’t read many manga at the time of this recording, and get the feeling this is one of quality. To me the thing I love most about this manga in the way it’s drawn is how unique the character designs are, while still not getting overly ridiculous. Are some of them ridiculous? Yes, but the main characters in the manga have a very good design to them. Iruru and Kanna’s are a tad bit ridiculous, but Kobayashi and Tohru’s are really good and most importantly fun. This translates into most of the character designs, but I do think Iruru’s is a tad bit over the top for no good reason I think. But other than that there are a couple of really well drawn fights in this manga that I really enjoy, and hopefully when Season 2 comes out, they’re animated really well.
Final Rating
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is an awesome and fun manga that I think people who are fans of the genre should check out. The Manga has great comedy with great characters that are larger than life and are fun, it has a fun and interesting story that doesn’t devolve into “saving the world” or some other overarching evil. But the art is really good too, and have a certain fun factor to them that a lot of other manga don’t really tap into, when we’re talking about slice of life that is. But honestly if you enjoy manga like these, then Dragon Maid is right down your alley. It has quality and the content you want from a slice of life, while also doing something mostly unique that hasn’t been done in the way this one has been.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid gets an 8/10
