Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon Episode 7: Summer’s Staples!

Tooru is a miracle of the universe.

Impression

Was this supposed to be the fanservice episode? I mean, that’s what it initially advertised itself as, but after the first couple of scenes Maid Dragon returned to its usual comfy and sometimes poignant vibe. I’m also so happy that Kobayashi shares my thoughts on beaches. I mentioned this earlier in a Gabriel Dropout post, but I hate beaches. There’s too much sand. I know that’s the very point of a beach, but I just really dislike sand. It gets everywhere and always feels like it’s still stuck in your shoes and socks after every trip. So I’m glad that all the beach tropes were routinely performed, almost as an obligation to get them out of the way. In fact, if you take out Lucoa it becomes fanservice in the barest sense. I’m still super jealous of Shouta, but his reactions are so cute that can’t bring myself to dislike him. His wide eyes and constantly blushing face are both adorable. Not to mention his shock when any of the dragons do anything outrageous. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that he actually knows about magic and that the fantasy elements in the human world are real. I can kind of understand how Lucoa feels now. Even though half of Shouta’s fear (if you can call it that) towards her is her own fault entirely, the other half is because she’s passively a walking semen demon. Just appearing in public in a skimpy swimsuit is enough to count as indecent exposure. If she opens her beautiful eyes, people might die from the perfection.

I’ve described Maid Dragon as a comfy family slice-of-life before, but that was always in the context of Kobayashi, Tooru and Kanna setting up a de facto family of sorts and sharing each other’s company. I’ve never really thought of it in the context of Tooru and her actual family of dragons back in her world. It’s the first time she’s ever brought it up, and I have a feeling it’s significant enough to become a plot point in the future. Given all the offhand comments she makes about casually killing humans, it’s somewhat surprising to learn that she’s actually one of the more tolerant dragons in terms of ideology. That should extend to Kanna, Lucoa and Fafnir too. Yes, even Fafnir. Despite everything he’s said and how cranky he gets sometimes, he’s been very well-behaved. Tooru seems like she wants humans in this world to accept dragons. Contrast that with her father, who sounds like a more extreme version of Fafnir. Makes you wonder how humans live in their world and what their status as a species is. Dragons seem to talk so easily of killing them, and Fafnir seemed to indicate a couple of weeks ago that it’s what Tooru is almost expected to do if or when she returns.

As for why Kobayashi took her in despite her being a dragon, I guess it’s because she’s a nice person? Maybe she wanted to live up to her promise, or felt a sense of responsibility and helped her out because of that, or just wanted someone to be with and for someone to light up her life like Tooru has definitely done. Of course, if Tooru asked me why I’d take her in, it’s because she’s super cute and has the squishiest tail. Anyway, I don’t know whether I’d call Kobayashi normal, at least in Tooru’s sense of the word. I don’t think she’s wrong, but if Tooru is asking whether she’s the archetypal human, she probably isn’t. Tooru wanted to know whether all humans would be able to accept dragons like Kobayashi has, and I’m pretty sure Kobayashi is amongst the minority. Remember what she said to Kanna about humans being afraid of things that are different from themselves? That’s in the context of other humans, let alone different species. And even in Tooru’s world the weaker non-humans don’t exactly have a favourable impression of dragons.

Speaking of which, I thought it was hilarious that all these different species from Tooru’s world were just wandering around Comiket and pretending to be really, really good cosplays. I assumed that only dragons have migrated over, but clearly that’s not the case for whatever reason. We really need to see this other world, there are references being made to it almost every episode and the closest we’ve gotten to seeing it was on the map of the different realms that came up in the first episode when Lucoa was telling Tooru about the World Tree. I guess those other species are an example of how co-existence technically isn’t impossible, although I’m sure there are separate considerations for dragons given their size and power. At least for now, Tooru seems to have come to terms with her worries over her current life with Kobayashi.

Someone needs to stop Kanna from eating all the insects. Also, even crabs have become her victims. I was genuinely worried for that puppy she was staring at during their trip to the beach. I end up appreciating scenes like that the most though, I think. The one where Tooru created fireworks in the sky was also really great, if a little understated. I wanted to see the fireworks in their entirety. In fact, every Tooru scene is a gem. Her expression and movements during that entire scene when Kobayashi was talking about her family felt very quintessentially KyoAni.