The first Series of Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is one of my all-time favourite animes, a sweet tale of hard-working maid obsessed Kobayashi gaining a Dragon named Tohru who is in love with her as a maid. What followed involved her gaining an unconventional family and many new friends. The series was massively popular and there were plans for a second season but tragedy occurred with the arson attack on the studio. The second season was not abandoned though and a few months ago the second season aired as Kyoto Animation’s first anime series since the arson.

I am happy to say the second season not only did not disappoint but I’d say is better than the original. The series of course continues the story of Kobayashi and her family and friends. The first episode starts with Tohru getting a job at a maid cafe which works as a soft reintroduction to the characters before the episode then introduces Ilulu who was heavily advertised in the promotions (several stories from season 1 were adapted from chapters after her introductions so it’s good to see her finally be introduced).

For fans of the character Elma season 2 is a real treat as it goes HEAVILY into her backstory with Tohru and has many great moments of character development with her, while this does mean Lucoa and Fafnir don’t get as much prominent stories as they did in season 1 the ones, they do get are some great pieces of character, we also get to see both their dragon forms clearly, especially Lucoa’s one that wasn’t shown in the manga at the time of season 1 (ITS BIG). Yes, Kanna is still there and gets plenty of focus so don’t worry your Loli is fine.

As mentioned, I find this series better than the original and that’s probably because its either toned down or didn’t adapt certain more… questionable elements in the manga unlike the first season, namely to do with Lucoa and Kanna with their human partners (though the season does have … well you will find out, fortunately its only part of episode 2). But also, moments that go into some of the dragon’s backstory get really emotional and well told.

I wouldn’t say there’s stuff here to tease a season 3 but I would like to see one given the manga is once again still ongoing and lots of tales to adapt (and that’s not going into all the spin offs starring EVERY major character). Kobayashi still remains my favourite of the cast however. We see just how she’s adapted to all these new elements to her life. How the existence of magic is becoming a norm to her. Her major character growth for this season is thanks to bringing Ilulu to her home as essentially another child.

Of course I can’t say you can watch this without watching the original, it won’t really explain in too much detail who all these characters are and how they met, that’s for season 1 to show you. But as said when you want to see more of them and yet grow so it’s not just feeling like “just more” this season will not disappoint. Also, there was a bunch of shorts leading up to the second season, they are fun viewing so worth checking out.

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