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A rant or a warning, for once. Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid season 1 has been the favourite of the kids, so they were waiting impatiently for the opportunity to also start watching the second season which has started airing in early July. For various reasons — holidays among them. So, we finally made it to the first two episodes of season 2.
Now, I haven't reviewed season 1 yet, and it's still on my list for the weeks to come. Suffice it to say that the kids like the tensions, but also the mutual fascination between the anarchic Tohru and her dragon friends on the one side, and the seemingly grey office worker Kobayashi. They like how Tohru shakes up Kobayashi's life, forcing her out of her shell, all the while learning in turn something about reliability.
For the second season we hoped for a continuation of this story, and overall I expect that the season will fulfil this promise. However, the first two episodes at least broke the mould, and in a way that we didn't like too much. A new dragon, Iruru (イルル, at times also transcribed as Ilulu) joins the world to wreak havoc, seeing Tohru as a traitor to the dragon's Chaos Faction. In the ensuing battle between Tohru and her new contender Iruru is defeated, but only just.
Where the two episodes, written by Yuka Yamada, fail for us is in the humour. Also, the first season lives from the often ambiguous feelings between Tohru and her master. As an adult you also understand the latent sexual tension between the two women, especially since Kobayashi clearly perceives herself as not particularly into women, at least initially.
However, at the beginning of season 2 the jokes derail. In her urge to revenge herself, Iruru turns Kobayashi temporarily into a man (something she discovers on the toilet), hoping that as a man she'd no longer be able to master her sexual urges. Ultimately, she expects to undermine the bond between Tohru and Kobayashi (though the maid dragon proofs to be less than shocked).
Kobayashi masters the trial, but not easily, before being returned to her normal female form.
I'll not go into more details, but in my perception the show jumps for two episodes from one that I'd classify as PG to 16+ in themes, jokes, and dialogue — leaving aside the rather doubtful image this projects of male nature. It seems, however, that the show returns to a more family friendly format from episode 3 onwards.
I guess I'll prewatch the upcoming episodes beforehand to avoid further embarrassment, hoping that we'll enjoy the rest of the show in family mode for the rest of the season.
Official Website (in Japanese)
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