Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S Episode 1: Tohru & Ilulu

Miss Kobayashi, Tohru, Kanna and all their acquaintances return in the second season of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. Some new faces also come along too. In fact, this very first episode introduces us to one of those new characters.

Tohru

Here we are then, the first episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S. We don’t jump into the new character’s introduction immediately; instead, we start with an adaptation of chapter 47 from volume 5 of the manga, “Tohru & the Maid Café”.
For those who haven’t watched the Mini Dragon shorts, a fairly decent refresher of the dynamic between Miss Kobayashi and Tohru.

Miss Kobayashi

To sum up the first segment of this episode: maid cafés are serious business. Tohru doesn’t exactly end up fulfilling the maid role there, though. It’s a fun segment before we get to the reintroduction of some familiar faces. The adaptation of the “Tohru & the Maid Café” chapter is pretty spot on, by the way.

Elma

Next we jump back to volume 3, and the adaptation of chapter 30: “Tohru & Detective Work”. Some major damage to the place where Tohru and Miss Kobayashi first met leads to Tohru going around questioning all the dragons she knows about it. That’s how this show goes about reminding us of their names and faces, before the culprit reveals herself.

Ilulu

And thus we have the introduction of a new dragon, Ilulu. On my personal scale, she’s closer to Lucoa than any of the other dragons; that is, I’ll admit I’m not a big fan of hers. I won’t go into details about all that, because I don’t want to spoil things for those who haven’t read the manga. Let’s just take it episode by episode.
I will, however, admit that her voice is pretty accurate to what I imagined it would be like when reading the manga. Good job on that one.

Tohru fights Ilulu

Chapter 30 is the last one in volume 3, so this episode also jumps into volume 4 with the adaptation of chapter 31, “Tohru & Ilulu”. Got to love how KyoAni are immediately flexing in the first episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S. There is some incredibly impressive animation on display here. Once again, what we see here is lifted straight from the manga; even Tohru’s battle damage is exactly the same.

Miss Kobayashi talks to Ilulu

Following Tohru and Ilulu’s fight, the anime then goes on to adapt chapter 36 (also from volume 4), “Ilulu & Miss Kobayashi”. Actually, Ilulu meets with someone else before her chat with Miss Kobayashi in the manga, but the anime goes straight for this scene.
Miss Kobayashi has some incredibly important things to say to Ilulu here, and that part is pretty fantastic.
Then we come to the end of the chapter, which is the very point where my dislike of Ilulu began. Urgh… at least we’ll be getting that stuff out of the way early. In the next episode, though…

We also get extra scenes with Lucoa and Shouta (ugh), and Fafnir and Takiya (actually funny). Just small scenes.

Thus there we have it: Ilulu has now officially been introduced in the anime. Ilulu is not what I am anticipating most about this second season, though. Going by what we see in the opening credits, we are going to see some of my favourite chapters adapted – those particular ones have a strong focus on Tohru and Elma in particular.
Of course, I also look forward to seeing Miss Kobayashi grow closer to Tohru, as well as Kanna being as adorable as always. Kanna barely showed up in this episode, huh? Well, I’m sure she’ll have her opportunity to shine.

As far as the adaptation goes; incredibly accurate portrayal of the source material here. Can’t really talk about any differences when there aren’t any, or are barely noticeable.

New opening and ending themes are pretty good, though it’s going to take a while for the OP in particular to grow on me as much as Aozora no Rhapsody.

Great start for the second season, aside from one minor thing towards the end. That leads into my least favourite chapter of the entire manga, and it’s going to be in anime form in the next episode. Oh well, better to get it done earlier, I guess.