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In Which I Watch: Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

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Glitchrr36 said:
no idea what's meant here, but I do remember that the Japanese are more lax about this kind of stuff than America, what with their shows about satan being a bishounen teenager and saving the world and stuff.
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Think about the kind of religious people who would interact with Western dragons, and what the two would often try to do to each other.
 
Glitchrr36 said:
In short, I liked it. I think so far this is going to be a cute anime, that doesn't have much of the "I feel weird in a bad way" watching it that most other anime has at one point or another. The strip thing was bizarre and kind of creepy but I guess drinking excuses some of that and there was only one shot that actually felt skeevy in it. The boob jiggles (which I don't think I mentioned because they happened often enough that pointing them out would be creepy) were probably unnecessary, but I've seen worse, so it wasn't that bad. I'm looking forward to going back through episode two, my favorite so far (Kanna is probably the most adorable thing I've seen all year), and then episode three. After that, I'm blind.
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Japan is known to be pretty forgiving of drunk behavior in general,I am informed. Like, within limits, but if you act super weird they're more likely to write it off.
 
Q99 said:
Japan is known to be pretty forgiving of drunk behavior in general,I am informed. Like, within limits, but if you act super weird they're more likely to write it off.
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Comes of having a lot of social drinking. And a lot of social rules and hierarchies which are basically impossible to keep up while judgement impaired
 
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Episode 2: Second Dragon, Kanna! (We're Totally Spoiling Here)
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    • And we're back for the only part of this being put up tonight, it's about three in the morning and I'm going to be woken up around nine tomorrow because my parents don't understand the sanctity of sleeping in until the afternoon, so I'm not going to go through the whole episode for caps or writing this time. Without further ado (is that really how it's spelled? Weird), we open up to Tohru in darkness.

    More bar because I don't want people to know my email. They could sign me up for knitting.com mailing lists.
    She looks pissed.

    turns out she was cooking. Seems a little overkill but...well, actually, it was over kill. She burned everything.



    That does tend to work better. I had a guy cook the burgers during a scout campout (also your dude here will be an Eagle Scout in four days, hopefully) by filling the pan with oil and swirling it around until we had a little grease fire. It didn't kill anyone, but when the burgers were done it turned out they were a little pink. I don't think anyone got sick, but it was a valuable lesson.

    Since all the food is gone, they have to go shopping, which they haven't done before. From experience, I can tell this is a big step in their relationship, because the closest I've ever come to disowning a parent was at Cabela's, when my dad spent about two hours talking to the guy at the gun counter and I wasn't aloud to go look at the aquarium by myself. How well you can shop with a person determines how well you will get along with them when times are tough.

    They don't go to the department store because:

    Which makes sense, as she's gotten sliced up by guys in castles at least once. I'd not be comfortable with big white buildings either.

    She's okay with the local market, which isn't actually something I have experience with because the only times of year it'd be comfortable is like two weeks in october and two weeks in april. Texas weather is really stupid.
    They start by buying fish at a stall, and the guy recognizes Tohru...

    and seems to like her enough to give her free stuff. I got a bunch of free fireworks from a volunteer thing because Alamo sent the Wrestling coach, who was running the stand, a bunch of fire crackers without putting them on the inventory, which meant if he sent them back they would take a slightly larger cut. Must be nice to be both social and attractive enough to have people just give you stuff without fundraiser money and profits and stuff being involved.

    Friends with the Fishmonger sounds like an indy band.

    This is generally how being friends with people works, yes. And the aforementioned attractiveness probably didn't hurt.

    She doesn't consider anybody here someone with which she has emotional attachment with...

    ...except Kobayashi, who comments her not understanding people, especially after Tohru says that she and Kobayashi "share mutual love!" Kobayashi does not think this is the case. Anyway, the fishmonger scene repeats basically everywhere they go, leading Kobayashi to a disturbing realization:

    I know the feel. My dog had more friends among my classmates in elementary school than I did, and most of them didn't seem like the kind to spend two entire lunch periods talking about the Men in Black movies.
    Kobayashi ponders this and comes to the conclusion she doesn't actually hate "inferior" humans.

    This leads her to the realisation she doesn't know much about the magic dragon girl who's come to live with her in the past week or so (I'm guessing), and then Kobayashi notices a sign for western pastries. She asks Tohru if she wants anything.

    Tohru is surprised, for some reason.

    Eclairs are pretty good, but Lemon Filled donuts with that slight chemical taste are better.

    This has to be bullshit. I'm going to look it up.
    ...huh. It isn't. That's a weird thing to call a pastry.
    On the topic of names, Kobayashi asks about if "Tohru" is related to "Thor" in any way.

    That's like naming your kid Hermione Granger Lastname somewhere where people haven't heard of Harry Potter, I think.
    I hope she never runs into fans of the series, that'd be embarrassing. Also, dragons have access to Earth literature from Dragonland? Weird.

    Suddenly, a scream cuts out from the crowded thoroughfare.

    What happens next? Find out tomorrow, on the next installment of Dragon Ball Z In Which I Watch Miss Ko
     
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    • Glitchrr36 said:
    They could sign me up for knitting.com mailing lists.
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    Whaaaaat? No, we'd never do that. :whistle:
    Glitchrr36 said:
    Lemon Filled donuts with that slight chemical taste are better.
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    Where do you buy your donuts for this to be a thing?
    Glitchrr36 said:
    dragons have access to Earth literature from Dragonland
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    Don't worry, this isn't a lost tangent. It gets partly explained later.
     
    Episode 2 Part 2
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    • Tohru is a good samaritan when she isn't being specist, so she decides to get that dick who decided purse stealing was in any way a good idea. Kobayashi says that's okay, and she just shouldn't out herself as a dragon. So what does she do?

    She decides to run him down in seconds, and destroy the floor. Very inconspicuous.

    There was a shot of her blurring across the screen with a massive dust cloud just before that, but I was unable to get a correctly paused shot, as it lasted less than a second.

    Does this look like the face of mercy?

    She fucking punches him into the ground so hard that it shatters. How this dude isn't a red splatter on the ground is something that will have to be chalked up to nime physics and/or dragon magic.

    Seriously, he started moving down fast enough that he hit the ground in about a third of a second. I just did the math and he was basically in two head on car crashes in that interval. The punch should have put a hole in his torso.

    Fucking anime.

    My thoughts exactly.
     Some ominous music plays and we zoom in on Tohru, then everyone starts cheering.

    You can tell by the lines.

    They finish shopping and begin to head home, with Tohru carrying the groceries. It's quiet for a while, with Tohru making little noises and probably saying something (I've been picking up LEGOs for twenty minutes, I have no idea what happened any more.

    There's a really obvious joke coming after this, but until then they continue walking hand in hand.

    I told you it was an obvious joke.

    They're followed by the mysterious stranger from the previous episode.

    Kobayashi asks what tail tastes like to which Tohru replies with this. Kobayashi says she's biased. This scene is weird because it has no other relevance to the episode, which feels like it violates the conservation of detail, but otherwise is a fine time filler. It also proves Tohru is omnivorous, as she can taste sweet, which most carnivores cannot.

    Tohru goes shopping again, leaving Kobayashi to do stuff on her phone. This wonderful pastime is interrupted by the doorbell, which makes Kobayashi think a package of some kind has arrived.

    It's the mysterious stranger though, who is adorable.

    Kobayashi deduces she's Tohru's friend, and they sit there staring at eachother for a bit. Kobayashi eventually asks her name, which leads to yet another really bizarre scene. It seems like there's going to be one per episode at this rate.

    Kobayashi is confused by this response, as the only romantic relationship between her and Tohru exists in Tohru's head.

    The Dragon Loli then calls her a cuckold, which was quite the shock the first time watching this episode, as well as a "glasses-wearing slut." If a real human of this size said those in front of me, I'd assume one or both parents were not great at their job.

    This would be adorable if it wasn't for the insults.
    The Dragon Loli grabs Kobayashi at a really bad moment, as Tohru walks back in the door at that moment, and sees someone holding the individual who she sees as her girlfriend.

    She proceeds to flip the fuck out.
     
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    • Glitchrr36 said:
    She fucking punches him into the ground so hard that it shatters. How this dude isn't a red splatter on the ground is something that will have to be chalked up to nime physics and/or dragon magic.

    Seriously, he started moving down fast enough that he hit the ground in about a third of a second. I just did the math and he was basically in two head on car crashes in that interval. The punch should have put a hole in his torso.
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    They don't make floors like they used to. :V
     
    Episode 2 Part 3
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    • I think this was mistranslated. Anyway, Tohru finally sees the face of the individual who is with Kobayashi, and calms down pretty much instantly.

    Now I can stop calling her Dragon Loli.
    They talk for a little bit, and Kanna reveals she was worried because nobody could find Tohru. Kobayashi tells Tohru that she should let people know where she's going.

    We already knew this (we saw her toward the end of episode 1), but it's nice they didn't forget nobody else does.

    Weird way of phrasing it but I guess she really misses her friend and any other way of interpreting this is wrong because she is a child and children are not for anything other than headpats.

    Tohru says she isn't going back, which makes Kanna very sad. Can you guess why she isn't going back?

    Kobayashi disagrees.

    Kanna no. Wat r u doin. Stahp.
    She watched them in the market from a distance, because that's not weird at all.

    Memes.

    Kanna proceeds to go from zero to murder in about .6 seconds

    She then attacks

    It's not very effective...
    Kobayashi fairy type confirmed. Kanna gets tired out pretty quickly, apparently there's very little mana floating around Japan. Kanna comments on Tohru being weird because she's still going strong. Ten bucks says we later find out it's the power of love. This mana deficiency means Kanna can't go home.

    Kobayashi also know this to mean she's basically homeless, and we get another shot like this that is just as funny/cute. She then tells Kanna to look her in the eyes and respond.

    While that is an insult, she does have a point.
    We also find out she can't go home. I want to know what kind of prank gets you exiled from a planet and how I can do it and pin it on certain people. it seems like a useful skill. Kobayashi talks to Kanna a bit, then decides to offer Kanna the chance to stay with them.

    She seems surprised by the offer.

    Kobayashi gives her roughly the same logic my mom used to get my dad to be okay with another two cats (after my grandmother died), which was "we already have one, so another two won't be that much of a burden."

    Kanna doesn't trust Kobayashi, as she is a human and possibly plotting to use her, so Kobayashi uses a sure fire way to break her resistance

    Kobayashi used Headpats. It's super effective!

    This line is weird, but eventually leads to Kobayashi saying "you don't have to trust me, just live here," which Kanna accepts.

    She also starts crying and I just want to give her a hug because stop crying you're making me sad ;_;

    Tohru reflects on how great Kobayashi is, and after a quick transition we cut to the best scene in the first two episodes, which I will be presenting in Youtube form because screencaps won't do it justice.

    The Japanese there is subbed as "Am I domesticating her with food?" which is much more of a mouthful in English than Japanese.
     
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    • Funny thing, the scene of Kanna seeing Tohru's laser in the first episode wasn't in the manga; it was added partly for runtime, and partly because Kanna did mention seeing it during her introduction. I'm pretty sure it's also far from the only scene or plot added for the anime.
     
    Hunter 1 said:
    Funny thing, the scene of Kanna seeing Tohru's laser in the first episode wasn't in the manga; it was added partly for runtime, and partly because Kanna did mention seeing it during her introduction. I'm pretty sure it's also far from the only scene or plot added for the anime.
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    Kyoani changed a lot of things in the anime, and all of them for the better IMO
     
    skaianDestiny said:
    Kyoani changed a lot of things in the anime, and all of them for the better IMO
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    That might not be true, but I didn't notice any hints of general trouble with the anime vs the manga on the TV Tropes page, so it could also be right.

    Well, I didn't notice any complaints on Kyoto Animation's part, but Funimation got some flack for some of their choices with the dub.
    Glitchrr36 said:
    The Japanese there is subbed as "Am I domesticating her with food?" which is much more of a mouthful in English than Japanese.
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    Speaking of TV Tropes, according to the page Funimation's take on this line was to make the obvious reference of "How to tame your dragon!".
     
    Hunter 1 said:
    That might not be true, but I didn't notice any hints of general trouble with the anime vs the manga on the TV Tropes page, so it could also be right
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    A lot of the changes involved moving things around so each episode could have a "theme" to them. There was plenty of discussion about this on 4chan and Something Awful. Also Kyoani toned down some of the risqueness and focused more on the emotions than comedy. Scenes in the manga played for laughs (to the detriment of the themes in Maidragon) are played more seriously. There's also plenty of anime-only scenes that I feel are superior to the manga as they focus a lot more on the characters.

    In general the consensus is that the manga's inferior in emotional connection, storytelling, and character development to the anime. Makes sense, since the author was making more of a gag manga.
     
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