In episode three of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S, the anime finally feels like it’s come to a rest in the groove of a standard romcom. A series of minor conflicts structure this episode, all low-stakes causes for shenanigans that push cast members together or unveil something new about our characters.
There’s a lot that happens in 20 minutes, so let’s get straight into what you might’ve missed.
Episode 3: “Extracurricular Activities (Of Course They’re Not Normal)”
Catch up on last week’s episode here, or start from the beginning.
Episode three begins as Kanna’s human, elementary school classmate and wannabe girlfriend Saikawa comes over to play games on the weekend. Saikawa is disappointed to meet Llulu, but the other dragon doesn’t stick around. There isn’t too much relationship development between these two in episode three, but don’t worry: Saikawa is clearly just as smitten toward Kanna as ever
Before long another guest interrupts them, Tohru’s old friend Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl is loosely inspired from the Aztec deity of the same name, and we know from season one’s backstory that she was once a dragon goddess. Sadly, she was exiled for her promiscuity.
Going by Lucoa in the human world, Quetzalcoatl returns from season one looking much the same: Tall, golden-blonde hair with blue and green tips, and the classic trucker hats/crop-top/short-shorts combo. She dresses exactly as you’d expect for the stereotypical anime girl with an hourglass figure and large chest.
Evidently previously acquainted, Lucoa confronts the morose Llulu, who has resigned herself to self-isolation elsewhere in the apartment. Lucoa is able to get Llulu to open up, and she admits that she feels guilty about her most recent violence towards the humans in the face of their hospitality—emphasizing the weight of last week’s character growth and the lingering impact of her childhood.
Lucoa responds by manipulating Kanna, Saikawa, and Llulu into talking and becoming friends. After her engineering, Lucoa speaks over a montage of the three girls having fun together, accompanied by soft piano music.
“Children are still in the middle of learning how to properly handle responsibility and the weight of their sins. But Llulu’s environment never allowed her that opportunity,” Lucoa says. “She had to change or she’d be deceived. She had to change or she wouldn’t be able to fight alongside adults. But now she can forget all that and go back. Because there’s an adult who will kindly trick her here. She should go back to being an irresponsible kid who doesn’t know right from wrong.”
Despite the show’s previous insistence that Llulu is an older dragon like Tohru, Lucoa’s monologue suggests that she missed out on her childhood and should be able to live it out now in the human world. Llulu spends the rest of the episode with Kanna, Saikawa, and Shouta, possibly indicating her future role in the apartment and show as she lives up to Lucoa’s message.
The back half of the show takes up two smaller arcs, both with a lighter touch.
In episode one, Kobayashi admitted that she once tried to work in a maid cafe. This week, she shares with Tohru how she bought herself a maid outfit when she was 16. We even get a glimpse of a young Kobayashi wearing it. However, Kobayashi’s family told her she didn’t look good in it, and so the girl resigned herself to wearing men’s clothes and admiring cute things and maids from afar.
Moved by her admission, Tohru hatches a plan to make Kobayashi a maid outfit she’ll feel good in by bringing together the entire adult cast of the show (save for Elma, who Fafnir has to invite) at the apartment. They sketch out outfit ideas and Georgie delivers a moving monologue about maids before Tohru admits that she wants to see Kobyashi wear her own maid outfit.
She does, and the only thing more adorable than Kobayashi is the look on Tohru’s face.
In the second storyline, Tohru sets about trying to find a hobby. It turns out she’s very good at most things: Shredding on guitar, woodcarving, portrait painting, mass producing figures. After trying guitar and woodcarving, she settles on worshipping Kobayashi as an idol, which really shouldn’t be surprising at this point. This isn’t to everyone’s benefit, however. Kobayashi returns home from work one night to Kana and Llulu begging for an end to the one thing the dragon maid isn’t good at: Singing a song she wrote about loving Kobayashi.
Will Tohru find a real hobby? Will Kanna take a hint? Will Llulu find her place in the human world? Will Kobayashi’s change her wardrobe? Probably not, but we’ll find out more when episode four of Dragon Maid S releases next Wednesday.