WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S Episode 4, "When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do (It's Hard to Match Others)," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is a weird show to write about on a week-to-week basis. Sometimes the show will have action-packed plots, emotional character development or fresh sources of controversy to delve into, but the anime is just as often simply about good vibes. Such is the case with Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S Episode 4, which features three thematically disconnected vignettes that offer cuteness and a few laughs but not much in the way of depth. Having a simple good time with this episode, however, isn't something to complain about, especially for fans of Elma.
Elma, the Harmony Dragon with a sweet tooth, doesn't usually get the spotlight. Perhaps it's harder to write material for her than the other dragons because of her relative solitary nature; unlike the other dragons, she doesn't have a best friend or love interest to play off of. The first two segments in S Episode 4 work around this issue by looking at how she interacts with Kobayashi and Tohru respectively.
The first segment is the one with the most world-building and character development. In this story, Elma challenges Kobayashi to a coding duel at work. The reason for Elma's sudden competitiveness is out of genuine concern about Kobayashi being overworked to a deadly degree. The dragon has heard Kobayashi described as a "pillar" of the company, and back in the dragons' universe, human "pillars" were human sacrifices. Kobayashi explains that she's not being killed for her job and that Elma's just having a bit of culture shock.
Elma doesn't show up until midway through the second segment, which focuses on Tohru taking on a job as part of the town patrol. When the Harmony Dragon finds out that the Chaos Dragon is actually trying to keep order and peace, she cries tears of joy and joins in on the patrol. This is the funniest story in the episode, with Tohru showing off her strength in a fight with some delinquents and catching a "suspicious man" -- who turns out to be Fafnir practicing dance moves on the street.
The final, Elma-free segment of the episode involves Kobayashi, Tohru, Ilulu, Kanna and Riko spending a day at an amusement park. There are plenty of cute moments, including Georgie acting as one of the park's mascots, Tohru jumping to the conclusion that every ride is meant to simulate dragon flight and plenty of excitement from Riko over Kanna and Ilulu. Ilulu's role in this dynamic, however, is questionable. When Kanna tries to provoke Riko's crush on her, it's cute and age-appropriate. When Ilulu, a character who is supposed to be an adult yet always seems to be grouped in with the kids, does similar things, it feels a lot weirder. Hopefully, the series turns this around soon to keep the vibes as good as possible.
New episodes of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid stream Wednesdays on Crunchyroll.
