WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S Episode 13, "Life is Constant Change (But It's Okay To Stop And Appreciate It)," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The second season of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid has arrived at its conclusion (not counting the extra OVA episode scheduled for release on January 19, 2020). The season finale is mostly a quiet one, taking its time to reflect on how all of the show's characters have grown over the course of the series, most of all the central couple of Tohru and Kobayashi. Of course, being Dragon Maid, things can't stay in reflective mode forever -- the episode's ending explodes with energy as Tohru and Kobayashi's relationship reaches a new stage of intensity.
In the penultimate episode of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S, Kobayashi met with Tohru's father, the Emperor of Demise. The Emperor told Kobayashi the story of how he tried to raise Tohru to be independent despite his role in a factionalist war between dragons and gods, and he made Kobayashi promise to take care of Tohru for as long as she lives. This conversation, particularly learning that Tohru's injury upon entering the human realm came from a god's sword, weighs on Kobayashi throughout the season finale. How could a human as ordinary as Kobayashi possibly be worthy of the affection of a dragon as powerful as Tohru?
The first half of the finale takes place during the summer festival. Kobayashi attends alongside Elma, Kanna and Ilulu, but Tohru herself is busy working at the maid cafe's booth. Seeing Tohru working makes Kobayashi reflect on how independent the dragon maid has grown, finding connections with other human beings and giving Kobayashi more distance. While it's a good thing that Tohru has become less overbearing, Kobayashi can't help but miss her attention. When the two get the chance to talk at the festival, Tohru confesses that, while she's superior to humans in many ways, she can't prove such superiority in matters of the heart, and that she loves Kobayashi because she made her realize she could just be herself.
The finale's second half takes place during another festive occasion: a flower-watching ceremony. Normally, an event like this would take place in spring, but one of Lucoa's magic friends is able to turn their flesh into flowers, so it's time for cherry blossoms in summer. Most of this segment is simply cute and silly, but this reaches new heights of excitement when Tohru takes the next step in her relationship with Kobayashi: asking for her hand in marriage.
As usual, Tohru is overconfident and overdramatic in her romantic gestures, going so far as to magically transform both herself and Kobayashi's clothing into wedding dresses, and Kobayashi still refuses to verbally reciprocate Tohru's feelings. After all of Kobayashi's anxieties about Tohru's drifting attention and her own romantic worthiness, this chaotic scene of "business as usual" becomes heartwarming. While Tohru and Kobayashi might not ever actually get married, this proposal scene, and the ensuing chase set to the tune of the Season 1 opening theme, is the perfect note on which to conclude the season.
