WARNING: The following contains discussion of childhood sexual abuse and spoilers for Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S Episode 7, "Common Sense (It's Different for Everyone)," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
How do you solve a problem like Lucoa? Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid might be taking more pains to clarify that the buxom incarnation of Quetzalcoatl doesn't mean to be predatory towards Shouta, but that doesn't change the fact her actions still are often just that. Short of getting rid of the character or completely changing her schtick, the best way the show could deal with this is exactly the way it did: making Lucoa herself the butt of the joke rather than treating her inappropriate actions as inherently humorous in and of themselves.
The first segment of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S Episode 7 is a solid attempt to humorously call out Lucoa and possibly even force her to do some self-reflection. Fafnir is working on a manga to sell at an upcoming convention and invites Lucoa over to his and Takiya's place to model for the art. Lucoa is the perfect model for this doujinshi because the character she's modeling for is basically herself -- but she doesn't like what she sees reflected back to her on the page.
Fafnir's book is about a lecherous older woman preying on a young boy in various disturbing ways. Traumatized, the boy gets his revenge on his abuser through extreme violence and torture. Lucoa describes the older woman character as "mean," somehow missing that she's almost the exact same character only with "nicer" intentions and "accidental" sexual suggestiveness. Fafnir has Lucoa model poses for all of the torture scenes. Since the dragons have the ability to dismember themselves and heal instantly, this "torture" modeling plays as a bit of intense but ultimately harmless slapstick that gives Lucoa a taste of how Shouta and others see her.
Once she's done with modeling for Fafnir's manga, Lucoa decides to sell a book of cosplay photos at the convention at Fafnir and Takiya's booth to try to attract sales. At the convention, her book sells out while Fafnir is stuck with piles of unsold manga. As the segment ultimately ends with Fafnir failing and Lucoa succeeding, the sense of this being a strong call-out of Lucoa is somewhat muted. There is an irony that Fafnir's book might have failed in part due to being so deeply disturbing while Lucoa's book was sexy and less problematic, even though Lucoa's segments in the anime are often far more disturbing than Fafnir's. While one would hope that this experience gave Lucoa some self-awareness and a drive to improve her conduct towards her young summoner, it seems sadly likely that she won't actually learn much, if anything, from Fafnir's call-out at all.
New episodes of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S stream Wednesdays on Crunchyroll.
If you are a U.S.-based victim of sexual assault or misconduct in need of help, contact RAINN at 800-656-4673 to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. If you are based outside the U.S., click here for a list of international sexual assault resources.
