WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S Episode 1, "New Dragon, Ilulu! (Please Be Nice to Her Again)," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The second season of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S, is finally here, marking Kyoto Animation's grand return to television for the first time since the tragic arson attack in 2019. Season 1 director Yasuhiro Takemoto was one of the victims of that attack; he's credited posthumously alongside new director Tatsuya Ishihara. A lot has changed in the four years since the first season aired, but the Season 2 premiere settles viewers immediately back into the series they know and love while also introducing a new character to the mix.
"New Dragon, Ilulu! (Please Be Nice to Her Again)" is divided into two main stories, plus some short interludes focusing on Lucoa and Fafnir. In the first story, the dragon maid Tohru challenges a maid cafe over its claims to have "the best maids," gets hired to work there, makes everyone fall in love with the cafe's food using actual magic and ultimately quits because she wants to serve Miss Kobayashi exclusively. It's a hilarious and adorable misadventure with some exceptional animation when Tohru's in the kitchen.
It's the second half of the episode, however, that's going to get people talking. The new dragon Ilulu already stirred up controversy before the season even premiered due to her strange design. While most of the dragons in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid are fanservice-y, their varied body types are within the realm of the physically possible. Ilulu is simultaneously super short and skinny while also having impossibly gigantic breasts for such a frame, so it makes sense that people were weirded out by her design.
Ilulu's behavior isn't any less weird than her design. She's a chaos dragon so extreme that she considers fellow chaos dragon Tohru an enemy, and much of her villainy is laced with absurd sexuality. Her breasts build up reserves of fire in battle with Tohru, she rubs herself all over Miss Kobayashi in a massively inappropriate seduction attempt and, when that seduction attempt predictably fails, she magically gives Kobayashi a penis in hopes it will make them find her more attractive.
What makes Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid so enjoyable in spite of such potentially offensive content is that the show knows how completely ridiculous it's being. In a worse anime, you'd laugh at this material; in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, you're laughing with it. It's a problematic fave, and the whole "Kobayashi sex change" plot could easily become extra problematic depending on how it approaches issues of gender essentialism, but the anime offers enough humor, gorgeous animation and lovable characters to justify the "favorite" half of the phrase.
Give or take Lucoa, Ilulu is at this point the least lovable of the show's dragons, but that's by design. She's clearly here to cause trouble for Kobayashi and Tohru's little family. Having such a full-on chaotic evil villain with powerful magical abilities allows the KyoAni animators a chance to put together thrilling fight scenes. Ilulu's introduction pushes the ridiculousness of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid to new levels but also heightens the stakes.
New episodes of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid stream Wednesdays on Crunchyroll.
