Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Episode 11 (Review)
By: EyeSpyeAlexNew day, new episode, new year, new review! I’ve finished reviewing assassin middle-schoolers and their octopus teacher and back to our docile dragons. All things new and exciting are happening in this week’s episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. Missed my last review? Catch it here!It’s time to ring in the new year, and Tohru is fully prepared to celebrate in all the traditional human ways. As they shop for the meal she is preparing to make, she enters a raffle with lottery tickets she’s been collecting on her shopping trips. Hoping to win a spa trip, she is initially disappointed to win a Kotatsu. That disappointment is short-lived once she tries it out though, and she, Miss Kobayashi, and Kanna spend many days under it in front of the TV.
As Tohru and Kanna prepare for the New Year by making mochi the traditional way, so do their neighbors prepare for the new year. Each of their neighbors stops by with various gifts, which Tohru pays back with her mochi. Fafnir and Takiya also get into the spirit of the season by preparing to eat New Year’s curry, while Elma prepares by doing a candy grab.New Year’s Eve has finally arrived and the gang goes to meet Saikawa and Georgie at the local shrine to celebrate. Upon arriving, they also bump into Lucoa, Elma, and Shota. Not far behind them are Fafnir and Takiya, and they decide to converge and celebrate together.
The episode title also mentions the Winter Comiket. While we don’t see the event, Takiya informs Kobayashi that he sold out of all his merchandise, which is extremely successful. Unfortunately, Fafnir was not as successful at selling his curse anthology.In the spirit of fun, they all buy fortunes from a fortune teller. Tohru unluckily pulls “the great curse”, which she then shares with Miss Kobayashi – because sharing is caring. After initially being distraught, Kobayashi tries to remain optimistic and interprets it as things getting better from here on out.After ringing in the new year, everyone travels from the temple back to the Kobayashi residence to enjoy the kotatsu and the food that Tohru and Kanna made. All but Fafnir (who stays up playing videogames) fall asleep, and then wake up to watch the first sunrise of the new year together.
In the spirit of new and first events, we are introduced to Miss Kobayashi’s mom for the first time. Mrs. Kobayashi calls on January 3rd to say she received her daughter’s card and to check in with her daughter. Tohru later asks her why she didn’t go visit her family for the holiday and Kobayashi mentions that it’s easier for their family to just chat on the phone. When Kobayashi asks Tohru why she hasn’t traveled back to her world yet, we are treated to a flashback of a character we haven’t met before Tohru hastily responds that living with Miss Kobayashi is her life now.
It wouldn’t be a New Year’s anime episode without New Year’s dreams. We are treated to Shota, who naively hopes for a great first dream. In his dream, Shota sees a Mount Fuji, an eggplant, and a hawk…all as costumes worn by Lucoa. Does this still count as a lucky dream? Only time will tell.This episode felt pretty standard and more like a filler episode than other episodes. It felt like more like a checklist episode – a standard episode that all anime should have – rather than something integral and necessary to the plot. Despite all that, it was a nice episode that left me feeling warm and fuzzy. Domestic bliss is good sometimes.Next week’s episode is an “impactful meeting Kobayashi and Tohru” with flashes to Tohru as a dragon. Will we travel back to the dragon world? Will we meet that mysterious stranger? We’ll just have to wait and see! New episodes of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid airs on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays at 11:30am EST.[yasr_multiset setid=11]