Bryce's Blog

I hope that everyone is having a good week, and are getting
plans arranged for the coming weekend.

Things have been going fairly well here, as the days I initially
planned to take off on a regular basis are finally going to be actual days off this
week and I can still do what I like.

Earlier in the month, I had gotten some books from Amazon,
so that I could either up on things or try a few titles out.

One by one, I have managed to get through each of those
books until only one remained.

Today, I will be reviewing that last title, which is called Miss Kobayashi's
Dragon Maid Volume 3 by Coolkyousinnjya.

As I have given a series synopsis in an earlier
post, I will not go over it again.

It is just another ordinary day in the lives of Kobayashi, Tohru,
and friends, which has become peaceful, with only rivalries and the usual
troubles of everyday life.

However, Kobayashi's life is about to get more troublesome
when new dragons show up in the world and one of them causes Tohru's jealousy
surface.

I was not very impressed, but I did not all out and out hate
it.

Just like the other installments in this series, I did not
want to put this book down from any reason the moment that I started reading,
though I do have to satisfy the same needs that everyone has to deal with.

While the previous
volume started off as just a continuation of everyday life for Tohru and
the gang, which is to be expected from a slice of life comedy, what really
pulled me in was the fact that the volume starts off with a bit of a mystery.

Now I know that the people that have been following be for a
while know that I am a huge fan of the detective, mystery, and crime fiction
genres, especially since my Detective Conan posts tend to get a huge
draw, but I do not read or watch only those works, otherwise I would not know
as much as I do and I would not be able to detect any problems, and this series
is not one of those works.

One of the ways to make the reader interested in what is
going on is and give them incentive is to create questions in the minds of the
reader, though if reader are like of fans of Attack on Titan, they might think that
these questions are as deep as asking people what truth is and what is a
miracle, when they are not, and this works in many different works of fiction,
not just one group and any subgenres.

For example, back in the first
volume of Pandora Hearts, something appears to have happened around
Oz and the people who captured him said that his sin was his very existence,
before we found out that he was sent to the Abyss. This opening gave the reader
questions about not only what had happened, but even why his existence was
considered sinful and what was going to happen to him, which was a great way to
start the series.

Likewise, this volume starts with Tohru and a few of her
friends on the ground and Kobayashi, who is still standing wonders how things
ended up like this, which is something that I kind of wanted to know too, and
gave me a incentive to continue on reading it.

Yes, Pandora Hearts and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon
Maid are not remotely in the same category of fiction, and, by this point,
we can say that nothing as horrific happened to Tohru and her friends as what
happened at Oz's Coming of Age Ceremony, but it is always nice to have things
start out differently from the norm, instead of just the same old thing, as it
makes things a little less predictable.

After all, can anyone really say that things would be just enjoyable
or attention grabbing if they can already see how things will play out of
beginning to end? I sure would not be able to, because that would not let the
characters become their own person, as opposed to one dimensional characters.

If Coolkyousinnjya had not changed things up a bit, I would
have been very disappointed because this series was able to stand out well
enough to be one of the best comedic anime out there, and it would have really
lost its luster if the first chapter of this volume had started off like the
last two, becoming as boring as the opening scenes of King of the Hill
and South Park, after the themes play of course.

However, because Coolkyousinnjya did not start the opening
chapter right with either Kobayashi at work or in Kobayashi's apartment, it
felt more like a breath of fresh air than just more of the same, though it is
still just a series that focuses on the everyday life of Tohru and Kobayashi.

Hopefully, things can stay this enjoyable as the series
progresses because this truly has been a series that I could just sit down and
read it for relaxation purposes, and nobody want to see a series become terrible
after only three books, but there is a reason that people do not generally care
for slice of life manga and anime, and I must accept the possibility that this
series may become just as boring as typical American sitcoms and generic anime.

I also liked how there were a few things to laugh about in
this volume.

While the humorous moments are not that unique to either the
series, seeing as it is just more of the usual, or even anime and manga in
general, Coolkyousinnjya was still able to execute it well enough that I was
able to get in a few chuckles.

As I have mentioned many times before already, this series
is a slice of life comedy with the focus leaning more towards the comedy, and
if the reader cannot get a good laugh from it, the reader will just stop
reading.

Back in the previous volume, there was a bit of a decline in
the humorous moments, though not enough to get on my nerves as much as The
Garden of Words, Spice & Wolf Volume 17, or the Yu Yu Hakusho movie, and I was wishing
that there would be some improvement, so that the greatest of the first volume
would be around again.

Fortunately, there was some improvement in the comedy department
in this volume, as many of the things that occurred in the anime were just as
funny in this volume.

The funniest thing that occurred though was also part of
what I found the most interesting thing I found in the volume.

Towards the end of the volume, something happens in the area
where Tohru and Kobayashi met and they go out to investigate, and after
investigating her own friends, they end up thinking that the latest dragon to
take up residence in the world, Elma, was responsible, but she, like Tohru, was
going to investigate the matter, realizing that somebody else was responsible,
and has it get confirmed by the appearance of yet another dragon.

Even though I did not entirely enjoy this moment in the
volume, as I will talk about later, it at least gave me something to laugh about
and some reason to go get the next volume, though I cannot get it right now.

In our society, we are quick to judge people and proclaim
them to be guilty, such as men being assumed to be guilty in things that happen
involving a male and female or thinking people did something because of a
matter that was quite insignificant, though people do commit murder for some
pretty stupid reasons, and such actions usually make things worse, including
huge arguments.

Likewise, when Tohru and Elma confronted each other, their
accusations against each other escalated into an argument and the fact that a
new dragon showed up just made it funny, as it reminded me of how arguments can
end in some very weird ways as well.

If Coolkyousinnjya had not included this moment, I do not
think that any of the humor would have been able to stand out, as much of it
can be seen in the anime adaptation as well, and I probably would have just
considered walking away from the series because it would have felt even more generic
than it does.

Fortunately, because he did not do that, it ended up
bringing in a little bit of light, and the way that these events also ended the
manga makes me kind of want to get the next volume right now, which makes me
feel like giving him a nice round of applause.

Outside of those things, I cannot think of anything else
that I particularly liked, at least that could stand out as much as the stuff
that I talked about.

Because my attention was captured quickly and held
throughout much of the book, as it did not start out the same way as the
previous volumes, as well as the fact that there were funny moments, which
helped the volume end in an interesting way, this book was a fairly decent
read.

Although I liked some things about this volume, there are
some issues.

However, aside from things that are too minor to talk about,
such as typos, and one thing that can be inferred from what I already mentioned,
only one thing really bugged me.

Yet another dragon appears in the world.

Towards the end of the volume, after Elma has been
introduced, a dragon makes their appearance known and says that they destroyed the
area where Tohru and Kobayashi met, which was protected by a barrier, while
showing a menacing expression in the penultimate panel of the 30^th
chapter.

While I did like seeing these events, as it made me
interested enough to read the next volume to find out more about this new
dragon and why, which ended up having this volume end on a good note, it did
not really impress me too much.

If I had to say why, it is for two reasons.

First, this is slice of life comedy series, yet it ends in a
way that is not satisfactory for the kind of work it is.

Books in a slice of life comedy series are supposed to end
in a way that the day is over, or, if comedy is not too much of a focus, end
with some kind of event that would be expected to occur in a person's life.

This sequence of events, however, makes it feel like this
either an action, horror, psychological, or thriller series, instead of a
realistic and drastic change.

Yes, it is not unusual for people from Tohru's world to come
over in this series, since it has happened in practically every volume, but
this is not the way to do it.

What is going on, Coolkyousinnjya? Do you realize that
things are not supposed to change this drastically in a work?

Readers are okay with a shift in genre, as it has happened
before in manga and anime, with Negima! Magister Negi Magi being a good
example, but if the change feels sudden, like it does here, fans of the series
are going to walk away.

This is not how to write a slice of life comedy,
Coolkyousinnjya, and I thought you knew that.

Up until this exact moment, I was about ready to stop what I
was doing and go get the next volume, but the moment that this occurred, I was
no longer in the mood.

If Coolkyousinnjya had removed the last too panels at the
end of chapter 30, or even just the one with Ilulu's menacing expression, the
chapter would have ended well enough for me to consider getting the next
volume, but because this is how he ended things, I do not have that rush to get
the next volume at all.

This is not what writers or mangaka should be delivering at
all, because both rely on the patronage of their fans to be able to afford
things, and Coolkyousinnjya should be ashamed for what he did.

Hopefully, things get better in the future, otherwise I do
not think that I will continue on with the series.

The second, and biggest reason, that this irritated me was
the pattern of how things go in this series.

From the first volume onwards, nothing major happens in the
series, as only the crazy stuff caused by the dragons' lack of knowledge about
our world, and every dragon that gets introduced in this series, with the
exception of Tohru's father, ends up moving into Kobayashi's world and becomes
friends.

By seeing this new dragon, I am afraid that the already
large, yet entertaining, cast is going to get larger and nothing is going to
change too much.

Yes, there are anime and manga out there with huge casts,
but the problem with having a lot of characters in a book or show is that they
get harder to flesh out and connect with, not mention you get more people
becoming butt monkeys and other roles normally found in comedy, whereas as a
having a small cast allows the reader or viewer to get to know the characters.

Seriously, Collkyousinnjya! This series has enough
characters to make a diverse cast and enjoyable series. We do not any more
people coming from Tohru's world, especially when you have a whole town or city
to work with. By adding more characters into the mix, things will just go
downhill quicker, and I do not think that anybody would appreciate that.

After all, I doubt that I am the only one that wants to see
characters gets fleshed out, while delivering some good laughs.

Hopefully, this will be the last dragon to move into
Kobayashi's world because I am already tiring of these events, much like I am
tired of Touma winning using only his right hand in A Certain Magical Index,
and I do not want yet another reason to stop following this series.

Unfortunately, I do not see this improving any time soon since
the series has six volumes in Japan, according to the series
page on Baka-Updates Manga,
though I am not too sure I would trust it too much, as it says the anime ended
in volume 2, yet this volume covers some more content I remember from the anime
adaptation, and this series is still ongoing, unless Coolkyousinnjya or his
editor realizes that this series has too many characters, which makes me want
to see him leave the stage permanently.

Thankfully, this was only real problem with this volume, so
I do not need to continue on this onslaught.

While there was only one issue, the fact the fact that it
exists and adds more problems to a series already beginning to feel generic
really hurt the quality of both the volume and the series as a whole, by making
it seem like things changed too drastically.

Despite the fact that there were a few things to appreciate,
the fact that the only real negative outweighed them enough to hurt both the
book and series made this a waste of time.

I recommend that everyone avoid this like the plague,
because everything is seemingly go downhill now, but the fans of Miss
Kobayashi's Dragon Maid might find some enjoyment in it, as long as they
forget chapter 30 exists and read only up to chapter 29, even if the next
volume will be confusing without reading chapter 30.

If you liked this review and would like to see more, please
consider supporting me on Patreon
or, if you want to see if I am right or not for yourself, buy the reviewed
title from either Amazon or The
Book Depository, so that I can find either find more worthwhile reads for
you guys or give this series more of a chance, and do whatever you do when you
find something that impresses you.