Episode 9 – “There Are Various Reasons Behind It (It’s Full of Elma)“
Hmm.
Dragon Maid S affirms Elma’s two motivations this week. The first is that she will do anything for tasty food. The second is that she wants to reclaim her friendship with Tohru. Better yet, the two feelings relate to each other! Let’s look at how far Elma will go for the food items she wants. In the fifth episode this season, we saw how they were companions for decades as Tohru and Elma tried to reconcile how their different worldviews coincided with living among humans. They fell out over Elma losing her perspective of her need to help humans and impersonating a goddess to receive delicious offerings. In Dragon Maid’s current episode, Elma wants to improve labor conditions at her company so she can leave early enough to buy a special limited pastry! Elma still has an issue with perspective on delicious cuisine.
The second part looks like a fun way to make characters who rarely interact to provide comedy and character development, but that was only on the surface. As we saw how desperately Elma looked for the children when she lost track of their whereabouts, Elma focused her motivation on avoiding Tohru’s disdain and mistrust. Tohru had asked Elma to look after the children when she nor Kobayashi could watch over them, which made Elma feel connected again to her former traveling companion. Elma wanted to do anything to keep that bond growing again.
The culmination of the Dragon Maid episode’s unrelated stories was the third part when Elma seriously challenged Tohru to a duel. The fifth episode also used the Japanese convention that people who fight in public get along well. The other anime convention about fighting is that it’s one way to get feelings across to an opponent. Shounen anime and manga also do this with frenemies and rivals. Two examples were the famous battles between Naruto and Sasuke in Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden. More recently, My Hero Academia showed how Bakugou fought Midoriya when Midoriya confessed how his Quirk worked.
Elma needed to get her feelings across that she wanted to be Tohru’s friend again. The reason? Because food tasted better when they were together! Elma wants tasty food, and she wants to be Tohru’s friend again. The only way to make food more delicious in Kobayashi’s world is to be friends with Tohru again! That is an incredible way to tie a neat bow together on all three parts of Dragon Maid S this week.
Heh.
Uh oh. Elma wants better working conditions at Kobayashi’s company! Uh, did Kobayashi just nail the one reason Elma started complaining now? Is she hungry? She’s always hungry. Elma doesn’t want to work overtime. G’luck... Whoa. The Leviathan lady is serious. Elma took Kobayashi’s suggestions, added some dragon-powered clairvoyance, and got the attention of the department’s executive director.
Hahaha! It’s Shouta’s dad! How many connections do these dragon pairs have with each other? When is Elma going to find a human companion? Dragon Maid S takes on the thorny issue of “black companies” in Japan. The boss knows who is the “priestess of the holy seas.” Lucoa is another former goddess. Ah. He’s letting Shouta deal with Lucoa because he “summoned” her. That explains why she has the run of the house. Hoho. He’s a full-power mage when it’s time to discuss business. Elma’s plan will not happen. She won’t give up! Um, why do Elma’s labor union posters mention “sweet days off” and “delicious food?” Even Tohru helps because it means Kobayashi will come home earlier. Elma has an ulterior motive! She was hungry! It was all about getting time-limited sweets at a station shop! Yay! She got one!
Dragon Maid part two: picnic with Auntie Elma! Both Tohru and Kobayashi are busy when Kanna suddenly wanted to go to the mountains. Tohru is still the head chef at the maid café! Elma will do this favor for Tohru. Riko is not happy that Shouta tagged along. He put up the tent and cooking supplies for them, though. Elma helps Riko fish because she knows how fish think... She missed out on her sweets day off, but Elma got a salty one in return. Look at the big bowl of curry rice she holds!
Oh, no. The water distracted Elma, and the kids took off exploring. Har, and oops! Elma can’t use her clairvoyance against Shouta. He’s practiced that blocking spell because Lucoa does the same thing. Riko thinks Shouta is just displaying his chuunibyou mannerisms. The thought of disappointing Tohru makes Elma panic. Ack. The kids returned to camp when they realized they didn’t tell Elma first. Dragon Maid utilizes classic comedy cascades here. Stupid bear. Hoh. That’s one way to get another dragon’s attention. It’s all better when Kanna gives Elma a flower with sweet nectar. She gave another one to Riko to shut her up!
Let’s not forget about Ilulu. The weather’s hot, and so is Taketo’s collar!
The next chapter for Dragon Maid starts seriously. Fafnir talks with Elma. The important detail of the scene is how Elma did not touch her parfait at all. A dragon duel between Elma and Tohru again? Fafnir is there to keep Kobayashi safe. Kobayashi is there to choose when they stop fighting. Time for KyoAni to show off again. Fafnir thinks Elma still mistrusts Tohru. Kobayashi is more perceptive.
The dragon girl fight gets serious. Tohru and Elma strip off their cute accessories! Ah. Elma wanted to pick a fight with Tohru to get her feelings across. She thought Tohru didn’t like seeing humans worship her. Tohru said it was because she didn’t join the humans in an equal relationship. Elma wants to be Tohru’s friend again. Because her friendship makes food taste better! This is the resolution to the fifth episode of Dragon Maid S. Tohru won the fight with a forehead flick. Now, they have a fun brawl. Fafnir left them to it. The two dragon friends fought to a draw, but neither will admit it. And they’re both the same amount of ticklish!
Next time, Kanna goes to New York City? Elma’s Gemini horoscope fortune says to find a crepe shop if you get lost. A hungry dragon girl is sure to locate you!
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