Well, I am going to be upfornt here, before I breakdown the series episode by episode, I am not a fan of Dragon Maid, though it might not be for the reasons that you think. Whereas most critics will touch on the lolicon and shotacon focus of the series, I will cite quality of plot and characters as the reason why this gets negative marks from me. That said, I will touch on a scene that for many, including myself, was uncomfortable to watch.
While I started to watch this series, the first time around totally blind, I am not going to make that mistake again (I thought it was going to be Bakugan that spawned anime girls that contained the spirits of dragons). So without further ado, Miss Kobayshi's Dragon Maid is about a worker (Kobayashi) having a number of dragon maids (which has nothing to do with Bakugan, sadly) show up and wild antics ensue.
The premise is quite simple really and has its roots in Urusei Yatsura and Tenchi Muyo in many respects, that said, simple premises need something running through them like a character's development or a theme, which both of the given examples have. While Dragon Maid lacks this in the degree of the aforementioned series, it promises that it will make things up with jokes and it tries to with each episode.
Before I go much further and do episode breakdowns, I must give a note on Dragon Maid's studio: Kyoto Animation. While many of their studio's projects have become well-known, when I started watching anime, Kyoto Animation was either loved or hated as a studio. In this time, many considered Kyoto Animation to have an "A" team and a "B" team, one that produced quality and another that produced some of the worst series you could find (mind you, this was before Mars of Destruction was well-known). The "A" team produced stuff like Kanon, Air and Clannad during this time, while the "B" team made The Melancholy if Haruhi Suzumiya (which polarized the viewership), Lucky Star (considered the worst anime made at that point) and K-On! (which dethroned Lucky Star for worst anime ever made). I know that the opinions of these three series are very different now than they were back then, but from what I can tell, those who liked "B" team series favored art over animation, while those who did not like "B" team projects preferred plot and characters. If we are to follow this set of logic, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is favored for the characteristics that many of the fans of the "B" team over at Kyoto Animation like about them. Given, I will give credit where credit is due, Dragon Maid is very clean in its art style and visuals, as well as animation, but all anime, save pieces of artistic expression, including Dragon Maid, need plot in order to function as a work of mass media and this is where Kyoto Animation has failed, again.
Episode 1 of Miss Kobayshi's Dragon Maid, starts off with a Dragon (later confirmed to be one of the main characters, Tohru,) taking off and flying over forests and cities before landing in front of an apartment complex. Now, cut to a new scene and meet Kobayashi. Kobayashi is a software coder by day and drunkard by night. Other than that, she is stoic in emotion unless drunk (I will get to that in a moment). Kobayashi think she is having an alcohol influenced dream when Tohru comes in that morning. While she realizes later that day this was not a dream, she sees no need to have Tohru stay and tells her to go, but she changes her mind once Tohru gets at the door. Tohru is then taught to be a maid. After this, Kobayashi goes to work and during the day is asked by (checks script) Makoto Takiya, a fellow software coder, to drink. Kobayashi accepts. What follows is that they drink at a maid cafe, Kobayashi drinks too much and without warning... How can I say this politely? Takes off Tohru's clothes and calls for more maids.
Before I go any further, I might as well say that this is not the worse thing and I understand the moral implications that scene alone holds, but to quote the ubiquitous announcer for As-Seen-On-TV commercials, "But wait, there's more!" (just not in this episode).
After this whole ordeal, Tohru says she does not like Makoto Takiya then carries Kobayashi away, where they tuck in for the night.
By this point, I noticed a couple of things. One the runtime felt very padded out for the subject matter and this was confirmed that almost the entire first volume of the manga had been covered in episode 1. While this might sound like a lot, it is less than 200 pages of content, versus an average anime covering closer to 250 pages of content and most completing a single act. Even Inuyasha, which is known for going at a slow pace (about 3 episodes per manga volume or about 4 chapters of content each) was able to feature a single fight in most of its episodes.
The other thing that I had noticed was that things just happened. To elaborate, there was no real reason that something might happen, but the plot transpired the way that it did. For example, Tohru has a grudge against Makoto, but there is no reason or backstory. This is a recurring problem I have with Kyoto Animation, of which K-On is the worst offender of this. Again, I have to remind myself that Kyoto Animation is not a studio known for their high quality writing.
Since this anime is marketed as a comedy, the question is, were there actual jokes in the script? The answer is yes, but not many. There were two main gags, both relying on situational humor. The first of which being Tohru scaring two burglars by using her dragon form and scaring them. The burglars' reaction to the dragon is the punchline. The other of note is a running joke of Tohru putting Kobayashi's dirty laundry in her mouth. In this episode this joke is used a total of three times, meaning that 75% of the jokes scripted involved Tohru cleaning laundry with her saliva.
Episode 2 starts with Kobayashi and Tohru shopping. Here a slight plot hole exists, where everyone knows Tohru, yet in the same scene, this is Tohru's third day of being in the city (presumably Tokyo) where Kobayashi works and lives, the first of which was entirely spent inside Kobayashi's apartment. Somewhere during this visit to the stores, Tohru beats up a thief (I was unable to catch what the person actually did) and there is much praise for her actions. After this visit, a second dragon "maid" (well she does not dress as one) appears, named Kanna Kamui. While she was first scene in some passing segments, as well as in the preview for episode 2, this is her formal introduction. To spare the introduction sequence (which takes about five minutes), Kanna has been forced out of her home and cannot return, for she is only a child. Kanna is welcomed to stay, but is uncertain whether she will like Kobayashi, Kobayashi smiles and with a headpat tells Kanna that she does not need to like her in order to stay. After a minute or so, a play-fighting sequence follows, mainly to show off some of the visuals that Kyoto Animation are capable of (but this feels more of a compensation for some "jerky" animation near the beginning of the episode, most probably for budgeting reasons). Nothing really notable happens for the rest of the episode, though Kobayashi goes off to work by the end.
The padding of the runtime is even more apparent in this episode, mainly due to there only really being one joke in the entire episode, where a weak Kanna tries fighting Kobayashi, which only tires Kanna out. The action sequences, while appreciated for adding a degree of interest in the plot, serve of no consequence due to the nature of the anime itself. I guess this is more of a nitpick than anything else, since I should have read that this was Dragon Maid, not Dragon Quest, not Dragon Ball and absolutely not Bakugan.
The start of episode 3 contains (mention Lucoa, focus on her character design, mention "oppai" [perhaps explain it too]).
I had forgotten about this review... I need to start on it again.