Kobayashi

*Please be advised that this page may contain spoilers for either the manga or the anime, consider yourself warned*

## Kobayashi

* Anime
* Manga

## Characteristics

### Gender

Female
Male (transformed by Ilulu temporarily in Episode 15 and 16)

## Portrayal

### English

Leah Clark

**Kobayashi** (小林) is the main protagonist of *Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon*. She works as a computer programmer in Jigokumeguri System Engineering Inc.

## Appearance

Kobayashi is a bespectacled young woman with bright red hair that is always tied in a ponytail with some bangs let down and dead fish hazel brown eyes (by Tohru). She is known to be flat-chested, a physical trait that frustrates her to the point of grumbling over the female dragons' ample busts when they are in their human forms. In one of her drunken escapades, she demands that Tohru or Lucoa share some of their "blessing" with her.

Her office attire is a white button-up shirt, a tie, and dark slacks. During her off-duty hours, she puts on either a light blue button-up shirt, a hoodie, a yellow tee or a light-brown cardigan with a white shirt underneath.

Before meeting Tohru, Kobayashi would don a stoic expression on her face. Now, she is more approachable and open to others, often seen smiling contentedly.

Her height is 160cm and her measurements are B70/W60/H70.

## Personality

Even though Kobayashi maintains a cool demeanor, she has been regarded as kind-hearted and reliable among her friends and colleagues. Level-headed and pragmatic, she stands as the source of reason when dealing with her dragon friends. Kobayashi usually tends to show little emotion, and acts very lazy when she gets to stay at home.

However, when she is intoxicated, Kobayashi tends to become rowdy and aggressive, especially in her interests in maids and is not above subjecting Tohru to her drunken whims.

## Background

Very little has been mentions about Kobayashi's childhood, other than that both her parents worked so she never had either one of her parents come to her schools' sports festivals. That, and when she was in elementary school, she was always asking for burgers.

## Plot

She is a 25-year-old normal programmer and office worker who suddenly finds herself living with a dragon named Tohru after removing a divine sword from it on a drunken night. While typically stoic and kind-hearted, she can get wild when drunk. She will usually get hangovers resulting in the cast having to wait on her hand and foot. She has a particular fascination with maids. She is occasionally mistaken as a boy due to her lack of feminine features—particularly her flat chest—and apparent lack of sexuality. Her first name is unknown.

## Relationships

### Tohru

Initially, Kobayashi often chastised Tohru for her lack of propriety on human standards like licking her clothes, or describing the human race as inferior. However, as time passes by, she grows accustomed to Tohru's quirks and would sometimes show small signs of affection and gratitude for the dragon, such as holding Tohru's hand or going out of her way to fulfill some of Tohru's wishes to ease her troubles. When Tohru's father demanded that Tohru returns to their world, Kobayashi defended Tohru and risked her life for her.

As of Chapter 48, it is confirmed that Kobayashi has begun to return Tohru's feelings of a more romantic nature.

As of Chapter 97, it is confirmed Kobayashi reciprocates Tohru's feelings. While they are flying, Kobayashi asks Tohru about her feelings, to which the dragon obviously replies that she is in love with her master. To Tohru's surprise, Kobayashi reveals that she likes her too and that she hadn't told her until now because she couldn't accept it, but that now she was confident enough to tell her. That makes Tohru go into euphoria and dance through the sky with happiness, unfortunately for Kobayashi riding the dragon.

### Kanna Kamui

Kobayashi appears to care a great deal for Kanna, going so far as to work until midnight for an entire week to get a day off to go to her school's sports festival as her guardian. Kobayashi inadvertently becomes Kanna's mother figure, as seen when she looks over Kanna's studies and school activities and praises Kanna by either patting her head or spoiling her with treats and gifts. In the anime, Kobayashi's bond with Kanna enabled both to chase after Tohru and her father, with Kanna in her dragon form.

### Makoto Takiya

Takiya is Kobayashi's male colleague and close friend. The two would often discuss their interests in maids and butlers over drinks, either at a local bar or Kobayashi's apartment. They are close enough to ask each other for help or favors on matters outside of work but still at a platonic level.

### Ilulu

Ilulu is a dragon who originally appeared as an adversary of Tohru and by extension, Kobayashi. This hostility came from how Tohru became close to humans (Kobayashi particularly) which contradicted llulu's upbringing. When the two first met, Kobayashi was originally a bit distressed towards Ilulu's destructive behavior. However, when Ilulu was defeated by Tohru, and Kobayashi saves Ilulu from another Dragon after getting to know her, the two became close. Kobayashi now lets Ilulu live her like with Tohru and Kanna. Kobayashi begins to treat Ilulu like how she treats Kanna but is often annoyed by Ilulu's big bosoms. Ilulu is very fond and curious of Kobayashi after getting to know her, and even desires to make babies with her, much to Tohru's objection.

### Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl and Kobayashi show minimal interest in each other, however, upon first meeting, it is apparent that Kobayashi is unintentionally rude to Quetzalcoatl, by calling her outfit "Slutty" and asking "What the hell" she is. However, they do become more open to conversation slightly further on.

### Elma

Since Elma's introduction, she has become Kobayashi's colleague. Kobayashi seeks to help out Elma whenever she faces difficulties at work or otherwise and in return she shows gratitude in various ways.

### Shota Magatsuchi

Kobayashi looks after Shouta whenever her manager, Mr. Magatsuchi, asks her to do so.

### Fafnir

There is a general distrust whenever Fafnir is in question as Kobayashi perceives him as a dangerous figure, but if they only discuss regular matters, the two don't seem to mind each other's company.

### Kimun Kamui

Kobayashi first met Kanna's father in her own world without knowing who he was. They shared a drink together, and Kimun was able to follow Kobayashi back to her apartment. However, after learning of his relationship with Kanna, Kobayashi's opinion of Kimun turned, believing him to be a dangerous figure who only wanted to claim Kanna back in order to use her powers. After Kanna's sudden departure, Kobayashi had enough determination to ask Tohru to accompany her to the dragon world, not only to save Kanna, but also to confront Kimun. Kimun is redeemed in Kobayashi's eyes after he lets his daughter choose where she wants to live.

## Etymology

* The surname **Kobayashi** means "small" (小) (**ko**) and "forest" (林) (**hayashi**/**bayashi**).

## Trivia

* By coincidence or design, Kobayashi also shares a name with Takeru **Kobayashi**, a real-world competitive eater.
* A recurring gag in the show is that Kobayashi appears to experience chronic pain in her lower back.
	+ It is later revealed due to her terrible posture as she works.
* Kobayashi "can't do" Hijiki or eggplant, suggesting either that she dislikes them or is allergic (likely the former).
* Kobayashi enjoys a brand of alcohol known as *Dragonslayer*, a bottle of which she shared with Tohru when they met.
* Kobayashi was able to remove the Sword of God from the dragon, despite Tohru's warnings that touching the sword would be incredibly harmful. This likely shows Kobayashi is not particularly faithful in a religious sense.
* Kobayashi doesn't speak with or sees her family often, but she is on good terms with them.
* Kobayashi can be a little mischievous, as seen when she manipulates Tohru's feelings for her to get her to clean more.
* Kobayashi can be seen as a Kuudere.
* In Vol 5. Chapter 47: Tohru and Maid cafe, Kobayashi states that when she used to live with her parents, she worked at a restaurant. However, she becomes quite frightening when she tells Tohru about her experience with the service industry.
* Kobayashi Typically sleeps from 11PM-7AM according to her alarm clock in the scenes where she is shown waking up/about to go to sleep, placing her chronotype as bear.
* Kobayashi and her workmates are programming in an Object-Oriented Programming language, more specifically in Python.
* In chapter 56, Kobayashi's monitor displayed an HTML code format, so Kobayashi's real job might be a front-end web developer (website developer).[1]
* With the exception of the logo, Kobayashi's phone greatly resembles the iPhone 5S/SE in colour and flat edges, yet otherwise resembles an iPhone from the 6 line, based on the antenna strips, size and dimensions.
* Mutsumi Tamura, who is the voice actor for Kobayashi, resembles her by her looks.
* Despite being the titular character, Kobayashi's official given name has not been revealed.

## References

1. ↑ *Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon*; Chapter 33, page 5
2. ↑ Kobayashi-san chi no Maid Dragon Official Guidebook
3. ↑ Citation needed
4. ↑ https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/anime-news/2017/02/12-1/see-what-miss-kobayashi-was-working-on-in-dragon-maid