The lovable characters of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid are back in an all-new anime film, centered on the young dragon, Kanna Kamui. Titled Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to Be Loved, the new film shows Kanna being forced into a tense conflict between warring factions in the dragon realm by her father, Kimun Kamui, who pressures her to fix a past mistake.
Anime Trending spoke with the film’s main stars, Maria Naganawa (voice of Kanna) and Yuki Kuwahara (voice of Tohru), at this year’s Anime NYC to discuss their characters’ close relationships and what fans can expect from their first feature film outing.
The new film focuses on Kanna’s decision to honor her father’s wishes versus staying in the human world. What do you think about Kanna’s character development, and how has she matured since then?
Maria Naganawa: In this movie, unlike in season one and two, she feels a bit more mature. She’s not just cute — it seems like she’s actually going through puberty. In the TV series, she’s learned how to live in the human world and learned human values, but in the movie, she seems a lot more mature.
We’re also meeting Kanna’s father for the first time in the new movie. How would you describe his character and his relationship with his daughter?
Maria Naganawa: He’s sort of hard to hate. He has a very innocent side to him, but Kanna has a very hard time getting through to him. That causes frustrations like [when] he ignores her and does not get through to him. She also can’t help but love him still.
We, as a third party, also see that in the movie. We see that he’s sort of charming and innocent, but we also see how Kanna feels because we’ve known Kanna for so long. Basically, we see her frustrations and feel her frustrations as well.
Tohru and Kanna share a very close sisterly bond. How will the film explore that relationship further?
Yuki Kuwahara: I wouldn’t really say that Tohru is really her older sister — she’s more like a mother to her. She’s basically taken care of Kanna for as long as she’s known her. Tohru doesn’t really express her love towards Kanna with words. It’s mostly through actions, so she’ll protect her. You also get to see that in the movie. Tohru’s actions will basically tell everyone how she feels about Kanna, so please pay attention to what Tohru does in the movie.
You mentioned Tohru is like a parental figure, and so is Kobayashi as well. What role does Kobayashi play in the film, and what can we expect from her in terms of the plot?
Maria Naganawa: From Kanna’s point of view, both Kobayashi and Tohru basically baby her, and she always wants attention from them. Just like Tohru, it’s more like her actions show her love towards her. And of course, Tohru is a dragon. Kanna already feels a connection with that in itself, and she respects her. They have similar values, and Tohru knows her past, so she knows everything about Kanna.
On the other hand, Kobayashi is not a dragon. She’s human, so Kanna probably doesn’t want her involved in all the battles coming up, but she’ll still risk her life. Kobayashi will also show her how much she loves Kanna in this film.
Yuki Kuwahara: Up until now, I thought Tohru was more like the mom and Kobayashi was more like the dad in the TV series. Of course, for Kanna, she only has one dad: Kimun Kamui. That’s how she’s always felt, but in the movie, that makes Kobayashi feel like, “What is my role after all of this? Am I her friend? Am I family?” Of course, Kobayashi is going to find the answer, and through her actions again, you can see how much she loves Kanna and everything that she does for her in the movie. So please pay attention to that.
How has Kobayashi affected both Tohru and Kanna since they’ve come from the other world? Do you feel their perspectives on life have changed because of her time with them?
Yuki Kuwahara: At first, when we meet Tohru, she’s pretty much all about Kobayashi. She didn’t care about anything else and had no interest in other humans. She just needed Kobayashi. Over the course of the series, she meets other humans in town and in the apartment complex, and starts slowly gaining a human heart.
Before, she was pretty much fine destroying anything in her way, and she didn’t care about killing humans — none of that mattered. But in this movie, we get to see more of her maturity and how she’s become more human. Basically, she still looks like a dragon, but you can see that she has much more of a human heart now.
Maria Naganawa: Obviously, Kanna is a child, and you see in the TV series that she does a lot of pranks to get attention, especially from adults. She’ll always pull pranks to try to get their attention, but Kobayashi just gives her that attention anyway. Dragons and humans are very different in their values and stuff, [but] Kobayashi is there to teach her human values.
When Kanna enters the human world, she’s like a baby and learns all of these human values from Kobayashi naturally. She gets love from Tohru and Kobayashi, but through Saikawa and her other classmates, she gets friendship as well. That’s been going on this whole time. Kanna feels a lot more fulfilled now, and also in the movie, we get to see all of this even more on a deeper level.
What message would you like to send to audiences who will be watching the film in theaters later this year?
Maria Naganawa: Everyone from season one and two of the TV series will be back, so please enjoy that part as well. Parental [and] familial bonds are the theme of the movie, and Kanna’s dad shows up. It gets a little serious, and it might seem a little dark, but just know that it’s okay. There are still going to be funny and cute dragony parts. There’s going to be a lot of laughter and a lot of tears. Again, familial bonds are the theme, and you’ll see a lot of love toward Kanna throughout the whole movie. We also see love from the other characters and the theme of love. Please watch the movie a lot of times. Laugh, cry, and let it warm your heart.
Yuki Kuwahara: I’ve had the pleasure of going overseas a lot to promote Dragon Maid myself, and I’ve gotten to see exactly how popular this series is all throughout the world, and that makes me really happy. The movie will be premiering here in the States, so I hope you will go see it. There are obviously things that are going to feel familiar if you’re familiar with the series. Again, it’s a bit more serious in the movie, but there are also amazing fight scenes [and] a lot of tearjerker scenes as well. I’ve personally also seen this movie quite a few times in the theater, and I’m still not sick of it. I hope that a lot of people will come see it. It’s a very beautiful film with amazing music, so please watch it.
Interpreter: Michelle Tymon
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to Be Loved will begin screening in U.S. theaters on October 20, 2025. The first two seasons of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid are also streaming on Crunchyroll.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Questions by William Moo.
