Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid has a plethora of themes that are interesting, some of which being uniformity which leads into ideas of lacking individuality.

In this thread, I want to talk about a small but impactful scene where Kobayashi buys Kanna clothing for school.

Kobayashi, Kanna, and Tohru are all surrounded, and thus boxed within the frame, by items meant to symbolize uniformity. The shoes on the left along with the various other items around the characters are meant to uphold this idea of conformity rather than individuality.

The shoes are emphasized with a close-up shot before we see a shot of Kanna with rows of the same shoes in the foreground enclosed within a space where the bars make it appear like a shoe prison. To join a school implicates that one must be restricted oneself in some form.

This is important when understanding the idea of decreasing differences. Forcing students to wear the same shoes diminishes a part of their individuality, and the students are trapped in a system where they have to look similar to feel accepted, thus the prison imagery fits.

Tohru and Kanna look towards Kobayashi as she's talking while looking down on the shoes. It's obvious that Kobayashi understands how this system works, looking at the shoes like she's been in a similar position, whereas Tohru and Kanna look at Kobayashi since they're unaware.

A high angle shot looks down on the characters as Kobayashi talks about being eliminated for being different. This emphasizes how that these ideas and rules are out of their control, they're being looked down by a force greater than them, society itself.

Kanna looks down on the shoes as we're looking down on her. She realizes that she has to wear these shoes in order to go to school, she knows this is out of her control, but her resolve to experience school life makes her accepting of this reality.

Tohru and Kobayashi have lived in two separate worlds as emphasized by the choice of framing them in their own shots. The last shot of Tohru is closer to her face to highlight how she's thinking more about her experiences with feeling different in the human world.

Tohru remembers the robber from ep 2 and she continues to look down. She understood the anxiety of feeling alien thus she acknowledges how human society treats differences. By looking downwards, she almost accepts this sad reality even though she wants to express her dragon side.

Kanna grabs Kobayashi. I think Kanna is looking for reassurance that's everything is going to be okay. She's also very perceptive, maybe thinking that Kobayashi went through some experience where she felt alienated and thus Kanna offered to comfort her! Either way, cute scene!

To put it simply, she pats Kanna on the head to reassure her that, despite these existing systems and ideas, Kobayashi hopes she has a wonderful time at school. Kobayashi is truly a top tier MC!

If you've read this far, thank you for reading this thread! Share it around if you want to! Anyways, like always, I hope y'all have a great day ^_^