Season 1 of this anime aired in 2017 and Season 2 in 2021. There's been no announcement about Season 3, but instead they released this film. It's adapting the Kamui/Dragon Ball arc from Volume 8 of the manga.

For a while, I was wondering if the 105-minute running time might be pushing it, given the gentle tone. There's a plot, sure, but it's hardly scary. Kobayashi's friends are dragons who can fly, breathe fire, use magic, punch holes in reality and win all-out battles against a god. Tooru is especially strong (and also technically evil, or at least affiliated to the "chaos" faction). I was wrong. The film kept growing and getting richer. The plot becomes dangerous, even to our heroes. The emotional stakes intensify. By the end, I loved it and was finding even little moments getting to me.

Kanna is a dragon, but also a little girl who attends Japanese primary school and has made friends there. Way back at the start of Season 1, she was stuck in our reality because she'd "played a prank". Here, we learn what that was. Whoops. We also meet her colossal dad, who bonds endearingly with Kobayashi over alcohol... but he's a literal monster who lives for battle and can't even comprehend parental emotions. He dismisses those as unimportant human feelings. Lecture him on responsibility and childhoood and he'll brush you off with "I don't understand stuff like that".

His name's Kim-un-kamuy. This series is riddled with real mythology, so I looked him up. He's an Ainu "god of the mountains", viewed as a guardian spirit who rules over wild animals, forests, and hunters. That "kamuy" in his name is the Ainu word you'll also see in "Golden Kamuy".

Also, there's going to be a war.

There are... plot wrinkles. I won't call them plot holes. Our heroes learn explosive information that casts new light on the impending war, while they're also regularly sending letters to Kim-un-kamuy. Why don't they pass on this information? Or even send it to the Harmony Faction too? That felt odd... but Kobayashi's actual way of telling everyone is far more awesome (and I imagine the letters simply wouldn't have been believed and would have put Azaado on his guard). I adored seeing Kobayashi tell two dragon armies to shut the hell up. Then, at the end, I expected Kobayashi to change Dad's thinking and hence undo the magical hypnosis that depends on Azaado's complete understanding of Dad's mana. That would have been a logical plot development, but it doesn't happen.

There have been minor changes for the film. Ilulu and Lucoa have been redesigned to tone down the fanservice, since this is very much a film for family audiences. (Ilulu's breasts are smaller and Lucoa's clothes are less immodest.) Also, Shiori Sugiura is the new voice of Ilulu, because Tomomi Mineuchi retired from voice acting in 2022. (Like Imamura Ayaka four years earlier, she quit at the young age of 25, perhaps because being a famous voice actor in Japan means a lot of extracurricular activity and working long hours. Concert performances, hosting radio shows, MCing events, promotional appearances, etc.)

I liked this film a lot. It builds impressively, with significant story roles for almost everyone. (Even Lucoa's absence is explained and has its own quiet meaning.) Kanna comes to own her own story. Kobayashi leaves civilisation behind and has to dodge stampeding trees. This film is a satisfying addition to an impressive anime franchise, bringing in new levels of emotion. It's thoughtful, likeable and shows how our savage killer dragons are learning and maturing. Also, it's a lot of fun!

Even the throwaway cuckoo thing adds something. I hate cuckoos and regard them as evil... but the opinion about them in the post-credits sequence hadn't occurred to me.