The dragon in this movie was much better than those Ryu had seen in shows like Dragon Tales. Those were silly dragons that weren't dragons at all. They were fat and too friendly and not the apex predators they were meant to be. She didn't care for the show, so she stopped watching it and instead tried to find other shows. She had yet to find something she really enjoyed that supposedly offered the educational experience she was meant to acquire.
The question took Ryuuko by surprise. Did she prefer when people were nice? Yes. She did. "Maybe," she said instead, not wanting to concede that the humans may be expressing what most people wished. She said, "I wish people to respect me more. Nice does not always mean respect."