My Dress-Up Darling – Review

• Title (English): My Dress-Up Darling
• Title (Japanese): その着せ替え人形は恋をする (Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi so Suru)
• Year: 2022
• Studio: CloverWorks
• No. of Episodes: 12
• Streaming: Crunchyroll

My Dress-Up Darling‘s two main lovebirds, Wakana Gojo (Shōya Ishige) and Marin Kitagawa (Hina Suguta), come from two completely different worlds. Gojo is a recluse with low self-esteem. He has an interest in making hina dolls and he hopes to one day follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become a kashira-shi. At the start of the show, he keeps his passion a secret, due to an incident where a female friend of his said a boy shouldn’t play with dolls and cut ties with him. Marin, despite her gyaru appearance, is a massive otaku, so much so that she enjoys the more niche stuff such as eroges. She is also very outspoken about her hobby, decorating her school bag with merchandise and telling anyone who dares to criticize her tastes to leave her alone. By chance, Marin catches Gojo working on a Hina doll afterschool. Gojo expects Marin to make fun of him but is surprised when Marin admires his craftsmanship and asks him for a favor: to use his tailoring skills to craft the perfect outfits for her to cosplay as her favorite characters.

Easily the best part of My Dress-Up Darling is just how charming and endearing its leading duo is. Marin is arguably the show’s breakout star and it’s easy to see why. She’s an incredibly kind soul, never once judging Gojo for his interest in hina dolls and always giving him the praise and encouragement that helps him grow more confident in himself. Because of her high energy and how open she is about her eclectic tastes, it’s very believable that she would be so friendly and supportive towards Gojo. Not once, does any of this ever feel like wish fulfillment for the viewer. The only time she actually pushes Gojo’s buttons is when she’s wearing something skimpy and she teases Gojo about it for fun and even then, she manages to do so without hurting him.

What especially makes Marin so likable is that she falls for Gojo pretty quickly. She doesn’t take an eternity like other romance anime girls do and she doesn’t second guess herself for very long when she realizes her feelings. She just accepts this as fact and move onto towards growing closer to Gojo. That in turns creates a very cute and hilarious dichotomy where Marin will still tease with Gojo but she feels more self-conscious about it and outside of that, she actually has zero game.

While Marin is a delightful character, this isn’t to say she overshadows Gojo. Gojo is an everyman type of protagonist but the show successfully prevents him from coming across as bland or lame. He has a legitimate arc where he grows out of his insecurities, one that viewer can relate to and/or root for. Some of the most satisfying moments in the show are when he goes above and beyond to complete a cosplay outfit or when he feels a sense of belonging when he’s with Marin and some of the other characters. Aside from his growth, Gojo has this infectious curiosity about cosplay and how different crafting the outfits are compared to the ones he makes for his hina dolls. Anytime he gets curious about outfit he sees and looks into it for inspiration is very charming.

The guy also just has very good chemistry with Marin. His timidness perfectly plays off of Marin’s flirtatious and energetic personality. It’s fun seeing him overthink about how Marin thinks of him at the moment when Marin either doesn’t care or is second guessing herself. Gojo is often stunned by the media Marin likes (and boy are his reactions always on point) but much like how Marin respects his interests, Gojo judges the work and not herself. Rather than make Gojo a self-insert that Marin simply likes because the plot demands it, My Dress-Up Darling makes him both likable and a perfect match for her.

Around the half point of its run, My Dress-Up Darling introduces us to two other major characters: Marin’s favorite cosplayer Sajuna “Juju” Inui and her younger sister and assistant Shinju (Hina Yōmiya). The two come into the picture when Juju sees Marin’s first cosplay outfit on social media and decides to commission Gojo for an outfit. My initial guess as to the point of these two is to give Marin some competition for Gojo’s heart but while there are a couple of scenes suggesting that, I think they’re added in so that we’re not just stuck with Gojo and Marin. For what it’s worth, I quite enjoy the addition of these two. There’s a fun contrast where Juju acts older and more confident than the overly shy Shinju but because of her petite appearance, Juju looks more like the younger sister than Shinju does. There’s also a solid mini-arc where Shinju confides to Gojo that she wants to try cosplay but is afraid of what Shinju would think of that. This leads to Gojo secretly helping her with her first cosplay and in a sense, pass on some of the confidence Marin gave to him.

Outside of its charming plot and characters, what I also like about My Dress-Up Darling‘s story is its attention to detail. Despite using entirely made up IPs for the cosplays, the show provides sufficient explanations for what these are about and why Marin, Juju, or Shinju enjoys them. There’s a lot of details that are on point such as Marin’s favorite eroge having an absurdly long title or the girls’ favorite magical girl anime lasting a whopping 126 episodes. The show also provides a number of trivia about cosplay, particularly how one could go about with making an outfit themselves. The explanations are concise and digestible and having Gojo and Marin figure things out on their own for the first few episodes before the more experienced Inui sisters give them pointers is a smart way to ease the viewer in.

While I wouldn’t call My Dress-Up Darling CloverWorks’ best looking show from 2022 (that honor easily goes to BOCCHI THE ROCK!), it is nevertheless a very good looking one from the studio. In particular, characters are drawn with a ton of expression, which goes great with the show’s comedy. My favorites are whenever Gojo makes a really shocked or confused face when he’s first introduced to all the otaku media his friends enjoy. It’s the exact kind of exaggerated look you’d want on someone outside of that community and it gets me every single time. Another aspect of the art is the different style uses for the fake IPs. For example, the magical girl anime is drawn with a art style akin to one from the 2000s. The animators even goes as far as it to draw the in-universe show in 4:3.

About the only big issue one could have with My Dress-Up Darling is how gosh darn horny it is. I was fine with it but there are a lot of scenes where Marin and the other girls take off their clothes, so much so that the show borders on ecchi territory. Almost all of the cosplay outfits featured in the show are also quite skimpy. Some of these moments can be excused. Like, I can’t say it’s out of place when Marin strips down to a bikini when Gojo needs to take her measurements. She kind of has to wear a lot less so that the numbers are accurate. Other times, the sexual element kind of does inform the story. By putting Gojo and Marin in a very intimate scene, you do get a good scene of how these two currently feel about each other. That all said, there are shots where it just feels like the artists were perving out and drawing with one hand. And even the scenes I was most okay with still play up the male gaze up the wazoo.

My Dress-Up Darling became one of the biggest TV anime in 2022 and it’s easy to see why. The show simply radiates with charm, depicting a very delightful couple that you want to see hook up, with some terrific laughs along the way. About the show’s only potential point of contention is its sheer amount of fanservice. I personally didn’t mind it and I don’t think it gets in the way of the plot (the real one, I mean) but I can see someone finding it uncomfortable. Other than that, I highly recommend giving the show a whirl and I’m looking forward to its upcoming second season.

Score: 9/10

Pros (+): Marin and Gojo are simply delightful together; a lot of good laughs; strong attention to detail to certain plot elements.
Cons (-): Depending on your preference, the cheesecake will be a bit much.