Wakana Gojou (Gojo) is a high-schooler and fellow introvert who struggles to make friends because of his beloved hobby-his dream, making Hina dolls. Constantly being reminded that is hobby is “disgusting’ because of an encounter at a young age, Gojo lives in utter fear of his hobby coming to light. That is until one chance moment makes him collide into the life of the famous Kitagawa Marin. After discovering each other well kept secrets, together they help each other out while pursuing Marin’s cosplay dreams.
Despite the blandly put summary, “My Dress-Up Darling” is indeed a very good anime that explores the cosplay and the world of friendship. You are slowly pulled into the expressive and interesting cast, not only because of the voice acting but also because of the diversity of characters. At least one character in the anime does represent yourself to some extent. This adds to a very immersive experience, personally for me, I relate to Gojo the most. He’s afraid of being judged, afraid of being hurt because of one single encounter. Stuff like this impresses me the most, it adds a relatable flair that not only hits where it hurts but also reassures you.
>Maybe I’m just not cut out for it. Loving something doesn’t mean you’re any good at it. There’s no guarantee that all your hard work will pay off
In Episode 4, stressed by the overwhelming work handed to him, Gojo says this specific line. The significance of this line is that it adds a hefty amount of realism, you can connect with the characters more. A single flaw, even in judgement, shows how human they are. Gojo is the broken anchor. He’s got his own flaws but he keeps everyone in the show stable, comforting and supportive when need be. Which is reflected throughout the anime. It’s reassuring to viewers since it’s easy to connect to the characters.
Similar to this, the cast itself is good. There’s a small range of characters, each diverse in personality. I will say that the anime is highly driven by the dynamic duo but it adds a nice flair to the anime. The character dynamic is very well executed, not only does it suit the overall situation but also leaves enough space for the genre its in, romance. My primary reason for watching this show (yes, I did not watch it for the ecchi). All of them have their own spot in the light, their own moment to show themselves. Although the anime revolves around Marin and Gojo, the rest of the cast is memorable.
The design itself is good by its genre standard, it adds to the characterisation for the cast. Like Marin’s constantly changing fashion style adds to her proactiveness, opposing her is Gojo. His constant escape into his traditional Japanese clothes show his tendency to be reclusive. Gojo’s design feels a little different in the anime as compared to the manga at certain scenes. In the anime, his design feels softer rather then sharper, it doesn’t affect the mood of the anime.
Cloverworks executed this with excellence. They adapted every single panel scene wise including the dialogue. Everything was accurate to the tee. Even the small conversations between the minor characters was included. Electrifying moments, those jarring change in scenery feel surreal but leave a good taste in your mouth. Some moments are carefully planned out and hit right at the peak giving high impact to the scene. This also impacts the comedy, some scenes will make you giggle endlessly assuming your humour is broken like mine but still, some aspects do in fact make you laugh because of the dynamic between Marin and Gojo. Cloverworks with their manga accurate adaptation really pulled through. It’s funny because despite Cloverworks atrocious track record, they managed to shine in this anime without a hitch.
Coming back to what Cloverworks did, their work on the animation was fantastic. Everything from the lighting to the detail of each scene, all of them melded to create an engaging experience. Part of the reason I’m highly praising the animation is because of Marin. She’s a very expressive and lovable character that was brought to life in more ways than one. Since the anime is highly driven by its characters. This is a huge plus point.
I do have to add criticism. Despite the wonderful image I created of this anime, there is a lot to turn off the frequent watched. One being the overwhelming ecchi that ruins the mood adding a good amount of confusion about the goal of the anime. Needless panty shots, explicit scenes that show breasts- A lot of this is unnecessary and what’s worse is that it always lights up your screen at inappropriate moments. I’ve added a spoiler as an example.
Spoiler, click to view
During the beach scene in Episode 9 after Marin and Gojo have a heart to heart, our famous female main character decides to dip her legs in the salty sea. The jarring aspect here is that Gojo notices the proactiveness and overall wonderful character of Marin but suddenly, she unknowingly flashes her underwear. In a wholesome moment something explicit just doesn’t work. It confuses the average viewer. That’s my biggest criticismThe ecchi at the beginning is too strong, enough to turn away an avid watcher victim to these cheap tricks to gain viewership but let me assure you, it gets better. My Dress-up darling gradually turns away from the full blown explicitness and eventually turns to more maturer themes of Identity and insecurity. Just as an example, Marin here is a fulcrum in Gojo’s life. Supporting him and tilting him towards a better life where he’s unbound by the insecurity of loving Hina dolls embed in him by a childhood friend. The anime does take time in this growth but it gets very clear in the manga.
Finally, my recommendation. If you despise ecchi scenes, if it’s unbearable to even watch a single one for you. Then you can skip on this anime. Ecchi scenes are numerous in number in the very beginning, it can ruin the experience. However, if you are like me in any manner, get past the ecchi scenes won’t be a big deal. If you can get pass them without getting bothered then you’ll really enjoy this anime like I did, especially with the character dynamic and animation. Overall, I really enjoyed watching “My Dress-Up Darling”. It introduced me to lovable characters, each in their own world enjoying life as we see. This anime may not be for veteran viewers but I’d still say to give it a shot. Doesn’t hurt to try.
Author’s note - I had so much more to write. I really had a whole analysis just in my notes, it was really to that extreme. I really wanted to shorten this review even more but I just couldn’t so I made every point very concise. I should also mention that I loved Kitagawa Marin throughout this entire anime. She is by far my favourite character and just a nice little ray of sunshine. I honestly don’t see much of her type in anime but could just be me. Thanks again to @Harthlock for allowing me to use his assets to make my review more aesthetically engaging. Click here to use his assets.
I also made these (taken from Ep3)
