Ever since I got back into my Animanga in October 2021, I've felt a strong pull towards romantic stories. After I'd rewatched stuff like ToraDora, YLIA and Clannad I went ahead and watched Horimiya.
Satisfied but craving more, I went into My Dress-Up Darling, called MDUD in this review from now on.
What I found and watched turned out fantastic. I'm not sure where to go with this review, it's more impressions and thoughts after watching the show. This will contain spoilers, I'm sorry. Also, this is gonna be a long piece.

Story:

We got Gojo Wakana and Kitagawa Marin at the center of the story and the two couldn't be more different. He's a loner, afraid of ridicule for his passion and generally rather inept at social interactions. But he's an excellent, traditional dollmaker. Marin is an aspiring cosplayer who's heavy into video games and animamga - and she's also a total, super popular babe. Through a coincidence, they team up; Gojo wants to perfect his craft and Marin wants some good costumes.

So far so easy. The story has elements of classic "boy meets girl" narratives, but adds so much more. Not only is it cute as hell, MDUD has great insights into the cosplay scene, tidbits of information about things like good photography and sewing etc. It's just an interesting watch altogether, and I'm a sucker for shows that can teach me new things, you know?

But the main focus is obviously our main couple. And oh my lord are they perfect for one another. Not only that they are also incredibly supportive of and care deeply about each other, their relationship quickly grows in a healthy, grown up style without rushing things. Like I said, the two are vastly different, but not in a "opposites attract" manner, more in a "two halfs of the same soul" kind.
Not to mention the show's whole story, narrative and its presentation are wholesome as fuck. If you like Horimiya or Komi-san you'll gobble up MDUD.

Characters:

Like I already said, the two main figures are Gojo and Marin, so I'm only going to talk about them. For now the other characters are just there and likeable enough but not really fleshed out.

Gojo is a timid, shy young man who once was told by a friend that his hobby of making Hina-Dolls is both cringy and just yuk.

But with Marin in his life, he finds new confidence in his particular niche of skills and stops shutting himself away.

I think many of us animanga-enthusiasts can relate to that particular issue, especially when we entered the scene a couple of years ago before anime and manga became mainstream in the West.
For example, I still remember that when I was still in highschool in Europe some nine years ago, I doodled a couple of manga-style thingies into my notebook and a few of my friends saw the doodles. And they reacted the same way that Gojo's childhood friend reacted - with ridicule, disdain and mockery.
That left a mark on me, and for years afterwards I pushed my passion for drawing into a dark locker. Only two years or so ago I dared open that locker a bit because I had friends who told me that my hobbies are awesome and supported me in pursuing them.

That's why Gojo is so relatable to me. In the beginning he's the shyness that comes with liking something that not everybody does personified. But he's also super open to learn more about the intricacies of his friends' hobbies to make them less awkward. In his case it serves double duty to improve his craft.

As for Marin, she's the exact opposite of Gojo's in many ways. What he lacks in self confidence and extrovert behaviour, she makes up for in spades. She also has a solid clique while at first he has no friends. But she's never mean spirited, she's the kind of friend that brings out the best in others and encourages them to follow their own path.

Not to mention that she also behaves like a normal human person. What I mean it's that if she fucks up she will earnestly apologize, and she is very much in touch with herself. Most importantly, Marin is 100% her own person. Yes, her and Gojo are the OTP but she's not overly dependent on his affection and attention. She feels... Real. What also links her with Wakana is her passionate approach to her cosplay.

To sum up this above rambling: they're perfect for one another and overall really compelling characters whom you can't really help but fall in love with. That's why I literally squealed with joy when Marin dropped the L-bomb in the season finale.

Production:

I'd figure that your standard Romcoms is simple to animate. Little to no action, few opportunities for Sakuga and there's generally not a lot of standout scenes in terms of animation flexing.
But CloverWorks are like "we don't do that here". MDUD is absolutely joyful to look at. They really managed to bring the character designs in the manga to life without having to alter a lot, or anything at all.
The show is as colourful as Marin and as consistent in it as Gojo is as a person. The show is also suuuper varied in its presentation altogether. There's this bit about a magical girl anime in an early episode that just is a big but short animation flex and in the last episode Gojo and Marin watch a horror movie that's animated in a janky, rough manner that just fits. Also, the scenes depicting photo shoots have been handled with a lot of care and it shows. Our couples' VAs also brought their A-game. In short, CW have really done a fantastic job with this show.

Additional thoughts:

Hooooo MAMA is this a horny show, especially in the first few episodes. The ecchi around Marin is, I'd argue, what pulled most people into the show, so it's a real case of "came for the ecchi stayed for the wholesome".
There's been a few times where the Ecchi almost went overboard, especially during the time Gojo took Marins measures. But the times that the Ecchi does occur mostly is in a "hm yeah that's a situation in which raunchy moments could happen", so it's not egregious I'd say.

Final thoughts and scoring:

MDUD really surprised me in a very positive way. The first impression I got from GIFs and clips on Reddit was that it's a pretty but rather flat ecchi Romcom.
But I've had the best time with a romantic show I've had in a long time, even better than with Horimiya. Depending on how Season 2 goes, MDUD might just become my favourite new romantic series. It's definitely in my top 3 and I thank Shinichi Fukuda-sensei and CloverWorks for it.