Screenplay:
Yoriko TomitaCinematography:
Tsubasa KanamoriComposer:
Takeshi NakatsukaCast:
Shoya Ishige, 直田姫奈, Atsushi Ono, Matsuri Kurosaki, Hina Yomiya, 菅野真衣, Yuuka Amemiya, Tomoyo Takayanagi, Akira Sekine, Rarisa Tago Takeda, Hiroshi Watanabe (more)VOD (3)
Episodes(12)
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Someone Who Lives in the Exact Opposite World as Me (E01)
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Wanna Hurry Up, and Do It? (E02)
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Then Why Don't We? (E03)
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Does This Belong to Your Girlfriend? (E04)
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It's Probably Because This Is the Best Boob Bag Here (E05)
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For Real?! (E06)
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A Home Date with the Guy I Wuv Is the Best (E07)
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Backlighting Is the Best (E08)
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A Lot Happened After I Saw That Photo (E09)
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We've All Got Struggles (E10)
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I Am Currently at a Love Hotel (E11)
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My Dress-Up Darling (E12)
Plots(1)
Traumatized by a childhood incident with a friend who took exception to his love of traditional dolls, doll-artisan hopeful Wakana Gojou passes his days as a loner, finding solace in a room at his high school. (Crunchyroll)
Videos (2)
Reviews (2)
The eccentric cosplayer (with slightly unconventional character design) Marin, who has her heart (and camera shot) not in the palm of her hand but right in her cleavage, and submissive Gojo, who would rather sew than sleep, even if he’s sewing for extraterrestrials. I wouldn't have expected such a combination of characters and a fair amount of fan service from the pen of a female author, but on the other hand, the topic of cosplay is a welcome fresh introduction to this relatively young hobby. The anime, through the aforementioned perpetually smiling diva, is appealing in its liveliness and unassuming quality; indeed, through the wry, brooding, and good-natured Gojo we are introduced to the technicalities of textiles, which unfortunately I thought were way more interesting than he was. It's impossible not to feel Marin's undying passion for the cause through the screen, and even though she often overdoes it, you'll gladly forgive her for a thousand episodes, but her male counterpart (the entire 1st half of the series, in fact) was nothing but dead weight dragging everything down. I wouldn't be surprised if the respectable frequency of Marin's appearance in scantily clad fashions was the main attraction for many, especially kicked up a notch as it was by CloverWorks' excellent art design (I would have preferred the opposite; a certain bathroom scene by a minor character in particular was nasty FBI bait), but the mopey, overly slavish, same-clothes-wearing, dull-witted, anything-woman-shy Gojou-kun resolutely failed to bring me much in the way of enjoyment. For me, the main immersion, their relationship, kept tripping over the characters’ lack of compatibility and the harmony they needed from each other. I couldn't help it, even though it probably wasn't directly intended that way, I still couldn’t imagine how any healthy or respectful relationship could exist between the queen and her run-of-the-mill and unremarkable servant. These personal doubts of mine began were successfully dispelled by the breathless conclusion with a healthy dose of evolving romance, exploration of the unknown (again the sea, reminding me of the magical scene from Josee, the Tiger and the Fish) and, most importantly, a screen time allocation that rightly kicked the uninteresting side characters aside, leaving the spotlight only to our chosen ones. All it would take is 2-13 injections of a pick-me-up, acceptance of the outside world, a shelf of new t-shirts for our tailor, and we'd be someplace else in no time! And uh... a bit less of the fan service, but that would pit all the waifmakers against each other in the charts :-) My Dress-Up Darling definitely scores points in creativity, a dose of charm that is inconsistent but present, and its love of cosplay, but it doesn't ooze depth, focus, or anything significantly above the average for softer works. I'd have to tape the corners of my mouth to smile at this anime rather than just watching it normally, but I'll tack on a better 3 stars mostly thanks to the production values.
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The final rating for this show was decided by the last episode, which was very enjoyable, had a good fireworks display, and a decent love story, which almost did not resonate with me during the previous episodes. I do not know what it was. After all, according to many, it has the best waifu of the whole of this winter's releases. However, I stayed kind of cold towards Marin most of the time, even though she is a nerdy, awkward young girl who is very passionate about her hobby, understands other people's interests, is open and honest, and treats people without prejudice. Perhaps it was Gojo's fault; he came across as shy and nondescript, reacting too nervously and unnaturally for me in certain situations. However, he was a likable enough guy, with a healthy passion for the cause, willing to support everyone at the right moment, and wearing his heart on his sleeve. Or perhaps it was more an effort by the anime's creators to force-feed a bunch of supposedly erotic moments and supposedly funny scenes into a cute anime series, even though I did not find them amusing. Any comedy in this show was worse than the love story. Anyway, I could not take away from the anime series' qualities. The animation is decent, the soundtrack is respectable, and the message that if you enjoy something, go for it, even if someone might have a problem with it because there will always be someone else who will appreciate your enthusiasm, was interesting. On the other hand, as much as I love shows about creative people with a passion and enjoy watching the making of something (regardless of what it is), along with all the effort involved, I did not get the hobbies of the two main protagonists which passed me by here anyway. I understood what the characters enjoyed about it all, although subconsciously, I knew that neither doll making nor cosplay, and probably not even photography, would appeal to me personally. I have nothing against those activities, but I did not enjoy fancy dresses as a kid, and I guess I did not grow out of it. I did not watch costume making with a tenth of the enthusiasm of the main characters. While I appreciate how nicely the series described some of the processes and showed me how much time and money it takes, how much work and attention to detail is required, I am still sure that in a week, I am going to have nothing left in my head. So while I largely recognize that My Dress-Up Darling is an above-average anime series in some ways, many things failed to appeal to me. I personally found that did not work for me. So I was on the fence about giving it the four stars until the last moment. However, as I wrote, the last episode convinced me. 6.5/10.
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Gallery (473)
Photo © Tokyo MX
![My Dress-Up Darling - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/166/203/166203635_585eea.png)