Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru

I cannot emphasize this enough, but My Dress-Up Darling is an ECCHI rom-com. Forget the synopsis about the interesting life of a cosplayer and doll-maker respectively, this is a terrible high school slice of life with some of the worst ecchi sequences I have ever seen. I would like to preface at the beginning of this review that My Dress-Up Darling has become one of my most hated anime. Admittedly, that doesn’t excuse me from just trashing the show entirely, so I will still try to be as objective as I can, since this review is meant for potential viewers.

I’ve seen many shows and movies ... that focus on high-schoolers. This time, the series mainly focuses on the relationship of a tailor and a cosplayer with the shy introverted boy Gojou Wakana and manic pixie dream girl Marin Kitagawa as our leads. Wakana is a quiet kid without many friends. He is reserved and afraid of expressing himself or discussing his hobbies due to a ‘trauma’ he experienced. That ‘trauma’ was when a little girl Wakana met as a kid said something like “Ewww, your dolls are ugly” and ran away. This 1-minute backstory is supposedly the only explanation for Wakana’s social awkwardness and is never touched upon in the rest of the TV series. Marin on the other hand is a quirky girl who somehow went flying head first into Wakana’s desk; this leads to the contrived beginning of two kids who ‘happen’ to learn about each other’s unique hobbies and each other.

You’d think that based on the synopsis of the story, there would eventually be a shift in primary focus from cosplaying to romance-drama, but you would only be half-correct. Occasionally, there are detailed explanations for the requisites of certain cosplay in order for someone to create and dress up in their attire; these moments actually illustrate what exactly it takes to become a cosplayer, as the show had advertised in its PV. Undeniably, when the series decides to offer insight on Wakana’s character, his struggles, and his dreams, it is able to do so very well. Marin, when she’s bearable, can act as a strong supporting character by establishing a fairly interesting contrast between her vibrant personality and Wakana’s insecurity and awkwardness by offering herself as a confident and quirky friend and eventual love interest. Even at its peak, the romance will be very cheesy, but at the very least, it’s a passable experience at that very scene.

“Wow, that sounds like a good show compared to the show you just said in the beginning! How are they the same?”

Unfortunately, the aforementioned show is only something I wish Dress-Up Darling stays true to. Not only are all the aforementioned good aspects kept to a minimum, a lot of its potential is wasted since the writer had ‘different’ ideas on their agenda. I’m going to start with the ecchi, probably the most controversial aspect of the series.

If you’ve never seen a clip of Dress-Up Darling, just know that the number of explicit and uncomfortable shots of Marin, an underage high-schooler, are lengthy and many. Marin is a high-schooler who has kinks such as ‘wanting to be a sex slave like her favorite anime character’ and legitimately strips down in front of a guy she just met since he knows how to use a loom. Particularly in episode 2, a lot of these explicit shots of Marin are also sexual innuendos that are meant to be funny and relatable as Wakana blushes uncontrollably, afraid he’s going to do something wrong. This kind of situation would never believably happen because there’s no girl in existence that acts exactly like Marin does around a guy she just met.

If anyone thought that was bad, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Sometime in the middle of the series, we are introduced to Inui Sajuna, a loli tsundere character who also happens to be interested in cosplaying. I wish that when the audience met Sajuna, it was going to be a normal meet-and-greet where Marin and Sajuna had a fun conversation about how passionate they were about cosplaying and how Wakana could help both of them out together. Instead, we are delivered one of the most god awful scenes in the show in which Wakana opens the bathroom door and sees a slipping Sajuna fall onto the bathroom floor and reveal…everything. This sequence leads Sajuna to threaten Wakana with blackmail for sexual harassment which eventually becomes ‘consensual blackmail’ when Marin enters the picture, because everyone is friends now! Whoopee, how convenient and forced can you get?! Sajuna’s secondary purpose in this series is as a cosplayer with some of her own unique dreams and experiences, but her main purpose is to act as a second love interest for Wakana while wearing kinky outfits for the audience to see. She’s arguably the worst character in the series and one I hated seeing on-screen. The less screen-time she had, the better off the series was.

I know that nitpicking details and cherry picking aspects of any piece of media rather than analyzing everything as a whole is generally looked down upon, but someone needs to warn potential viewers that these awful fanservice portions exist because the jarring shift in scene transitions and tone are just overwhelmingly appalling, even by ecchi standards. The main problem I am highlighting here is that all of these concerning scenes are supposed to be ‘hot’ and ‘funny’. Regardless of context, these types of scenarios utterly fail to provide the appropriate atmosphere for actual cosplayers and instead offer a tarnation hentai plot for a target audience that isn’t likely to give many damns about cosplaying. If anyone thought this portrayal of cosplayers was horrendous as is, the list goes on. There’s an entire episode in which skin darkening, a very racist and unnecessary behavior in the show, is present and even an episode where Marin and Wakana go into a love hotel and lay on top of each other for ‘cosplaying’. It’s so contrived and so frustrating to see because the ecchi is not appealing at all to an adult who doesn’t want to see high schoolers in their birthday suits.

I know there is an argument that:

‘Because the show is from the perspective of Wakana, that means his sexual inexperience near girls can appear as what is seen in the show, specifically towards Marin.’

Supposedly, this can be compared to Bakemonogatari which is self-aware of its fanservice hijinks. However, to that argument, I would like to point out that this makes no sense in multiple occasions where a camera shows physically everything about Marin, from head to toe, not in Wakana’s first-person perspective. For example, in the skin darkening episode, the camera is completely in the third-person perspective in which Wakana cannot see, since Marin is in a locked bathroom. In other words, this argument is very inconsistent and in my opinion, not valid. I swear it’s as if every single of these inane situations are an extremely bad excuse for a hentai plot without sex rather than being a character study of cosplayers.

On a semi-related point of the writer’s agenda, allow me to discuss Wakana, Marin, and their relationship to one another. There is a fundamental flaw in the creation of these characters. When Wakana or Marin are alone, actually focusing on their passions, their personalities shine. We see the depth of their personas as they express fears of not being good enough and how to showcase their love for their craft and hobbies. However, in an ironic twist of author’s intent, the reason both of these characters are irredeemable is because of the other. It’s because of the romance.

Wakana’s personality can devolve from ‘nice thoughtful guy’ to ‘horny teenager’ in a matter of seconds because Marin does something abnormal and hypersexualized. It gets to the point where Wakana can become the aforementioned first person POV for the audience members as they see Marin do whatever the hell she’s doing. It’s not even that this happens for the whole episode; it’s just that this kind of ‘slice-of-life romance’ happens long enough to the point it becomes unbearable every time. On the other hand, we have Marin, in my opinion, the second worst character in the series. I really cannot fathom why people like her for anything except her character design. She is possibly the most idealized waifu animated in 2022. Always ‘attractive’, always optimistic, always thinking of her crush Wakana, always working hard, always so lovable regardless of whatever she does. If speaking objectively, her flaw is that she is quite literally a stalker who found Wakana’s address and trespassed into his home uninvited, even visiting his house at night once when Wakana didn’t respond to her texts. But Dress-Up Darling doesn’t seem to think of that as a problem, because it romanticizes stalking as well as everything about Marin. When Marin is all uWu over Wakana, the writer has no holds barred as they make her pander to everything a lover could want: sexual teasing, sweet-talking, objectification, anything and everything! At this point, you may call me Captain_Obvious, but Marin is NOT a realistic nor believable person, but a caricature of a ‘real woman’.

I want to note that Dress-Up Darling is also supposedly a seinen, which means that the target audience is supposed to be young adult males. I want to ask the writer: Why? Can we please have the characters be adults so we don’t have to look at HS kids this way? Even if these characters were young adults, it would still be just as bad because of the fact that Marin is a stalker, that there are numerous contrived scenarios involving nudity, and even blackmail portrayed in a ‘good’ or ‘funny’ part of the show. It’s a fact that none of these awful parts of the show had to happen if the writer didn’t want to cater to a male’s ideal wet dream. I’m not even going to lie, I have seen MORE wholesome and enjoyable H series than Dress-Up Darling. It’s probably one of the biggest disappointments I’ve seen in my life. I hadn’t even hoped that Dress-Up Darling was going to be good until I saw the show peak in episode 4 and 5. But after it peaked, the bar kept dropping one episode after another, until the anime had reached the depths of despair, because Dress-Up Darling doesn’t care about quality. It just cares about its shitty ecchi.

I’m not going to deny that the technical qualities of this show are on-par for some of the best of the season. Admittedly, there are occasional still frames. However, if a potential viewer is able to bear with the story, the detailed character designs and overall fluid animation are able to enhance certain elements of the story, character, and as most likely intended by the director, the ecchi. As much as I genuinely hate CloverWorks and most of their works, I reluctantly have to admit this is visually one of their best works. As for sound, the voice acting is certainly serviceable but nothing impressive. The OST is fairly forgettable and not worth mentioning in my opinion.

I’m sure there is a lot more to talk about, but I really cannot force myself to analyze more of this piece of shlock that I wish no one the burden of watching through. I’m sorry to fans or anyone else I offended, but for potential viewers, this is not your anime of the season, nor an anime you should watch unless you unconditionally love ecchi rom-coms. My Dress-Up Darling does have some decent moments every once in a while but searching for those scenes are like finding a needle in a haystack. If you want genuinely good, funny ecchi, go watch Ishuzoku Reviewers or Imouto Sae Ireba Ii. At least those characters are definitively adults.

Shows become overrated when the people who are clearly not the target audience don't talk about why that is. Instead they opt to seek to see what they believe everyone else is seeing for the sake of conformity. While it makes sense that a show like this would have a solid base audience, I believe this one is not for many people, and I will try to illustrate my own disconnect.

This is a "rom-com" that is far more adjacent to a harem show for example. Some easy to see reasons why: The main character isn't nearly as enigmatic in personality or in design as the ... female ones (for the purpose of self-insertion), and there is an incredible amount of fanservice as early as episode 2! Normally well constructed rom-coms attempt to create two equally as commanding of personalities because the show is about both of them—not just whoring out one and making the other obsolete. This type of structure is more commonly found in harem shows.
I'm not using harem as a sort of buzz word criticism by the way. Harem shows are relatively unpopular and have a flat amount of dislike and contempt. So why isn't this show seeing that again?

Anyways, the main appeal of the show is about Marin. If you like the "show" it basically just means you like her. I don't have any issue if this girl is your waifu, but it's important to understand how to separate these things. My sort of problem with her though is having one of too many impossible collection of tropes. She's a gyaru. Check. An otaku? Check!. She likes EROGE? Check that one too! She's super personable and can even easily communicate with our loser social anxious MC! She stands up to bad people who insult more niche hobbies!! .... It's just too many, and it's too blatant of a fantasy—almost like the author is literally just creating their ideal girlfriend, or what they think their audience's ideal girlfriend is.

As I mentioned earlier, Episode 2 had an a ridiculous amount of fanservice for a show on literally episode 2. (this show isn't tagged ecchi) The problem mostly though, it was awkward as fuck. The show establishes the main character as having something similar to social anxiety, and the dude is just freaking out at the sight of Marin's half naked body. What really made it hard to watch though, was how Marin wasn't reciprocating his emotions at all. Even though he was blatantly uncomfortable (in a largely over-the-top comedic way, but still) she does nothing to acknowledge it, which actually just went to make everything more weird. This was the entire episode, and it was bad.

This entire thing just feels like a sham. A hollow advertisement to make me go buy the manga or read a doujin about the characters or something. Which btw, one dominated nhentai for days after the release of episode 2. (shocker) Where is the heart in something like this? Also— Why did everyone dunk on 3D Kanajo even though this one and that show are very similar! In an essence, that's all this show is. It's visually better looking, but a worse show than 3D Kanajo. Worse. Than. 3D Kanajo.

My Dress Up Darling is fun and all but sadly nothing but waifu bait.

The story is set up in the way all romcoms are, its the that same formula used here. Its about cosplaying which is unique enough to the whole anime romance genre, but the thing is everything else in MDD is seen somewhere else.

Girl and Boy accidentally meet
Girl and boy get together every time in some way
Both develop feelings for each other

This is exactly how MDD is set up and how it works, yep, the same way you have seen in every romcom. Its very predictable because of that but trust me, the ... show doesn't stop being enjoyable.

You know how most romcoms try to make you smile? Yep, fanservice. That's how MDD does it too, it shows tons of fanservice and horny kids start going wild about it, its enjoyable but some times, the fanservice makes you feel uncomfortable the misunderstandings and all that same way most romcoms do stuff is present here too.

I do not enjoy the fanservice as much as others do, but that fanservice is the only reason as to why this show is as popular as it is, right now. Everyone is making thumbnails of those perverted shots and gaining tons of popularity and even boosting this show itself. Sometimes I am low-key disgusted by how it heavily relies on that.

Remove Fanservice and this show won't be half as popular as it is right now.

The art and animation are pretty solid for a romcom, it is not only a great adaptation of the manga, its a miles better experience too, because CW decided to give this show one perfect adaptation. The animation is smooth, and the art is great too, its very bright and colorful which makes the tone of the show much better and even suits it. The character designs however are very generic and look like the ones most romcoms have, they aren't bad but they aren't new to the show or anything.

The music is fitting, and is good to hear. I love it and I wouldn't be afraid to admit it, but the voice acting for many characters aside from Gojo is many times annoying, I don't like them, but its nothing too bad. Its very subjective but since I am telling my honest thoughts on it, I will also include such details.

The characters are bland as hell, they have the same personalities like you have seen in every teen romance show, the usual gets easily shy, or isn't afraid to show her body, or something like that. Or maybe supporting their low interest or trying to act cute but doing cheesy stuff which somehow comes off as funny, apparently.

The amount of enjoyment varies, just ask yourself your age and how horny you are. If you are 14 and very horny, this is the perfect show for you. I do enjoy it but this show can give off a bad feeling to you or just be annoying.

Overall
I do recommend this show if you don't mind the issues mentioned above much, MDD is waifu bait, and one, which will be very memorable because of doing so everything with fanservice, honestly its one of those bad but enjoyable shows, I won't say more, just try it for yourself.

This is your typical romcom, but this time it was marketed very well, plus the fact Marin is on so many peoples profile as their profile picture just helped sell it more. It falls badly on having substance thus the score it got by me.

*SOME SPOILERS AHEAD*

During these past few anime seasons, I've noticed one thing; that's there's ALWAYS that one romance anime where it has one goal in mind - to bait weebs with such a "high-quality waifu" that would boost the anime's popularity. I call this the "waifu bait anime." It usually has the main girl characterized as an "amazing waifu" with colored hair and eyes, and of course a good body that would basically generate more simps to her, and of course a dull, basic, lame looking MC who just hit the jackpot because they have the main girl by his sides because *ahem* p l ... o t.

We've had several "waifu-bait" anime like Nagatoro-san on Spring 2021, Komi-san on Fall 2021, and the upcoming Shikimori-san (and again, Komi-san S2) on Spring 2022. But let's get these anime out of the way, since I'm going to talk about the latest addition to the seasonal waifu-bait anime, My Dress-Up Darling, or simply, Bisque Doll.

Oh boy, this show had a wonderful premise but there's something that is ruining it (definitely *not* because it's produced by CloverWorks, no hate on the studio though. They're pretty well known for ruining some well known anime. *cough Wonder Egg Priority.*) Bisque Doll's main objective here is for you to explore the wonderful world of cosplaying and its people who admires cosplaying some of their favorite characters, which is characterized for them of showing love to the character. Sounds like a nice adventure, right? As I said before, Bisque Doll is ruined by something... also known as these shameless fanservice you see on the episodes. Funnily enough, even after ALL of that fanservice, it's not even labeled as ecchi. Yes, I know it's seinen and is aimed for older men, but just imagine all of those boob shots, jiggle physics, (ToT)c u n n y(ToT), there's even poking nipples, then there's that love hotel bullshit, and the absurd amount of horniness of this show, doesn't that kind of made you think that this show really is ecchi? "But that's how the manga goes, Kylinity." Oh uh... what? Uhhh... Okay then... lemme just... put this away for a second... Anyways, it's safe for me to say that FanserBisque Doll is the ecchiest "non-ecchi" anime I have ever seen in my life. I'm trying my best to take the anime seriously but goddamn, these shameless fanservice and generic and cliche ecchi tropes just hinder my enjoyment to this show so much. You might call me uncultured, but oh well, I can thank you for that.

How did Bisque Doll start? Well let's go from the beginning. You know, our boy Gojo is a hina doll maker, and he's trying to make his hobby a secret so that he won't get called out for being weird again after that one time where he was mocked by his classmates because they think Gojo making hina dolls is very weird. Then first encounter with Marin was literally her flying on the classroom from one side to another and then hit her head on Gojo's desk. First of all, is Marin okay what the fuck. There's no anime character that can just fly off like that unless she was a part of some secret battle shounen manga and got kicked in the stomach real real hard (okay that was brutal). One time, while Gojo was sewing on one of the rooms, Marin found him and she immediately asked for help to make her a costume so that she can cosplay as one of her all time favorite character (aka Shizuku-tan). As time goes on, their cosplaying talks have become a normal routine, and that's basically how Marin and Gojo met together. Overall, decent start and that's basically letting the viewers know what Bisque Doll is about.

Let's talk about Bisque Doll's art. As expected from CloverWorks, it's visually appealing. See, this is the type of stuff CloverWorks is really good at, to produce anime that appeal to the viewer's eye. However though... (ah shit, here we go again.) I have a big problem with fanservice. I've talked to one of my forum threads before, I don't mind fanservice, as long as it doesn't upset me and also to the viewers. This is a bit too much fanservice for a "nOn-eCcHI" anime. I don't need to list them all again, but if this had less horniness and less fanservice, I would accept it.

Now to the characterssss~
Gojo - Our boy, our MC, and one of the 2 good characters in the show... *remembers something* Okay. I take that back. Gojo is the most unbased, cringeworthy loser who doesn't even know the greatness of the almighty genre known as Slice of Life aka the peak genre that surpasses overdramatic melodramas and generic battle shounen- haha I'm just kidding of course. I mean, atleast he finally knows about the greatness of SoL now. And that my boys, is why Gojo is a good character- I'm just kidding. I feel like he's fun to be with, but uh yeah, he's slowly getting corrupted by Marin because of the cosplay talks with horny sources.

Marin - the main girl, the main waifu material of Winter 2022, a contender for Waifu of the Year. She's meh. I think she's a bit boyish judging from how she talks to our boy Gojo , and for enjoying a harem eroge anime. I mean, she's literally the embodiment of h o r n y, but as a female. She's a big dumdum as well, especially that part where she somehow fucking reserved a room for a LOVE HOTEL thinking it was a studio, like how the hell does someone make a mistake like this? She's nuts man... PLUS sometimes her smiles are creepy as hell.

Sajuna - UOOOHHHH (ToT) Our little cunny, the loli high schooler, Marin's idol, Juju-sama. Undoubtedly the best girl of the show, since even our boy Gojo even (ToT)(ToT)(ToT) because of her cunniness (ToT)(ToT)(ToT). And that my friends, I can conclude that Gojo is a lolicon, because he sobbed due to Juju-sama. Okay I'm just kidding, this is turning to a joke review now. Juju-sama is a good brat, since she's a buddy for Marin to like, get better at cosplaying.

Shinju - Ah shit, here we go again, another big booba middle schooler. Middle schoolers shouldn't have this big of a booba, but that's anime character designs for you. She's very mid though, since there's really nothing special to note about her. Although she has a passion on cosplaying too, but never did it since you know, *she's basically the cameraman of Juju-sama's cosplay pictures*

Not gonna lie, Bisque Doll gave me a few laughs, and I thoroughly enjoyed some parts of it. By the way, I never said anything about this show's sound right? Alright alright.... Let me make this very quick. OP is good, but is kinda irritating as you listen to it more since jesus christ, those vocals are very hiiiiiiigh. ED though is way better, since it's chill and cozy. There you go. That's it for sound... ... ... What? What about voice acting? Eeh, I never paid attention to that aspect. I just think "wow they're good" or "wow the voices fit the characters" on literally 99% of all the shows I've watched. That's how unresponsible I am when it comes to the sound aspect. Yeah... this is no longer a quality review, or maybe, it never was a quality review in the first place. Alright back to enjoyment. Yes, it did give me laughs, I'm not gonna lie, but... that doesn't mean it's always enjoyable. Ah shit, I have to bring this up for the 4th time, but whatever. Fanservice ruined my enjoyment. Just imagine, while you're out there casually watching FanserBisque Doll, then suddenly, boom. boob shot. Fanservice made me dislike the anime more and more as I watch more episodes of it.

This show is like a 6/10 right up my alley.
-3 for the pointless fanservice.
+1 for Juju-sama.

Total of 4/10.

If you want to know more about cosplaying, Bisque Doll is, at the same time, for you and not for you. If you can somehow fight off the fanservice (or either if you're a costume designer), then good for you, you might somehow learn things within the cosplay world and would provide you some inspiration. But, on the other hand, if you wanna watch this with *some* seriousness, then... goodluck with the fanservice. It will ruin your enjoyment.

The hero of the piece is a withdrawn and meek high school boy (now there’s a switch) called Gojou Wakana (Ishige Shouya). Basically, the course of his entire childhood is set by one horrible little who mocks him for his love of hina dolls. I can totally buy this – childhood traumas like that are incredibly scarring. Wakana’s love of dolls isn’t stunted, but he does retreat into social isolation (though he might have been isolated before, too), with only his doll-making grandfather (Ono Atsushi) in on his secret. This is pretty unavoidable, as Wakana is in training to take over the family doll shop.

Frankly, ... I was expecting the grandpa to be dead after the time skip, but he’s fine (just old) – it’s the boy’s parents (and maybe sister – truck-kun?) who are gone. Wakana is happy enough learning at his feet, though at this point he’s only mastered the clothes-making, and gramps is right to be worried about his grandson’s obvious black hole of social life. All these changes in not especially original but quite memorable fashion, as Kitagawa Marin, literally falls into his life. This is one of anime’s great entrances, I have to say, as unlikely as it is to believe.
To Wakana Marin seems like the exact opposite of him in every way, not even factoring gender into it. She’s popular, forceful, and gorgeous (and wears more makeup than I’ve seen on an anime schoolgirl in a long time). This fits neatly into his generally self-pitying worldview, but the realization that she’s an otaku shakes him up a bit. What he subconsciously realizes is that the most important way Marin is his opposite is that she embraces and defends her passion, rather than keeping it a secret. I’d like to think this makes Wakana feel a little ashamed of himself, but that’s probably projection on my part.

Fortunately, this is anime, and fate intervenes to move the needle. Grampa’s Shouwa-era sewing machine breaks down, forcing Wakana to get resourceful and use the one at school. As there’s no home ec club he figures his secret is safe, but to his dismay who else but Kitagawa-san walks in on him. And once she realizes he knows how to make clothes she promptly starts undressing (she at least has some sense of embarrassment about it, but not much given the length of her skirt). Why? To show him her first attempt at cosplay – which Wakana reflexively eviscerates like Frank Rich after a bad Reuben. And thus, a new friendship is born.
I think the reason this works as well as it does is Marin. She never mocks Wakana, who’s pretty mockable.
The main thrust of the premiere is that through her lifestyle she shows him the problem with his – she feels comfortable being herself, even if society might view it as a bit weird. There’s a bit of ecchi here but it’s not crass or over-the-top, and while I’m sure romance will flower between these two, I like the premise is built around self-actualization.
Nothing to say they just nailed that. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

“My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined”

After watching the first episode of this show, I thought that it had the potential to be great. I even was about to predict this show as anime of the season. Luckily for me I didn’t make that prediction, because if I had, I would have probably been even more disappointed. And believe me when I say I’m disappointed by this show, so much so that I’m actually writing another review. So let’s get into it. Spoilers for the first two episodes and the opening of the third included.

This show laid amazing groundwork in the first episode. ... It introduces us to a boy named Gojou, who since the first time he saw the painted dolls his grandpa makes, he was entranced by them and have since aspired to follow in his grandpa’s footsteps. The only cog in the machine have been a female relative of his, who called him out as a pervert for liking girly stuff like dolls even though he is a boy. This event causes him not to give up his dream, but to fully pursue it at the expense of his social life throughout middle school, which results in him having no friends. As he enters high school, he finds himself feeling left out of all conversations, since nobody in his class shares the same interest as him and thus he find it impossible to even attempt to chat with people.

This is extremely based IMO, as I think many people at some point in there life experiences the feeling of “oh nobody here is into the same stuff as I am, I guess I can’t talk to anyone about anything then“ ,but then later you realize that it’s about having passion for something which compels others to talk with you. And that message is what the show could have been. That being true to yourself is what truly matters and that your lack of common ground in conversations, can be one of your strengths just as easily as you make it your weakness by believing you can only talk to “your kind of people”.
Remember; be a person who happen to have an interest, not an interest who happens to be a person.

So after class Gojou is putting everybody’s chairs up as he is doing the clean up duties alone, since his nature allows people to take advantage of him, which he mistakenly confuses with being on good terms with them as he is just doing them a favor(that he will never be repaid for..). It is here he meets Marin for the first time, and she tells him that he shouldn’t let people push him around like that. Marin is the total opposite of Gojou, as she is outgoing, outspoken about her interest and despises the idea of people belittling others for the things which make them happy. This immediately sparks the interest of Gojou, as these words are sweet music to his ears. Long story short, they run into each other in the abandoned sewing room at the school, since Gojou’s old sewing machine broke and Marin is big into cosplaying.
Marin, however doesn’t have any idea about making costumes even though she has a burning passion for it, and it is here Gojou comes in as he agrees to help her with making the costume. The only thing that was weird here was one of those “camera angles in anime are strange sometimes” shots, which was the only reason I held my breath on calling this the potential show of the season, but I figured it was the bare minimum fan service that is required to break through, so I chose to ignore it. Big mistake…

In the second episode we see Marin visit Gojou’s grandpa’s doll shop(which is also their house) in order for them to take her measurements for the costume. And I was speechless. The amount of suggestive shots in this episode was off the charts. I’ve seen ecchi shows that would look like seiso SoL when compared to this. It seemed so odd that the show would focus on this aspect of Marin, as it felt so natural to progress these two kindred spirits as friends and then maybe down the line introduce some romance. But they didn’t do that did they. Instead not only is all of this the focal point of the episode it also affects Gojou as he is helpless in staring at her even though he tries to convince himself it’s wrong.

The third episode opens with a dream sequence in which Gojou imagines Marin in the costume he is going to make for her acting lewd AF. GREAT! F*CKING GREAT! What even is the point after that.
As a child he was accused of being a pervert by a female relative for liking dolls, and guess what, SHE WAS RIGHT. What an absolutely pointless tale it is after this revelation.. the whole point is the friendship and how it helps Gojou grow into a more confident person, and they killed that when the reason he is attracted to her is not her personality, which I remind you they bothered to write and make her a three dimensional character, but her looks. They ruin two things at once. They make the story of showing that there is nothing wrong with how Gojou feels null and void, and they reduce Marin’s character to nothing but eye candy to be gawked at.

I don’t know what to say honestly… usually they don’t put in the effort of writing characters and laying a foundation for storytelling, so you can just dismiss it as yet another averagely bad show. But here they did do the work, and ruined it so fast… which makes it so much more disappointing.

The only thing I can say against it is that maybe it’s a case of the story you want to be told, rather than the story that they are telling, but when the story that is being told is absolute garbage, I don’t think that really applies.

I can’t give this less than a 4. Usually I give things I can’t finish a 3 or less as they fail to keep me engaged, but this show does keep you engaged and beneath all the fan service and needless camera angles, there is a good show in here somewhere, but I’m gonna finish it.

I actually can't get the right words to come out. This show is just amazing. Also not spoiler free review.


Marin who is a popular girl turns out to have a desire for cosplays, with the lack of people she knows who knew how to sew, she tries to make those cosplays herself, which turned out horribly until she met Gojo, who has a love for making hina dolls, but his lack of social interaction due to the distinct interests he has with other people makes it hard to deal with Marin, who is a popular socially active gyaru, thus the story begins.

When I first heard ... of Sono Bisque Doll, I was like, that sounds bad, but seeing the visual, I was intrigued. The color palette, the character designs are eye catching, thus one thing led to another. I watched the trailer, I see the story is unique and interesting, so I read the manga, and I'm hooked with it.

Cloverworks did amazing with the animation. Those subtle movements from Marin are so damn cute! It makes it look like I'm watching a live action, when it's just amazingly animated.

Last thing, the VA's! How Gojo sounds when he's intrigued and embarrased are so good, and how Marin's has a lively voice. Both VA's really portray the character.
Sono Bisque Doll, in conclusion, is amazingly good, I have high expectations for the upcoming episodes, hope they won't disappoint.

Romance and Slice of Life with Fan-service as main ingredient.

So, this story is about a traumatized-ish and isolated guy who has a unique hobby, dolls. He meets a cosplayer girl. Ok. They now want to do different cosplays. That's it, for now. Very bland.

Now, usual of a SoL show, there's no final objective to keep you watching so it ought to have a deep and meaningful dialogue and/or funny jokes throughout the episodes to actually be enjoyable, this anime got none. I laughed 3 times for 10 seconds; the rest of the time I spent it suffering extreme boredom.
The only reward watchers get ... is fan-service which is lame and only certain "interesting" watchers enjoy it and even then, this fan-service wasn't even good. The second episode fan-service is arguably good but then the constant focus on feet was uncomfortable.

I do have to appreciate the animation work, it was clean and crisp. :)
And the sound wasn't remarkable, actually negligible. :(

The remaining aspect that makes an anime great are characters and here we have the typical naive, dumb, male main character who everyone wishes to be, and the mega-hyper popular girl who takes a liking for him and then they talk forgettable trash dialogue as if they were innocent but we can't forget the fact that both played a storming h3nt** game.

In other words, this anime brings nothing new to the audience. If you want a good romance, you got plenty better choices, if you're looking for comedy, there's Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, if you're looking for fan-service, you got Golden Boy, and honestly, at this point, you're better off watching some actual h3nt**. LOL!

This anime sucks hard. Save your time, enjoy your life doing something worth of your time. Good luck.

I welcome you to the latest installment of...WAIFU WARS!!!

A recent phenomenon where current popular anime are often completely spearheaded by one girl. Nothing else, such as an insightful plot or having a non generic protagonist, matters in the face of this one girl. Creators think, "How can I sell my work and get it recognized by the public?" And the answer they arrive at is really quite simple.

People. Want. Waifus.

There are multiple varieties of anime that could potentially fit this mold, so I'll give you some of the bigger names that I believe really exemplify the Waifu Wars mentality. The prequels to My Dress ... Up Darling if you will. We have...

Takagi-San, The Forehead Menace

Uzaki-Chan, Attack of the Big Ol' Boobies

Nagatoro-San, Revenge of the Tanned Bully

But now another contender has entered the ring. And her name is Marin, A New Waifu.

So I don't really know what just came over me there, but, uhh...let's get into the review! I'm going to keep it brief since as I alluded to, anime of this nature are very basic at their core. My Dress Up Darling remains consistently stalwart in its lighthearted themes and direction throughout, and me going over the specifics and delving deep into them honestly seems unnecessary...and will save you the pain of reading a boring essay from me. You're welcome. This show is very comfy in nature, and from my perspective, whether or not you enjoy it entirely boils down to two things: Your affinity for Slice of Life styled shows and your enjoyment of the characters...particularly Marin the waifu, the selling point of the entire series.

As you've probably guessed from seeing my score, My Dress Up Darling, while I find to be fine, simply didn't pass this criteria for me. Slice of Life really isn't a preferred genre of mine, though that's not to say that I'm always automatically dismissive of such shows. Like this anime, Nagatoro-San also primarily focuses on the regular lives and laid-back antics of some students, yet the presentation and delivery just captivated me more. I respect My Dress Up Darling's author for taking a more original approach in terms of the interests of the two protagonists and how they come together because of them. Gojo being a Hina Doll maker and enthusiast and Marin being an avid cosplayer and...gasp...'NERD', was neat. Though it felt like after that was established, not really much else was done in developing both them and the scenarios they engaged in. It was cute how Marin went from completely cool around Gojo to a little blushy-blush after starting to fall for him, but that was honestly it. I mean the entire first half of the anime alone was focused solely on Gojo making an outfit for Marin. Yes, multiple things were shown throughout this episodic process such as how hardworking Gojo is and the extraordinary detail that the animators put into showing Marin's boob physics, butt checks, sweaty body, and more (I'm sure they worked very hard to try and get the viewers hard). Yet by the end of it, I couldn't help but think "that was it?" Yes, it's a simple and easygoing anime by design, but I personally wanted more out of it.

Now on to the characters themselves. There really isn't much to say about our hero Gojo. I do like how he's portrayed as a sort of yes man due to his lack of social interaction, but not much else is done with him besides frequently describing his passion for Hina Dolls. He just really embodies the "nice guy" trope. The side cast is incredibly limited, but they do elevate the show. I liked Sajuna Inui and honestly thought she was the most entertaining character in the show despite her limited screen time. Let's hope the author gives her more exposure down the line instead of completely removing her from the story in the foreseeable future!

But now, we finally get to core of My Dress Up Darling. Marin. So I'll get straight to the point. She's too perfect. She's a colorful, captivating person. She has a perfect body despite her terrible eating habits. She's into things that most people watching this anime probably like. She's perfectly fine with showing off her body. And most importantly, she's ALWAYS kind and understanding. Does anyone else see how this is a problem? I feel like this anime can be considered a RomCom, and the key element of this genre is showing how flawed characters come together to grow, yet I'm not feeling that at all with this. Marin is such an ideal girl that it's boring. Let me give a comparison to my favorite RomCom, Toradora. The heroine Taiga is a small girl with scruffy, brown hair. While cute, she's definitely no ideal beauty. She has serious communication problems and violent tendencies due to parental neglect and social awkwardness. There are other components to her, but she really isn't painted in that great of a light at the beginning of the anime. And I adore her so much more in every way than Marin, who was practically written for the sole purpose of being adored by the audience immediately upon her introduction. That's because my enjoyment of Taiga was EARNED through her excellent growth as a person in addition to her evolving relationships throughout the show. I didn't really have an idea what a Tsundere was before watching Toradora, yet it became one of my favorite character tropes primarily thanks to Taiga.

Meanwhile, Marin just doesn't have anything like this. She's a fun girl, sure. And she doesn't necessarily need to be more flawed, I just wish she was given more to work with. ANYTHING to work with.

I'll quickly go over some technical aspects. You can tell that the majority of the animation budget went into Marin's body (the animators are most definitely men/women of culture) but CloverWorks still did a decent job overall, especially with the usage of some different animation styles and the sheer expressiveness of the cast. I'll probably get some flack for this, but while I found Marin's voice actress to be good, the voice itself just didn't fit with the character for me. Also, several insert tracks stood out to me for the wrong reasons due to not personally being a fan of the compositions, such as the one that plays sometimes when Marin is being "silly".

Well, My Dress Up Darling really isn't for me. It's mildly entertaining and I did smile here and there, but I wanted a lot more out of it. If you like Marin's character and just enjoy more relaxing anime in general, than you'll definitely like this more than me. That's all I got. I'll see you later for the next installment of Waifu Wars!

Time to write my obligatory preview of the season! The 2 big anime of Winter 2022 are Demon Slayer part 2 and the final season of Attack on Titan. However, right behind those 2 shonen behemoths is a little show called "My Dress-Up Darling". If you spend a lot of time online, you've probably heard of the manga. The manga is generally well liked and seen as a very wholesome and sweet romance. Due to the manga's reputation, there was at least moderate anticipation for the anime. Even though it's by Cloverworks and they have a very spotty track record. I don't think the anime ... community will forgive them for Promised Neverland S2 anytime soon. So, what is this anime about and why is it so wholesome?

My Dress-Up Darling is about a young man named Wakana whose parents died in a car accident, so he grew up with his grandpa. His grandfather is a traditional Japanese doll maker, so Wakana learned the craft in order to spend time with him. Unfortunately, Wakana was bullied as a small child by a little girl who said she hated him because "Dolls are for girls!". This one incident emotionally scarred Wakana so badly that he's still a complete loner in high school with zero friends. For some reason, this really bothers me. It wasn't years of him getting beat up and called homophobic slurs because he knows how to sew and makes dolls. His entire character conflict and why he's so alone stems from this single incident featuring a 5-year-old Japanese girl with virulent homophobia issues.

Lil Wakana: "I made this doll to show the class!"

little girl: "WHY ARE YOU GAE!?

Lil Wakana: "I don't know what you mean. I just like to spend time with grandpa."

little girl: "You are GAE! You are a TRANSGENDAH!"

BTW, we never meet this girl again. I looked ahead in the manga. You would think that Wakana is going to meet her as an adult and maybe she feels really bad about how she acted back then and wants to make things up to Wakana, but no. It was just this really random plot device that's never followed up on. I'm not sure why, but I kind of find that funny. It's certainly something that could happen in real life. Maybe her parents taught her to be that way and you certainly don't typically meet your worst childhood bullies years later in reality. However, that's not generally how stories are written. Usually, when a character is introduced that has a profound impact on the plot and main character's journey, that character is going to come back into the story at some point. Who knows though? The manga is still ongoing.

Anyways, Wakana is sitting in class and suddenly a beautiful girl falls and bumps her head against his desk. This girl is named Marin and she immediately takes a strong liking to Wakana. She decides right away to help him clean up the class after school and starts offering him life advice. Then she comes over to his house and accidentally discovers that he can sew after he trips and one of his dolls flies right into her hands. She then becomes incredibly excited because he could help her make cosplay outfits and strips in front of him! I'm going to make a few things clear. I like sappy romance. I'm really not a romance snob at all. That's why I have Spice and Wolf and Elfen Lied in my top 10. Even I'm shaking my head at this set up. The phrase "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" became so overused to describe 00s Hollywood romances that the man who invented the phrase said he deeply regrets doing so. I REALLY try to avoid ever using the phrase in my reviews, but Marin in the first 3 episodes is maybe the most textbook example of this trope that I've seen in anime. At least since the early 2000s. This setup is BAD!

What if the anime opened with a school craft festival and Wakana was really proud of his traditional dolls and willing to put himself out there, even if it exposes his vulnerability? He's showing his passion and how hard he worked and most of his classmates just dismiss him because dolls are weird and outdated. However, Marin is secretly an otaku and she is able to empathize with his struggles and people looking down on his hobby. Towards the end of the festival, she walks up and buys the only doll he sells that day. The next day, she actually talks to him a little after class and realizes she might have some feelings for this dork. Then their relationship slowly starts to develop into something. If that was how this love story started, I'd actually be all onboard. It would still be cheesy. People would still probably say it's waifu wish fulfillment, but it would be a whole HELL of a lot better than how this started!

Fortunately, the romance and plot improve drastically in the 4th and 5th episode. I really hope that this anime turns things around and ends up being the wholesome romance that it's reputed to be. Personally, I'm very worried because it's Cloverworks, but I've only seen 5 episodes as of this review and hopefully I can look back and feel silly for being so worried. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

The art and animation are actually quite good! I've been very surprised by this series on a technical level. It looks gorgeous! Some previous reviewers have noted the level of echii content and fanservice, which is certainly high for a series not labeled as echii. However, I guess this is a relative thing. Despite showing a lot of cleavage and Wakana overreacting to every exposed thigh like he's Master Roshi, this show doesn't have any ass or titty shots. None. If you're used to watching 90s anime, this show is fairly conservative in its fanservice. Every single season of the 90s Sailor Moon anime has WAY more explicit fanservice than Dress-Up Darling and that was aired for children. There's actually a fair amount of moon in Sailor Moon.

Overall, what are my thoughts so far? I think this anime has plenty of potential. I'm very confused why it has been quite as hyped as it has been, but hopefully it's all from manga readers who know that it's going to get a lot better. Honestly, I really want this anime to get better. I'm not just a contrarian asshole who wants to see this fail because it's popular. Hopefully, it continues to build on the momentum from episode 4 and 5 and we close out strong.

Good story, great animation, good characters. The enjoyment from this show is amazing. The story feels great and is always moving forward, the animation is done beautifully at most parts, and the characters are written really well and contribute to the story just the right amount. When you pair all of these things up you get a remarkably fun show to watch, and maybe one of the best this season. This is one of those shows you sit down to watch on a Sunday evening and just have fun with it. It is not complicated, doesn't have many twists in the story, and makes you ... feel the joy of watching something you like without shoving the idea that you have to know what happens next in the series. Every episode feels great to watch on its own and the enjoyment never comes out of anticipation but of the things actually happening in the show. This anime is my personal favourite of this season, just because of those reasons.

***THIS IS MY SECOND REVIEW FOR THIS SHOW BECAUSE MY FIRST REVIEW WAS POSTED IN WRONG USUAL TIME. IT CONTAINS SPOILERS AND IS CO-WRITTEN BY MY ROMANCE ENTHUSIAST FRIENDS AND MY OLDER SISTER***

WARNING: IF YOU DON’T LIKE CRITICISMS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO STOP VIEWING THIS REVIEW. BUT IF YOU CALM DOWN YOUR BALLS AND ARE OPEN TO SOME OPINIONS, FEEL FREE TO READ.

Hey!
Hey, you
Yeah you...

In a nutshell (Powerpuff Girls Intro):
A self-inserting MC (3D Kanojo Girl), good animation (Horimiya), and a cheeky FML (Nagatoro-san). These were the ingredients chosen to create the “perfect” manga.
... But Shin'ichi Fukuda accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction--

The Chemical F(anservice)

Thus, Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi or Suru were born.

Another in a nutshell:
60% Fanservice
36% Animation
2% Relatable Characters
2% Plot and Romance

Good riddance…

If I can segregate a show, like I segregate the trash in my household, I will put Sono Bisque into the non-biodegradable trash bin. It’s somewhat trash, but not meant to be rotten either.
I remember the day when my female friend and my male underclassman told me about this show. After the massive disappointment of the trying-hard anime Komi-san Can’t Communicate, I browse this show if it’s good. The premise impressed me and my two friends genuinely recommended me this show. They said the story is good, so are the characters. The romance level would surpass my expectations. I mean look at the genres, “Romance, School, Slice of Life”. So, I thought this would be a refreshing romance to start a great year, alongside Takagi-san 3.
But, when I watched some episodes, I asked them why they like Marin so much.

Here are their answers;

The answer of my female friend was, “it’s because I like her behavior.”

“What behavior exactly?”

“Her behavior when she likes to do pervert things to other people.”

The answer of my male underclassman was this, “it’s because she’s cute, beautiful, cheerful, sexy, and mostly, big boobs.”

I even asked my other female classmate what her thoughts were about the show.
She said the sound of its title sounded like horny garbage to her. I browsed the manga and reached this conclusion, my male underclassman is a virgin simp, and my female friend likes to act like a b*tch. No offense to them because I was just being honest, and they agreed. Even it’s their thing, I respected them. So this review contains our genuinely mixed reactions, criticisms, and statements from me, from my friends, and from my older sister, who loves romance animes. This is co-written by them also. I’ll state some points on behalf of them.

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi o Suru or My Dress-up Darling is the first “romance” that aired at the start of the year. This show is like the songs of the BTS KPop group, where the fans hyped it and claimed to be the best new romance anime of the season. I heard from the fans that this will even surpass the third season of Takagi-san and they overhyped it to the highest level. My biggest regret was I rode the hype train with these stans and I reached another facepalm moment.

Sono Bisque is a clear example of a “Clickbait”. This show started to pop out on the internet, especially the pictures of their favorite new waifu, Marin Kitagawa. Innocent audiences, who had no idea about this show asked if this show is good, and in the end, it might be just another disappointment, or just plain, or just a waifu bait anime. This anime had many different titles from audiences because of its content; My Dress-up Virgin, My Dress-up Horny, My Dress-up Pussy, Sono FANSERBisque Doll, Sono VIRGIN Doll, Sono BITCHque Doll even the title I came up with, My Dress-up DOGSHIT.

I know you will ask, “Is it worth watching?” “Why are you saying things like that on your review?” “It’s a wholesome anime so why you didn’t just enjoy it?”
Now before I answer those questions, I’ll try not to be sound like a hater, or an elitist. I will express our statements as romance enthusiasts. I will use an acronym I came up with before I state my arguments.

GOOD PREMISE, WEAK, TERRIBLE AND CHEAP PLOT
When I read about the premise, it seemed interesting and refreshing. A love story with a cosplay theme. The story is in a high school setting, which is one of my favorite settings in romance stories. It never gets old when I encounter this kind of setting. When I watched the first episode, I thought it was good as it said on the premise. I just saw the MC, whose self-confidence was torn down because some random girl in his childhood just made a horrible judgment about his hobby making dolls. After that, he became depressed and lost his self-confidence for having friends. Isolated himself from society. That’s… eh. I mean, just because a random stupid girl made fun of his hobbies, and then he became solely depressed just like that? He’s like Tsutsun in 3D Kanojo Girl but he had a valid reason why he cut ties from his classmates and became an otaku lord in the series. Tsutsun was born to believe that life in 2D is better than 3D but in Wakana’s case, that’s a shallow reason and an excuse to make his character “more relatable”. I don’t know if the author just forced his character to be like that for the sake of the “good plot”. The author should’ve put a good reason or backstory on why he became like that. The story might be good if they added some background to Wakana’s storyline.

I didn’t understand what’s the whole point of this show.

The story was decent. But I couldn’t help myself being annoyed at the same time. This was a facepalm moment. I think it’s just a school SOL anime, full of fanservice and ass-pulls. The romance was plain, pretty not developed, and felt forced. I mean, they just inserted Marin was being in love with Wakana just like that? Seriously? How the heck did that happen? Just like The Anime Man said to his review about Fireworks anime movie. “How it is supposed to be a romance if the characters and the story don’t portray the romance?” The story might be good if they focus and develop well on the romance, their relationship, and add some depth to it. The cosplay should use it as a theme, not a major plot device. Even in the manga, which I’m currently reading, the story didn’t progress or change at all. It’s still the same in the beginning. The author should follow this example in Your Lie in April, they used the music as a theme and they focused more on the romance. In 3-gatsu no Lion, they used the shogi thing as its theme. In Maid-sama, they used the maid and love and hate theme. Those romance animes I’ve mentioned had the romance well developed and bloomed in some unique ways.

One of the main premises of the story is that Marin wants to be a famous cosplayer, right? So why didn’t she think on join a cosplaying competition instead than posting her pictures on the internet? The story might be interesting and it can help their development as the model and the designer. Instead, the show focused more on fanservice and cracked some repetitive and corny dialogues that broke the whole concept of romance. Even the plot of the story was shallow, I still found it interesting. However, the show was not expressive to its message.

AWFUL AND BLAND CHARACTERS

We just talked about our MC on how he was being a self-inserting wimp protagonist, now let’s check out the waifu that everybody loves, Marin Kitagawa. They said Marin symbolizes that you should be confident in yourself. Yeah, I got that. Even it might break our dignity and morality. Yeah, I got that. Our wimp MC and our waifu Marin were just… eh. I don’t know the reason why this show had some poorly written characters but they also defy the nature of logic and morality. Aside from that, there were some uninteresting characters forcedly joined, for the sake of “character development”. In the end, both two girls were just loli baits FFS. Wakana Gojou is another version of Kazuya from another multiverse, but he had very little good behavior.

Marin. Marin, I almost forgot about you. You’re the main landmark of this show on why many male audiences eagerly loved it. There was a time when someone said to me that Marin’s symbolism is amazing. I appreciate that. But how heavy her make-up she was wearing, so are her flaws. If I were to choose between Marin, Nagatoro, Igarashi from 3D Kanojo Girl, and Komi as a good female lead, I will choose the last 3 I’ve mentioned, and not Marin. Marin seemed to be what every boy’s, wet dream. She was personalized as a “perfect waifu” material. The problem with her was she lacked depth and properly good characterization. The only thing that stood out from her is her horny and somewhat perverted mindset, which fulfills every boys’ mind. She looked somewhat similar to the blond girls from hentai that I’ve watched, obviously from her reactions. Yes, there’s nothing wrong in living life to the fullest but does she know her limits and boundaries as a human person, especially she’s a girl? Does she ever think about that? It’s not bad to live that way but it’s not good either. Especially she’s still a minor. And then a series of ridonkeylous moments I saw that tore the concept of realism. Like wearing earrings, colorful nail polish, and not wearing her uniform properly inside the school is “allowed”? I’ve never thought of that thing when there’s no policy about that inside their school. Numerous times she confidently stripping naked and using her body as a form of her teasing to Wakana is one of the absurd things I’ve seen in a show. To the point, they can almost do IT. If this is one of the reasons for the hardening of dicks, for me it’s so completely annoying.

“Get on top of me, Kitagawa-san.”
- Wakana said from Episode 11 with a horny face

Seriously this kind of thing needs to lessen.
There are many ways for him to take a photo shot of Marin in that kind of position. Do you remember in episode 2 when Wakana stared at her from the lower part of her body? That should be the angle that Wakana used instead of asking Marin to hop on him. They had no concept of limits and boundaries. Because in the end, Wakana. Is. Still. A. Boy. And. Marin. Is. Still. A. Girl.
The lady heard Wakana and Marin’s conversation is true.
They are dangerous teenagers.

Yup the fanservice won again.

But the only good thing I saw in her was her initial goal to be a pro cosplay or doing a cosplay. The only thing I’ve seen in Wakana is his hard work in sewing. I know this is a common troupe from many animes but still liked it. However, both characters were one-dimensional, bland, and one-sided. All of the characters were weak and not poignant in the story. If the author writes a story about them joining in a competitive cosplaying event, that would be awesome as fck.

EXCESSIVE USE OF FANSERVICE RUINED THE PLOT
In the first place, I was introduced by many of my friends and the anime news pages that this is a romcom seinen anime. That’s the first I’ve believed in. But damn, they should advertise this anime as an ecchi rom-com. A lot of people had been fooled because of this. Because the media advertised this anime as a romcom, not knowing this is a purely ecchi show. This fact made me feel rage when I watched the show and it wasn’t my fault. I searched it on many anime pages on Facebook, in Wikipedia, and even on MAL. I just noticed on Anilist and Anime-planet (I don’t use Anime-planet really) but it’s already too late. It's their fault for not stating the correct tags and genre on this anime. There’s no ecchi tag there so, in the end, we were just scammed by the media. That’s why this is an example of clickbait. I was baited. Even if you’re saying this is publishing on a Seinen magazine, it’s just a magazine. Yes, they said Seinen is for adult male audiences but can you explain why Shuumatsu no Harem and Interspecies Reviews were published in Shounen magazine?

After the second rewatch, some fanservice from this anime is decent. But one of the main problems is excessive fanservice. Yes, fanservice is one of the common troupes, and the signature of Japanese comedy style can make you laugh but when I watched this show, I was like watching soft-core hentai. Don’t get me wrong, I still found ecchi romcoms entertaining but this needs to lessen. Yet, I still found the ecchi scenes were illogical absurdities. I remember what happened in Episode 1 when she suddenly tried to strip in front of him when there was a comfort room inside their school. The measurement in episode 2 is when she has stripped naked again for measurements when a clothing store exists. This bounds the realism we lived in. The show used her as the “major purpose of entertainment”. The excessive fanservice ruined the whole plot that was intended to be. Is this still an ecchi romance? Or soft-core hentai? This can be so annoying. The point is, it shouldn’t rely on the fanservice for the sake of “entertainment”. It made the whole show nonsensical in some ways, like “this anime should be for cultured weebs than the romance it was supposed to be.” It caused the show to look like every boys’ wet dream to have a horny cute girlfriend. It sounds like this, if Mushoku Tensei didn’t have ecchi scenes, it would be a masterpiece of isekai. Imagine this, if My Dress-up Darling lessen its fanservice and focused more on the pinnacle of its romance, it would be one of the best seinen romance animes.

“But the animation and the production quality are good, right?”

Yes but no thanks. The animation of this show was only the saving grace from all those awful scenes. The animation is good but for me, it’s just average. Probably because Cloverworks did it and I had no expectations about that. Maybe for some guys who are new to anime that’s why they always like animation over the story. The animation is the only factor I gave a pretty fair high score. Heck, only the animation stood out in the series. The music was just plain… It reminds me how Horimiya wasn’t that special. The OP was the only thing I’d like but the ED was just average and I didn’t understand why they were hyping about it. Sorry, not sorry. The animation can’t always save this. The story, characters, and its development are more important than production quality.

Now we all took our loads about this show out of our chest, now we can finally say Sono Bisque is a decent romance but with lackluster characters, a clickbait, a scam, nonsensical excessive fanservice, and somewhat a waste of time. It had many cringe and facepalm moments, and the fanservice was incredibly disgusted. Because of this show, we just started a new year full of disappointments. We might be considered it to be good if was labeled as an ecchi anime. I mean, if you will look at my list, most of them are a variety of romance. Even other ecchi romcoms I found good and enjoyable. But, I can list many ecchi romcom animes that are better than this. Jitsu wa Watashi wa, Eromanga-sensei, Love Hina, Nyan Koi, Mayoi Chiki, Rosario to Vampire, and many more. And I can guarantee they are more enjoyable than this. This is the first time I’ve been disappointed and felt rage in my favorite genre of a certain story. This anime is not worthy of the word “wholesome”. It’s not a masterpiece or heavily romantic. Yet you can still enjoy it if you’re the type of audience to like a good animation.

If you’re the type of audience who can turn off your brain from its flaws, and casually enjoy this kind of absurd act, this anime is for you. However, if you’re a die-hard romance fan, who seeking a solid and groundbreaking romance story, sadly to say this anime is not deserved for you. It might you just feel annoyed and cringe because of the content and its characters. As we end this review, we like to state some advice, as a lesson we’ve experienced from watching this show. It can be so useful when watching an anime.

“Expect disappointment and you will never get disappointed.”

My initial score is 3.5/10 but if I compute our all scores the score will be a glorious 6.9/10. I think you know the reason why we scored it like that.

"SOL heals your soul."
But not in this kind of show.

That’s all and thank you for reading. See you at my next review!!

Sono Bisque Doll is another of the “unpopular guy gets bitches” subgenre. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that’s bad by itself. I have, after all, enjoyed to some extent Nagatoro-san or Uzaki-chan. So why didn’t I have similar experience with My Dress-Up Darling? Good question.

Let’s start with the good parts. First off, the production value is surprisingly high. The animation is fluid and the visuals are crisp. This applies especially for fanservice scenes, as there is obviously significant increase in effort during those. One small detail that I also quite liked is that when scenes from an older (fictional) anime are shown, ... the screen resolution actually changes to 4:3, staying true to the old-school feel.

Then there is the voice action. Plenty of people were surprised this was Marin’s voice actress's first major role, as her performance fells like an experienced one, delivering high quality output.

Now, the complaints. First off, the fanservice – you can’t really talk about My Dress-Up Darling and ignore that. Going back to my intro, I don’t think having fanservice makes a show bad by default. However, it also doesn’t make it good. The show still has to have something besides the fanservice to bring out the quality. And of course, the more a show focuses on presenting fanservice, the less opportunity it has to do that. That said, for some audience just fanservice alone is the good part, so if that is you preference, there is no need for you to read further, the fanservice in this anime is done nicely so you’ll certainly like the show.

Continuing, the characters. First, Gojou, the protagonist – who isn’t really the focus of the series, but it is what it is. Prepare for the typical passive and shy harem protagonist experience with the added ability of crating. Well, at least that’s something more or less unique. Yes, I know this isn’t literally harem anime (yet), but that doesn’t change how similar the experience is. Dude has issues because one time some random girl called him out for liking dolls. Literally a random girl as we don’t get any more context for that. Yeah, he’s awkward, but so nice and surely if someone gave him a chance they would find that out. That is (You), the watcher, the dedicated self-insert situation. As you might have guessed, I don’t particularly enjoy inactive protagonists that just get dragged into doing stuff.

About the girls – we have Marin, the main girl. She grows attached to Gojou because he does stuff for her. She likes cosplaying and pervy stuff and frequently gives Gojou some accidental fanservice. She has very active personality and drags Gorou into situations, because being the passive one, the story wouldn’t move if it would be up to him. Then, we have Sajuna. She likes cosplaying and gives Gojou some accidental fanservice. Then, we have Shinju. She likes cosplaying and gives Gojou some accidental fanservice.

For the story - as typical for harem, the protagonist accidentallies himself into interacting with a girl that just so happens to have aligning interests. Sure, could happen. But this snowballs into yet another girl with aligning interests and yet another another girl aligning interests, at which point it’s starting to become a bit boring. Of course, there are some themes through the story, it’s not just about fanservice. There the conflicting attitudes between Gojou being ashamed of what he likes and Marin being honest and proud of it. Not the most original lesson given, and clearly one that is there to serve the self-insertion, but not a bad idea by itself. It would also be nice if the show gave more spotlight to the doll-making itself instead of focusing just on Marin’s hobby. But that would lessen the opportunities for fanservice, of course. Another theme would also be doing what you like even if the result might not be of highest quality which sure, another good lesson for those who might be struggling with being burnt-out for their hobby or struggling to find some in the first place. “Wow, another person actually likes to cosplay too!” isn’t exactly the greatest emotional pay-off though.

But that is as far as the thoughtfulness of the plot goes. The rest is an average teen romance between, as mentioned, a shy guy and active girl. Very original, much quality. One part that irks me especially, and this is not the fault of just Dress-Up Darling but rather an annoying trope in general is the interruption of tense moments by outside forces unrelated to the situation. It really feels like the author wrote himself a corner, and if it’s left to just the characters to deal with the situation the story might actually progress too much, so they are relieved from their duty of having to make decisions by whatever random loud noise or uninvited guest there is putting a full stop to what was happening. Such a cheap way to conclude a scene.

Well, there is one more good part – the cosplaying part of the plot is fairly detailed and close to reality, so if you’re part of the cosplaying community, you might get better enjoyment out of this based on being able to relate to the process.

Overall, I’m not saying this show is bad. It’s not bad – it’s average. It can definitely be enjoyed by at least some people and you’re not in the wrong for enjoying it. If you were to call it a good show though, that would be a more questionable matter.

If you have read a couple of reviews about this anime, you will agree with me that there are two clear opinions about it: People who paint it as a 'Masterpiece' (I'm serious, there are people who have rated it working with a 10 and also explicitly spelled 'Masterpiece') and the people who 'hate' it. I personally find that the most appropriate word to describe what is told in the synopsis and the premise of the series is 'misleading'.

Before continuing I would like to make it clear that I have seen a good amount of anime with the genres that are labeled My Dress Up ... Darling, 'Romance' and 'Slice of Life', so I do not consider myself to have little experience with the elements that make up animes with those genres.


Story(2/10): The series centers on the relationship between two 15-year-old students, the reserved and introverted Gojo and the outgoing and popular Marin. Initially we are shown that the reason why the protagonist is shy and has trouble speaking his mind is because when he was a child a girl told him that his love of dolls was weird and apparently that was enough reason to make Gojo have a kind of 'trauma' which prevented him from relating to other people and making friends. He spends his days not interacting with anyone until one day he is found by Marin, the most popular girl in school, doing textile crafts. Impressed with Gojo's skills, Marin tells him about her hobby of cosplay and tells him that she shouldn't give importance to what others think, from that moment they become friends and the plot 'develops'.

Starting from this point, one will believe that the bond between the two will develop at a good pace, but as I said at the beginning, all our expectations will be destroyed by a series of problems such as the incredible personality (not in a good way) of the characters, the excessive use of fanservice and events that ruin the little plot that is developed.


Art/Animation(7/10): The best aspect that this anime has and I don't think it's anything special, in general it has a good animation that can be easily seen in the movements of the characters although I would say that more emphasis was placed on this aspect to be able to excite the horny audience during the fan service scenes.


Sound(6/10): Nothing particularly remarkable, I've listened to both the opening and ending theme s couple of times and I don't think it's anything amazing, if anything I think the ending theme is better than the opening, it doesn't mean it's bad but it's not special either.


Character(2/10): I could write a long essay on why the characters were the worst of this series but I think instead of ranting I'll try to be short and to the point.

Gojo: He is a shy boy with social problems because when he was little, a girl criticized his fondness for dolls and that prevented him from making friends until he met Marin. Is there really anyone who accepts these facts that were presented to us in a short flashback and never talked about again as reason enough to be unable to make friends?

When Marin strips naked in front of him or jokes around in a spicy way there are times when he seems to have memories of Vietnam but in other scenes he is completely indifferent and doesn't care how she acts. Honestly, it seems very complicated to me that a person with half a brain can relate to him.

Marin: I will go straight to the point with Marin, she is an incredible person in the sense that it is impossible to believe that a girl can be perfect, in every sense of the word. She is attractive, pretty, hard-working, popular, she shares her 'geeky' tastes with Gojo and he makes her fall in love in a relatively short time and without making any effort other than being himself, Mr. Good Guy.

I haven't said anything new that other reviews haven't pointed out in a more detailed and passionate way, if you want a more deep though in Marin's traits i suggest you reading those reviews who have a more well explained essay about her. Marin is simply a bait to call her 'Waifu of the season' and satisfy the horny weebs in the community.

Sajuna & Shinju: As soon as Marin realizes her feelings for Gojo and the plot advances a bit, the series introduces these sisters with no purpose other than to add 'waifus' and mess up the plot again. Sajuna is a 17-year-old girl with typical loli characteristics and her younger sister is 14 years old and apparently surpasses her sister in all the attractive physical aspects. As expected the sister with great 'personalities' is used for the fanservice scenes and they both do not really add anything of importance to the plot, they just serve to add girls to Gojo's harem and once again satisfy the community cheaply.


Enjoyment/Overall(3-4/10): If you want to turn your brain off and shrug off the many serious issues that have been pointed out by many different people who haven't been duped and are looking for more than just fanservice this anime is what you've been looking for.

It is really sad to see how people label this series a masterpiece despite the fact that the problems that its characters have have been pointed out many times and people get carried away by a pair of boobs, thights and ass.

Now writing this I'm going to comment on some things that some people don't find to be issues, but when reading and watching even 4 episodes of this horrible anime I couldn't keep going. Spoilers ahead, includes every bit of story.


These characters are 14-17 years old, the main character Gojo being 15, and Marin being 15-16. The fan service really ruined this anime... filled with straight up children. Theres even a 13-14 year old that pops up and she is sexualized as well, she hasn't been in the anime yet but I can promise she will be.

Marin loves cosplaying, her first cosplay was appropriate ... and cute for her age! But as the story progresses, she starts to lose more and more clothing, going to love hotels for photoshoots, and even.. painting her skin darker to appear to look EXACTLY like the character. This anime could be so good if it wasn't for the sexualization of minors, and the blackfacing that's going on.

IMMEDIATELLY DROPPED.

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru is one of those funny stories, interesting but with some fanservice.

The story focuses on Marin and Gojou's relationship. The latter is a typical character who has no friends and who has some unexpected hobbies. Marin, on the other hand, is a popular, outgoing otaku (that's very atypical for a series), who loves cosplay, but she never had a real chance to share those feelings with anyone until she found Gojou. From paper, anyone would think that we have a typical and generic relationship. However, the relationship begins to develop comically and bears some resemblance to Runway Waratte's series. ... Furthermore, the relationship of the characters is very similar to that series but with a different setting and problems.

The most interesting part of this series is Gojou and Marin's relationship. The chemistry between these characters enhanced the comedic moments; they mixed a shy character like Gojou with a very active and charismatic girl like Marin and the result is an anime series that any fan could enjoy. However, some could dislike the excessive fanservice but it is necessary to increase the chemistry between the characters and to create a contrast between Gojou's shy, quiet and introverted personality and Marin's energetic and extroverted personality.

On the other hand, the animation, the sound are very good and after three episodes it is still good.

Finally, it's too early to tell if this series is going to be amazing, but it's been a lot of fun and it is a passable series after three episodes. Let's hope that the series continues to amaze the viewers until the end. Right now is in the top 1 in Japan.

This review contains minor spoilers.

My Dress-up Darling is the hottest new seasonal anime of Winter 2022. While it was airing, this beat AoT and Demon Slayer in several top anime of the season polls, which goes to show that it's popular and really well-liked. There are many things to love about Dress-up Darling, but at the same time, I don't think it’s perfect.

Well, why is it so well-loved?

The most obvious reason would be the characters, both leads in particular. Marin Kitagawa, the poster girl of this show has been a widespread hit among the community at large. Fanarts of her have been spreading like a ... plague, more and more people were making her their profile pictures, even if you have not heard of My Dress-up Darling, you could not have missed seeing her face. I think the main reason why Marin is so popular is just for her raw energy. She is an outgoing person, and does not hesitate to convey her thoughts or earnest opinions about something on the slightest whim and just cannot hide her feelings, leaving both Gojo and the audience to deal with her idiosyncrasies. Her raw excitement when she sees a character she adores, or her earnest yearning when she went up to Gojo and asked him to make a cosplay outfit. This kind of energy is really contagious, and it spreads to both Gojo and the audience, cheering up both him and us. The community adoration of Marin also stems from how relatable she is. From the smallest things like having 50+ favourite characters, to just her enthusiasm when she puts on her outfit. I’m sure that everyone has felt that feeling of excitement before, and I think Marin perfectly captures the exhilaration that we feel when we are genuinely excited about accomplishing something.

Gojo is NOT an audience’s insert. I was of this sentiment when the show first started airing. I genuinely believed that this anime was nothing more than “Loner, introverted, average-looking dude with no friends meets cute, popular and outgoing girl that everyone will simp for”. Well, thankfully I was proven wrong. Gojo is a realistic character, he has a passion for making hina dolls, and i think this is where My Dress-up Darling shines the most. It captures what having a passion looks like really well in both Marin and Gojo. Gojo's attention to detail to the level of near-obsession and his perfectionist yet intimate standards of "beauty" is something I can personally relate to, and I'm sure literally anyone that is fervent about a hobby can also see themselves to varying extents in Gojo. He is still flawed in his work, he can't draw faces well, largely due to his lack of social interaction, because no one is perfect at anything, there will always be room for improvement.

I think the two leads bounce off each other really well. The saying “opposites attract” fits really well here. Gojo is introverted, and Marin helps him break out of his shell. Marin can’t make cosplay outfits, despite wanting to cosplay characters, and Gojo helps realise that passion for her. Marin is eccentric and somewhat impulsive, whereas Gojo is more grounded, which does help them in a lot of situations. It makes for an enjoyable dynamic as they complement each other really well, and they cover for the other’s flaws.

The visuals. Cloverworks thankfully did not disappoint with this, and it did not end up in total disaster like some of their previous works. The quality here is better than 90% of other seasonal anime, it’s more than enough for a slice of life show like My Dress-up Darling. The artist for the manga should be given some credit too, the designs of all of Marin’s cosplay outfits, barring one, look absolutely amazing. My personal favourites are Liz the succubus and Black Lobelia, they remind me of Krul Tepes from Owari no Seraph and Lena from 86 respectively, two characters that I like a lot.

I think a largely overlooked reason that it is so beloved is because many people, myself included, agree with the themes and the overall message of the narrative. It is not subtle at all with its intent of preaching the message “Don’t be ashamed of liking whatever you want”. It’s something that surely everyone can agree with. Back in the days when anime was not as popular as it is today, and it even still happens today, it’s not uncommon for anime fans to be ostracised by others on the sole basis for liking anime, and I think this show speaks to them on a personal level. It’s refreshing, and it’s always uplifting to have one’s hobbies validated, no matter how weird it may be perceived to be.

One more thing that I really want to appreciate is how much My Dress-up Darling covers cosplay. Personally, I was never into cosplay, it was always a very foreign idea to me. My preconceived idea of cosplay was really just "People spend money and order an outfit, they wear that outfit and they show off." While I respected the hobby, I never understood the appeal of it. My Dress-up Darling was my first real exposure to cosplay and while cosplay will still never be my thing, it really changed how I looked at it. However, now i do understand and appreciate the effort, the attention to detail and the pains that the outfit makers have to go through in order to create the perfect outfit to represent the character

Now, clearly from the score, I also have some criticism to lobby here, and now I'll explain why some people may not like this show, and the gripes that I personally have.

The characters. Wait, wasn’t I just gushing about how good the characters were? Well, let’s start with Marin, while parts of her personality are relatable, she’s an unrealistic character. No sane person, no matter how whimsical or capricious, would stalk a dude that they have just met and barge into his house, uninvited. No sane person, no matter how whimsical or capricious, would accidentally rent a love hotel and mistake it for a photography studio. Her outright stupidity at times is used as a plot device to get them into the situation that the author wants when there is no other seamless way to do it. It makes some of the funny moments feel really convenient. As for Gojo, he comes off as a typical, generic nice guy romcom protagonist in the first few episodes, it was only later on when i started to really like him, not to mention, his “sad” backstory in order to get the audience to sympathise with him and justify his introvertedness comes out of nowhere, when we barely know the guy. It can seem manipulative, and I really didn't buy this introductory episode. I unfortunately could not empathise with him as an introverted loner, and I ended up liking Gojo for other reasons.

The fanservice. I hate to be that guy who comes off as “the fanservice hater”, because I do not hate fanservice in general. However, I do dislike the fanservice in My Dress-up Darling. In ep 2, for example, Gojo was clearly uncomfortable with Marin when she stripped to get him to “take her measurements”. The scene was clearly contrived for fanservice, and when it's at the expense of someone’s dignity, it does not sit well with me. The love hotel in ep 11 once again was contrived to provide the usual romcom hijinks. Once again, Gojo, the voice of reason, was against the idea of them, being minors, spending time in a love hotel. However, Marin replied with “yeah, if you’re normies”, and then pulled out the sunk cost fallacy argument, which is just really helpful in assuaging these kinds of concerns. This “fanservice” that the show has does not add much enjoyment to it for me. On the contrary, it can be annoying at times and I really think this show could have done without the fanservice.

Overall, I think My Dress-up Darling was a really enjoyable ride, and it was something I looked forward to watching every week. However, it’s far from perfect, and there were parts of it that hampered an otherwise amazing show. While I'm willing to overlook most of the flaws and i think the show is good for the most part, I would ABSOLUTELY NEVER feel safe recommending this to the average person, for obvious reasons.

This is my first review on this site and sadly I write this because of how revolted it made me feel.
The Story seemed very very promising. I have appreciated anime as a medium that exposes and bring amazing new things to your attention. So I planned to watch this to get to know the amazing world of cosplay.
But instead what I saw was a systematic attempt to brainwash and make pervy themes mainstream.
The characters seem to have been written by a virgin.
What the female mc in the show does seems like something out of a teenager's wet dream. Her voice is used to make bad ... things sound good(coz shes the "cool kid"). It's pathetic.
The art was incredible. Everything was crisp. But that kinda makes me madder, that so much effort was spent into making this appalling story.

Humans really are fascinating animals, with the most potential of any species on this planet that we can Earth. If we look into a mirror, we see a reflection and may ask ourselves who or what we want to be. What if I told you that there's a beautiful girl named Marin who takes up cosplaying as a life hobby? When she looks into a mirror, she sees herself as a cosplayer, playing on her fashion style and character.

Translated as 'My Dress-Up Darling', the anime is based on the manga about a guy with a girlish hobby making friends with a very attractive girl, with ... a love of cosplaying. The first episode feels like fate connecting the two together at school. Yes, it's not a common hobby for a guy to enjoy crafting hina dolls and admiring its art form. That's why Wakana Gojo doesn't have many friends and turned into an introvert. On the other hand, Marin enters the show as a very attractive girl with an alluring figure, energetic personality, and just about everything that Gojo is not. The two are bonded by a partnership - Gojo would make costumes for her and Marin would in respect, cosplay in those made costumes.

To get the most obvious out of the way, this is essentially a romantic comedy. At the heart of story is the timid Gojo paired with the charismatic Marin. There will no doubt be some people who raises their eyebrows when watching the first few episodes. For instance, the amount of fan service (particularly episode 2) may catch viewers off guard. Plus, Marin seems like a different species compared to Gojo. When we see Gojo, some of us can see that he is the type of shy kid at school, where almost no one notices. Marin is portrayed as the most popular girl at school where everyone has their eyes on her. Everyone knows her name and she has tons of friends. Thanks to her energetic personality and easy going nature, she can also make friends easily with just about anyone. And of course, she has the looks that resembles a supermodel. However, there's one particular aspect some may not be aware of. She also loves the otaku culture and with a wide range of tastes. It's why she took on cosplaying as a hobby because what else allows her to express herself?

As we take a closer look at the Gojo/Marin pair, it's obvious that they do have character chemistry. From their first encounter, it's shown that Marin sees Gojo as a trustworthy friend, not someone with a weird hobby because of his gender. She treats everyone equally and even admires Gojo's talent. It's because of her friendly gesture that Gojo decided to help Marin make her first costume. Cosplaying as the gothic Shizuku-tan, Gojo also learns his own mistakes and realizes that his costume is far from perfect. Nonetheless, it's admiring that Gojo acknowledges his mistakes while Marin gets to experience the joy of cosplaying. Let's face it, whenever she cosplays, she turns into a fangirl of herself. This extends to her admiration for other popular cosplayers, as we later meet Sajuna Inui and her sister, Shinju.

The Inui sisters represents the more serious duo when compared to Gojo and Marin. For instance, Sajuna takes her cosplay very seriously as she loves the magical girl culture. Her sister Shinju gets along well with others although she seems to have an inferiority complex. Together, they were destined to meet Gojo and Marin. It's a world where cosplaying connects these characters together like fate. It doesn't take an genius to see that the Inui sisters also have a passion for cosplaying, particular Sajuna. At the same time, Marin sees them as companions rather than rivals. That's because Marin seems to love everyone, and isn't a type of girl with an ego. As shown through her character interactions with the Inui sisters, she respects their tastes.

An anime like Dress Up Darling isn't without much of its flaws because let's face it, this type of rom-com isn't entirely aimed for everyone. The biggest concern is how much we should like the four main characters, particularly Marin. Even though she is attractive and fun to watch throughout the series, there's limited character development. Surprisingly, the anime doesn't dive deep into her character past either and mostly shows exactly who she is. The love she expresses to cosplaying can sometime cross the line where she ignores all boundaries of common sense. This includes stripping near naked for measurements, making suggestive comments without batting an eye, or in one episode, she even goes to a love hotel with Gojo. So yes, she's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. This often sets up Gojo as an accidental pervert as he gets front row seat at Marin's alluring figure. Luckily, the anime does take some time for Gojo to develop out of his meek self. And with each episode, he seems to grow more confidence with himself and others. It's one of the perks of the show as Marin influenced Gojo to be himself.

With an anime about cosplaying, what could go right or wrong? Obviously, it's the animation quality and more importantly, character designs. Thankfully, CloverWorks showed their colors and I mean that in an effective way. Marin is decorated with a model look with pretty face, slim figure, and overall lavish style of dressing herself. When we see her cosplay, she shows a genuine passion in her outfits ranging from Shizuku Kuroe to Black Lobelia, or even the lewd Rizu-kyun. There's no doubt the animators wanted Marin to take the stage as the poster girl and someone to advertise as a cosplayer. Gojo on the other hand had his own dress up scenes but most of them are laughable, sometimes even meme worthy. Watching the two together really feels like they came from diferent planets sometimes. However, do be aware that the show isn't shy about fan service. While there's no ecchi on the MAL entry, there's definitely suggestive scenes in the show that will arouse attention.

My Dress Up Darling is a show that take two characters with an unlikely connection and bond them with a common cause. As a rom-com, it will definitely take some time to get used to the cast and warm up to their personalities. Cosplaying isn't a hobby that everyone can just take on with a whim. It takes passion, dedication, and a goal to succeed to make it work. Gojo knows the risks and realizes that nothing in life is easy. Marin also knows that when she looks into a mirror, she is portraying a character when she's cosplaying. It's what make her human to be who she wants.

Another Rom-com anime, My Dress-up Darling had a brilliant animation by Cloverworks, but a poor representation of romance between the main characters.

First of all, Kitagawa is way too lewd and the Gojo was too innocent. I kinda felt this duo seemed a total mismatch somehow, and couldn't even get through many irrelevant laugh that were in the show. Creating a show with a beautiful/waifu type eroge inspired female mc and an innocent good looking male mc, is not all that is needed to have a good romance.

The story was not so good, and there was strong fanservice, although I am surprised how it is not ... ecchi though. It's another Rom-com goody attempted to be on the list of best in the genre, but I felt no enjoyment watching this at all, except the animation being good (and the OP and ED as well). Let's see whether the next season develops well.

My Rating : 4/10