That is until a chance encounter with Kitigawa, the over the top, bubbly 16 year old fashion model at his school who has an overlapping interest in cosplaying her favorite characters from Eroge games. Gojo, devotes his energy to helping Kitigawa by making her cosplay dreams come to life by putting that same obsessive energy that he was putting into Hina dolls into his new hobby. Making cosplay costumes for the object of his affection.
My Dress Up Darling is bog standard for the slice of life genre. The anime production is pretty good and elevates the source material of the manga and breathes new life into it to make for one of the most surprisingly entertaining anime of this season. I am actually surprised an anime adaptation for this manga exists because it is beat for beat. Moment to moment, romantic comedy 101. Ignoring the cosplaying element this is the most stripped down romantic comedy that I have seen in years. Boy meets girl. That's it. Not trying to disparage this at all but even anime from a decade ago felt the need to add a little spice to the romantic comedys. I'm thinking B Gata H Kei or Mysterious Girlfriend X for example.
I would be a hypocrite to dismiss this anime. It does something that I wish a lot of anime would do. It limits its scope and does a very specific thing and does that thing well. The two characters in this romcom are conceived in a near perfect way.
Gojo is kinda lame. He doesn't have any experience with women, he isn't cool. His fashions sense consists of him wearing the same garments as his grandfather. He is constantly stammering and apologizing, even to the point that Kitigawa gets impatient. Besides that he is the perfect partner. He is super appreciative and grateful for Kitigawa. He is very attentive and dependable on top of being a good cook. Most importantly, he has no hobbies or interests not involving her so he can spend all his time with Kitigawa and nothing else demands his time or attention.
Kitigawa is a very obvious idealized version of what a high school girlfriend would be like. She is very mature for her age which is one of the reasons Gojo is drawn to her in the first place. She tells her friends "you should never make fun of something that someone likes" as Gojo watches from afar. She lives alone, watches a lot of anime, makes a living as fashion model and most importantly. She doesn't really demand anything of him besides that he hangs out with her and makes her cosplay costumes.
This is supposed to feel like a very grounded show but at some point my suspension of disbelief just breaks. These aren't real people. They are caricatures that don't feel as raw and rough around the edges the way real people are. That may not be a complaint for some people , especially if you just want to watch a show with your perfect waifu of the season. Which is completely valid way to watch this show. However, I feel the slice of life genre has come a long, long, way and can do more than this. The production, adaptation, direction and music in this are all top notch. However, the show sold away any depth for playful teasing and Kitigawa making random comments like "my panties are dripping with sweat" or opening her legs and saying "Gojo, just do it". If you want to watch something that will put a big cheesy grin on her face, this is for you. Just don't expect anything more beyond that
