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I got into My Dress Up Darling from watching YT clips of Marin, in Japanese.. I've watched this in both English & Japanese. The English VAs are great for the characters, but for me, the Japanese VAs give off better emotion. I still flip between English & Japanese, don't get me wrong.

This anime was a pleasant surprise for me. Ecchi romantic comedies aren't usually my thing, but this particular series does a great job of selling Marin and Wakana's relationship. Watching them bond through cosplay is enjoyable and heartwarming (and yes, does lead to fanservice, but most of it didn't bother me much), and you can easily see why Marin develops feelings for Wakana and vice versa.

I've been reading the manga and I've been pleased to see the forced ecchi scenes really seem to drop off as it focuses more in on the relationships, the craft, the people, and even the difficulties of breaking gender roles and the importance of participating in what makes you happy. Some scenes in the first season were hard to get through but when we finally do get that season 2 I think it'll get much better in that aspect and I'm very happy for that!

Azure Chrysanthemum wrote:

I've been reading the manga and I've been pleased to see the forced ecchi scenes really seem to drop off as it focuses more in on the relationships, the craft, the people, and even the difficulties of breaking gender roles and the importance of participating in what makes you happy. Some scenes in the first season were hard to get through but when we finally do get that season 2 I think it'll get much better in that aspect and I'm very happy for that!

I never found any of the echi stuff all that bad. The worst for me was when he was measuring her while she wore a bikini. I feel like we spent way too much time on that.

This series has been a pleasant surprise to me from the beginning. I remember browsing at Books-A-Million during the pandemic, looking for something new to read to help pass the time. The first volume of MDUD caught my attention from its cover art. I'm not into cosplay but I enjoy romcoms so I figured what the heck. Fell in love with the series almost right from the get-go and it's been my favorite manga ever since. I keep rooting for our reluctant doll maker and the walking force of nature that is Marin to get together.

The anime was a real joy to watch too because they did such a good job of bringing the series to life and highlighting the reasons why our two leads fall for each other (even if Gojo is a bit slow on the uptake...)

As far as the dubs, I like the original Japanese a little bit more (especially the performance from Marin's VA in the scene where she's wandering the school looking for Gojo) but the English VA's captured Marin's vitality and Gojo's chronic lack of confidence perfectly.

What I like most about the English dub, more than the fact that Paul Dateh, new to voice acting that he was, still gave one of my favorite performances of that year and made Gojo so incredibly likable, and more than the great casting, funny script, and grounded performances, is the palpable chemistry between AmaLee and Paul Dateh, which, I'd say, is the most important thing in a dub for a show like this.

Very unpopular opinion, but I felt this story did a poor job with characterization and relationships. The wish fulfillment girlfriend is quite possibly the most manic pixie dream girl I've ever seen, to the point that I don't get how that wasn't a massive complaint across the board the entire time the show aired. I've seen the term thrown around a thousand times for drastically less egregious cases. I found it especially annoying how the writer couldn't come up with a natural way for the two leads to meet each other. Apparently "what if beautiful girl flew through the classroom and landed on your desk with zero explanation" is good enough for most audiences.

^ You know what? That's fair.

Cho_Desu wrote:

Very unpopular opinion, but I felt this story did a poor job with characterization and relationships. The wish fulfillment girlfriend is quite possibly the most manic pixie dream girl I've ever seen, to the point that I don't get how that wasn't a massive complaint across the board the entire time the show aired. I've seen the term thrown around a thousand times for drastically less egregious cases. I found it especially annoying how the writer couldn't come up with a natural way for the two leads to meet each other. Apparently "what if beautiful girl flew through the classroom and landed on your desk with zero explanation" is good enough for most audiences.

It was kind of funny how she just got launched into Gojo in the anime. It was much more realistic in the manga.

MFrontier wrote:

Cho_Desu wrote:

Very unpopular opinion, but I felt this story did a poor job with characterization and relationships. The wish fulfillment girlfriend is quite possibly the most manic pixie dream girl I've ever seen, to the point that I don't get how that wasn't a massive complaint across the board the entire time the show aired. I've seen the term thrown around a thousand times for drastically less egregious cases. I found it especially annoying how the writer couldn't come up with a natural way for the two leads to meet each other. Apparently "what if beautiful girl flew through the classroom and landed on your desk with zero explanation" is good enough for most audiences.

It was kind of funny how she just got launched into Gojo in the anime. It was much more realistic in the manga.

I think that the whole thing was bait and switch. You start out with a boy who gets shamed for having a "feminine" hobby, so maybe it is going to cover some of the same ground as Dance Dance Danseur does, or at least play it straight and have the anime pay some attention to dollmaking the way the male protagonist in Smile Down the Runway actually does pursue making dresses for the fashion industry. But nope! Gojo's dollmaking was merely symbolism for the target audience's persecution complex over being otakus with sketchy hobbies (which an art like traditional dollmaking SHOULD NOT BE by the way) and questionable socialization. And they immediately ditch the dollmaking for ... cosplay. And then there is Marin. She is basically introduced by way of making this huge speech to publicly validate the otaku target demo. Then she further validates this demo by having the same hobbies as they do ... eroge video games made for guys and shonen anime! I guess in modern times the previous "perfect girl" fantasy, one who is totally submissive and will center her life around catering to the guy's whims, is passe. Well this show and those like it have replaced it with the next best thing: girls who like the same things as male otaku do! Actually having to broaden your horizons through interacting with a girl who likes different things than you? Who needs or wants that! A male otaku with a female swimsuit model body is so much better! And not just that but one who has absolutely no inhibitions or common sense! Someone who is simply obsessed with undressing in front of a guy that she met 3 weeks ago and forces said guy to put his hands all over her! Why? Because if the guy has to go through the trouble of gaining romantic developments by asking, that means pressure! Risk! Rejection! Who wants THAT in their fantasies? And yes we know this is a fantasy, because will Marin strip in front of any guy and demand that he "take her measurements" or just Gojo? Well fortunately Gojo is the only teenage male depicted in the show so who knows?

My Dress Up Darling was just another ecchi harem fanservice fantasy for otaku, with Kirito, excuse me, Gojo being just another vanilla self insert. No idea why the show got all the acclaim that it did. It would be one thing if it was just the ecchi fanservice fans giving this show high recommends. But instead this show was universally praised, including by people who normally have a low opinion of not just fanservice but blatant pandering to the male otaku persecution complex.

@Sean Can you post a pic of the costume play insert mention you talked about. Like u said I don't see any sight that sells it as showing it, but it goes a step further. NO Google hits at all, heck, I even watchd an unboxing and THAT didn't have what u'r talking about. I'd like to know more about this feature that was seemingly removed, no matter how small the detail.

rudhy wrote:

MFrontier wrote:

Cho_Desu wrote:

Very unpopular opinion, but I felt this story did a poor job with characterization and relationships. The wish fulfillment girlfriend is quite possibly the most manic pixie dream girl I've ever seen, to the point that I don't get how that wasn't a massive complaint across the board the entire time the show aired. I've seen the term thrown around a thousand times for drastically less egregious cases. I found it especially annoying how the writer couldn't come up with a natural way for the two leads to meet each other. Apparently "what if beautiful girl flew through the classroom and landed on your desk with zero explanation" is good enough for most audiences.

It was kind of funny how she just got launched into Gojo in the anime. It was much more realistic in the manga.

I think that the whole thing was bait and switch. You start out with a boy who gets shamed for having a "feminine" hobby, so maybe it is going to cover some of the same ground as Dance Dance Danseur does, or at least play it straight and have the anime pay some attention to dollmaking the way the male protagonist in Smile Down the Runway actually does pursue making dresses for the fashion industry. But nope! Gojo's dollmaking was merely symbolism for the target audience's persecution complex over being otakus with sketchy hobbies (which an art like traditional dollmaking SHOULD NOT BE by the way) and questionable socialization. And they immediately ditch the dollmaking for ... cosplay. And then there is Marin. She is basically introduced by way of making this huge speech to publicly validate the otaku target demo. Then she further validates this demo by having the same hobbies as they do ... eroge video games made for guys and shonen anime! I guess in modern times the previous "perfect girl" fantasy, one who is totally submissive and will center her life around catering to the guy's whims, is passe. Well this show and those like it have replaced it with the next best thing: girls who like the same things as male otaku do! Actually having to broaden your horizons through interacting with a girl who likes different things than you? Who needs or wants that! A male otaku with a female swimsuit model body is so much better! And not just that but one who has absolutely no inhibitions or common sense! Someone who is simply obsessed with undressing in front of a guy that she met 3 weeks ago and forces said guy to put his hands all over her! Why? Because if the guy has to go through the trouble of gaining romantic developments by asking, that means pressure! Risk! Rejection! Who wants THAT in their fantasies? And yes we know this is a fantasy, because will Marin strip in front of any guy and demand that he "take her measurements" or just Gojo? Well fortunately Gojo is the only teenage male depicted in the show so who knows?

My Dress Up Darling was just another ecchi harem fanservice fantasy for otaku, with Kirito, excuse me, Gojo being just another vanilla self insert. No idea why the show got all the acclaim that it did. It would be one thing if it was just the ecchi fanservice fans giving this show high recommends. But instead this show was universally praised, including by people who normally have a low opinion of not just fanservice but blatant pandering to the male otaku persecution complex.

Ok so, let me start out by saying, not everything is about catering to Otakus, much less male Otaku just becus it has some stuff one can point to and make the BOGUS claims a few of ya'll made in here. Fair for sure, I don't deny some scenes and such can be taken that way, but u'r missing the ENTIRE APPEAL AND POINT OF THE SHOW! COSPLAY! The art, craft and hobby! THATS the appeal and THATS why its pops, becus it does it WELL! The relationship between the two leads is a small nice bonus (And lets not kid ourselves, it goes no where cus neither makes a proper move so u HONESTLY can't even truly say its a romance series either). Oh and on my 2nd point, u'r only outting urself as a hater by mentioning Kirito from SAO. (Whom has nothing to do with this show, heck, theres not any similarity between him and Gojo) and like Marin, yes I am a woman and I AM an Otaku and damn proud of it so u can take ur hate and keep it to yourself. People love My Dress Up Darling becus despite what u claimed and think of the show, it appeals to a large amount of people becus, its a good show. Simple as that. And no, I do not think its a show thats even trying to cater to Otakus with its cosplay theme. U can tell the love and so on for the medium was handled well here. And on ur other point I didn't touch on till now. most girls and guys in anime who're teens look like they could be models. Its so in ur face that a few times I've heard a char say she isn't pretty or that the guy is just average looking and I can't even take that crap seriously becus lol look like they're all models.P.s. This will be my only response to u, or anyone hating on this show, becus I have better things to do with my time than argue with haters.

Before we debate more if Marin is a manic pixie dream girl, it should be noted the term was first coined by a man, Nathan Rabin, and he later regretted coining the word because he felt the word had been used in sexist ways and there's plenty of feminist criticism of the word manic pixie dream girl being used as a reductive way to unfairly stereotype all quirky girls. Also Marin can hardly be said to exist solely to please otaku men when almost all her other friends are also girl otaku who share her interest in cosplay and Gojo is practically her only close guy friend. If Gojo wasn't in the show it would be about her friendships with the other girls and she's only considered an otaku fantasy because Gojo is there. Which says less about Marin and more about the critiques of her if she's only seen as an otaku fantasy because she talked to a guy and is nice to him.

rudhy wrote:

I think that the whole thing was bait and switch. You start out with a boy who gets shamed for having a "feminine" hobby, so maybe it is going to cover some of the same ground as Dance Dance Danseur does, or at least play it straight and have the anime pay some attention to dollmaking the way the male protagonist in Smile Down the Runway actually does pursue making dresses for the fashion industry. But nope! Gojo's dollmaking was merely symbolism for the target audience's persecution complex over being otakus with sketchy hobbies (which an art like traditional dollmaking SHOULD NOT BE by the way) and questionable socialization. And they immediately ditch the dollmaking for ... cosplay. And then there is Marin. She is basically introduced by way of making this huge speech to publicly validate the otaku target demo. Then she further validates this demo by having the same hobbies as they do ... eroge video games made for guys and shonen anime! I guess in modern times the previous "perfect girl" fantasy, one who is totally submissive and will center her life around catering to the guy's whims, is passe. Well this show and those like it have replaced it with the next best thing: girls who like the same things as male otaku do! Actually having to broaden your horizons through interacting with a girl who likes different things than you? Who needs or wants that! A male otaku with a female swimsuit model body is so much better! And not just that but one who has absolutely no inhibitions or common sense! Someone who is simply obsessed with undressing in front of a guy that she met 3 weeks ago and forces said guy to put his hands all over her! Why? Because if the guy has to go through the trouble of gaining romantic developments by asking, that means pressure! Risk! Rejection! Who wants THAT in their fantasies? And yes we know this is a fantasy, because will Marin strip in front of any guy and demand that he "take her measurements" or just Gojo? Well fortunately Gojo is the only teenage male depicted in the show so who knows?

My Dress Up Darling was just another ecchi harem fanservice fantasy for otaku, with Kirito, excuse me, Gojo being just another vanilla self insert. No idea why the show got all the acclaim that it did. It would be one thing if it was just the ecchi fanservice fans giving this show high recommends. But instead this show was universally praised, including by people who normally have a low opinion of not just fanservice but blatant pandering to the male otaku persecution complex.

Sono Bisque Doll is acclaimed because is not only about a teen romance fanservice show but because is first a manga/anime about cosplay. In fact some criticism online for the more recent chapters been only about cosplay.

In fact is more realistic than you believe. I worked some time in Japan and I had been lucky to be introduced to the cosplay scene by friends and get to know cosplayers and I went to cosplay events. Many of the cosplayers are hardcore otaku. Some also work as models outside of cosplay. And many are more at ease with people that share the same hobby's as them and love to talk about the characters they are cosplaying. Some of the best memories I have from the time I was there was during these events becase I was with people that love cosplay and know many cosplayers.

I would say that the artist is someone that made allot of research on the cosplay subject to make the manga as realistic as possible so this is far to be fantasy.

Raebo101 wrote:

What I like most about the English dub, more than the fact that Paul Dateh, new to voice acting that he was, still gave one of my favorite performances of that year and made Gojo so incredibly likable, and more than the great casting, funny script, and grounded performances, is the palpable chemistry between AmaLee and Paul Dateh, which, I'd say, is the most important thing in a dub for a show like this.

I have to say, when I first heard of AmaLee I thought she was just some Youtuber who happened to do cover songs, didn't think she would blow up in popularity, then she did and I was like "Wow, this girl has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger" and it was only a matter of time before she starred in official anime/game dubs doing some songs, too.

When I saw her intro vid, I thought to myself "this girl must be genuinely wholesome and sweet in real life who seems pure and innocent" if she has such a cute intro clip and great singing voice.

Then I see some of her Monarch livestreams and I'm...quite surprised. She seemed alot more animated than I anticipated, not to mention she...seems to have a bit of a potty mouth, to say the least. Shocked

Having said all that, she seems to do a good job as the voice of Marin.[/list]

Man this show was good, I hope we get a season 2. It's so rare for a show like this to have such good female AND male protagonists. They're so cute

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