My Dress-Up Darling

My Dress-Up Darling (そのは恋をする) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shinichi Fukuda. It began serialization in Square Enix's Young Gangan in January 2018, and has been compiled in 13 volumes. An anime television series adaptation produced by CloverWorks aired its first season from January to March 2022. A sequel has been announced.

By May 2024, the manga had more than 11 million copies in circulation. The series has been met with critical acclaim.

Premise
Wakana Gojo's passion for crafting hina dolls causes him to hide his interests due to social trauma. However, when his beautiful and popular classmate Marin Kitagawa discovers his talent, she sees beyond his apparent idiosyncrasies and encourages him to create cosplay costumes. With Marin's support, Wakana steps out of his seclusion and begins to gain confidence. Working together, they create unique and beautiful costumes showcasing their talents and true selves.

Characters

 * Wakana Gojo (五条 新菜)
 * A first-year high school student. Being an orphan, he was raised by his grandfather, a craftsman of hina dolls, who also inspired him to become a kashira-shi (頭師), a craftsman who makes the heads of hina dolls. Wakana has a large physique and is over 180 cm tall, but he has low self-esteem and is reclusive due to a bitter memory of being criticized by his female childhood friend, who thought that boys should not be playing with dolls, ending their friendship. As a result, he hid his doll-making hobby and had no friends until he met Marin. Thanks to Marin's encouragement and support, Wakana steps out of his comfort zone and embraces his love for crafting. He grows more confident with each project, and through their collaboration, Wakana finds a sense of belonging in the cosplay community that he had never experienced before. Wakana grows closer to Marin, he seems to be completely unaware to her falling in love with him, and only sees her as a partner.
 * A first-year high school student. Being an orphan, he was raised by his grandfather, a craftsman of hina dolls, who also inspired him to become a kashira-shi (頭師), a craftsman who makes the heads of hina dolls. Wakana has a large physique and is over 180 cm tall, but he has low self-esteem and is reclusive due to a bitter memory of being criticized by his female childhood friend, who thought that boys should not be playing with dolls, ending their friendship. As a result, he hid his doll-making hobby and had no friends until he met Marin. Thanks to Marin's encouragement and support, Wakana steps out of his comfort zone and embraces his love for crafting. He grows more confident with each project, and through their collaboration, Wakana finds a sense of belonging in the cosplay community that he had never experienced before. Wakana grows closer to Marin, he seems to be completely unaware to her falling in love with him, and only sees her as a partner.


 * Marin Kitagawa (喜多川 海夢)
 * A first-year student in Wakana's high school class. An archetype of a gyaru, notable for her warmth, friendliness, positivity, and outgoing nature. Marin is shown to dislike overly critical people who judge others based on their interests. She is a huge fan of anime, and her entire bedroom is decorated with anime posters and merchandise. After a series of successful cosplays, Marin grows closer to Wakana and eventually realizes she is head-over-heels in love with him. She continually does whatever she can to invite him to different places and spend time with him, as a way to win his heart and make him her boyfriend, although Wakana seems to be completely oblivious to her feelings for him. She lives alone as her mother died when she was a child, and her father is often away due to work.
 * A first-year student in Wakana's high school class. An archetype of a gyaru, notable for her warmth, friendliness, positivity, and outgoing nature. Marin is shown to dislike overly critical people who judge others based on their interests. She is a huge fan of anime, and her entire bedroom is decorated with anime posters and merchandise. After a series of successful cosplays, Marin grows closer to Wakana and eventually realizes she is head-over-heels in love with him. She continually does whatever she can to invite him to different places and spend time with him, as a way to win his heart and make him her boyfriend, although Wakana seems to be completely oblivious to her feelings for him. She lives alone as her mother died when she was a child, and her father is often away due to work.


 * Sajuna Inui (乾 紗寿叶)
 * A cosplayer who presents herself under the nickname of "Juju" (ジュジュ). She is a second-year student at an all-girls private high school. However, despite being a year older than Wakana and Marin, Sajuna's youthful appearance and petite figure means she is often mistaken for a middle school student. She is outspoken, blunt, and headstrong, going to great lengths to achieve her goals. Sajuna cherishes her younger sister Shinju and does all she can to make her happy. Like Marin, she is a fan of cosplay.
 * A cosplayer who presents herself under the nickname of "Juju" (ジュジュ). She is a second-year student at an all-girls private high school. However, despite being a year older than Wakana and Marin, Sajuna's youthful appearance and petite figure means she is often mistaken for a middle school student. She is outspoken, blunt, and headstrong, going to great lengths to achieve her goals. Sajuna cherishes her younger sister Shinju and does all she can to make her happy. Like Marin, she is a fan of cosplay.


 * Shinju Inui (乾 心寿)
 * Sajuna's younger sister. Shinju is a middle school student. She is 178 cm tall and is sometimes mistaken for an adult. However, despite her imposing physique, she is incredibly timid. Shinju is close to her sister and holds her in very high regard. When Sajuna cosplays, Shinju assumes the role of photographer, using a DSLR camera borrowed from their father. She is also skilled at using a computer, processing and uploading the images she takes. While Shinju secretly wishes to cosplay herself, she fears falling short of her sister's high standards. Nevertheless, she starts to cosplay after encouragement from the others.
 * Sajuna's younger sister. Shinju is a middle school student. She is 178 cm tall and is sometimes mistaken for an adult. However, despite her imposing physique, she is incredibly timid. Shinju is close to her sister and holds her in very high regard. When Sajuna cosplays, Shinju assumes the role of photographer, using a DSLR camera borrowed from their father. She is also skilled at using a computer, processing and uploading the images she takes. While Shinju secretly wishes to cosplay herself, she fears falling short of her sister's high standards. Nevertheless, she starts to cosplay after encouragement from the others.

Chitose Amano (天野 千歳, Chitose Amano)

Akira Ogata (緒方 旭, Ogata Akira)

Suzuka (涼香, Suzuka)

Miyako (ミヤコ, Miyako)

Production
Shinichi Fukuda set Wakana as an orphan without friends in order to create a situation where he has to solve problems with Marin, instead of his parents or other friends.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Shinichi Fukuda, the series began serialization in Young Gangan on January 19, 2018. The individual chapters are collected and published by Square Enix, with 13 tankōbon volumes being released. An official fan book was released on September 24, 2022.

During the Anime Expo in July 2019, Square Enix announced the English version of the series under the title My Dress-Up Darling and published it under its new publication imprint Square Enix Manga & Books.

Volumes

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Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced in the ninth issue of Young Gangan, which was published on April 16, 2021. It was produced by CloverWorks and directed by Keisuke Shinohara, with Yoriko Tomita handling the series' scripts, and Kazumasa Ishida designing the characters and serving as chief animation director. Takeshi Nakatsuka composed the series' music. It aired from January 9 to March 27, 2022, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The opening theme song is "Sansan Days" (燦々デイズ) by Spira Spica, while the ending theme song is "Koi no Yukue" (恋ノ行方) by Akari Akase.

Funimation licensed the series outside of Asia. On January 28, 2022, Funimation announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the dub was moved over to Crunchyroll. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia.

A sequel was announced on September 17, 2022.

Sales
In February 2022, it was reported that the manga had an additional 1.5 million copies in circulation following the premiere of the anime adaptation. In June 2022, it was announced the manga had over 7 million copies in circulation. In September 2023, it was announced the manga had 9.5 million copies in circulation. In October 2023, the manga had surpassed 10 million copies in circulation. By May 2024, the manga had surpassed 11 million copies in circulation.

Accolades
In August 2019, the series was ranked sixth in the print manga category according to the votes for the fourth edition of the Next Manga Award, organized by Da Vinci magazine from Media Factory and the Niconico website.

The manga was ranked sixteenth for readers in the 2020 edition of the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guide from Takarajimasha.

The manga was ranked third in Honya Club's Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2020, a survey that collected results from 1,100 professional bookstore employees in Japan.

The series, alongside Artiste, won the Men's Comic Prize at NTT Solmare's "Minna ga Erabu!! Denshi Comic Taishō 2020" in 2020.

Critical reception
My Dress-Up Darling received widespread critical acclaim for its animation, voice acting, characters, humor, and translation. Reviewing the anime's first season, IGN's Kambole Campbell described the show as a "supremely enjoyable portrayal of the joy of sharing a craft." The review praised the performances as "genuine as they are entertaining." Slashfilm's Rafael Motamayor wrote that the series is "not technical enough to turn the audience or the characters off, but enough that you can appreciate the very hard work that goes into cosplaying." He also praised its English translation as "go[ing] the extra mile to portray [Marin's] personality through the subtitles, capturing her gyaru idioms and even random gibberish that she says out loud." Collider's David Lynn praised Gojo and Marin, the series' two main characters, as "simultaneously broadly universal and yet surprisingly complex" with "distinct strengths and flaws". The series did receive criticism by some for its fan service and oversexualization of the characters. IGN's Campbell wrote that "There are a handful of leery moments that'll take some viewers out of it." Writing for Bleeding Cool, Alejandra Bodden generally praised the series' exploration of sexuality but criticized some scenes as being uncomfortable.