Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru

High school student Wakana Gojou spends his days perfecting the art of making hina dolls, hoping to eventually reach his grandfather's level of expertise. While his fellow teenagers busy themselves with pop culture, Gojou finds bliss in sewing clothes for his dolls. Nonetheless, he goes to great lengths to keep his unique hobby a secret, as he believes that he would be ridiculed were it revealed.

Enter Marin Kitagawa, an extraordinarily pretty girl whose confidence and poise are in stark contrast to Gojou's meekness. It would defy common sense for the friendless Gojou to mix with the likes of Kitagawa, who is always surrounded by her peers. However, the unimaginable happens when Kitagawa discovers Gojou's prowess with a sewing machine and brightly confesses to him about her own hobby: cosplay. Because her sewing skills are pitiable, she decides to enlist his help.

As Gojou and Kitagawa work together on one cosplay outfit after another, they cannot help but grow close—even though their lives are worlds apart.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kitagawa, Marin Main

Suguta, Hina Japanese

Gojou, Wakana Main

Ishige, Shouya Japanese

Inui, Sajuna Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Inui, Shinju Supporting

Youmiya, Hina Japanese

Gojou, Kaoru Supporting

Ono, Atsushi Japanese

Sugaya, Nowa Supporting

Takeda, Larissa Tago Japanese

Liz Supporting

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Tengeji, Mirai Supporting

Tange, Sakura Japanese

Rune Supporting

Sekine, Akira Japanese

Kaname Supporting

Shirai, Yuusuke Japanese

Umehara, Shouta Producer

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Nakayama, Nobuhiro Producer

Komatsu, Shouta Producer

Reviews

Mar 26, 2022

noob2121

Recommended

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 26, 2022

HellLyter

Mixed Feelings

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!

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 26, 2022

Kyline

Not Recommended

*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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Season 2 Han_17 - Dec 19	23 replies	by Hassaan69 »» Dec 21, 6:13 AM
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*My Dress-Up Darling* has sold over 8million copies, with a hit anime in Winter 2022 and a sequel in the way. It's about cosplay-loving Marin and Wakana, an aspiring doll craftsman. Fans were captivated by the slow-burning love and the realistic cosplay. We got the details from the director.

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