Aug 2, 2024
This is pretty much a cosplay anime first and foremost, that's how the adaption has chosen to focus on things. The relationship between the lead Okumura and Lilysa develop in a way that you can see potential romance, but they're such perfect partners that support each other that you can feel their chemistry on a platonic level. The first three episodes represent more a prologue to the main course of cosplay and the exploration of cosplay culture. A reflection of how the source material evolves from the ecchi romcom harem to something more complex.
The main difference between Dress Up Darling and this series is
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that you get a better idea of Japanese Cosplay culture rather than the more individual costume by costume dress ups and creations by Gojo and Marin. The overall cast feels stronger as a result even outside the childhood friend Mikari, you have the other cosplay cast that you feel you're going to meet again. And you want to meet again because you want to reward kindness with kindness. The world is much larger than outside the clubroom, but you can't help but root for Lilysa to succeed. You want her to be the best Lilliel there ever was. Even if her only skills and expertise seems to be related to cosplay and the creation of.
The VAs and the OST really pull their weight in bringing the story to life. The OST is able to sell the romantic and cosplay moments equally well with the right instrumentation. Okumura and Mikari's VA really sell the loudness and bravado while Mikari showcases the confident, but tsundereness. Former showcases this in Episode 4 between yelling reactions in public to an episode he's watching, to motivating Lilysa to put on the cosplay outfit. And pretty much every scene Mikari's in you can feel the vacillation between love rival to good friend. So far the studio's been keeping good pace with the manga, cutting and rearranging where needed to hit the key moments in a timely matter. Episode 2 is a fine example of rearranging so that Mikari's moments are framed throughout the episode rather than in one large block. With how the pacing has ended up so far, Episode 5 was able to fit in a pretty meaty bonus chapter adaption that helped flesh out the cast as a whole as they discussed about common cosplay issues they suffer. Lilysa really facilitates most of the comedic moments by playing her absurdities rather straight, but the anime is great at executing the comedic scenes. Like getting people to look for an Elf Lady cosplayer in the subway to return her coverup underwear.
Also you can never go wrong with an ED Dance number sung by the VA's of Lilysa and Mikari in character.
This series is a definite delayed burn, because the charms of the series only really start becoming apparent as the fanservice takes a back seat to the cosplay action. Somethings are predictable because this is ultimately a shonen romance. On the other end, there are still surprises left for new people.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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