My Dress-Up Darling

Alternate Titles

その着せ替え人形は恋をする
Sono Kisekae Ningyo wa Koi wo Suru

Synopsis

Wakana Gojo is a first-year high school student who aspires to be a hina doll craftsman and enjoys making doll clothing in his spare time. Marin Kitagawa is a popular girl in his class who likes gyaru fashion and is always the center of attention. One day after school, she sees him working on doll clothing in the school’s clothing room. To Wakana’s surprise, it turns out she’s a bit of an otaku, and she asks him to create the costume of a certain video game character she adores! So begins their exciting cosplay high school life!

Background

My Dress-Up Darling is a manga series written and illustrated by Shinichi Fukuda that began serialization in Square Enix's Young Gangan seinen manga magazine in January 2018. As of October 2021, eight collected tankobon volumes have been published under the Gangan Comics imprint. An English version of the manga was announced by Square Enix during Anime Expo in July 2019 and is being published under their Square Enix Manga & Books imprint. As of June 2021, four volumes have been published.

A TV anime adaptation was announced in Young Gangan in April 2021. It is being produced by CloverWorks and features Keisuke Shinohara as director, with Yoriko Tomita handling series composition and scripts, Kazumasa Ishida handling character designs, and Takeshi Nakatsuka composing the music. The anime’s opening theme song is “Sansan Days” by Spira Spica, and the ending theme song is “Koi no Yukue” by Akari Akase. The anime will premiere in Japan on Jan. 8, 2022 on Tokyo MX, BS11, and other channels.

Characters

Marin Kitagawa (Voiced by: Hina Suguta)
A first-year high school student and member of Class 1-5 who’s a total knockout. She dresses in the gyaru style and is popular in her class and also works as a model for magazines. She has a cheerful and straightforward personality and is the type to always be at the center of attention. She is a huge otaku who loves anime, a wide range of games (including adult ones), manga, and cosplay. She doesn’t hide her love of otaku culture at all, and her room is covered in posters of her favorite characters. She describes cosplay as her ultimate love, and she begins requesting Wakana to make her cosplay outfits after meeting him one day after school while he was working on the clothing for a hina doll.

Wakana Gojo (Voiced by: Shoya Ishige)
A first-year high school student and member of Class 1-5 who has aimed to become a master hina doll craftsman ever since he fell in love with the hina dolls his grandfather made when he was young. He has a serious personality and is single-minded in his focus to achieve his goal. Due to a certain incident that occured during his childhood, he begins hiding his hobby and his true feelings. He lacks self-confidence and has trouble fitting in with his class. He often speaks very politely to others and is seen as being overly serious. He has enjoyed creating dolls and making outfits for them since he was a child and is skilled at sewing and makeup. He first meets Marin when he stays after school to use a sewing machine after his at home breaks down. He is surprised to find her making a cosplay outfit and is delighted when she compliments his doll. Before long, she asks for his help in making her costume and he takes his first steps into the otaku world of anime, manga, games, and cosplay.

Sajuna Inui (Voiced by: Atsumi Tanezaki)
A second-year high school student at Sakuranomiya Girls High School who is popular online as the beautiful cosplayer Juju. She longed to be a magical girl as a child and now cosplays as her favorite magical girls from anime.

Shinju Inui (Voiced by: Hina Yomiya)
A junior high school student and Sajuna’s little sister. She helps out by being Juju’s cameraman and also edits her photos. She has a secret desire to try cosplaying herself, but she doesn’t think she’d look as good as her sister.

Kaoru Gojo (Voiced by: Atsushi Ono)
Wakana’s grandfather. Wakana respects and looks up to him as a master craftsman.

Music

Opening Theme Song: “Sansan Days” by Spira Spica
Ending Theme Song: “Koi no Yukue” by Akari Akase

• Anime Site (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: Shinichi Fukuda
• Director: Keisuke Shinohara
• Series Composition/Script: Yoriko Tomita
• Character Design: Kazumasa Ishida
• Chief Animation Director: Kazumasa Ishida, Jun Yamazaki, Shinpei Kobayashi, Tomomi Kawatsuma
• Main Animator: Naoya Takahashi
• Costume Design: Erika Nishihara
• Color Design: Mai Yamaguchi
• Art Setting: Hiroyuki Nemoto
• Special Effects: Chiemi Irisa
• Director of Photography: Tsubasa Kanamori
• Technical Director: Yuya Sakuma
• CG Director: Katsuaki Miyaji
• Editing: Daisuke Hiraki
• Music: Takeshi Nakatsuka
• Sound Director: Akiko Fujita
• Sound Effects: Hiroki Nozaki, Airi Kobayashi
• Animation Production: CloverWorks