My Dress-Up Darling

 My Dress-Up Darling (その着せ替え人形（）は恋をする) is a 12 episode slice of life anime based on the manga of the same name by Fukuda Shinichi.  The series originally aired over the Winter of 2022.

     Gojo Wakana lives alone with his grandfather who runs a business making and selling hina dolls.  Wakana has been fascinated with the painstakingly crafted dolls from an early age, unfortunately his love of them has caused him to be distant from his peers.  While in elementary school a friend who was a girl outright rejected his love of the dolls, focusing on them being made for young girls and it being weird that a boy would be so fascinated with them..  The reaction from his friend did a lot to destroy his self esteem.  As a high school student he has closed himself off from those around him, focusing on getting through life and trying to be be as good of a doll maker as his grandfather.  He hides his passion from those around himl.  His world is opened up when a classmate, the beautiful and admired, Kitagawa Marin, decides that she is going to understand him more.  Marin learns that Wakana has some skill with a sewing machine after he is forced to use one at school when his antique model at home dies.  For the first time he tells someone about his passion for hina dolls and Marin is completely open to it, telling him in return that she is trying to make her own cosplay.

    Marin is everything that Wakana wishes he could be.  She is earnest, open and honest about her self and her passions.  Even though her passions are usually met with disdain and social rejection, her friends accept her for who she is, something that Wakana has never been able to achieve.  The beaming popular girl suddenly gives him the world that he has desired, acceptance and understanding.  Marin, overly energetic, convinces Wakana to help redo her first attempt at a cosplay.  Wakana has lead a largely insular life, focusing intently on his grandfathers trade, not building friendships or experiences outside of that life.  Marin pulls him kicking and screaming into a world hes not experienced of understood, a world he becomes fascinated with.  Marin causes him a lot of emotional distress because of her unfiltered personality.  She doesn't hesitate to do whatever is necessary to achieve her goals, her modesty and his embarrassment be damned.  As she spends more time with the demure boy she begins to fall in love with him, but finds it hard to express her feelings or even understand if they are real.  Instead she unknowingly opens him up to the life he has missed out on all these years.

     This series was far more enjoyable than I anticipated, even with my general dislike of unnecessary fan service, of which this series has its fair share of.  Not to say I'm a prude or anything, I just feel that most fan service is used to patch up a shoddy story.  The story and characters are so good that I could move past my normal tastes.  This show is just that enjoyable.  This also doesn't fall into your standard high school romance patterns.  They go to the beach...but instead of being an excuse to show of the girls in bikini's they have to contend with ninja food snatching seagulls.  They go to a pool...but again, its not the typical scene by a long stretch.  They do go to a festival and watch fireworks but don't expect the standard tropes there either.  The bulk of the narration is about Wakana learning the world of cosplay manufacturing and Marin's struggle with her feelings for the boy shes relying on to make her dreams reality.  There is absolutely nothing about Wakana having feelings for her.  He struggles with her openness and his discomfort around her at time as well as his thought process related to costume design.  He barely registers the fact that she, unknowingly, is opening him up to the world and the life of a normal high school student.  Even though he is the main character most of time it feels like he is being pulled along as a participant.  There are a handful of side characters to take up some amount of the story but in reality the sole focus is on Wakana and Marins relationship.  They are put in awkward situations which are done in a way that makes sense and doesn't feel forced.  The characters are natural and believable which helps to carry this story.

    That said, it feels like the anime is only scratching the surface of these two.  You can sense a deep seeded loneliness with Marin given her home situation.  Wakana's life has been so closed off, mostly by his own doing, that he feels like someone from 100 years ago.  Its hard to understand if that's due to his devotion to doll crafting, his early personality collapse by his friends outright rejection or the loss of his parents at a young age.  There is just so much room to explore these characters more.  They are what drives the story beyond anything else.  We will have to wait for the second season to see how deeper into their psyches the story will take us, I can't wait!!  But now I have another manga I have to rapidly consume, these characters and their lives are that enjoyably.

    The series is currently available on Crunchyroll in both sub and dub formats.