Dressed to Impress

January 3, 2023

by Avi Green

My Dress-Up Darling, 2022

Writer: Shinichi Fukuda (manga), Yoriko Tomita (anime)
Director: Keisuke Shinohara

Plenty of Japanese mangakas – and by extension, the animators adapting their work – can have very good ideas how to make a decent pastime fare far better than what you see in the USA nowadays, and this story spotlighting cosplay is one of those.

The focus is on student Wakana Gojo, a student who's practicing at becoming a doll craftsman like his grandfather, and the relationship he forms with Marin Kitgawa, a cosplayer who asks him to help her do some photography of her hobby. He's reluctant at first, but agrees, and together, they go on to design the best possible cosplay costumes for various conventions in the Tokyo region.

What makes this great is that it's not something that requires a big hurry to get through. It's a dramedy, and that's one of the biggest advantages this has over USA animation, if you consider how only so much of the medium there serves as little more than propaganda for useless agendas.

And, the writers handle it all in good taste too, which is another plus. Marin is one very sexy cosplayer, ditto her facial expressions.

So I'd strongly recommend this anime, which of course is based on a manga, for anybody who wants a good character focus built along the lines of meritocracy.

Copyright 2023 Avi Green. All rights reserved.

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