Anime: Is ‘My Dress Up Darling’ Worth All Of The Cringe?
My Dress Up Darling is one of the most popular new animes of the season, but how well does it live up to the hype?
As a thirty-something who’s been watching anime since I was younger than the majority of the characters on screen, sometimes it can be hard to recommend anime to my friends. Some recommendations sound foreboding and come with a list of warnings, even when I really like the show in question. And My Dress Up Darling is a pretty great example of that. “If you can get past the high-school-character fan service, it’s pretty fun.” And “Yeah, like a lot of jiggling.” But we’re all anime watchers here, so would I recommend My Dress Up Darling to you?
The Issues
I’ve said before how I wish anime as a genre sexualized underage characters a little less. As an adult, it feels a little like I’m committing a crime when certain shows go down that path. But as a trope, it’s part of anime and it seems here to stay. But that isn’t the only issue My Dress Up Darling has. One of the episodes prominently feature Marin changing her entire body’s skin color for a costume. Black face has been a problem in the cosplay community for a while, and this episode kicked off some new discussion. But we all know that this isn’t great and we can cosplay characters we love without race-facing. Right? Excellent.
With those elements in mind though, I honestly think it’s mostly a pretty enjoyable and very cute show.
The Cosplay
It’s weird how relatable the cosplay element of this show is if you also spend your weekends making and wearing costumes. The tireless research to find images of the outfit from every angle, the last minute crunch to finish the costume before the event, finding the one wall in your house that sort of works for as a backdrop for your pictures, and the designated wrangler to make sure you don’t die of heatstroke and shoe pain are all struggles that any cosplayer knows too well. And My Dress Up Darling makes that all look fun. Because it is fun. Sort of. When you think back on the event. I told everyone with whom I’ve ever had a cosplay weekend about this show and told them how cute it was; with issue warnings of course.
The Social Aspect
Behind the weirdly specific and accurate looks at cosplay and doll making, My Dress Up Darling is a romance between the two main characters. And it’s adorable. Marin gets Gogo to socialize more, Gogo finds a way to be more confident in his skills, and neither of them make fun of the others passions. There’s teasing, but it’s more friendly ribbing than bullying and feels very true to how friends talk or flirt. Even the secondary characters all give and receive unconditional support. It’s cute and it’s kind and sometimes I just want to watch a show where all of the characters are kind to one another.
So is My Dress Up Darling worth the cringe? Absolutely. It’s cute, it’s fun, it reminds me of everything that I love about cosplaying and how much I miss the friends I only ever get to see at conventions. It has its issues, and those are worth discussing and if not condemning. But over all, it’s easy to see why this is one of the most popular animes of the season.
Have you watched My Dress Up Darling? What did you think? If you cospaly, how relatable were Marin and Gogo’s struggles to you? Let us know in the comments!
Ja Ne, Adventures!
