DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ComedySono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru
MANGA ComedySono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru

REVIEWS

• 

  Douzeries

  60/100
  A surprisingly sincere anime

  

  Back in 2022, I was skeptical of My Dress-Up Darling S1's genuineness. What I mean by this corny term is that I didn't think it was much beyond yet another thirstrap anime with an half baked story. I attributed its success to luck, as it happened to be picked by a good studio, and to people's love for Marin, which has no value in my book since a story and fanbase centered around a sacralized waifu is really no extraordinary feat

  I've strayed from this line of thinking but to be fair, it was far from unjustified

  Bisque Doll S1 fanservice was extra extra, being exceptionally confident in displaying elongated scenes of litteraly just jiggling chest like its a ZZZ menu animation or a whole episode of lascivious angles and shots of Marin's body. The sexual aspects were so overemphasized that the other ones fell short in comparison and felt superficial or unauthentic. A common counter argument made by the fans was that, sexuality is normal and that embracing it actually made the story more believable and genuine, especially from a teen Gojo perspective (gomen... Amanai).

  But this falls short when you see the actual 'sexuality' in question. Labeling this series as anything similar to psychosexual is a diabolical stretch. Some fanservice scenes are not only voyeuristic and self insertish but they also lack proper build up, relying solely on clumsy and unnatural accidents which defeats the whole purpose of an intentional sexual subject.

  In theory, I agree, a romance dealing with sexuality can be interesting but in practice it was treated like in any other horny romance anime for a male audience -> to titilate, not as a proper theme.

  Which leads us to the first leverage that made me reconsider my opinion of the anime: the overwhelming female fanbase.

  

  You'd believe an ecchi manga where the introverted guy gets a hot cosplay gf would be a trapnest for incels but that's not necessarily the case

  Cosplaying is a stigmatized hobby as irl internet female cosplayers are often called pick me's and are objectified by their male audience that are very vocal about masturbating to them and fetishizing their bodies. You can easily find hundreds of online forum about grown men asking how they're supposed to 'control themselves' in anime conventions with all the sexy cosplays talm bout sum 'why would women wear these if not for the male gaze' lmaoo. I'll answer this question with the very basic notion that cosplay is a form of self expression. All self expression is tied to how others perceive you but that doesn't mean your own self perception doesnt largely come into play as well.

  Similarly, Marin cosplays not for others but for herself. This isn't a symbolical thing either, it's concretely shown repeatedly in the story. She admires the characters she dresses up as and cosplaying allows her to show her enthusiasm and love for her interests. She always has agency over her body and even her revealing cosplays are framed in a way that highlights her confidence and vollition. In fact, the whole story is about her dreams and wishes.

  It reminds me of Lum from Urusei Yatsura whose fanbase I assumed was male but is actually largely appreciated by women. Her sense of fashion & chara design, her loudness yet kindess and the fact she's the one actively pursuing Ataru instead of being chased all contributed to her being liked by both target audiences. The gaze shifts depending on if the character's own body is a disservice to herself or something she truly owns.

  Which leads me to my accusations to Cloverworks. Your honor, I'm confident most of the voyeuristic atmosphere I sensed from this story mainly came from the anime. I havent read the manga but I'm pretty confident there is no equivalent of the 10 seconds jiggly scene in it.

  
  putting ts in spoilers because otherwise it was messing up with the visual flow of the review ngl lmao

  In addition, many things I hated were more linked to the direction of S1 than anything. Super expressive sequences like ths genuinely piss me off, by wanting to be over the top and express a feeling in the most extra way possible it actually makes it look so fake and cheap. This isn't a genuine transcription of her emotions either it's just supposed to make her look attractive. (also a gooner guy on a discord serv had this as his pfp for 1 years so this might have disturbed my interpretation of the gif 💔)

  The manga is a seinen so the target audience has always been men but Cloverworks boosted that factor times ten. I don't want to push the agenda of the small manga being eaten up and devoided of its substance by the big company though because I haven't read it so it's probably untrue.
  S2 in contrast, leaned more into portraying Kitagawa as fashionable & cute as well as playing into a girly atmosphere, best example of this being the Kawaii Kawai ed

  Most of this has been true ever since season 1 though so it's not the reason my mind changed about the anime. Rather, I attribute it to the the consistency of the story in many aspects

  

  My Dress Up Darling has a very clear and obvious 'be yourself' theme. My parasocial interpretation of the author is that she probably was ostracized or at least felt ashamed of one of her interests. Hence why her story is built on empathy and mutual understanding. I expected the classmates to fullfill pseudo antagonists roles and I'm glad it's not the case. I dislike when the 'popular kids' are always depicted as heartless assholes that solely exist to bully the weak. I think it's a dull and bad stereotype that's also pretty hypocrital considering this type of stories usually depict a hero bulied precisely because of stereotyoping

  The be yourself message goes both ways, for both groups of people. The author doesn't punish the popular kids for being popular, she gives them a voice and allow them to be partially revelant in the story. They aren't just foil. By example, you have the red haired guy that helps Marin acts masculine for her cosplay, an area where Gojo is clearly useless

  A scene from episode 3 I particularly liked was when Amano retails what happened when his ex found out about his crossdressing hobby. I had thought the scene was ruined when Marin started crying which would havbe derailled our attention to her even though we could easily guess her stance on the subject already. This would have genuinely pissed me off because, the 'be yourself' theme would quite hypocritcal if we only ever cared about Marin's perspective on others' lives and not give them a proper voice and unique point of view. Marin interrupting the scene to throw a tantrum would've made me ragequit. That's why I was extremely pleasantly surprised when she said 'When she saw all the costumes you own, she should've understood how precious this passion is to you. How could she ask you to throw it all away? I would've never forgive them'

  This is actually the perfect answer naratively speaking because this doesn't put the focus on Marin specifically, it circled the subject back to Amano. We immediately see a shot of him, with his eyes hidden. Instead of caring about what Marin thinks, you wonder if he ever truly forgave his ex and how he feels about living his passion alone, supported by no one (allegedly, maybe his family or sum are cool with it, idk). This puts in perspective the message because cosplay is always shown as this dreamy ideal hobby that frees you from societal's pressure. Not only was it shown there as something that ostracizes you, it also implies his passion could be fueled by hidden anger or rage too. Like cospalying a sort of vengeance or a powerful act of taking back what's yours from society: your identity. All of this wihtout mischaracterizing Marin because she would have obviously reacted there but her reaction isn't the main focus and it expands the theming instead of limiting it to herself.

  

  Another interpretation I have is that though the author confirmed she based Marin off herself, I think she actually wrote herself in Gojo, the latter sharing her doubts and insecurities about art and the former being her ideal self, freed of all this neuroticism

  I think Gojo is a well written protagonist and he’s the reason I see genuineness in My Dress Up Darling. I didn't like him at first because he was bland and fits the perfect patient and nurtruting love interest archetype a little too religiously. But I have to admit it's impressive how persistently the story portrays him as feminine and shy no matter what. In many stories I’ve read, when the male lead is vulnerable or weak, it’s immediately superficially contrasted by a masculine feature (cough cough some other ongoing romance anime). We still want the character to be attractive to the fanbase so he’s only ever as flawed as he’s attractive

  Even the most introverted, shy character will stand up and act like a stereotypical chad when his love interest is in danger. One of the most common trop in shoujo (Doll is a seinen, but again it shares many tropes and similarities to josei or a very horny shoujo so I'll compare it them) is some guys bothering the female lead, causing the male lead to dramatically react in an exaggerated fashion, no matter how out of character it is. In this season, Marin was seemingly in danger when approached by guys. While it’d would be the occasion to mischaracterize the nerdy dude in any other series, Gojo pled and cried so that the guys would leave Marin alone.

  It’s a comedic scene but to me it proves that Gojo isn’t solely written to fit the perfect love interest archetype at the cost of his character. His sensibility is a legitimate character trait that doesn’t magically turn on and off to appeal to the audience. This seems like bare minimum but I’ve genuinely seen the contrary happen countless times

  You could see the theming since S1 and the passion of the author since the begining but the fanservice felt so forced that it convinced me all these other aspects were superficial too. It wasn’t a drastic scene that change my mind on this series, it was consistency. The story really is driven by the pasion of the author for cosplay and it’s very informative in this regard as well.

  She reportedly cried when she saw the op and ed of S1 and she’s shown her enthusiasm for people cosplaying Marin many times online. To me, she’s fascinated by cosplayers because of their beauty, dedication and boldness which are all traits she admires. This is why she wrote the manga, to share her passion and give a fresh perspective from the cosplayer point of view and though I'm not a fan I can’t ignore a proof of good faith and I don’t think Sono Bisque Doll is just goonbait at all anymore

  ---

  In conclusion, both truths can coexist at the same time. It's marketed for guys because the mc is a shut in who magically meets an extraverted popular girl that's into his nerdy stuff. But it's also appealing to a female audience because Gojo respects Marin, always listens to her, tries to make her happy Marin, though sexualised always have control and agency over her body. I think sticking to only one intepretation is close minded and that this anime really isn't as offensive and shocking as people make it out to be. I understand the critics but, because of all the aforementioned arguments, only seeing fanservice is bad faith in my opinion.

  Judging by the popularity among the cosplayer community, I think the aim of the author was achieved through the anime, though it played into distasteful fanservice as well. I still wouldn't call the story well written per say, I've mentionned red hair dude being given a voice but most of the help he's done was off screen. I've mentioned how I liked Amano's arc but his flashback still remains very basic and his internal conflicts are never really explored at all. My opinion hasn't changed to the point I'd call this a masterpiece but it's definitely a passionated project that one would be a fool to deny

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• 

  DJWolfBot

  80/100
  An expected letdown, yet a welcome surprise

  ---

  Warning

  This review contains spoilers on the second season of Dress Up Darling.

  ---

  I have a problem, and its name is Marin.

  Quite obviously others may have a problem as well, because it’s the fan favourite gyaru in action again, and it was a given this would receive a sequel due to the sheer popularity that the character possesses. Before going into the season, I had read the manga as I am quite an avid fan of gyarus and I wanted to know how the events unfold. I tend to have quite a bias towards gyarus though – but that bias doesn’t sway me away from viewing this series more critically.

  ---

  A doubtful beginning

  ---

  One of the biggest elephants in the room that you may notice during your watch of the season is that it quickly takes a dramatic shift in its tone and focus from the original that it had persisted with in the first season. Originally the show had began as a romance comedy with cosplaying as a theme to it, but it had essentially pushed romance to the backseat and propped up cosplay as the prime focus for the entire season. On top of taking a stronger focus to the cosplaying aspect of the series, it takes on a heavier tone from the previous season, lacking as many light-hearted and comedic moments as we had previously seen. This is largely a letdown to some fans of the series as they had likely hoped for the relationship between Marin and Gojo to progress, but it had often been an afterthought or a ploy for more comedy rather than treating it more seriously.

  Personally? It didn’t bother me that much as I could continue without being annoyed on the lack of progression between the two. We can't forget that the show originally begins with the sentiment that often times is brought out, pushing the notion that "you should accept the way you are", which is more blatantly displayed in the way Marin generally behaves with others following suit in a less exaggerated manner. This in mind, they do also try to put more effort into giving us less blatant fan service that would oversexualize Marin, save for a minor fringe cases.

  ---

  A surprising turn of events

  ---

  There was a greater concern that I had coming to this season, which was brought out by the shift in focus that took an interest in introducing more side characters and topics for us to follow. They were interesting for sure, but the overall presentation as a whole with their delivery and fluidity between the topics and characters felt lacking and generally didn’t excite me that much, which made me dreadful if that would be the same experience in the anime. CloverWorks really broke this expectation as they really delivered on the presentation of the characters and topics, since they are significantly more expressive, eye-catching and enjoyable to watch in motion as they are oozing with personality. They pretty much blew it out of the park as they made an otherwise lacking selection of characters into thrilling group that made it entertaining, especially when the voice actors did a great delivery on their part too. Although i may not be a fan of the much slower pace that they're going for the season much like the previous one, it does give them an edge in creating memorable moments with heightened focus onto the given characters in those episodes.

  But it wouldn’t be without mentioning the absolutely stellar animation that CloverWorks put out as every single episode was brimming with life and vigor. The animation brought out new styles in some parts of the episodes and they introduced so many different elements in animation and crafts that isn’t easy to produce in such a broad manner at all. From the incredible pan view of the park that took multiple months to produce to the wonderful addition of pixel art into the anime was a wonderful touch, everything felt so vibrant that I couldn’t take my eyes off the quality that the the artists produced produced, let alone from the wonderful score and songs they pulled in too.

  ---

  You forgot about the other elephant

  ---

  Despite having a lot of positive to say about the season, there is still at least one part that I particularly do not like: Gojo. In contrast to all the other characters of the show, Gojo is one of the worst written characters in the show, and it’s frustrating that it has to be one of the main characters to be in this position. I loathe every single time Gojo acts in an awkward and unnecessarily embarrassed manner as it’s grating and unlikable. He would be a lot more likable if he would lock in more often and act less pitiful.

  It wouldn’t be fair of me if I didn’t at least point out that Marin isn’t a flawless character either, but it’s certainly not a high bar to reach when she’s being compared to Gojo. Although she is often a lot more likable on the screen than Gojo, she isn’t written perfectly as she sometimes acts in an unusual manner that would be extremely unlikely for someone to behave like it. You could treat that as a benefit of being a fictional series, but some sense of realism could’ve been put onto the character that it could feel relatable, rather than pushing her to the extreme.

  ---

  Some closing thoughts

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  I think this season came out as good as it could’ve come out as the source material is rather frail and flimsy in its writing, and the animation quality is a major boost in quality that I never could’ve expected to be even better than the first season. I do think it’s quite a “scam” to a certain few people that were looking forward to seeing the relationship between Gojo and Marin moving forward, but were given almost nothing for the entire season. There were still some surprising positives that I would've otherwise been majorly disappointed on if they had fumbled the pacing. I’m waiting with great anticipation (and more dread) if they produce another season or a movie, as the next arc is something that could be a greater disaster if not handled well.

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• 

  Ionliosite2

  20/100
  The decline of Sono Bisque Doll

  Remember everything you liked about Sono Bisque Doll? Well, this season completely squashed it and it became a completely sterile show where everything you see looks even more pointless every time you look at it. This series already adapted everything worthwhile it had to offer back in the first season, and if the reason you were here was because of the fanservice, you will be massively disappointed because after the first episode there's barely any.

  You should have noticed in the first season, but Gojo is a plank of wood, he doesn't have any actual personality to him and this season doesn't challenge him in any way. I know, this show is le wholesome chungus so everything and everyone has to affirm and reaffirm the message, but this doesn't have any meaning when they don't seem challenged except in flashbacks. Yes, it doesn't matter what people think about your hobby, what matters is that you enjoy it, I can agree with that message, the problem is that everything in the series bends reality to make characters accept everything everyone does, nobody thinks that Gojo liking Hina dolls is weird, nor that he knows how to knit or knows how to do makeup; actually, the Hina dolls are an afterthought, Gojo's hobby is not relevant to the show at all because it is only focused on making cosplays for Marin. Every single classmate acting like these happy people who can't say anything that isn't encouragement and all they do is be nice to each other, I don't know if the author knows this, but teenagers don't behave this way. But, who am I kidding? Have I ever expected any behavior that makes sense from this series? No, I already thought that was impossible back in the second episode of season 1, but it became even worse this season, like the school festival arc feels like some kind of therapy made for someone who got traumatized because someone complained about their hobbies ONCE when they were kids.

  Gojo is a nothing character, Marin is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and all other character do not matter, and when I say that they do not matter, it's not that they don't do some minor things on-screen like helping on cosplays, but that this season introduces a lot of characters and you won't remember any single one of them, I read the entire manga, and I still don't know or recognize half of these characters. The only character you will probably remember from the new ones is Akira, and that's because there's an arc focused on her, which had some kind of drama because it looked like someone didn't like Marin and couldn't even interact with her, so you'd think that maybe this show will actually have some balls and not glorify Marin again and again? Maybe it'll challenge the views the cast has about something, even if they would end up being proven wrong or accepting that people are different? Well, you'll be wrong, as it was all a misunderstanding and she is just another of Marin's dick suckers. I remember perfectly when this arc was getting published in the manga, and let me tell you, people who only watched the anime had a much better experience, the manga was filled with releasing gaps because the manga turned from bi-weekly to monthly, so, it wasn't just a terrible arc to follow where characters were cosplaying characters who are almost indistinguishable from each other (and since the cosplay was bought, it means that the process of making it was skipped altogether), but the pacing in which it was being released was an absolute pain in the ass, so the revelation at the end was just the icing in the cake that nothing really matters and this series lives in a bubble of a permanently unchanging status quo.

  Really, if you want to experience this series to the fullest just watch the first season and leave, everything after that is not really worth watching, CloverWorks pumping out 3 bad shows the same day this season is impressive and the fact this show isn't even the worst one of them says everything. And I just want to say that I love Juju-sama, she is my favorite character from this show and she made me smile every time she appeared.

  Thank you for reading.

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