This is growing on me. The little ecchi notes are cute, but Gojo is adorable, and Marin is too. I like that he’s into a traditional art, and she’s into something ‘modern’, and they are awfully cute with each other. I don’t really go for ecchi stories, but this is definitely growing on me. Currently one of only three anime I’m tracking this season.

This was the best anime of Winter 2022. Dialogues were a little exaggerated but the characters were adorable. The scenes where Gojo goes "What did you say?!" with all seriousness were hilarious. They even kept the entire plot simply about cosplay and didn't add unnecessary elements for the viewers to keep track of. I'd definitely be hyped if a sequel got announced.

This is normally really not my genre, but there is something very charming going on here that just pulled me in. Maybe it's just geeks with no initial shared interests connecting, but somehow it works. Even the ecchi elements are mostly not distracting or stupid like they often turn out. There are still some flaws though. For example that one shower scene (you know the one) .... WHY? Even if you want the plot point (which you don't, because you forget about it a few minutes later), why make it so explicit??? And they get right outta here with their "She is canonically older than the main cast" nonsense. Also, Marins side of the story seems very shallow, she lost one parent, and is functionally abandoned by another, and all of that gets mentioned once or twice. Her job is mentioned as existing, but only because she needs a credible source of income to finance their cosplay shenanigans. Her friends basically stop existing after episode one, apart from a mention here or there. Basically, she only exists when observed by or interacting with Gojo, and anything not directly related to that gets ignored. It really could have been a masterpiece. I like it a lot, but I still wish it were better.

My Dress-Up Darling is a fantastic anime with exceptional voice acting, stunning character design, and top-tier animation that truly stands out. The story is engaging and enjoyable, perfectly fitting its slice-of-life and romantic comedy genres. If a second season hadn’t already been confirmed, I’d have been deeply disappointed by the lack of a more definitive resolution to the protagonists’ relationship in the first season. Since it’s an adaptation of an ongoing manga, I firmly believe the anime should continue to follow the source material until the story reaches its conclusion. This would not only satisfy fans but also do justice to the narrative’s depth and emotional development.

Per me vale 9 fette di pizza fritta su 10. Pensavo fosse un po' troppo unta, ma in realtà è leggerissima, va giù benissimo, anzi sempre meglio andando avanti.