I Was Wrong About My Dress-Up Darling

Season aired: Summer 2025

Number of episodes: 12

Watched on: Crunchyroll

Translated by: ???

Genres: Romance, Comedy

Thoughts: In my last review of My Dress-Up Darling, I ended the article by stating my skepticism about this series standing the test of time due to a rather generic setup and overall normal rom-com story with little to no actual nuance. In this review, I eat my own words. This second season of My Dress-Up Darling not only heavily proves my opinions wrong but transforms the entire world and story into something with so much heart and encouragement that it doesn’t even feel the same as before.

In the first season, we’re introduced to Wakana Gojo, a boy who lives with his grandfather and is particularly passionate about Hina dolls. After a traumatizing experience in childhood where his friend called him a freak for being interested in dolls as a boy, Gojo has largely shut himself off from the world. Enter Marin, one of the school’s most popular girls, who’s actually a huge cosplay otaku. Her discovery of Gojo’s dedication to creating Hina dolls, from the costumes to their makeup, prompts her to ask him to create cosplay for her. Thus begins their comedy-filled relationship and romance.

While I never actively disliked the first season, the reason why the anime ultimately didn’t make an impact on me, despite the incredible animation and production, was that I thought the anime would dive into gendered stereotypes of hobbies — which it didn’t. I thought the anime would give equal development and nuance to both characters, but Marin was the manic pixie dream girl who came into Gojo’s life and changed his life for the better with nothing in return aside from awesome cosplay costumes. I thought Gojo’s growth would open his world to other people around him, whom he had originally shut out, but it didn’t.

Needless to say, the second season fully addressed all of my complaints. While most of the first season was spent in Gojo’s POV, in the second season, the anime actually leads with Marin’s. Therefore, we not only see Marin in the context of her relationship with Gojo but also outside of it. We see how she hangs out with her friends, how she goes about her day, and even sillier things like how much she loves to eat despite being a model whose weight is heavily monitored. The “manic pixie dream girl” element to Marin’s character in the first season is no longer relevant. This second season gives us an intimate view of the girl’s craziest, funniest, and even saddest moments, and most importantly, how Gojo has changed her life outside of just him supplying her with incredible cosplay costumes. Their relationship feels infinitely more balanced with the introduction of her POV, and what plays out isn’t just a rom-com where an amazing girl changes a boy’s life, but how an amazing and unique boy has changed her life, too.

Shifting the POV to Marin also helps bring in new characters with significant importance, no matter how minor or little they appear onscreen. Gojo slowly integrates with many of Marin’s friends, and one of the boys she’s friendly with in class turns out to be a huge fanboy of a popular live-action drama that’s considered “for girls.” The story could’ve easily introduced him to help Gojo through his initial trauma of liking “girly” things like dolls, makeup, and dresses, but that character consistently pops in later to check out what Gojo is doing and is still embarrassed about his fanboying. This creates an easy connection to how Gojo still feels insecure about his hobbies despite the applause and enthusiasm others have shown him. It’s these small, repetitive callbacks to how other characters struggle with the same thing that make Gojo realize how small he’s made his own world and come to a wider conclusion of how nuanced everyone is.

This season also takes a deeper dive into the cosplay world, where I actually learned some incredible tips, such as photographing shorter people to make them appear taller and how to keep hairstyles in place. The story introduces not only additional classmates and friends but also adults in the field, showcasing just how flexible cosplay is across various ages and preferences. From girls cosplaying as male characters, boys cosplaying as female characters, shorter cosplayers cosplaying tall characters, or cosplayers who like simpler costumes but more detailed props, the season effectively conveys how cosplay truly is for everyone through its impactful character design, deep-dive research in the fandom, and the story’s many unique characters.

Whether it’s because of the new characters, stronger themes, or more nuance, the direction of the second season hit me in the heart. During a scene where Gojo is preparing Marin’s makeup, he experiences stage fright due to the entire class’s curiosity in watching him. When he pushes forward despite his anxiety, the music escalates, and the scene stops showing his eyes. Instead, it animates with delicious fluidity of him loosening his tie, rolling up his sleeves, tying his hair back, and his chest rising and falling from a deep breath. It felt like I was watching Clark Kent becoming Superman for the first time, and all without having to show a second of Gojo’s face.

The second season also plays around with different mediums to showcase the story in a way that reminds me of Bocchi the Rock! One hilarious moment is when the otaku characters are passionately explaining cosplay and it turns into a live puppet show as if the intention was to become an educational children’s show to welcome all to the cosplaying world. My favorite usage of different mediums happens in the last episode of the season, where the horror game the characters are cosplaying is interlaid with actual game-looking screens, pixels, and black word font in white boxes. These creative interlays breathe so much life into an already incredibly animated show, and I savored every second.

Hina Suguta continues to dazzle as Marin — especially more now after I met her for an interview and saw just how different she is in person. The number of shrieks, squeals, and human fangirling noises she’s capable of voicing without ever sounding forced or uncanny cannot be praised enough. I also desperately wish to know who the translator and/or localizer is behind this series. It’s in character for Marin to use a lot of slang in Japanese, and it’s truly a testament to those individuals to have translated that over seamlessly into English subtitles, allowing me to fully experience Marin’s character through her dialogue.

Shoya Ishige as Gojo is also equally majestic. His character changes the most throughout the series, and nothing showcased his skill more than a scene in which Gojo is first weirded out, then confused, then surprised, then ecstatic about what he’s listening to. Shoya Ishige manages to seamlessly portray all those emotions flowing into each other. This season also introduces Ayumu Murase in a supporting role, and in his first entrance, despite how many times I’ve heard him in anime, I almost couldn’t tell it was him.

I could go on gushing about every arc in the season, how Marin and Gojo’s relationship had grown, or even write a whole other article about the show’s direction and specific scenes that still linger in my mind. Instead, I’ll wrap up this article to say one thing: I was wrong about this series. My Dress-Up Darling is a generational anime, and after this second season, it deserves to be. If you haven’t started watching it yet, what exactly are you waiting for?

Rating

Plot: 8.5 (Multiplier 3)

Characters: 9 (Multiplier 3)

Art/Animation: 9.5 (Multiplier 2)

Voice acting: 9

Soundtrack: 7

FINAL SCORE: 87.5