My Dress-Up Darling

My Dress-Up Darling (Japanese: その着せ替え人形は恋をする, Hepburn: Sono Bisuku Dōru wa Koi o Suru, transl. "That Bisque Doll Falls in Love") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shinichi Fukuda. It was serialized in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from January 2018 to March 2025, and has been compiled in 14 volumes as of November 2024. An anime television series adaptation produced by CloverWorks aired its first season from January to March 2022. A live-action television drama adaptation aired on MBS's Dramaism programming block from October to December 2024. A second season to the anime series is set to premiere in July 2025.
By May 2024, the manga had more than 11 million copies in circulation, and has been generally well-received by critics.
Wakana Gojo's passion for crafting hina dolls causes him to hide his interests due to social trauma. However, when his beautiful and popular classmate Marin Kitagawa discovers his talent, she sees beyond his apparent idiosyncrasies and encourages him to create cosplay costumes. With Marin's support, Wakana steps out of his seclusion and begins to gain confidence. Working together, they create unique and beautiful costumes showcasing their talents and true selves.
Shinichi Fukuda set Wakana as an orphan without friends in order to create a situation where he has to solve problems with Marin, instead of his parents or other friends.
Written and illustrated by Shinichi Fukuda, the series was serialized in the seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from January 19, 2018, to March 21, 2025. The individual chapters are collected and published by Square Enix, with 14 tankōbon volumes being released as of November 2024. An official fan book was released on September 24, 2022.
During the Anime Expo in July 2019, Square Enix announced the English version of the series under the title My Dress-Up Darling and published it under its new publication imprint Square Enix Manga & Books.
A spin-off manga written and illustrated by Choboraunyopomi, titled Bisque Doll de chu♥︎, began serialization in the same magazine on December 20, 2024.
An anime television series adaptation was announced in the ninth issue of Young Gangan, which was published on April 16, 2021. It was produced by CloverWorks and directed by Keisuke Shinohara, with Yoriko Tomita handling the series' scripts, and Kazumasa Ishida designing the characters and serving as chief animation director. Takeshi Nakatsuka composed the series' music. It aired from January 9 to March 27, 2022, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The opening theme song is "Sansan Days" (燦々デイズ, lit. "Sun-Drenched Days") by Spira Spica, while the ending theme song is "Koi no Yukue" (恋ノ行方, lit. "Where Love Is") by Akari Akase.
Funimation licensed and streamed the series outside of Asia. On January 28, 2022, Funimation announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the dub was moved over to Crunchyroll. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia.
A sequel was announced on September 17, 2022. It was later revealed to be a second season, with the main staff and cast members reprising their roles. It is set to premiere in July 2025.
A live-action television drama adaptation was announced on August 30, 2024. The drama is produced by Kyodo Television and directed by Kōji Shintoku, with Satoko Okazaki writing scripts. It aired on MBS's Dramaism programming block from October 9 to December 11, 2024.
In February 2022, it was reported that the manga had an additional 1.5 million copies in circulation following the premiere of the anime adaptation. In June 2022, it was announced the manga had over 7 million copies in circulation. In September 2023, it was announced the manga had 9.5 million copies in circulation. In October 2023, the manga had surpassed 10 million copies in circulation. In May 2024, the manga had surpassed 11 million copies in circulation. By September 2024, the manga had surpassed 12 million copies in circulation.
In August 2019, the series was ranked sixth in the print manga category according to the votes for the fourth edition of the Next Manga Award, organized by Da Vinci magazine from Media Factory and the Niconico website.
The manga was ranked sixteenth for readers in the 2020 edition of the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guide from Takarajimasha.
The manga was ranked third in Honya Club's Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2020, a survey that collected results from 1,100 professional bookstore employees in Japan.
The series, alongside Artiste, won the Men's Comic Prize at NTT Solmare's "Minna ga Erabu!! Denshi Comic Taishō 2020" in 2020.
My Dress-Up Darling was generally well-received. Reviewing the anime's first season, IGN's Kambole Campbell described the show as a "supremely enjoyable portrayal of the joy of sharing a craft." The review praised the performances as "genuine as they are entertaining." Slashfilm's Rafael Motamayor wrote that the series is "not technical enough to turn the audience or the characters off, but enough that you can appreciate the very hard work that goes into cosplaying." He also praised its English translation as "go[ing] the extra mile to portray [Marin's] personality through the subtitles, capturing her gyaru idioms and even random gibberish that she says out loud." Collider's David Lynn praised Gojo and Marin, the series' two main characters, as "simultaneously broadly universal and yet surprisingly complex" with "distinct strengths and flaws". The series did receive criticism by some for its fan service and sexualization of the characters. IGN's Campbell wrote that "There are a handful of leery moments that'll take some viewers out of it." Writing for Bleeding Cool, Alejandra Bodden generally praised the series' exploration of sexuality but criticized some scenes as being uncomfortable.