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."ThatBisque DollFalls in Love")is a Japanesemangaseries written and illustrated by Shinichi Fukuda. It began serialization inSquare Enix'sYoung Ganganin January 2018, and has been compiled in 14 volumes as of November 2024. Ananimetelevision series adaptation produced byCloverWorksaired its first season from January to March 2022. Alive-action television dramaadaptation aired onMBS'sDramaismprogramming block from October to December 2024. A second season to the anime series is set to premiere in 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 craftinghina dollscauses 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 createcosplaycostumes. 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 began serialization inYoung Ganganon January 19, 2018.It is set to end serialization on March 21, 2025.The individual chapters are collected and published bySquare Enix, with 14tankōbonvolumes being released as of November 2024.An official fan book was released on September 24, 2022.
During theAnime Expoin July 2019, Square Enix announced the English version of the series under the titleMy Dress-Up Darlingand published it under its new publication imprint Square Enix Manga & Books.
A spin-off manga written and illustrated by Choboraunyopomi, titledBisque Doll de chu♥︎, began serialization in the same magazine on December 20, 2024.
Ananimetelevision series adaptation was announced in the ninth issue ofYoung Gangan, which was published on April 16, 2021.It was produced byCloverWorksand 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, onTokyo MXand other networks.The opening theme song is "Sansan Days"(燦々デイズ, lit. "Sun-Drenched Days")bySpira Spica, while the ending theme song is "Koi no Yukue"(恋ノ行方, lit. "Where Love Is")byAkari Akase.
Funimationlicensed 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.FollowingSony's acquisition ofCrunchyroll, the dub was moved over to Crunchyroll.Muse Communicationlicensed the series in Southeast Asia.
A sequel was announced on September 17, 2022.The staff and cast members from the series are reprising their roles. The second season is set to premiere in 2025.
Alive-action television dramaadaptation was announced on August 30, 2024. The drama is produced byKyodo Televisionand directed by Kōji Shintoku, with Satoko Okazaki writing scripts. It aired onMBS'sDramaismprogramming 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 theNext Manga Award, organized byDa Vincimagazine fromMedia Factoryand theNiconicowebsite.
The manga was ranked sixteenth for readers in the 2020 edition of theKono Manga ga Sugoi!guide fromTakarajimasha.
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, alongsideArtiste, won the Men's Comic Prize at NTT Solmare's "Minna ga Erabu!! Denshi Comic Taishō 2020" in 2020.
My Dress-Up Darlingwas 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 hergyaruidioms 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 itsfan serviceand 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 forBleeding Cool, Alejandra Bodden generally praised the series' exploration of sexuality but criticized some scenes as being uncomfortable.