Rating: 7.5/10 | Story Rating: 7.5/10 | Art Rating: 8/10
Now this is the REAL Gojo.
So a manga centered around being confident in and embracing the the things you are passionate about.. is anyone even surprised I love these kinds of mangas at this point anymore? I really came into this manga thinking it was going to be another shallow romance manga with some nice turn off your brain bits of drama. What I came away with was a nice and succint exploration of feelings I know me and many others have definitely experienced throughout all of our lives and a complete and fully wrapped up package. While I didn't place it in the upper echelons of all the manga I have read, it definitely sent through the message it was hoping to achieve.
My Dress Up Darling focuses on Gojo, a hina doll maker with the mindset that everyone around him looks down upon his love for these dolls. From here comes along Marin Kitigawa, who completely challenges this view with her boldy standing up against anyone who shames others for their passions. The entire manga is centered around their dynamic, with Gojo creating cosplay costumes for Marin and subsequently stepping into a world that was previously sealed off from his heart.
Now for the analytical stuff. Right from the first chapter, it was immediately apparent that My Dress Up Darling was going to follow the journey of a character breaking out of their shell and embracing not only their passions, but who they are as people. One reason I heavily admired this manga was for its ability to stand firm in this concept by not just using this theme as a general concept, but by exploring it further and applying it to a multitude of struggles in embracing who people are. The two prevalent situations that come to mind are the stories of Gojo (who of course was the most developed) and Amano. Amano was a crossplayer, who ended up getting shamed and screamed at by an ex girlfriend for his interest in his hobby. What I absolutely loved was in the resolution of his recounting of that situation: he immediately broke up with that girl since they were incompatible instead of having to use that situation as something for him to rise out of. When meeting other characters Amano is never ashamed to let others know his gender, and takes absolute pride in his love for crossplaying.
While I'm not going to touch upon Gojo's development in the theme from the last paragraph, I'm still going to touch upon two more ideas that his character explored in this manga.
Throughout the manga, Gojo's preconveived notion that others would not accept him for who he was was a concept that was continuously challenged throughout the entire manga. I like how even after this was addressed early on, it was revisted multiple times throughout the manga demonstrating how hard it can be to break out of this way of thinking. Rather than it being a one off idea that was addressed once and then forgotten about, My Dress Up Darling put Gojo in many panels in which his thoughts would prepare him for the worst, and even let him face the fact that he was the one deciding the outcomes of interactions before they happened.
The final point I wanted to touch upon within this manga was the idea of being unsatisfied in one's own work and accomplishments in contrast to the admiration and appreciation of those around you. I really never thought about this idea much, but it made complete sense when it was explicitly spelled out to me by Gojo's grandfather, with him even asking Marin to give him the compliments that he would never think of giving himself. All too often do we hold ourselves back in appreciating or taking pride in the things we give an honest attempt in, or even just have a talent in. It becomes too easy to scrutinize and criticize the things we achieve and create with this being readily apparent in the constant need to improve shown in Gojo's evaluations of his creations. This kind of issue walks side by side in doing the things we love, and I love how this manga also demonstrated the fact that it will be everpresent.
I can't just end on some hand on chin thinker mode though, this manga was cute as hell. Gojo and Marin's dynamic was absolutely adorable I really loved how head over heels Marin was at many parts of the manga, and each and every one of their interactions was super cute. Even while there was not that much drama, I think it wasn't necessary to stack on top of the already well built plot that happened throughout the manga. Can a man not love two characters with a good relationship?
I really liked My Dress Up Darling, I will be reading it again in the future when I want some feel good lovey dovey stuff from the 2 main characters, but also when I need to reflect on the many issues I may be facing in my own life.