My Dress-Up Darling

My Dress-Up Darling (2022) 

The final rating for this show was decided by the last episode, which was very enjoyable, had a good fireworks display, and a decent love story, which almost did not resonate with me during the previous episodes. I do not know what it was. After all, according to many, it has the best waifu of the whole of this winter's releases. However, I stayed kind of cold towards Marin most of the time, even though she is a nerdy, awkward young girl who is very passionate about her hobby, understands other people's interests, is open and honest, and treats people without prejudice. Perhaps it was Gojo's fault; he came across as shy and nondescript, reacting too nervously and unnaturally for me in certain situations. However, he was a likable enough guy, with a healthy passion for the cause, willing to support everyone at the right moment, and wearing his heart on his sleeve. Or perhaps it was more an effort by the anime's creators to force-feed a bunch of supposedly erotic moments and supposedly funny scenes into a cute anime series, even though I did not find them amusing. Any comedy in this show was worse than the love story. Anyway, I could not take away from the anime series' qualities. The animation is decent, the soundtrack is respectable, and the message that if you enjoy something, go for it, even if someone might have a problem with it because there will always be someone else who will appreciate your enthusiasm, was interesting. On the other hand, as much as I love shows about creative people with a passion and enjoy watching the making of something (regardless of what it is), along with all the effort involved, I did not get the hobbies of the two main protagonists which passed me by here anyway. I understood what the characters enjoyed about it all, although subconsciously, I knew that neither doll making nor cosplay, and probably not even photography, would appeal to me personally. I have nothing against those activities, but I did not enjoy fancy dresses as a kid, and I guess I did not grow out of it. I did not watch costume making with a tenth of the enthusiasm of the main characters. While I appreciate how nicely the series described some of the processes and showed me how much time and money it takes, how much work and attention to detail is required, I am still sure that in a week, I am going to have nothing left in my head. So while I largely recognize that My Dress-Up Darling is an above-average anime series in some ways, many things failed to appeal to me. I personally found that did not work for me. So I was on the fence about giving it the four stars until the last moment. However, as I wrote, the last episode convinced me. 6.5/10. (03/26/2022)