My Dress-Up Darling was one of the first shows we did for Anime Explorations, and it was a show we generally really enjoyed. Yes, it was a somewhat horny-on-main romantic comedy anime, but it was tonally light, and didn’t feel leering in the way that other fanservicey series did, combined with a romance between Gojo and Marin that was very sweet, so I’ve been looking forward to a second season, and was quite pleased when we finally got one this year. I already had some high expectations, but this season blew those right out of the water.

First off, Cloverworks, who did the first season, has stepped up their animation game even further this season. This is not only the case in the quieter slice-of-life sequences, but also in the glimpses we see of the works that Marin is doing cosplay of. We see another magical girl anime, a J-Drama, and a horror visual novel this season, and each is rendered with its own distinct visual style, which not only reflects the genres of the works in question, and different creative voices for each specific work, but also different mediums. The horror game has PC-98-esque pixelated images. The magical girl anime looks like it’s from a director at a completely different studio, like Studio Trigger. The J-Drama sequences use some of the framing that you’d get from a televised drama series.

Then, on top of that, the story for this season is fantastic. Last season had a considerable focus on the craft of cosplay through the limited scope of Marin and Gojo, with a brief appearance from Juju-Sama and her sister. Here, we get more into the larger world of cosplay culture. It’s still something that is more… drama-free than what we see in (by comparison) 2.5 Dimensional Seduction. However, I appreciate that we get into a larger fan-culture space, and we also expand Gojo’s skills as well, as this time he gets into making props.

We also get a sense that Gojo’s own personal trauma – of having a person who was important to him rejecting the thing he liked – is not unique to him, as he encounters others in the Cosplay space who have had similar problems, though from parents rather than from peers. Not to mention, Gojo and Marin also get to spend time with their peers at school, who get to reveal to him that they think what Gojo and Marin are doing is cool, and that they’re supportive of Gojo’s interest in making Hina dolls.

It all makes for a tremendously heartwarming experience. Also, it felt like this season is a little lighter on the fanservice as well. It’s still there, but it’s more sporadic and less centric to the plot as it was in the first season.

I really enjoyed this season, and while a third season isn’t confirmed yet, it sounds like there’s enough material for one more season of the show, and I hope we get it.

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