Sono Bisque Doll wa koi o suru

The eccentric cosplayer (with slightly unconventional character design) Marin, who has her heart (and camera shot) not in the palm of her hand but right in her cleavage, and submissive Gojo, who would rather sew than sleep, even if he’s sewing for extraterrestrials. I wouldn't have expected such a combination of characters and a fair amount of fan service from the pen of a female author, but on the other hand, the topic of cosplay is a welcome fresh introduction to this relatively young hobby. The anime, through the aforementioned perpetually smiling diva, is appealing in its liveliness and unassuming quality; indeed, through the wry, brooding, and good-natured Gojo we are introduced to the technicalities of textiles, which unfortunately I thought were way more interesting than he was. It's impossible not to feel Marin's undying passion for the cause through the screen, and even though she often overdoes it, you'll gladly forgive her for a thousand episodes, but her male counterpart (the entire 1st half of the series, in fact) was nothing but dead weight dragging everything down. I wouldn't be surprised if the respectable frequency of Marin's appearance in scantily clad fashions was the main attraction for many, especially kicked up a notch as it was by CloverWorks' excellent art design (I would have preferred the opposite; a certain bathroom scene by a minor character in particular was nasty FBI bait), but the mopey, overly slavish, same-clothes-wearing, dull-witted, anything-woman-shy Gojou-kun resolutely failed to bring me much in the way of enjoyment. For me, the main immersion, their relationship, kept tripping over the characters’ lack of compatibility and the harmony they needed from each other. I couldn't help it, even though it probably wasn't directly intended that way, I still couldn’t imagine how any healthy or respectful relationship could exist between the queen and her run-of-the-mill and unremarkable servant. These personal doubts of mine began were successfully dispelled by the breathless conclusion with a healthy dose of evolving romance, exploration of the unknown (again the sea, reminding me of the magical scene from Josee, the Tiger and the Fish) and, most importantly, a screen time allocation that rightly kicked the uninteresting side characters aside, leaving the spotlight only to our chosen ones. All it would take is 2-13 injections of a pick-me-up, acceptance of the outside world, a shelf of new t-shirts for our tailor, and we'd be someplace else in no time! And uh... a bit less of the fan service, but that would pit all the waifmakers against each other in the charts :-) My Dress-Up Darling definitely scores points in creativity, a dose of charm that is inconsistent but present, and its love of cosplay, but it doesn't ooze depth, focus, or anything significantly above the average for softer works. I'd have to tape the corners of my mouth to smile at this anime rather than just watching it normally, but I'll tack on a better 3 stars mostly thanks to the production values. (28.03.2022) (mniej) (więcej)