My Dress-Up Darling

Wakana Gojo's passion for crafting hina dolls causes 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 create cosplay costumes. 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. == Characters ==

; : : : A first-year high school student. Being an orphan, he was raised by his grandfather, a craftsman of hina dolls, who also inspired him to become a , a craftsman who makes the heads of hina dolls. Wakana has a large physique and is over 180 cm tall, but he has low self-esteem and is reclusive due to a bitter memory of being criticized by his female childhood friend, who thought that boys should not be playing with dolls, ending their friendship. As a result, he hid his doll-making hobby and had no friends until he met Marin. Thanks to Marin's encouragement and support, Wakana steps out of his comfort zone and embraces his love for crafting. He grows more confident with each project, and through their collaboration, Wakana finds a sense of belonging in the cosplay community that he had never experienced before. Wakana grows closer to Marin, he seems to be completely unaware to her falling in love with him, until he finally confesses to her and the feelings are mutual. At the end of the series, he is a successful doll maker and he has married Marin. They also had a daughter named Nichika. ; : : : Kaoru is Wakana's caring grandfather and a hina doll artist, who raised Wakana after the death of his parents. ; : : : Nowa is Marin's flamboyant best friend and a classmate of both Marin and Wakana. ; : : : A cosplayer who presents herself under the nickname of . She is a second-year student at an all-girls private high school. However, despite being a year older than Wakana and Marin, Sajuna's youthful appearance and petite figure means she is often mistaken for a middle school student. She is outspoken, blunt, and headstrong, going to great lengths to achieve her goals. Sajuna cherishes her younger sister Shinju and does all she can to make her happy. Like Marin, she is a fan of cosplay, and she specializes in cosplaying as magical girl characters as a way to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming one. ; : : : Sajuna's younger sister. Shinju is a middle school student. She is 178 cm tall and is sometimes mistaken for an adult. However, despite her imposing physique, she is incredibly timid. Shinju is close to her sister and holds her in very high regard. When Sajuna cosplays, Shinju assumes the role of photographer, using a DSLR camera borrowed from their father. She is also skilled at using a computer, processing and uploading the images she takes. While Shinju secretly wishes to cosplay herself, she fears falling short of her sister's high standards. Nevertheless, she starts to cosplay after encouragement from the others. ; : : Suzuka is a photographer who often attends cosplay events and befriends Marin and Wakana. She gets overly excited by a variety of cosplay. She gets especially excited by cross-playing. ; : : : A university student who is also a crossdress cosplayer under name Amane Himeno. ; : : Akira is a reclusive female cosplayer and prop designer, who inspires Wakana with her art. Initially appearing to hate Marin, she is actually a secret super-fan of her cosplays. ; : : Miyako is a female cosplayer and close friend of the photographer Suzuka. ; : : Nobara is Wakana's childhood friend who gave him the trauma about making hina dolls by yelling at him when they were children. ==Themes==

This work describes the development and love of boys and girls, with cosplay as its central theme. Although it also includes some erotic scenes, the work is notable for its detailed portrayal of character psychology and the process of creating cosplay costumes. It showcases the creation of the Hina doll, makeup, and camera work, and the author personally visited the Iwatsuki doll-making workshops in Saitama City, known as the "Doll City," to gain insights into the real lives of doll makers and cosplayers. == Production ==

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. == Media ==

Manga Written and illustrated by Shinichi Fukuda, the series was serialized in the manga magazine Young Gangan from January 19, 2018, to March 21, 2025. The individual chapters were collected by Square Enix in 15 volumes. An official fan book was released on September 24, 2022. During the Anime Expo in July 2019, Square Enix announced the English version of the series under the title My Dress-Up Darling and published it under its new publication imprint Square Enix Manga & Books. A spin-off manga written and illustrated by , titled , was serialized in the same magazine from December 20, 2024, to July 4, 2025. Its chapters were collected in one volume, released on July 25, 2025. In November 2025, Square Enix started publishing the spin-off in English on its Manga Up! Global platform. In February 2026, Square Enix Manga & Books announced that they had licensed the spin-off for English publication, with the single volume set to release in October later in the year. Volumes Anime An anime television series adaptation was announced in the ninth issue of Young Gangan, which was published in April 2021. It was produced by CloverWorks and directed by Keisuke Shinohara, with Yoriko Tomita handling the series' scripts, and Kazumasa Ishida designing the characters and serving as a chief animation director. composes the series' music. The first season aired from January 9 to March 27, 2022, on Tokyo MX and other networks. It was later revealed to be a second season, with the main staff and cast members reprising their roles. It aired from July 6 to September 21, 2025, on Tokyo MX and other networks. Live-action drama A live-action television drama adaptation was announced on August 30, 2024. The drama is produced by Kyodo Television and directed by Koji Shintoku, with writing the scripts. composed the series' music. It aired on MBS's programming block from October 9 to December 11, 2024. Episodes == Reception ==

Sales 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 October 2025, the manga had surpassed 15 million copies in circulation. Accolades In August 2019, the series was ranked sixth in the print manga category according to the votes for the fourth edition of the Next Manga Award, organized by Da Vinci magazine from Media Factory and the Niconico website. The manga was ranked sixteenth for readers in the 2020 edition of the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guide from Takarajimasha. 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, alongside Artiste, won the Men's Comic Prize at NTT Solmare's "Minna ga Erabu!! Denshi Comic Taishō 2020" in 2020. == Notes ==