My Dress-Up Darling (Episodes 5-8) – Knowing When to Pivot!
Gojou has a passion for Hina dolls while Marin has a love of cosplay. Both are highly creative art forms so why is it that Marin is popular while Gojou has barely spoken to anyone in years?
My Dress-Up Darling (Episodes 5-8) – Knowing When to Pivot!
Episode 5 – It’s Probably Because This Is the Best Boob Bag Here
Marin was delighted with the costume and couldn’t believe he’s made it so quickly. She hadn’t planned on going to the cosplay event, but now that she was ready, it seemed rude not to. Gojou accompanied her to ensure her costume held together and he was a little curious as to how it would go. Marin looked amazing as Shizuku-tan from the Slippery Girls eroge franchise and everyone knew it. Before long, people were asking to take photos of her. It was like a dream come true. However, Gojou soon realised that he had completed her project and they would have no further need to hang out together. It was nice having a friend…
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Episode 6 – For Real?!
On the train home from the cosplay event, a sleepy Gojou told Marin she looked beautiful. It took her a moment to register what he said, but then she remembered how he told her it was a word that he only used when something truly spoke to him. Did he like her? More importantly, was she falling for him? Back at Gojou’s house, they cleaned up the costume. Gojou was hanging it to dry when Grandpa returned. He was shocked and then he saw Marin! After clearing things up, Grandpa was delighted that Gojou actually had a friend and was also impressed with his work on the costume. Then, something unexpected happened!
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Episode 7 – A Home Date with the Guy I Wuv Is the Best
Gojou had been tracked down by Juju, another cosplay model who wanted him to make her a costume. Marin was over the moon as she wanted to do a cosplay from the same show. Maybe they could cosplay together. Juju was not overly happy about that, but when they offered to split the costs of the studio, she decided to do it as a one-off. That meant that Gojou had to catch up on the anime series – Flower Princess Blaze. Luckily, Marin had the boxed set so they watched it together, all 126 episodes.
Click here to read the full episode review.
Episode 8 – Backlighting Is the Best
Marin and Gojou met with Juju’s little sister who was also her photographer and together they scouted out some locations for the photoshoot. This took them to an abandoned hospital which would have been perfect. However, Juju was scared so Gojou kept her company. He asked her why she wanted him to make her costume so badly and was surprised by her answer.
With school finished for the summer, Marin demanded that Gojou accompany her to the beach. He assumed it was to practice taking photos, but she just wanted to have fun. Gojou had never been to the beach before and confessed to her that he wanted to catch up on all the things he’d put off. She was delighted. They could spend the entire summer together.
Click here to read the full episode review.
Knowing When to Pivot!
I have completely fallen in love with My Dress-Up Darling and am constantly finding myself smiling as I watch the episodes, but it’s not all Marin. I mean, Marin is perfect, but surprisingly, she’s not the topic of this post. This time, I’m going to talk about Gojou and how I see his future going. Will he become a Hina doll kashirashi or is there another path for him?
Firstly, we know that Gojou has wanted to become a kashirashi since he was a boy and first laid eyes on one of Grandpa’s Hina dolls. He was taken aback by their beauty and elegance. There was no other path for him. He wanted to make someone else feel the way he felt at that moment. That’s an admirable dream and he was willing to work for it.
We discovered that Gojou had never been to the beach before. Anything that wasn’t Hina dolls was not important in his development so he ignored them. However, he soon discovered that by taking the time to create Marin’s costume, he inadvertently improved his craft. His Grandpa could see it and knew what had caused it. He told Gojou to live a little. Experiment with other things.
This is fantastic advice. Now, we’re often wary of the jack of all trades and master of none type, but the idea that all those skills don’t add up to make something impressive is ridiculous. Too often you’ll hear of people who dedicated their entire life to the pursuit of a single goal. Seems like the best way to be successful, but it isn’t. Skills are transitional.
You also hear about the successful business that was an accidental byproduct of someone’s initial dream. They were determined to build one thing and to do that they had to make something else. Then, it occurred to them that it was a successful thing in its own right. All the best minds are able to pivot when they see the opportunity.
I feel like this is where Gojou is right now. He dreams of becoming a Hina doll kashirashi and it seems like that is still an option. However, he’s shown how good he is at making clothes. That was his speciality with the Hina dolls so it makes sense that he’s able to transition it to cosplay costumes. I think his Grandpa knows it too. Of course, he wants to see his grandson follow in his footsteps, but it’s hard to deny Gojou’s talents.
The scene at the beach felt to me as if Gojou had realised that he had given up so much and not improved to the level he wanted. It was only by trying something new and embracing life that he saw an improvement. He told Marin that he wanted to have all the experiences that he passed up as a child. This is tragically sad and wonderfully hopefully all at the same time. It’s hard to imagine a child so focused on one thing that they would give up on fun and living.
I hope that he finds his calling and accepts it when he does. I’m not saying he won’t be a kashirashi, but my gut tells me that this is his destiny and Marin has shown him the way. He’s choosing to walk it and with her at his side, anything is possible. This series has so many wonderful messages. It’s a series all about finding yourself and accepting what you find. If you’re lucky enough to find Marin on the way, then you’ve already won.
Other Posts in the Series
Series Information
| English Title | My Dress-Up Darling |
| Japanese Title | Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru |
| Genres | Cosplay, Ecchi, Romance |
| Demographic | Seinen |
Manga
| Author | Shinichi Fukuda | |
| Artist | Shinichi Fukuda | |
| Volumes | Ongoing | Chapters |
| 1 | I Don’t Suppose You’d Make My Cosplay?! | 1-7 |
| 2 | Do I Make a Proper Sex Slave? | 8-15 |
| 3 | Would You Do a Group Cosplay With Me? | 16-23 |
| 4 | A “B-holder”… | 24-31 |
| 5 | Turns Out… It’s a Love Hotel! | 32-39 |
| 6 | Once You Form Assumptions… | 40-47 |
| 7 | Is This Your First Time at a Host Club, Princess? | 48-55 |
| 8 | Won’t You Make Me Number One? | 56-63 |
| 9 | I’ll Eat It When I Get Home! | 64-71 |
| 10 | Because I Don’t Intend to Sleep Tonight | 72-79 |
| 11 | We Fail at Adulting, Okay?! | 80-87 |
| 12 | I Have Nothing! | 88-95 |
Anime
Season One
Bonus Posts
| Episode 1-4 | Self-Confidence is Infectious! |
| Episode 5-8 | Knowing When to Pivot! |
| Episode 9-12 | A Whole Lot of Love! |
[…] grandpa about passion and hard work from the anime because it inspired this post – Knowing When to Pivot! So, yeah. On top of being a beautifully wholesome romance, it’s packed full of inspiring […]