My Dress-Up Darling (Volume 12) – I Have Nothing!
Wakana has been learning lots of new skills and techniques while putting together Marin’s Haniel cosplay, however, he’s come up against a wall. He knows how he wants it to look, but achieving that is causing some problems.
My Dress-Up Darling (Volume 12) – I Have Nothing!
What happened?
Marin is still determined to tell Wakana how she feels about him, however, she can’t just say it. That would be too weird and it wouldn’t have the impact she believes it deserves. Luckily, it’s almost Christmas so she asks if she can come over on the twenty-fourth of December for dinner. Wakana, lost in thought, agrees without giving it a second thought. Now, Marin has to prepare. While shopping for supplies, they decide to split up and cover more stores. Marin is walking past a lingerie store when she sees the Christmas display – a red lacey thong and sheer Santa babydoll. She’s tempted, but Wakana’s grandfather would be there and she’d hate to give him a heart attack.
Then, the store clerk appears and talks to Marin about Lucky underwear. She reveals that Marin may be under the mistaken assumption that the lucky underwear is for the men in their lives when in actual fact, it’s for them. They will see the underwear more than anyone. It’s to give them confidence and to make them feel good. She then tells Marin that she wears lucky underwear all the time. She’d even show her if she could… but she can’t. Anyhow, Marin is convinced and buys the red lacey thong and Santa babydoll. After all, she doesn’t have any that are just for her!
Wakana has been learning crafting techniques from Akira and feels like he’s starting to get somewhere, however, the fabric for Haniel’s cloak is eluding him and that’s got him feeling down. He’s realising that he doesn’t have any experience beyond Hina Dolls, and his recent cosplay adventures, so he’s struggling to think outside the box. At last, he realised what his Grandfather meant when he said “If you want to make good dolls down the road, you’ve got to look at more than just dolls.” Ironically, however, it was when Wakana was looking at the dolls that he had a realisation. He bought an antique Kimona online and even got the previous owner to agree to it being used to make something new. And with that, the Haniel cosplay was ready to be unveiled!
What did you think?
I read the last volume back in April so it’s been quite the wait for this one to become available. During that time, I’ve had to sadly unfollow a number of accounts on social media that seem determined to spoil the series by posting images from the online chapter releases the second they become available. I really hate spoilers! Anyhow, this was another good volume, although it was much slower and with a lot less going on than several of the previous volumes. I feel like the whole Marin confessing her feelings to Wakana part of the story just got swept under the rug for now. Sure, the Christmas meal was a massive anticlimax and that was the moment Marin had hoped to do it, however, they didn’t even show her getting frustrated that she couldn’t find the right moment.
Instead, there was a lot of time focused on Wakana struggling to overcome his self-doubts. Damn you, imposter syndrome. It comes for all of us. In fact, I’m quite sure the only people who don’t suffer from imposter syndrome are imposters.
This volume felt like it was preparing us for something big that will hopefully appear in the next volume, which is due for release in April 2025… The agony of waiting! Oh well, this series is absolutely worth it. So, wait we must!
Volume highlights
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 |
| 13 | Princess!! | 96-102 |
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! |
