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Stupidly translated into French as "My Sexy Cosplay Doll" and especially marketed as a "sexy" manga by Kana, "My Dress-Up Darling" seems really badly characterised to me. Admittedly, the Japanese title, whose literal translation would be something like something "I love that dress-up doll", doesn't help either.
However, at the source this story is actually quite sweet. I'll concentrate here on the first volume of an ongoing series which in Japan is now running at 8 volumes (the French translation has now arrived at volume 6). The story confronts high-school student Wakana Gojo with his classmate Marine Kitagawa. At first glance these two seem polar opposites. Gojo is a silent, solitary boy who burns for his dream to become Kashirashi, an artist who specialises in producing Hina, traditional Japanese dolls. He lives with his grandfather who is a master of the craft. Gojo works through the nights to perfect his skill and has already acquired good skills in making the dolls' ceremonial dresses, though still struggles with the intricate face painting of the little dolls (his grandfather consoles him that mastering this skill takes years, if not decades).
Gojo lives in constant fear that his classmates learn about his dream and hence minimises his interactions at school. Earlier in his life a young girl has derides his passion for Hina dolls as girly, leaving him with the trauma that his dream is really not suitable for a boy and that he's somehow abnormal in this regard. Coupled with his somewhat conservative upbringing, Gojo is also rather a prude.
Marine on the other hand is a beautiful, outgoing, at times direct girl with lots of friends and admirers, your archetypal gyaru. However, also she has a secret dream - cosplaying the game character Shizuku, heroine and sex slave of the (as far as I know factious) adult game "Sexy Miracle Life 2". However, she entirely lacks the practical skills to realise her dream. She doesn't know the least thing about sewing, much less about designing and making Shizuku's sophisticated dress.
Having coexisted in class without much interaction, Marine's and Gojo's paths cross the moment where Gojo's sewing machine at home breaks down, and he's forced to use a machine in the housekeeping room at school. Gojo is mortified when Marine enters and sees him sewing a doll's dress. However, Marine's reaction is quite the opposite of what he had feared. She's blown away by Gojo's skills at the sewing machine and begs him to help her. Having seen the horror of a dress that Marine had fabricated by herself, Gojo reluctantly agrees to help Marine realising her dream.
Neither Marine nor Gojo have any experience in cosplaying, but their skills and personalities complement each other well. The unlikely duo is off on a trip to their first cosplay convention... a trip made of hard work, but then any passion is also hard work. What keeps them together is their shared passion for their respective arts, a passion that over time develops into a shared passion for cosplay.
Personally, I'm looking forward to volume 7 to come out in spring - to be followed later one.
Official website of the manga (in Japanese)
Sexy Cosplay Doll (French website)
Hinamatsuri ("Doll's Day" / "Girls' Day")
SEXY COSPLAY DOLL, CA DONNE QUOI ? (l'avis d'une cosplayeuse sur le manga!)
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