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My Dress-Up Darling Episode 2 Review – Quick Summary
In My Dress-Up Darling Episode 2, “Wanna Hurry Up, and Do It?,” Wakana Gojou accepted the grave responsibility of creating a cosplay outfit for Marin Kitagawa. Ever the diligent and responsible young man, he asked about the source material. He was completely unprepared for her description of the characters from Saint Slippery’s Academy for Girls. Actually, that’s an understatement. He had no idea even how to become prepared for something like that. Is he in over his head? Can he actually make a cosplay outfit for Marin? Or is she just messing with him?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from My Dress-Up Darling Episode 2
It’s endearingly clear how much Marin loves her eroge. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
I should establish this as an actual metric, but one way I use to measure how much I like a show is how many candidates for my favorite quote it gives me per episode. I want choosing my favorite quote to be hard because of a vast number of options! And that’s exactly what this episode gave me.
Damn, it’s fun watching these characters interact!
I chose this quote because it does triple duty. It shows us how self-aware this show is. It established Marin as a connoisseur of the harem genre. Best of all, it showcased the range of Marin’s voice actress, Hina Suguta. In this scene, I didn’t think, “Wow! Hina Suguta is a great voice actor!” Instead, I thought, “Wow! Marin genuinely loves Slippery Girls!” The voice actor did her job. She drew me completely into the moment.
I liked the entire game description that Marin gave to Wakana, but my favorite part was when she said (02:19), “So, the protag is the grandson of the academy’s principal and ends up going to this all-girls school because reasons.”
Man, the woman knows her tropes!
Best in Show Moment for My Dress-Up Darling Episode 2
It was just a small gesture, but it opened a whole world of questions! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Setup: Marin Large and in Charge
This show’s execution was so authentic that it made me giddy. It so perfectly captured Marin and Wakana in particular and young men and women in general that I’m just in awe. In fact, it’s that characteristic that set up my favorite moment.
I think it’s been established that Marin is a model, hasn’t it? I think the first episode mentioned she was a hair model. So she’s used to being in front of a camera and she’s used to herself being the center of attention. So it made perfect sense for her to be completely comfortable with Wakana taking her measurements for the costume.
We also know she’s bright, but now we know she seriously likes messing with him. First, when she started to strip, she clearly expected him to be freaked out. That’s why she wore a bathing suit. She then pretended like standing there in a bikini was perfectly normal.
I almost felt sorry for Wakana, that lucky dog… Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
But remember: She expected him to freak out. Given how observant she is, there’s no way she hasn’t noticed the effect she had on Wakana. I’ll go so far as to say she likes having that effect. Which makes perfect sense. She’s beautiful, she’s confident, and she’s in control. Of course she’d like to have that impact. Let’s face it: There is almost nothing more natural. I mean that in the literal sense. She’s appealing to some of the most fundamental aspects of the human condition.
Which is a fancy way of saying she knows Wakana’s hot for her. But the other way of saying it makes it sound much more acceptable, doesn’t it? There’s a whole post in that sentence, but let’s move on.
Wakana’s a young heterosexual male. There is no way he’s not going to react to Marin, whole must look like a goddess descended into his presence. Seeing him struggle to take her measurements was not only hilarious. It was authentic, it was endearing, and ultimately, it was poignant. The reason? He’s been isolated for so long that even being near a woman was difficult for him. Now, he found himself kneeling in front of Marin and wrapping a tape around her hips, which were clad only in a bikini bottom.
Delivery: Marin’s Confidence Falters
For Wakana, it had to be like living in a cave for a hundred years and suddenly being thrown into the middle of the Sahara at noon.
That’s why my favorite moment made me sit up and take notice. Literally, in fact. I sat straight up. Marin had been completely comfortable in her swimsuit, even to the point of sitting on his folded futon and placing her feet on his thighs. There was nothing in her attitude that suggested she was anything but comfortable and completely in control.
Then he measured her inseam. Kneeling in front of her and measuring the distance from the floor to where the crotch seam would be, Wakana felt much more relaxed because he couldn’t see her looking at him. But did you see Marin’s reaction? She blushed! For the first time, she seemed embarrassed.
What changed here? Did she see that he wasn’t reacting with such trepidation, and it suddenly reminded her how physically close they were? Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
He thought it was because the room had become warm, so he went to turn on the air conditioner. He had been physically close to her before. She had even stood facing away from him so he could measure her shoulders. Now, she dropped her hand to cover her bikini bottom (20:07).
What was that about? Is she reacting to some kind of trauma in her past? Did she suddenly realize that a guy who was going all out to help her was suddenly very, very close to her most intimate region? Is there something else going on?
That simple gesture raised all of those questions, and it was in a large part because of the tone the episode had just set. I love seeing well-crafted story-telling like that! We’re two episodes in, and my hopes for this show are still sky-high!
What did you think of Marin’s description of the eroge about Saint Slippery’s Academy for Girls? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
My Dress-Up Darling Episode 2: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru – Episode 2 discussion
- 100 Word Anime: My Dress Up Darling Episode 2 – A Measure of Seriousness
- I Drink and Watch Anime: My Dress-Up Darling ep2 – Flushed
- RABUJOI: My Dress-Up Darling – 02 – Just Doin’ It
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 1: Someone Who Lives in the Exact Opposite World as Me
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 2: Wanna Hurry Up, and Do It?
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 3: Then Why Don’t We?
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 4: Are These Your Girlfriend’s
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 5: It’s Probably Because This Is the Best Boob Bag Here
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 6: For Real?!
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 7: A Home Date with the Guy I Wuv Is the Best
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 8: Backlighting is the Best
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 9: A Lot Happened After I Saw That Photo
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 10: We’ve All Got Struggles
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 11: I Am Currently at a Love Hotel
- My Dress-Up Darling Episode 12: My Dress-Up Darling
Hey Crow, I’m way behind on this and barely even watching any currently airing anime, but nice analysis here. I like the Wakana/Marin relationship so far, though I’ve heard some dispute about it as well. This episode also feels pretty notable as an example of fanservice that also moves along character development (though damn, they did a good job with Marin, to be completely honest about it.)
Thanks!
Everyone’s tastes differ, of course. But so far, the fanservice has fit right into the story. One scene in episode 6 didn’t sit well with me, but then, they didn’t make the series just for me, so I’m not going to make a big deal out of it.
In fact, I wouldn’t even qualify most of Marin’s fanservice as fanservice. It was Marin being Marin. She’s an exuberant young woman who’s confident in her body. A little absent-minded at the same time. But I see it more as characterization.
And I gotta agree with you — Marin’s characterization in this episode was spectacular!
I did wonder if he touched her at first (accidentally), but I feel like he would have noticed and reacted if that were the case. I think she got flustered because up until then, he’d been the one getting embarrassed, so she could distract herself with teasing him (and, I mean, she said that her favourite eroge involves a boy being turned into a girl’s sex slave… so she’s probably into that) – but then he suddenly went calm and, dare I say, *cool*, and I think it finally hit her that there was a boy she kinda enjoyed being around with his hand a couple of centimetres away from her crotch. She may be a model, but she’s still a teenage girl – it’s understandable that she’d find this a little embarrassing, too. Still, your comment about potentially being reminded of something that happened in the past was something I hadn’t thought of, so I’m even more curious now to learn more about the characters!
I like that interpretation! It fits with what the narrative has shared about her character
Without knowing anything else about the show I would assune that the hand prints on Wakana’s face were delivered by a girl. You generally don’t double slap yourself so hard.
There’s a spoiler coming, so if you don’t want to know, please feel free to bail!
And some more spacing to protect the spoiler.
And a little more.
Ordinarily, I’d completely agree with you. In this case, Wakana’s wounds are self-inflicted, and I’ve rarely seen a better or more robust explanation!
I don’t think he actually touched her. I have two interpretations, both of which might be true to some extent:
1) He came to close to her vagina, so she suddenly noticed.
2) She was putting on a brash, forward act so as to not make his work even harder for him (the same thing as wearing a swim suit), and finally lost control when she noticed him not paying attention to her reaction.
Neither is probably the whole story, but some of either could feed into it.
One of the things I like about this show is that it presents what appears to be deliberate ambiguity to bring us closer to the characters. I like that.
I’m inclined to think the explanation is a combination of 1 and 2 in your suggestions. I hope we find out! Or get more clues to let us figure it out on our own!
For the record, I read RABUJOI’s post, which has a plausible explanation for Mirin’s reaction:
https://rabujoi.wordpress.com/2022/01/15/my-dress-up-darling-02-just-doin-it/
But even after rewatching the scene with that interpretation in mind, I’m not sure. Here’s why. The height was right, but it looked like he was about two centimeters in front of her. Plus, if he had touched her with enough force that she noticed (and if he did, I think it was an accident), then I have to believe he would have noticed. And if he had noticed, I think he might well have passed out.
But I’m not certain. Would love to hear other perspectives!