My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 17: Favorites

Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts

My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 17 – Quick Summary

In My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 17, “800 Million,” the clock’s ticking down to the school festival. Wakana’s running out of time. Sure, he has the fabric now. But can he get the outfit just right? Worse – he hasn’t figured out the nuances of Marin’s mannerisms. The timeline was tight enough, and then they had the first test fitting. What Wakana saw left him aghast. Does he have enough time to fix everything? Does Marin have enough time to learn to act like a man? And will Marin’s attempt to make a bento help – or badly hurt – Wakana’s efforts?

Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.

Favorite Quote from My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 17

I think it’s safe to say that Marin’s pleased with the costume. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

There’re a couple of Marin’s traits that have remained wonderfully consistent through the series. One is her uncanny ability to get into character. She can take the firm foundation of a fantastic costume and take it to new heights by becoming the character.

The second is her inability to keep her inner-otaku bottled for very long. Remember back in episode 10, when Marin got so into character it took Sajuna Inui’s breath away? Well, both traits were in full view in this episode.

Wakana wanted a test fitting, so Marin got into her bodyware and walked out in front of her friends. She pulled off a fairly convincing walk, and she stopped to turn to face Wakana and the others. She held character just long enough for several in the audience to voice their appreciation.

Then her inner otaku broke containment and she said (16:26), “I’m so happy, I’mma let out a wittle squee!”

And she did. Which was utterly charming!

Favorite Moment from My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 17

Wakana’s come a long way. But he’s still not ready for the full Marin effect! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Setup: So Many Options!

This episode had a lot of examples of Wakana beginning to throw off the effects of his childhood trauma – with the help of his friends, of course! In fact, some of my favorite moments revolved around that:

• 01:32 Kaoru Gojou reminding him he would sometimes need to rely on others, which set the tone for the episode
• 15:29: Remember how Wakana reacted to seeing Mirin’s first attempt at sewing back in episode 1? This time, when he saw the results of her disastrous attempt to sew on a button, he just smiled and thought, “Aw, she messed up.”
• 20:57: Wakana spontaneously offering morale support to Kouki Murakami, who felt embarrassed that he had liked the show his sister was watching by saying “That’s nothing to be embarrassed about at all, though.”

I also almost picked the moment where Wakana asked Kensei Morita for help. Do you know how hard it is to ask for help? I’d rather pull my own teeth. Seriously, it sucks. Seeing Wakana summon the courage and step up to ask Kensei was an amazing moment for me.

Asking someone for help is no picnic! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

I admired the way the writer and director crafted the narrative. Everything just clicked into place without feeling in the least bit contrived. But as emotionally connected as I felt to those moments, there was another that I enjoyed more. It was when Wakana found out how Sajuna felt being on the receiving end of one of Marin’s dramatic power-ups.

Marin and her friends tried to write a script for Marin’s one-minute act to impress the judges. The scene from the original anime was too long, and they brain-stormed on ways to shorten it. As he listened to them talk, Wakana mentioned that their insights helped him understand, for the first time, just how emotionally impactful the bento scene had been.

Sure, it had brought him to tears before. But now, their insights helped him understand it on a deeper level.

Delivery: Wakana Experiences the Marin Effect

But the script was still too long. So Marin decided she’d have to act it out to get ideas. She put on the persona of the character and greeted Wakana as if he were a customer. And promptly blew his composure away. Completely. Dude didn’t know what had hit him.

Unlike Sajuna, who had gone completely speechless in episode 10, Wakana could still speak. Just not very well. She asked him if he could handle his liquor, and in a very shaky voice, he said he’d never had any, so he didn’t know.

She leaned in, put her hand on his shoulder, and said (12:00), “Champagne. Pour the Champagne.” 

The scene’s framing made it look just like the alien putting its face close to Ripley in Alien 3 (which I generally don’t admit exists – primarily because of how it treated Hicks and Newt; and yes, I’m still pissed off about it).

It got even better when Nowa joined in – in full character, no less. Wakana was so overwhelmed that the poor guy was actually sweating. 

I loved seeing Nowa decided to become involved! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Why’d I like this scene? Because it let Wakana experience another side of Marin that, until now, he’d only seen sprung on others. It was also hilarious and endearing at the same time. I appreciate a scene that can pull that off!

I also got to see Nowa play along. Aside from Marin and Wakana, she’s my favorite character. I love how in Reddit’s thread for the previous episode, user Treknx01 said of Nowa:

<she’s> Gojo and Marin’s granddaughter there making sure they actually get together so she can be born

Because heaven knows, Marin and Wakana seem to need help!

What did you think of the advice that Kensei gave to Marin? What were your favorite moments? I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments!

My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 17: Other Posts

Other Anime Sites

• Reddit: Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru Season 2 • My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 – Episode 5 discussion
• Lost in Anime: Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru (My Dress-up Darling) Season 2 – 05
• The Anime Rambler – By Benigmatica: Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru Episode #17

This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)

• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 13: Wakana Gojo, 15 Years Old, Teenager
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 14: You Can Equip Boobs
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 15: I Wuuuuv Slice-of-Life Scenes!
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 16: Has All My Measurements Memorized
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 17: 800 Million
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 18: I’ll Make It Happen, No Matter What with These Two Hands
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 19: Capture Those Delicious Memories!
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 20: The Only Way I Can Think of to Express That Gratitude Is with Money
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 21: Because I Don’t Intend to Sleep Tonight
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 22: So We’re Gonna Do It All Right Now?!
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 23: I Didn’t Think Anything Good Would Ever Happen to Me
• My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 24: Dear My Dress-Up Darling