· By Florence Lerttaveesin

My Dress-Up Darling

 

My Dress-Up Darling

(Japanese:その着せ替え人形は恋をする)

 It is a youth manga created by Fukuda Shinichi, and there will be animation works broadcast this season.

 

 

She appears as a classic hot girl at opening

 

Blonde hair, pierced ears, neck ring...

 

She shines in the class and is the center of everybody's attention.

 

She is active in social life as a model and is often invited by many companies as an exclusive model, enjoying her youth to the fullest.

 

At the same time, she is also a senior otaku

 

a big fan of animation, comics, and games (including Ecchi), covering many fields.

 

But she never hides her love for cosplay

 

thinking that cosplay can fully express her thoughts on the characters she pushes, which is the performance of "ultimate love".

 

 

But she also has some parts she is not good at,

 

 from small ones like wearing false eyelashes to bigs ones like sewing clothes.

 

This added a lot of difficulties to the pursuit of her dream.

 

If

 

she hasn't come across Gojō Wakana...

 

 

He's a tough guy outside (because of his height) but delicate inside.

 

One day, Gojo Wakana,a teenager, saw the Dolls for Girls' festival made by grandpas.

 

"So beautiful", that makes people fascinated.

 

Since then, he has aspired to become the doll craftsman

 

He plunged headlong into his dreams and spent a fulfilling and lonely junior high school career.

 

Skills still need to be honed (currently good at making clothes).

 

 He, who is misunderstood and kept away by being in a small circle,

 

should have continued this life in high school If there is no accident.

 

"Lonely maintains a circle with only himself,

 

feels lonely sometimes,

 

and continuing to hone skills that they don't understand."

 

However,

 

coincidentally,

 

He met a high school girl who likes galgame and cosplay

 

----Kitagawa Marin

 

What's the story after that?

 

 

Of course, it's a lighthearted and sweet story!

  

"Don't look down on what other people like"

 

No one can look down on others because of their niche hobbies 

 

No one can be self-deprecating because of their niche hobbies

 

Looking at ten years ago, otaku culture was still a niche circle in the world

 

Everyone is in their own small circle, watching dramas, playing games, reading comic novels, chasing their own dreams, and communicating as a small group.

 

And now, ten years later, this circle is constantly expanding both actively and passively...

 

The increasingly convenient Internet connects everyone in the world, and it also attracts people who did not belong to this circle.

 

The circle is getting bigger and bigger, covering more and more people.

 

More and more people believe that otaku culture has become accustomed to it and is no longer a taboo that cannot be spoken.

 

"I've seen XXX"

 

"I like XXX"

 

Some popular works can even break the circle so that people who didn't know them before also vaguely know that there is such a "strange" phenomenon.

 

"This little plastic man looks like a few dollars, but it could cost hundreds of dollars"

 

This was something that people couldn't understand ten years ago...

 

Ten years ago...

 

Kōsaka Kirino ("Oreimo") was afraid that her otaku attributes would be known by real friends, so she went to her brother-Kyosuke ( "Jinsei"), which increased the relationship between the two and opened the whole story.

 

This kind of character setting-

 

a girl with outstanding appearance, excellent grades, versatile sports, and also part-time as an exclusive model for popular magazines;

 

on the inside also an otaku who cares about other people's opinions and likes the adult games of the sister complex and the animations of Meruru.

 

At that time, it was already an avant-garde icon, a setting that everyone had never thought of at that time.

 

And relying on this kind of setting, "Oreimo" killed with no rivals.

 

And now ten years later

 

Kitagawa Marin, the heroine of this work is already a brave person who is not afraid of being known about her hobbies and even has the courage to pursue and show her hobbies that belong to a small circle.

 

Shout out to people with hobbies that couldn't tell others ten years ago.

(By the way, both of them have blonde hair)

 

"Stories are based on reality and above reality"

 

Isn't this the reality of otaku culture?

 

 

From dark to light,

still, be misunderstood,

but it has gradually stepped out of the small circle and has been seen by people.

Maybe one day I can loudly announce my hobbies to the public.

 

 

And around us, there may have been people who are chasing their niche hobbies openly, like Kitagawa Marin!

 

In the face of them, in the face of the otaku culture that has begun to step out of the small circle, in the face of more and more attention

 

what will we do?

 

 

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