As soon as Gojo started wondering what “Akira-san” is like, I instantly knew that Akira had to be a woman. This series does this all time. “Oh wow, Juju is so petite and adorable. She must be a middle schooler!” Nope, she’s older than both Marin and Gojo. “Man, Juju’s sister must be as cute as she is!” Nope, that middle schooler is even taller than Marin. “Those guys must be players, and they’re hitting on Marin!” Nah, they’re just her hairdressers. Yep, both of them. So like I said, Akira has to be a woman. Oh, you thought the master prop artist who makes sick-looking katanas had to be a dude? Well, surprise! But putting aside the snark, while there’s nothing wrong with defying expectations, I think the mangaka has reused this trick a little too often. Funnily enough, Akira thought she was meeting up with a high school girl. Is Wakana typically a female name like Ashley or Leslie? I wouldn’t know. Either way, she just assumed his identity (don’t go for the low hanging joke).
Thus far, this second season has focused a lot on expanding our duo’s circle of friends. So we bring back Suzuka, introduce ourselves to Amane, bask in the wholesome of their classmates, introduce ourselves to Akira, introduce ourselves to yet another one of Suzuka’s friends in Miyako, and last but not least, revisit a familiar face by the end of the episode. But wait, there’s a third Suzuka friend floating out there, but she doesn’t get to join the party. Rather, she just cuts in out of nowhere as if she’s doing PSAs for the audience. Huh? I mean, this is all fine and dandy; it can’t always be the Marin and Gojo show. But I do miss seeing just the two of them geek out on their own. The photo session last week was very charming. I’m not worried that the story will suddenly shove a love rival down our throats or anything like that, but I really liked how much the first season honed in on just Marin and Gojo doing stuff together. Even when they were working with the Inui sisters, those episodes were balanced with the duo hanging out and doing other things, e.g. the mini beach excursion, seeing fireworks at a festival, shopping for clothes, etc.
Oddly enough, Suzuka and Gojo have never met until this week’s episode. And somehow, Suzuka and Akira are good friends. Small world and all that. Finally, to top it all off, Akira starts acting strangely around Marin as soon as the groups converge. Talk about a group cosplay with nuns comes up, and one by one, everyone gets roped into it. When Amane invites Marin to join them, Akira’s friends give her the side-eye like they think it’ll be a big problem. Basically, the story is trying to be cute and trick you into thinking that maybe someone as reserved and mature like Akira might not vibe with our bold and boisterous gyaru. The show even has Akira exude purple, evil-looking aura. Knowing this anime, however, I highly doubt Akira harbors any negative thoughts towards Marin. She’s probably just nervous, because she’s a big fan or something. Classic stan behavior. So sure, I like the show, but it does get a bit predictable at time with how it continuously tries to subvert expectations that probably don’t exist in the first place.
They still need one more person to round out the group cosplay, so right before the episode ends, Marin rings Juju up. Welp, I guess she’s back. Yay. I’m so happy. What? Don’t I sound happy? Sarcasm aside, I don’t necessarily dislike Sajuna as a character. Rather, I dislike what her character enables. Her relationship with her sister is actually pretty sweet. Also, her prickly, tsundere nature is the least of her problems. Just… no more “bald” innuendos, alright? On rewatch, it’s the only part of the first season that I consistently skip. The word “cringe” gets overused a lot these days, but that scene literally makes me cringe.
Stray thoughts and observations:
- Marin and Suzuka gush over their cameras as soon as they meet up, and this reminds me of how I always thought about getting my own fancy camera. But I know I’d just take pictures of food, so I could never bring myself to pull the trigger. I don’t even have an Instagram account. I always tell myself that I’ll start traveling one day, so a nice camera would be handy there. But… well, y’know. Can’t plan for shit in this economy.
- Marin’s new fit week in and week out is part of the show’s charm. And she certainly has a loud one in this week’s episode. I actually prefer her casual street clothes over the cosplays. Again, I appreciate the passion that goes into making the cosplays, but the actual look themselves? Meh.
- Y’know, seeing Amane pose for Marin does nothing to me. Everyone gushes over how cute and beautiful he looks, and I’m just going to take their word for it. And this isn’t limited to Amane either. I feel this way about cosplay in general. Even the best cosplay I’ve ever seen has a jarring quality to it. Whenever I see female cosplayers paint their faces completely white to resemble the complexion of their favorite anime characters — but then they’ll do some weird eyeshadow on top of it — I find it freaky looking. Again, I need to reiterate that this is a me problem. I want my 3D to stay 3D, and likewise, I want my 2D to stay 2D. 3D attempting to look 2D is uncanny. Obviously, this doesn’t come across in My Dress-Up Darling because it’s anime.
- The fang thing in anime is something I’ll never understand. Have you seen a person with just one tooth sticking out? It’s not flattering. Of course, I’m not gonna be rude about it, but cute is the furthest thing from my mind.
- I’m probably missing something, but how is Amane’s current look “ecchi”?
- In my recent Secrets of the Silent Witch post, I mentioned how I have a hard time putting names to faces. I definitely will forget Miyako’s name before next week’s episode. Case in point, I had to look up Suzuka’s name. Hell, other than Nowa, I’ve already forgotten the names of Marin and Gojo’s classmates. You can’t forget the bestie, though.
- Man, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Gojo talk to his dolls. Once again, he’s slowly learning that it’s okay to be himself. Yeah, some people might call you weird for it, but you know what? Fuck’em, that’s what.
