Returning to My Dress-Up Darling After 3 Years: Hina Suguta and Shoya Ishige

My Dress-Up Darling is an anime that holds a special place in the hearts of many, including the actors who portray two of the main leads. Shōya Ishige and Hina Suguta, who played Wakana Gojo and Marin Kitagawa, respectively, attended Anime Expo 2025 to share with fans their experiences working on the show, while wearing their love for the series on their sleeve. In fact, at a panel at the convention, they both expressed that their time working on the anime during its first season is one that they keep returning to every time they hit a wall. Suguta, in particular, had no idea the show would explode the way it did, and she even took the time to visit the official My Dress-Up Darling pop shop in Japan with her mother.

There were a lot of fun times to be had at this special panel, from live dubbing segments to the audience teaching these two about American slang terms like slay, cooked, and the Roman Empire. All of it was good fun, but Anime News Network actually had the opportunity to sit down with these two cast members to ask them about their experiences on the show more directly.

First, let's start with Hina Suguta! Marin is portrayed as being very animated, both figuratively and literally. Was it ever difficult matching that energy? Particularly when it comes to the moments where she's talking about being in love with Gojo, how did you hit those levels of energy in the booth?

Hina SUGUTA: Yes, I do find it very difficult to express Marin's height of emotions and match her energy when she gets really passionate about something or about Gojo and how she feels about him. In the booth, I try to use a lot of my body movements while delivering the line. I get my body, my voice, and my acting to match what's playing on the screen through actually moving around. I try to recall all the things that I love, enjoy, and care about when I'm delivering the line. So I channel everything into it. After a long day of recording Marin, I get very hungry!

Understandable. That's a lot of energy to go through! Marin obviously wears a lot of cosplays throughout the show. What was your favorite cosplay that she wore? How do you adjust your performance when Marin dresses up as a character?

SUGUTA: So I think my favorite cosplay is the Shizuku Kuroe cosplay. I think it incorporates both of our blood, sweat, and tears, so that one means a lot to me. It's very sentimental. Marin also, as you know, wears a lot of different cosplays like Black Lobelia and so many others. But when it comes to the acting and how I portrayed the voice, I think there's not much that I do differently because I want to make sure that Marin, who is at the core, is still herself through the different exterior changes. I think I pay a lot of attention to how the cosplays look, and I owe a lot to CloverWorks, who is doing the visuals and who's actually making that cosplay come to life on the screen. So I kind of have to hand it off to them when it comes to cosplay and making sure the differences are there through the different costumes.

Makes sense! Now I'd like to shift over to Shōya Ishige. Gojo's passion is all about his dolls. Is there anything in your life that you feel you have a similar level of passion for?

Shoya ISHIGE: So it might be an obvious one, but acting, voice acting in general, is something that I'm extremely passionate about. Through characters like Gojo, I want to put my best foot forward to ensure I portray and respect what the character was meant to represent in the story, as well as what it means to the creators and the audience. So I put a lot of time and work into my craft to make sure that it seeps through to the audience.

How have you felt about Gojo's evolution as a character as he starts to come out of his shell? Were there moments where you might've changed or altered your performance to reflect this change as he begins to learn more about cosplay and interact with more people?

ISHIGE: So at the beginning of the story, Gojo is extremely introverted and very nervous about all the different things he has to tackle socially. But after meeting Kitagawa, you could feel him opening up, and you could sense him finally letting go and no longer being afraid to express his emotions as much. Regarding my acting, I think I really tried not to lose the introverted part and the core values or personality of Gojo. However, I still wanted to convey a sense of growth and a warm, relatable presence throughout the changes in season two.

Gojo is very reserved and nervous, while Marin comes across as more eccentric and self-assured. Do either of you feel like you exhibit traits similar to the characters that you play?

SUGUTA: So maybe not as intensely as Marin herself, but I also feel like I'm very straightforward with my emotions, and I feel strongly about the things that I like, and I'm very vocal about it! Again, maybe not as much as Marin, but I think there are definitely elements of myself that I see in her.

ISHIGE: Similar to Gojo, I think I am a little bit more on the reserved side. I think if there were a spectrum, I would definitely be on more of the reserved side when it comes to self-expression, especially. But I will say, similar to Gojo and how he put so much passion and effort into making his dolls and his craftmaking, I feel like I put the same amount of effort and passion into my craft as well, which is acting and making a character come to life. So in that sense, I can really relate to the character.

Were there any scenes in particular that stood out to either of you when you were recording them? Maybe it was a very emotional scene or something very funny that stuck with you.

SUGUTA: So, for season two, episode thirteen, this was the first time we've recorded in three years. So it's been a while. There was a bit of a gap for us, and in this episode, there was anime inside the anime that I think the characters both enjoyed. I really enjoyed that anime that the characters were watching with the bunny girl suits! So I wished that I could watch more of it. Although it was short, I wished that there was more of an opportunity to watch the entire thing because it was so interesting, and I wanted to know what happened at the end.

ISHIGE: In episode four of season one, Gojo had to make the Shizuku cosplay in I believe one week, a very short amount of time. He had to overcome many physical and mental challenges to create this cosplay, including shedding many tears. So, at the end, to see Marin's reaction to the cosplay and both of them kind of crying in awe of how that cosplay came to reality in such a short time, I think it was a very special moment and it was really fun to re-watch. It meant a lot to me.

Thank you both so much.

ANN's coverage of Anime Expo 2025 is sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!