My Dress-Up Darling Season 2

Episode 20

I do like that one of the subtle themes of this episode is Gojo slowly realizing that people in the cosplay world are just as crazy and attached to items relating to their hobbies as he is. That moment where he saw Miyako take out the little character plush so she could pose him with her food must've been such a validating experience for him. In fact, there are a lot of moments throughout this episode that showcase a lot of Gojo's character growth. Not only did he reach out to people on his own without Maron being present right next to him, but he was able to speak up for himself and for Akira when she started being down on her own abilities. He still apologizes profusely for it, but the fact that he was willing to speak up at all, despite being such a passive and quiet boy, is a huge step. He wouldn't have acted like that throughout season one.

I like a lot of the new characters in this episode. There's clearly something going on with the way that some of them are acting, and I had to remind myself that I think they're all older than the two leads. There's a weird layer of cynicism to the way they act, which is really funny, and I want to find out what Akira's deal is. I was waiting for the punchline revolving around her very weird attitude towards Marin. I was not expecting the episode to end on the reintroduction of Juju, whom I genuinely forgot about, because it has been a while since she showed up. Maybe Marin can put her photo skills to the test now?

The dialogue and reactions were definitely the highlights of this episode. That's not to say that it was a bad-looking episode, but the directing and animation were definitely a lot more restrained. There were a lot of talking head profiles and a lot of still shots compared to previous episodes. Even the cosplay explanations were a lot less creative. I like the joke that it was all being framed from the perspective of a character who was supposed to show up at the end of the episode, but couldn't, and her crying at the end was absolutely hilarious.

Still, even when the episode isn't at its best visually, it brings the charm. I like the way the characters all sort of fawn over each other, and the way that Marin checks in with Gojo about what they're going to do next is a detail I really like. These two are just acting more and more like a couple each episode. I'm waiting for the moment where it all comes together, but that's up to the show to decide when that happens. For now, let's get into more cosplay shenanigans!

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