History Characters / MyDressUpDarling

* MsFanservice: Quite a bit of screentime after she begins her friendship with Gojo is dedicated to showing off various parts of her body. In episode 2 alone, a majority of the episode is spent with Gojo taking her measurements while she wears a swimsuit, with a healthy dose of {{Gainaxing}} for good measure.

* CovertPervert: Later interactions with her make it clear that she has something of a cosplay fetish, and that she's into younger men.

* ShesGotLegs: Kitagawa's long, slender legs are one of the main sources of primary focus when it comes to her body proportions, with many camera angles and panning shots putting a lot of emphasis on them, as well as Gojo's MaleGaze. Her being relatively tall means Gojo is still OneHeadTaller than her when he's massively tall by Japanese high-schooler standards.

This is the list of characters in the manga/anime ''My Dress-Up Darling''.

* VerbalTic: "Yabai" (literally meaning "dangerous" but commonly used as a catch-all exclamation of surprise or approval). Much like modern Japanese teens, she absolutely peppers her speech with the term.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AtsumiTanezaki (Japanese), Risa Mei (English), Valca Ponzarelli (Latin Spanish), Creator/ElisaGiorgio (Italian)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Hina Yomiya (Japanese), Creator/JadSaxton (English), Karen Alicia Vallejo (Latin Spanish), Creator/GiuliaManiglio (Italian)

The female lead, title character, and ''de facto'' main character. A popular first-year highschooler who works part-time as a model, Marin wants to get into cosplay to become her favorite characters from manga, anime and videogames. Unfortunately, she lacks the ability to make costumes, leading her to enlist Gojo's help when she learns that he's skilled at making clothes.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Although Marin is popular, sociable and outgoing, it's quite clear that she's pretty eccentric, quirky and outlandish, and definitely has a vivid imagination. She also lacks common sense at times.

* CosplayOtakuGirl: She is ''the'' embodiment of this trope. Loving all things anime, manga and video games, Marin wants to get into cosplay to become her favorite characters, especially in regards to Shizuku-tan.

* DitzyGenius: Marin, being a massive geek, is very easily this. She's knowledgeable about otaku culture, open-minded and overall intelligent, but she's [[RidiculousProcrastinator lazy]], impractical with handiwork, and can be clumsy.

* FemaleGaze: Once she catches feelings for Gojo, Marin frequently starts staring at him, her face red as a tomato, whenever he's looking especially handsome while doing mundane things, talking to his family, or working on their projects. It's nowhere near as sexualized as the MaleGaze she provides but it is much more sensual and intimate, symbolizing both her emotional attachment to him and her very strong crush on him.

* GyaruGirl: One of the most famous modern day examples, particularly of the ''Kogal'' subtype. Marin has the "trendy, fashionable girl" look, including bright-colored hair dye, red contacts, colored nail polish, miniskirt alongside other accessories. She also frequents Shibuya (a shopping district which is a fashion center and popular with Tokyo youths) with her female friends.

* HeadTurningBeauty: She's a model on the side and ''absolutely'' looks it, with or without makeup and in a lot of different styles. One clothing store employee and several people in Shibuya on Halloween outright refer to Marin as "Insanely hot".
* HiddenDepths: She's ''very much'' into anime and other nerdy hobbies, despite her popularity and attractiveness. Sajuna even [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone feels awful]] for mistaking Marin for an airheaded gyaru by her looks alone when she's actually a ''huge'' nerd.

** Not as evident as with Gojo, but she does have her moments. For starters, she gets red up to the ears, after [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl being completely unfazed about Gojo having to measure her bust and so on]], when Gojo accidentally just barely taps her private parts through her bikini bottom without noticing during the inseam measurement, and Marin plays with her hair longingly when [[ArentYouGoingToRavishMe he immediately dodged the situation]] by [[EntertaininglyWrong mistaking her bright blush for the room being too hot]] and going over to turn the A/C on.

** When they're doing a cosplay shoot in a LoveHotel, one of the neighbouring rooms starts getting... [[TheImmodestOrgasm noisy]]. While Marin's straddling Gojo, who is rapidly approaching a RagingStiffie from the sound and the position they got in [[SeriousBusiness while he was too in the zone to notice]]. When he grabs her around the waist to move her off him before she notices, she gets visibly aroused and wide-eyed, starts breathing heavy and [[WillTheyOrWontThey begins wrapping her legs around Gojo's back]] before they're interrupted by a phonecall, at which point she excuses herself to the bathroom to calm down. Also stands out as the ''only'' time so far she isn't gushing about Gojo's admirable traits after a tittilating situation, and instead just has her sitting against the wall with her heart nearly beating out of her chest.

** After inviting Gojo to spend the night in her apartment due to the trains back to his house being out of operations, she sees him buying Energy Drinks with suggestive names while shopping for spare clothes and breakfast, with her turning beet red when he states it's because he "[doesn't] plan on sleeping." While he's planning to just stay up until the trains are running again, Marin's heart starts practically beating out of her chest as she [[EntertaininglyWrong thinks]] he's planning on going all the way with her that night.

* LaughingMad: Both times when she's on the receiving end of Juju's BluntNo, Marin's only reaction is to literally laugh out loud to Juju's face.

* MaleGaze: In addition to being a primary source of it herself, Marin herself absolutely flaunts it and even seems to have it herself. She'll be the first to compliment a cosplayer's boobs, face or legs, and makes Gojo put in a suspender in her BunnyGirl fishnets to get more emphasis on her butt and the back of her thighs.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Downplayed, as it's portrayed far more realistically. Cheerful extrovert Marin ''does'' help loner introvert Gojo break out of his shell, but because they're both unabashed nerds. The reason they bond is not because she's the light to his darkness per se, but because despite being very different on paper, they're actually BirdsOfAFeather.

* NervesOfSteel: Downplayed as it's not during a life or death situation. Marin takes Juju's harsh remarks in stride, never once caring or even paying attention to how one of her cosplay idols frankly does not like her and constantly snipes at her. Her feelings are never hurt and she barely seems to give a damn, which annoys Juju to no end since she can't ever get a reaction from Marin.
* NiceGirl: It might be easy to get the wrong impression by her ClassPrincess looks, but Marin is a very kind and friendly person, and also a loyal and supportive friend who's always open-minded. It helps Gojo open up to her while he's still got almost no social connections in their school.

* ShesGotLegs: Marin's long, slender legs are one of the main sources of primary focus when it comes to her body proportions, with many camera angles and panning shots putting a lot of emphasis on them, as well as Gojo's MaleGaze. Her being relatively tall means Gojo is still OneHeadTaller than her when he's massively tall by Japanese high-schooler standards.

* SkewedPriorities: Marin tends to freak out at the ''wrong'' things, which has become a RunningGag:

* SupportingProtagonist: Marin is both the title character and main character with Gojo as her LoveInterest. While Gojo's growth as a person and her role in his development are major aspects of the series, Marin's perspective and internal thoughts increasingly become the focal point of the story as she reconciles with her own development as a person even beyond her relationship with Gojo. In fact, she's the one who catches feelings first, and we see her internal thoughts much more frequently as a result. It's her wants, her needs, her dreams, her desires, and her experiences that drive the story forward, with Gojo alongside her as her LoveInterest and de facto BestFriend. She is Gojo's guide in moving forward as a person and artist, and it is Marin's sheer force of personality that inspires Gojo to do what he does for her, because for Marin to succeed in her courtship of him, he has to overcome his insecurities with her help.
* TheTease: Marin is a pro at making people flustered. Sometimes unintentionally, sometimes intentionally, but she's definitely this. When he's too embarrassed by a particularly {{Stripperific}} cosplay of hers to be there when she's taking pictures in it, she offers him to send him pictures of her wearing it instead with a LuminescentBlush all over her face. When she learned Gojo [[HasAType has a weakness for women's napes showing in yukatas]], she immediately begins trying to walk in front of him so he'll have to look at it. Although later [[CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest as Marin's feelings towards Gojou increase, she's toned this down significantly]]. Whereas at the beginning she had no issue showing off part of her lingerie to "Thank him" for his help, her increasing self consciousness as she develops genuine feelings for him decreases her doing this on purpose.
* TearsOfRemorse: By episode 4, when Marin realizes that Gojo worked overtime just to get the Shizuku-tan costume ready for her, she starts crying as she feels it's her fault [[PoorCommunicationKills for not telling him that she was willing to wait]]. Thankfully, they turn into TearsOfJoy when he assures her it's fine as long as she's happy with the result.

* ThroughHisStomach: Marin attempts to make an Omurice adorned with a loving message when Gojo first visits her at her house. Unfortunately, she makes a mess of it and it ends up looking more like super-eggy Fried Rice with "Sorry" written on it. On the inverse, Gojo's cooking skills are yet another thing that endears him to her, and she not only has Dinner regularly at his house, but he always sends her home with a breakfast for the next day. Unfortunately, her BigEater nature mixing with her love of his cooking means she inevitably ends up eating everything as soon as she's home, leading to the below-mentioned WeightWoe.

The male lead and Marin's LoveInterest. Coming from a family of Hina Doll makers, he wants to follow in his grandfather's footsteps in the family business. Unfortunately, when a girl told him he was weird and gross for liking Hina dolls, he became a loner out of fear of being ostracized for his hobby, until he meets Kitagawa.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Has definitely happened more than once thanks to [[MsFanservice Marin Kitagawa]], though the only time it's happened on screen is as the end-of-chapter gag [[spoiler:after the [[HornyDevil Liz-kyun cosplay]] shoot nearly ended in a steamy LoveHotel encounter interrupted by a phone call]].

* CharacterDevelopment: He overcomes many of his social awkwardness and personal insecurities directly from his relationship with Marin.
* CharacterFocus: Marin is a cheerful person, already quite self-assured from the start, who falls in love with Gojo pretty fast, however, he has some deep seated insecurities that must be dealt with first before they both see eye to eye; with that the later story developments focuses a great deal more on Gojo than Marin, as he grows more as a person, making new friends, an overall more sociable guy moving towards finally accepting himself fully, no more being afraid of growing closer to Marin thinking she would be settling for less by sticking with him.

* CluelessChickMagnet: Downplayed, but his kind nature seems to have gained him the affections of not only Marin Kitagawa, but also [[spoiler:Sajuna Inui]]. He is, of course, completely unaware.
* CompanionCube: Gojo's prized hina doll head made by his grandfather, which indirectly kickstarts the plot with Gojo promising to make its outfit which causes him to be accidentally found out by Marin. It becomes less so as the story advances and he slowly opens up to other people thanks to Kitagawa.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: As the male lead and LoveInterest, Gojo's growth as a person is directly influenced, enabled, and motivated by Marin, who drives the plot through her sheer force of personality. While his growth as a person is a focal point of the story, it is ultimately in service to her courtship of him; he can't become her future boyfriend before overcoming his insecurities with her help.

* LimitedWardrobe: Aside from his school uniform, he only has white undershirts and an indigo samue, a traditional working suit popularly worn by artisans, farmers and some Buddhist monks. Because of this, he feels out of place whenever Kitagawa takes him to a trendy place like Ikebukuro. When he's attending a cosplay meetup, his outfit gets him mistaken for someone cosplaying a monk. That said, this seems partly due to feeling much more comfortable in more traditional Japanese clothing - when Marin takes him shopping in Shibuya for new threads, he ends up only picking out a couple of jinbei.
* NiceGuy: Always kind and polite to everyone, sometimes even to a fault. Marin even criticizes him in episode 1 for always taking people at their word and not realizing his classmates just use him to do campus chores in their place.

* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue to Marin's Red.

** He actually mentions this trope ''ad verbatim'' in the English dub, specifically after Sajuna mentions to Marin that she's not out to get her "boyfriend".

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Much of his social anxiety comes from a former childhood friend calling him a freak over his love of dolls and dollmaking, and he's horrified when Marin walks in on him using the school's sewing machine out of fear that she'll think less of him for being good at it. Much of his character development comes from Marin helping helping him realize that his interests are just as valid as anyone else's and that those who would disparage him for them aren't worth his time.

* {{Foil}}: Her and Marin could not be any more different. Both take Cosplay very seriously, refusing to cosplay a character they love if their body types can't do the cosplay justice - but while Marin is peppy, outgoing, and eager to make new friends in the cosplay scene; Sajuna is reserved, professional, and wishes to cosplay ''for'' herself and ''by'' herself.

* GirlishPigtails: Which complement her childlike looks. Marin thinks they look cute on her.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She can be somewhat arrogant, harsh and stubborn, is a little aloof, prefers to keep people at a distance, is even willing to use dirty tactics to get what she wants, bases her first impressions of people on incomplete assumptions about who they are, and often behaves like she's SurroundedByIdiots. But deep down she does have a good heart. She loves her sister dearly, genuinely feels awful for misjudging Marin, actually apologizes to Marin due to that misjudgment, and grows fond of ''both'' Marin and Gojo as people even though she refuses to budge on not (openly) calling them her friends. Deep down, she is much nicer than she looks at first glance.

* OlderThanTheyLook: She's actually a second year high schooler (meaning she's older than Marin and Gojo), but could easily pass off for an elementary schooler.

* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Much like Marin, [[spoiler:Gojo's kindness and earnestness, not only towards her but towards her little sister as well, seems to have caused her to start falling for him]].

* {{Bifauxnen}}: Marin comments that as "Souma-Oniichan", Shinju has both a masculine presence and a feminine face.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: She’s still in middle school but much taller than the already above-average high-schooler Marin. This appearance of hers makes Gojo forget that she’s still too young to get a job to afford cosplaying. [[spoiler: Gojo gets around this by keeping the final product within 15000 yen[[note]]around 110 dollars[[/note]], which Shinju can manage with her allowance.]]

* {{Bishonen}}: Gojo and Marin eventually find out that he looks good both in and out of costume.

* HateAtFirstSight: "Hate" may be a stretch, but Chitose took notice that she remained silent during the whole conversation until Marin left the room. When Gojo accidentally eavesdrops on their conversation in the smoking room, she confesses that she wants absolutely ''nothing'' to do with Marin.

Wakana's grandfather and guardian, who inspired him to follow his footsteps in Hina Doll making.

* CrackOhMyBack: Ends up out of commission to run the Hina Doll shop for two weeks because he hurt his back falling against the stairs when he saw Wakana [[EntertaininglyWrong had bought lace stockings]] for the Shizuku-tan cosplay. He was nearly sent back to the hospital when the first thing he comes home to was Wakana holding the newly cleaned finished cosplay ''and'' Kitagawa next to him, once again [[EntertaininglyWrong assuming the worst]].
* EntertaininglyWrong: When he spots the lingerie his grandson bought, his first thought was Wakana bought it for himself. It's not until he meets Kitagawa that he learns it was actually for her.

* GoodParents: Is immensely supportive of Wakana following his footsteps, and tries to keep an open mind with his grandson's activities (even if seeing his grandson buying lace stockings and playing porn games bewilders him at first).
* OldMaster: Has nearly fifty years of experience within his craft. Once he gets a good look at the clothes Wakana has begun making for Marin, he's able to give constructive criticism on what Wakana's done well and what needs to improve, despite not being a tailor by trade.[[note]]Hina Doll making does including sewing the clothes for them, but as Kaoru points out, tailoring costumes for people is a very different beast than their craft.[[/note]]
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: A given, as Wakana moved in with him after the death of his son and daughter-in-law.
* ParentalSubstitute: Not only to Wakana, but also to Marin to some extent. He offers her a place in their home and at their dinner table since her mother is deceased and her father works abroad.
* ShipperOnDeck: Indirectly by inviting Kitagawa to come over for dinner on the regular since she's living alone, and encourage Wakana to keep making cosplay clothes to broaden his artistic horizons, especially since it's giving Wakana a social life ''and'' a chance to score in romance. Additionally, Wakana's newfound experience with doing Marin's makeup is also drastically improving his own skills painting Hina doll heads.

Granddaughter of Kaoru, and Wakana's cousin.

Marin's widowed father, who's often working abroad.

* DisappearedDad: Averted. He took good care of Marin before and after her mother's death, but was reassigned to a job overseas by his company around the time Marin got into high school (a few months before the series began, give or take), to his dismay. He still keeps in touch and comes home on vacation and during the summer of course, and takes care of all of Marin's non-cosplay expenses (since she insists on paying for that out of her own pocket).

One of Marin's friends at school.

* GyaruGirl: Like Marin, she dyes her hair and wears various trendy accessories.

Marin's other two friends at school.

The clerk at the fabric store that Gojo and Marin frequent for their cosplay supplies. He's very knowledgeable about tailoring, and often offers advice to Gojo when he's confused about a specialized aspect of a new outfit.

* CoolOldGuy: In a similar way to Kaoru, Usami doesn't judge Gojo when he asks for advice on how to make Marin and Sejuna's ''Flower Princess Blaze!!'' outfits more breathable than Marin's ''Slippery Girls 2'' cosplay, even when Usami thinks that Gojo is going to be the one wearing them.
* EntertaininglyWrong: He thinks Gojo is into crossdressing at first and decides to be as helpful and supportive as he can as to not give (what he assumes would be) Gojo a bad first impression of shopping supplies for said (nonexistent) hobby. Once Gojo brings Marin along the second time he visits the store, said misunderstanding is cleared up easily since they have already gotten chummy.

* NiceGuy: Is a friendly and welcome face who genuinely enjoys helping his clients, and comes to be on good terms with Marin and Gojo.

A photographer that Marin befriended during her first cosplay outing. She's also friends with Akira.

* SeriousBusiness: While not a cosplayer herself, she's as much of an Otaku as Marin and Sajuna. When she learns that Marin cosplayed as Rei-sama and didn't get any photos, she loudly curses her luck for not being able to see it.

* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. She generally has no problem showing Gojo some skin, much to his embarrassment (probably owing to her work as a model), but she’s become more self-aware as she gradually develops feelings for him.

* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Downplayed. She generally has no problem showing Gojo some skin, much to his embarrassment (probably owing to her work as a model), but she’s become more self-aware as she gradually develops feelings for him.

* ACupAngst: [[spoiler:Her primary reason for not wanting to cosplay as Black Lobelia is revealed to be that, rather than feeling like she's too short to pull it off, she doesn't feel like her petite figure (especially her breasts), wouldn't be suited towards the cosplay.]]

* BigLittleSister: Sajuna Inui's little sister, Shinju, is a middle schooler 178 cm tall who is absurdly curvaceous for her age, to the point that even a part-time model like Kitagawa is jealous. It's even more noticeable since Sajuna is petite enough to pass for an elementary schooler.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Gojo is awkward, socially gullible, has difficulty accepting praise and can get extremely caught up in the smallest details, to the point where he views almost everything through the lens of his main interests and is self-admittedly prone to explosions of empathy; All signs of being somewhere on the autistic spectrum.

** The "covert" part may be debatable, but she ''does'' play erotic games (and above her age restriction, no less), and not-so-subtly hints she's into humiliation play when describing what's good about Shizuku and why she wants to cosplay her. She goes as far as to [[UpToEleven draw tally marks on her thighs for accuracy towards the cosplay]].

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Rarisa Tago Takeda (Japanese), Creator/DaniChambers (English), Itzel Mendoza (Latin Spanish)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Atsushi Ono (Japanese), Creator/RBruceElliott (English), Creator/CarlosSegundo (Latin Spanish), Creator/RiccardoRovatti (Italian)

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Downplayed, as it's portrayed far more realistically. Cheerful extrovert Marin helps loner introvert Gojo break out of his shell, because they're both unabashed nerds. The reason they bond is not because she's the light to his darkness per se, but because despite being very different on paper, they're actually BirdsOfAFeather.

[[folder:Akira]]
!!Akira

* DarkAndTroubledPast: She apparently had issues with her parents, who didn't approve of her cosplay hobby, leading her to move out to live on her own.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She's very harsh, lowkey stubborn, fairly aloof, prefers to keep people at a distance, willing to use dirty tactics to get what she wants, bases her first impressions of people on incomplete assumptions about who they are, and often behaves like she's SurroundedByIdiots. But she does have a heart. She loves her sister dearly, genuinely feels awful for misjudging Marin, actually apologizes to Marin due to that misjudgment, and grows fond of ''both'' Marin and Gojo as people even though she refuses to budge on not (openly) calling them her friends.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/094b8dd9_efb9_4a2c_9421_0935ac683a53.jpeg]]

* ShipperOnDeck: Indirectly by inviting Kitagawa to come over for dinner on the regular since she's living alone, and encourage Wakana to keep making cosplay clothes to broaden his artistic horizons, especially since it's giving Wakana a social life ''and'' a chance to score in romance.

* FlatWhat: When Kitagawa looks dissapointed that him and Gojo have found a workaround for her bunny costume that requires no shouldertraps but still preventing a WardrobeMalfunction.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Hina Suguta (Japanese), Creator/AmandaLee (English), Erika Langarica (Latin Spanish)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Shōya Ishige, Creator/TomoyoTakayanagi (Young) (Japanese), Paul Dateh, Jack Britton (young) (English), Creator/VictorUgarte (Latin Spanish)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AtsumiTanezaki (Japanese), Risa Mei (English), Valca Ponzarelli (Latin Spanish)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Hina Yomiya (Japanese), Creator/JadSaxton (English), Karen Alicia Vallejo (Latin Spanish)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Atsushi Ono (Japanese), Creator/RBruceElliott (English), Creator/CarlosSegundo (Latin Spanish)

* GyaruGirl: One of the most famous modern day examples. Marin has the "trendy, fashionable girl" look, including bright-colored hair dye, red contacts, colored nail polish, miniskirt alongside other accessories. She also frequents Shibuya (a shopping district which is a fashion center and popular with Tokyo youths) with her female friends.

* DeathGlare: Only seen once, when a guy who tried to hit on her made fun of the Shion-tan keychain on her bag. She was ''not'' pleased.

* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: She falls for Gojo's kind and sincere nature, and the fact that he always does her best to support her with her cosplay hobby and make her happy.