Content Violations Review: Manga.My Dress Up Darling

This manga/anime revolves around a heavily sexualized 15-year-old female protagonist and is marketed to a seinen demographic (a.k.a. adult males).

At one point in the manga, the girl even goes topless with visible nipples.

Isnt my dress up darling only TV-14? And English dubbed. And mainstream. From what I've heard it doesn't even actual sex and uncensored nudity?

I admit I'm mostly familiar with reviews (as well as videos From main actor Amalee) but it seems pretty tame.

Yeah, there's no sex at all. Keep.

Keep. Not familiar with the genre, but it doesn't seem any worse than some other things on here.

Easy keep.

~GrayGadget Can you be as specific as possible?

Keep. Standard-issue romance ecchi.

Easy keep.

To be honest, I have never heard of this anime before or even watched it, but I have read an article on the internet that decried how sexualized teenage characters are very prevalent in seinen anime, using My Dress-Up Darling as an example. (link)

I have read the website's content policy (and the P5 Archive) and I always thought it would allow teenage fanservice as long as they're only marketed to a shonen/shoujo demographic and it's not overtly explicit.

After reporting this page, I realized too late that the anime was rated TV-14 and also mainstream. My apologies.

P.S. Although, I did do a quick deep trope dive and found some questionable details I've highlighted with boldface.

From the Main Page

• Ecchi: While this is mostly a heartwarming story about two teenagers bonding over making cosplay outfits, there's also quite a bit of Fanservice and Male Gaze, with much of it coming from Kitagawa. If the extremely detailed close-ups of Kitagawa's nearly-nude body didn't give it away, then seeing Sajuna naked after a shower, with visible nipples, definitely will.

From Marin Kitagawa's Character Profile

• Ms. Fanservice: 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 breast bounce for good measure. A much later chapter of the manga^note Chapter 75, to be precise even shows her topless, with Nipple and Dimed averted.

Strong keep.

Uncensored nipples don't really increase the rating for me, personally.

Well, America is far more strict when it comes to depictions of nudity, even if it's non-sexual. And in today's social media art communities, they wouldn't let you depict full nudity without using a (18+) mature tag. This is certainly a problem when it comes to depicting teenage characters as that would likely get labeled as child porn.

At least, that's what I think.

Edited by GrayGadget on May 4th 2024 at 2:51:25 AM

Our policy allows incidental and non-prurient nudity from teenage characters (between 13 and 15), but there is a fine line to be drawn if sexualization is a primary/obvious goal.

It really feels like the point here is sexualization, so it's a line-bender if not a line-crosser. The TV-14 rating is a strong "keep" argument, however.

Edited by Fighteer on May 4th 2024 at 5:56:30 AM

Evidently it's not that big an issue, because it's considered TV-14/PG-13 in the west. Why are you reporting on media you admit to have no knowledge of and only know about through hearsay? This is not an obscure fact to find as a non-viewer.

Edited by number9robotic on May 4th 2024 at 3:03:22 AM

Doesn't stuff like Euphoria feature plenty of nudity? I don't think we've had problems with that kind of series but I might be wrong.

Edited by UchuuFlamenco on May 4th 2024 at 3:01:12 AM

Voting keep considering the arguments presented.

Regarding the mentioned Chapter 75, Marin stays at Gojo's house, and has two pages of changing clothes after a shower, being topless for 1 panel. Is it necessary? I don't think so. Narratively, it doesn't not make sense, and isn't visibly detailed like it'd be in actual Ecchi series. I don't think there's enough argument for pandering.

Edited by Amonimus on May 4th 2024 at 1:11:29 PM

I get that the line between "sexual exploitation" and "just being kind of skeevy with fanservice" can get very blurry, but considering the content the rest of the series (there's a lot more going on with its plot and characters that isn't remotely sexual in nature), it's pretty easy to contextualize where on that gradient such fanservice lies. Keep.

Edited by number9robotic on May 4th 2024 at 3:18:25 AM

This is actually my first time reporting. Normally, when I hear about how some anime/manga is sexualizing minors, I search for previous content violation discussion boards on this website to see what the p5 thinks and their overall verdicts.

It's an unfortunate case of timing, then.

Because recently there had been a string of "revenge flags", or rather people pointing to works like Cuties or Redo of Healer and pointing out content violations as a sort of pay back for Gushing Over Magical Girls getting removed.

As such, that may explain why where's more scrutiny towards this thread than usual.

I wasn't aware of this. I also looked at the discussion board for Cuties and as much as I hate that movie, I completely respect the overall verdict to keep it.

I wasn't involved with the Cuties discussion but, for what it's worth, I voted to cut Redo completely. Twice.

Sorry, my apologies.

Edited by StarSword on May 4th 2024 at 6:40:11 AM

A reminder that the thread is for My Dress-Up Darling and not Cuties.

I feel like this is getting a bit derailed from the actual work at hand, use one of the pinned threads if you want to discuss content flags in general.

Does our very own page for Tarot Cards count as nudity to you? Not to mention Nirvana Baby or Bart in the Simpsons movie. I really don't think the US is as sensitive to nudity as some internet communities might make one think. Although certain red state politicians might be aiming for it.