My Dress-Up Darling is often praised as a fairly faithful adaptation of its manga, but there are still a few changes. Let’s dive into their differences.
Winter 2022 was a pretty hectic season for anime, but nothing stood out more than My darling in disguise. Equally loved for the lovable romance between main characters Gojo and Marin and criticized for the excessive and over-the-top fanservice, this anime has had fans talking since Episode 1.
Now that the final episode of season 1 has aired, it has been hailed by critics as a fairly faithful adaptation of the manga. Still, nothing is perfect, and there are some small changes within the anime, so what exactly changed from the manga to the anime?
The first change occurs immediately at the opening of Episode 1. In the anime, we see a young Gojo looking up and admiring his grandfather’s doll, mesmerized by its beauty. In the manga, there’s no sign of a young Gojo here, just a younger version of his grandfather telling an off-panel Gojo how he, too, can make dolls one day, before abruptly showing the traumatic moment in his childhood where his former friend disowns him. him because of his “feminine” fondness.
Obviously, this is just a minor change. The first major change in the first episode is the way Marin and Gojo first interact. In the manga, she just bumps into him and apologizes, but in the anime, Marin’s encounter is more over the top. She is seen literally flying through the air and landing headfirst on the corner of Gojo’s desk, which honestly seems very concussion-inducing. However, a moment later, she reveals that she is completely fine. This change was probably added to set up the show’s quirkiness and comedy.
In Episode 5, the anime cuts a scene that occurs while Gojo is taking pictures of Marin as Shizuku-tan for the first time. In the manga, Gojo is visibly flustered after Marin claims that she didn’t bring any clothes to change into. This scene is traded in favor of a simpler smartphone photo montage. Similarly, in Episode 8, during the beach scene, a fan service panty shot scene is replaced in favor of a bird stealing Marin and Gojo’s lunch. In contrast, the iconic love hotel episode is adapted at the beginning without any changes, much to the excitement of manga fans.
The final episode of the series has the most changes from manga to anime. Start right away with a minor change. In the manga, the episode begins with Gojo working on his next cosplay project, while in the anime he is working on a doll. The biggest cut in this scene is the presence of Marin’s father. In the manga, she comes home to check on Marin and gets angry at her when she reveals that she hasn’t been doing her homework, which leads her to study with Gojo. In the anime, this conversation boils down to a phone call, and viewers never see Marin’s father on screen.
Another big change is the order of events. In the manga, the events occur as follows: the meeting with Marin’s father, the school pool scene, the fireworks festival, and the horror movie sequence. However, in the anime, the movie scene splits in two and closes the episode. Occurs as such: movie, pool scene, festival, then concludes with Marin calling Gojo to tell him how scared she is in the post-credits scene after watching the movie sequel alone.
Understandably, the writers wanted the season to end on a happy note, so they likely changed things so that Marin could end the season by saying the long-awaited “I love you” to Gojo, even if she didn’t actually hear it. The season ends with Marin looking directly into the camera and saying “See you later,” which is probably meant to be a heartfelt fourth-wall breaking.
The anime evidently follows the manga quite closely, and aside from some minor cuts and chronological changes, there are no major plot differences between the manga and the movie, which has pleased fans of the manga. With such a good first season, can he hold out for the second season? There is no announcement for the second season yet, but judging by its success, there will certainly be an announcement soon.
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