My Dress Up Darling Episode 8 - Scouting Locations For Photos and Dates?

Can My Dress up Darling get any more adorable?

I thought Marin was the sweetest and nicest character ever and then we meet the more introverted by equally sweet Shinju and no surprise, the two get on amazingly well as they discuss the camera, different ways to take photos and explore an old hospital as a potential shoot location. My Dress Up Darling is spoiling us by giving us nice characters who are also interesting (a combination that is harder to come by then it seems).

Though it was great seeing Gojo getting a chance with the reaction faces this week. Normally Marin dominates in the facial expression range but I think episode 8 definitely had Gojo come out on top for sheer number of facial expressions pulled throughout the episode.

My Dress Up Darling is planning for a cosplay shoot and for Marin’s summer of dating Gojo.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the first half of My Dress Up Darling episode 8. Despite Juju’s initial poor impression as her character seemed to be used for terrible fan-service fodder, she’s actually not a bad character now that they’ve settled down a bit. Admittedly, she’s still hitting all the clichés for anime girls as she cowers in the corner after their abandoned hospital exploration gets interrupted by a storm.

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Still, there was some pretty good chemistry between Gojo and Juju and Marin and Shinju hit it right off and were having a great time as they explored. The only thing that really confused me is they said they were going to a studio and that the hospital had been converted but it just kind of looked like an abandoned hospital. Not a big issue but it just made me wonder.

The second half of the episode focuses in solely on Marin and Gojo and after they finish their exams she proposes going to the beach. Innocent that he is, he assumes it is to scout locations for photos but turns out Marin just wanted to go to the beach. However unlike so many other anime, My Dress Up Darling doesn’t unleash another bikini scene on us or even an accidental drowning or similar beach scenario. Instead we just see two high schoolers letting off steam on the beach and having their food stolen by a bird.

It’s nice that even though My Dress Up Darling does lean into some anime tropes it knows when to subvert your expectations. Besides, we’ve already seen Marin in her bikini so a beach scene wasn’t going to show us anything new from that perspective. Rather, it used the scene to advance Marin’s feelings toward Gojo and she not so subtly invites him to hang out with her all summer.

I kind of hope she just tells him how she feels soon. I mean, they are super maxing out the cuteness as Marin experiences Gojo’s first time at the beach and the two of them share food, looks and the occasional blushing red face that the other one conveniently doesn’t see.

Really, My Dress Up Darling just continues to be the feel good show to watch this season. The fan-service was way down in this episode on prior episodes with far more focus on the character relationships. The saddest part though is there’s only four episodes left and honestly I just want more of these characters. It has been such a great anime to watch each week and I can’t help but smile while watching it.

That said, I am really looking forward to seeing the outfits Gojo is going to make for Juju and Marin. Hopefully we see that completed before the season ends.

Images from: My Dress Up Darling. Dir. K Shinohara. CloverWorks. 2022