My Dress-Up Darling (2021)

[その 着せ替え人形 （ ビスク・ドール ） は恋をする]

Volume 8

Author/Artist: Shinichi Fukuda
Publisher: Young Gangan Comics

Synopsis:
Gojou tries to figure out how get the wig for the Rei costume to look right.

Story/Characters:
We start off by learning how make a part down the middle work with a wig, something Gojou hadn't had to worry about until now because none of the previous characters had that hairstyle. The next issue has to do with the sort of posturing needed to pull off an effective cross-play, but before we work on that, Kitagawa's friends get an appreciation of the work that goes into cosplay as Kitagawa is putting on the different body shapers to get her figure to match the character's. We go through some work getting Kitagawa to adopt more masculine mannerisms and then we have Kitamura, one of the male classmates who watches the SeiHos drama with his sister, come to school despite being sick just because he wants to see the costume. The next challenge is figuring out how to do the rainbow rose accessory. Enter Kitagawa's friend Seira, who has a clever solution. Meanwhile, it leaves an impression on Gojou how easily Kitagawa can ask others for help, much in contrast with himself.

On the day of the culture festival, the Russian roulette takoyaki isn't going over so well, which gives Kitagawa all the more reason to give it her all to win the pageant. Now, up until this point, a lot of people had said they were looking forward to seeing Gojou's makeup work, so when the time comes, there's quite a crowd. Gojou starts to suffer from some serious performance anxiety, but similar to when he buckled down on the Shizuku-tan costume, he gets into game mode and a guy doing makeup has never looked so chadly. Kitagawa gets her turn as well, because she takes to the stage with flair and very well may have made the student council president fall madly in love with her. (It'd be hilarious if it became a running gag, but I doubt it'll happen.) With Kitagawa's performance, there's no doubt about the outcome and afterward the class shows their appreciation for the two stars who made their victory happen. Gojou shows signs of progress on the social front for not being nearly so hesitant to attend the after party. We do get a little time with Gojou and Kitagawa by themselves. Kitagawa nearly spills the beans on the inspiration for the technique that won over the student council president (when Gojou grabbed her at the love hotel), but quickly stops herself. She tries to be a little more forward and take a purikura with Gojou, but her valiant efforts are, alas, thwarted.

Art:
The cover of Chapter 57 has Kitagawa in an insane costume that I don't imagine we'll see in the series proper. Gojou going into game mode is a thing of beauty with plenty of big panels to really sell it. Then there's Kitagawa on stage. The two-page spread of her taking the mic is outstanding and I love the student council president's reactions throughout. There's also a nice one-pager as Kitagawa is trying to get Gojou to agree to the puirkura.

Other:
The color illustration shows off what's going on underneath the Rei-sama costume. The afterword illustration is the purikura taken with the guys (poor Kitagawa). We have a three-page comic about the dollmaker Fukuda visited for research and him getting nervous when he found out they were reading the series (since the first costume project features an eroge).

Conclusion:
I haven't had a single moment of disappointment in this series since I started it, but this volume manages to hit a new high with both Gojou and Kitagawa's performances at the culture festival. It really is rewarding to see payoffs paid off so well. Not that there was any doubt about it in my previous recommendations, but definitely get this one in your collection.

Rating:
Own It