All My Dress-Up Darling Volumes Ranked Worst To Best

My Dress-Up Darling has been incredibly popular, especially since the first season of the anime by Studio CloverWorks brought the story to vivid life on Crunchyroll. However, there’s still so much more to be adapted from the manga by Shinichi Fukuda. So, here are all the volumes ranked.

11. Volume 11

At the bottom of the My Dress-Up Darling volume rankings is Volume 11, which focuses on the “Coffin” Group Cosplay effort by Juju, Marin, Gojo, and newcomer Akira and covers Chapters 80-87. This volume is easily the weakest due to its focus on a larger group of characters rather than the central duo of Gojo and Marin. Moreover, while Shinichi Fukuda has excellently portrayed the facial expressions and detailed cosplays of Marin in the past, the main focus of this volume is a Nun cosplay that leads to mainly empty black coloring that not only lacks detail but makes it hard to distinguish which character is who given that they are all in the same uniforms.

10. Volume 6

For those more interested in the cosplay aspects of My Dress-Up Darling, Volume 6 could be considered one of the better and more detailed entries. However, when it comes to the overall impact on the larger story, Volume 6 (Chapters 40-47) is sorely lacking. Most of the chapters focus on the character of Amane, a crossplayer Marin and Gojo meet at a convention that explains to them a whole other aspect of the cosplayer community that hadn’t been mentioned in the story before. As engaging and interesting Amane’s story is, it’s seldom brought back up besides a a brief appearance in one later volume and a brief mention in another, making it feel not as significant in the overall series.

9. Volume 9

We’re starting to get into the territory of volumes that hardly have any bad qualities, but some stand out more than others. In the case of Volume 9 (Chapters 64-71), there’s something of a reversal of roles as Marin tries her hand at photography. One of the best aspects of My Dress-Up Darling is how the characters rarely stagnate in developing their passions, and this volume is one of the best showcases of that. At yet another cosplay convention, the series mixes up the formula by having Marin and Gojo split up, with Gojo meeting another avid costume maker while Marin photographs other cosplayers. It’s a fun chapter that shows how our main characters can grow and aren’t always dependent on each other, making their relationship feel more realistic because of it.

8. Volume 1

The first volume of My Dress-Up Darling perfectly sets the stage for the series, albeit leaning more heavily into the fan service side of things than later volumes would. Covering the first seven chapters of the series, these original chapters are all about how Gojo and Marin begin their friendship and Gojo’s awkwardness, given that he’s never really tried to make friends with anyone before. My Dress-Up Darling would eventually deviate from the usual Romance Manga tropes; however, the first volume plays it safe before the series and Gojo and Marin’s relationship could expand.

7. Volume 3

My Dress-Up Darling Volume 3 introduced two new characters to the series: viral cosplayer Juju and her younger sister Shinju, who photographs her cosplays. The volume is something of an interlude between arcs, introducing new characters to set up a love triangle that’s expected of most romance manga today. Unfortunately, this love triangle isn’t further developed later in the series, and the weird moments of fan service take away from the interesting setup of this volume.

Related: Is There a My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Release Window?

6. Volume 2

My Dress-Up Darling takes a fun and somewhat unexpected turn in the second volume, as Marin develops feelings for Gojo after the first cosplay event that they attend together. Watching Marin discover her feelings and Gojo remain utterly oblivious to them is hilarious and sets up an entirely new angle to the relationship between the cosplayer and tailor. My Dress-Up Darling is as successful as it is thanks to the natural development of its core characters, and this second volume shows an authenticity to them that is unmatched in other romance manga.

5. Volume 4

The fourth volume sees another cosplay come to fruition and introduces the concept of group cosplays via a collaboration between Marin and Juju. With Gojo responsible for the costumes for the group, he also helps Juju’s younger sister pursue her secret interest in cosplay. Volume 4 is a touching display of the more prominent themes of My Dress-Up Darling, as its story encourages readers to take up their passions unafraid and uninhibited by insecurities. The volume also features particularly beautiful art by Shinichi Fukuda that shows the finished result of the cosplays.

4. Volume 8

My Dress-Up Darling Volume 8 (Chapters 56-63) goes all in on the crossplay aspect of the series, something that was only briefly touched upon in previous chapters. Marin, for a school pageant, decides to crossplay for the first time as Rei Kogami, a popular character from a manga-turned-TV show in the manga. The series always goes into great detail about the cosplays Gojo and Marin work on. Still, Volume 8 takes it to another impressive level as Gojo has to account for Marin’s feminine body and attempts to make it masculine with his cosplay while also trying to make Marin act the part as well.

3. Volume 7

The seventh volume of the series (Chapters 48-55) is compelling because it showcases Gojo working with his classmates. So much of the series has taken place outside of school, so seeing Gojo and Marin’s world of cosplay intertwine with their school life provides a much-needed change of pace. Volume 7 gives viewers perspective on how much Gojo has evolved up to this point, no longer being as socially awkward as he once was.

2. Volume 5

The fifth volume of My Dress-Up Darling covers the series’s Liz arc and Fireworks Festival arc (Chapters 32-39). It’s also where the first season of the anime adaptation ends. This volume gives everyone the Gojo and Marin interactions they’ve been waiting for. It revolves around how Gojo and Marin spend summer vacation. It’s refreshing to see the two interact together, although the first half of the volume is somewhat awkward, as a cosplay photoshoot in a love hotel leads to the two almost kissing. However, the second half, which shows Gojo and Marin attending a festival, among other things, is some of the best and most heartfelt moments the series has to offer, as Marin tells Gojo over the phone that she loves him for the first time, albeit while he is asleep on the other side of the line.

1. Volume 10

The tenth volume of My Dress-Up Darling is the best in the series because it shows Marin’s growing frustration with being unable to tell how Gojo feels about her. So many other manga in the same genre as My Dress-Up Darling enjoy keeping the status quo and prolonging any real development, ultimately hurting the story. However, Volume 10 of this series shows the reality of what disappointment can do to a person in love. More than anything, this entry in the My Dress-Up Darling series shows the promise of the manga eventually seeing this Gojo and Marin pairing to the end, and it’s a fantastic volume overall (despite the fan service, as said many times before in these rankings).

And those are all the My Dress-Up Darling volumes ranked worst to best.

My Dress-Up Darling is available to stream on Crunchyroll.