My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 “800 Million” is basically one big lesson for all women wanting to cosplay as male characters. All because Marin really wants to dress up as her favorite male character…who is himself actually a her in-universe. The level of recursive gender play here is why this anime is one of the best out there.

My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 “800 Million”: Details

My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 NA key art
You can see the success of that cosplay even in the key art.

My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 “800 Million” is the fifth episode (you can read my review of Ep. 13-14, 15-16 here) of the second season of this romantic comedy and slice of cosplay life anime series, and the 17th episode of the anime overall. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the 15-volume long manga of the same name by Shinichi Fukuda.

CloverWorks (The Promised Neverland, Horimiya, Spy x Family) will be returning to production this second season, just as they did with the first season. In fact, longtime readers of THS will recall that we did a review of that first season here. Crunchyroll once more is licensing this anime for its global release. Keisuke Shinohara returns as the director, with Yoriko Tomita also returning as the writer.

Synopsis

Even you’ll be surprised by the transformation.

Alas, My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 is still ongoing as of this writing. In fact, My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 “800 Million” only just premiered on Crunchyroll on August 2, 2025. Thus, to avoid spoilers for those of you who haven’t watched the new season yet, here’s the synopsis for Ep. 17:

“Wakana and Marin finish up the suit for the Rei-sama cosplay but Wakana realizes something is missing.”

As well as for the anime as a whole:

“Wakana Gojo is a high school boy who wants to become a kashirashi–a master craftsman who makes traditional Japanese Hina dolls. Though he’s gung-ho about the craft, he knows nothing about the latest trends, and has a hard time fitting in with his class. The popular kids–especially one girl, Marin Kitagawa–seem like they live in a completely different world.

That all changes one day, when she shares an unexpected secret with him, and their completely different worlds collide.”

My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 “800 Million”: The Good

My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 "800 Million" screenshot 1
Marin used “Aggressive host flirting”. It was super effective!

The highlight of My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 “800 Million” is definitely the story. Specifically: the incredibly detailed genderbending going on in cosplay form. Seriously, these are some very detailed instructions on how to drag king right. You could genuinely use this episode as an actual guide on how to cosplay very masculine male characters, especially of the host variety. The way Marin Kitagawa (voiced by Hina Suguta and AmaLee) utterly transforms herself just by changing her posture and the way the anime focuses on that with lavish detail is just…exquisite. If you have any interest in cosplay, then this episode is definitely one to watch just for that story alone.

And on top of all that, there’s the equally as exquisite animation from CloverWorks too. Their animation team really worked hard on this episode. No, really. I’m not kidding. The smooth way in which everyone moves, from Marin to Wakana Gojo (voiced by Shōya Ishige and Paul Dateh), is so well-animated that you almost forget what reality is like. That’s not even going into how, for once, the food actually looks yummy! It’s not spectacularly great, but it’s delicious enough to make you drool. Even the close-up shots of things like spam riceballs and meat skewers actually makes the food look delicious rather than the usual playdough quality. It’s definitely a sign that the animation team is, for once, trying to take the food seriously. Those higher than normal quality closeups do matter for me.

Speaking of animation though, the sudden change in animation during this episode definitely gets a kudos from me. In fact, the animation change is so jarring that it changes genres entirely, going from anime to…live-action puppet show?! Yes, you read that right. There’s a brief aside where the main characters turn into little live-action puppet version of themselves, and it’s as adorable as it is creative. At the very least, CloverWorks’s creativity is running wild for the better.

My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 “800 Million”: The Bad

My Dress-Up Darling Ep. 17 "800 Million" screenshot 2
Of all the things that could be bad, sudden genre changes aren’t.

Alas, the nitpick here is for that same food quality. It looks much better than before, but it also makes me wonder how much better it could’ve been if the animators went for food animation quality of a similar level to Black Butler and The Apothecary Diaries. Unfortunately, that level of quality is probably out of their budget. Perhaps one day, they might get a bigger budget for better food.

And also alas, if you’re looking for an action-packed anime, then this isn’t it. This is a slice of life romcom anime focusing heavily on cosplay, after all. If you want blood and violence, then you might want to check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, Solo Leveling, Black Butler, Apocalypse Hotel, and/or Nyaight of the Living Cat. On the flip side, if you want more non-violent anime (mostly), then you might want to check out Senpai is an Otokonoko, Apocalypse Hotel, and Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf. At least, until the next episode of My Dress-Up Darling makes its debut.

What do you all think of this week’s episode of My Dress-Up Darling? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.