2.5-jigen no Ririsa

This is (so far 3 episodes in) a watered down version of my dress up darling.

It is a show with a cosplay theme, a nerdy girl and an otaku fan of the anime character that the cosplayer is portraying.

The fact that this cosplay is a magical girl gets a bonus point out of me ♥️

I really enjoy it so far. The music is catchy, the premise is ok and I will finish watching this for sure.

It's hard to beat Wakana Gojo and Marin from dress up darling, but this one is absolutely worth a watch.

... ---

MAL forces me to write more so here we go:

Artstyle: Good but not great.
Intro: Cathy, fits the theme
Characters: Both female and male MC are likeable, yet no dress up darling level of great yet.

This is pretty much a cosplay anime first and foremost, that's how the adaption has chosen to focus on things. The relationship between the lead Okumura and Lilysa develop in a way that you can see potential romance, but they're such perfect partners that support each other that you can feel their chemistry on a platonic level. The first three episodes represent more a prologue to the main course of cosplay and the exploration of cosplay culture. A reflection of how the source material evolves from the ecchi romcom harem to something more complex.

The main difference between Dress Up Darling and this series is ... that you get a better idea of Japanese Cosplay culture rather than the more individual costume by costume dress ups and creations by Gojo and Marin. The overall cast feels stronger as a result even outside the childhood friend Mikari, you have the other cosplay cast that you feel you're going to meet again. And you want to meet again because you want to reward kindness with kindness. The world is much larger than outside the clubroom, but you can't help but root for Lilysa to succeed. You want her to be the best Lilliel there ever was. Even if her only skills and expertise seems to be related to cosplay and the creation of.

The VAs and the OST really pull their weight in bringing the story to life. The OST is able to sell the romantic and cosplay moments equally well with the right instrumentation. Okumura and Mikari's VA really sell the loudness and bravado while Mikari showcases the confident, but tsundereness. Former showcases this in Episode 4 between yelling reactions in public to an episode he's watching, to motivating Lilysa to put on the cosplay outfit. And pretty much every scene Mikari's in you can feel the vacillation between love rival to good friend. So far the studio's been keeping good pace with the manga, cutting and rearranging where needed to hit the key moments in a timely matter. Episode 2 is a fine example of rearranging so that Mikari's moments are framed throughout the episode rather than in one large block. With how the pacing has ended up so far, Episode 5 was able to fit in a pretty meaty bonus chapter adaption that helped flesh out the cast as a whole as they discussed about common cosplay issues they suffer. Lilysa really facilitates most of the comedic moments by playing her absurdities rather straight, but the anime is great at executing the comedic scenes. Like getting people to look for an Elf Lady cosplayer in the subway to return her coverup underwear.

Also you can never go wrong with an ED Dance number sung by the VA's of Lilysa and Mikari in character.

This series is a definite delayed burn, because the charms of the series only really start becoming apparent as the fanservice takes a back seat to the cosplay action. Somethings are predictable because this is ultimately a shonen romance. On the other end, there are still surprises left for new people.

Ah yes, the good old story of an otaku who has no interest in 3D girls yet is surrounded by beautiful, sexy girls who want a piece of him.

Does this anime do anything different from its predecessors? Barely. Almost every trope you expect in this type of anime is present.

An MC with an overly exaggerated otaku personality where he poses every single minute, saying, "I DON'T NEED REAL GIRLS, ANIME GIRLS ARE ALL I NEED." But here's the catch—he actually has a very good reason to be this way. Being left alone by your mother at 8 is pretty bad, right? Even at school, everyone ... looks at him like he's a trash bag, so it's pretty understandable for him to act like that. Is his posing every minute and yelling "I DON'T NEED REAL GIRLS" at the top of his lungs cringy? Surely this level of cringe won't bother you. If you can handle something like Rent-a-Girlfriend, then you can certainly handle this.

The anime later introduces heroines that seem even crazier than the MC. One of the heroines is into erotic things to a level that even the MC can't match, and another heroine is a popular and cute model who looks at a chronic weeb who keeps saying how much he loves anime girls and thinks to herself, "Yeah, I love that guy."

Going in, I thought the MC would be a dense guy who keeps saying, "I don't care about 3D girls" until the very last episode. But nope, in the first episode, his entire motto and way of life shatter after he lays his eyes upon a girl doing sexy cosplay. Turns out, he still likes real girls after all, but he keeps hiding and denying it by saying, "Oh no, I don't like real girls, I won't see you with dirty eyes" (he obviously does) and "Oh no no no, I don't fall in love with 3D girls, I FALL IN LOVE WITH 2.5D girls" (there's no such thing as that).

As far as the story goes, this is pretty much the main plot: an otaku slowly realizing that he loves real girls just as much as he loves his anime girls. Sure, the anime will have its serious moments discussing his upbringing and why he shows no interest toward real girls, but that's about it. Nothing too serious or overly dramatic, besides people come to see this anime for sexy anime girls, nothing else. Which leads us to the fanservice.

The fanservice in this anime is mostly subtle and teasing rather than full-blown nudity. You won't see bare nipples or sex scenes. Rather than relying on nudity alone, they cater to using lewd moments, eargasm, and the sexy design of the heroines' outfits. And trust me, it works because the creator made the heroines' designs so FCKING HOT. They are cooking with it. Sometimes this subtle lewdness is much hotter than full-blown nudity, and this anime proves it even further.

Overall, if you are into ecchi with a light story, give this one a try.

This is not an anime you have to get into with a serious mindset. In fact, you should turn off your brain completely before putting the first episode on because it is so devoid of logic that you simply cannot question what is happening without having an aneurysm.

As a cosplayer, I find this show hilarious! It has some ecchi (definitely less than the manga which is fine), it has some love, it has some friendship and it has a lot of ridiculous hilarious moments that will make you piss your pants in second hand embarrassment.

I don't usually like fan service or ecchi anime, but ... this one doesn't try to be something else. Fan service is at the core of its story telling (little as there is), and this fan service is used to create a charming parody of cosplay, ecchi and high school romance. The art is beautiful, even past the first episode (as of episode 5 at least). The characters, although not very realistic, are endearing and the ecchi aspect is approached with respect from the male characters. The main character never tries to take advantages of his female club members who want to explore their sexy sides through cosplay, which is very much appreciated (cosplay is NOT consent).

I would recommend this if you are into or interested in cosplay. The plot and character's emotions definitely make more sense if you understand what goes into making, wearing and capturing a cosplay. Otherwise, i assume it might be cringe or boring to watch... So overall, watch at your own risk ;)