Marin Kitagawa Hits the Track: My Dress-Up Darling Star on a Race Car!
The energetic protagonist of the popular anime and manga series My Dress-Up Darling (Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi o Suru), Marin Kitagawa, has stepped out of the cosplay studios and onto a real racetrack. The TK Racing Initiative team featured Marin as a "Racing Queen" in the livery of their car competing in the Suzuka 5-Hour Endurance Race, a professional endurance event. This collaboration has created great excitement among fans of the series and once again strengthened the bond between the anime world and motorsports.
In this special event held at the Suzuka Circuit, the car, adorned with Marin's iconic smile and a specially designed racing outfit, became one of the most eye-catching details of the track. The manga, created by Shinichi Fukuda and published in Young Gangan magazine since 2018, is particularly known for Marin's passion for different costumes. Therefore, depicting the character as a racing queen serves as a perfect nod to both the spirit of the series and Marin's ability to "become any character." For fans, this is considered a new and official costume added to Marin's wardrobe.
Adapted into an anime by CloverWorks studio in 2022, My Dress-Up Darling quickly became a global phenomenon. Focusing on the sincere relationship between Wakana Gojo, who aims to become a traditional Hina doll craftsman, and the cosplay enthusiast Marin, the series achieved great commercial success, reaching over 11 million copies sold worldwide. Although an official confirmation for the second season of the series has been given, fans continue to eagerly await the exact release date of the new episodes. Such field events hold strategic importance in keeping the brand's popularity alive ahead of the new season.
While the appearance of anime characters on race cars is known as the "Itasha" culture in Japan, a professional racing team making a promotion of this scale through an official collaboration demonstrates the power of the brand. This partnership between TK Racing Initiative and My Dress-Up Darling proves how influential the anime industry is not only on screens but also in the worlds of sports and marketing. The biggest expectation within the community is that Marin will appear in different events in the coming period and that the long-awaited second season announcement will arrive with this momentum.
