When we eagerly await a new season, but not even a teaser arrives, we quickly worry that the adaptation might be canceled. That’s because we’ve seen it happen so many times before. We still don’t know anything about season 3 of My Dress-Up Darling, but there is news about a new release that expands the world. With Shin’ichi Fukuda’s main manga coming to an end in March 2025, any extra content is welcome news for fans who don’t want to say goodbye to Marin and Gojo. Today there is good news: Square Enix Manga & Books has announced My Dress-Up Darling XOXO!, a one-volume spin-off by Choboraunyopomi, designed to bring the whole group back together with a more wild and comical twist.
Marin Kitagawa and Wakana Gojo are back in the spotlight, but they are joined by the Inui sisters, Amane Himeno, and other familiar faces who, with their homemade costumes and cosplay days, made the series a success. As mentioned, the tone will be the real novelty. XOXO! will be a collection of short adventures, almost sketches, in which the characters are pushed into deliberately absurd situations. Gojo finds himself dealing with a former classmate who asks him for money, Sajuna tries to endure horror movie marathons for Shinju’s sake, and Marin also experiences her first role as a poster girl for a school club. Light stuff, but perfect for those who want to revisit the chemistry that made us fall in love with it in the first place.
But when will it be released? In the United States, the volume is scheduled for October 13, 2026. For Europe, however, there is still no official announcement: the spin-off does not appear among the releases or in the catalog of J-POP Manga, the publisher that released the main series here. In the meantime, the anime remains in a gray area. After the second season, which ended in 2025, there has been no official confirmation about season 3.
Producer Shota Umehara also spoke, setting the record straight in an honest manner. “Production is a blank page.” In short, there is no plan already in place. He himself says he would like to make another one, but only when everything is aligned and without rushing, because he doesn’t want to release a poorly made adaptation. He adds a realistic detail, namely that the series will continue if there is support, i.e., people watching and buying.
In short, while season 3 remains an open question, XOXO! is a way to endure the wait and return to the world of My Dress-Up Darling.
Source: ComicBook
