Shinju Inui

Name: Shinju Inui

Gender: Female

Family: Younger sister of Sajuna Inui

Series: My Dress-Up Darling (manga by Shinichi Fukuda)

Age/School Year: Middle school student (later becomes a high school student by the final volume)

Birthday: September 29 (stated in reference materials, but not depicted in the original manga)

Height: 178 cm

Occupation/Role: Student, cosplay photographer, later cosplayer

Voice Actress (Anime): Hina Youmiya

Live-Action Actress (Stage/Drama): Kokoro Toyoshima

Shinju is extremely shy, soft-spoken, and tends to be very timid around strangers.

Despite her imposing height and body type, her personality is gentle, reserved, and easily flustered.

She is deeply attached to and respectful of her older sister Sajuna Inui, whom she finds cute, admirable, and reliable.

Although their tastes differ, her affection for Sajuna is obvious, and their sisterly relationship is warm and close.

Shinju has trouble talking to people she does not know, especially online followers and fans.

Because she never knows how to reply to messages, she leaves them all unread or unanswered, which contributes to Sajuna’s reputation as a “mysterious cosplayer who never interacts with anyone.”

She also struggles with self-esteem about her appearance and cosplay potential.

Compared to Sajuna’s petite, doll-like looks, Shinju convinces herself she could never look good in cosplay and fears being disliked by her sister if she chooses the “wrong” characters.

Shinju inherits her interest in cameras and photography from her father, who likes taking photos of birds and landscapes.

She uses his professional DSLR camera and has learned proper shooting techniques, composition, and how to bring out a subject’s charm.

She enjoys photographing Sajuna’s cosplay and wants the world to see how cute her sister looks.

To help with this, she also takes on the role of social media manager, handling the creation and uploading of Sajuna’s cosplay photos.

Shinju is surprisingly skilled with computers and image editing.

She processes, edits, and uploads pictures to social networks, carefully presenting Sajuna’s cosplay at its best.

She is a huge fan of horror as a genre, particularly horror games and works with dark, eerie atmospheres.

This stands in direct contrast to Sajuna, who struggles badly with horror and finds it terrifying.

Photographer and “Backstage Staff”

When Sajuna cosplays, Shinju usually stays behind the camera.

She acts as photographer, retoucher, and uploader, quietly supporting her sister from the background.

She helps Sajuna choose a cosplayer alias and manages the online presence associated with it.

However, because Shinju cannot bring herself to reply to comments or direct messages, Sajuna’s account ends up looking like a one-way broadcast with no interaction.

This makes Sajuna appear as a cool, aloof, “lone wolf” cosplayer in the eyes of fans and followers.

The reality is that the seemingly distant persona is mostly the result of Shinju’s extreme shyness about communicating online.

Shinju’s Secret Cosplay Dream

Although she works behind the scenes, Shinju secretly harbors a strong desire to cosplay herself.

She especially adores the magical action series often translated as “Flower Princess Blaze!!” and is a big fan of the male character Souma Tenkaji.

She wants to cosplay Souma, but several fears hold her back:

She thinks she will never look as good as Sajuna.

She worries that choosing a “strange” cosplay will cause her sister to be disappointed in or even dislike her.

She also believes her tall height and large chest make it impossible to convincingly play a male character.

These anxieties keep her from taking the first step, despite her clear passion for cosplay and admiration for existing cosplayers.

Shinju’s turning point comes thanks to Wakana Gojo.

He notices her hidden desire to cosplay and gently encourages her, telling her that Sajuna is not the kind of person who would deny Shinju’s interests or reject her for wanting to cosplay.

Reassured and pushed forward by his words, Shinju decides to take the plunge and cosplay Souma Tenkaji from “Flower Princess Blaze!!”.

She chooses a male character she genuinely loves, rather than trying to force herself into something “more suitable.”

Budget and Costume Creation

As a middle school student, Shinju is on a strict allowance and legally cannot work a part-time job.

Her limited funds make it very difficult to commission or purchase a full cosplay outfit.

Fortunately, Wakana Gojo’s high school uniform strongly resembles Souma’s school uniform in design.

Because Shinju’s height and overall build (aside from the chest) are close to Wakana’s, she can wear his uniform with only minor adjustments.

To complete the cosplay, Shinju focuses her small budget on a wig and a small set of male-costume accessories.

By being creative and frugal, she manages to recreate Souma’s look within her financial limits.

However, neither she nor Wakana initially accounts for the “labor cost” or craftsmanship fee for modifying and preparing the costume.

Wakana, being kind and modest, tries to refuse any payment, but Sajuna realizes this oversight and discreetly pays him later, thinking ahead to his future as a costume maker.

Shinju is a middle school girl but stands at a striking 178 cm in height.

Her physique is far from the stereotypical image of a small, cute middle schooler, and she has an exceptionally voluptuous figure.

Most notably, her chest is extraordinarily large, to a comedic and exaggerated degree within the story.

She is initially unaware of how extreme it is and simply assumes she is “just fat” rather than realizing how unusual her proportions are.

Throughout the series, her bust causes repeated wardrobe and posing incidents, often played for humor and light fanservice.

Several specific examples highlight just how “dangerous” her figure is in daily life and especially in cosplay:

When she borrows Wakana’s men’s dress shirt, the fabric strains to its limit, and the buttons pop off from the pressure of her chest.

Even when she tightly wraps her chest with bandages to create a flatter shape for male cosplay, she cannot completely conceal the volume.

A commercially sold bust binder she wears on the day of her cosplay ends up being destroyed under the stress.

When Wakana measures her head circumference from the front with a tape measure, her chest presses directly against his abdomen, creating an awkward and flustering scene.

Her face is youthful and cute, with a soft, innocent expression.

This, combined with her towering height and overwhelming curves, creates a stark contrast with her older sister.

Sajuna is short, small-framed, and doll-like, while Shinju is tall, broad-shouldered, and heavily endowed.

Their first shared appearance shocks both Wakana and Marin Kitagawa due to the sheer gap between their looks and physical presence.

Shinju and Sajuna share a strong sister bond built on mutual affection, even if their tastes differ.

Shinju looks up to Sajuna as a cool, reliable, and adorable big sister, and Sajuna, despite occasionally acting embarrassed, clearly cherishes Shinju.

Shinju is proud of Sajuna’s cosplay activities and puts serious effort into making her photos look amazing.

Her work as a photographer and editor is a way of supporting Sajuna’s dream and sharing her sister’s cuteness with the world.

However, there is a gap in their preferences:

Shinju adores horror works—games, stories, and settings filled with fear and gore.

Sajuna, on the other hand, is terrible with horror and wants to avoid it whenever possible.

This mismatch leads to funny but painful situations for Sajuna, who tries to live up to her image as the dependable big sister.

Shinju’s enthusiasm for horror becomes one of the few things that genuinely gives Sajuna a headache.

Despite that, the sisters support each other’s interests and gradually find new ways to enjoy cosplay together.

After Shinju’s first successful cosplay, they start planning “matching cosplay” and group events as a new kind of shared hobby.

Shinju’s love for horror becomes even clearer when she appears again in later volumes.

By volume 10, she returns alongside Sajuna in a storyline involving a fictional in-universe horror game called “Coffin.”

She is absolutely thrilled by the game’s dark world and terrifying elements.

When Wakana plays the game to better understand its setting for cosplay preparation, he ends up exhausted and queasy from the content.

In sharp contrast, Shinju’s eyes shine with excitement as she talks about the gruesome details, atmosphere, and lore of “Coffin.”

Her reaction firmly establishes her as a hardcore horror enthusiast.

Shinju later joins a cosplay group based on “Coffin,” taking part in a themed photoshoot and bonding with other cosplayers through their shared love of the game.

Her passion for horror becomes a core part of her identity within the series.

Shinju reappears multiple times after her initial arc, though she remains a guest heroine rather than a main character.

Her presence is always warmly received by readers and viewers, and both she and Sajuna are considered nearly as popular as Marin Kitagawa in terms of fan affection.

By volume 15, the final volume, Shinju has finally entered high school.

With her new freedom comes the opportunity to work part-time, which she has long viewed as the key to funding her own independent cosplay projects.

She participates in a cosplay event in Ikebukuro, dressed once again as Souma Tenkaji from “Flower Princess Blaze!!”.

This time, it is a public cosplay event rather than a private shoot, marking her true debut at a large-scale gathering.

Interestingly, during this Ikebukuro event, Sajuna takes the role of photographer instead of cosplayer.

As a result, Shinju is technically the first of the two sisters to make a cosplay-event debut, even though Sajuna is the more established cosplayer.

Inspired by her experiences with Wakana, Marin, and her sister, Shinju decides that once she is steadily earning money as a high school student, she will invest it in more elaborate, serious cosplay.

She also looks forward to joining more group cosplays and enjoying “sister matching cosplays,” turning her once-secret wish into a bright and shared future hobby.