Marin Kitagawa

Marin Kitagawa is the female lead of Fukuda Shinichi's romcom ecchi manga Bisque Doll Falls in Love (aka Kisekoi for short). She is a popular hot gyaru whose hobby is cosplaying various sexy anime characters. Marin takes interest in the reclusive dollmaker Wakana Gojo when she sees him use a sewing machine, so she requests to make costumes for her, thereby becoming his eponymous "bisque doll". Kitagawa eventually develops feelings for Gojo because of his earnest nature and tailoring skills.

After the anime adaptation aired in Winter 2022, Bisque Doll experienced a breakout rise in popularity because of its high production qualities, well-executed tropes, and wholesome moments shared by the main cast. The show also caused a spike in interest for hina dolls. In Anitrendz's weekly charts, Bisque Doll dominated the season as the show spent the most weeks at #1 spot, eclipsing even popular sequels like Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer. At the same time, Marin also staked her place in Anitrendz history when she became one of the very few characters to complete a "seasonal sweep" — place #1 in a character chart throughout the entire season.

Like most romcoms, the show's primary appeal focuses on main waifu Marin, who has captured the hearts and dicks of watchers because of her outgoing personality and sexy appearance. Her nature as a cosplayer has also inspired plenty of fan arts and real-life cosplays since the anime's release, mostly in Pixiv and Twitter. Because of these initial receptions, some people are already proclaiming Kitagawa "Best Girl of (Winter) 2022" as early as episode 1. If these fans hope to prove this claim true, then she must overcome the rise of other high-profile girls waiting to be released, such as the Forger mother/daughter duo, and the devils from Chainsaw Man (Power, Makima).

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r/anime
In the anime's first episode alone, some users from the /r/anime subreddit have already called Marin the "best girl of 2022". A discussion thread was even posted early in the anime's airtime, which talks about her potential to become "the next big 'waifu' on the block" like Mai Sakurajima in terms of popularity among audiences, which also implies immediate success in the subreddit's Best Girl tournament.

Marin inevitably won the Winter 2022 seasonal as most people expected, and set a new record for the most dominant run by a winner in /r/anime's seasonal history since all of her matches were won with over 80% vote shares. Her victory was so overwhelming that even if all of her opponents' votes were combined (746), she would still win in 5 out of 6 matches. This may be attributed to the lack of "quality" opposition as Bisque Doll was the only notable popular romcom from Winter 2022, which also resulted in the other two main girls reaching the semi-finals as the #2 and #3 seed. The opponent who got the most votes against her was the #8 seed Komichi Akebi, who was seen by some users as a contender for 2nd place.

Kitagawa will attempt to continue her undefeated streak in the upcoming Best Girl of 2022, and will be first eligible for Best Girl 10 in 2023, although a few of her fans have been making noise as early as Best Girl 9 (where she is obviously banned due to recency bias).

Seasonal Salt 2022 - Winter - seed 1
 * (64) Yui Kamiki @ Tribe Nine -- 528 - 40 (92.96%)
 * (33) Touka Kuroitsu @ Kuroitsu-san -- 828 - 81 (91.09%)
 * (17) Pawoo Nekoyanagi @ Sabikui Bisco -- 913 - 108 (89.42%)
 * (8) Komichi Akebi @ Akebi's Sailor Uniform -- 1031 - 233 (81.57%)
 * (4) Daki @ Demon Slayer season 2 -- 775 - 95 (89.08%)
 * (2) Sajuna Inui @ Bisque Doll -- 1070 - 189 (84.99%)

Honours
Contest Wins (5)
 * 1) Mei Hazume Waifu War II 2022 (FB link)
 * 2) Tu Mentira en Abril Torneo la besto waifu 2022 (FB link)
 * 3) LIHKG Moe 2022 (Image link)
 * 4) /r/anime's Seasonal Salt 2022 - Winter
 * 5) FB @Ruisu Enrike TdW 2022 (FB Link)

Runner-up lists (1)
 * El Migajas de Itsuki TdW 2021-22 FB Link