Tags: #anime Links: Animes
Domestic Girlfriend
Domestic Girlfriend 11/12/2020
Wow. Let me just say, I fell in love with the anime within the first episode when Rui and Natsuo ditched their friends and went to her place. It gave me similar vibes as Bunny Girl Senpai, and I was all for it. Without any shame, I would like to say that this anime was just so good. Like, I don’t even know how to explain it; I enjoyed every second of it. The animation was beautiful and reminded me of Bunny Girl Senpai/Blend S, I was captivated by the plot, I cried, the op is probably my 2nd favorite op (with Hacking to the Gate coming in first), and there was hella fan service!!!
I honestly didn’t expect that ending. Right before I was informed of the picture of Hina and Natsuo, I was rooting them on, hoping that they would be able to live happily ever after. Of course, this anime isn’t called a dumpster fire for no reason. I’m surprised Hina got away that scot-free, but overall, I didn’t think Hina still had that big of feelings for Natsuo. Since I thought she was still secretly hanging out with Shuu, I thought he would just barge in at any moment and ruin the thing they had. Now that I think about it, I wonder how differently I would interpreted such events if I wasn’t so paranoid. I would have enjoyed such moments more, but then I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by surprise about them committing. After the beach trip and her telling Rui that incest was bad, she managed to hide her feelings exceptionally well from me.
Is it weird that the family stuff didn’t really bother me? I mean, I could agree with the ideas they had about how being caught can ruin their lives, but I wasn’t really repulsed by it or anything. I’m not sure if it’s because of all the step-sibling porn I’ve watched or because of my lack of a step-family, but I almost even enjoyed it (LMAO). From an objective standpoint, for the three of them to risk it all like that only proves how deep and sincere their connections were.
That ending, that ending was a beautiful way to end it. In fact, I even started crying after seeing Hina with Natsuo’s book and ring. I was expecting her to get back with her previous teacher or to just find someone completely new in general, but I was pleased to see the anime end like that. It’s like the best possible ending they could have achieved from that all mishap; Hina and Natsuo can probably come back together later on in life, Rui gets her share of Natsuo, the family is in order again, and Natsuo has grown to be a compelling author through his sincere stories.
That opening song. When I had first heard it in a spotify playlist, it resonated within me. The emotion in it, the structure of the song, I was overwhelmed with amazement when I had watched the first episode and realized that it was the op for Domestic na Kanojo. For some reason, I thought it was from Rent-A-Girlfriend, and tried so hard one day to find it, just to end up doing so when I least expected it. As much as I want to put it on repeat, I really don’t want the song to lose its meaning. When i re-listened to the opening, the whole anime just unfolds before me in my mind, and I just stare at the screen, admiring its every frame. The intensity of the piano and the contrast in emotion throughout the song, it rivals Hacking to the Gate as my #1 favorite op.
Holy shit. Rui is probably my waifu. I’m a huge fan of her background and her personality, and in some ways I can strongly relate to her. First off, I can’t help but cherish her hair and eyes; the dark yet colorful blue, the contrasting bright red eyes, it was one of the reasons why I was hooked onto the anime from the start. During her close-up blank stares, I was just completely infatuated by her appearance. Her social awkwardness, her desire to read (even though I kinda just started recently), her bluntness, her undying love, I’m just obsessed with every bit of her. As soon as the anime started providing information about her, I instantly perceived her to be one of my favorite characters from the SoL romance animes I’ve watched. I just strongly feel for her, and feel sorry for her unobtainable sincere love. I wonder if such feelings were caused by their initial encounter, and were suppressed extremely well within her until they just slowly started seeping out, her inner desire for Natsuo growing to the point of wanting to make out with him whenever possible. Her time in the bath reminded me a lot of Bunny Girl Senpai, having deep and reflective conversations with Natsuo about their relationship and life in general. She also reminds me of the brunette in YLIA, having to just accept the facts and go along with it. She’s easily taken #1, followed up by Shinobu, Sakurajima, and Sengoku. When I won’t have any shame in buying a figure, she’ll probably be the first LMAO. I could just keep going on and on; her curiosity in trying it for the first time, her decision to keep quiet when finding out about Natsuo and Hina despite her strong feelings for Natsuo, I just have the utmost admiration and respect for her.
The scene with Momo and Natsuo hit deep; I loved the message it portrayed. I just felt really bad for Momo and her circumstances. Desperately trying to fill your parental absence through the acquisition of a new boyfriend every few weeks with no success, it pains me to realize how accurate this potentially is in our modern day society. I truly hope other people can begin to act like Natsuo, and instead of taking advantage of such people, help them in other ways instead. That was probably one of the more memorable moments in the anime for me, and it’s made me further solidify my related beliefs.
I think the most outrageous thing in this anime was how the parents were kind of okay with the relationship unfolding. Also, how did they even know? Thank god they didn’t sign divorce papers, and thank god the ending was the way it is.
I was initially a bit confused when Hina was saying Shuu’s name in bed. I genuinely thought that they had gotten back together, and thought that Hina and Shuu were lying when they said they hadn’t contacted each other since. It was only until their moment alone in the New Years Festival when I realized that I was stupid af lmao.
I was constantly in anticipation, waiting for the moment where Natsuo’s relationship with Hina or Rui would be completely exposed, and it happened. Whenever Natsuo made out with Rui in their bed or with Hina at her home, I was just fully expecting someone to barge it and completely expose them. However, I must say that the picture is a creative way of introducing the idea. After that scene was over, I was 100% sure that nothing leaked out.
I’m surprised that Natsuo never got to see Hina again. I figured that he would see her on the off-chance (maybe even at that public spa), but it never happened. Instead, I was cucked by Rui’s wig at one of the later episodes.
This anime is just so good at portraying adolescent life; through the struggles of lust vs love, the need to fit in, being uncertain about what you want to pursue in the future, the danger of cancel culture, I just loved witnessing all the ideas that unfolded throughout. However, it’s also sad how “commonplace” sexual things were, and how I wasn’t even phased by it because of current society and anime culture. Of course, I’m not complaining and I hope I can find more animes like this, but it really makes a statement regarding the consumers of such media; I’m still a teenager and I can somewhat relate to what happened throughout the anime, but am I really gonna watch this kind of stuff when I’m mid-30s? As much as I may still be invested in shows like these, I don’t want to end up like those grown-male OtakuVs fans. Anyways, yeah. To others it may just seem like fan service, but to me, I see it as a strong tool for provoking emotion and establishing relations for the reader. I think back at my previous experiences, and I think about how the characters must be feeling during each scenario.
After all of this, I really want to read the manga and get caught up with it. However, if there’s gonna be a season 2, I’m not sure if I would want to do that. It’s just hard for me to experience the same intensity of emotions I receive watching anime from reading manga. I miss the voice acting, the music, the animation. Maybe once my imagination is better built I will be able to tackle such stories head on and fill in the blanks myself, but watching the anime first helps build a foundation for me to base my imagination off of. I’d hate for it to be the other way around, where my perception of a character was to be completely different from its anime perception.
What did I learn from this anime?
Well, I guess I’m pro-incest. Am I just that much of a libtard? I mean they’re not related by blood, and their parents don’t seem to be disapproving of it. To me, it came as easily as the extreme fanservice and lewdness that can be found in anime. However, upon writing this writeup, I’ve kinda realized the negative implications that came with dating a student as a teacher, but hey- they’re siblings!
A hella important thing I learned was to NEVER search anything up about an anime on Google. I’m fortunate enough to only be spoiled every once in a while by Ryan or other weebs I talk to, but like wtf? Rui becomes pregnant???????????????????????????????????????????????
Despite knowing this, I’m still interested in reading the manga, if it elicits the same emotion as watching it.
Romance is still probably my favorite genre of anime, with Romance SoL hitting my weak spot. My only problem is, once I run out of good ones to watch, I’m not sure on where to turn to. Manga might not hit the same, and I don’t wanna have to wait years just for a possibly mediocre one. I’ve never tried rewatching an anime, but I don’t know how that would go with this specific genre. To me, part of the magic is through the plot twists you would least expect, which is why I hate spoilers.
I can see why this anime’s incest and cheating has made it so controversial, but it’s kind of opened a new perspective for me. Just like Natsuo and Rui, I used to think that cheating was inexcusable in every form, and I would just lose all respect for a person for doing such a thing. However, I’ve come to realize the perspective of a person who is willing to have an affair with a married person while they are not in a relationship. It objectively is still fucked up, but the anime raises some interesting perspectives about how you might be overwhelmed by feelings if they were your first love.
I really really really hope I can find more anime like this; I think I’ve found my favorite genre.
Post-Manga 11/27/2020
I was wrong- mangas are amazing, and thank God I decided to read the story from start to finish.
Before I completely simp over this manga, let me talk about the stuff I disliked. Honestly, there wasn’t that much I didn’t like; at first I wasn’t a fan of Tanabe stabbing Natsuo or Natsuo getting kidnapped or Hina getting ran over because it ruined the intimate environment the story took place in, but they weren’t too long or too impactful in the story to strongly impact the characters. In fact, it progressed the story and closer knit characters together (duh), so I guess I’ll let it slide ;) I just wish the end chapters were more stretched out; the 5 years later part was sufficient, but I would have greatly admired it if it was paced slower to truly bring out the emotion and mood that those events elicited.
With that now out of the way, here are all of my thoughts about this manga:
Initial Thoughts
It was a bit tiresome reading the manga from the very beginning to catch up to where the anime left off, but I was saved by the fanservice and the parts that were left out and didn’t make it into the anime. After reading a bit, I was able to see the relationship Natsuo had with Miu, something the anime didn’t go too deep into.
When it was time for my manga-reading session, I would put the same song from the OST on repeat, and just tear through the chapters. Of course, I still did my work and stayed productive the best I could, but I just wanted a break from all of the homework I’ve done and binged like 100+ chapters last night and this morning- hopefully my sleep schedule doesn’t become too fucked lmao
I think I still prefer anime over manga (if only anime’s covered the whole story instead of just a few chapters ;-;), but things like fanservice, extreme detail on images, and the extra pieces of the story make it a tough call. I think I’ll stick to watching anime first, and then reading the manga if I want to dive deeper into the story.
Ideas and Themes
Holy shit. The various ideas and themes introduced into the novel was beyond my expectations, but I was gladly just soaking all of the dialogue and pictures in.
To name a few:
Struggles of maturity
-Hina mentioning being an adult numerous times
Teacher and student relationships
-hmm…
Children illiteracy
-It wasn’t touched upon too much, but I was surprised something like this was included
Stalkers
-Tanabe is a bitch.
Incest
-hmmm…
Liking someone in a relationship
-I feel for Serizawa, and DEFINITELY for Hina having to go through literally everything she has
Unrequited feelings
-It was interesting to see how Serizawa, Momo, Hina, and Rui differed in their responses
Feelings of inadequacy
-Natsuo and the prodigy girl, Rui and Takebi?
Touching people’s hearts through writing
-Being such a major theme, I’ve become more appreciative of the stories people are willing to share to showcase their profound information and experiences
Pressure becoming an author
-Natsuo started from nothing and worked his ass off to become the successful author he is at the end of the book. Through his experiences, his determination, and his extremely supportive group, he was able to prevail amongst all hardship
Homosexuality
-I feel really bad for Serizawa’s best friend (I don’t even remember her name bruh). It must suck being tossed aside like that and being completely cucked for so long.
Prostitution work
-Seeing the desperation Natsuo’s roommate had to find a job struck a chord within me
Highschool friends
-I honestly thought that they wouldn’t be as important of characters after Natsuo transitioned to college, but it’s nice to see what they ended up being in the future!
College life
-Resisting the temptation of having affairs, having to deal with moving out and living on your own
Near-death traumatic events
-I honestly thought Hina was gonna die. A car crash. Just when the skies started to clear up. I think I started crying as soon as I saw the slide. That shit gave me BGS vibes.
Racism
-It was heart-wrenching having to witness Rui endure through all the racism, but I was happy justice was served and it no longer became an issue :D
Now that I reflect on it, quite a few of these are taboo or frowned upon in today’s society, yet they were portrayed in neutral and almost encouraging ways (I’m not talking about stuff like racism lmao). I mean, incest and teacher/student relationships were normalized in this story, it would be odd for stuff like homosexuality and prostitution to be frowned upon or not introduced.
Characters
Natsuo
I think I strongly followed Natsuo’s feelings and turned them into my own throughout the story.
Rui Tachibana
My favorite character hands down. Although I felt more detached from her during her cooking hiatu, it does not come close to overshadowing everything that happened prior to it. I was kind of pissed when Takebi tried making moves on her, and Rui seemed to kind of lean towards him more, but thank god nothing like became concrete :,) Virtually every scene of her was cute af, and I even debated having her as a profile pic for somewhere (I saved some juicy chapters, so we chillin ;)). The one side-chapter with a lewd sex-scene hit me like a truck and aroused me to heights greater than any porn or hentai ever has. I guess that just shows how much Rui and Natsuo’s relationship grew on me, and how cute Rui is UwU
Honestly, Rui’s first haircut was the best imo, but I was able to deal with the 2nd and 3rd one. Something about it just matched really well with her character and my perception of her, and I was shocked to see it changed TWICE. Same can be said for Serizawa too, I was not expecting a change in hairstyle from her either.
By being spoiled that Rui was pregnant, I figured that Natsuo would end up going with Hina at the end but Rui wanted to keep something of his so she ended up having his child. Nonetheless, I was not expecting Hina to be in a vegetative state, and for Rui and Natsuo to have wanted to marry initially but cancel afterwards.
Miyabi Serizawa
Serizawa was a VERY close second to Rui in terms of appearance, character, and role in the story for me. Her majestic, pure black, long hair, her innocence yet desire to be with Natsuo, and her acting prowess resonated within me. Oh boy was I grateful for her self-pleasure scene and her scene in Natsuo’s home ;)
Hina
Hina went through so much, Jesus fucking christ. Losing her job, losing her loved one, being cucked by Rui, being harassed and stalked by a creep, getting run over by a car, dealing with an ex-teacher-lover, having to drink her sorrows away: she completely deserves being with Natsuo in the very end. To persevere through all these trials and STILL have such passionate feelings for Natsuo was just insane to realize at the end of the story.
Relationships
Fan Service
The fan service was sometimes excessive, but I’m not complaining????????
I was finally introduced to borderline-ahegao faces, and man does it ignite something within me. It’s just that look of complete submission and complete pleasure that struck my attention.
Genre of Manga
-I just fucking love Slice of Life animes. It might be every-day stuff, but just witnessing the various feelings of characters and their growth throughout the story genuinely warms my heart. I just love learning about the psychological nature of the characters through the intimate, suspenseful, or melancholy events that unfolded throughout the story. It was just pure emotions of love, sadness, and hella other emotions poured into the 276 chapters, and I enjoyed the emotional rollercoaster that I was given a chance to ride all the way to the end.
Manga in general
The Ending.
Despite being a die-hard Rui fan, I couldn’t bring myself to hate the ending. Sure, 100+ chapters of relational development between the two were, in a sense, wasted, but what about the chapters and moments that further strengthened the relationship between Hina and Natsuo? The two have gone through so much shit together; Natsuo risking his life and being stabbed for her sake, Hina getting fucking hit by a car for trying to protect Natsuo’s future, at the end of it all, it’s evident which relationship is stronger. Although, that’s not to downplay the relationship built between Rui and Natsuo; from complete strangers, to unrequited love, to becoming parents of the same child, their numerous experiences of bliss and frustration have helped them cultivate to become the people they are today. By being related to Natsuo in different ways (having his child vs being married), I think the author wanted to demonstrate how they both had a different impact on Natsuo, and as a result, didn’t receive the same treatment. You might not have gotten the ideal ending if you were a die-hard fan of one or the other, but there’s no way you could have pleased both parties.
Post-reading
I really want to pick up another SoL romance anime/manga, but I want to thoroughly express my thoughts for this one first. This has been a complete eye-opener for me and my true favorite genre, and I hope that I can find other stories that I receive as much fanservice and psychological pleasure from. No matter how immoral it may be, a relationship is a relationship, and the three siblings proved to me how love ascends all other reason. It’s 12:02, I said I was going to read 30 minutes ago, so I’ll do that now. Thank you for changing my view on so many things, Domestic na Kanojo. Thank you for helping me realize the happiness and tranquility I experience while absorbing such stories.
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