Domestic Girlfriend (DG for short) is a series that I picked up one day on a whim after seeing a trailer for it on YouTube. I went into it without looking up a synopsis, and had no idea what I was getting myself into. And boy, was it one hell of a ride.
I've had my ups and downs with this series, mostly relating to shitty waifu wars that, with time, I grew out of, and came to love this for it's story and presentation instead of just a batch of characters. This series is controversial, both for it's initial premisce and ending (we'll get onto ... that later). We have alot to talk about, so let's get going!
(WARNING: Spoilers for the ending in it's own section at the end of the review, review ends at "Enjoyment" section)
// Story : 9/10
From the get-go, DG has a very interesting story that got me (and alot of others) instantly hooked. Natsuo finds himself with 2 new sisters, his teacher Hina, whom he has a crush on, and Rui, the girl he lost his virginity to. This may seem very unrealistic, and it is, i'll give you that, but the situations they end up in tend to teeter on the edge of realistic and unrealistic most of the time. The drama feels real though, and you start to feel for the characters. They are faced with important and life changing decisions that lead to pretty great character development.
I do have to adress the fact that there are stronger arcs than others. Some arcs can feel forced and "too unrealistic", especially towards the last few stages of the story, more on that in the "spoiler" part of the review.
I would've given the story a 10/10 if not for these dips in quality, there are alot of side-character arcs that, in my opinion, are just not all that captivating. I came to see the main trio and how they develop, not to see side-characters that I can't get attached to.
That doesn't mean that all the side character arcs are bad, don't get me wrong, some are genuinely brilliant, some just feel unnecessary or forced.
// Art : 9/10
If there is one aspect where Kei Sasuga stands out in compared to any other mangaka in the romance/drama section today, it has to be in the art department.
DG starts off with average looking art. It isn't anything spectacular, but still pretty decent. However, with time, Sasuga's art gets more refined, and by the end of the story, it is absolutely amazing to look at. If I had to compare it to another series with great art, I think it's on par with the art in the currently releasing Bakemonogatari manga adaptation, it's genuinely amazing, and some scenes from the newer chapters left me stunned.
I didn't give this section a 10/10 either, as the art isn't always this amazing.
As I said, it takes a bit to get amazing, which is why I genuinely hope that Sasuga has another project after DG, seeing something start off with that art style would be insane.
Overall, a very clean and polished art style that gets better as the years went on.
// Characters : 10/10
This section is where the community for DG is split. There is an insane amount of characters in this series, so i'll stick to the ones I think are relevant, meaning the main trio of Hina, Natsuo and Rui.
I would've done a part for side-characters, but that would spoil certain arcs and take too much time, as I don't necessarily remember all of them and their progression throughout the story.
Let's talk about our main trio of Hina, Natsuo and Rui. It's hard for me to do this section without spoilers, as if I want to detail their growth, there's gonna be spoilers, which is why i'll say things, but without mentionning who i'm talking about, to try to keep this as spoiler-free as I can.
This first character goes from a shy, anti-social person to someone who is able to do whatever they can to realise their dream. Not my favorite character by far, but their progression is very respectable. They go from wanting what another has out of pure selfishness, to being able to give up this feeling of jealousy.
This second character is harder to develop on, in my opinion. They go from a typical character for this archetype, who doesn't want to give in to their real feelings to a character who is willing to accept sacrifice and gives in, a beautiful progression, in my opinion.
This third and last character for the trio goes from your average, run of the mill person, to someone who can live from their dream, who didn't give up despite what they could've been through. Be warned that this character can be considered a "wimp", my least favorite of this trio.
// Enjoyment : 10/10
This section is going to be entirely about what I think of the series, meaning it's going to feature my opinion, so please take what i'll say with a pinch of salt.
I've had my ups and downs with this series. When I first started reading it around mid-late March 2019, I was fully into the "waifu wars", i'd go onto discords and rage-debate who was better while defending my favorite waifu from this series, and I eventually ended up "hating" this series due to the "poor treatment" of my waifu.
In retrospect, that was so stupid, not because of the ending, but just because I think that I took this way too seriously, and alot of people still do.
At the end of the day, this is a manga meant for entertainment, to distract us from the real world and to get us immersed in a different one, and this one managed to do that for me.
I sort of "dropped" this series around mid-July, reading some spoilers and sometimes some of the chapters, but in January 2020, I did some thinking and thought that there had to be a reason behind why I got into it this much, so I went back and re-watched the anime, and purchased all of the available physical copies of the manga in my country, and fell in love with it all over again, this time not for the waifu wars or just the characters, but for the narrative and presentation.
This manga really has changed my life, it's the first time i've followed a series for this long, and it ending left a void in me, but a warm, fuzzy void, a feeling that it wasn't necessarily over, that i'd still be tied to this story and that I wouldn't forget about it anytime soon.
For that, I want to thank Kei Sasuga for writing such an amazing story.
// SPOILER SECTION //
So, a few words about the ending.
Yes, as some of you may have guessed by now, i'm a Hina fan. I'm going to be completely honest in what I say here: I'm fine with this ending, and no, it's not because my waifu "won". I can't even call this a "victory", I don't like Natsuo, but clearly she does, so i'll ship them, plus they look nice together.
However, I do wish that it had happened some other way instead of having her put into a coma and Marie telling Natsuo about her feelings. If she had confessed herself before the Okunugi arc and Natsuo made up his mind during the coma, it would've been much better that way already.
I won't dwell on this too much as this is more of something for debate in a discussion, but oh well, Thanks for reading if you made it here!
Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Dome x Kano Japanese: ドメスティックな彼女 InformationType: Manga Volumes: 28 Chapters: 292 Status: Finished Published: Apr 23, 2014 to Jun 10, 2020 Demographic: Shounen Serialization: Shounen Magazine (Weekly) Authors: Sasuga, Kei (Story & Art) StatisticsScore: 7.201 (scored by 64,646 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #60282 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #101 Members: 119,930 Favorites: 6,872 Resources |
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