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EP. REVIEW: Domestic Girlfriend


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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 4:59 pm Reply with quote
I'll have to disagree about finding Hina as an extremely unsympathetic character, at least for the reasons you gave, and It is not fair to portray her as some sort of predator. Your legal and ethical points are quite valid, but reality still says it takes two to tango, and Natsuo is not some innocent youngster. spoiler[Later on Hina might become unsympathetic to fans for the choice she makes for a different reason, but I think it will be more tragic than anything else, at least for her.]

I agree, if the anime is anything like the manga, it will be a fun ride, and there will be times you will want to hide your eyes because of the train wreck you see coming.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 5:09 pm Reply with quote
I'd say that was a fair review of the first two episodes. And, yes... Domestic Girlfriend is entirely a story about people who make the wrong choices in life over and over. Every once in a while, one of them will make the RIGHT choice. That's when someone else's choices will reach up and bite them in the backside; fate will intervene, creating a situation that wrecks what seemed like a good thing; or some misunderstanding will occur that will be blown way out of proportion, leading to the other person making one of those poor life choices instead. None of the characters are immune to this.

But it's the way the story is written and the topics covered that make it actually a little bit special. The author brings in many topics that are not standard Shounen manga materiel, especially once the characters reach college age, though I seriously doubt that the anime will get that far.

Indeed, by biggest question is how far into the manga can the anime possibly get in 12 episodes?
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halo



Joined: 11 May 2004
Posts: 356
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 5:26 pm Reply with quote
To be honest, I was sold when there was actually some thought put into addressing how the the relationship between the main characters parents developed. A lot of series the main characters would not have even asked. That brief moment of side character development made me think there was a little more effort put into characters than the synopsis sounded and so far, so good.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5407
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:26 pm Reply with quote
So far I have been pleasantly surprised by how well written this show is. I know that this show is supposed to be trashy, but I am hoping that Domestic Girlfriend turns into at least a decent drama. I really like Rui as a character.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:29 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Also, while Hina's casual attitude toward Natsuo is well-intentioned


I am so aghast at this statement, it feels like we're watching two different shows. If Hina was casual to all students it'd be understandable... still not the right kind of close relationship for someone her age; "I'm the older sister/really close sempai kind of teacher" said no one ever... but once Hina was alone on the roof flirting with Natsuo, that's some "special" individual attention.

She strikes me very much as Blanche Dubois from Streetcar Named Desire and while there's nothing wrong with a flirty woman wanting sex, let us never forget why Blanche was fired as a teacher.
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Johan Eriksson 9003



Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Posts: 281
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:58 am Reply with quote
I just want to reiterate my thoughts from the preview guide.

Quote:
Good to see that Domestic Girlfriend seems to be doing well right away since I am a big fan of the manga. I think James put it best. It is a series that puts every trashy ecchi and hentai trope into the blender and hits "puré" (teacher/student, Step-siblings, harems, you name it), but it works surprisingly well as a serious melodrama even without utterly condemning any of those tropes. If I had to break it down I would say it is thanks to a few things.

1) The characters are fleshed out to have personalities outside of their romance.
2) It has a moderate sense of realism and applies very real feelings and consequences to these outlandish situations.
3) It is smart enough to understand that these relationships are very prone to being unhealthy and doesn't shy away from that even as it explores a scenario that tries to make them work.
4) It is ambitious enough to tackle more than a few serious themes aside from the ones baked into the romantic setups, including slut-shaming, depression, creativity, sexuality, abusive relationships, toxic masculinity and a lot more. I can't say for certain that it does all of those well but from my p.o.w. most of them land very well. I think I read somewhere that the author is a woman and unlike certain other shows that doesn't just feel like an excuse for the trashy aspects. It feels like this was written from a female perspective.
5) The sex-scenes doesn't hurt it either.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 10:35 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
but once Hina was alone on the roof flirting with Natsuo, that's some "special" individual attention.


Everyone has their favorites, including teachers.
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青白



Joined: 30 May 2012
Posts: 184
PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 8:04 pm Reply with quote
I am actually very absorbed in this train wreck that is episode 3 but it feels like next episode is going to completely destroy any possibility of them ever having a healthy relationship.
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
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Joined: 14 Jan 2011
Posts: 606
Location: inland US west, pretty rural
PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:41 pm Reply with quote
^Well, if they had a healthy relationship, the story would be over. Good for them, not so much for us, the audience. Confused This is going to be my guilty pleasure of the season, I think, if it doesn't get too painful to watch or drag on too long. That's what I fear, because the length of the manga is at spoiler[17 volumes so far], I think.
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CubicleHermit



Joined: 26 Jan 2019
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 11:51 pm Reply with quote
It's a long manga by some standards* spoiler[(at least going by Crunchroll, 216 main chapters and counting)]; and for something that's as long as it is, I'm a little frustrated at the pacing -- ep 1 only going over 2 chapters makes sense because it's setting the scene but at the rate we're going (ep 3 gets us to the end of chapter 7.) That doesn't leave us going very far in 12 episodes, and while it's nice to see them holding very close to the source material.

I've been reading the manga for a couple years, and started a re-read because the anime was starting and because there was a gap in new chapters (at least in English) over the holidays, and one thing I'm struck by is spoiler[how much stronger the characterization gets over the course of the first few volumes as the scope of things stop being JUST the Hina-Natsuo-Rui love triangle] I'm hoping that will hold true here as well.

I'm a little surprised to see (not just here but in general) a lack of comparisons to Scum's WIsh, which was another show that tried to take on some of the ecchi-etc tropes, and be a bit more realistic about it spoiler[(and of course, took a rather depressing take on it.)] I read the manga after seeing the anime, so it's harder to really compare the adaptations, but it felt like they paced it a bit quicker.[/i]

(* obviously compared to the really long running stuff, it's not.)
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A Mystery



Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1886
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:39 am Reply with quote
I cannot really understand what the reviewer found so clunky about this episode. I can understand why the reviewer would dislike the bar character. Also, it's weird that we cannot like an animated show with unhealthy unlawful dynamics. It's not reality after all. In our fantasies, everything should be possible. If it just stays that way.
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Fred Lougee



Joined: 01 Oct 2018
Posts: 127
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:13 am Reply with quote
If you are having trouble with this "train wreck" because it upsets your sensibilities you had best quit right now, find something else to watch. No specifics, so no spoiler tags, but it's gonna get worse.

But here's the real scoop on the manga, and it's underlying theme. Firstly, yes, it's a long manga, even if the anime does two cours it will barely count as an advertisement for the manga. So if you stick around a while, read the manga past where the anime will likely go to you just might notice the repeated motif. Or I could just tell you. The entire theme is people who have have made or are making bad life choices. However, this does not make them bad people. Believe it or not, good people can make poor decisions. It's what happens after one has made a real corker, a potentially life-changing gaffe, that determines their future from that point. That is the real underlying theme of Domestic no Konojo. It's people in one way or another messing up big and then facing the consequences of their actions. But you need to stick around for the long haul to get the pay off of this and not get bent out over things which offend you in the short term.


{Edit}: I edited your post to remove your opening snarky statement. There's no need for it. ~ Psycho 101
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:13 am Reply with quote
A Mystery wrote:
I cannot really understand what the reviewer found so clunky about this episode. I can understand why the reviewer would dislike the bar character. Also, it's weird that we cannot like an animated show with unhealthy unlawful dynamics. It's not reality after all. In our fantasies, everything should be possible. If it just stays that way.


It's just today's society. If a show doesn't reflect the progressive ideaology and/or doesn't have a clear message in line with that ideaology, then it is bad. This is just the new normal today, sadly even amongst anime fans.

Still, who would have thought they would have made an anime of this show. Great for us fans though. So cheers to a glorious train wreck.
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micah007



Joined: 25 Jan 2017
Posts: 205
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:28 am Reply with quote
I had hoped Hina could come to her senses and leave her onesided, deceitful, and extremely dependent relationship, but from the looks of things further intervention is required that will likely make things worse I'm sure. In regards to the reviewer I understand how it can be hard to watch characters obdurately make bad choices, that someone with the slightest bit of sense can overcome but as a viewer it is quite entertaining to see how foolish so many characters can be in quick succession. I hope Hina can gather enough self esteem by herself to leave someone who at this point clearly has no intention of using her for anything more than a piece of meat, and if she's okay with this I then have to ask why does she think so little of herself? Now that I think about it that may be expanded on later in this series.
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A Mystery



Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1886
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:28 pm Reply with quote
Haha probably micah.
Though reality is usually weirder when it comes to unhealthy relationship dynamics. Far weirder than fiction. Heard a story a few weeks ago about a former friend in her twenties going out with a married 50+ year old man. That guy is her boss. She broke up with her own boyfriend, but apparently the affair started when she was still in a relationship too. Like, okay there is no underage thing going on, but other than that... what was she thinking? Why? So yeah she seemed to be a normal, intelligent person and I still think she is, minus the weird choices she now makes. I think the truth is: we are all human and thus make stupid, stupid choices. Don't lie that you don't. Though I have to say, I took too little risk in my life to have messed up a lot, but that also means I have to face the consequences. As they say, sometimes taking a big risk can be rewarding.
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