Genre: Romance, drama
Rating: PG-13
Studio: Diomedea
Episodes: 12
Available on: Crunchyroll
Overview:
Natsuo Fujii has a dilema. He in head over heels in love with one of his school teachers named Hina Tachibana. In a futile attempt in order to forget his forbidden love towards Hina, he decides to go to a mixer with his friends. At the mixer he meets a fellow classmate named Rui Tachibana who asks him to have sex with her. He agrees and afterwards she wishes to part ways and pretend nothing happened. When coming home one day Natsuo’s father announces he is remarrying. It turns out that he now has two new step sisters, who happen to be the teacher he is in love with along with the girl who he just had sex with. Natsuo is now stuck in a twisted web of love and questionable morals.
Review:
With most anime series that dabble into the realms of love triangles and incestual relationships between none blood related siblings, it usually dances carefully around the subject. Hinting at plenty but often never giving the viewer anything substantial from those plot points. Domestic Girlfriend doesn’t hover carefully around this subject. Instead it dives in head first and drags the viewer in for the crazy ride.
I have very mixed opinions on this anime. Did I really enjoy the series? Yes. Did I think it was well written? Yes. But did I like the main characters? Not really. Protagonist Natsuo is in love with his teacher and whilst this a new concept within story telling he would often push his feelings on her before switching to Rui to have more physical intimacies with her without the feelings attached. Hina, a teacher at Natsuo’s school is a professional in education who ends up being the other women in an affair before leaving the cheating husband to be with her student. Natsuo and Hina in particular scream all kinds of toxicity as characters. It felt almost impossible to feel any kind of positive feelings towards these characters throughout the series as they would continuously behave in idiotic ways.
The overall experience this anime gave me as a viewer was great. I thought the actual story was laid out well even if I didn’t agree with what the characters were doing. Often, I find that if I cannot relate to the characters then I don’t enjoy the anime for what it is but this anime was an exceptional to this usual pattern of mine. Somehow the story kept me wanting more and more until it was over. I couldn’t take my eyes off watching it even if I frowned upon what was happening. The plot caught and kept my attention because of how strange and questionable it was for me. It was like watching a car crash, I want to look away but I cannot take my eyes off what is going on.
The music used for the Domestic Girlfriend opening song was absolutely fantastic and was one of my favourite parts about watching this anime. The opening song titled Kawaki no Ameku by Akano is a hauntingly beautiful track which gave off such nostalgic vibes for me as it reminded me of when I watched the first season of Tokyo Ghoul for the first time. Both the song and the opening animation were beautifully done and I’m sure gave many other anime fans Tokyo Ghoul vibes too.
The ending of the series was very underwhelming. The last episode seemed to cram into far much information for its own good and whilst I wasn’t unhappy with how things turned out, because I didn’t agree with Natsuo and Hina’s relationship anyway, I think things could have been far more fleshed out in terms of the development between the characters. As endings go it gave me a feeling of emptiness for the series. I felt unfulfilled by what this series brought in terms of characters but even still I somehow enjoyed it for what it was. I think whilst Domestic Girlfriend was interesting enough it will be quickly forgotten as an anime as the year rolls on.
Overall rating: 7/10
Until next time thanks for reading and I hope you’re having a great day!
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A Nerdy Perspective 
I feel you the characters were quite frustrating indeed, but for me I couldn’t even keep watching it…Natsuo was especially frustrating to me as well. I commend u for being able to sit and watch a frustrating show like that ( ´∀｀)
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Right!? Normally I stop but I just couldn’t for some reason 😂
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I think I mentioned it on Karandi’s review, but I hated Natsuo and Hina and probably would’ve DNF’d as well. But it’s like watching a train wreck, as terrible as it sounds. I couldn’t look away lol. I felt Rui was a strong character and the side characters were my fave more than anything else.
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Yeah I totally get you with those two, when they’d get upset because of their situation I’d just shrug it off like “that’s what you get 🤷🏻♀️” 😂 I had no sympathy for them but I did really liked Rui and side characters like their parents were amazing tbh 😂😂 and it really was like watching a train wreck
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Yes! I loved their parents and the people who worked at the cafe, especially the ex-Yakuza human. Fave person ever.
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Omg the ex-yakuza was brilliant! I love him 😆
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The opening was great! Like you I didn’t care for the characters. His love for Hina just felt so… high school or very Bella Swan… It is like they think that person is the most important thing at the moment and they can’t see past it, which is true with how humans work. In the end I didn’t take his love very seriously. I didn’t understand why he loved her so much. I did find this to be an enjoyable watch even though the teacher/student themes aren’t really my jam, but it was an interesting story. I’ll give them that, but like you I will find this pretty forgettable.
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Yeah I totally agree with that and he didn’t take it seriously at all which I found most frustrating. I didn’t understand either tbh, I get that you might have a crush on a teacher in high school or whatever but there never seemed a deeper reason for him liking Hina. Student/teacher relationships aren’t my jam either but like you I enjoyed it 😂 it was interesting enough but certainly not anime of the year that’s for sure!
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