Domestic Girlfriend (ドメスティックな彼女) is a shonen romance created by Kei Sasuga. The series originally published in Weekly Shonen. An anime adaptation aired over the winter of 2019 and ran for 12 episodes.
Back in January of 2019 I wrote a post about Dome x Kano which had just started its short anime run. To get up to speed you can read it here. That post pretty much laid out the basic framework of the series in general and isn't worth rehashing, especially given in the chronology of the blog it was very recent. That said, I felt it was time that a more in-depth look at the manga and the anime was needed.
Waning for those who have not read or watched it the following dissertation is going to get into a number of spoilers through out the length of the story, so you can either skip this entire post or proceed as warned.
Within the short scope of the anime we have Natsuo dating Hina until they get discovered and she is forced to leave the school to keep the relationship a secret from everyone. Rui is well aware of what happened however. Hina moves away, not letting Natsuo know where, so she can start over with her life. In the meantime Rui and Natsuo begin dating. Their relationship, hidden from their family, continues through high school, the return of Hina and into college. Natsuo begins his path towards being a novelist and Rui decides to become a chef. Hina has decided to leave teaching and is floundering aimlessly, wanting only to be by Natsuo and Rui's side, supporting them while suppressing her true feelings. The series wraps up a number of years later after a series of interesting developments that I won't really get into. But in the end Natsuo is given a choice between the two sisters...and to say the least I was pretty disappointed in the choice.
Sasuga's other work, GE Good Ending is probably the best shonen romance I have ever read. I enjoyed it immensely and some of the joy carried over into Dome x Kano. But there were a lot of things that ended up getting glossed over for better or worse. While incredibly prevalent in the first portion most of the story completely ignores the plot of hiding the relationship from the parental figures. Instead it focuses on other things, sometimes boring over played romance troupes, but other times decent story arcs that even bypass the romance aspect. When the taboo subject matter does return its pretty dramatic but not drawn out. Its the last arc of the story that gets frustrating and the climax that leads Natsuo to his final decision is boring. But, the story had to come to an end. At times it seemed like it was just pointlessly pushing forward with no real goal in sight so its good it ended and tidied up the main plot lines. A large chunk of it does find Natsuo in a pretty meaningful relationship even though some things around him threaten to derail his happiness. As time progresses the side characters, who were so important in the first part really slide into the background. As they become adults and enter into new environments they do begin interacting with other characters, but they don't seem to be as prevalent as the original side characters. A vary realistic part of the story is just how insular you can become as an adult, loosing those close interactions with the peers of your childhood.
Overall Dome x Kano is a decent read, especially once Rui and Natsuo get out of high school and into the adult world. Overall Natsuo is a pretty typical romance character which is the downside of the story. Rui is by far the most emotionally dynamic character of the main three with Hina being sidelined for a good chunk of some arcs. Hina is also a bit directionless and emotionally immature compared to the younger characters. The anime was really well done but unfortunately ends right before Rui and Natsuo decide to start their relationship. It would be nice to see a return to the series now that the manga is finished but that seems highly unlikely.
If you have made it this far you can probably figure out who he ends up choosing, and I apologize for being too transparent. But the journey is still worth the time even if you know who he picks in the end. Over all, worth the time but I am unsure if I can revisit it. I do need to re-read GE Good Ending though and still cling on to the idea it may see an anime treatment at some point.
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