Domestic na Kanojo: Midpoint Review

On the writing of this review, 6 out of 12 episodes have aired for the spicy drama "Domestic na Kanojo". These are my impressions, and my speculation and hopes for the rest of the show. If you hadn't read my first impressions of the show that cover episodes 1 and 2, this is the link.

Story

The story is moving rather slowly, with the only real progress being episodes 3 and 4 where Hina breaks up with her boyfriend. Finally, we can see Hina and Natsuo's relationship progress, as hinted by the date coming in episode 7, without having her be restrained by her boyfriend. Episodes 5 and 6 were more new character introduction and development focused, so any relationship development between Natsuo, Hina, and Rui, didn't change much. On a side note, I had no clue what was a suppository until episode 5... don't people just keep normal orally ingested medicine at home? Hmmm. From this point, I hope the story picks up the pace because episode 5 and 6 felt like a detour in the story. It seems like manga definitely can't be entirely adapted for the rest of the show. I hope that the anime staff come up with a conclusive ending, even if it has to be an original one, or at least end on a good note from the manga.

Characters

 

We've finally been introduced to all of our main cast, with episodes 5 and 6 revealing the final two girls in the opening sequence; Momo and Miu. Momo was pretty creepy at first- you probably shouldn't get involved with girls that have that many dolls on their bag. Turns out my intuition was right, and she's actually promiscuous. However, her promiscuity is caused by her loneliness from her parents not being at home, so she really just needed a friend. On the other hand, Miu, while not as developed as Momo, is just cute- I love how she is soft-spoken and passionate about literature. While she appears to like Natsuo, she just might be in a relationship with the literature club's teacher Kiriya, because "an eyelash that was about to enter his eye" is a rather poor reason for what definitely appears to be a kiss when Natsuo catches them in the act. If they really were in a relationship, it would also serve as an interesting contrast or parallel between their relationship and the relationship of Natsuo and Hina. Despite the manga readers saying this isn't a harem show, Momo is clearly into Natsuo and Miu seems to like him. I hope that Momo and Miu, while characters I like, don't take away the main focus of the story- the love triangle between Natsuo, Rui, and Hina.

Aside from introducing the rest of the cast, we've also had more development for our existing trio of characters. Episode 4 really dropped my view of Hina. Knowingly cheating with another man is so hypocritical, because surely Hina knows the pain of that happening for her boyfriend's wife as it had happened to her own mother. That said, you could say that she was being led on- her boyfriend did keep saying he will leave his wife- but never followed up on that. I do applaud Hina for breaking up with him at the end of the episode, but whether what she said was a lie I'm not sure. I hope it's true, because it shows her developing into a more mature person. To the opposite effect, episodes 5 and 6 made me like Natsuo more. We see that he, contrasted to Hina, is empathetic and self restrained, and is also a genuinely nice guy. In episode 5 he notices Momo's wrist scars, and decides to withdraw instead of exploiting her for free sex. He realizes Momo doesn't need sex or a boyfriend, but just a friend. Going the extra mile, he even cooks dinner for her! In episode 6 he refuses to kiss Miu, and helps her distribute fliers for the literature club. No wonder Natsuo is such a chick magnet. Finally, Rui is Rui. My perception of her as best girl hasn't changed, but I like the cute faces she makes and her willingness to interfere with her sister's immoral relationship- she was the one to aggressively throw water at Hina's boyfriend after all. It's also good that she's coming to realize how she loves Natsuo, as shown to her by the restaurant owner Masaki. Manga readers say that impressions of Rui and Hina drastically shift up and down, so I'm not expecting my view of these two to stay constant. As long as they get more development in the story, I'm happy.

Animation and Sound

The animation honestly hasn't been amazing, but this has been since the start of the show. It's clear that there's a low budget, but fortunately the animation just passes. The sound department's doing fine too, though there could've been a better music choice for the scene in episode 4 where Rui runs out of the restaurant and embraces Natsuo in the park. The music was too upbeat for the scene, even pure silence would've been better. Perhaps this was a one time mistake, and I seriously hope this doesn't happen again with a more key moment.

A great scene, not so great music

Conclusion

Domestic na Kanojo seems to be doing alright, but it definitely hasn't reached its peak. I liked the show in my first impressions because of how spicy it was, but the story progression has slowed down in exchange for new character introductions and some existing character development. However, I suspect things will pick up from here- better or worse, I'm not sure but it's probably gonna be a hell of a ride.

-GaryMuffuginOak