Domestic Girlfriend Explained

Ja Kanji:ドメスティックな彼女
Ja Romaji:Domesutikku na Kanojo
Genre:Romance
Type:manga
Author:Kei Sasuga
Publisher:Kodansha
Magazine:Weekly Shōnen Magazine
First:April 23, 2014
Last:June 10, 2020
Imprint:Shōnen Magazine Comics
Volumes:28 + extra
Volume List:List of Domestic Girlfriend chapters
Type:tv series
Director:Shōta Ihata
Music:Masato Kōda
Studio:Diomedéa
Licensee:Sentai Filmworks
Network:MBS, TBS, BS-TBS, AT-X, ATV
First:January 12, 2019
Last:March 30, 2019
Episodes:12
Episode List:List of Domestic Girlfriend episodes
Portal:yes

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kei Sasuga. It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from April 2014 to June 2020, with its chapters collected in 28 volumes. The manga was published digitally in English by Kodansha USA. An anime television series adaptation produced by Diomedéa was broadcast from January to March 2019 on the MBS's Animeism block. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series in North America and other countries.

Synopsis

Premise

Natsuo Fujii is hopelessly in love with his teacher, Hina Tachibana. Trying to move on, he agrees to a mixer. There he meets an odd girl, Rui, who invites him to sneak out. She takes him to her house and asks him to have sex with her. Natsuo, frustrated that his love will not bear fruit anyway, loses his virginity to her. The next day, Natsuo's dad tells him that he wants to remarry and his prospective partner is coming to their house that evening. As the door swings open, Natsuo is taken aback to discover that Tsukiko Tachibana, the woman his father plans to marry, has two daughters: his longtime crush, Hina, and her younger sister, Rui.

Setting

Domestic Girlfriend tells the story of Natsuo and his forbidden love towards his first love, who is forced to break up when discovered. In the void left, Natsuo embarks on a new romantic journey with his stepsister, the girl he lost his virginity to. The story delves into the controversial and complex issues of romantic relationships that involve student-teacher dynamics and step-sibling bonds, while also highlighting the themes of youth, family, friendships, learning, growing up, career, happiness and trust.

Characters

[1]
  • Natsuo, a 17-year-old high school student, harbors aspirations of becoming a novelist. However, he guards his creative talents as a well-kept secret, concealed from his friends and classmates. During his lunch breaks, he often retreats to the rooftop to nurture his passion for writing. It's on this rooftop that he crosses paths with Hina Tachibana, a new English teacher at the school. She becomes his source of inspiration for him, and he falls deeply in love with her. However, their relationship is exposed, and Hina is forced to end it. In his desolation, Natsuo discovers solace in his classmate and stepsister, Rui Tachibana.
    [1]
  • Hina is the high school English teacher of Natsuo, who meets her for the first time at the school’s rooftop, a place she frequented to find solace when dealing with her own inner conflicts. Hina becomes a source for inspiration for Natsuo, who develops a deep crush on her. However, Hina also becomes Natsuo’s stepsister after her mother remarries with Natsuo's father.
    [1]
  • Rui is a high school student who eventually develops feelings for Natsuo. She initially met him on an outing with friends, where they snuck out and both lost their virginities with one another, to unexpectedly become his stepsister after her mother remarries.
    [1]
  • Momo is a classmate of Rui and Natsuo. She is infamous for being flirtatious and sexually promiscuous (when asked, she estimates she hooked-up with over 30 boys, including one of Natsuo's friends), aside from her hobby of making weird plush dolls. She befriends Rui, who was warned not to deal with her and later sets her sights on Natsuo. She is from a broken family and attempted suicide once. Despite her appearance, she is revealed to be quite smart as she landed in the Top Ten during school exams.
    [1]
  • Miu is the sole member of the school's Literature Club until the arrival of Natsuo, Rui, and Momo. She is portrayed as a shy and soft-spoken girl with a sense of strictness when they are in the library. She has a crush on her Japanese teacher Kiriya at high school, but she is too shy to confess her feelings to him.
    [2] [1]
  • He is the father of Natsuo. He began to date Tokiko Tachibana, knowing his wife died 10 years ago. He becomes stepfather of Hina and Rui after marrying her.
    [2] [1]
  • She is the mother of Hina and Rui. She began to date Akihito Fujii after her husband left her, ostensibly for another woman. She becomes Natsuo's step mother after marrying him.
    [2] [1]
  • He is Natsuo's best friend and adviser. He works part-time at a bar.
    [2] [1]
  • He is one of Natsuo's friends at school.
    [2] [1]
  • He is one of Natsuo's friends at school.
    [3] [1]
  • A famous author who publishes under the pseudonym You Hasukawa. He also serves as the school's literature club advisor.
    [3] [1]
  • Shu Hagiwara, a married 32 years old man, who is a researcher at a Biology lab at a university.
    [3] [1]
  • Masaki Kobayashi is a current bartender and owner of the cafe Fumiya Kurimoto works at and that Natsuo, Rui and Hina frequently visit. In the past, he was a rising star of the Yakuza and son of the head of a Yakuza branch. Sometime after falling in love with another Yakuza male of a rival branch, he would leave the Yakuza behind him in order to pursue happiness through his homosexual lifestyle.
  • Kobayashi also acts as a counselor and adviser to his more favorite customers such as Fujii Natsuo and is always willing to help him and others, especially when it comes to love. He has a soft spot for cute males and makes no attempt to hide his desires for those he likes. Kobayashi also dresses brazenly in keeping for any event he attends, although he wears stockings while attending his cafe.
  • He has a good friendship, both drinking and social, with Hina, who confides in him her love for Natsuo and her dedication of her life to making Natsuo happy regardless if he loves her back or not, and offers support to Hina when she needs it.
    Alex is a high school student who is a member of the Literature Club. He is of American descent. He has a crush on Rui.

    Publication

    Written and illustrated by Kei Sasuga, Domestic Girlfriend was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from April 23, 2014,[4] to June 10, 2020.[5] [6] Kodansha collected its 276 individual chapters in 28 volumes, released from July 17, 2014,[7] to August 17, 2020.[8] An extra volume was published alongside the last volume.[9]

    In North America, the manga was licensed for English digital release by Kodansha USA in 2017.[10]

    Related media

    Web video

    A web video was released in May 2016 on YouTube, coinciding with the publication of the manga's ninth volume. Meant to be a "demo type love simulation drama", the video allows the viewer to interactively influence the story by choosing between clicking two annotations that lead to separate videos. The video stars Anna Konno as Hina and Hanami Natsume as Rui.[11] [12]

    Anime

    An anime television series adaptation was announced on July 12, 2018.[13] The series is directed by Shōta Ihata and written by Tatsuya Takahashi, with animation by studio Diomedéa. Naomi Ide provides the series' character designs. The anime aired from January 12 to March 30, 2019, and was broadcast on the Animeism programming block on MBS, TBS, and BS-TBS.[14] [15] The opening theme is by Minami, and the ending theme is by Alisa Takigawa.[2] The series simulcast in Australia and New Zealand on AnimeLab.[16] Sentai Filmworks acquired the distribution rights for the series in North America, the UK & Ireland, Australasia, South Africa, and other territories, and simulcast the series on select platforms.[17] Hidive announced that they will produce an English dub of the anime series.[18] MVM Entertainment have acquired the distribution rights via Sentai Filmworks for the United Kingdom and Ireland.[19]

    Reception

    By April 2020, the manga had over three million copies in circulation.[5] The first volume was reviewed in Anime News Network by three reviewers. Nik Freeman felt that the manga's stepsibling love triangle was a contrivance and that the sexual elements were a waste of Sasuga's talents, but complimented the drama and comedy, along with the characterization. Rebecca Silverman called the manga's setup a more mature Marmalade Boy, but said that the manga is less melodramatic due to Natsuo being more grounded and sensitive. Amy McNulty noted the manga's extra layers of reality and melodrama, finding Hina to be a multifaceted character and Rui to be the most relatable character while Natsuo is still realistic, concluding that the manga has a more honest setup of its tropes.[20]

    See also

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: 'Domestic Girlfriend' English DUBCAST Edition Cast List on HIDIVE. Hidive. 2019-09-14.
    2. Web site: Hodgkins. Crystalyn. Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime Reveals 1st Promo Video, Theme Song Artists, More Cast Members. Anime News Network. November 9, 2018. December 21, 2018. 2018-11-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20181109153358/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-11-09/domestic-girlfriend-tv-anime-reveals-1st-promo-video-theme-song-artists-more-cast-members/.139275. live.
    3. Web site: Hodgkins. Crystalyn. Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime's New Promo Video Previews Ending Theme (Updated). Anime News Network. December 14, 2018. December 21, 2018. 2018-12-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20181215072800/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-12-14/domestic-girlfriend-tv-anime-new-promo-video-previews-ending-theme/.140816. live.
    4. Web site: https://natalie.mu/comic/news/115115. ja:「GE」の流石景、週マガに凱旋!三角関係を描く新連載. Natalie. Natasha, Inc.. April 23, 2014. January 5, 2019. ja. 2018-11-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20181126115858/https://natalie.mu/comic/news/115115. live.
    5. Web site: Mateo. Alex. Domestic Girlfriend Manga Ends in 3 Chapters. Anime News Network. May 19, 2020. May 19, 2020.
    6. Web site: ja:流石景「ドメスティックな彼女」約6年の連載に幕、"Hな袋とじ"や全員サービスも. https://natalie.mu/comic/news/382533. Natalie. Natasha, Inc.. June 10, 2020. June 10, 2020. ja.
    7. Web site: http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/product?item=0000019214. ja:ドメスティックな彼女(1). Kodansha. April 8, 2020. ja. July 16, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180716214808/http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/product?item=0000019214. live.
    8. Web site: https://kc.kodansha.co.jp/product?item=0000343499. ja:『ドメスティックな彼女(28)』(流石 景)|講談社コミックプラス. Kodansha. June 27, 2020. ja.
    9. Web site: https://kc.kodansha.co.jp/product?item=0000343501. ja:ドメスティックな彼女 公式薄い本. Kodansha. August 27, 2020. ja.
    10. Web site: Ressler. Karen. Kodansha USA Publishes Domestic Girlfriend, GTO Paradise Lost Manga Digitally. Anime News Network. April 11, 2017. April 15, 2021. April 12, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170412143238/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-04-11/kodansha-usa-publishes-domestic-girlfriend-gto-paradise-lost-manga-digitally/.114684. live.
    11. Web site: ja:『ドメスティックな彼女』今野杏南&夏目花実で実写化 WEB動画公開. http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2071742/full/. Oricon. July 31, 2017. ja. 2017-08-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20170825113114/http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2071742/full/. live.
    12. Web site: ja:「ドメカノ」がWebドラマに!今野杏南と夏目花実が過激なシーンに体当たり. http://natalie.mu/comic/news/187311. Natalie. Natasha, Inc.. 31 July 2017. ja. 2017-08-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20170801035011/http://natalie.mu/comic/news/187311. live.
    13. Web site: Pineda. Rafael Antonio. Domestic Girlfriend Romance Manga Gets TV Anime. Anime News Network. July 11, 2018. July 12, 2018. 2018-07-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20180712062709/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-07-11/domestic-girlfriend-romance-manga-gets-tv-anime/.134151. live.
    14. Web site: Pineda. Rafael Antonio. Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime Reveals January 11 Premiere. Anime News Network. December 4, 2018. December 4, 2018. 2018-12-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20181204151607/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2018-12-04/domestic-girlfriend-tv-anime-reveals-january-11-premiere/.140345. live.
    15. Web site: Hodgkins. Crystalyn. Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime Reveals More Cast, January 2019 Premiere. Anime News Network. October 11, 2018. October 11, 2018. 2018-10-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20181011164159/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-10-11/domestic-girlfriend-tv-anime-reveals-more-cast-january-2019-premiere/.138013. live.
    16. AnimeLab. 1080297629018275840. Schoolboy Natsuo finds out that his soon to be step-siblings are none other than his teacher crush, Hina and the girl with whom he has his 'first time', Rui. Experience the unexpected love triangle of Domestic Girlfriend on AnimeLab soon! . January 2, 2019. January 2, 2019.
    17. Web site: Hodgkins. Crystalyn. Sentai Filmworks Licenses Domestic Girlfriend Anime. Anime News Network. January 5, 2018. January 6, 2018. 2019-01-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20190106113511/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-01-05/sentai-filmworks-licenses-domestic-girlfriend-anime/.141681. live.
    18. Web site: Pineda. Rafael Antonio. HIDIVE Confirms English Dub for Domestic Girlfriend Anime. Anime News Network. 19 May 2019. 19 May 2019.
    19. MVM_UK. MVMEntertainment. MVM Entertainment. 1132243208472289280. Heads up! Here's our first five new licenses. As always it's too early to say dates, price, CE or not etc. But we'll be releasing Anohana: Flowers We Saw That Day, Asura Cryin' S1&2, Domestic Girlfriend, Girl in Twilight and Mysteria Friends!. May 25, 2019. May 25, 2019.
    20. Web site: Freeman. Nik. Silverman. Rebecca. McNulty. Amy. Domestic Girlfriend Vol. 1. Anime News Network. 31 July 2017. 2017-08-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20170801051433/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2017-05-31/the-spring-2017-manga-guide/domestic-girlfriend-vol-1/.116802. live.