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Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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Avoid | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 3 | Ggultra2764 | [series:3642#1552] |
Last updated Thursday, February 17 2022. Created Thursday, February 17 2022. |
Calling this a literal dumpster fire would be an understatement with how sleazy Domestic Girlfriend tries to get with its plot mixing taboo relationships with a potential student-teacher romance and later those involved in the main love triangle becoming step-siblings. Natsuo and his two new step-sisters are largely pretty shallow as far as their characters go with our male lead having a single-track mind for his teacher crush, Hina being rather irresponsible off the job, and Hina's sister Rui largely being pretty aloof and infamous for bedding Natsuo for no reason at the start of the series. The series has some rather awkward and, at times, frustrating interactions with the three characters that will get you either hating them or wondering why you are supposed to care for them. Also, it did feel like at times that there was more story to Domestic Girlfriend that the 12-episode TV series format for this adaptation didn't have time to cram more into thus making story developments feel rather sudden or rushed. It seemed like the series only had its controversial premise to ride off of as a melodrama, but lacks a likeable main trio of characters and the time within its series format to tell an engaging story with what it offers. While I can see where there may be some curiosity to see how trashy this series can get, I'd find it hard to recommend watching Domestic Girlfriend more than once.
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Unevaluated | Stretch | [series:3642#628] | ||||||
Awkward, to say the least. A scandalous mix of unlikely (but not impossible) coincidences places the characters in a titillating situation. Not all that deep--almost laughable, in fact--yet plausible enough. You would almost think that the Gods are punishing Natsuo and Rui, and that at the moment they are laughing at them. Rui is a gruff girl whose remedy is to tell Natsuo to keep his mouth shut and pretend their encounter never happened. What would happen if such a crazy situation really did come about? I couldn't help but be curious how this would work out, so I decided to continue watching. The focus soon switches to Hina, who is having an affair with an unknown man. Natsuo and Rui investigate, but it seemed to me that little comes of it and I sort of wondered why the thread was included in the plot at all. One good scene that sticks in my mind is the little lesson Hina gives Natsuo about why he should mind his own business regarding her romances (he is left somewhat humiliated). In episode five yet another girl comes along, a classmate who has a reputation for being 'easy' and, while not a total airhead, freely admits that she tends to switch rapidly from one boyfriend to another. At first she seems so shallow that nothing but trouble can possibly ensue when she takes a liking to Natsuo. I found that I had a little trouble remembering what had happened in the previous episode (because it wasn't entirely gripping and fascinating), but at least the dialogue was generally fun and there was still a degree of titillation. I sometimes needed to remind myself that Natsuo and Rui had sex at one point, because there hadn't been much mention of that for a while. Indeed, yet another girl comes along in episode six, presumably the last in the pseudo-harem that Natsuo has accumulated. It was starting to look like the show is less and less about the awkward relationship between him and Rui and more about which girl he will go for as his girlfriend. That seemed unfortunate to me, since in comparison there's nothing all that unusual about the third and fourth candidates. It seemed that problematical and intriguing relationships--the sister he's had sex with, and the sister he has a crush on but who is largely uninterested in him--were getting less attention because of the time and trouble that was being spent on less interesting girls. Until, that is, attention abruptly shifts back to Rui and Hina and we are left wondering why the other girls were introduced to begin with. It seems that sometimes Rui is interested in him and sometimes she isn't. It's hard to take a character's passion seriously when it just happens for no obvious reason (does it depend on what mood they are in today?). Hina, too, is seemingly drifting towards Natsuo. But why? I don't recall any particular event that might explain her change of heart either. It has gotten to the point where I have a hard time remembering what happened in the last episode and where things stand between Natsuo and each girl. I don't sense things moving towards a crisis and climax, just a mish-mash of poorly explained feelings that shift unpredictably and as a result are difficult to take seriously or remember. Early on, the naughty business between Natsuo and Rui titillated me and made me look forward to new episodes, but more recently I was feeling kind of bored with this show. When episode ten came along I decided that I would just pack it up and discard this show altogether. There didn't seem to be much of a carefully thought out plotline here, just a story that drifts wherever the wind carries it rather than moves in a disciplined manner towards a pre-planned destination. Last updated Tuesday, April 02 2019. Created Friday, January 25 2019. |
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