Domestic Girlfriend

Domestic Girlfriend (Japanese: ドメスティックな彼女, Hepburn: Domesutikku na Kanojo) 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 twenty-eight tankōbon 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.

Domestic Girlfriend
Manga volume 1, featuring Hina Tachibana (left) and Natsuo Fujii (right)
ドメスティックな彼女
(Domesutikku na Kanojo)
GenreRomance[1]
Manga
Written byKei Sasuga
Published byKodansha
English publisher
ImprintShōnen Magazine Comics
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Magazine
DemographicShōnen
Original runApril 23, 2014 – June 10, 2020
Volumes28 + extra
Anime television series
Directed byShōta Ihata
Produced by
  • Toshihiro Maeda
  • Youhei Itou
  • Hiroyuki Aoi
  • Makoto Nishibe
  • Airi Sawada
Written byTatsuya Takahashi
Music byMasato Kōda
StudioDiomedéa
Licensed bySentai Filmworks
Original networkMBS, TBS, BS-TBS, AT-X, ATV
Original run January 12, 2019 – March 30, 2019
Episodes12

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 breakup 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
Natsuo Fujii (藤井 夏生, Fujii Natsuo)
Voiced by: Taku Yashiro[2] (Japanese); Austin Tindle, Bryson Baugus (young) (English)[3]
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.
Hina Tachibana (橘 陽菜, Tachibana Hina)
Voiced by: Yoko Hikasa[1] (Japanese); Patricia Duran (English)[3]
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.
Rui Tachibana (橘 瑠衣, Tachibana Rui)
Voiced by: Maaya Uchida[1] (Japanese); Natalie Rial (English)[3]
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.
Momo Kashiwabara (柏原 もも, Kashiwabara Momo)
Voiced by: Haruka Yoshimura[2] (Japanese); Hilary Haag (English)[3]
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.
Miu Ashihara (葦原 美雨, Ashihara Miu)
Voiced by: Konomi Kohara[2] (Japanese); Luci Christian (English)[3]
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.
Akihito Fujii (藤井 昭人, Fujii Akihito)
Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (Japanese); Mark X. Laskowski (English)[4][3]
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.
Tokiko Tachibana (橘 都樹子, Tachibana Tokiko)
Voiced by: Yurika Hino (Japanese); Carli Mosier (English)[4][3]
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.
Fumiya Kurimoto (栗本 文哉, Kurimoto Fumiya)
Voiced by: Takuya Eguchi (Japanese); Andrew Love (English)[4][3]
He is Natsuo's best friend and adviser. He works part-time at a bar.
Yuya Masaoka (柾岡 悠弥, Masaoka Yūya)
Voiced by: Takeaki Masuyama (Japanese); Courtland Johnson (English)[4][3]
He is one of Natsuo's friends at school.
Kazushi Kine (木根 和志, Kine Kazushi)
Voiced by: Gakuto Kajiwara (Japanese); Mike Haimoto (English)[4][3]
He is one of Natsuo's friends at school.
Reiji Kiriya (桐谷 怜士, Kiriya Reiji)
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese); David Wald (English)[5][3]
A famous author who publishes under the pseudonym You Hasukawa. He also serves as the school's literature club advisor.
Shu Hagiwara (萩原 柊, Hagiwara Shū)
Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa (Japanese); Adam Gibbs (English)[5][3]
Shu Hagiwara, a married 32 years old man, who is a researcher at a Biology lab at a university.
Masaki Kobayashi (小林 昌樹, Kobayashi Masaki)
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese); John Gremillion (English)[5][3]
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 J. Matsukawa (松川・J・アレックス, Matsukawa Jei Arekkusu)
Voiced by: Tasuku Hatanaka (Japanese); Blake Shepard (English)
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
Main article: List of Domestic Girlfriend chapters

Written and illustrated by Kei Sasuga, Domestic Girlfriend was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from April 23, 2014,[6] to June 10, 2020.[7][8] Kodansha collected its 276 individual chapters in 28 tankōbon volumes, released from July 17, 2014,[9] to August 17, 2020.[10] An extra volume was published alongside the last volume.[11]

In North America, the manga was licensed for English digital release by Kodansha USA in 2017.[12]

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.[13][14]

Anime
Main article: List of Domestic Girlfriend episodes

An anime television series adaptation was announced on July 12, 2018.[1] 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,[lower-alpha 1] and was broadcast on the Animeism programming block on MBS, TBS, and BS-TBS.[17][2] The opening theme is "Kawaki wo Ameku" (カワキヲアメク) by Minami, and the ending theme is "Wagamama" (わがまま) by Alisa Takigawa.[4] The series simulcast in Australia and New Zealand on AnimeLab.[18] 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.[19] Hidive announced that they will produce an English dub of the anime series.[20] MVM Entertainment have acquired the distribution rights via Sentai Filmworks for the United Kingdom and Ireland.[21]

Reception

By April 2020, the manga had over 3 million copies in circulation.[7] The first volume was reviewed in Anime News Network by three reviewers. Nik Freeman felt that the manga's step-sibling 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.[22]

See also

Notes
  1. Domestic Girlfriend premiered on January 11, 2019 at 25:55 (01:55am), effectively January 12, 2019.[15][16]

References
  1. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (July 11, 2018). "Domestic Girlfriend Romance Manga Gets TV Anime". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  2. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (October 11, 2018). "Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime Reveals More Cast, January 2019 Premiere". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  3. ""Domestic Girlfriend" English DUBCAST Edition Cast List on HIDIVE". Hidive. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  4. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (November 9, 2018). "Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime Reveals 1st Promo Video, Theme Song Artists, More Cast Members". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on November 9, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  5. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 14, 2018). "Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime's New Promo Video Previews Ending Theme (Updated)". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  6. 「GE」の流石景、週マガに凱旋！三角関係を描く新連載. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 23, 2014. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  7. Mateo, Alex (May 19, 2020). "Domestic Girlfriend Manga Ends in 3 Chapters". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  8. 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. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. June 10, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  9. ドメスティックな彼女（1） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  10. 『ドメスティックな彼女（28）』（流石 景）｜講談社コミックプラス (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  11. ドメスティックな彼女 公式薄い本 (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  12. Ressler, Karen (April 11, 2017). "Kodansha USA Publishes Domestic Girlfriend, GTO Paradise Lost Manga Digitally". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  13. 『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. Oricon (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 25, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  14. 「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. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  15. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 30, 2018). "Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime's 2nd Promo Video Previews Both Opening, Ending Themes". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 2, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  16. "INFORMATION". domekano-anime.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  17. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (December 4, 2018). "Domestic Girlfriend TV Anime Reveals January 11 Premiere". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  18. @AnimeLab (January 2, 2019). "💞 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! 💞" (Tweet). Retrieved January 2, 2019 – via Twitter.
  19. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (January 5, 2018). "Sentai Filmworks Licenses Domestic Girlfriend Anime". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 6, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  20. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (May 19, 2019). "HIDIVE Confirms English Dub for Domestic Girlfriend Anime". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  21. MVMEntertainment [@MVM_UK] (May 25, 2019). "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!" (Tweet). Retrieved May 25, 2019 – via Twitter.
  22. Freeman, Nik; Silverman, Rebecca; McNulty, Amy. "Domestic Girlfriend Vol. 1". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
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