Domestic na Kanojo isn’t making it any easier to decide how I feel about it.

Here’s the funny thing about Domestic na Kanojo – I haven’t even decided if this show is a guilty pleasure or not, much less whether it’s good.  I mean, I know it’s good in a sense of manipulating my emotions (and I mean that in a positive way – all good dramas to that).  But is there anything real here, or is it just skilfully acting as a provocateur?  There’s something of the soap opera to this, with drama dripping from every random event (that’s where the guilty pleasure part comes in) but somehow it manages not to feel manufactured – for me at least, so far at least.

It’s fitting that I feel so conflicted about the introduction of Kashiwabara Momo, the girl who sets her sights first on Rui and then on Natsuo.  In the first place her seiyuu, Yoshimura Haruka, is delivering the sort of breathy faux-loli performance I absolutely detest.  And talk about drama – in one fell swoop Momo brings in pretty much the whole deluxe sampler platter.  It does strike me that Domestic na Kanojo has plenty of conflict already without the introduction of another character whose very role in the story is to foment more of it.

On the other hand – and there’s always an other hand with Domestic Girlfriend – it struck me as I watched Momo’s melodrama play out that there’s a sort of stunning authenticity to the way this series presents things.  One reason we reflexively accuse shows like this of being trashy or melodramatic is that what we’re used to in anime is seeing teen and family relationships either sanitized or overplayed to the point of unintended (or intended) comedy.  Domekano doesn’t do either – it’s very direct, in fact.  It portrays these events in all their messy, sometimes ugly glory.  And there’s a sort of courage to that which appeals to me.

As for Momo, she’s got it all.  She’s an enabler, she has no self-worth, she’s ostracized by the girls and passed around like a bottle of Jack at a frat party by the boys, her family is a disaster and she’s attempted suicide.  The only thing that was missing here was literal bullying, and while I wouldn’t be shocked if there was that too the fact the Domekano stopped short of that extreme is part of the reason why it manages to be effective as a drama.  Both Rui and Natsuo show some real character here – Rui in disregarding her potential new friends’ (and what a positive change that would be for her, having friends) admonition to steer clear of Momo, and Natsuo for-  Well, let’s just say he came pretty close to being a cad, but managed to step back from the edge after having one foot hanging over the abyss.

As for Rui-Natsuo development (and clearly, in the end that’s the core relationship in this premise) it’s kind of a mixed bag.  On the one hand for jeebus’ sake, just take some Tylenol – was that really necessary?  But on the other, Rui admitting to Natsuo that his dating Momo would gut her is a real step forward for both her and for their relationship.  It says something about Domekano that it can even play the wincest card and make it appealing, but let’s be clear here.  These two are not related by blood, they never met till they were 17, and they were lovers before they became step-siblings.  If they want to be a couple no one should have a problem with it as far as I’m concerned.  And it seems clear to me that among all the options presented here, that’s the most attractive one for both of them (and us).  But whether that’s the route we take is still very much an open question…