Never a dull moment indeed.  A series that feels a need to have drama be a part of the equation all the time certainly has the potential to be problematical, and Domestic na Kanojo probably falls under the former description.  But somehow it hasn’t broken me yet, because things have mostly avoided coming off as contrived or manufactured.  Adolescence is dramatic, after all – or it certainly can be a lot of the time – and there’s no sin in a fictional account of it playing to that perception.

Among the reasons why this premise is working for me is that it doesn’t laugh off the consequences of the behavior of its characters, even when said behavior leave some common sense to be desired.  Hina is a prime example of this – she’s made a lot of mistakes in her life, and she’s still paying a price for them.  It seems pretty clear she’s got a drinking problem (possibly the reason why she makes a pretty stupid mistake late in the episode where open doors are concerned), but it seems as if her reliance on booze is a consequence of trauma in her life more than a root cause of it.

The whole issue of incest (or “wincest” as it’s idiotically referred to a lot of the time in anime fandom) is certainly at the heart of Domestic Girlfriend right down to the title.  But again, DnK doesn’t blow this off as if it’s nothing, or perfectly OK, or play it for comedy – as so many horrible anime do.  Even though the siblings in question here aren’t blood-related  – and yes, that makes a difference – any romantic relationship between Natsuo and one of his step-sisters would create huge problems.  The lives of the characters here are treated with enough realism that this sense of consequence is always hanging over events – I find myself caring what happens because it’s clear that the story does.

That said, just what is Hina thinking?  She’s a mess, this woman.  I don’t think she’s in love with Natsuo – the fact that it’s still her sleazebag ex-lover’s (I hope “ex-“) name she calls out when she masturbates implies that she’s not – in which case, surely she should realize she’s stringing him along.  I don’t think Hina is being cruel here – she genuinely feels badly for the things she’s said to (and done with) Natsuo, and they are siblings now, so she’s trying to forge a bond.   But clearly, stuff like this Kamakura trip is just a bad idea.  The age difference alone isn’t big enough to make a relationship theoretically preposterous (she need look no further than her own example as proof), and surely she knows Natsuo is in love with her even before he admits it on the beach.

Hina certainly has a flair for the dramatic, like DomeKano.  Perhaps her demonstration of why a romantic relationship was a bad idea was in bad taste and over the top, but it certainly got the point across to Natsuo.  Still, he has it put to the test almost immediately when Rui comes into his room at night and declares that she wants to try kissing, since they never bothered with that preamble when they had sex.  He initially refuses, but then relents with some vehemence – not, I think, because he feels a strong romantic love for Rui but as a sort of unheard “F.U.” to Hina.

What a mess this is, truthfully, but it doesn’t feel like a contrived situation (somehow).  I’m kind of torn on the idea of Natsuo and Rui, to be honest, because even if their parents are married the fact is, you can’s throw two unrelated 17 year-olds together under the same roof and be shocked that one of them develops feelings for the other.  But it seems like a moot point, because while Rui has surely fallen in love with Natsuo there’s no real indication that he feels the same way.  And while he’s still in love with Hina-nee (which I’m not torn about at all – terrible idea) again, there’s no indication of reciprocation.  The heart wants what it wants, and there’s no more reliable wellspring for drama than that stubbornly eternal fact.