It’s funny, but without remembering what I’d written as the preview snippet last week, I started to write almost exactly the same phrase – “Yeah, this is going to end well.”  I mean, it just fits – this scenario has disaster written all over it.  But we’re talking about the “good” kind of disaster if you know what I mean – the kind that’s supposed to happen, not the narrative kind.  All things considered Domestic na Kanojo is still doing a remarkably good job avoiding those.

With three episodes left, it’s safe to say I’ve already gotten way more out of DomeKano than I expected to.  So we’re basically playing with house money at this point, which makes watching this show a pretty relaxing and enjoyable experience.  I’m almost shocked by how well this series treads the line between drama and realism, to the point where what we get feels like realistic drama.  I don’t have a problem with basically smart people doing dumb things, because that happens all the time in real life.  It all comes down to how it’s written.

This ep definitely started on the right foot for me, because the moment when Hina totally turned Natsuo-kun’s world upside down when it came to her moving out was spot-on.  It never occurred to him (maybe it shows I’m a naif, but it never occurred to me either) that this was actually a huge break for him.  Why?  Because now they’ll have a place to hook up, obviously – and if Hina-nee didn’t make that point clearly enough verbally, she certainly removed all ambiguity by slipping him a key to her new apartment under his door (which by the way is one of those dumb things to do, because what if her mother went in there to clean or something?).

That key speaks volumes, boy – it’s no wonder Natsuo can’t stop staring at it.  While it’s beyond obvious that a sexual relationship between these two is going to end in disaster – age difference, step-siblings and teacher-student thrown in, just for good measure –  I don’t think it’s that hard to imagine it could happen.  She’s about 22, he’s 17 – yeah that’s a lot, but it’s not that huge a gap.  They’re both at their sexual peak more or less, of course they could be mutually attracted.  And you wouldn’t expect him to know better, which leaves Hina’s common sense as the only fail-safe – and one young adult without common sense is hardly a credulity stretch.  Terrible idea, but not far-fetched.

I feel badly for Rui in all this, certainly, but the heart wants what it wants and it’s obvious at this point that what Natsuo’s wants is Hina.  And now that she’s admitted the feeling is mutual the die is pretty much cast.  I was pleasantly surprised she put the brakes on the first time he used the key – even in the context of them becoming lovers, that was definitely too fast.  Meanwhile Rui has had a run-in with Hina’s old cheating boyfriend, who coincidentally (heh) is an old classmate of creepy-sensei.  I had a terrible fear for a moment that he was going to put the moves on Rui, but it seems more likely another run at Hina is in the works because he’s gotten a divorce (he says).

Yeah, Hina-nee is a failure as an adult as a teacher – no point in denying it.  She really should know better, because she can’t expect Natsuo to.  But at this point I think these two have to get busted (maybe at school, judging by how recklessly they’re already behaving) and have this totally blow up in their faces before either of them can move on.  What I hope doesn’t happen is that Hina is presented a choice and decides to dump Natsuo for Hagiwara-san – because that would be a terrible decision for her but even more, Natsuo doesn’t deserve that (and it would crush him).  That this is going to blow up is pretty much a given – I’d just like to see it happen in such a way that Natsuo’s life (and psyche) isn’t wrecked in the process.