Domestic Girlfriend, Vol. 8

ドメスティックな彼女 [Domestic na Kanojo] #8

by Kei Sasuga

In order to protect Natsuo, Hina vanishes without a trace. As Natsuo wastes away with a broken heart, not even Rui can reach him. Then, in order to pull himself out of the depths of despair, Natsuo makes a decision that will change his life forever…

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shonen, Comics, Young Adult, Comics Manga, Japanese Literature

201 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2016

About the author

Kei Sasuga (流石景, Sasuga Kei) is a japanese mangaka.

Reviews

[Jon Ureña · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four and a half for its genre.

These last couple of volumes developed the natural turning point for this series. The protagonist, a 17 year old student and wannabe novelist, started the series hopelessly in love with a young teacher of his, 24 year old Hina Tachibana, outwardly a cheerful, kind, big-chested beauty, but who also deflects every uncomfortable subject with a forced smile, drinks copiously and feels uneasy with adulthood. They both ended up living together (along with Hina's sister) because their parents got married. By the current point in the story, after plenty of ups and downs, (huge spoilers) the protagonist and Hina have become a serious couple. The protagonist breaks the mold of what you could expect from a protagonist in this genre: he's fully committed to loving Hina for the rest of his life. He has planned to move away together somewhere far from their parents, and he will contribute his part of the money through his writing. The story doesn't shy away from the issues that arise when a 24 female teacher dates a 17 male student and they still intend to live happily ever after. She loves him, but deep down doesn't believe it's going to last. They struggle to see each other; not only they have to hide from everybody they know from school, but also from their own families. And the protagonist goes through the burning realization that no matter how hard he tries to build that future he planned with his beloved, he simply might not be talented enough to survive through his writing. It was hard for me to read that part; I went back to around his age, trying as hard as I could to measure up to what was expected of me mostly from a girl, only to find out that my life could have been expressed by the lyrics of Karma Police. This was the first hint in the story that it was moving from mostly a romantic comedy to a romantic drama.

You live this story through the protagonist and his intimate relationship. You know them as complex people. You feel that they can survive. But someone took a photo of them kissing during a class trip, and when Hina's superiors address it, she goes white. For anybody else but themselves, she's a degenerate teacher who takes advantage of her position of power to corrupt a minor, and he's a stupid, horny kid who couldn't resist being led into a relationship by a beautiful teacher. Not only that, they are siblings (although it's okay, they are not related by blood). There's a scene in one of the first volumes in which the protagonists confesses his love to Hina, and Hina pretends to agree to a relationship, only to grab his hand and walk further into the sea. "It would destroy our careers and our families, and would alienate us from everybody else. We might as well kill ourselves right now." In the present, Hina takes the decision to leave the school and move away without telling neither the protagonist nor her family. She'll simply disappear to avoid destroying the protagonist's future, although a significant part of that reaction lies, I think, in one of her character flaws: an inability to face terrible stuff that a forced smile can't cover up.

My favorite part of this turning point is how it showed the realistic consequences of watching how the person you intended to love for the rest of your life disappears. Despite the protagonist's goals, his intentions or promises, he falls into a pit of catatonic depression. He becomes a hikikomori, refusing to leave his room. He doesn't bathe, and barely eats from the meals that his remaining stepsister (Rui, the best character of the series as far as I'm concerned, but that here she takes a secondary role) insists on sustaining him with. Although with his current behavior he's ruining the implicit promise to his missing girlfriend (because she expected him to graduate and keep writing), he finds himself unable to do anything at all.

In the end, both Rui and the protagonist's childhood pal hoist him out of the hole enough for him to start writing again. When he presents that manuscript to a teacher at school, who also happens to be a published author, he is amazed by its quality. The old adage that all great art is born from suffering has been fulfilled again. Rather unrealistically, though, the protagonist actually wins an important amateur award for it.

My favorite moment with Rui happens near the end of this section. The protagonist wants to thank her for keeping him alive enough to write. She demands of him that he will do whatever she wants for an entire day. Rui, who remains in love with him, and seems incapable of connecting with anyone else, gets her first boyfriend experience through pretty mild stuff (ice skating and eating ice cream). That night, at home, she makes the protagonist lie next to her with his eyes closed, while she, mostly naked, enjoys some human contact through his warm hand on her face.

On a minor note, I appreciate the care the author puts into secondary characters with relatively low page time. They react in characteristic ways that make you feel that they had been living their own lives in the meantime. For example, and as minor spoilers, the literature club that the protagonist and Rui belong to crash a teacher's home and are allowed to enjoy their New Years drinking. They end up embarrassing themselves. The next time we see the literature club's president, a very sensitive and shy girl who, of course, is in love with the teacher/published author, is enraged with the member who provoked the situation, and declares that she will resign because she has lost his respect (a very Japanese thing to do, I suppose). It was a surprise for the other characters (and the audience), because from their perspective it was just a minor thing. Later on, during a presentation, that same character stutters through her speech and faints. Little details that give life to the ensemble.

I'm enjoying this one much more than Bunny Girl Senpai, and that was my recent pick for this genre.

[Patrí · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review is from Vol 1 to Vol 8 (although it is incomplete):

Art: 5/5
The first chapter of Vol 1 is colored, but the succeeding chapters are not. The first chapters looks different too. Maybe because it was digitally colored. It is made traditionally. So it has great backdrops. The characters are really nice, and human.

Plot: 4/5
The progression of the plot is really nice. It has a reall nice flow. The transition between arcs are good. No time jump bullshit. My only complaint is the weird foreshadowing.

Characters: 5/5
You can really relate to everyone. Even the side characters are really nice. They all have stories to tell and it's all realistic. It's nice that they are addressing character flaws. Unlike the tsundere in most shoujo/shounen manga.

This has a student-teacher relationship, so if you don't like that maybe you will avoid this manga. But pls don't!!! There's more to this manga than that sub-plot. Also, you'll meet Rui! The best character in this manga, imo.

[Kieran Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally I can start reading past the anime, I found the manga a lot better with many scenes that for some reason weren’t included in the anime. Really liked the manga , this volume the writing stuff I particularly found enjoyable and it’s kinda inspired me to write also, I like how we get some new characters at the end though the grumpy guy seems rather annoying and I feel as though he won’t bring much to the story other than some lazy writing rival, but we shall see, it’ll be nice if they become friends after all the easily predictable drama is over.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume toned down the wild antics and started to slow the pace. It was a welcom change. This story works better as a result. It is still very heavy on the drama but it felt more grounded. We get a pretty cliche moment towards the end that I am sure will be a focal point for a while. Overall a good direction in the story so far.

[Laura ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say, even though Hina is not one of my faves, I am sad to see her go. I'm sure she will be back, but for once, she took the right decision. The difficult but adult decision. And the fact Natsuo did not go after her when Rui asked him to, means he's also growing. A nice development

[Eke · Rating 2 out of 5]

this one was kinda interesting for once lol, probably because of rui having more of a spotlight

[nOm nOm · Rating 5 out of 5]

HHmmmm. This is not a five stars piece for me but the poety things made me give five stars

[Dumb popcorn's manga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rui truly is best girl...

[JayLando22 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entering their final year of school and everyone is wiser... mostly.

The way the main character cannot see how healthy his relationship with Rui is, is... well, melodrama 101, but still frustrating. Luckily the growing cast of friends are really strongly defined. At least, for how simple the story is everyone stands out as unique and interesting and mostly likeable.

This is still a very easy read but the humour seems to be dialed down while the drama is turnt up! Not really a complaint since I instead just cannot stop reading!