Domestic na Kanojo
Domestic Girlfriend

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This manga will go down in history as one of the greatest declines in writing quality.

The author, without spoiling much, writes in very serious issues and treats them as nothing and never shows us the consequences of actions. Chapter 52 to 114 is a brilliant example of this.

It's now got to the point, over 200 chapters in, where the author is just scratching their head thinking of how to force drama. Will they cheat? Will someone get stabbed? Is there gonna be a rape/murder/blackmail of some sort? Will MC make up his damn mind about a single thing (MC is a loser)?

The one saving grace ... is the art. But that's really it and I'm not exaggerating. The phenomenal art can't save what a steaming pile of turd this manga is.

It's enjoyable for about 20 chapters. I really would recommend never, ever reading this. Just don't. It's got good reviews here but go to any Reddit thread about it or the anime release, and they will mention that you should avoid this at all costs. The main reaction to the announcement of an anime adaptation was "Really? Of all mangas they had to choose from, they chose this?".

I used to love reading this story. Week to week the drama it presented was realistic and in character, every conflict made sense, and was emotionally compelling. However, since Chapter 268, the story has fallen off the cliff in the most contrived nonsensical way imaginable and it's made me vehemently hate this story.

Before anyone asks, I was never part of the waifu wars involved with this manga. I related to Rui the most and wanted her to be happy, but I loved all the characters. What Kei Sasuga has done with the most recent chapters is fundamentally disrespect her characters, her audience, and this story, ... and I refuse to finish reading it because of this.

Whatever you do, do not read this. Stay away as far as possible. The ending messes up that badly.

1/10

Starts out nice, gas great ecchi, then turns to absolute shit.

It looks like there was a ghost writer who came in to write the plot for the second third of the story and thwn left, saying they don't want to work with sasuga anymore, leaving us with the absolute dumpster fire that we ended up with.

Either that, or Sasuga had a massive stroke that made her think that this shit ending is somehow a good idea.
We're talking shittiness levels that would make Nisekoi cringe.
Shittiness levels that make the HIMYM ending seem good.
Shittiness level that make the ending of GOT look like a fucking masterpiece.

I've wasted ... a year of my life following this series, and I regret it.

Story: 2/10
It starts out decently enough, but then becomes a dumpster fire of soap opera drama after soap opera drama.
Not to mention all the fucking filler arcs.
Who the fuck does filler arcs in a fucking manga?!

Art: 9/10
Have to stay objective, the art is fucking amazing, and the ecchi side chapters are great. Series would've been awesome if she'd kept to those.

Character: 1/10
The MC is literal trash tier. Like...
The dude in "Princess Connect: ReDive" likely has more personality and self reflection at this point.
Upon review, the only time the MC fell in love with someone was at the start.
Even the "choice" in the end came because he was convinced by someone else.
Literal fucking NPC.

Enjoyment: 2/10
Absolute garbage.

Overall: 1/10
Don't even bother with this one.

One of the biggest frustrations I've ever read in my life.

It is really disappointing that you follow 276 chapters and come across a roller coaster of quality and consistency. This was the second manga I read completely and I can say that until chapter 258 I believed it to be the best I had ever read, but from then the quality and consistency just dropped, where we see the development and growth of a relationship between 2 characters (Rui and Natsuo) that has everything to become a couple but at the end of the manga all this changes without any sense or nexus throwing away ... the whole context and development of these characters just pushing us to the third character that little develops or is active.
In short, the greatest frustration and waste of time I have ever had in my life, and I will certainly never read any work involving Sasuga kei again, since it has betrayed the trust of many of its readers, spoiling a work that had a future. promising.

(Save yourself the time, and DO NOT read)

This manga was a trip, but one that I got hooked on fast. It was the perfect blend of romance and drama (and ecchi), and was enjoyable given the weird situation. It had it's ups and downs, but ultimately started to come out on top as one of my favorites. That is, until the dumpster fire hit.

It was really starting to get wholesome and fulfilling towards the end, and there was a clear way to end this manga (not because of what the majority of readers wanted, but because the character development was leading directly towards this perfect ... ending). It was all going so smooth, until the writer decided to throw away 250+ chapters of character development down the drain. And for what?....Fate?.....Personal preference?......Deadlines?.....Laziness??? Your guess is as good as mine. Not only did the ending implode on itself, but it was done in such a half-assed way, that even the ones who wanted "that" ending didn't enjoy it. It did it NO justice.

There are a few people who are constantly defending it, saying "It was the journey, not how it ended". The problem with saying that, is that it's hard to enjoy the great journey and story that the writer built when ALL of it was burnt to the ground when the finish line was a few feet away. One person on the subreddit made a great analogy when they stated "It's hard to enjoy the meal, when the last bite is a spoonful of peppercorns".

I do not condone the harassment of the author for writing such a terrible ending, but she should (at the very least) be made aware that it was a terrible ending. If you did a piss poor job, improve on it. Don't just stand idly by, evading everyone's opinion. Use it to better yourself AND your next work (should you ever consider writing something ACTUALLY good). Just don't let it get to you.

I was looking for some fap material when I stumbled upon this. Then I got hooked and forgot my original "goal".

The story: is frustrating at times but it gave me some strong feelings that even real life people haven't. It could be because I haven't read many romance manga though. One thing I don't like is that sometimes the author get lazy and create events that are too convenient to solve the problems instead of a step-by-step progress.

The art is great except for the males characters being a bit too "shoujo" for a shounen manga.

The characters: Well. This is where readers divide. First discussion point ... is the main male character. This guy sometimes acts really dumb, especially at the beginning, but the author is amazing at showing the progress in which he changes himself. Then there is the main focus of the whole manga: the two sisters. Two opposite personalities, living in the same house with the male protagonist. Try not to be too drastic with your favoritism for one girl and you'll have less frustration while reading.
The support characters are unique and have their own story, which is a nice bonus.

As a young male adult, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this manga.

Some advice: Try to have an open mind while reading this. You will very likely join one "team" or the other, but don't quit just because things seem rough for yours.

Domestic na Kanojo is finally over, after it's been dragged for so long and beaten to death it finally can rest in peace.

Art

While the backgrounds weren't masterpieces, the characters's design made up for it, in most cases at least.They were expressive, sometimes making for some good comedic moments. There was also a nice variety in clothes which made it feel more realistic. What really matters, at least in my opinion, is that Sasuga really shines when it comes to drawing the naked body. Even after everything that happened i can still appreciate the way she draws tits. If you only want to experience that, read ... the ".1" chapters, the numbers may differ just look for the ".".
The whole story could be separated in two parts high school and college.

High school

While it was trashy, it was at it's peak, it was entertaining to follow Natsuo, Rui and Hina trough their predicaments, something dramatic happened every few chapters, most of the time topping it off it a twist of a twist, you didn't really had the option to catch a break. While it sounds bad, it didn't feel forced, at least to some degree; you just went along with the ride, sometimes complaining about the decisions they did. On the other hand, most of the time, the drama was cheesy, the plot always moved in the worst way possible to create stupid situations of the cast.
The themes were somewhat interesting, nothing groundbreaking but they served their purpose of making the cast grow, most of the time being connected to love, some examples being unrequited love, breakup.
In this part, the main cast gets the most development. Rui going from someone lost in life, not knowing what to do with it or what true love was, finds her calling while discovering feelings she didn't realise she had. Hina struggled with her love life, her being in her twenties without a relationship, but she finally found someone that she loves. And in the end, Natsuo, the main character, he shares the struggles the two sisters have, he overcomes them while pursuing his dream.

College

From this point the series just went downhill. Story wise, it started feeling dragged on. The drama, the quirk that i once enjoyed became a chore. More and more characters whose only role was to create drama appeared, best example is the drama troupe. The literature club in high school had a role beyond being just there to create drama, after the arcs of each character were done they didn't just disappear, they still had a role after their respective arcs ended. Compared to that, the drama troupe was the opposite, characters after characters from it were introduced, took part in the events that unfolded, then just disappeared only to appear once or twice, depending on how relevant they were. On the other hand we got the "villains". Once we moved to adulthood, the manga started focusing more on mature topics like sex work, drugs, abusive relationships, suicide, racism, just to name a few. With them the need for the bad guy arisen, did they have anything interesting about them?, were they more than plot devices to either "develop" the main cast or move the plot?; sadly no, after they got what was coming to them they either disappeared completely or had another appearance for their last dramatic moment.
Arcs that had no real purpose started appearing, they seemed that were helping the characters learn and grow, but in the long run the changes didn't stuck, they were back to where they were in the beginning.
The ending, was the definition of a bad ending. It ignored character development, struggles that the characters had. The reasoning behind just made it more laughable. Everything that happened, all 276 chapters, just thrown out the window. It feels like it all had regressed back to the beginning.

SPOILERS
I realised that I could never "beat" you.
I'll remember this line for a long time, as one of the most stupid reason for giving up. Hello old Rui, i guess.
I had low expectations for it ever since Tanabe's arc. Story became uninteresting and the characters just competed to see who had the most brain cells missing. But the ending destroyed my expectations.

Conclusion

Don't waste your time, the story and characters just get worse as time goes on, sometimes it feels like the author wants to send a message rather than having a good story. If I had to suggest reading it, stop after high school ended. I still consider that, this series should've ended at that point.

*mild not-plot related spoilers*

I've updated this review now that I've finished the series. The ending will be touched in its own section at the end.

Story: 6
I think it was at its best when it was basically a slice of life story, with just a stronger focus on romance than most. The interactions between characters were well handled, the plot wasn't overly complicated(minus the incest), and while following obvious cliches, it wasn't all that bad. I actually quite enjoyed how the story chose to continue further after high school, which is where most romance stories tend to end. The story was good while the characters were ... still undergoing development arcs, which unfortunately stopped later on. But the main problems began when the drama began overdramaticized, far more than the standard level of exaggeration all dramas will inevitably have. When dramatic portions are pushed beyond what they should be, the reader feels a weight that is completely different from an emotional weight felt a story, its just this uncomfortable feeling. It really feels similar to reading NTR. And in hindsight, a lot of things that happen within the story are just solved by Natsuo just 'being a cool guy'. When these very heavy issues are solved by a solution much too simple, there's just no balance. And no matter how different the arcs were, if the solution is the same, the story arc will feel very repetitive. Later the manga does take a step back from that sense, but by then many people may have put down the book. I do still thank the manga for a good first half though. For my thoughts on the ending, they're at the very end of this review.

Art: 10
The art is beautiful. No further comment.

Character: 7
I feel like this is where this manga did more decently, albeit not throughout the whole series. It spent a lot of time earlier on fully fledging out its characters; giving them a lot of depth. The story was at its best when that was still ongoing. A few of them are also quite realistic and relatable, which allows for a fair bit of investment from the reader. And over the many arcs that take place in the story, they get even more character development, forming very dynamic characters. The characters also have great chemistry together, and are especially great when together with the rest of the cast. But due to the problems the plot keeps bringing back, all characters introduced later on feel wasted, even though they started off with lots of potential. Characters also suffer from inconsistency, where Rui and Hina tend to kinda switch personalities with each other (not literally), with was probably intentional to express certain aspects of their character, but really didn't translate well, and came off as inconsistent writing.

Enjoyment: 7
As I mentioned earlier, the story too often reminds me of NTR, but other than that, I don't think this story is AS bad as many people say. There are bad scenes, but there's also good scenes sprinkled throughout; some tearjerkers included. I often say that a story does not have to be well written to be enjoyable, but that wasn't the case here. Due to the problems I personally had with the story later on, it unfortunately does have to weigh down a bit of enjoyment. But the fact does not change that this was one of the manga that had me the most invested. EVER. And that keeps enjoyment at a 7.

Overall: 8
In the end, I think this started off a quite well written drama. The story was pretty intriguing, and contains many arcs that pull the reader in. The art is amazing. The characters are very well developed and relatable. But it tried to do too much. It became a bit overbearing. I would maybe recommend this to most drama/romance readers, as long as you're not too picky. Would give it a 4, but the art, along with the first half of the story brings it up to a 5.

*ending spoilers*

Ending: 3
The ending needs its own section. Chapter 276, in of itself, is a decent 'finale chapter', so we'll toss that aside for now. What I want to really touch up on is the pregnancy. I feel that was added by Sasuga as like a last minute plot twist element. It was used as a plot device to bring Natsuo and Rui back together, but then she chose to go the Hina route, subverting expectations. That was... dumb. Really dumb. It just complicated things so much more than necessary. The whole concept on domekano's relatonship is already so complex, with the incest and love triangles, and even the freaking coma. Adding a child to the mix was not necessary. That really ruined the otherwise somewhat acceptable ending. I will say though, the reveal that Domekano is written by Natsuo was a nice touch (that most of us probably saw coming).

Ok that's the end of the review, but just wanna remind people to not send hatemail/death threats to the mangaka. No need to do that.

I have read a multitude of dramas. I have read a multitude of romances. I have survived the horrors that are Seo Kouji's romance works(I'm looking at you Kimi no Iru Machi, but I surprisingly liked Fuuka). I have spent days and nights ailing over the feeling of reading such thought-provoking stories.

But never have I ever been so mortally pissed off by a manga. Domestic Girlfriend is the most confusing story I have ever read in my life. The story takes so many twists and turns that makes you question the author's thought process. There will be arcs that seem essential to the story but ... amount to nothing. There are characters you think you completely understand to a T, but then they do the most unexpected things. You think you hate the MC at first, but then you like him. Then you hate him again. But then you like him? But then you hate him again!

My philosophy is that no bad story will ever be saved by quality art, and I can't think of any better example than DG. I could care less about an author being able to whip up chapters every single week. I could care less about said authors taking the occasional break. I could care less about an author having a godly talent for art, but nothing pains me more than a mangaka who can't pull off at least an average story.

Ideally, art is what first pulls a reader into a story, in which they will then stay for the story. I thought this was the case for DG. It had a very strong start with its unique plot of an incestuous love triangle, but it fell so short at the end. I don't know what was going through her head, but Sasuga Kei sure did subvert expectations. Even if your favorite girl won, you can't deny that it took the largest asspull for you to win. In my case, my favorite girl didn't win. In fact, she pretty much GAVE the win. So I'm utterly depressed about the ending.

Don't know what else to say about this shitstorm of a story. I literally made a MAL account just to shit on this manga. I guess I'll just leave a late precaution for people to NOT read this work.

I've read every single chapter that has been released, until the very ending. Like everyone else is saying, this manga declined so much, so badly in terms of writing quality in less than 10 chapters. Not that it hasn't been declining before, but at the very least until chapter 268, everything was still pretty much solid.

I don't want to give spoilers, but here's a heads up. Do note that I've distanced myself from the "waifu wars" and that until some time ago, I loved all the characters, as they went through visible developments a long time ago. The manga has been in decline for at ... least 100 chapters, and at the very end of this manga, the main characters FAILED to show their improvements from the development I mentioned. They may be portrayed as adults, but their way of thinking resemble more of teens. It's like the main characters never got through that phase of their life, which was more than 100 chapters before the ending.

The build-up of relationships, at the very end was useless. It was as if those 100 chapters were fillers, instead. In conclusion, this manga showed great quality, yes, for a long time until it all changed for an unknown reason. However, with that being said, congratulations to the author, but realistically speaking, the ending is far from 'happy ending'. I've enjoyed watching the developments and improvements of the side characters, though, which in the end in my eyes lived happier, healthier lives than the MC himself.

This is the first time I've actually hated every single character in a manga, before (except for Momo). Literally every single person (except Momo) is the absolute worst kind of scumbag human being that could be put to paper. Normally, that's not a problem (I actually enjoy reading Redo of Healer and everyone in that manga is completely horrible). However, this mangaka seems to write these horrible people as if they were angels and the fucked up things they do are either excused, or not a problem at all. Apparently, if you do horrible things, but you were doing them because you "love" someone, it's ... all okay, because you were "in love". Think that sounds ridiculous? Maybe I'm exaggerating? Let me give you multiple examples:

Hina: The main character's (Natsuo) main love interest in the beginning of the manga and who he'll inevitably get with at the end of the series, as well. She's written as cute and bubbly and fans of the series literally call her an angel and/or a saint. She is the literal definition of a homewrecker and loved/bragged about her 2 year sexual relationship with a married man. She also constantly mentally tortures Natsuo and has the maturity and intelligence of an infant. Also just a whore, in general.

Shuu: Written as a kind, knowledgeable older man with a strong sense of justice and morality. Cheated on his wife for 2 years, while leading on the homewrecker the whole time.

Miyabi: Written the same as Hina. Constantly tries to get into a relationship with a guy who she knows has a girlfriend, going so far as to force a kiss on him and show up to his apartment in lingerie. Contributed to the couple in question breaking up.

Misaki: Written as a good girl, who's lonely and makes (minor) mistakes. Is a literal prostitute, drug dealer AND user, and extremely invasive. The mangaka had Natsuo say VERBATIM "she had no choice but to turn to drugs".

Natsuo: Written as a great person with a strong sense of justice. Literally the worst MC I've ever seen, including the one from Infinite Stratos. Denser than tungsten, leads on multiple women, makes extremely horrible decisions and receives no punishment for them. Ever.

If at any point you read those character descriptions and thought "there's no way the character could be THAT bad," you would be wrong. Believe it or not, they're actually much worse than what I described.

If I could give this garbage a 0/10, I would. But I can't. This is a horrible manga, for horrible people. If you're at all like me, this manga will put you into a deep depression and an unbelievable amount of white-hot rage. If I could go back in time and erase this trash from my memory, I would.

For a long time, I've really, really liked this manga. The author presented us with serious problems about the relationship between the characters. The story was very enjoyable, character development was excellent, the roller coasters made sense, and then... last few chapters came out, and everything was thrown into the trash.

After reading the last few chapters (ch. 272-273) it felt that I'm in a fantasy world where the previous 100-200 chapters are non-existent: the groundwork and foundation of the story barely exists, and the relationship between the characters are fake. It's a huge and very bad plot twist, which for me doesn't make any ... sense. Please note that I'm not on Team Rui or Hina. But after all of this time, story, drama, the MC's decision makes no sense, and - for me at least - morally questionable. Just how, and why?
I cannot understand how the author thought that this will be a good ending for the manga.

I cannot recommend you reading it. The ending leaves a very bad taste in your mouth. It's better if you drop it, or don't start reading - you won't be upset by the outcome.

So this is going to be a review of the manga so far (58 chapters), so my opinions/criticisms of this manga can easily change by the time this manga ends.

Story: Oh man, if you're a dude who loves a good romance with some great ecchi, this manga will most likely hook you in INSTANTLY. The first chapter really slaps the reader in the face with some things you wouldn't really expect from a typical school, romance, comedy manga. However, if you're not hooked by the first chapter, I think you should probably refrain from reading this manga cuz the first chapter pretty much sets ... up the premise of this manga. I really don't wanna spoil anything, so for the story, I'd say just read the first chapter and decide from there. I give the story a 8 thus far because the story does indeed get really deep into the real world, but because of the harem vibes and what not, the story could turn some people off. Also, as a slight warning, there are SOME incest vibes in this manga, however, the characters are not blood related whatsoever.

Art: Holy balls. Go to that first chapter and tell me with a straight face that the art isn't EXTRAORDINARY. At least compared to 99% of romance, school mangas out there. The chapters don't stay in color throughout the manga like the first chapter, obviously, but nonetheless the art is amazing and consistent..there have been no occurrences where I had trouble noticing what's going on.

Characters: I can say that all the characters are likeable to an extent. They all have faults that can make you hate or love them. The MC can be really loveable at times, acting like a gentlemen and what not while other times he can act like Makoto from School days..seriously. Personally I love Hina-senpai, the MC's teacher, while many hate her because of reasons that I don't want to spoil...and I really dislike a character named Rui simply because I think she's super controlling, but others call her best girl. It really all comes down to preference with this most of these characters. I can't really say much without spoiling, I apologize.

Enjoyment: So far, I have really, REALLY enjoyed reading this manga to the point where I marathoned all the chapters in one sitting and couldn't even go to sleep last night because of it. However, people can have different opinions. I love this manga because I simply have a guilty pleasure of reading School romance love triangles with ecchi vibes and sweet romantic moments. Others might find this kind of thing weird. But I LOVE it. If you're familiar with Seo's works (like Suzuka, Kimi no iru machi and Fuuka) you'll probably come to enjoy this manga a lot!

Overall: It really all comes down to what you think after the first chapter cuz that sets the mood and story for this manga. If you don't like the first chapter, chances are you most likely will not like the rest of the manga. Right now, I'm REALLY enjoying this manga and I hope the story stays how it currently is, however, I have a slight feeling that shit might hit the fan soon which just might change my enjoyment level drastically lower if that happens LOL.

I tried to avoid spoilers, plot summary, and other things, but still, something can be considered as such, so read all of the following at your own risk.

The success of a work often depends on its finale. After all, an unsuccessful ending can easily disappoint readers, leave an unpleasant "aftertaste".
I didn't want to write a review of this manga right after I finished reading it. I thought that after some time after the final chapters my opinion of the manga would improve and I would give a higher score. And so it happened. I initially rated this as a 3. But anyway, I just can't ... score it higher than 4 and still think that the author of "Domestic Girlfriend" failed the ending. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. The scores drop from 7.71 before the final arc to 7.32 at the time of writing this review say a lot. And it doesn't matter which girl you were rooting for.

Just a warning. Whatever you do, if you haven't read the manga yet, I recommend do not read it. But if you are going to start reading it anyway, don't get attached to any of the manga girls.

I'm really used to love reading this story till the last arc. But since chapter 265, the story has fallen off the cliff in the most contrived nonsensical way imaginable. This, two cheap timeskips, discarded development of all the characters, the inability of the MC stand by his choice, denial of fatherhood, family values, and even love, the replacement of all the above with the word "Fate" make DomeKano one of the worst manga I ever read. The author came up with too good a love triangle, but not how to solve it and instead of a well-thought-out drama, insight into the characters, conflict resolution and choice of sides, in the end we are getting an unnatural, artificial plot twist so moldy and formulaic that the nuclear compartment of the teams of both ships just explode (well, unless their goal was just to see their girl won no matter how it was done). It does leave the feeling that the manga was completed in a hurry, and it's really strange, with such number of chapters and a pile of fillers. May be the author wanted to please everyone, but it didn't work out. Readers have already compared the ending of this manga to the ending of "Game of Thrones". It's really just as bad, if not worse.

From the manga positive points I can note artwork. The art is quite good and detailed for weekly manga, although not awesome one and exaggerated happy faces with wide open mouths do not look very good.

P.S. Out of all the gals who had to deal with Natsuo, Momo the most fortunate than anybody in the manga.

For some reason I doubt the possibility of the second season of the anime.

Oh man... Oh man.. I read tons and tons of romance mangas as well as pure shojo. Those are my favourite genres.
Domestic na kanojo was one of my favourite manga in its genre too. I was waiting every week to read the latest chapter with anxiety. And I bought most of the french translated books (they're not up to date yet).. I even bought all the existing mangas in japanese when I was in Japan las year.
That was a waste of money and a waste of time. I regret that I kept reading that shit since 2018.
I was so into that kind of story, it ... was so different to all what I read before..
I really thought that "A Town where you live" had the worst ending, but Domekano won that prize.
I got so mad internlly, couldn't stop thinking about that troll ending that I read.
Man...

Domestic Girlfriend (DG for short) is a series that I picked up one day on a whim after seeing a trailer for it on YouTube. I went into it without looking up a synopsis, and had no idea what I was getting myself into. And boy, was it one hell of a ride.
I've had my ups and downs with this series, mostly relating to shitty waifu wars that, with time, I grew out of, and came to love this for it's story and presentation instead of just a batch of characters. This series is controversial, both for it's initial premisce and ending (we'll get onto ... that later). We have alot to talk about, so let's get going!

(WARNING: Spoilers for the ending in it's own section at the end of the review, review ends at "Enjoyment" section)

// Story : 9/10
From the get-go, DG has a very interesting story that got me (and alot of others) instantly hooked. Natsuo finds himself with 2 new sisters, his teacher Hina, whom he has a crush on, and Rui, the girl he lost his virginity to. This may seem very unrealistic, and it is, i'll give you that, but the situations they end up in tend to teeter on the edge of realistic and unrealistic most of the time. The drama feels real though, and you start to feel for the characters. They are faced with important and life changing decisions that lead to pretty great character development.
I do have to adress the fact that there are stronger arcs than others. Some arcs can feel forced and "too unrealistic", especially towards the last few stages of the story, more on that in the "spoiler" part of the review.
I would've given the story a 10/10 if not for these dips in quality, there are alot of side-character arcs that, in my opinion, are just not all that captivating. I came to see the main trio and how they develop, not to see side-characters that I can't get attached to.
That doesn't mean that all the side character arcs are bad, don't get me wrong, some are genuinely brilliant, some just feel unnecessary or forced.

// Art : 9/10
If there is one aspect where Kei Sasuga stands out in compared to any other mangaka in the romance/drama section today, it has to be in the art department.
DG starts off with average looking art. It isn't anything spectacular, but still pretty decent. However, with time, Sasuga's art gets more refined, and by the end of the story, it is absolutely amazing to look at. If I had to compare it to another series with great art, I think it's on par with the art in the currently releasing Bakemonogatari manga adaptation, it's genuinely amazing, and some scenes from the newer chapters left me stunned.
I didn't give this section a 10/10 either, as the art isn't always this amazing.
As I said, it takes a bit to get amazing, which is why I genuinely hope that Sasuga has another project after DG, seeing something start off with that art style would be insane.
Overall, a very clean and polished art style that gets better as the years went on.

// Characters : 10/10
This section is where the community for DG is split. There is an insane amount of characters in this series, so i'll stick to the ones I think are relevant, meaning the main trio of Hina, Natsuo and Rui.
I would've done a part for side-characters, but that would spoil certain arcs and take too much time, as I don't necessarily remember all of them and their progression throughout the story.
Let's talk about our main trio of Hina, Natsuo and Rui. It's hard for me to do this section without spoilers, as if I want to detail their growth, there's gonna be spoilers, which is why i'll say things, but without mentionning who i'm talking about, to try to keep this as spoiler-free as I can.
This first character goes from a shy, anti-social person to someone who is able to do whatever they can to realise their dream. Not my favorite character by far, but their progression is very respectable. They go from wanting what another has out of pure selfishness, to being able to give up this feeling of jealousy.
This second character is harder to develop on, in my opinion. They go from a typical character for this archetype, who doesn't want to give in to their real feelings to a character who is willing to accept sacrifice and gives in, a beautiful progression, in my opinion.
This third and last character for the trio goes from your average, run of the mill person, to someone who can live from their dream, who didn't give up despite what they could've been through. Be warned that this character can be considered a "wimp", my least favorite of this trio.

// Enjoyment : 10/10
This section is going to be entirely about what I think of the series, meaning it's going to feature my opinion, so please take what i'll say with a pinch of salt.

I've had my ups and downs with this series. When I first started reading it around mid-late March 2019, I was fully into the "waifu wars", i'd go onto discords and rage-debate who was better while defending my favorite waifu from this series, and I eventually ended up "hating" this series due to the "poor treatment" of my waifu.
In retrospect, that was so stupid, not because of the ending, but just because I think that I took this way too seriously, and alot of people still do.
At the end of the day, this is a manga meant for entertainment, to distract us from the real world and to get us immersed in a different one, and this one managed to do that for me.
I sort of "dropped" this series around mid-July, reading some spoilers and sometimes some of the chapters, but in January 2020, I did some thinking and thought that there had to be a reason behind why I got into it this much, so I went back and re-watched the anime, and purchased all of the available physical copies of the manga in my country, and fell in love with it all over again, this time not for the waifu wars or just the characters, but for the narrative and presentation.
This manga really has changed my life, it's the first time i've followed a series for this long, and it ending left a void in me, but a warm, fuzzy void, a feeling that it wasn't necessarily over, that i'd still be tied to this story and that I wouldn't forget about it anytime soon.

For that, I want to thank Kei Sasuga for writing such an amazing story.

// SPOILER SECTION //

So, a few words about the ending.

Yes, as some of you may have guessed by now, i'm a Hina fan. I'm going to be completely honest in what I say here: I'm fine with this ending, and no, it's not because my waifu "won". I can't even call this a "victory", I don't like Natsuo, but clearly she does, so i'll ship them, plus they look nice together.
However, I do wish that it had happened some other way instead of having her put into a coma and Marie telling Natsuo about her feelings. If she had confessed herself before the Okunugi arc and Natsuo made up his mind during the coma, it would've been much better that way already.

I won't dwell on this too much as this is more of something for debate in a discussion, but oh well, Thanks for reading if you made it here!

I admit, the whole premise on the immoral pleasures of student-teacher relationship got my attention. I stayed for the pleasingly realistic approach the cast have made in resolving the issues brought by their choices. Their decisions and the consequences were impactful. Even with the switching of sides from the love triangle kept happening, it was enjoyable enough to root equally for both with how they've given their reason for their choices. Everything was going well, cliched situations happened, but for some very very unnatural reason, everyone and everything changed.


[SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FINAL ARC--It is important for me to include this spoiler because for me ... the conclusion, and especially this one, wraps up the whole story. This would crystallize the work of a creator, whatever they would decide on a conclusion will be the final image of their work.]










[•••••••••••••••••••••••START OF SPOILER••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••]
Every thing went downhill when "Rui" called off their wedding for "Hina's" sake. Grounding on 'it must be fate' for "Natsuo" to marry "Hina" or whatever bullcrap. As a user in reddit (sorry I could not find the post) have analyzed, the characters post-chapter 273 are impostors with their faces trying to weave their way to the author's fantasized ending that she failed to build up to. All of that character development, the resolve in their faces when they've bravely face the consequences of their decisions, all of that gone; as did my respect for this manga.
[••••••••••••••••••••••••END OF SPOILER••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••]










Reading the final chapter, I'd tell myself that this is just a doujinshi, with the actual manuscript of the final arc lost forever. I've already dissociated, and I could not really care anymore about this manga while I read through its end.

As I've said, the conclusion of a story will make up for everything it has built on. I see it as a person who has started as a terrible person, learns from their mistake, triumphs over their hardship, to ultimately be transmuted into an actual dumpster. That is everyone in Domestic na Kanojo.

I want to say that this manga was great. The character development, their interaction, the world building, the build up to emotional/dramatic events and the plot scenes were good. I came from the anime but of course I read from the beginning and I really enjoy up to chapter 240. Why? It was a little predictable because what I saw was happiness for the character then boom, pain and agony to the side character but it wasn't that bad. Not the best but still a nice but random change of pace.

Now let ... talk about the real reason I decided to write a review. It is about the ending. Endings sometime make us happy, sad, neutral, yearning for more but this, this ending made me sick. How does someone fuck up a ending in just 6 chapters?!? It was going so well and it might seem a little predictable but that will keep the manga afloat however now it sunk, so far that it is forgotten because that is my intention now. To forget that I even read and enjoy this disappointment. It might go down as the most senseless and appalling ending in the history of mangas.

If you dont want to read all of this, just know that if you dont want to lose your time, dont even bother reading the manga.

So, we finally got the Domestic na Kanojo ending, and let me tell you, it was a dumpster fire, these last chapters just wasted all of the character development that happened during the 276 chapters that this manga has. To be fully clear with you, i really enjoyed reading this manga before the ending, the characters act in a somewhat believable way and get fleshed out, + their relationships evolve with time, but how it ended just threw all of ... that under the bus, it just felt like an insult to both the fanbase and the characters. And i just cant bring myself to read the last few chapters because of it.

Thanks to that, when i look at the series as a whole, i just cant help but feel that there was a lot of wasted potential, just a missed opportunity of a manga that couldve been great, but now is basically a meme because of how it ended.

The outstanding aspect of this manga is its ability to resonate at a very deep level with the reader. As a reader, you experience a range of emotions strong enough to determine your mood for the whole day. Such a power, in the hands of an author, is a great responsibility: and the way Sasuga used its power was nothing short of criminal, in how it managed to make thousands of fans fall into rage/depression in the span of just a few final chapters.

Domestic Na Kanojo has been on my list for a while, but since I'm not a fan of serialization I waited until ... its completion to pick it up; I've binge read it in under a week, and what a journey it has been.
This manga is far from perfect. It is flawed in its sometimes farfetched narratives, its characters make questionable choices and the pace isn't always consistent; in spite of all of that, the amazing art and the sheer talent of the author are enough to make you really invested, really quickly.

It is clear to anyone who read the manga how, in truth, it is more appropriate to talk about two separate mangas: the first 272 chapters and the final 5.
For 272 chapters, we experience very deep emotions: some positive and some less so, some expected and some that we could never predict. What kept us reading is the realism of these characters. The whole "Rui vs Hina" war, in which I did not directly partake, is not the usual best girl war. It is more vivid and heartfelt.
These characters. Feel. Real. Their emotions become ours.

Taking all of this into account, we arrive at a sudden turn around chapter 270, and in chapter 273 shit hits the fan. Everything that was slowly built up in the past 272 chapters is literally shrugged off, like it never happened.
We are left with a few panels of a 5 (FIVE) years flash-forward and an out-of-the-blue ending, that not only does not make sense to anyone who read the manga, but does not follow the emotional continuum built up for the whole 272 chapters.

It is... heartbreaking. And while some may argue that a bad ending cannot invalidate a whole manga, this is not true when the manga creates such a deep connection with so many readers. I felt rage, sadness, headache. When a relationship ends on bad terms, it is not possible to think about the ex as a whole. All that is preceived is how he acted in that last period, the terrible emotions we felt and the desire to never see that person again, no matter how much love was poured into the relationship.

This is exactly why Domestic Na Kanojo's ending is enough to invalidate a beautiful manga, that would have lived in my heart forever, and that I will instead always remember as the manga that managed to hurt me deeper than any lover could.