You can find plenty of reasons why this series is trash, so I won’t go into detail about it. Except for the end, holy shit is that a steaming pile of dog shit and kinda ruins some of the themes that it had going for it. ANYWAYS…
What makes Domestic Girlfriend good is that it approaches the romance genre in a very different way. Most romance series are about a relationship between two characters. Domestic Girlfriend is about two characters who are in a relationship. The difference is astounding.
Typically, a romance will start with the romance portion of the story and build out from there. This means that the purpose of the main characters is to be in a romantic relationship. Contrasting this, Domestic Girlfriend establishes characters that end up in a relationship. To really explain why this is the case would require venturing into spoiler territory. So you’ll either have to trust me or be hit with a few spoilers.
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Towards the end of highschool, Rui and Natsuo end up getting together. The series then follows their relationship together. Domestic Girlfriend sheds its typical highschool harem setting (kinda) for a more grounded story. After Rui and Natsuo graduate, they take different paths in life. Natsuo goes to university, and naturally meets new people. Rui pursues cooking.
It’s entirely by pure luck but Domestic Girlfriend does a really good job at depicting a non-codependent relationship. Sure, there is tension with a sort of will-they-won’t-they regarding other girls/guys, but it’s handled well. In an incredibly healthy way.
The ending kinda ruins this depiction of healthy relationships which is why it’s just a fluke. An interview with the author sadly reveals that she made no such distinction intentionally. However, it still stands that the series does a great job handling the romance between Rui and Natsuo
