Domestic Girlfriend

Episode 8

The first act of this week's Domestic Girlfriend feels like it was ripped out an early-2000s romantic dramedy manga: Natsuo is just minding his own business at school when, out of nowhere, a blonde-haired-blue-eyed American transfer student smashes into him on a bicycle. The kid's name is Alex, and he's the kind of brash and overconfident American stereotype that I can't help but be amused by whenever they pop up in anime. He demands to be friends with Natsuo on a first-name basis only moments after they meet, he constantly brags about his (almost certainly nonexistent) love life back in the States – for crying out loud, he didn't just think riding a bicycle indoors was a good idea; he somehow manages to get away with it long enough to give Natsuo the old FLCL treatment. I don't even think Alex is a realistic portrayal of what many Japanese even think of Americans; he's more of an institutional meme, the kind of character that Domestic Girlfriend is going to toss into the mix because why the hell not.

Despite taking so much time to introduce him, Alex's appearance in “Then I Don't Have To Be An Adult” serves one primary purpose: to further complicate Natsuo's relationship with Rui. Alex meets Rui after helping Natsuo catch a guy who has been pillaging Rui's panties (because of course), and he's instantly smitten. Natsuo tries to be a good friend and set Rui up with Alex while the two prepare dinner later that night, but only a special kind of idiot would expect that to lead to anything but Rui storming off in a huff. Come on Natsuo, she didn't start sucking face with her step-brother last week because she's interested in other guys. When Natsuo goes to offer a conciliatory dinner, the two naturally end up making out and fondling each other some more, and they almost manage to get away with it until Hina walks in the room. These kids are going to need to learn how to lock the damn door.

This affair understandably leaves Hina feeling upset, especially after Rui bluntly explains that she likes Natsuo and intends to keep on being intimate with him, so it isn't surprising when she decides to push herself out of the nest and move out. This leads to the oblivious parents taking the family out to a festival as one last hurrah of them all living together, which is also where my biggest issues with the episode come to light.

At the festival, Natsuo repeatedly tries to confront Hina about what she saw and how he feels about her in an uncomfortably aggressive way that the show never pushes back against hard enough. He's so insistent on forcing the conversation that she straight up has to bite him to get him to let go of her, and eventually Masaki has to grab hold of Hina and force her to sit down and talk her feelings out with Natsuo, who's giving his supremely frustrating dumb puppy-dog stare the whole time.

This is a problem mainly because Hina doesn't owe Natsuo any kind of explanation for her choices. She's an adult who's removing herself from an unhealthy situation, yet the show doesn't frame Natsuo as being in the wrong. The exchange also suffers because this is where Hina confesses that she isn't leaving because she's disgusted or hurt by Natsuo and Rui's behavior, but because she's jealous that her sister feels she can behave so recklessly with Natsuo and get away with it. The main query of the title refers to Hina admitting that she has feelings for Natsuo, but denying them because she feels that being an adult is getting in the way.

For starters, Hina being an adult is absolutely one of the main issues that shouldn't be ignored here. However, my bigger gripe with this ending is that Hina still doesn't feel like she's been given the level of empathy and characterization needed for the scene to work. Rui is her own brand of mystifying for Natsuo, but she's also been presented as an equal to him. She has her own confused feelings that we understand better because we've seen them play out in her private moments, not to mention that she and Natsuo already share a certain chemistry that he and Hina simply don't. For all of the flashbacks and masturbation scenes and general emotional drama, we still only know Hina as the woman that Natsuo has been putting on a pedestal for who knows how long, which makes her own half-confession of love ring much more hollow than it should.

Yet after the credits and the admittedly effective insert song are done rolling, Hina and Natsuo are holding hands while Rui casts a suspicious glance backward at them, so I guess this is officially A Thing™ now. There are only a handful of episodes left before the season ends, and with so much material left un-adapted, I'm interested to see where these developments take us in Domestic Girlfriend's final stretch.

Rating: B

Domestic Girlfriend is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and HIDIVE.

James is an English teacher who has loved anime his entire life, and he spends way too much time on Twitter and his blog.