Domestic Girlfriend Episode 4 Review
Rui and Natsuo returned to the house in episode 3 with a plan. This week we see that while they are solid on the goal of the plan the execution needs a little work. While we get some adorable moments with the duo as they sneak about after Hina and try to figure out her schedule, in terms of actually achieving anything I have to say they fall pretty flat.
Which is when they take a more direct course of action and go from polite family meddling (if that is even a thing when you are stalking your older sister) to full on invasion of privacy as Rui steals Hina’s phone while she’s in the bathroom. They then try to call the cheating guy and have Rui break up with him but Rui’s just not up to the task and pretty much stammers and hangs up. Again, cute moment for Rui and Natsuo together but still not much forward progress on the grand plan.
It does mean that we see Natsuo point out that it isn’t Rui’s fault and that he never should have asked the impossible of her in the first place while they lament about their failure at the cafe. This is when our old friend coincidence kicks in again and Hina and Shuu, the cheating guy, enter the cafe. Normally this kind of thing would annoy me but from this story that has been heavily reliant on coincidence from the get-go to keep the drama moving it was more or less expected and the timing was pretty well done.
I also like that they guy didn’t just give up because Natsuo and Rui insisted he break up with Hina. Like many people who are cheating, he actually had seemed to convince himself that he wasn’t in the wrong and that it just wasn’t possible ‘yet’ to do the right thing. While Hina continued to suck up his lines Rui lost her cool and flung her water in his face before bolting with Natsuo hot on her heels.
This actually led to something I really did like about this whole situation. At this point, Hina is the one with the final choice. The guy is still trying to feed her lines and clearly is happy to continue their relationship as is, so Hina is able to maintain the status quo. However, she can also choose to finally end things. While the last couple of episodes have done a good job of painting Hina as a little bit pathetic, it was nice to see her have the final agency in this little arc before it was concluded with a saccharine sweet family moment at the end of the episode.
So, in case you are wondering, I’m still loving the drama and still think this show goes very well with popcorn.
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- Series Review – Domestic Girlfriend
- Episode 1 – And He Thought This Was a One Night Stand
- Episode 2 – The Growing Bonds That Join These Characters
- Episode 3 – Why Not Prepare Popcorn For This Fantastic Drama?
- Episode 4 – Good Intentions; Questionable Activities: How Will This End?
- Episode 5 – The Rumour Mill Surrounding The Easy Girl
- Episode 6 – When In Doubt, Just Pile on More Characters and Stir
- Episode 7 – Domestic Dramas and More Mundane High School Problems
- Episode 8 and 9 – Making Choices and Hearing Truths
- Episode 10 – Natsuo, If You’re Going To Lie, Cover Your Tracks
- Episode 11 – Foolish Hearts and Foolish Choices
- Episode 12 – Fuelling Fiction Through Pain
- Images from: Domestic Girlfriend. Dir. S Ibata. Diomedea. 2019.