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I'll probably be one of the next ones to get a kick out of Domestic Kanojo. I read the manga in record time for me even though my English isn't the best, and I have to say I was incredibly entertained most of the time. The story is a roller coaster ride where you have a fluffy manga moment where someone is always blushing, throwing themselves in bed or just having sex. Other times it's all depression, crying and angst. Considering that I probably have the perverse opinion that step-sibling (not blood related) are actually two strangers who were "forced" to live under the same ... roof, I'm not offended by this topic. Nor does the whole plot about Natsuo sleeping with Rui at the beginning. As far as I know, they were both 16-17 years old, so what guy wouldn't take advantage of that in his situation.

[will contain spoilers]

Natsuo is pretty straightforward to me. Throughout the manga he keeps telling us how he wants to be a successful author and whatnot. He sacrifices quite a bit for that. I've come across the opinion that he can't decide what he wants, but I don't think that's true. There are x number of moments where he makes a decision and stands by his decision. However, we're still living in the manga here, so even though he's over 20 years old at the end of the manga, he's still surprised by the panties and boobs... then it's clear that Japan is getting old when a guy in his "prime" years is afraid of boobs...

Hina, a character that makes me uncomfortable from beginning to end. From the very first chapter, she more or less puts down the main character for not being an adult (yes, he isn't). This opinion of hers doesn't change much, it's just not talked about as much anymore. She, who says she's an adult, spends most of the manga unable to even make tea without burning it, unable to display basic communication skills, or to break up as an adult and face the consequences of her decisions. A girl who decides to end a relationship by writing a rambling goodbye letter and evaporates like steam over a pot has no say in whether someone is an adult or not. Okay, I guess that would make the manga half as long, but at least it would make it more palatable.

Rui, for me, a character that went through a perfect development along with the main character. She pulled him out of the worst depression that Hina caused him with her behavior or indecision. In the beginning, Rui is introduced as a girl who can't show her emotions, can't read them, has no friends and more or less has no love. Just the perfect character for the protagonist to change her. Once she realizes her feelings, she goes for them and the relationship moves forward.

Natsuo x Hina - An entire relationship built around a teenager falling in love with his teacher. Okay... aside from the fact that it's seen as taboo, if Natsuo was 30 and Hina was 36, no one would give it a second thought. The rest of the manga is about Hina saying "I love you" to herself, but never saying it and doing nothing to change anything, to not hurt Rui or to not damage Natsuo's career. By the end, it felt more like obsession than love.

Natsuo x Rui - the gradual building of their love for each other, with Natsuo having to overcome his initial love for Hina and their breakup. Getting to know each other and herself. Building trust in each other when they are not together etc. Trying to find a balance between working on themselves and working on the relationship. For me, an absolutely unnecessary chapter 215 that was a slap in the face. Maybe it's my inferior English skills to understand what led Rui to do what she did, but so be it. Let's just say chapter 250 made it better again though.

I'll say up front that for me the last 5 chapters don't exist, or exist but with an alternate ending that I found on reddit. What the manga showed in the last 5 chapters was worthy of being erased from history. More or less all character development has been erased. Please show me people who say "yes, that ending makes sense". Rui and Natsuo obviously still love each other, because that's more or less how one chapter ends, followed by a time skip of 5 years where they live together, raise their daughter together, and take care of Hina in the process. They both obviously still love each other because why else would they be together. Natsuo at Rui's is apparently wallowing in self-pity over the fact that the "adult" Hina hasn't been able to come to terms with the fact that she's been with Natsuo for 3 years, and therefore they're not officially together and he wants to marry Hina out of "pity". The grand finale where she actually has to talk Hina into marrying Natsuo. Truly horrible and awful. That aftertaste from those last 5 chapters will stay on my tongue for a really long time.

Without the last 5 chapters, I'd give it an 8. Otherwise, I give it a 4.

Right off the bat, this is probably my favorite manga. Even though I'm not interested in cosplay, the manga focuses a lot on the actual process of making cosplay and things around it. It's not just a backdrop for a romcom.

You fall in love with the main characters. Right at the beginning we are introduced to a typical gyaru (Kitagawa) who uncharacteristically loves games/anime/manga and especially cosplay. The contrast between her childlike enthusiasm for each new cosplay and the selection of the cosplays themselves, which doesn't shy away from a lot of daring eroge stunts, is perfect. Gojou, who is a typical introvert who's had ... his share of rejection from his surroundings as a child, makes it clear what direction the entire manga is going to take. It's more or less that classic thing where you have an extroverted gyaru who has to turn an introvert/otaku/whatever into a functioning member of society. When you strip a story down to the bone like that, it's not really new, but it works perfectly here. However, they both have hobbies and dreams that those around them don't understand, but they have found an understanding between them and the story more or less starts to build on that.

There are arcs here that are solidly satisfying and the relationship between the main characters changes in various ways, they get to know each other, they talk and it's a joy to watch them interact with each other. Then there are arcs that focus more on the cosplay itself and the things around it though. It's a shame that by the middle of the manga (say 50-150), a really big part of the story focuses on cosplay and thus the whole development gets pushed to the back burner.

Of course, like any typical romcom, there's bound to be various missteps like "now I've seen her panties; how do I measure her waist/chest circumference", but this isn't a typical school anime, so thankfully they don't dwell on it too much and rather these "episodes" serve for some personal development. The side characters don't get in the way and aren't like the driving force behind the events, rather they help the development of the main characters. They serve more as a way to help the main characters realize certain things or sort out their thoughts, but without the side characters telling them what to do or pushing them into anything.

There's not much drama going on here, which is fine by me. I'm not saying there isn't, but so far it's always been handled with some grace.

For me personally, this is one of the best manga I've read or seen as an anime. The humor, character development, and story concept is great for me.

If you can get past the first x chapters, which are more about bullying than provoking the main character, you'll enjoy the rest of the manga. There are some moments that may be on the edge, but I don't live in the US, I'm not a snowflake, and I grew up in an environment where we were teased in various ways, so as the plot unfolded, her bullying turned more into teasing. As they say in my country "the quarrel of lovers is renewal of love". We've had x chapters that are just for laughs and don't have much impact on the story, but then ... we have several arcs that span several chapters and help the characters grow.

We don't have a deeper look at why Nagatoro acts the way he does or why Senpai is so closed off. Rather, their characters and how their characters evolve over time are introduced.

The side characters are pretty clearly distinguishable from each other, which I'd say is quite an exception compared to other manga I've read, because I always have to wonder who's who. The side characters here serve more as a help to the main characters, rather than sabotaging their relationship or getting an inordinate amount of time to rant and solve their problems. Some of the characters here are really just there as comedic relief, but at times you really get a laugh with them. Of course, we have to have wacky siblings, creepy friends, etc. here. But sometimes these characters are useful to the main characters.

Possible spoilers:
For me the TOP chapters are 107/109.5, 114, 144, There are more of course, but these are the ones I like to come back to. I thought the finale of the manga was perfect. No unnecessary plot twist or unnecessary final drama. I'm a bit sorry that there wasn't some sort of time skip where there was a glimpse of their life together, because the adult Nagatoro, from Senpai's imagination, was perfect.

I have to say at the outset that this is probably not going to be a positive review.

TL;DR
+ Komi is cute at times
+ slow story
- more of a filler than a real story
- insanely annoying side characters
- slow story
- artificial drama
- repetitive
... - clichés

I was looking forward to the manga because I've heard from all sides that it's slow and it's a perfect romance story. Although I thought 480 chapters was a lot for a slow manga, but so be it. Unfortunately, I didn't know that about 100 chapters would be story related and the rest would be unnecessary filler that if it wasn't, it wouldn't hurt the story.

Komi as a main character has her moments where you will love her but hate her at the same time. Tadano is a typical good guy to the core. He always does the right thing, always ready to help, need a kidney? You've come to the right place. But otherwise, an average guy, as the manga says several times. Rumiko, who was introduced just to create a love triangle, but you know how it ends. But then there's the 100+ characters that only serve as comic releave. But interestingly, these 100 characters also can't communicate...

I don't think I've ever seen a manga with more clichés, repetitive story and annoying side characters. Komi said at the beginning that she wanted to have 100 friends, so the author is going to indulge her and introduce 100+ characters who are either similar as eggs to eggs or so crazy that you hope they don't show up in the next chapter. The manga takes you through more or less three years, so you get to enjoy 3 times the school festival, 3 times sports day, 3 times valentine's day, etc. But these slice-of-life events are pretty much the same again. If you take the typical romcom events, you'll find that here too... the beach, the mountains, "we missed the last train, we have to share a room together on the same futon", school board elections, etc. etc. Did this manga bring anything new to the table? Absolutely not. You can just check it off that it was there.

If you want to get an idea of how slow the manga is, the confesion was done after 300 chapters... More or less from 250 chapters onwards, so stretching it out to 50 chapters was really hard. But for the next almost 180 chapters nothing much happens again. Holding hands twice? Kiss 3 times? Come on. And you know why nothing's happening? Because there wasn't one character or the other in those 180 chapters, because there were 100+ side characters to keep track of, or flashbacks to give.

The manga probably also disappointed me because I was rooting for Rumiko, who at least showed some progression in her character and could even act for herself and wasn't incompetent like Komi. But the manga wasn't named after her, so you knew from the start how it would end. That's why I always find the introduction of a character like that to be absolutely pointless, because it's clear that she'll never win and then it's just a matter of how the author handles her.

And if I had to conclude the review in some way, it's that Komi is a goddess, how beautiful, sophisticated, and whatnot. Everyone wants to be with her, but no one is able to communicate with her. But beware, they all think it's their fault and thus knock their own self-esteem, because there can't be a problem with the perfect Komi. It doesn't matter if they're classmates or adults. What I still don't understand is how she communicates within the family, how she communicates with teachers, etc. I'd say if it wasn't for Tadano, Komi would die alone surrounded by cats. If she lives to a ripe old age, when she's not even able to order her own food...

I guess I had high expectations for this anime and should have figured it out right away by looking at the ratings. The premise looked interesting, so why not give it a chance. Long story short, 24 episodes gone and we're still where we were.

I like watching the development of the characters, the evolution of their relationships, and I like rooting for the main characters. The MC is always a slow burn. He's presented as the "second" smartest in the school, but his expressive skills and emotional maturity are at an all time low.

I didn't like FMC perhaps one bit. Erika as the spoiled little ... girl the MC has to take care of from morning till night is really wife material. Sadly, 24 episodes won't change that. I'd rather have this at home than alone. Sachi, who falls in love like a snap of a finger with a bro she's been with for over 15 years. This aside, she does nothing to deepen their relationship and just throws stones... I find Segawa to be the least annoying of the two, but that I could say any positive things about her?

I picked up the manhwa after finishing the anime and I think the manhwa had a slightly better "vibe" than the anime.

The story may not be extremely original and one could find a lot of similarities to the isekai, but the main character is not OP as f**k from the start, so one follows his gradual development.

The drawing and level of detail is perfect. It really is a feast for the eyes to watch the setting and characters. I really enjoyed the colors and drawing in the later stages of the manhwa.

The side characters are unfortunately unmemorable. A bunch of them appear throughout, but ... I didn't form any emotional attachment to them. They don't get much room to express themselves or have any depth. But a couple of the Shadow Army characters were really cool (Beru for example).

For my part, I would also appreciate the 21 chapters that came out after the manhwa ended. I thought it was a really really nice send off to the series.

The topic of when two people decide to do a fake relationship/wedding/marriage has been around quite a lot. However, here we have two people who value their peace of mind and want to keep it.

For my part, I liked the character development. However, what bothered me at times was at some points it felt like the author stepped on the brake and set their relationship back a bit to get it going again. In some cases he skipped ahead a big chunk. But it didn't completely ruin the overall impression for me.

The side characters weren't annoying and moved the story forward. The artwork made them ... spread apart well, not like other manga. The artist really played with nature, drawing the mountains beautifully or even parts of Tokyo, where I even remembered walking through some parts when I was there a solid amount of years ago.

I think some things in the manga weren't worked out, or were forgotten, and it would be nice to resolve them, but everything can't be sun-drenched :-).

There are a few moments I would very much like to reread and will remember fondly. For me, definitely a piece I would recommend. The finale was in the spirit of the manga, so for me, satisfaction as well.

When I started reading the manga, I was so excited. I found the premise of "friends" having a secret and thanks to it deepening their relationship. The first few chapters were really great. Both main characters showed their difference in behavior Hori, the perfect student vs the motherly type who takes care of the younger brother. Miyamura the quiet otaku vs the piercing wearing delinquent. You could see what draws them together, just those moments when you think "yes, I'd like to experience that again" etc. Those little things that happen at the beginning of a relationship and what goes through their heads. If the ... story was just about the two of them and the supporting characters only motivated them to move the story along, I wouldn't hesitate to give it a 9.

However, then something went wrong. The characters left the initial premise, suddenly Hori's parents were still at home, her "domestic" nature began to show at school as well, and Miaymura cut his hair, his piercing holes were visible and suddenly he became the lion of salons, talking to anyone about anything . Let's just say that up until Chapter 63 (Path) the manga was good. At least there was something going on between the main characters. However, after that it kind of cuts off and nothing happens between the main characters for the rest of the manga. Another problem I see is that the development of their relationship was always a leap. Something needed to change, so it changed... nothing in between. However, once they started dating, their relationship didn't progress. They didn't start addressing each other by name. They didn't hold hands. There was no other major interaction.

After the 63rd chapter, their relationship didn't change at all and didn't move anywhere until the end. Once every 10 chapters it appears on the "I like her/him" page, but it is not actually said why. There is no deepening of the relationship.

Even the very end of the manga leaves such a bitter taste on the tongue. The manga was published for 10 years. But if all the ballast that came around, which actually had no impact on the development of the main or secondary characters, was omitted, then the manga could have been published for 3 years. Over time, there are maybe 20 supporting characters that get more time here than the main characters. Not that I don't care about their fate, but they are still secondary characters.

Before Horimiya, I've read for example "Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru" or "Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san" where the character development or MC and FMC's relationship development seems much better handled.

I would have given it a 9 when I started reading... a 4 and under after finishing. If I wanted to give more, I need to forget everything after chapter 63 and think that chapter 63 is the finale.

Sorry for my English, but I used a translator :-(.