[Shounen Romance Summer 2022] Like Domestic Girlfriend? Watch This!

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Shounen Romance anime is the lesser known cousin to RomCom anime but shows the more complicated side of human romance. Domestic Girlfriend is a stand out from recent years, landing in the Winter season of 2019 to mixed reactions, some hailing the anime as the flagship of modern romance, others touting it as a ‘dumpster fire’ full of fan service and degeneracy. So today, we thought we’d highlight some of this season’s complex love stories that follow the same suit as Domestic Girlfriend, full of step-siblings falling in love, love triangles, quadrangles, and all other shapes and sizes.

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Liked Domestic na Kanojo (Domestic Girlfriend)? Watch Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta (My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex)

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[Information episodes="12" aired="July 2022 - Ongoing" post_id=""]

Sometimes a long anime title tells you everything you need to know about a series, and My Stepmom’s Daughter is My Ex does just that. Middle-school sweethearts Yume and Mizuto began a loving relationship together with all the ups and downs of teenage romance, eventually breaking things off at graduation and going their separate ways. However, the two would meet again in the most unusual circumstances as their parents remarried each other, making them step-siblings!

Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta PV

Major Similarities Between Domestic na Kanojo (Domestic Girlfriend) and Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta (My Stepmom’s Daughter is My Ex)

1. Lovers to Siblings!?

A very odd premise to anyone outside of anime and some adult entertainment, it is uncommon for most western audiences to see this kind of premise floated in a romance story. Both Domestic Girlfriend and My Stepmom’s Daughter is My Ex follows this storyline with our two main characters having had previous relations with their new step sisters. Watching Yume and Mizuto navigate their new familial relationship knowing their old attraction to one another, adds a lot of drama and even comedy to the relationship dynamic.

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2. Will They/Won’t They?

Usually, a side to romance anime that plays on the heartstrings by teasing the main character's abilities to interpret signals or confess their feelings before any progress is made with the main love interest, the will they/won’t they dynamic is a common trope in romance anime. However, domestic Girlfriend and My Stepmom’s Daughter is My Ex plays more so on the moral compass with the back and forth flirting, bringing into question our perceptions of societal norms and what is right or wrong. The spice of this morally questionable dynamic is what makes these types of anime so popular.

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Liked Domestic na Kanojo (Domestic Girlfriend)? Watch Kakkou no Iinazuke (A Couple of Cuckoos)

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[Information episodes="24" aired="April 2022 - Ongoing" post_id=""]

A Couple of Cuckoos is a complicated love story with family drama and a main character that can’t make up his damn mind. Our story follows two high schoolers that were swapped at birth by their parents, and after meeting each other by accident on the way to meet their biological parents, the two agree to fake a relationship so that Erika Amano can avoid an arranged marriage. Unbeknownst to the two, their birth parents had decided to arrange a marriage between our leading man Nagi Umino and Erika!

Kakkou no Iinazuke PV

Major Similarities Between Domestic na Kanojo (Domestic Girlfriend) and Kakkou no Iinazuke (A Couple of Cuckoos)

1. A Love Triangle…or Square?

The main relationship in A Couple of Cuckoos between Erika and Nagi is all well and good, except for the fact that Nagi is in love with his classmate Hiro Segawa, an academic overachiever that he has confessed to before, getting a reply under the guise that he beats her in the class rankings. This sort of love triangle would be enough for most romance anime, like the one between Natsuo and his two step-sisters, Rui and Hina, in Domestic Girlfriend. However, A Couple of Cuckoos goes one step further with Nagi’s now former sister Sachi getting involved now that there are no familial relations. Messy.

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2. Fan Service at Every Corner

Both Domestic Girlfriend and A Couple of Cuckoos know their audiences very well, sprinkling fan service at every opportunity to appeal to young men. Whether it’s the borderline hentai sex scenes in Domestic Girlfriend or the various cosplay outfits from the trio of girls in A Couple of Cuckoos, these two anime know what they are doing when it comes to their fans.

Final Thoughts

Whether you find Shounen Romance anime to be too much drama in your love stories, or you enjoy the spice of life that comes with rampant misunderstandings and compromising positions between two people, there exists a special place within anime for shows like Domestic Girlfriend. We hope to have given two good recommendations for fans of the show this season. What Romance anime has caught your eye this season? Also, if there are any others you feel we have missed, let us know in the comments below!

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