<p><strong>The book scene is anime original.</strong></p>
<p>The manga equivalent of this scene is from volume 1, chapter 2, pages 73-75. In the manga, the panels are mostly focusing on both Natsuo and Fumiya conversing, with the addition of Fumiya's mother. For comparison, here is the whole scene with only related dialog from the anime (pages are ordered from left-to-right/top-to-bottom):</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vnU4wm.png" alt="" /> <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/mUHLOm.png" alt="" /> <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/NfwIVm.png" alt="" /></p>
<p>While there are books on the shelves, the titles are too blurry that they cannot be reasonably deciphered.</p>
<hr />
<p>Regarding the books in the anime themselves, the titles are (from left to right):</p>
<ul>
<li>？－192 天地明察 (<em>Tenchi Meisatsu</em>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenchi:_The_Samurai_Astronomer" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer</em></a>) by Tow Ubukata</li>
<li>全訳古語辞典 (<em>Zenyaku Kogojiten</em>, <em>Archaic Complete Translation Dictionary</em>)</li>
<li><strong>シ</strong>－023/<strong>シ</strong>－024 坂の上の雲 (<em>Saka no Ue no Kumo</em>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saka_no_Ue_no_Kumo" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Clouds Above the Hill</em></a>) by <strong>Shi</strong>ba Ryōtarō</li>
<li><strong>み</strong>－113 あかんべえ (<a href="https://archive.org/details/akanbee0000miya" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Akanbee</em></a>) by <strong>Mi</strong>yuki Miyabe</li>
<li><strong>シ</strong>－015 世に住む(...) → 世に棲む日日  (<em>Yo ni Sumu Hibi</em>, <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/251377" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Everyday Life</em></a>) by <strong>Shi</strong>ba Ryōtarō</li>
<li>忍びの国 (<em>Shinobi no Kuni</em>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinobi_no_Kuni" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>The Land of Stealth</em></a>) by Ryō Wada</li>
<li><strong>マ</strong>－014 幕末の動乱 (<em>Bakumatsu no Douran</em>, <a href="https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-448458" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Bakumatsu Rebellion</em></a>) by Seichō <strong>Ma</strong>tsumoto</li>
<li>のぼうの城 (<em>Nobou no Shiro</em>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Floating_Castle" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>The Floating Castle</em></a>) by Ryō Wada</li>
<li><strong>マ</strong>－030 火の虚舟 (<em>Hi no Utsurobune</em>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Matsumoto-Complete-Imperial-University-Utsuro-Bune/dp/416509210X" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Fire of Utsuro-Bune</em></a>) by Seichō <strong>Ma</strong>tsumoto</li>
<li>？－113 かげろう絵図 (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052956/" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Kagerou Ezu</em></a>) by Seichō Matsumoto</li>
<li>オ－012 はなとゆめ (<em>Hana to Yume</em>, <a href="https://fullofbooks.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=41692" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Flowers and Dreams</em></a>) by Tow Ubukata</li>
</ul>
<p>Almost ―if not― all of these books are historical fantasy/fiction novels, which might imply that Fumiya is a history maniac... which is really contrasting with his hobby in the manga.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T13:31:26.517Z
2022-07-26T17:06:44.077Z
2022-07-26T17:06:44.077Z
Aki Tanaka
<p>At around 18:30 in the 1st episode of <em>Domestic Girlfriend</em>, when the MC is asking for advice from his friend, there is a shot of some books on a shelf:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/EyESO.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/EyESO.jpg" alt="Twelve books of various sizes sitting on a shelf." /></a></p>
<p>As the well-known novelist Anton Chekhov <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/3199940-if-in-the-first-act-you-have-hung-a-pistol" rel="nofollow noreferrer">put it</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I suspect that (most of) the books in the shot have something in common, which in fact indicates the route of the whole (or at least part of) story.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't know about these books, let alone their contents, and therefore I can't figure out the meaning of their appearance. However, one thing is for sure, if these books have nothing to do with the plot, the producer wouldn't have bothered to make such a special depiction.</p>
<p>What significance do these books have?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T10:57:42.733Z
oh chekhov's gun you mean?
BCLC
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T10:58:55.683Z
@BCLC Yep, of course.
Michael
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T11:19:05.857Z
I feel like this is a (common) misapplication of Chekhov's advice. The quote in question was geared towards plays, and was rooted in minimalism rather than storytelling (i.e. "only include the absolute minimum number of props on-stage that you actually need to tell the story"). It's not always applicable to other forms of visual media, especially in such a strict, literal fashion. Ignoring Chekhov's advice, is there any *other* reason to believe that these books somehow spell out the entire plot of the anime?
F1Krazy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T11:20:49.220Z
To me, this just looks like an [establishing shot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Establishing_shot), probably one of several in a row, all focusing on various different things in the room, to give you an idea of what the room's owner is like. Anime and manga do this all the time, and there's generally no reason to suspect that anything shown in those shots is actually plot-critical in any way.
F1Krazy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T11:51:10.260Z
I've just checked the source manga and after comparing with the anime, since the flow and conversation in this scene are a bit different and more importantly, *no books are highlighted/zoomed in*, it looks like a [padding](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Padding) (warning: TV Trope). Might also be an establishing shot as @F1Krazy mentioned.
Aki Tanaka
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T13:10:21.450Z
@F1Krazy If that's the case (establishing shot), what do these books tell about the character?
Michael
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T13:15:12.770Z
@AkiTanaka It is probably not a padding. This scene is too short for padding. If they need to lengthen the episode in time as much as this scene does, they can just make any other scene stay a bit longer, no need to draw an extra picture.
Michael
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-26T13:22:40.060Z
@Michael I don't know. I can't understand written Japanese, so I don't know what the books' titles are. I *suspect* they're school textbooks of some kind, but I don't feel confident enough to post an answer.
F1Krazy
<domestic-na-kanojo>
In the 1st episode of Domestic Girlfriend, what's the significance of these books?
# In the 1st episode of Domestic Girlfriend, what's the significance of these books?
Posted by: username_0 on 2022-07-26
At around 18:30 in the 1st episode of *Domestic Girlfriend*, when the MC is asking for advice from his friend, there is a shot of some books on a shelf:

[![Twelve books of various sizes sitting on a shelf.](https://i.sstatic.net/EyESO.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/EyESO.jpg)

As the well-known novelist Anton Chekhov [put it](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/3199940-if-in-the-first-act-you-have-hung-a-pistol),

> If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.

I suspect that (most of) the books in the shot have something in common, which in fact indicates the route of the whole (or at least part of) story.

Unfortunately, I don't know about these books, let alone their contents, and therefore I can't figure out the meaning of their appearance. However, one thing is for sure, if these books have nothing to do with the plot, the producer wouldn't have bothered to make such a special depiction.

What significance do these books have?
**Tags:** domestic-na-kanojo
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: oh chekhov's gun you mean?  
> **username_0**: @BCLC Yep, of course.  
> **username_2**: I feel like this is a (common) misapplication of Chekhov's advice. The quote in question was geared towards plays, and was rooted in minimalism rather than storytelling (i.e. "only include the absolute minimum number of props on-stage that you actually need to tell the story"). It's not always applicable to other forms of visual media, especially in such a strict, literal fashion. Ignoring Chekhov's advice, is there any *other* reason to believe that these books somehow spell out the entire plot of the anime?  
> **username_2**: To me, this just looks like an [establishing shot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Establishing_shot), probably one of several in a row, all focusing on various different things in the room, to give you an idea of what the room's owner is like. Anime and manga do this all the time, and there's generally no reason to suspect that anything shown in those shots is actually plot-critical in any way.  
> **username_3**: I've just checked the source manga and after comparing with the anime, since the flow and conversation in this scene are a bit different and more importantly, *no books are highlighted/zoomed in*, it looks like a [padding](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Padding) (warning: TV Trope). Might also be an establishing shot as @F1Krazy mentioned.  
> **username_0**: @F1Krazy If that's the case (establishing shot), what do these books tell about the character?  
> **username_0**: @AkiTanaka It is probably not a padding. This scene is too short for padding. If they need to lengthen the episode in time as much as this scene does, they can just make any other scene stay a bit longer, no need to draw an extra picture.  
> **username_2**: @Michael I don't know. I can't understand written Japanese, so I don't know what the books' titles are. I *suspect* they're school textbooks of some kind, but I don't feel confident enough to post an answer.  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_3 on 2022-07-26. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
**The book scene is anime original.**

The manga equivalent of this scene is from volume 1, chapter 2, pages 73-75. In the manga, the panels are mostly focusing on both Natsuo and Fumiya conversing, with the addition of Fumiya's mother. For comparison, here is the whole scene with only related dialog from the anime (pages are ordered from left-to-right/top-to-bottom):

![](https://i.sstatic.net/vnU4wm.png) ![](https://i.sstatic.net/mUHLOm.png) ![](https://i.sstatic.net/NfwIVm.png)

While there are books on the shelves, the titles are too blurry that they cannot be reasonably deciphered.

---

Regarding the books in the anime themselves, the titles are (from left to right):

* ？－192 天地明察 (*Tenchi Meisatsu*, [*Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenchi:_The_Samurai_Astronomer)) by Tow Ubukata
* 全訳古語辞典 (*Zenyaku Kogojiten*, *Archaic Complete Translation Dictionary*)
* **シ**－023/**シ**－024 坂の上の雲 (*Saka no Ue no Kumo*, [*Clouds Above the Hill*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saka_no_Ue_no_Kumo)) by **Shi**ba Ryōtarō
* **み**－113 あかんべえ ([*Akanbee*](https://archive.org/details/akanbee0000miya)) by **Mi**yuki Miyabe
* **シ**－015 世に住む(...) → 世に棲む日日 (*Yo ni Sumu Hibi*, [*Everyday Life*](https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/251377)) by **Shi**ba Ryōtarō
* 忍びの国 (*Shinobi no Kuni*, [*The Land of Stealth*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinobi_no_Kuni)) by Ryō Wada
* **マ**－014 幕末の動乱 (*Bakumatsu no Douran*, [*Bakumatsu Rebellion*](https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-448458)) by Seichō **Ma**tsumoto
* のぼうの城 (*Nobou no Shiro*, [*The Floating Castle*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Floating_Castle)) by Ryō Wada
* **マ**－030 火の虚舟 (*Hi no Utsurobune*, [*Fire of Utsuro-Bune*](https://www.amazon.com.au/Matsumoto-Complete-Imperial-University-Utsuro-Bune/dp/416509210X)) by Seichō **Ma**tsumoto
* ？－113 かげろう絵図 ([*Kagerou Ezu*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052956/)) by Seichō Matsumoto
* オ－012 はなとゆめ (*Hana to Yume*, [*Flowers and Dreams*](https://fullofbooks.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=41692)) by Tow Ubukata

Almost ―if not― all of these books are historical fantasy/fiction novels, which might imply that Fumiya is a history maniac... which is really contrasting with his hobby in the manga.
---
