Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2
(
TV) (2022)
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 Blu-ray delivers great video and audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
When Kinoshita Kazuya's new girlfriend brutally dumps him, he discovers a surprising new alternative - renting a girlfriend instead! However, while this does let Kazuya avoid the embarrassment of explaining to his friends and family why he's suddenly partner-less, he's unprepared for what happens when Mizuhara Chizuru arrives to fulfill his rental contract.
Not only is she completely not what he expected, but her real life has a frightening number of cross-overs with his own! And when it turns out that his grandmother is just crazy about Chizuru, it's not like he can just swap her out for a different model! Or can he? Will Kazuya and Chizuru's relationship progress beyond a "goods purchased" mode? And what happens if Kazuya's ex-girlfriend decides to re-enter the picture?
For more about
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 and the Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 Blu-ray release, see
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 Blu-ray Review published by Neil Lumbard on July 17, 2024 where this Blu-ray release scored
3.5 out of
5.
Director:
Kazuomi Koga
Writers:
Mitsutaka Hirota, Reiji Miyajima
Starring:
Sora Amamiya, Shun Horie, Aoi Yûki, Nao Tôyama, Rie Takahashi, Gakuto Kajiwara
»
See full cast & crew
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 Blu-ray Review
Reviewed by Neil Lumbard, July 17, 2024
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 is a fun comedy-romance for romantic genre fans. The anime series features animation produced by
TMS Entertainment (Kamisama Kiss, Fruits Basket). Created by Reiji Miyajima, Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season
2 features theme music performed by CHICO with Honeyworks (opening), asmi (ending), and MIMiNARI (ending). The
series features voice-performances by Shun Horie, Sora Amamiya, Nao Tōyama, Rie Takahashi, and Aoi Yūki.
Kazuya Kinoshita (Shun Horie) is in over his head. The romantic struggles continue for the unexpected love bird. Kazuya never expected to
have so many romantic entanglements. Things certainly change when Kazuya falls in love with his girlfriend-for-rent Chizuru Mizuhara (Sora
Amamiya).
Yet things certainly are complicated further by Chizuru contemplates a career change. If Chizuru leaves her girlfriend-for-rent job will that
mean the end of their romance? Kazuya has been trying so hard to make the romance-for-compensation become something more real.
Meanwhile, Kazuya is still being pursued by other girls. Both Ruka Sarashina (Nao Tōyama) and Sumi Sakurasawa (Rie Takahashi) are
interested in him. There's even Kazuya's former girlfriend, Mami Nanami (Aoi Yūki). What'a a guy to do?
The characters add a lot of warmth and charm to the series. Kazuya is a compelling lead character and one that many audiences will relate to.
The character certainly is a compelling protagonist. The cast of supporting characters add to the series, too. The girls are charming and the balance
between Chizuru and Kazuya is essential to the series.
The character designs by Kanna Hirayama (Oshi no Ko, Selection Project) are effective and certainly add a lot
to the production. The designs showcase a lot of wonderful things about the series aesthetic – the character designs working well for the
drama and comedy in this romantic series. Well-done, Hirayama.
The animation is beautiful and adds so much to the production values. The series features excellent art direction by Minoru Akiba (Grand
Blue Dreaming, Magical Girl Site). Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 has an impressive sense of style. The chief
animation direction by Kanna Hirayama (Oshi no Ko, Seven Senses of the Reunion) adds to the series and helps to
expand the visual storytelling. The animators certainly did an impressive job with the series and the artwork is all the more enriching as a result.
The animation quality is better than average and a step above. Fans of quality Japanese anime will appreciate the impressive art – it makes
a nice difference with the series.
The cinematography by Shintaro Sakai (The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases, A Salad Bowl of
Eccentrics) adds to the series aesthetic. The cinematography nicely highlights the series animation – colorful and bold. The bright and
vibrant cinematography style certainly is compelling.
The score composed by Hyadain (Yomawari Neko, Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku) is elegant and refined. The
enjoyable score music adds a nice component to the production. The music helps to highlight the fun energy of the romantic-comedy. These
elements certainly are important to the series. Fans will be pleased with the music and its significant role in the production.
Written by Mitsutaka Hirota (Bibliophile Princess, Yowamushi Pedal), Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2
offers fans more charm and romance. The second season continues to build on the first season with more adventures and romantic entanglements.
Horita enjoys spending time with the characters and the romantic longing.
Directed by Kazuomi Koga (The Dreaming Boy Is a Realist, Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible),
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 will appeal to series fans. Fans will certainly want to continue the journey. The second season offers more
excitement for fans to explore as the romance and comedy unfolds. A vibrant series aimed at the romantic audience, the series is well-directed and
has a good and fun personality. Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 knows what its audience wants and it delivers on that romantic-comedy
promise.
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 Blu-ray, Video Quality
Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the
original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The animation is bold and colorful. The presentation provides excellent color
reproduction and this is a significant part of the encode. Colors "pop" with considerable wow-factor on the release. The art is highlighted
in a great way with good detail in the background animation, line art, and encoding. An impressive presentation.
The Blu-ray release has a nice advantage over streaming video services. Streaming video services tend to provide lower video bit-rates compared
to physical media. Physical media provides higher video bit-rates and also a more consistent viewing experience compared to streaming services.
Streaming is sometimes also inconsistent if there are issues with the high-speed datastream (especially in big families, apartments, and rural areas).
Home theater enthusiasts wanting the best picture quality certainly prefer physical media for its distinct advantages. Though that difference its
always night-and-day (sometimes it is even subtle) the difference still makes for a more impressive presentation and this is something that enthusiasts
cherish about the format. Comparing streaming to physical media, it's a bit like compared a processed meal to a gourmet one. The Blu-ray
provides the gourmet experience.
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 Blu-ray, Audio Quality
The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The
sound direction by Hajime Takakuwa (Black Clover, Spice and Wolf) is well reproduced. Dialogue is crisp and clear on
the release. The soundtrack is excellent and certainly plays a compelling role in the sound design. The dynamics of the audio mixing helps the
presentation to reward. With the soundtrack, the score plays an especially vital role is the audio presentation and score fans will appreciate the lush
qualities of the music in the presentation.
Blu-ray offers a distinct advantage over streaming video services. Streaming video services only provide lossy (non-lossless) audio encoding. For
audiophiles and home theater enthusiasts seeking the best audio presentation achievable, Blu-ray has an advantage that streaming does not. This is
certainly important and a nice distinction between streaming and physical media. Streaming is often limited to MP3 quality audio on many audio
streams – in fact, sometimes even Disney+ uses MP3 quality audio (even sometimes below 320kbps) on 4K feature-film streams – an
example of how dramatic the audio difference can sometimes be.
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation
Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 is a charming and sweet-natured anime series. The anime has colorful animation and a wonderful sense
of energy. The characters add a lot to the series. Fans will be enormously pleased to continue the journey with the second season adding to the
experience.
The Blu-ray release provides a quality package. The release has impressive high-definition video, lossless audio, and a well-designed o-card
slipcover. The limited-edition slipcover adds to the collectability of the release. The slipcover features unique art different from the standard artwork
underneath the slipcover.
The only significant drawback to the release is a lack of any meaningful on-disc supplements – only a few standard extras are included.
Collectors looking for a permanent copy for their shelf may still wish to indulge and the packaging looks great in hand. Fans may not be able to resist.
Recommended.