Rent-a-Girlfriend

The MC is dog. He was given so many opportunities to get the hot chick. But he crumbles up like a little baby. But it was still a good anime lmao. Apart from the MC.

I cannot be indifferent about this one because it wasn't the usual romcom anime I was expecting at first. One reason I generally like anime as a medium is that it can always surprise me. Just the sheer amount pumped out every year makes it certain there is an evolution going on and when you think you have seen everything then comes something new suddenly. (I skipped like 15 years so the contrast is shocking me.)

First of all, Rent A Girlfriend is not a romcom. It's a drama. It does start as a comedy but it turns into a sad social caricature pretty soon. You know that overused and luckily, now overprogressed exposition when the loser guy accidentally gets the best girl fall for him or many of them for the matter. Well, this show looks at that topic and just laughs at it and says, no. Chizuru - as a cold headed professional as she is, going out with guys for money -, would tell you with a straight face, not at all, what were you thinking? Maybe, just maybe, you can enjoy her company for a short period, if you pay enough. Is it cruel? On one hand, it's just an escort business, where the girls are called 'talents', on the other hand, I really felt sad for the poor losers to the point where I felt uncomfortable. Even though, it is fantasy, this approach definitely was the selling point for me, I was bought for the rest of the show.

About the rest of the show, there were some great moments and some annoying moments. The script is well done and was given some thoughts for sure. There are some missteps, like how easily the girls can be found on the Rent A Girlfriend site by anyone by their names. Some scenes - unfortunatelly a complete episode -, were pretty disturbing which is not an issue in itself, but those were unnecessary too. Kazuya, the male lead, is portrayed as simply just too stupid and childish, a bit annoying to be honest, but not unrealistic outright.

On the other hand, besides the situation and the script, I really liked Kazuya's relationship with his friends and how they supported each other; they had some strong moments. Some criticize it, but I also think, Mami's character (Kazuya's ex, dumping him in the very beginning) and role were realistic and important, especially in the last episode of Season 1. Her standpoint is completely valid. Other than that, there is not too much fan service, filler episodes, school scenes, cooking/walking/slacking in general. I dare to go as far as to say that with small modifications this could easily be a western script. As I have heard a live adaptation is also coming, which I see totally feasible. (There are some filler episodes, indeed, like the one with the Sumi girl, I don't know, maybe it will be important in Season 2 or Season 3 coming in July 2023.)

UPDATE: After watching through Season 2 I've came back and lowered my 9 to 7. After a promising start it actually turned into a romcom and a bit annoying one. Particularly it's Kazuya, the male lead, who is annoying to the point it's getting all the female leads into humiliating situations constantly. All conflicts are built on his inability to decide and communicate his intentions straight. This show's strongest point is definitely the ladies. All four of them are likeable, cute, sexy, sensible and well presented, in itself makes the show worth watching; that's the selling point and the script only exists to support that... I really hope there will be a positive spin in Season 3 because it's just getting boring. (Or negative spin for the matter, because it's just stuck. Hachiman or even Yukinoshita would just kill this guy in cold blood...)

This one, oh boy. It is about Kazuya Kinoshita who is about to enter college only to discover that his girlfriend Mami dumped him after dating him for about a month. Distraught over that, he discovers a rather shady app where he can rent a girlfriend. So, he ends up meeting the seemingly perfect Chizuru Mizuhara. After their first date, Kazuya, despite knowing that this was a job, grows suspicious of Chizuru and gives her a low rating. Which makes her angry.

To make matters worse, Kazuya's grandmother collapses and she has the misfortune of meeting Chizuru, so they have to keep up the facade a little longer.

Characters. Kazuya himself isn't really likable. He's a pushover who everyone throws shade at. Everyone, including his own family. He can't stand up for himself; he's pretty much a loser. I get him wanting to have a real relationship, but as Chizuru pointed out to him, what she did was her job. That outburst in episode 1 was really unnecessary. He's borderline insufferable as a leading character. But a lot of that is intentional, so I can't really completely blame him for that.

The other characters are hard to really "like." Chizuru herself at the least is shown to at least see that while Kazuya can be foolish and an idiot at times, there are at least some good qualities about him. It is also good on her part that, while she is overly critical with Kazuya being the doormat he is, she does assist him with upcoming the visage of a relationship. She even stands up for him when Mami was talking smack about Kazuya. Which perfectly segues to...

Mami. Oy vey, Mami. What can I say about her? Out of all the shows I am watching this year, she is hands down the worst character in the show. On the outside, she looks bubbly and friendly almost like an angel. But on the inside, she is an utterly petty borderline sociopath.

For starters, she finds herself insanely jealous of Kazuya and Chizuru's "relationship" despite the fact that she herself dumped him in the first place under the claim that she met someone else she loved. It's her actions that led to him finding the rental app and yet she wants to destroy the (fake, but she doesn't know) relationship between the two because she cannot stand that Kazuya appeared to move on after her. She is a manipulative, verbally abusive young lady who tears Kazuya down with her words. While the show treats him as a punching bag, nothing about what she says is funny as not even the other characters humor her for it. Worse, she even forces Kazuya to apologize for her when she gets called out for her actions.

The worst part of her plot had to be when she was trying to tempt Kazuya when Chizuru was in a position where she likely would have died had it not have been for Kazuya's quick intervention. This just goes to show how much of a ruthless sociopath she is where she does not give a crap about whether someone lost their life because of her. Unlike with Chizuru where she has her own softer side, Mami doesn't have anything remotely redeeming about her. It's really because of her presence that the show feels especially cruel and I'd think that it would be better if she was written out. Maybe die in a car accident or some freakish scenario. She is trash plain and simple.

The friends of Kazuya are mostly one-note except for his childhood friend who does acknowledge that there are some good parts to Kazuya's behavior such as his determination. Kazuya's family...don't like them. His grandmother to me comes off as especially bad partially because of her trying to dip her hand between Kazuya and Chizuru. She has that snooty attitude as well which also makes her hateable in my eyes. Otherwise, characters are hit or miss.

Voice work is also fine as is the animation. It isn't amazing by any means, but it services the show well. Comedy is hit or miss because it revolves around the misgivings of the MC and if you don't care for that kind of humor, it can come off as painful.

Rent-a-girlfriend is a really honest anime. It is cute, relatable, and engaging. I did not mind it but honestly it struck me as a little frivolous. I have seen many reviews saying it is not for you if you like serious storylines. However, there are some moments of sincerity that even a comic story needs which only makes it human. So many moments for me were destroyed simply because the backing track changed into something comical and the expressions too. As light-hearted as it is supposed to be, a little realism here and there would've only made it better.

Kazuya is THE WORST. If the characters were in junior high THEN this would make more sense lol. The characters are in their 20's and act like immature kids when it comes to romance, and it get VERY annoying. Like Kazuya rents a girlfriend Chizuru, and then can't distinguish whether she is his actual girlfriend or not, even when he's paying her? Like come out of it. He's in university, he should know what's what. He has moments of clarity where I'm like "ok good, he knows what's going on" then a minute later something VERY subtle happens and he's back in his dillusion again, really makes him off putting and not want to root for him at all lol. If they didn't have him as such a dork with no common sense and more of sensible guy that gets put into the same scenarios with Chizuru but genuinely knows the situation but later on falls in love, it would have been a lot better than putting up with his antics. I gave this a 5/10 only because of Kazuya, as the anime itself was good as I've seen much worse but like 2 little tweeks and a personality change and this would be in the same league as Horimiya.