Rent-a-Girlfriend
“Season One”
Have you ever done things you otherwise wouldn’t do simply because it is your job? I mean, there can be many things people would do if they think they’ll be rightly rewarded for it, but in any other event, they would simply just avoid it because it’s not worth the cost. But what if something that started merely as your job evolves into something more? Something more personal? That would indeed be quite a conundrum, but that’s when we’d need to take a deep breath and look at everything with our heart and mind combined.
“Rent-a-Girlfriend,” also known as “Kanojo, Okarishimasu,” “I'd like to Borrow a Girlfriend,” “Rental Girlfriend,” or simply “Kanokari,” is a 12-episode TV Anime series that aired from the 11th of July till the 26th of September in Summer 2020. It was produced by Mainichi Broadcasting System, Kodansha, DMM Pictures, and DMM Music and brought to life by Studio TMS Entertainment. The main staff behind it includes Aoi Hiroyuki, Simone Jamie, Matsuzaki Yoshiyuki, and Terao Yuri as producers. It features the genres of Comedy and Romance, alongside the themes of Adult Cast and Harem, and is targeted at the Shounen demographic. Each episode has a runtime of 24 minutes and is rated PG-13 for teenagers 13 years or older.
The Anime is based on the Manga series of the same title, which began publication on July 12, 2017, and is still ongoing. Built around the School theme, it is the work of author and artist Miyajima Reiji, which got serialized in Shounen Magazine (Weekly). It was even published in English by Kodansha Comics USA on June 2, 2020, while being simulpubbed via K Manga. Finally, it was published in Brazilian Portuguese via Panini Comics on June 21, 2021. The sequel Anime series “Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 2” began airing from July 2nd to September 17th in Summer 2022. Created by the same studio and licensed by Crunchyroll, it also followed the Manga storyline and was released on Blu-ray in Japan from October 26, 2022, to January 25, 2023.
Two ONA series were released: “Rent-a-Girlfriend: Date Movie” and “Rent-a-Girlfriend Petit.” The prior is a series of 32 episodes that aired between June and October 2020, courtesy of Studio AQUA ARIS. Each episode was just 1 minute long, focusing on Date Movie shorts posted on the official Twitter account. The latter is a 14-episode series that aired from July to October 2020, also by Studio AQUA ARIS. It features 1-minute episodes that feature chibi characters, posted on the official Twitter account, including three extra collaboration episodes with HALCA, The Peggies, and Eheya.
The story focuses on the protagonist, Kazuya Kinoshita, a 20-year-old college student who is already living a life alongside his wonderful girlfriend, Mami Nanami, a truly bright and sunny girl. But all of a sudden, he finds himself single after Mami breaks up with him, with no warning, and is left heartbroken and devastated, but most importantly, in solitude. Attempting to pick himself up from the ashes and soothe the searing pain, he opts to hire a rental girlfriend via an online app and ultimately meets Chizuru Mizuhara. This new partner of his, although temporary, possesses great beauty and a charming personality, managing to capture his attention remarkably quickly, like a pro. Though he was delighted with her services, Kazuya finds himself reading through the similar experiences other customers have had with Chizuru in the past and is left believing that her warm and caring personality was nothing but a professional act to tug at his heartstrings.
Thus, he rates her poorly, which throws Chizuru into a fit of rage as she lambastes him for his shameless hypocrisy, thereby revealing her true self to be hot-tempered and a far cry from the “ideal girlfriend” act. However, this one-sided bashing is interrupted by Kazuya getting news that his grandmother had collapsed. But once they reach the hospital, they’re surprised to find her in good condition, and she even asks Kazuya who Chizuru is. As if on impulse, our protagonist instantly declares her his lover, which also forces Chizuru to act along. Now placed in a complicated situationship, the question remains just how long these two can keep this up without anything unexpected happening. After all, Kazuya is still hung up on his ex-girlfriend, and in Chizuru’s eyes, he is nothing more than a difficult client whom she is reluctantly going along with to save face!
The story department is an utter mess that leaves you feeling sorry for or even agitated with most of the characters, as fate seems to do as it pleases. I understand that Kazuya is fated to meet Mizuhara one way or another. Still, he just happens to meet another rental girlfriend, Sarashina Ruka, who decides to become his girlfriend, thereby making everything unnecessarily complicated. Why did she do this while being fully aware of Chizuru’s fake act? Did she just want more chaos? Maybe so. Meanwhile, our MC continues to dig himself into one new hole after another and is often portrayed as spineless and pathetic, having to give in to the demands and whims of others without any resistance, just so that the plot may progress.
He gets blackmailed into doing things he doesn’t want, right after he technically blackmailed Chizuru, and for some reason, these two are still a thing. With each passing episode, their “relationship” gets more complicated and stressful, clearly taking a toll on both characters. I honestly felt bad for them at first, but you lose that pity with each passing moment until I wanted to throw them both off a bridge and watch how they saved themselves. Pity. What you need to realize is that all of these decisions are their own; nobody actually forced them into these situationships, and then they act like victims of their own bad choices. Life is fun if your actions don’t have consequences, but how long can these characters just ignore those responsibilities? While some of their problems are very tangible and real, the way they approach addressing these matters is the problem, and the worst part is that it serves to highlight how weak they are and never seems to improve either.
So while the story is built upon this fake romance, rooted in lies and deception, nobody else can see through it either. Ruka is treated more like a love rival, while Mami is shown to be a manipulative girl beneath a sweet facade. There are numerous misunderstandings, and many mishaps threaten to reveal the main couple’s secret, treating it as a groundbreaking scandal that could shake the world. Many of their problems could’ve been resolved with proper communication. Still, I admit that’s easier said than done even in the real world, and somehow I began to expect such shallow behavior from everyone in this show. However, what I praise is the show’s dedication to its central premise and theme: the connection between Kazuya and Chizuru. They are two very different people who slowly get closer through a myriad of mishaps, and the sheer clash between their personalities is somewhat entertaining.
Kazuya is genuinely a one-of-a-kind MC, in both good ways and bad. He is definitely not an Alpha male, and his social skills are laughably bad, which made me wonder even more how he managed to stay in a relationship with Mami before. This man is so desperate for female companionship that he turned to a rental girlfriend the moment he got dumped and then proceeded to get overly sensitive about that girlfriend. I won’t recommend this dude as a role model to my worst enemy, but there is some guilty pleasure derived from watching his patheticness. Both he and his friends are quite depraved, with the MC imagining all sorts of perverted fantasies about pretty girls like it’s a hobby. He is a manchild through and through, insecure and clingy, suffering from a severe inferiority complex.
Meanwhile, Chizuru appears to be the complete opposite on the surface, a girl who is pretty, intelligent, well-mannered, and professional. But underneath it all is a short-tempered girl who is insecure about her entire life. It was nice seeing her switch flip, because she let loose many things the audience would want to say to Kazuya, too. But even she goes along with the smoke and mirrors, lying to their families to make things happen for others. So I found myself wondering how far people would go with the flow, even if it meant sacrificing their own happiness.
All complaints aside, the Art and Animation department is stellar. The artwork is vibrant and full of life, and all the female character designs are memorable and beautiful. Chizuru is portrayed as the ideal girlfriend for all, the perfect trophy wife, while Kazuya looks like just another boring and pathetic male MC with a smirk you’d want to punch. The backgrounds are well-done, and the animation is smooth enough for a show like this.
The Sounds and Music department is most prominent in the voice acting, where Chizuru’s VA does a stellar job of switching temperaments while being fully convincing. I felt like Kazuya’s VA was paid to make the character look bad, exaggerating all his weaknesses, so that’s some talented work right there. The Opening theme is "Centimeter" by the peggies, and the Ending themes are "Kokuhaku Bungee Jump" and "First Drop" by halca, all of which are decent pieces but nothing to write home about.
Overall, “Rent-a-Girlfriend” is not a series I would recommend to everyone. It has a guilty pleasure-like charm to it, and you can have some fun hating on the characters, too, but it definitely isn’t a good story that is worth investing your hard-earned time into. From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t get better either, so if you’re wary to begin with, stay away. However, if you are curious, apply the 3-episode rule and decide for yourself.
