Rent-a-Girlfriend

Look, I like a lot stuff that most people would consider trash. Some of the many 10s I've given out have gone to series that most of MAL, reddit and the rest of the anime community brushed off as bad. I'm easy to please. So when something doesn't please me, it's gotta be subterranean level garbage. That's what KanoKari is. At least in this first season, I've not read the manga so I can't comment on the MC's eventual development blah blah. What I can comment on is the absolute dumpster fire of a first season that this show got. The only. And I meanONLY redeemable quality of this show is the waifus. I love all of the girls except Chizuru and they carry the show for me. On its own, the concept of renting a girlfriend due to not being able to get one on your own is actually a pretty cool idea for a manga/anime. The idea of the show is not the issue. It's the execution. You have Kazuya, a 20 year old degenerate who is not only a loser by real life standards, he's a real life loser. I mean at least most harem portags are pretty cool and people you could imagine yourself hanging out with. This guy? I wouldn't go near him with a 10 foot pole. He's the most deplorable, scummy and downright trash MC I have seen in a long time. In one of the episodes he literally stalks Chizuru while she's on a date and people downplay it because of a cute moment at the end of the episode. Again, I am told he gets better in the manga, but this review is for the first season, yes you heard that right, this garbage somehow got popular enough for a second season, of the anime. I honestly struggled to get through some episodes just because of how cringe scenarios and dialogue was. Despite these negatives, I did enjoy the character designs which I think are some of the best in anime, I did enjoy the girls(except mizuhara) and the series has some type of brightness to its aesthetic that sucks you in. I don't quite know how to explain it. TL;DR This show is trash, but it's addictive trash and sucks you in. You will like the girls, hate the MC and probably rate it as a mediocre rom com. Still, I'd recommend giving it a go. Kanokari gets 5 ribbon headbands out of 10.

Everyone really be out here hating on this show for its depiction of a hopelessly perverted protagonist and a morally questionable theme whereas I’m just over here enjoying the heck out of this cute yet cringy anime. Rent-A-Girlfriend is the latest installation in the ever popular RomCom genre. Anime of this nature are often criticized for generally following similar structures and plot progression, so each individual one often comes with its own “quirky’” gimmick in an attempt to set itself apart from the crowd and draw in some intrigue. The one in this anime happens to revolve around rentable girlfriends. That’s right weebs of culture!No longer do you have to suffer through complicated emotions in a fruitless attempt to find true love. All you need to do is click a few buttons (and have enough money to pay her of course) and boom! Instant girlfriend for a day. And the bonus? She’s super cute and will have a perfect personality. Since, you know, she’s payed to be like that. This is the situation that protagonist Kazuya finds himself in after getting dumped by his first ever girlfriend and fapping away his sorrows. And it comes to the surprise of no one that Kazuya and his rental girlfriend Chizuru get caught up in an aWkWArD misunderstanding that causes them to fake a real relationship and lie to their friends and family while truly falling in love along the way…yeah, you get the picture. So it’s no secret that asides from the gimmick, the narrative is pretty plain. The show goes just about as you’d expect. Kazuya and Chizuru have their share of awkward and funny moments. Other girls, Mami the masquerading home-wrecker and Ruka the eternally ignored short haired girl who’s super dedicated, come into the picture to add a little drama and humor. There’s also this girl named Sumi who makes an appearance in the second to last episode, which I thought was a weird decision to include her so late by the directors. Kazuya also has two friends and a grandma who surprisingly get involved in the narrative, which I liked. What’s probably the most unique aspect of Rent-A-Girlfriend is the sheer amount of times that it made me cringe. It got so bad that I actually paused the show several times and had to tell myself that it’s just fiction, there’s no need to feel this way. But you know what’s funny? I actually liked this approach. It was clearly intentional by the author and gave the show a little more flavor. I mean, I cared enough to actively facepalm and feel mild discomfort whenever Kazuya did something stupid (which was probably every episode), so that definitely has to be a positive, right? The plot certainly isn’t the focal point of Rent-A-Girlfriend, but it’s solid enough to let the show’s most important aspect take the spotlight…the girlfriends. Three of the four main girls in the show start off as rental girlfriends. Chizuru is the first, and she’s the type of girl who can easily change her personality to fit the mood. She’s also a pretty dependable person and provides good support to Kazuya. Some might say that she acts a little TOO nice to him considering the crap he pulls sometimes, but you gotta remember that the guy saved her life and simps for her like crazy with many a cash donation, so her behavior totally makes sense. Mami brings some nice early tension and drama before disappearing from the show entirely until the very end. Ruka ended up being my favorite character because of her great energy and personality. Too bad the short haired girls almost never win. And Sumi…is cute. Yeah, there’s not much else to say about her honestly. Now one aspect of the show that might turn off viewers is the apparent glorification of the rental girlfriend industry. Each of the girls has a reason for entering the business, and the anime definitely portrays the profession as being beneficial to character development for both the girls and their clients. Now I’m sure people dislike such an industry, but I personally like to keep fiction and reality separate. I mean there’s tons of anime and other media that deal with far worse topics that have plagued society such as pedophilia and slavery. Yes, I’m vehemently against all of these practices, but to me, it’s just a show trying to be different, so I don’t care if the subject material might be a little controversial. I can understand being against it since it seems to glorify an unethical practice, but as long as it plays its role in the show well and contributes something of value to the narrative, I’m generally fine with whatever content is being displayed. And hey, if you just can’t make the separation, then that’s obviously fine too. Aside from the whole buying a shallow substitute for an actual romantic partner ordeal, the most polarizing aspect of this show seems to be the protagonist himself. I’ve seen Kazuya get a lot of hate for being a mostly wimpy guy who sexually fantasizes about the cute girls in his life constantly. And you wanna know the worst part? Get ready…Kazuya faps! *totally shook* Wow, no wonder people hate him! Yeah, people probably would deny this, but it just feels like Kazuya is hated for essentially acting like a typical horny dude would. He’s no OP anime hero and, while admittedly overblown in his cringyness (I mean he stalks Chizuru for an entire day at one point), generally acts like a regular guy. But wait, he occasionally has moments of heroism and selflessness befitting an anime protagonist that make girls fall for him, so I guess he’s not completely irredeemable! While far from great, I think he’s a fitting protagonist for this type of show and is an overall positive for the anime. I mean, the show itself even knows that he’s trash and constantly pokes fun at him by writing things like “He is the problem.” Kazuya being this way is intentional and the anime utilizes his cringyness well. Getting to the technical aspects of the show, the art is the highlight of the anime. Character designs are on point and the girls are equipped with cutely designed outfits. The cast is extremely expressive and the facial aesthetics really contribute to selling the comedy, romance, and awkwardness of numerous scenes. Even though they’re done by different studios, the art really reminds me of Nisekoi in terms of how characters are drawn when they go all blushy blush, and it’s great. Background visuals are pretty basic and I feel like fluidity could be better in that some scenes just look stiff, but overall the show is pretty good animation wise. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the great vocal cast. The studio really went out of their way to hire a collection of well known and established seiyuu to voice the four main girls. They all did a wonderful job and really enhanced their respective characters with their vocal performances. The music is fine, though did anyone else notice that one of the OSTs sounds like a remix of Chopin’s Funeral March at the beginning? Just me? Well, I thought it added an extra layer of irony by basically implying that Kazuya was digging his own grave in a lot of these instances due to the cringy situations he constantly found himself in. I also ended up really liking the episode 7 ending theme not just for the catchy tune but also for the clever visual portrayal of Ruka’s backstory. I thought this was an imaginative way to explain her past without it taking up too much space in the actual show. It was quite captivating and effective in my eyes, and was definitely a highlight of the anime for me. What can I say, I thought Rent-A-Girlfriend was a fun anime. I got decently invested in the show and was smiling throughout most of my time watching. The solid production values combined with the entertaining cast really elevated the show for me. It’s nothing particularly great, but it’s definitely a fun RomCom that I would recommend watching…if you can handle boatloads of cringe that is!

Let’s make one thing clear: I don’t care about the animation, I don’t care about the soundtrack, and I don’t even care about the overall story. All of those things are perfectly serviceable. My issue, the giant festering problem of this Anime, is the main character: Kazuya Kinoshita. This man is, without exaggeration, one of the worst protagonists I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching. He isn’t just pathetic he’s weaponized pathetic. Every second he’s on screen feels like psychological torture. He’s naïve to the point of brain damage, horny to the point of parody, and weak-willed to the point where you wonder if he even hasa spine. Watching him stumble through life is like watching someone trip on the same rock over and over again, except instead of getting up and learning, he just cries about the rock while licking it. Anime has given us introverted, cynical, or socially awkward protagonists before Oreki from Hyouka, Hachiman from Oregairu, even Araragi from Monogatari. Those characters are flawed, but they’re written with depth, intelligence, or at the very least some self-awareness. Kazuya, on the other hand, is just… garbage. He doesn’t grow, he doesn’t reflect, he doesn’t evolve. He wallows in his own self-inflicted misery and expects us to sympathize. Spoiler: we don’t. It’s actually insulting how aggressively unlikable he is. Every decision he makes is the dumbest possible option. Every thought he has is either desperate whining or obsessive lust. Every action he takes makes you want to scream at the screen: “STOP EXISTING.” And the worst part? The show keeps rewarding his idiocy. Despite being a black hole of charisma and dignity, the narrative bends over backwards to give him chances he doesn’t deserve. It’s like watching a cockroach win the lottery every episode. To put it bluntly: if Kazuya existed in real life, nobody would tolerate him. He’s the kind of guy people block on social media after two DMs. He’s the type of guy whose own reflection would file a restraining order. Final Thoughts: This anime could’ve been tolerable, maybe even decent, if it wasn’t chained to this irredeemable excuse of a protagonist. Instead, every episode feels like an endurance test. Watching Kazuya isn’t entertainment it’s suffering. If you’re curious about Rent-a-Girlfriend, do yourself a favor: read about the premise, admire the character designs, and then move on. Don’t subject yourself to the walking dumpster fire that is Kazuya Kinoshita. Because life is too short to watch anime where the main character is the human embodiment of secondhand embarrassment.

Rental GF is the next entry in my Despair Saga and as usual it has taken a toll on me. If it wasn’t noticeable by the already highly upvoted influx of negative reviews this series isn’t good by any criteria of requirement. The romance genre in anime is vast and popular. In recent years however it seems to have become the trend to adapt more “incel” type stories. Yes, I will not beat around the bush here, Rent a GF is an incel anime. This is not to insult anyone who potentially gets enjoyment out of this series by implying they are such, but the main characteris the splitting image of a self-destructive virgin in denial of their own toxic masculinity that you typically find on reddit. If you have any mercy, a good personality or hope left for humanity, you might go into this show with the potential outlook of character development of the main character, for him to eventually realize his toxic flaws and slowly overcome them to feel worth of a woman’s grace Well, good luck because you will not find it here. The show starts out with immediately fishing for sympathy for the main character, Kazuya. After 21 years of his life as a virgin loser his first girlfriend, Mami, dumped him rather ungracefully and now he is in despair. Therefore Kazuya decides to go on a date with one of these “rental girlfriends” – which is an actual service in japan, more or less – to numb the pain a little bit. He does this without actually reading the terms of agreement and using his common sense, which would make him realize that yes this is a professional service and “fake”, he instead decides to go on inner monologues to stroke his terrible self-esteem to even worse proportions and starts shaming himself and the rental girlfriend for doing this. The series sets a certain tone right from the get go with this. Rental GFs are just fakers. It doesn’t outright disrespect the profession and make one or the other social critique on it – which would make the series perhaps better if it had – but instead tortures you with an utterly pathetic display of a main character. Because of dumb anime-circumstances that connect both Chizuru’s and Kazuya’s grandmothers they accidentally present themselves as a couple to them, and therefore Chizuru has to play the actual fake-girlfriend for Kazuya the whole rest of the show. It’s a very typical fanfiction like premise and I promise you the fanfic writers did it better. To come back to Kazuya’s behaviour towards Chizuru for a moment, he does get put into his place after he goes on several rants in front of her by complaining how fake it all is and other incel nonsense, but the series doesn’t commit to this in the long run. Chizuru scolds him a few times at the start of the series, making valid points all over the place, calling him out on his unprofessional and disrespectful behaviour towards her, but she sadly also is just a victim of the narrative and the narrative demands her to become dumb and meek and eventually fall for him for no reason whatsoever. Rental gf does nothing exceptional in the romcom category whatsoever. It’s not that funny, the MC is not likeable nor does he grow or redeem himself over the course of the series and the rest of the cast is nothing to write home about either. Kazuya stays a piece of shit and the show lets you know it. He runs around in circles in his inner monologues how he is not deserving of a girl like Chizuru (he isn’t) but it’s so clearly presented as sympathy fishing it actively offended me. Rent a gf is one of the few shows where sex is an active motivator and characters are “shown” to participate in sexual activities, only in Kazuya’s fantasies though, but it is present. In other series characters doing or wanting to do the deed is generally something I consider a positive, in this show however it feels more like a torture method. Kazuya gets left by his gf at the start of the series and after a while he starts fantasizing on how she might be fucking other dudes by now because he didn’t get to fuck her yet, this makes him jack-off. Yes, we kind of see this dude jacking off. And even when we don’t, most of the time when we get introspective shots into his apartment, tissues just lie around all over the place. The show’s direction actively point your eyes towards this as well. It keeps focusing shots on used tissues and I’ve never felt so grossed out in my damn life. It’s not subtle at all. It’s not even implications. It’s just what happens. And even though the show is not categorized as an ecchi series, some of the shot compositions reminds me of such. Sometimes shots are flat out pointed towards breasts or ass (typically ass) Legs too. It’s almost always distracting. But I understand that it is shot this way to really show off how hot the girls are which is… depending on the taste of the sight of the beholder. Chizuru is by far the only decent character in this show. She declines in character writing later too but she is the most bearable and by far the prettiest character. Which the show will remind you of constantly. The girls in this are specifically glossed up at all times. I have to give it to the production team, while the show lacks in various areas, the character art at least in close ups is pretty gorgeous especially the eyes. There was some effort put in there and the character artstyle in general is pretty cute. The coloring is kind of eye-candy as well but there is a certain problem. The show is ugly. Which sounds contradictory from what I just said but I will explain. It is true that the character designs and art especially the fashion sense (except Kazuya which you might expect) is pretty sleek, well drawn and nice looking but the moment the shots shift away from close ups to more far distance shots it becomes an offense to art. The backgrounds especially have to be among the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. The outlines are so shaky it feels like they commissioned someone with Parkinson's to draw them. The art itself isn’t good. They aren’t well drawn. They don’t fit well with the characters. When there is a wide shot, the characters pop out like paper cut-outs. If your production is actually good, this wouldn’t happen. But not just that, the moment the characters are in a wide shot their heights and proportions are just fucked. I hardly ever notice height differences feeling off putting, but this show managed to make me notice. The character art also becomes the exact opposite of sleek, well drawn and nice looking. It’s clear to me that the production struggled with these rather taxing and demanding character designs even though the last episode was among the best looking ones, which only other one would really just be episode one. It’s not good. The OST is also to put it bluntly: Fucking garbage. Except one track which I like to call “the sexy saxophone” one, the OST is more geared towards a video game like sounding one, which is confusing because nothing in this show warrants this type. The tracks are always distracting and loud, overplay scenes and are unintentionally hilarious. A character will scream at another one and a Tetris type beat will start invading your eardrums. How am I supposed to take this seriously? The answer is I don’t. Rental gf is just full of problematic writing. Mami turns out to be a femcel and talks shit on her private account on twitter behind Kazuya’s back while leading him on here and there for her own self-satisfaction, semi-implying a typical incel “all women are out to betray you” type relationship which kind of gets shafted less than halfway through the show. Which is funny because it is honestly the only interesting subplot this series has to offer. Chizuru gets roped and black-mailed into a fake relationship-turned professional relationship against her will, gets stalked by the main character for an entire day, even his grandmother tells another rental girlfriend that she has fallen in love with Chizuru. Literally. Not to mention the various times of accidental sexual harassment, like how he flashed a boner because he hid with Chizuru under a blanket in episode 1. The other later introduced rental girlfriend, Ruka, who is underage by the way, meets Kazuya by all typical-anime-bullshit running into him and flashing her panties. This however makes her heart rate go up and therefore decides that she is now in love with him. There is a whole backstory montage rushed in an ED explaining how she has a heart condition and it has to be among the dumbest backstories I have seen in all of time. Besides that, even though Ruka shows clear romantic and sexual interest in Kazuya he continues to ignore her because of his now crush on Chizuru. He does this by gaslighting Ruka consistently, even telling his family that she is a pathological liar (pretty hard accusation) and they just believe him. Even though Kazuya is so pathetic and everybody knows it he gets away with so much crap it would make anyone with common sense rage. This all wouldn’t be such an issue if there was actual character development of Kazuya. But there just isn’t. If anything, he gets worse over time since he just gets enabled left to right by basically everyone. Chizuru even humors the thought of him just being a sadboy, misunderstood “nice guy” by the end of this season. Even though you know… disrespected her profession, stalked her, sexually harassed her and all that. It hurts to watch. There is so much crap in this, ranging from a bad production to toxic relationships. It is not a good time. All this show has to say is that no matter how big of a piece of shit you are, if your ideologies and personality are somewhere in the “nice” area, you pass. Spare yourself. Overview Story: 1/10 – Absolutely terrible Art & Animation: 4/10 – Ranging from good eye-candy to ugliness incarnate Sound: 5/10 – The OST is terrible, the voice acting is really good, the general sounddesign is competent to say the least Character: 2/10 – Awful Enjoyment: 1/10 – I do not enjoy a single minute of this show Overall: 2.0 (range: 1.5 -2.5, light 2)