√ Rent-A-Girlfriend - Series Review

Alternative Title: Kanojo, Okarishimasu

↓ Spoilers Ahead ↓

「 A quote from this series 」

"Not being able to let go shows how much you care. Much better than a relationship you can easily forget."

「 The Review 」

Synopsis

A college student who was dumped has decided to forget his loneliness by renting a girl online for a casual date. What he didn't know... was that it won't be the last time he will be doing it.

Story

Let me just say, when I was watching this I wasn't able to write down as many details as possible for this review. Not that there wasn't much to talk about, but, I think it's more because I truly enjoyed most of what's happening that I've forgotten what I am supposed to do (lol).

Basing on that, I can say this show was truly interesting, and the concepts of romance and comedy that they used were a two-thumbs up for me.

Regarding this anime being tagged under the Harem category, I initially didn't think of that, to be honest. I saw this more of just as a rom-com anime, with a title that has already given away the plot. I mean, the show was literally about renting a girlfriend. So, there's really nothing much else to know, but who the protagonist will end up with.

Yet, even if it's as clear as day, it's the heart-stopping moments that will keep you hooked in this series. (I swear!)

Going back, if you look at the definition of Harem it states "a protagonist surrounded by three or more love interests..." My issue here was that, out of all the ladies here, there were only two who I can say have legitimate feelings for Kazuya -- Chizuru and Ruka. Mami was obviously just toying with him, while Sumi's like a small sister to both him and Ichinose.

Well, regardless this can be considered a Harem or not, bottom line, if you're a fan of the rom-com genre, you surely wouldn't want to miss this.

Characters

So we have Kazuya Kinoshita as the main character, in real life, he's equivalent to some guy with quite a low self-esteem. But, at the same time, has a bit of confidence to date beautiful ladies.

I'll start with the one thing that I really dislike about him -- he likes to self-pity, a lot. In fact, you'll see him drowning in tears feeling sorry for himself or apologizing for being the cause of this and that.

And it's mostly Chizuru who will give him a reality check, telling him it's not entirely his fault, etc. That's like their cycle throughout the series. With the addition of Chizuru being secretly in love with him, and trying to find him a real girlfriend to hide that fact.

The great thing about him was that he's really helpful. Like, it's in his guts to just do the right thing he can think of. The best example was when he saved Chizuru after she fell of a boat, and other things you'll have just to find out for yourself, 'cause I don't want to spoil too much.

In the supporting category, it's his childhood best friend Yoshiaki Kibe who you can really call someone true and reliable.

And for the ladies, the best I can think of, except for Chizuru was... Nagomi Kinoshita! Yes! The funny, straightforward grandma of our MC was for me the absolute, sweetest lady in the series.

She just really cracks me up.

Writing / Storyboarding

The pilot was really top-notched, they served us with unexpected dialogues and thrilling scenes which will make you feel different emotions all at once. And in that first episode, they also showcased an early character development, which showed us the chemistry between our two main casts.

Also, in almost every episode, they had nerve-wracking scenes which will really make you just literally hold tightly into something (in my case a pillow) until they show what's gonna happen next. (Take note that this kind of reaction when something suspenseful was about to occur may not be the same for others, lol.)

You will also notice a lot of extra written captions on some scenes like this:

So props for the effort of the writers for including tons of those.

Artwork / Animation

Amongst the ladies here, it's really Chizuru Ichinose who had the best character design, followed by Ruka Sarashina. Although, in an online poll regarding the Best Girl here, Sumi Sakurasawa garnered also a lot of votes. She looks shy and sweet, but, I'm just not a fan of her eyebrows (gomen ne~).

And regarding our MC, I honestly don't think he looked bad physically, as much as he thought he was. He's average, and that's fine.

In other art departments, unfortunately, there's not a single scene where I was amazed by the background. But again, that's fine, 'cause the strongest point of this anime was the interactions between the cast.

Music / Sound

Only the catchy opening song was for me the only noteworthy when it comes to the music category here. Its title was "Centimeter" by the peggies.

Episode Ratings

1 - Rent-a-Girlfriend - 5
2 - Ex-Girlfriend and Girlfriend - 5
3 - Beach and Girlfriend - 4
4 - Friends and Girlfriend - 5
5 - Hot Springs and Girlfriend - 5
6 - Girlfriend and Girlfriend - 4
7 - Provisional Girlfriend and Girlfriend - 4
8 - Christmas and Girlfriend - 4.5
9 - Lies and Girlfriend - 5
10 - Friend's Girlfriend - 4
11 - Truth and Girlfriend - 5
12 - Confession and Girlfriend - 5

PS: Watch the ending credits of episode 7 to know more about Ruka. Also, the finale has an after-credits scene.

「 Series Rating 」

An otaku since the mid-90's. I consider Evangelion as the most influential anime. My favorite classic films are Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away.