Story
The story is about a simp who is desperate for girls especially his ex named Nami. One day he found an app named “Rent a girlfriend”. Due to his desperation, he decided to rent a girl and try it out. The girl he saw in real life was beyond this world. Chizuru, the girl, held his hand and BAM He fell in love. Desperate for her (and Nami) he requested Chizuru again but this time because of a phone call he had to cut his date and rush to the hospital. When his bedridden grandma saw Kazuya with a cute girl she got filled with joy and hope which made Kazuya lie and introduce her as his real girlfriend. The rest of the story is about how they maintain this lie, try to help Kazuya get a real girlfriend, and how Kazuya falls more and more in love with Chizuru.
Just like many other romance anime this anime is filled with cliche. Some of them bothered me and some were cute and okay. One of the cliches that seriously bothered me was the fact Chizuru and Kazuya live next to each other. Not only it was predictable but also too good to be true. Idk if it’s a common cliche or not but I truly dislike it. I rolled my eyes the moment I saw them in the same building.
Another cliche that I’m normally okay with but I feel betrayed is the fact three hot girls fell in love with Kazuya when he fell in love with Chizuru. You may ask why this bothered me. Well... There is no “haram” in the genre section. Idk how they don’t consider this harem. 2 girls are obviously in love with him. Another, Chizuru, seems like she likes him and Sumi, aka best girl, seems confused? I’ll talk about her more later. No one looked at Kazuya what so ever :/ even his ex didn’t give a fuck but the moment he started fake dating Chizuru random girls fell in love with him. I understand the ex part since jealousy has a huge part in getting back someone but the other two girls? ??♀️
Another thing that truly bothered me was the pace. It was hellaaaaa slow. The first five-six episodes felt like hell and I had to make coffee to get through each episode. 12 episodes and they freaking introduced a girl in episode 11??!! What the hell is wrong with them? They could remove a bunch of nonsense and just introduce the cute and best girl Sumi earlier. The only reason I finished this series was that I kept waiting to see Sumi. When she appeared in episode 11 I was like “one episode? :/ let’s just finish it”
I was checking MAL the other day and I saw it's pg-13... is this a joke??? If you don’t know what pg-13 means it means “Parents Strongly Cautioned, Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13”. I don’t comaider this anime pg-13 at all. I read a bunch of blogs on how realistic this anime is but tbh I believe it shows how men are a lowlife. Most men indeed have low self-esteem and they can be desperate for girls but in truth, they ain't as desperate as Kazuya.
Another thing that bothered me was the fact Kazuya started dating Ruka while saying he is in love with Chizuru. Boys do that :) I know. But Ruka is beautiful, young, and in love with Kazuya. I’m pretty sure Kazuya is blind to ignore her. I’ll talk about her bad side in the character section but overall I’m pretty sure Kazuya is being a bad boyfriend to her.
Rent a girlfriend? More like Nisekoi season 3. I know it has a lot of differences but it also has a lot of similarities.
main guy fake dates a girl and they both hide the truth from their families.✔️
random girls fall for the main guy✔️
the Main guy has two girls on his mind ✔️
Tsundere main girl ✔️
good points of Rent a girlfriend are:
slightly leaning to seinen with sex and masturbation content. Career, dream, and money issues also are added.
Characters age. They’re young adults so the common high school life isn’t added.
fashion: characters have better clothes and different clothes
Mami not sitting and waiting for Kazuya to come back to her.
Characters
Rent a girlfriend focuses on four girls and Kazuya the main guy. But, It also has other characters such as Kazuya’s parents and grandma, Kazuya’s best friend and classmate, Chizuru’s grandma, and a guy who helps Chizuru. They don't have much screentime but Kazuya’s grandma has an important role in the anime. She is the reason why Kazuya asked Chizuru to fake date her... Well, she gets paid but still....
Kazuya
aka the main guy
I consider Kazuya a total loser but the fact he jumped in to save Chizuru made me like him a bit. He is whiny and an over-thinker. Someone who keeps talking to himself about how trash he is. I'm okay with boys crying and showing emotion but Kazuya cries a lot even for receiving a gift from a girl. I find that side of him annoying... I also didn't like the fact he started dating Ruka without having feelings. You can say he had character development... In the beginning, all he wanted was to lose his virginity and get back Nami but later we see he ran away from Ruka because he likes Chizuru so I must say Good Job Kazuya!! I also dislike how it took him 12 episodes to tell Chizuru he wants her :) so now we have to wait for next season to see Chizuru’s reply.
Chizuru
aka the main girl
Chizuru... the girl who likes Kazuya but doesn’t bother to show it. Or maybe she doesn’t want to admit she fell for a client? Idk. As a girl I know the more I spend time with someone the more we’ll get attached. So I found her deal with “fake date till he finds a girlfriend” idiotic. It was obvious he would fall for her and wouldn’t have the time to see someone else. So... why the hell did she tell him such a deal? Maybe she wanted his money? Maybe she likes him? I don’t know and I have to wait for season two to see her answer to his confession.
Mami
aka trash
Mami is Kazuya’s first girlfriend. She dumped him after one month making Kazuya feel horrible. After seeing Kazuya with Chizuru, she started showing her true side aka trashiness. She started giving hits such as having sex or kissing him while he is on a date with Chizuru or inviting him to the pool, etc. Kazuya wanted Mami to get jealous so he did get what he wanted but the way Mami acted showed what a lowlife she is. She could ask Kazuya to get back together or something but she decided to approach him the sexual way. By the end of the first season, we see she even found out about Chizuru being a rental.
I consider Mami trash. In my eyes, any girl who approaches a taken guy is bad. I just don’t understand one thing why does Mami have more likes than Chizuru on both MAL and AniList??? How???
Ruka
aka annoying but cutie
I freaking liked Ruka’s past. Having a girl that isn’t only beautiful but also has a sickness made me like this show a bit. It also makes Ruka’s love for Kazuya and why she is greedy to have him, logical. In harem anime, girls go after the guy mostly without a proper reason but in Ruka’s case, it's different. Kazuya is the first guy/ human to ever make her heartbeat rate go up. Ruka has a condition named “arrhythmia“ which is real ? I searched it up. She suffers from bradycardia which is When a heart beats too slowly. She decided to become a rental girlfriend to find a guy who would be able to make her heartbeat rate normal and BAM Kazuya was the one. I don't like her pushy personality and how annoying she can get but I also dislike how Kazuya started dating her half-hearted.
Sumi
aka best and cutest girl ever
This baby got introduced so late :( she only appeared in one episode but I freaking love her. Chizuru asked Kazuya to go on a free date with Sumi because she is too shy which makes clients feel uncomfortable or makes them feel like they forced her to come. Kazuya accepted since he likes her. They went on a date and Kazuya tried hard to change her a bit which he did. He found out the reason Sumi wants to be a rent girlfriend is that she wants to change and become more social. While they were on a date Trash appeared and she was like “oho Kazuya is two-timing” ? she even told Kazuya she won't tell Chizuru and I was there cursing. BITCHHH you freaking kissed him, invited him to your room, invited him to the pool, and now you have the nerve to tell Kazuya “i won't tell Chizuru you're two-timing” :/
Art and Animation
To be honest what encouraged me most to start this anime was the art. All the screencaps and visual arts looked seriously beautiful. BUT when I started the anime I noticed nothing’s detailed or beautiful but GIRLS. Girls were mostly perfect. The eyes, the blush, the clothes, etc... everything about the girls was perfect. The rest of the anime seemed rushed and meh. Not much detail or anything special. They spent a lot of time only on girls. I must say even tho only girls were perfect I still enjoyed the art and animation. Even the low-quality parts looked cute (funny in a way).
Soundtrack
The opening of the anime is named “centimeters”. Even tho I find the opening annoying I must admit the transitions used in it is smooth. On the other hand, I freaking love the ending. The ending’s title is “Kokuhaku Bungee Jumping”. Whoever came up with the ending is a total legend. If you don't get the ending you're going to heaven for sure. Not only the visuals of the ending is pretty good but the song is also fire. remember I said Mami is trash... In the ending, they put Mami last at the end and it cuts straight from her to a trash can. I freaking love whoever came up with this idea.
Overall
Altogether this anime is a normal harem. The story is unique with the whole “rent a girlfriend” thing. the pace is seriously slow and annoying. At first, each episode felt like ages and I had to have coffee with me to finish. The characters are seriously cute and lovable except for Nami. She is cute but not lovable. I still don't understand how she has more likes than other girls. The art seemed rushed at some parts but the characters were mostly detailed and beautiful. The opening and ending were smooth, especially the transitions were seriously good. The songs were also good but my most fave was the ending, ? especially the visuals. I recommend this anime to harem fans.