Before going into the story, the animation, in my opinion, has been quite stable throughout the series so far by just focusing on the characters. Admittedly, the studio has projected the best part of waifus to the audience. In this case, KNKR has some top-tier, welcoming waifu. Besides the effort by the studio, credit must be given to the almighty creator, Miyajima Reiji. The followers of the KNKR will likely notice that Miyajima put much of his effort into designing Mizuhara by making sure she always shows up with different gorgeous outfits. After all, he posted a tweet saying that the character is her girlfriend, which has proven that Mizuhara is the main girl on the stage despite the other girls that initially might seem to be competitors. It’s pretty clear in this state that Mami doesn’t even deserve screentime, aside from appearing on the opening song repeatedly in season 3. However, that’s not a big deal because Mizuhara is meant to be the one who is shining.
Now, let's move on to the protagonist, a man named Kazuya, who led the show. As I remember, when the KNKR anime first came out, there were many criticisms of Kazuya’s personality and behaviour, aside from the idea of renting a girlfriend. Most of them are not exactly wrong because Kazuya did look edgy, awkward, lousy, and all other words that could better describe his bottled acts. Though there is a surprising character development for Kazuya, especially in season 3, he leaves no stone unturned in producing the movie for the sake of Mizuhara and her grandma. I enjoyed watching how he has gone through the ups and downs as a film producer.
Personally, Kazuya is a quite realistic character with countless flaws. You can criticise or hate him, but at the same time, no one is perfect in real life. If people are looking for a protagonist who is a Chad, this is merely not one of them. The development of Kazuya in season 3 is visible and deserves a compliment. With his hard work, his bond with Mizuhara has become closer, and it is good to see how Mizuhara reacts to his unwavering willingness to help her out, where she ultimately breaks into tears and expresses herself in front of him. With that, I guess Kazuya has achieved something significant in his life by taking action to change the circumstances of his life and the girl he likes.
Overall, it was a fun time watching season 3, and the manga is hitting 300 chapters. That means we are likely to see more screentime in the future? One of my friends told me to mark his words that the story will not even be 500. Until then, I will look forward to any possibility of getting a sequel until we reach the end of this unbearably awkward, embarrassing yet entertaining drama. After all, it’s a rom-com.
PS: Mizuhara really is the best waifu.