Let’s get straight to my rant immediately: I hate Rent-a-Girlfriend. Four seasons in, and this is still one of the worst mainstream anime series out there. The series is filled with car crash after car crash, with characters who stay absolutely stagnant and refuse to learn from the mistakes they constantly make.

We have Kazuya (Shun Horie), who’s a disgusting character—he literally jacked off in the first three minutes of the Season 4 pilot, and once his post-nut clarity hit, he said, “I need a girlfriend,” signaling that he desires one only for his sexual satisfaction, which was already obvious back in Season 1. Sure, he had his moments—especially in Season 3’s arc where he helped Chizuru achieve her dreams—but the weight of Kazuya’s disgusting mischief drastically outweighs any good traits he might have.

Most of the girls in the series are rather okay if you just look at them on paper, but they get tons of minus points simply for being associated with Kazuya. Chizuru (Sora Amamiya), for instance, is absolutely dense when it comes to Kazuya’s moves. But since we're stuck watching this series from Kazuya’s POV, we only get his unreliable narratives—and that frustratingly persists in Season 4. This is especially true in Episode 2, during Kazuya and Chizuru’s date, where any tension is constantly ruined whenever Kazuya thinks or speaks, making Chizuru look absolutely horrible. Even when Kazuya speaks “deep” words toward her, it doesn’t come off as sweet at all—because knowing Kazuya’s character, it’s all just fluff.

This goes for the other girls in the series as well. Yaemori (Yuu Serizawa) is basically just there to move the plot along faster, and yet fails miserably—she only creates even more unnecessary side plotlines that drag the series further down. Ruka (Nao Touyama) is basically just there to be another annoying nuisance obstacle. Sumi (Rie Takahashi) is now reduced to a Facebook emote. And Mami (Aoi Yuuki) is way too invested in Kazuya for reasons that are beyond comprehension.

Season 4 of Rent-a-Girlfriend is the worst the series has ever been—not only because the shenanigans have gotten worse, but because the unattractive, unromantic, and unfunny vibes of Seasons 1 and 2 have been carried over with diminishing returns.

From what I’ve ranted above, this series is just not a great time. Each episode fuels my anger button to the core, and yet, here I am—four seasons later—still watching this. I’m not paid to watch it, so there’s no point in me sticking around, and yet, I still find myself clicking that “next episode” button.

For four seasons’ worth of downward spirals, Rent-a-Girlfriend still manages to keep me at arm’s length. I asked myself, “What’s wrong with me?”—why am I still sticking through this garbage? And all of a sudden, I remembered the word: Schadenfreude. ***

Schadenfreude is a German word that refers to the act of finding pleasure in someone else's suffering. It might sound like a word reserved for psychopaths—which, honestly, isn't too far off—but in essence, it's about the satisfaction we get from watching others, especially fictional characters like Kazuya’s crash and burn. Kazuya, an undeniably flawed and almost irredeemable human being at this point in the series, constantly finds himself in degenerate thoughts, embarrassing mishaps, and ugly scenarios—and rightfully so. We get a kick out of it because it reassures us of our own superiority. It comforts us to displace our own pent-up frustration onto a hopeless fictional character.

This is the same formula that makes trash reality TV so addicting. And that’s right—four seasons in, we’re still watching Rent-a-Girlfriend because we have hater energy within us.

But now, in its fourth season, the cycle has gotten far too repetitive. The trashy chaos no longer hits the same. Even though there are still moments that ignite that familiar hate-fueled high, most of this season has become a repetitive borefest. Maybe Season 4 is where the trashy formula finally loses its charm. Maybe it’s time for me—and for all of us sane people—to finally tap out, and let the YouTube reels deliver the only parts worth watching. ***