Rent-a-Girlfriend

Introduction:
Have you ever thought about how it would be, being able to rent a temporary girlfriend? For example, that one you can take to a family gathering, so this one aunt would finally stop asking when you will get involved with someone? Me neither, but "Kanojo, Okarishimasu” lets us see, how it would look like, or at least I'd like to say that... "Rent a Girlfriend" will show us in a way which we would never expect. It's not a basic story about renting temporary girlfriends and how this job looks like. Over time initially the peaceful and ordinary story turns into a fight for the main character, but not everyone is aware of it.

Story:
Kazuya Kinoshita is a desperate college student who gets very depressed after breaking up with his first girlfriend. While browsing his phone he finds an application called "Diamond" which allows the user to rent a temporary girlfriend. Wanting to check what exactly it is, he opens a tab with the most popular novice - Mizuhara Chizuru. Deciding to fill the hole in his heart, he rents the above mentioned girl. The whole date is going great but after it ends, the main character reads reviews of the rented girl and states that she is simply playing with the feelings of her clients. He follows his statement up with a negative review and hires her again to tell her what he thinks about this situation. Upon hearing Kazuya's words, Mizuhara reveals her true personality by starting an argument and revealing her cards, while confirming that it was all acting. At one point, Kazuya gets a phone call telling him that his grandmother got hospitalized. The boy is forced to take his fake girlfriend with him, introducing her to his family, whose dream was for Kazuya to find himself the right woman. A similar situation occurs with Chizuru, who in such circumstances, not wanting to reveal the truth, is forced to pretend to be a couple with Kazuya.

But do not expect such a great and innovative rom-com here, most of the plot is a mashup of already seen ideas - we can see the fake couple theme for example in "Nisekoi", and the humor is mainly about making fun of the inept, main character and erotic jokes. However, what makes the story of "Kanojo, Okarishimasu" a little bit more interesting than others are the unpredictable moments that happen almost everywhere. Miyajima Reiji, who is responsible for the story, thought about it well, which is of course a big plus. Since the anime is made with a day per episode in mind, it creates a coherent and pleasant to watch experience where each episode continues from where the last one left off. Watching further, we get to know more girls from the same industry and even the main character's ex-girlfriend is not left out and often adds fuel to the fire.

The series also has it’s cons and there is no way to ignore the mediocre romance, which on the first sight looks great, but continuing, the author makes us understand that we will have to struggle with very, very slow pacing. The first season is dedicated to getting to know all the characters. The amount of screen time for each of the girls was split unevenly and favourably, as we can see with every other girl that isn’t Mizuhara getting much less scenes. Twelve episodes is definitely an insufficient amount, and the second ending, which summarizes an entire chapter of the manga, only confirms this. The first episodes were perfect reproductions of the manga panels, with changed chronology at times, but in the following episodes, much of the original content was omitted, so during watching, you can get the impression that something is missing. The anime also ended in the worst possible way, the finale lacks closing of some individual plot points and anyone can see with their naked eye that it was all done in a rush.

Characters:
Miyajima Reiji did his best in creating all characters personalities. However, I get the impression that not everyone fully understood the motives of the characters.
Of course, Kazuya is definitely one of the most annoying people imaginable - overly stupid, has no real communication skills, and his decisions make you want to punch him with all your might. But wasn't he supposed to be like that? Personally, I can't imagine a better main character for this title. He also adds a bit of freshness as we don't always get to see a character like him.
Then, there is Kazuya's ex-girlfriend, who we meet in the first seconds of the anime. She is an antagonist that after breaking up with our protagonist at the start of the series. Later she found out about "Kazuya's new girlfriend" and, out of jealousy, wants to destroy their relationship, mocking Kinoshita at every possible opportunity and putting him in awkward situations. She has a clear goal and it is to destroy Kazuya's relationship with Chizuru.Of course she doesn't want to do that in the name of revenge, but she can't bear the thought that her ex-boyfriend has moved on from her and is getting more distant by the day.
Every heroine has her own unique personality and problems, and each one of those girls that work as rental girlfriends have their own reasons for taking the job.

However, the adaptation is getting in our way again, and it doesn't explain everything properly as it should. Many of the problems and reasons described above have been given insufficient time to be explained, which lowers the overall rating.

Graphics:
The visuals are nice and pleasing to the eye, but I can't add anything else here. The biggest plus are characters, which were made with ridiculous attention to detail and have great designs. The color palette has been selected perfectly, so we can feel the emotions emanating from the characters. First plan looks pretty good, although it doesn't stand out at literally anything compared to the other series. In this anime we certainly won't see many backgrounds but, once they appear, there is nothing to be too delighted with. TMS Entertainment gave up the chance to use the wonderful second plans from the manga. Mostly the focus is on what is closer, and the backgrounds are sometimes blurred. Still, I have to say that the animation is great, especially in opening and ending.The girls' dances which are already known by everyone look extremely smooth, and the rest is nothing worse. Harmonious transitions add swing , and the whole thing looks really aesthetic.
Animation surpasses the graphics, but adding both of these factors together does not look too bad.

Sound:
In the case of music, we get a mix of J-rock and electronic music with both calm and rhythmic tracks that play depending on the situation on the screen. The soundtrack is quite specific, some of the songs stand out from the ones we usually hear in anime, but I have to say it fits perfectly here. The opening is appealing, the melody is catchy and encourages us to watch the episode. The ending is kept in the same style as the opening. These songs are typical amongst anime, music with similar moods can be heard in many other titles. The anime studio also chose talented and known Seiyuu, whose voices we could hear in famous works such as: "Konosuba", "Re:zero", "Nanatsu no Taizai" or "Black Clover".

Conclusion/Summary:
To sum it all up, "Kanokari" is certainly not a 100% successful adaptation. The number of flaws, unexplained details and missed plot points is dazzling and outweighs the not very many positives that we have.
The first season had a little more potential that the creators lost. I have mixed feelings about the upcoming sequel. Still, I advise you to give this title a try: the cons of this anime can be dimmed by its interesting episodes, and even embarrassing moments shouldn't spoil the fun of watching Rent-a-Girlfriend.

__Story: 4/10
Characters: 6,5/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7,5/10__