Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl — It’s About 6 Minutes Too Long

I’m vocal about my disdain for society’s treatment of sexual and offensive material. But I’m not so blinded by my love for sexiness that I miss the faults that love has. I’ll gleefully admit that hentai studios need to produce higher-quality content. I can name plenty of R18 manga that had art/plots that were moving. That’s not something I can say for hentai. I’ve lost count of how many hentai I’ve seen. But of those, only six had high marks in what I refer to as “the golden trifecta” (opulent art, a compelling story, and well-crafted characters). Studio LEO’s adaptation of Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl isn’t one of those.

After I started writing about Arisugawa Ren tte Honto wa Onna Nanda yo ne last year, I read the manga. While predictable, it was a pleasant way to kill time. Unfortunately, that pleasantness doesn’t carry into Studio LEO’s adaptation of that manga. When the best thing I can say about something is “at least it wasn’t made by Queen Bee,” you know it’s bleak. The Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl adaptation did to me what that bear did to Leo in The Revenant. It left me clinging to death and gave me lifelong trauma. I went into this hoping for a sexy watch like Kaede to Suzu and ended up with erectile dysfunction. That’s not hyperbole; that’s an honest gripe.

A Quick Synopsis

Kyohei Arisugawa’s only claim to fame is the fact that he’s a first cousin to Ren Arisugawa, a mega-famous male actor. Being a dumb, horny lad, Kyohei always tried to use that relationship to help him in his sexual endeavors. But since Kyo-kun hasn’t seen his famous cousin since childhood, and his claims have no evidence, his dick is as dry as the Sahara. But Kyo-chi’s luck changes when he finds Ren waiting for him outside his apartment. Realizing that Ren is hiding out, Kyo shows some tact by not prying, but flubs it by putting on porn and wanking in front of his cousin. Every wank comes with a consequence, and the result of Kyohei’s wank was finding out his cousin is actually a girl! And when she asks him to keep quiet, he takes advantage of the situation, and they plap-plap-plap.

Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl — Six Minutes of Nico Nico Nope

Let’s get the major elephant out of the room. Kyo bangs his cousin. Plenty of people will dislike that. I’m not one of those people. Would I bang my cousin? NOPE. Do I mind if someone else bangs theirs? That’s also NO. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Everyone does dumb things when they’re horny. There’s a reason for that, and you should definitely read about it. But to sum it up, the more aroused you are, the more your brain lessens your inhibitions. Now, couple that tidbit of information with the knowledge that a sizable portion of the population is woefully ignorant about boundaries and sexuality. Then add alcohol into the mix, and you get a clusterfuck. Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl’s whole premise stems from a major clusterfuck. And while it has the potential to be a bingeable watch (and read), its execution was a disappointment.

In the manga and anime, you can see that Ren’s cousin coerced her into having sex. That age-old “I’ll do anything you want” trope quickly works its way into the series, and it’s downhill from there. But why? There are a million ways to use those words in a playfully sexual way that leads to bonding and a decent story. But that doesn’t happen here. Yet, my biggest complaint is that every Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl episode is only six minutes long.

Short Sharp S**t

I like short-form anime. Many people think that a show with episodes that are less than ten minutes long can’t be entertaining or meaningful. Those people are wrong. Short anime can entertain and inspire. The first season of Yama no Susume had episodes that were three minutes long, yet it inspired thousands of weebs to take to the mountains. That anime is why this year I’ll attempt to summit every peak over 3,000 meters in Central America.

But, as is the case with most 6-minute hentai, Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl leaves so much out of the story that it’s only fap fodder. What was uncomfortable in the manga became unbearable in the adaptation. I’ll admit my bias: I dislike guys like Kyo. In my eyes, a person who complains about not getting laid has more red flags than a Commie parade. That said, condensing a story about coerced sex (IT IS. DON’T ARGUE. REN WASN’T IN A POSITION TO SAY NO.) rarely works. It certainly didn’t work in Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl’s adaptation. That puts me in a forlorn mood, as A Mangaka’s Weirdly Wonderful Workplace so eloquently put it, “a heartfelt adult manga is always popular.” Someone please tell the hentai studios that their adaptations can also be heartfelt, even when they include taboo topics.

Production Details

If it’s not a Queen Bee production, it’s already a solid start. That said, Studio LEO’s art is on the better side of the hentai spectrum. I do mean their art. If you look at the character designs and individual stills, there’s a certain kawaiiness to it. If you showed me a non-nude still of Ren or Kyo, I would assume this was a 2010-ish slice-of-life or office romance. I liked the show’s character designs and the softness and warmth of the overall art. Studio LEO’s animation, on the other hand, was janky. Several scenes seemed rushed and patchworked. I’m not an animator, so I won’t pretend to be someone who can adequately talk about transitions and the like. But, as a viewer, certain aspects seemed off. The anime’s sex scenes and the character’s genitalia were a straight-up NO.

Hentai studios do better. Ren is so suteki, yet all Studio LEO and their animators did was give her a slit and a hole. I didn’t know if I was looking at a vagina or a gutted fish. Those are words you never want to utter.

Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl’s voice acting was enjoyable. Yuki Nishiyama (Kyo) and Amai Miruki (Ren) get their feelings across. I don’t care about how much a voice fits a character. I care about how much the VA can convey cadence, tone, sentiment, and inflection. Thankfully, the voice cast is proficient enough at all those things. Once, I said I wouldn’t review shows I disliked, but I had to. I loved Norito-sensei’s art in the manga, so I directed my disappointment at the studio. This anime gets a two out of five from me.

Where To Watch Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl

OceanVeil is streaming the uncensored version of Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl. The anime’s first episode aired back in December, but simulcasting begins this month. The anime adaptation of Arisugawa Ren tte Honto wa Onna Nanda yo ne will have eight episodes. You can read the first five chapters of the manga for free on Coolmic.

©Norito Asazuki / Suiseisha Inc.

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