If there’s one anime guaranteed to bring out strong responses from fans, it’s Rent-a-Girifriend. Whether it’s debating who is “best girl” or uniting in frustration at the main simp hero Kazuya, everyone loves to share their opinions on this show. Let’s find out why that is, and why I’m done with Rent-a Girlfriend!
Why is Rent-a-Girlfriend so Popular?
Kazuya is a university student who recently got dumped by his too-cute-for-him girlfriend Mami. He opens a “girlfriend rental” app on his phone and goes on a date with the too-cute-for-him Chizuru, who happens to live next door and go to the same university as him. Various grandmother-related misunderstandings happen, and Kazuya and Chizuru must pretend to be a couple. Two new girls, the aggressive Ruka and the super-shy Sumi, round out Kazuya’s harem.
Despite the sea of detractors that appear on the Internet whenever a discussion of the show comes up, Rent-a-Girlfriend is popular. And there are some reasons for this.
The waifus are all great, voiced by amazing seiyuu like Sora Amamiya, Rie Takahashi and, Aoi Yuuki. The animation by TMS Studios is also top-notch. In the first season, the story was actually compelling. I loved it when Mami discovered that Kazuma’s new girlfriend Chizuru was really a “rental girlfriend” and decided to rent Chizuru for a couple hours of karaoke just to watch her squirm.
Oh, and the visual fan service isn’t bad. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
But while the show started with plenty of promise, things quickly bogged down with little story progression, causing fans to lose hope that their investment of time and passion would ever pay off. Some of the issues included:
- A Totally Irredeemable Main Character. We actually start out identifying with the main character quite a bit, but things go downhill soon. Kazuya is frustrated because he can’t bring himself to confess to Chizuru yet can’t decide to pursue one of the other girls either.
- Zero Character Development. As we all go through our lives, we hopefully learn new things and grow as individuals. This isn’t the case with this anime, however.
- Immature Settings. These are university students who act shocked that any boy could like a girl romantically. “W- What are you saying? There’s no way I could be in love with Chizuru!” They also do childish things like fretting about “indirect kisses” when two people share a drink. That’s something only elementary schoolers do in Japan. Try comparing this anime to the mature stories found in more grown-up shows like Domestic Girlfriend or Scum’s Wish.
- Zero Structure. Think of all the amazing story arcs you’ve experienced in your favorite manga. Then observe the lack of any core structure in Rent-a-Girlfriend, which meanders from moment to moment with no awareness of where it’s going.
While the clear lack of story structure is frustrating to me, the dumbest thing is Kazuya’s illogical thought processes. In the real world, we all have an idea of how we rate against other potential romantic partners. If we think we’re a 5 or 6, we don’t try to date a 9 or 10. We could never win such a girl’s heart…or if we did, we’d be full of anxiety about whether we could keep it. When I’ve known girls as beautiful as Chizuru, I was happy because I could truly be friends with them, since they were so out of my league. Especially if I had a girl like Ruka eager to be with me.
Why Does Rent-a-Girlfriend Get Three Seasons When Gabriel Dropout Got Only One?
Every fan wants to know why their favorite anime only got a single 12-episode season while shows like Rent-a-Girlfriend get lavished with season after season. It’s not fair!
The economics of anime can be complex. Especially with various companies coming together to form a holding company called a “production committee” with names like Magica Quartet or The Toradora Production Committee. Each partner provides funding and divides up tasks, such as animation production, publishing, figure creation, and marketing, plus the all-important job of hassling fans for posting copyrighted images to social media. If an anime is successful, the companies share the profits. Some series get made because streaming companies have a certain number of hours of broadcast time to fill and anime is cheap to make, costing only around $1 million for a single season. Other seasons get made because figure collectors love the show and readily open their wallets to buy every figure, which leads figure makers and large shops to fund future seasons.
In the case of Rent-a-Girlfriend, it has a large base of dedicated Japanese fans. Fans who shell out for the pricey but gorgeous limited Blu-ray releases. This series has sold 11 million Blu-rays since its first release, which translates to somewhere around $600 million. Wow!
J-List Customers Reply! Why Do So Many People Hate This Anime?
I enjoy it, and don’t see why it gets the hate. Is it the best anime ever? Hardly, but it’s harmless fun for the most part. Also, Sumi is best girl.
I honestly found it boring.
With the benefit of having read the manga ahead of the anime, I can say this: if you expect a masterpiece with Rent-A-Girlfriend, you won’t get it.
I watch on fast-forward (tuning out that detestable simp) only to make screen captures of the hot girls in it.
The show is not bad, but it will probably have like 7 seasons by the time the mangaka has an inspiration for how to move the story forward without going in circles.
It’s all for the glory of CHIZURU!!!
Thanks for reading this blog post exploring the Rent-a-Girlfriend anime, and why it causes such strong reactions among fans. How do you feel about this anime? Tell us below!
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