rent-a-girlfriend Rent-a-Girlfriend is a depressing tease

[ben0119]

I decided to make up for lost time and went on an anime watching spree, but I'm just doing some "easy watching" right now, a bunch of slice of life/fan service/romance shows.  The last one I just watched was Rent-a-Girlfriend.

When you read the premise of this show and watch the first episode, you can pretty easily guess how it is going to go.  Kazuya will rent Chizuru, and eventually they will fall in love and become a real couple.  But... the progress on that front is so slow and teasing and baiting?  Then they end up creating a fake relationship that they have to keep playing up.  Then we find out this has gone on for a YEAR.

It is clear that Kazuya and Chizuru like each other, so why don't they just admit it and get together?  Is it because the series is called Rent-a-Girlfriend and author Reiji Miyajima feels he has to keep that gimmick going?

But... it has a third season, and it's based on a manga... which is still going?!  How much longer can he drag this out?

It's really annoying, because every time you think there will be progress in their relationship, it gets stopped short.  The scene of "you're the one I want... to rent as a girlfriend" was REALLY frustrating.

In theory, the result should be Kazuya and Chizuru get together, and they never have to tell their family that their relationship was fake.

Also not really sure what the deal is with the evil ex Mami.  Does she have any end goal, or she's just obsessed with Kazuya and wants to fuck with him?

I really hope this show gets over the hump in the third season, but I'm not getting my hopes up.  I honestly wonder if Reiji Miyajima is some kind of sadist or something.  I can't think of who he is pandering to with this.

I've said it time and again, but for all its faults, SAO didn't tease out the Kirito and Asuna relationship.  They become a couple, full stop, we aren't strung along, and it's not the end goal of the series.  I honestly wish this is how more shows handled it.  I guess in a pure slice of life/romance series, with no action, it would be more difficult, and would have to just show the couple living their lives together, but I'm sure it could be done.

But yeah, My First Girlfriend is a Gal, Yamada's First Time, and Ao-chan Can't Study were a lot better than this.  This is not how I expected this show to be.  I expected it to be more light-hearted and charming, and have more progress.

Geoff Thew summed things pretty well in this video. I don't agree with him that Kazuya never learns ANYTHING or that he's as bad as he says (though I might be giving Kazuya too much credit,) though watching someone rip Rent-a-Girlfriend for 36 minutes was pretty cathartic.  I need to find more videos like this haha.

Oh, look at that (spoiler warning for video) -

As I suspected, Reiji Miyajima is a total whackjob.  He has a obsessive crush on Chizuru and may actually be jealous of Kazuya...  There's spoilers, including distant manga spoilers, in this video, but I'm not even mad about seeing those spoilers, because now I know not to get my hopes up for what will happen in potential future seasons.  This series makes me sick to my stomach.  I definitely need a palate cleanser after this haha.

Edited December 15, 2022 by ben0119

[naraku360]

2 hours ago, ben0119 said:

But... the progress on that front is so slow and teasing and baiting?  Then they end up creating a fake relationship that they have to keep playing up.  Then we find out this has gone on for a YEAR.

[Chapinator_X]

I’m livid because there is so much manga and anime in the world, but a lot of big name anitubers (aside from MB) will keep on talking about as if it’s a hidden gem or a guilty pleasure is this pathetic romcom. Waifu wars are still happening over this, as if it even has a “best girl”.

Telling people it’s a “hate watch” only goes so far when they keep giving it more free advertising than any good manga. Like how has it become a legit running joke in modern anime fandom that it jumped the shark with Kazuya’s pool cuck fantasy?

Edited December 15, 2022 by Chapinator_X

[Jman]

See this is why I watched Lookism instead this week.

[ben0119]

18 hours ago, Chapinator_X said:

I’m livid because there is so much manga and anime in the world, but a lot of big name anitubers (aside from MB) will keep on talking about as if it’s a hidden gem or a guilty pleasure is this pathetic romcom. Waifu wars are still happening over this, as if it even has a “best girl”.

Telling people it’s a “hate watch” only goes so far when they keep giving it more free advertising than any good manga. Like how has it become a legit running joke in modern anime fandom that it jumped the shark with Kazuya’s pool cuck fantasy?

I did a simple search for Rent-a-Girlfriend review on YouTube, and found quite a few videos giving this show an ass-ripping.  I didn't see any that said it's good.  And I hardly see any genuine praise for this series in general.  It's seen as a guilty pleasure, hate-watch, or so bad it's good type of show.  Is that really what is keeping this show going?!  If so, people need to stop!  It's just fueling its continuation.

 

And apparently people who read the manga all hate it but keep coming back every week haha.  But if the series only gets worse after what the anime has covered, with the exception of one arc, I can't imagine continuing further.

And yeah, chapter 218 with the cuck fantasy is the one that lived in infamy and finally caused a lot of people to throw in the towel haha.

Here's another longer breakdown review on the shittiness of this series -

And people in Japan don't even like it!

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by ben0119

[ben0119]

16 hours ago, Jman said:

See this is why I watched Lookism instead this week.

I looked it up.  This show could actually be interesting. 

https://myanimelist.net/anime/53149/Oemojisangjuui/reviews

Edited December 16, 2022 by ben0119