Kanojo, Okarishimasu

Kazuya Kinoshita is a 20-year-old college student who has a wonderful girlfriend: the bright and sunny Mami Nanami. But suddenly, he doesn't. Without warning, Mami breaks up with him, leaving him utterly heartbroken and lonely. Seeking to soothe the pain, he hires a rental girlfriend through an online app. His partner is Chizuru Mizuhara, who through her unparalleled beauty and cute demeanor, manages to gain Kazuya's affection.

But after reading similar experiences other customers had had with Chizuru, Kazuya believes her warm smile and caring personality were all just an act to toy with his heart, and he rates her poorly. Aggravated, Chizuru lambastes him for his shameless hypocrisy, revealing her true pert and hot-tempered self. This one-sided exchange is cut short, however, when Kazuya finds out that his grandmother has collapsed.

They dash toward the hospital and find Kazuya's grandmother already in good condition. Baffled by Chizuru's presence, she asks who this girl might be. On impulse, Kazuya promptly declares that they are lovers, forcing Chizuru to play the part. But with Kazuya still hung up on his previous relationship with Mami, how long can this difficult client and reluctant rental girlfriend keep up their act?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ichinose, Chizuru Main

Amamiya, Sora Japanese

Kinoshita, Kazuya Main

Horie, Shun Japanese

Sakurasawa, Sumi Supporting

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Sarashina, Ruka Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Nanami, Mami Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Kibe, Yoshiaki Supporting

Akasaka, Masayuki Japanese

Kinoshita, Nagomi Supporting

Nozawa, Yukari Japanese

Ichinose, Sayuri Supporting

Sadaoka, Sayuri Japanese

Flea Market Saleswoman Supporting

Kowaka, Wakana Japanese

Kuribayashi, Shun Supporting

Kajiwara, Gakuto Japanese

Aoi, Hiroyuki Producer

Simone, Jamie Producer

Matsuzaki, Yoshiyuki Producer

Terao, Yuri Producer

Reviews

Sep 25, 2020

HellLyter

Recommended

Everyone really be out here hating on this show for its depiction of a hopelessly perverted protagonist and a morally questionable theme whereas I’m just over here enjoying the heck out of this cute yet cringy anime.

Rent-A-Girlfriend is the latest installation in the ever popular RomCom genre. Anime of this nature are often criticized for generally following similar structures and plot progression, so each individual one often comes with its own “quirky’” gimmick in an attempt to set itself apart from the crowd and draw in some intrigue. The one in this anime happens to revolve around rentable girlfriends. That’s right weebs of culture! ... No longer do you have to suffer through complicated emotions in a fruitless attempt to find true love. All you need to do is click a few buttons (and have enough money to pay her of course) and boom! Instant girlfriend for a day. And the bonus? She’s super cute and will have a perfect personality. Since, you know, she’s payed to be like that. This is the situation that protagonist Kazuya finds himself in after getting dumped by his first ever girlfriend and fapping away his sorrows. And it comes to the surprise of no one that Kazuya and his rental girlfriend Chizuru get caught up in an aWkWArD misunderstanding that causes them to fake a real relationship and lie to their friends and family while truly falling in love along the way…yeah, you get the picture.

So it’s no secret that asides from the gimmick, the narrative is pretty plain. The show goes just about as you’d expect. Kazuya and Chizuru have their share of awkward and funny moments. Other girls, Mami the masquerading home-wrecker and Ruka the eternally ignored short haired girl who’s super dedicated, come into the picture to add a little drama and humor. There’s also this girl named Sumi who makes an appearance in the second to last episode, which I thought was a weird decision to include her so late by the directors. Kazuya also has two friends and a grandma who surprisingly get involved in the narrative, which I liked.

What’s probably the most unique aspect of Rent-A-Girlfriend is the sheer amount of times that it made me cringe. It got so bad that I actually paused the show several times and had to tell myself that it’s just fiction, there’s no need to feel this way. But you know what’s funny? I actually liked this approach. It was clearly intentional by the author and gave the show a little more flavor. I mean, I cared enough to actively facepalm and feel mild discomfort whenever Kazuya did something stupid (which was probably every episode), so that definitely has to be a positive, right?

The plot certainly isn’t the focal point of Rent-A-Girlfriend, but it’s solid enough to let the show’s most important aspect take the spotlight…the girlfriends.

Three of the four main girls in the show start off as rental girlfriends. Chizuru is the first, and she’s the type of girl who can easily change her personality to fit the mood. She’s also a pretty dependable person and provides good support to Kazuya. Some might say that she acts a little TOO nice to him considering the crap he pulls sometimes, but you gotta remember that the guy saved her life and simps for her like crazy with many a cash donation, so her behavior totally makes sense. Mami brings some nice early tension and drama before disappearing from the show entirely until the very end. Ruka ended up being my favorite character because of her great energy and personality. Too bad the short haired girls almost never win. And Sumi…is cute. Yeah, there’s not much else to say about her honestly.

Now one aspect of the show that might turn off viewers is the apparent glorification of the rental girlfriend industry. Each of the girls has a reason for entering the business, and the anime definitely portrays the profession as being beneficial to character development for both the girls and their clients. Now I’m sure people dislike such an industry, but I personally like to keep fiction and reality separate. I mean there’s tons of anime and other media that deal with far worse topics that have plagued society such as pedophilia and slavery. Yes, I’m vehemently against all of these practices, but to me, it’s just a show trying to be different, so I don’t care if the subject material might be a little controversial. I can understand being against it since it seems to glorify an unethical practice, but as long as it plays its role in the show well and contributes something of value to the narrative, I’m generally fine with whatever content is being displayed. And hey, if you just can’t make the separation, then that’s obviously fine too.

Aside from the whole buying a shallow substitute for an actual romantic partner ordeal, the most polarizing aspect of this show seems to be the protagonist himself. I’ve seen Kazuya get a lot of hate for being a mostly wimpy guy who sexually fantasizes about the cute girls in his life constantly. And you wanna know the worst part? Get ready…Kazuya faps! *totally shook* Wow, no wonder people hate him!

Yeah, people probably would deny this, but it just feels like Kazuya is hated for essentially acting like a typical horny dude would. He’s no OP anime hero and, while admittedly overblown in his cringyness (I mean he stalks Chizuru for an entire day at one point), generally acts like a regular guy. But wait, he occasionally has moments of heroism and selflessness befitting an anime protagonist that make girls fall for him, so I guess he’s not completely irredeemable! While far from great, I think he’s a fitting protagonist for this type of show and is an overall positive for the anime.

I mean, the show itself even knows that he’s trash and constantly pokes fun at him by writing things like “He is the problem.” Kazuya being this way is intentional and the anime utilizes his cringyness well.

Getting to the technical aspects of the show, the art is the highlight of the anime. Character designs are on point and the girls are equipped with cutely designed outfits. The cast is extremely expressive and the facial aesthetics really contribute to selling the comedy, romance, and awkwardness of numerous scenes. Even though they’re done by different studios, the art really reminds me of Nisekoi in terms of how characters are drawn when they go all blushy blush, and it’s great. Background visuals are pretty basic and I feel like fluidity could be better in that some scenes just look stiff, but overall the show is pretty good animation wise.

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the great vocal cast. The studio really went out of their way to hire a collection of well known and established seiyuu to voice the four main girls. They all did a wonderful job and really enhanced their respective characters with their vocal performances. The music is fine, though did anyone else notice that one of the OSTs sounds like a remix of Chopin’s Funeral March at the beginning? Just me? Well, I thought it added an extra layer of irony by basically implying that Kazuya was digging his own grave in a lot of these instances due to the cringy situations he constantly found himself in. I also ended up really liking the episode 7 ending theme not just for the catchy tune but also for the clever visual portrayal of Ruka’s backstory. I thought this was an imaginative way to explain her past without it taking up too much space in the actual show. It was quite captivating and effective in my eyes, and was definitely a highlight of the anime for me.

What can I say, I thought Rent-A-Girlfriend was a fun anime. I got decently invested in the show and was smiling throughout most of my time watching. The solid production values combined with the entertaining cast really elevated the show for me. It’s nothing particularly great, but it’s definitely a fun RomCom that I would recommend watching…if you can handle boatloads of cringe that is!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 25, 2020

Marinate1016

Mixed Feelings

Look, I like a lot stuff that most people would consider trash. Some of the many 10s I've given out have gone to series that most of MAL, reddit and the rest of the anime community brushed off as bad. I'm easy to please. So when something doesn't please me, it's gotta be subterranean level garbage. That's what KanoKari is. At least in this first season, I've not read the manga so I can't comment on the MC's eventual development blah blah. What I can comment on is the absolute dumpster fire of a first season that this show got. The only. And I mean ... ONLY redeemable quality of this show is the waifus. I love all of the girls except Chizuru and they carry the show for me.

On its own, the concept of renting a girlfriend due to not being able to get one on your own is actually a pretty cool idea for a manga/anime. The idea of the show is not the issue. It's the execution. You have Kazuya, a 20 year old degenerate who is not only a loser by real life standards, he's a real life loser. I mean at least most harem portags are pretty cool and people you could imagine yourself hanging out with. This guy? I wouldn't go near him with a 10 foot pole. He's the most deplorable, scummy and downright trash MC I have seen in a long time. In one of the episodes he literally stalks Chizuru while she's on a date and people downplay it because of a cute moment at the end of the episode.

Again, I am told he gets better in the manga, but this review is for the first season, yes you heard that right, this garbage somehow got popular enough for a second season, of the anime. I honestly struggled to get through some episodes just because of how cringe scenarios and dialogue was. Despite these negatives, I did enjoy the character designs which I think are some of the best in anime, I did enjoy the girls(except mizuhara) and the series has some type of brightness to its aesthetic that sucks you in. I don't quite know how to explain it.

TL;DR This show is trash, but it's addictive trash and sucks you in. You will like the girls, hate the MC and probably rate it as a mediocre rom com. Still, I'd recommend giving it a go.

Kanokari gets 5 ribbon headbands out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 25, 2020

Stark700

Not Recommended

If there’s one anime character this year that I want to punch, one character that I want to throw off a bridge, or one character that I simply want to say ‘you’re pathetic’ to their face, it would be Kazuya Kinoshita.

Imagine living in your neighborhood and all of a certain, there’s a hot girl living right next door to you. What’s the first thing you’d say to her? For Kazuya, his first conversation with Chizuru Mizuhara doesn’t exactly go his way. He’s far from an alpha male and his social experience is far from his set of skills. In fact, his girlfriend Mami even dumped ... him from the very first episode. Not more than 10 minutes into the show, Kazuya is single again and he got so desperate that he decided to rent a girlfriend. Talk about being pathetic.

You’re probably asking yourself if Kazuya is worth the time watching at all judging from the first few minutes of the very first episode. If you want to save the time, do yourself a favor and drop the anime altogether. If you’re a curious animal, then Kanojo, Okarishimasu will offer the type of guilty pleasure experience of following the life of Kazuya. It doesn’t take a genius to see that he is a thirsty guy. Even his friends falls into this category with their daydream fantasies. Unfortunately, Kazuya is the biggest culprit of being a pervert. It seems the show can’t go on without a single episode of him dreaming up some perverted fantasy, whether it’s between him or other individuals with some pretty girl. Oh and Kazuya represents the insecurity of a manchild. I could say this more than once because throughout the show, he suffers from a deep inferiority complex. When comparing himself to the girls, they seem way out of his league. He is so insecure that he had to resort to blackmail to impress his friends and grandmother.

Now, watching Mizuhara is a different story. She’s the complete opposite of Kazuya, or at least on the surface. Representing the perfect female role model, she’s beautiful, intelligent, and polite with great manners. But that’s just the tip of iceberg. Deep down, Mizuhara is shown to be a short tempered girl who seems to also be insecure about her own life. I’m not going to lie, seeing Mizuhara’s 180 degree personality change is satisfying. The words she says to Kazuya’s face after her broken façade is exactly what I’d say to him. Their relationship throughout the show is built on lies. It gets to the point where they resort to lying to their families in order to make them happy. In reality, it’s easy to see why since they made their choices. But how long can it go on? Will they take these lies to their graves?

Storytelling also seems to coincide with fate. Kazuya’s meeting with Mizuhara is just one example but later on, he also encounters Ruka, another rental girlfriend. This brings up complicated manners when she decides to be Kazuya’s girlfriend. She even knows the truth about Mizuhara being a fake and it complicates the story altogether. Kazuya himself realizes the hole he dug himself into and has little choice than to comply with Ruka’s wishes. The irony here is that Kazuya himself gets blackmailed after he blackmailed Mizuhara. Kazuya and Chizuru’s relationship also gets more complicated as it takes on a toll for both characters. At first, it’s somewhat easy to feel sympathetic for either of them. But in truth, there should be no pity. They made their choices on their own. No one really forced them to be in a fake relationship. They chose to make their decisions and the consequences of their actions is their own responsibility. That’s some real life drama that can be applied to any relationship. Only here, it just makes both characters look weak and vulnerable.

It’s rather comedic the show is tagged with romance. Of course, the catch is that the romance in this anime is fake built on deception since the first episode. Most characters don’t realize this between Kazuya and Chizuru. Ruka’s entry into the story also adds herself as a rival. Mami, Kazuya’s ex-girlfriend, also shows that she is more manipulative than meets the eye. As such, the series injects many scenes of misunderstandings. Some of these are close calls where Kazuya and Chizuru’s secret almost ends being exposed to public. It’s beyond pathetic to watch some of these scenes although such circumstances naturally fits with this anime’s themes. Still, I do want to admire the show’s integrity to keep up with its main premise. Kazuya and Chizuru represents how two very different individuals manage to come together. They are so different that they’re almost like different species. I’m not going to lie, watching this pair’s strange character chemistry sometimes can be mildly entertaining. And if anything else, Kazuya sometimes makes me laugh unintentionally for just being Kazuya.

Despite the show’s degenerate cast of characters, the artwork style is vibrant with energy. Almost every female character makes the male population turn their heads with their beauty. Mizuhara is the biggest example as she represents the iconic girlfriend, someone who you’d want to show off like a trophy wife. With a slim figure, lavish long hair, and charming smile, Mizuhara serves as the poster girl of the show. Similarly, Mami, Ruka, and Sumi all have their own feminine characteristics that is easily alluring. But if we talk about Kazuya, he just looks like your average guy with his pathetic little smirk and endless fantasies. When applying to the voice acting, I also do applaud Mizuhara’s VA during her personality changes. It’s not always easy to play a character this way but it is convincing. And if we talk about Mami, then she represents the bitch you won’t know what hit you before it’s too late.

If every relationship was built on a lie like Kazuya and Mizuhara, then we would be living in a world of illusions. I hope that’s not the case for you if you’re in a relationship. Fake relationships almost always have its consequences and this anime shows why. Discarding the real life comparisons, this anime itself is one that’s is deceptive to the core. Romance? Forget that because we’re not getting a real storyteller. Every episode makes me despise the main protagonist and he doesn’t get any better. If anything else, this anime taught me not to be like Kazuya.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Kanojo, Okarishimasu Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Sep 25, 2020	345 replies	by kazuki_tenta »» Oct 27, 3:19 AM
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