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It's a rare thing to see a second season of a anime be a true sequel in the sense that it takes its characters and settings into new territory and also be a romance anime that brings us a satisfying ending to what was setup before. It feels surreal.

Honestly, consider me surprised. I half-expected things to go largely in the same vein as last season, as in slow, back-and-forths, and ladened with barbed dialogue. Shockingly, however, this season jumped right into the plot and in less than half the episodes already provided resolutions (firm and temp) to many of the overarching questions ... and problems posed last season. Instantly the whole thing with Gasou is settled, the whole "why can't Aki recognize Masamune" thing, and even cuts to the chase on Masamune's whole twisted personality. Just kudos to the mangaka for writing so efficiently; normally this isn't really worth noting, manga and episodic anime pacing are totally different things but the quickness with which Revenge R eschews the old questions with answers is awesome, meaning that any expectations are thrown out the window. Heck, one of the things that was this season's calling cards was a brand new girl but Muriel was merely there to provide a perspective for one episode and then she vanishes, pretty efficient and quite unexpected! I like that. "New character? Nope! One time use and she's outta here!"

The narrative we're then presented with is a slightly unpredictable affair with some very good soap opera-like cliffhangers. Unlike those The Bold and the Beautifuls and Coronation Streets of daytime TV, however, the drama here actually works really well, the lack of firm footing at the beginnings lends suspense as each episode seems to want to pull the series and its characters into different directions. It's something I'd normally roll my eyes at with other series but it works really, truly well here.

The art style is an interesting change. I don't know if the change was to bring the series' art style closer to the manga or if the semi-realism of Season 1 being picked up by other studios caused them to want to change it here but I like it. It's very cute. Very fun, if you liked the first season, this satisfies. The story for the characters in-universe isn't over yet, and hopefully they'll adapt the following Engagement next.

The best season of Rent-a-Girlfriend so far and probably will remain that way considering how infamous the manga is in its pacing amongst even anime-only viewers. At the very least it embarrasses S1 and 2.

What makes this season watchable is that it's emotionally compelling. There are actual stakes here that were established briefly during S2 and we see Kazuya actually rise to the occasion to help Chizuru with a situation we've long known about that is hitting its final notes; and credit due where credit's due, it made me cry a bit and was really sensitive about it. Unfortunately it's still RaG ... and after that episode the series sort of fumbles the ball and it's back to the status quo. That doesn't negate the impact of the narrative shift or entirely takes away Kazuya's major character development in that arc, however, but it still is disappointing to see the series fall back to it's usual tropes after such a heavy arc. I don't know, kicking the can on these issues isn't unrealistic but that doesn't make for a good narrative.

There's a new girl named Yaemori introduced here. She's...she's fine, not great, but sort of a needed addition since she actually makes Kazuya act on stuff; unfortunately feels like she's just here to add another chick to fill a female character type, but whatever. Ruka is a lot more tolerable this time compared to S2, Sumi still shines like she did in the last season and proves to be one of Kazuya's better matches, and mercifully Mami is almost entirely absent.

A good season, still falls for it's eye-rolling tropes but better than what came before even if it couldn't entirely maintain the momentum. I only fear if the studio is choosing to not start cutting the manga's fat in future seasons.

A surprisingly fresh take on the genre! It's a romcom that does a number of things that sets it apart from its contemporaries in what is a very crowded market. How many other series are there really where the airheaded girl who does a bunch of disrespectful things like giving him her trash to throw out is given back what she gives by the main character? Not many - it's great to see a guy finally give the girl what she had coming. They're equals, not one bends over backwards to appease the other. The developing relationship with Ichikawa and Yamada ... is a real joy to watch and the OP does a great job in artistically portraying their dynamic. The way they act around each other is also different, so many romances portray one over the other as normal to the others' eccentricities, but here they're both as eccentric as the other. The cringe goes both ways and it's very, very adorable and creates some rather surreal and hilarious comedic moments.

Also nice is seeing Ichikawa defend Yamada with very United States Title IX (9) tactics whenever she's getting attention that she doesn't want. She in turn is a very active member in furthering the relationship and watching as their interactions change over the months really elevates the series. Very fun.

This is a disaster. It's a series where the subtext was hardly a secret; it told us it was going to be the big criticism of the idol and general entertainment industry, yet it failed to do that every step of the way. As the series’ drama is derived from the characters and their experiences, let’s examine them to figure out what’s going on.

Aqua is our main character, Dr. Gorou reincarnated, and he is instantly where the problems start. From the get-go the author gets it wrong with the Doctor's field, he's a gynecologist yet he seems to look after patients who are not ... women or are at the hospital for non-reproductive organ-related matters and he shouldn't even be the doctor presiding over Ai Hoshino's pregnancy; those types of doctors aren't hired for that. Then after he is murdered he wakes up as Ai's son and instantly loses all interest in being a doctor? Seriously, becoming a doctor is a very time-consuming endeavor, you have to go through years of education just to reach residency where you practice what you learned and that takes two years. So all that work and dedication to help women and he gives that up. Wow, what a (not) great start, already misconstruing a real-life profession.

As Aquamarine Hoshino the problems continue further. He's not a great vessel through which to view world of Oshi no Ko's supposed dark industries because he is such a detached, unemotional character; clearly they're trying to make the next Kiyotaka Ayanokoji (of "Classroom of the Elite") but this was never going to work. Characters like Ayanokoji work because the narrative never dives deep into their real thoughts and motivations and backstory are left largely as a mystery. Or perhaps they’re an unreliable narrator, so when the mask does come off the reader/viewer is shocked yet intrigued upon learning the MC’s true nature, recontextualizing prior scenes. Aqua lacks all of this because he constantly monologues his intentions and is never wrong. His lack of charisma as a person also makes his scenes hard to get invested in, it makes the viewer wonder how he's even an actor in the first place if his communicating is so unnatural.

Even the way he's drawn and animated is uninspiring, the series looks great but they do the most generic edgy-jacket-with-the-hood-on aesthetic way too often, it looks cringey and laughable. He's mentally a grown man, yet he's portrayed as a sulky, closed-minded teen, which would've worked if he was one. Aqua also never has any movement or any emoting in scenes where he's having a conversation; he literally just stands there stoically as if he's a propped up cadaver (ironic). This is especially troublesome in scenes that are related to his revenge plot as the lack of any attention to basic human movement frames those scenes almost as if the series never wants you to take his revenge seriously, or is just so disinterested in it; the end results feel very manufactured. His intelligence too seems to fluctuate for individual scenes rather than being a consistent aspect. In a scene related to his revenge plot, he's talking with someone after he's done a favor for them that will get him the input he desires. The scene is already let down by it feeling very lifeless in writing and animation but then after being told the info, Aqua has the gall to ask, "Why are you telling me this?" My brother, you asked for this information! The better question is whether or not he did anything off camera to really get these peoples' time of day; all he does is ask blunt questions.


Then there's Ai the sucker punch main character. She is terrible, both as a person in-universe and as a fictional one. A liar through and through, how is anyone supporting someone who at 16 got pregnant and deliberately chose to hide the identity of the Father for no reason and she never shows any grief at having seemingly lost his love for her or vice versa. She's so happy to lie and deceive, literally applying it even to her personal life where it never feels like she trusts her adopted parents or cares for her kids. Honestly? The first episode feels engineered in a way that makes Ai's death at the hands of a fanatic fan as totally deserved. Now a young woman who had an adolescent pregnancy whilst being an idol is morally questionable both on the individual and her caretakers, but it's not worthy of murder. Here the series could've really shown some fangs, showed Ai as a loving Mother who'd yell for her kids to stay back, to beg the killer to not hurt them, yell for medics, anything normal; yet no. Instead, Ai chose her potential last breaths to be about actually loving her fan enough to remember his name despite having been stabbed by him. So bolstering the parasocial relationships of violent incel fans and their heroes/heroines was really the point here. I...don't think I need to explain further why this is bad. How this catches anyone off guard I'll never know. With a first episode the length of four, it should be obvious that the story is going to do some kind of twist.

Credit where credit's due, the shock of her death did stick with me for a whole week at the time of airing but alas, it was short lived. Even after death the series treats it so oddly, it never has anyone acknowledge her brutal end. Nothing mentioned about increasing security for idols, nothing. Hell, people in-universe say she died when she was killed/murdered, two totally separate things! Utterly tone deaf.


Ruby. I- pfft... Is there anything to really say, she was hardly in the season! What is there is very bland and tone deaf. So lemme get this straight: a young girl with a terminal condition is given a reason smile because of a idol her age turning her into an otaku, got reincarnated as that idol's daughter, watched that Mother die and somehow she's just okay with that and even wants to become a idol despite the obvious dangers. It doesn't matter if Ruby eventually shows that she's been conscious of Ai's murder the whole time, the fact that it's not an aspect right out of the gate is questionable enough. Frankly why she, the fan who died prematurely only to get a second chance as her daughter, isn't the one swinging for revenge first is odd. What else is shown about her is naivety, insensitivity (looking up an amateur model's cup size in front of her just when you meet is such a "class act"...), a bad temper, a brother complex, and while she is said to have the charisma to be an idol, choosing to suddenly light up her eyes is all bark and no bite. Since all three Hoshinos have now been covered I can say that the whole stars in the eyes thing is stupid. It's a corny visual gimmick. So many other anime can communicate emotions through regular eyes just by doing some fancy lighting animation or dulling the colors. The star thing is excessively gimmicky, it feels like it was just there to make the main characters seem quirky but was a real pointless addition.

All the other characters fare no better. Take Akane for instance. We're meant to see her as this amateur actor, yet like Aqua the series plays her intelligence for a scene without any consistency whatsoever. She primarily specializes as a character actor but in a reality show she, despite asking the director for tips on how to stand out multiple times, is completely unable to. Now this is real enough, not all character actors have the kind of natural personality that stands on its own, Peter Davison of Doctor Who in the 1980s is an example. All of that, however, has a caveat, because none of it applies here! Immediately after, we’re then meant to believe that Akane has an incredible knack for acting and filling in gaps; she imitates the late Ai Hoshino perfectly somehow just by listening to a few interviews and watching her movements. So how Akane’s been more like early Peter Davison and not skillful, to interesting even without a script Patrick Troughton is a total mystery. How she can come up with ideas for someone else but not for herself is beyond words.

And then there’s the big thing with Akane – episode 6 and its subtext. This episode was brilliant, it’s subtext about how far society has not come from the days of going to a colosseum for blood and sand is to be applauded. It’s a message that made it seem like the series had finally found its footing. However, that’s just episode 6 out of context because episode 7’s handling of the aftermath fails the landing. The root of the problem is brushed aside, no actual condemnation of the online harassment, no addressing how Akane was being slandered at her own school even while she’s sitting on the toilet, nothing. Not a care in the world, just labeled as “online flaming.” This is very problematic especially in light of both the subtext and the supposed inspiration for the events of ep6. See there was this Japanese reality show called Terrace House in 2020 where a boxer named Hana Kimura participated. She had a conflict with one of her roommates and when this dispute was aired on TV, she had a disgusting amount of abuse hurled at her; the weight this put on her mental health was too much and she tragically took her own life. The season was canceled as well as the whole series afterwards. Hana’s only known parent Kyoko Kimura then saw episode 6 and thought it insensitive; honestly it’s not hard to see, similarities such as a reality show and the online harassment are not exactly subtle. However, the online storm that followed, as well as just how poor in taste the usage of a recent tragedy is when episode 7 failed to live up to the message it had all the reason to swing with, just makes this series look insensitive and apathetic.


Kana’s just inconsistent. Thought the character would be a great addition following her reintroduction in episodes 3-4 where she seemed to have gotten past her young egotistical phase in episode 1 but after episode 4, she’s been reduced to a mopey tsundere stereotype. It’s not the VA’s fault for following directions but good grief between episodes 5-9 she has this ear-piercing shriek and all her lines are generic love interest quips, all of which are neither funny or endearing and are overacted. Then in episode 10, for whatever reason, a whole new layer of her life is given an exposition dump which all feels so out of nowhere. Then in the finale we’re back to her being an actor and suddenly she has a history with Akane. Feels like too many things that actively conflict with each other, none of it meshes very well as it's too much all at once.

Overall, a very poor showing. The series had great potential, but it squanders its message at every turn. It was all bark and no bite; it chose to shy away from hammering home the point. Overly ignorant in some aspects, caricatured a whole industry with little nuance, and its episodes suffered very schizophrenic tone shifts again and again.

Sometimes I think it's impossible for a anime to completely shoot its own foot but this "sequel" proves it's possible AND can self-eviscerate in the process. With the title featuring 'Two' you'd rightly think this to be a sequel, however, any actual continuity is absent from this iteration. Save for names, places, and a few inconsequential references to prior events this series bares no resemblance to it's prior self. It's more like what Pokemon did with the AU movies starting in 2017, where knowing a bit about the anime might help but overall you don't need to actually know every reference. It's still ... a disappointment because it somewhat acts like a follow up but it's more like NISEKOI's S2 and THAT wasn't even the adapters' fault, just forgets everything and goes slice of life.

It's like Xebec, who was responsible for the wreck of To-Love-Ru's first season followed by a more 1:1 MOTTO, just saw the story, thought it was meh and decided to make every episode like it's part of another anime. It's trope bingo here, every episode goes for what normally is an anime's whole concept, a memory loss, teacher x student, cat girls, crossdressing girls where the one doing so looks suspiciously like Tomo-chan, manga convention participation... How the mighty have fallen. One good grace is that the characters are at least more consistent, no more out-of-character moments from people like Uzui turning righteous or Himegami suddenly becoming too passive in any interaction. Though don't celebrate since it doesn't really amount to anything and for whatever reason Takeru lost his glasses between seasons and we never find out how that happened. Remember too how he has no idea about his power? Yeah, that's also missing here. Remember his harem? Well, the season's more an ensemble so it really doesn't get any attention whatsoever. Only 3-4 have it and even then most of it are just moments than the focus.

What really stings, however, is that it's like this season KNOWS it's actively stepping away from the story. The opening stinger montage is a shpeal spoken by one of the characters and while it seems aware of the main point, the villains it alludes to have been reduced to nameless NPCs who're just causing havoc for the sake of it rather than the world conquering villains alluded to throughout S1. The opening itself also seems aware of its continuity yet none of it's part of the season. The only episode that seems to be canon is the final one but even that one acts rather oddly about it's validity. One thing that is consistent is the fanservice, so if that's appealing and you find To-Love-Ru's art style amazing, this will satisfy.

It's NOT BAD, but if you were curious about the deeper, darker plot, this won't due. Only episodes really worth mentioning being eps 1, 6-7, 8-10.

"Mom, can we have High School DxD?"
"No, we have High School DxD at home."
The High School DxD at home: Maken-ki

(Mild spoilers incoming)
Yeah...this is, um, an anime for sure. I'll start off by saying that I don't think the story of this is all that bad, I just don't think it's conveyed all that well here in the adaptation. A faithful adaptation, this is not, here they took quite a few creative liberties in the script, granted I've yet to read the manga but I hope I'm not wrong in saying that I'm sure the mangaka was handling the story better than here - but ... it doesn't take much to tell by episode 6 that a massive quality drop has happened. According to the fan wiki the writers generally only used parts of the source material to write the story and 2/4 arcs adapted here even had major areas re-written, which was incredibly disappointing to find out (but credit where credit's due, they hide it somewhat well).

It doesn't really take much to tell when the episodes have abandoned the source material as it's whenever the tone of the events and the actions of the characters seem to not line up with the first five episodes; that and the fanservice panty-shots suddenly disappear, whereas scenes concerning major story beats feature them overtly. There is an irony to the fact that it's episodes 6-9 where this blatant creative liberty is most egregious. For whatever reason one of the side-characters suddenly has moral layers that then disappear and ultimately added nothing to his character, stakes of events are suddenly way watered down, and it goes from slight political thriller to slice-of-life for four episodes. This out of twelve might not sound too bad but back-to-back eps of this really soured my enjoyment of the show. The series is about a martial-arts academy where fighters bolster this with elemental magic channeled through devices called Maken, which seems interesting on the surface alone, it even adds some mystery aspects like MC Takeru's strange inability to be given a Maken and his weird power, why love interest Inaho already has one because of "where she came from", and a third student who has a twist reveal.

Yet for all of this interesting set up, the anime is not the least bit concerned with that and just goofs off for four episodes. Granted, ep 7 is semi-important because it introduces a cast of new characters who aid in the worldbuilding, but the episode itself seems to embody this utterly astounding disinterest the adapters have in making the viewer interested in the source material. Lemme tell you how it does this: So earlier in the series the school tried to give Takeru a Maken but the special device used (it's like the Harry Potter Sorting Hat) for that couldn't identify a trait. This seems to be an important mystery to solve, and in ep7 the device's maker finally comes up with a Maken for our hero. Yet the whole reveal of this new device is disturbed by the new characters' arrival AND THEN the series has the audacity to hold off this reveal until episode 10. COME ON, it's a constant kicking of the can with this series; it sets its McGuffin's up and then never follows up on them, and if they do, take an excruciatingly long time to pay it off. The total opposite of the series I compared it to, High School DxD, both are as raunchy as each other but whereas DxD actually focuses on its worldbuilding and politics, this one seems more than happy to disregard them and just go for some underwhelming slice-of-life nonsense.

Reading the manga seems a better use of time. This is NOT BAD as far as adaptations go, but it is lackluster.

I'll be blunt, ten episodes in and I do not enjoy this show one bit. Before I lose you all, allow me to explain: It starts off strong, undeniably. It has a slow burning, but well written 50 minute first episode to provide the setup for the MC Kyoya, and the quality is good for the next two episodes. From there, however, is all downhill.

This show has ZERO sense of pacing, scenes fly by and any conflict that feels like it should last for longer than an episode to develop characters who we should become very acquainted with are just dealt with ... in a matter of a few lines. It's a show that seems almost disrespectful of its side characters, we never understand them or their motivations. In fact, it’s even worse when they become completely irrelevant by the time you get to the last hurdle of the show — they proved to have no impact whatsoever.

Ironically for a show about creative arts students, it lacks creativity. The characters almost never do anything without Kyoya getting involved, and for a series with a teacher who seems to be teaching her students to think outside the box (aka like the stereotypical beret wearing art students), this show falls sinfully back on very tacky visual 'symbolism' that miss the mark entirely. The saddest part being that this show looks SO GOOD but is let down by thoroughly weak writing with many, MANY, plot holes and poorly written moments. Interestingly, some of what I mentioned IS something that is addressed, but good grief it's executed so horribly that it renders it pointless. Even then it explores a twist 10 episodes in the making with shocking levels of poorly thought out conversations, character logic, and a situation that’s hardly given the room to breathe.