There’s so much to say I don’t even know where to start. Right from the first episode, the idiocy of the protagonist Kinoshita is already on full display. Renting a girlfriend, then proceeding to get angry because of her “acting” is the kind of 10/10 mental gymnastics that would leave Olympic gymnasts in awe. Her partner in crime, Ms rental herself Ichinose isn’t great either: following him to his urgent and sudden hospital visit is the last thing she should have done, and the rest is history.
First lying to Kinoshita’s grandmother who we know takes trips to the hospital very frequently, and then to her own grandmother who is coincidentally in the same hospital. I get it, she was put on the spot and had little to no other options but to pretend to be Kinoshita’s girlfriend. But you are lying to people inches away from their deathbed here, wouldn’t you feel at least a bit hesitant to do such a thing? And Ichinose, what about not going with him to the hospital visit in the first place? Alas, the show needed this encounter to essentially “lock in” this idea that Kinoshita and Ichinose are a couple, at least to the characters in the show. This is furthered when they met Kinoshita’s friends and got him boasting about his “real girlfriend”, but I digress. Everything about this show is built on a lie, making the plot feel very forced and hard to swallow.
The nail in the coffin is that everything considered, these events could all be avoided by simply using common sense. If your customer is leaving because of something urgent, then as a rental, don’t bother him and call it a day. If you during a rental date bumped into someone you know, then just play it off as going out with a friend of yours. These terrible misunderstandings that constitute the entire plot of this show rely on the sheer incompetence of Kinoshita, while Ichinose has no choice but to play along. She really carried this series, being the most sensible person present, but nonetheless, she isn’t perfect, and one cute anime girl is not going to cut it for all this mess.
What about the other cast members then? Mami might be the most unlikeable character one has ever created, it’s as if Malty is in the real world instead of in an isekai. She’s manipulative and calculating, yet we see time and time again how Kinoshita reminiscing about their past relationship, which adds to the already long list of reasons for us to hate the protagonist. As for Ruka and Sumi, they only appear later in the story, hence because of spoiler reasons I cannot comment on.
The final thing that I can discuss then, is the exposition in episode four. The author seriously tried his best to get us viewers sympathize with the protagonist, talking about one of his (probably) many silly stories back when he was a child. The problem with that is we never get to see Kinoshita ever do anything that signifies the slightest of intelligence: he literally only thinks with his dick. We hate him for his utter uselessness, indecisiveness and foolishness, not something that could be fixed with some “haha funny” moments, is it? This supposedly heartwarming scene is here only to sway emotions of impressionable audiences, and anyone who with a slightly critical eye would recognise these cheap tricks immediately. For those who want to mention the cliff hanger, rest assured, it won't amount to anything significant.
It is then more than puzzling that they actually got a decent OP, ED, an all-star cast of voice actors (except for the male protagonist, how fitting), not to mention good animation. I normally would praise seasonal shows for actually putting some effort in their animation, and this one is definitely above average. The OP and ED sang by the peggies and halca are both great songs that I would regularly listen to. But somehow the premium treatment given to this abominable plot actually makes me mad more than anything else.
I’ve learnt my lesson that reviewing shows before they end is not a good practice. After all, with 8 episodes yet to air, a show’s quality can vary greatly. But no, I won’t give Kanokari the benefit of the doubt here. Being a source reader who loves self-torturing enough to catch up to the latest chapter, I would not recommend anyone to watch this show; unless you are one of those people who like watching cringe compilations for entertainment, then go for it all you want.
