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.
