The main character Kazuya is one of the worst characters I have seen in any romance genre, his sole goal in the beginning portion of the manga is getting a girlfriend so he decides to use an app to hire a "girlfriend" to give him the experience of having one. And then the dude gets pissed off at the worker for giving other people this experience because he wants to keep Chizuru to himself and literally blows up on her when he sees her with another man doing her job.
My first complaint is he doesn't find self-improvement as a goal to aid his desire to get a girlfriend instead he finds using money given to his family to fuel his artificial experience of having a companion, this idea I find incredibly harmful in society, and yet is viewed as GOOD in this manga so much so that he rents Chizuru out to his friend when he finds out.
He does have some merits and is not a complete write-off character because he is willing to save another person even with the thought of being harmed in the process and aids Chizuru in making a film for her grandmother. Those two moments along with the art are the only reason why I kept on reading this manga.
But the reasons to hate him and the rest of the cast keep on growing and growing, the only four characters in this entire dumpster fire I find actually decent and normal are Kibe (Kazuya's friend for some ungodly reason), Nagomi (Kazuya's grandmother), Sumi (Shy character who wants to get over her shyness so is trying to improve with the rent a girlfriend job), and Sayuri (Chizuru's grandmother). And I just realized why I don't dislike them as much as other cast members It is because the author decided to make them normal people due to not being heavily shown in the manga.
Kibe calls out Kazuya for his bullshit and tells him that he needs to get his shit together and stop thinking of his ex and think of his current girlfriend. Every time this dude is on the panels he's just trying to help out Kazuya or try to make him into a better person, and Kazuya either doubles down and says he's not wrong or two get his ass handed to him and then says he'll change and then proceeds to completely forget about it.
Both of their grandmother due to the lack of screentime I don't really have any issues, both are very thoughtful and want to best for their grandchildren and function like normal people thank god.
Sumi is the only member of the main four casts of girls that is the most normal of the bunch, this isn't high praise but its better than nothing since she actively is trying to get over her shy nature which is commendable and she gets money while trying to do this which is money smart.
All right let's go over the rest of the cast members
Mami: the two-faced ex
- probably the most hated character of this manga when it should be Kazuya
- why do you have so much free time
- what is your damage with seeing your ex having a good time
- holy fuck stop threatening Chizuru with going to Nagomi, to tell the truth about the artificial relationship just say it and get this ridiculous plot blackhole done with
- the only character who probably has the trigger to end this ridiculous farce that is called Rent a Girlfriend's plot
- the hero we need not the hero we want
Ruka: heart palpations are the least of your problems
- has a heart condition
- her entire premise is built on the above point
- falls in love with Kazuya due to the above-mentioned point and now proceeds to try to do anything to get into a relationship with him
- except tell his grandmother that the relationship that he has with Chizuru is artificial like the plastic
- is relegated to the third wheel when Kazuya's initial desire was to GET A GIRLFRIEND
- why do you stick with Kazuya? Just ride a rollercoaster and become a thrill seeker for fucks sake, become a stunt double or something
Chizuru: wants to go into the acting business, proceeds to whore herself
- incredibly well drawn in nearly any panel she is in
- can't seem to separate business and pleasure
- wants to become an actress and use the rent-a-girlfriend company as a jump pad to get a start off her acting career
- can't seem to properly convey to her grandmother and Kazuya's grandmother that they are having a misunderstanding
- what other personality does she have other than wanting an acting career and looking incredibly well-drawn
- after the film arc is just relegated to a wheel of the never-ending cog of the machine that is a romance drama manga
Kazuya: "A walking bruh moment."
- a lonely character who wants companionship but never self-improves in any form to better himself to have a healthier mindset for a relationship
- proceeds to rent girls out to have a fake experience of a relationship
- wastes money that is given by his parents to the point he gets a part-time job to fuel his unhealthy fix
- prances around his family and friends with his fake girlfriend to try and prove he is doing fine
- lashes out when called out for behavior that a normal person would obviously question
- when provided sound advice proceeds to forget and never look back on it
- gets a girl who is willing to be his GIRLFRIEND and proceeds to label her as a compulsive liar in front of his family to try and get with Chizuru
- refuses to come clean to his grandmother and his family or friends because afraid of the consequences
- is probably never going to come clean with this
All in all, fuck this out of 10 I wasted a bunch of my time. Go read the doujins, they have all the benefits of this manga which is the art
