At face value, Rentagirlfriend seems like your generic romantic comedy that just happened to suck even more than usual. It’s got its one unique aspect in rental girlfriends. We’ve got plenty of the common tropes and awkward situations, except this time the character design turns the cringe factor up to the max. It is very easy to throw this one in the garbage and be done with it; This type of slow-burn show is not for everyone. But Rentagirlfriend brings something else to the table. Kazuya doesn’t get the privilege of everyone loving him from the beginning for no reason, nor does he get some forced plot that magically brings the couple together. He lives by the laws of actual, real humans: that is, he needs to take his time to get things going.
From the first episode Kazuya is extremely frustrating. His old girlfriend dumps him in the first 30 seconds, so we're dealing with a sub-par guy from the start. He has few outstanding qualities, and the ones he does have are all negative.
Kazuya is very perverted, and the ‘funny’ moments the show tries to incorporate this into are often anything but. In addition, he makes so many wrong decisions throughout the show that it's a wonder he can even live by himself. And when one of his many blunders comes back to bite him, does he wake up, take control of the situation, and rectify it in the end? Does he at least attempt to do so? No, he cries or does something else that makes us pity him, and then Chizuru or one of his friends fixes it for him. I could rant all day about all the stupid things he does, but I can’t be too mad at him, because for all his mistakes, he actively tries to get better.
As we move along the timeline, we start to see a couple of cracks shine through Kazuya’s hard outer shell of patheticness.
The first good decision Kazuya makes is when he saves her (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers). Sure, he goes and ruins our new point of view of him immediately afterward, but they’re taking his maturing one step at a time, which is good. It almost makes it feel… I don’t know… real? Anime is full of instantaneous shifts in character, love at first sight, and other unrealistic clichés, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but for this to be different makes it stand out, Especially because it is subversive. This show, which seems like it is going to follow all the obvious tropes, actually ends up being unique.
As the show progresses, we get fed more and more of these moments. The other characters work perfectly as initiators. When Ruka is introduced, Kazuya makes another correct decision: He learned from his episode with both Mami and Chizuru, and though tempted, he sticks to his guns. In addition, he does not want to hurt his buddy and potentially lose that friendship. Kazuya is making the correct decisions when it counts, and, by the end of season one, sometimes when it doesn’t count as well. He handles the episode with Sumi alright, kind of messes it up with Mami, but it wasn’t an easy situation in the first place, and looking past that, he gave Sumi the great experience she needed.
The one thing I would have liked to see is more depth for Chizuru. Sumi, Mami, and Ruka could remain static characters throughout the series and it wouldn’t be the worst thing, but as the main girl, Chizuru should definitely be dynamic, and there was not quite enough of that in this first season.
Kazuya has to start pathetic, or else development could not happen. And you could say that makes a good chunk of Rentagirlfriend exceedingly frustrating to watch, and I would agree with you, which is why I am only giving it a five. But it is a necessary evil, because when Kazuya finally gets a real relationship going, he will have earned it, just as he will have earned that higher rating. At least, that is what I hope will happen. I am writing this review without having seen the second season, but if they continue down the path they have been on, we could have a real treat in store.
Just to add in a quick note on a few things: The art is quite good; I enjoy the expressiveness of the characters. As far as audio goes, the music is inoffensive; not bad but not anything amazing. The VAs did an excellent job though (Can’t help but crack a smile every time someone goes “HAAUH???”). I despise Mami, but somebody has to be the antagonist, I guess. That just means they did a good job at making her the villain. The show really started to pick up for me around episode six, where they lost focus on Mami and Grandma a bit and started introducing other characters into the mix.
Thank you for reading.
