Don't get me wrong - it's a flawed and rather generic series. The characters are meh, the visuals are great, and the premise is just alright with its edginess. 'Rent-a-Girlfriend' can be summarized as a gorgeously animated rom-com with a shitload of clichés, chronically dumb characters, and rather cheap drama.
That applies to so many other series, though. And by some law of contradictions, it's exactly these hilariously bad aspects that make the series somewhat enjoyable. Yeah, it could be way better if the story/characters were better too. And yeah, I've heard about the non-existent plot progression; I sure as hell won't be devoting the time to read a 200+ chapter manga for what 'Rent-a-Girlfriend' constitutes.
However, as far as Season 1 goes, this dumpster fire was pretty decent. It has its awkward moments, its outright cringe episodes, and young people with raging hormones making hilariously shit (and sometimes unethical) decisions. Life's like this when you're a college freshman (and not only) sometimes.
I dunno. I guess the MC being a total wimp didn't phase us that much, I guess? In a way, he's more interesting than Self-Insert #N+1 you'd see in most rom-coms. The same applies to Mami being a bitch, Ruka being a pushy brat with a 'convenient' plot device justifying her obnoxiousness and Chizuru being, dunno, a semi-augmented Mary Sue I guess? All of these are generic approaches to plot building/character shaping but they weren't that atrocious.
If anything, the most irritable character is the grandma who is as toxic as a family member can get.
In any case, the first season of 'Rent-a-Girlfriend' was a solid 5.5 to 6/10. Perfect for whenever you have some downtime or want to watch something that doesn't involve a lot of thinking. I can't help but feel that quite a bit of the 'anti' reactions are slightly knee-jerky in nature.
