The girls have gorgeous and unique designs. The quality of the anime’s animation, colouring and art also compliments them. It is undeniable that they look good, but everyone’s personality in this show is terrible. Let’s begin with the main protagonist Kazuya Kinoshita, he is a walking stereotype of a redditor. He’s a massive pervert and it’s like he’s never been outside. It’s clear that the writer wanted to make him out to be relatable for the guys who can’t talk to girls and a goofball. Every character needs flaws, that's how you make them realistic. But Kinoshita suffers from no development whatsoever throughout the series. Every episode is the same repeat of him whining and confused about which girl he likes out of his options, then he’s shocked when this girl who shows no interest in him at all and is only a rental rejects him. He has no logic at all either, 3 episodes in and he’s debating on getting back with his ex-girlfriend Mami as if she didn’t just dump him. He is such a cringey character. It’s unbearable to watch and it’s unfathomable how he likes any of these girls aside from their looks.
Chizuru is the first love interest Kinoshita gets introduced to after he was dumped. She’s a massive contradiction. She considers him to be nothing more than a client. However, when Kinoshita says he’s going to ask out his ex-girlfriend again (even though she dumped him 2 episodes ago) Chizuru decides to jump off a boat in an attempt to drown herself. Now, if she had no feelings for him whatsoever why would she do that? There was no point other than to add drama by turning this into a Wattpad novel. The entire show forces itself to slow burn and run in this circle of questioning which girl Kinoshita likes. Another girl worth mentioning who is insufferable is Ruka. She wants to be with Kinoshita and she cannot take no for an answer. An important piece of information to know is that Kinoshita and Chizuru have been pretending to date each other's grandmothers. To be a pain she decides to ruin that lie, by telling Kinoshita’s grandmother Kinoshita and Maku are dating. Somebody needs to take her to a consent class and find a better taste in men.
As gathered, Rent-a-Girlfriend has a terrible plot and story structure. The idea of a guy having to choose between a bunch of rental girlfriends who spend the entire show rejecting him is already at a rocky start and a lot of people won't like that premise (like any other show). It has so much forced drama where new characters are added and the characters throw themselves back into the picture to only be like "never mind" and that same continues. It’s a mess of a series and this is only done to make it last more than 10 minutes. For example, for 3 episodes straight Chizuru and Kinoshita go back and forth between ending their fake relationship and deciding to continue it. This anime is what middle school fanfic writers take inspiration from. The only thing that this show can be described as is an unenjoyable mess.
I can’t help but feel bad for the voice actors and animators because it’s clear that they worked their backsides off on this dumpster fire of an anime. This show should only be recommended to your worst enemies. What this show tries to make funny and serious has seemed to be muddled up. If you’re looking for a rom com there are so many other options than this.
