As a nation that tends to push the envelope, Japan has been a world leader in innovation. However, the same distinctive culture, attitudes, environment, and ethos that stimulate efficiency and improvement are also what precipitate some pretty weird creations and institutions. Hence, as it is with anime, Japanese products and services range from the imaginative to the novel to the bizarre.
One of the industries that can only be established and thrive in a place like Japan is the “professional stand-in service”, in which clients can hire actors to serve as their platonic companions during a certain period of time, pretending to be their friends, family members, or even lovers. Rent-A-Girlriend is the first anime I’ve ever encountered that use this real-life trade as premise. And that’s the main reason why I checked it out in the first place.
Rent-A-Girlriend is a harem romantic comedy anime that revolves around 20-year-old college student Kazuya Kinoshita. After getting dumped by his first ever girlfriend, he turns to an online app to procure the services of a rental girlfriend, Chizuru Mizuhara. She proves to be an utter bombshell and is quite a professional, and thus, Kazuya has a great time during their pretend date. It’s supposed to be just a one-off thing, but his childish and selfish impulsiveness gets the better of him, and this leads to a series of events in which they are forced to continue pretending to be in a relationship indefinitely. It becomes more awkward when they discover that they go to the same college and are next-door neighbors. As the series progresses, other rental girlfriends arrive in the picture, and become intertwined with their “will they, won’t they” storyline.
This anime was one of the hits of the recently finished summer 2020 anime season. However, I never really got invested on it. In fact, as what I mentioned in my initial thoughts of it, I seriously considered dropping it a few episodes in. I ended up watching all 12 episodes of its first season because I hoped it would eventually captivate me. Well, that never happened. While watching its weekly episodes, I did occasionally derive entertainment from it, but it never totally clicked with me.
A big reason why the anime was not able to draw me in completely is because Kazuya and Mami, his POS of an ex, are so thoroughly irritating to watch. It would have been fine if it was just Mami, being an antagonist and all, but Kazuya is the effin’ main character. With the case of harem, even if the main character is flawed or wimpy, he must at least have adequate redeemable qualities to convince the audience that he deserves a “happily ever after” with one of the girl characters. Kazuya, however, was simply a pathetic, self-centered jerk straight-up.
Now, I understood that it was probable that he would be improving himself during the course of the series – that’s what character development is all about after all – and that was the idea that made me stick around. Unfortunately, any maturity and self-improvement he underwent during the course of the first season were, in my opinion, insufficient to make up for the initial turnoffs he emitted. I never got convinced that he’s a harem MC worth rooting for. Therefore, I only got annoyed more when the girl characters started falling for him when he didn’t deserve it yet.
Chizuru, by the way, is extremely endearing. She probably deserves to be enshrined among the upper levels of the waifu tier list. Still, the merits she brings to the table can’t offset the show’s unpleasantries
I don’t know. Maybe Rent-A-Girlfriendis simply not for me. I just like my harem anime to be like The Quintessential Quintuplets – wholesome and fun and has a likable MC from the get go.
Post a Comment