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This review was written with the help of a fellow renthead with whom I watched the entirety of the series together The Salty Gamer (Mal profile: https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheSabbyRabbit )

This review contains spoilers

We will break this season of kanokari down and explain what we liked and what we didn’t about this season.

Me: So first I would like us to talk about the story and writing for season 2. This season unfolded as expected, Kazuya wants to learn even more about Chizuru and help her with his money. So we pretty much got the same stuff we got last season.

The Salty Gamer (will be cut to T.S.G. for ... ease): Yeah, It is Kanokari so the story keeps being the circle of Kazuya trying to get closer to Chizuru while the other girls try to steal his heart. However I have to give credit where it’s due, this season had some unexpectedly impressive scenes like the hot kissing moment between Ruka and Kazuya, the date Kazuya went with Chizuru at the amusement park and the date with Sumi at the aquarium to name but a few.

Me: Of course, don’t get me wrong even though I didn’t sing it praise I have to say that this season had moments that put it even higher in my heart. Those hot moments between Kazuya and our female cast made my heart beat faster. Now we should get talking about the main characters. My general thoughts about them and you should agree with me is that even though their designs are amazing the personalities of some of them kinda suck.

T.S.G: Some of their behaviors and actions are questionable. First allow me to start by talking about Kazuya, my feelings about him do not stem from anger towards his behavior but empathy for some of his feelings. There were times during the anime when I wanted to grab him from the ugly orange shirt he usually wears and tell him, “Hey, come on, you have to find the courage and confess to Chizuru already.” He has three attractive women fighting for his attention, and it seems he is deadest on confessing to Chizuru at some point. I guess this, too, is part of the Kanokari drama. If he confessed, then it would not be Kanokari. Although I said all that I can respect him a bit since he tried exposing the customer-rental girlfriend relationship which takes guts.

Me: I believe Kazuya to be somewhat better from what he has been the previous season. I see him to be more forward towards Chizuru and sometimes even try to help out the situation by finally exposing the lie ,that he and Chizuru are together, to their grandmothers. This aspect is vital because Chizuru’s grandmother will soon be gone, and she will never learn the truth. I found this part of Kazuya’s actions to be more mature than you describe them, but of course he also follows the typical romcom main character steps of being unable to confess because he is overthinking it.
Now let’s talk about our main heroine, Chorizo. She has been getting worse in my eyes day by day, if I had to choose for the most immature character in Kanokari I would very strongly consider putting her first. She is the one that pressures Kazuya to keep the facade of boyfriend and girlfriend to their grandmothers .Also whenever Kazuya openly offers to help her with whatever trouble she is having, most of the time she denies it since she thinks herself as too powerful to be helped by Kazuya. That may also be her tsun side not wanting to be helped by Kazuya and not showing it since we can see she has some feelings about him.

T.S.G.: I understand how you can view Chizuru as immature, but let me try to make a case for her. The perfect way to describe Chizuru for me is that her behavior is really close to Kazuya’s. Let me explain. As you said, she tries to be self-reliable and sometimes even too full of herself, but that’s also a driving plot point of Kanokari in how she uses her job as a rental to train for her dream of becoming a big time actress. In addition even though she has caught on her feelings about Kazuya and she herself is the cause for the continuation of their relationship as customer and rental. Let us note though that it is Kazuya who continuously books her, and she keeps the facade up to help him put his grandmother at ease, which can be viewed as an act of kindness. I respect that she tries to do things her way, on her own terms, and by herself.

Me: Yes, Kazuya is the one that books her all the time. However, I think Chizuru would find Kazuya the type of person who is close enough to be considered a friend, especially after all they’ve been through. But NO! Chizuru still charges him for every date they go on and won’t try to contact him for help when she’s in need.

T.S.G.:That’s a point I had not considered before and might affect my rankings at the end. The fact that she continues to charge while trying to be somewhat close to Kazuya because of everything they have been through makes me think that she leans towards the selfish side. I remember, you talked about an immature character ranking before. Can I guess who makes you not consider Chizuru first on that list? It has to be Ruka, though I wouldn’t consider her immature but rather childish in the way she throws temper tantrums to try and get her way. I do think that her straightforwardness makes her a fan favorite for the best girl. She is the one that fell in love and confessed her love first to Kazuya even though the reason was just her heartbeat getting higher which proves how straightforward she is towards him, which I deeply respect. Of course the kissing scene reinforces what I said.

Me: I cannot disagree with you more about Ruka. I felt deep hatred for her personality from the first time she appeared on screen. I can’t see her childishness as something attractive, but rather I see it more as something annoying. Truth be told, the kissing scene and her coming to Kazuya’s house made me think a bit better of her.

T.S.G.: Hatred could be a bit harsh there, but I can see where you are coming from. I will keep my current opinion of her and say it takes courage to be as straightforward as she was. Her design is excellent too.

Me: That’s understandable. Now let’s talk about a character that appeared very little this season, Mami. I can’t say much about her she continued the same way as the previous season she is intrusive towards Kazuya and cares a lot about what he does, which makes me consider that she might still have feelings for him since going at such lengths to be a menace to a person’s (unhealthy) relationship has to have a reason.

T.S.G.: I have to agree with you; Mami does not appear too much this season to make an opinion on her for just this season. As you said, she continued the same way as last season and her only use this season was to cause dread to the typical Chizuru fan. Finally, leaving the best for last, we have to talk about Sumi. I found Sumi to be the series’ best character. Reserved, cute, helpful, and still courageous enough to confess her feelings made me like her the most.

Me: Yeah, finally, someone with good taste. I also found Sumi to be the best girl in the series. All the moments she had with or without Kazuya made me like her even more than I did before. She showed her best self at the aquarium date, but sadly she wasn’t heard by our main character since this is a romcom.

T.S.G.: I agree that her actions became moot in typical romcom fashion. I’m telling you, if she had more screen time, the viewers would appreciate Sumi more.

Me: I could not agree more about her deserving more screen time in the future, but I doubt she’ll get it. Happy with her screen time this season, though!

T.S.G.:Yeah this season the Sumi fans ate well.

Me: I previously mentioned the amazing character designs Kanokari has, well the art department as a whole for the anime was really good. Both the animation and transitions in the anime were smooth and every scene was beautiful to look at.

T.S.G.: I agree with you about Kanokari’s art. It does have a beautifully illustrated manga, and the adaptation follows suit. I have no negatives about the anime’s art, animation, or direction. I think being pleasing to the eyes makes it enjoyable to watch. Last but not least I would like us to discuss the soundtrack Kanokari had. I must admit that I sincerely enjoyed all the soundtracks played throughout the season.

Me: Yeah, I have to admit the character music playing in the background of turning points in the anime slapped. I really enjoyed them.

T.S.G.: Yeah, and let’s not forget the opening, “Himitsu Koi Gokoro” by CHiCo, which with its lively and cheery tone, grew on me, and by the end of episode six or so, it became something I looked forward to hearing.

Me: I felt the same about the OP at first. You remember how I thought that “That’s so much worse than the season 1 OP”, but as the episodes went on and on, I have to admit I enjoyed it more and more, so much so that I consider it very close to the one of season 1 in terms of quality. Now the ending,” Ienai” by MIMiNARI ft. asmi, was an ED I enjoyed looking at so much so I don’t remember lots of the music. When we reached that point, I focused on its amazing visuals.

T.S.G.: Well, because you were busy appreciating the ending visuals to say something about the music itself, I’ll do the honors. I will start by saying that I found the ED music quite fitting for each episode. The soft vocals and upbeat instrumentals, accompanied by the fantastic background art, put my heart at ease and filled me with peace and happiness.

Me: Well closing our review I believe we should make a ranking for the girls appearing in the show in typical H&E fashion. The reason for my ranking is in the characters discussion a little further up so here I go: Sumi>>>>Mami>Ruka>Chizuru

T.S.G.: Ooh, too harsh there on both Chizuru and Ruka. For me, it falls more like: Sumi>>Ruka>Chizuru>Mami.

Me:Even though I must disagree about the Ruka placement I guess it’s fair since Chizuru is much worse in terms of character, but I remember you liked Chizuru more than Ruka. What changed?

T.S.G.: To elaborate a bit, the point you made about Chizuru continuously charging Kazuya made me think her actions do not truly stem from kindness and that bumped her down a spot. Ruka is childish and annoying at times, but I believe her actions come from a place of genuine interest/love for Kazuya. Although I respect what Mami brings to the story and her character design, I will have to put it her last.

Me: To conclude I believe kanokari was a really enjoyable experience for anyone wanting to watch an anime without thinking about it which was how we watched it so we will be rating it accordingly.

T.S.G.: Yeah, I also had lots of fun watching it, and I hope season 3 will deliver even more of the quality rentin content I want.