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I don't normally get involved with reviews, but this is just that one anime that set the bar for a review.

The premise of Rent-A-Girlfriend, is Kazuya Kinoshita who is a 20 year old college student got into a relationship with the bright and radiant, Mami Nanami but then right after, they basically break up after a months worth of dating...i dont even wanna continue this brief synopsis of the anime ._.

*Spoilers ahead*

Firstly, Kazuya will really make you question why you are watching the anime knowing that he is a garbage MC as well as Chizuru being a garbage female MC just as much. Mami ... is just bad in her own obvious way, but let's discuss both our male and female lead characters. This'll stem from season 1 into transitioning to season 2. Kazuya really rents a girlfriend and as much as he is paying her 5000¥ for 2 hours of her pretend girlfriend time. And as the story progressed, not only did it demonstrate how much of coward and spineless idiot he is, but how reckless and idiotic chizuru is with him. If she and both her job's rules blatantly state that neither client nor employee can meddle in either's personal lives, regardless of the fact he paid her or not for her time as his pretend girlfriend..you get an emergency call you grangran is in the hospital and you run off..Chizuru who not only made the rules BLATANTLY (AGAIN) AWARE TO HIM AS WELL SHE SPECIFIES HER JOB ALSO MENTIONS IT TOO runs off after him and then ignites this whole facade that they are a happy couple to both their grandparents and his family which then transitions towards his friends and throws things out of control. And each minute of watching will only make you sit there as you are watching and question yourself on the obvious and asinine traits towards the series that just makes you awkwardly cringe not only that the 2 MCs but also at yourself for even remotely trying to understand the premise behind it and why you should continue watching =/

Characters: 3 (It honestly would've been a 1 if Sumi-chan didnt exist in this story)
The characters as a collective whole is so awkward and unpleasant in how they tediously interpret feelings and situations (that yes I do understand this is an anime) could be handled so much more appropriately and differently. Except Sumi-chan. She's the only reason I'm miraculously giving this a 3 instead of a 1. Kazuya is a bumbling idiot, who yes at times can be considerate even if it may be over the top and can be a good person, but what makes him such a revolting character is his cowardice, his lack of confidence especially after the fact that he has been constantly surrounded and dealing with very cute women in many 1on1 situations and the fact that even AFTER GOING ON A YEARS WORTH OF DATES WITH A PRETEND GIRLFREND YOU STILL LACK CONFIDENCE AND IS STILL A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR which is so awkward and cringe I wanna throw up. Not only that, he's met 2 other girls who wouldve definitely and more than likely willingly been okay with being his girlfriend legitimately if he so asked or pushed at it, but instead he devoted his time, energy, MONEY and effort into a girl who couldn't reciprocate his feelings unless it was through pretend.

Chizuru only makes things go from insult to injury because she instead plays the role with him of lying to everyone and spurs him on this rental girlfriend nonsense still knowing that it isn't good for him emotionally and romantically. Thats 1 and 2, she's aware of his feelings and continues to lead him on and having him still pay to obviously take her out as a pretend girlfriend on top of paying for the date(s) knowing that she too feels the same as him and can't be honest about it. That in itself is very unbecoming and toxic. I admire how she does stand up for him a lot despite being a rental girlfriend, but its like her negatives really weigh down on her positives severely. I won't mention manga stuff in here as this is the anime however I will say that chizuru I feel like does many things for him not everything but a lot feels very forced. Like when she spoke for him with mami, I feel like she spoke up for him in the context of being with mami, but when mami reversed the question "how do you feel about him?" onto her, she stayed silent. Ultimately, she's just as liable of a bad MC as he is, just not the severe lengths kazuya is as a bad MC.

Ruka-chan was to me personally, that cute girl who has a very falsified interpretation of what love is. Yes falling for someone can give you that heartbeat racing thing, butterflies and allat but its like there's just more to it than just that and I don't think the creator even gave her remotely ANY DEVELOPMENT WORTH OF UNDERSTANDING THAT. He just left her to be very clingy and develop a false sense of attachment to someone who couldn't reciprocate her feelings back to her. I won't say I hate her like the other viewers do, because she does demonstrate MANY very good traits on a girlfriend after quitting the rent-a-girlfriend job. She actually plans dates with him, she's sincerely honest with him and doesn't beat around the bushes like he and chizuru does, she knows what she wants (HIM!!!!!!) and she actually puts in the effort to show him that she really does love him even if its a falsified interpretation of what it means to fall in love (referencing the fact that her bpm being 80+ means it love nonsense). But even though the premise of how she fell in love with him is jacked up, her love for him is genuine. From the episode where she comes over (and she was ready to give him her body if he so wanted it by bringing condoms just in case) and cooks for him, she didn't have to do that. The fact she was okay with him doing her if he wanted to shows she was giving her all in interpretation of being his girlfriend. She gave 100% of herself to him whereas he gave her 1% back by labeling it as a pretend couple or that they arent really a thing when he himself said he wanted to make it official and didn't hold true to it. She understood what it meant to be a real girlfriend and what a partner should do whereas he doesn't understand what it means to be a boyfriend and a proper partner to anyone else.

As for mami-chan and sumi-chan..I dont need to discuss Sumi as she rarely gets screen time whereas simplifying mami so I can talk about other parts, she's not necessarily a bad person. Just very confused. From her old fling that had her understand true love and abruptly losing it afterwards, she lost her sense of love and tried to test what it meant by dating anyone which let to it being kazuya. She ultimately puts up this falsified front of trying to protect him from being hurt and from chizuru by getting confirmation from chizuru herself through actions and responses to see where they stand outside being a rental GF. But how she went about everything was horrible and the relationship she could've rekindled with kazuya even as close friends imo is abyssmal. Shes twisted and her falsified sense of justice makes her unappealing AS WELL as that fake persona she puts up all the time. Very unattractive.

Art: 7
Nothing wrong with the art, I think the art was actually pretty decent despite it going to a mediocre anime. I did enjoying the coloring and styling of the outside world, the environment and the coloring of all the characters aside from kazuya. It was interesting at the least.

Story: 4
To keep it very brief, the story continuing from S1 only demonstrates even further how inept kazuya is as a MC from not knowing to differentiate the right girlfriend blatantly in his face from the wrong one who barely does anything to make him sprung for her other than looking good and dressing nice. To be honest, what developed the story honestly wasn't the relationship between kazuya and the other supporting characters. The premise is blatantly the grandparents and appeasing the grandparents at the fact that both of them are in a relationship and are happy with one another despite it being all a lie. Honestly the story doesn't really develop that much and truth be told, its been stagnant since season 1. And the reason why is like I said, the whole premise of the show is to put up a front for their grandparents. If not for their grandparents, he more than likely would've been with ruka and knocked her up 5 times over lol (that last part was irrelevant but it somewhat is the truth esp w the story AND relationship of the characters).

Sound: 5
Not much to say here imo..Music is a mid, opening/ending is okay I guess.

My Enjoyment: -4(really a 3)
I know I can't give negative ratings, but this anime deserves it. Everyone is cringe, kazuya's choices (also chizuru's choices as well) and understanding of romance and understanding what a girlfriend really is just makes me cringe (feels bad for ruka though), and honestly I love the shy Sumi who despite barely getting screentime, tried her best and understood her own role in the show and I loved that.

Overall: 3/10
This anime was such a flop and thats why I've avoided it for so many years especially from when it first got released at Season 1 til now. And let me tell you, I tried watching past episode 14 (season 2 episode 2) and dropped the anime and then I tried to thug it out again and went back and made it to episode 18 (season 2 episode 6) and dropped it again and regretted even going back to it again. I only watched more cause Sumi got a little bit more screen time at episode 17 so I decided to finish that episode. I know my review is late especially with the time this anime had came out n all, but if you are considering in getting into this anime as of 2023, PLEASE DO NOT DO IT TO YOURSELF. YOU WILL WANT TO POUR BLEACH INTO YOUR EYES!