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Ranma is a classic anime that pioneered the infamour anime trope:
A male character that gets all the girls.

Akane - The classic Tsunede girl
Shampoo - The seductive one
Ukyo - The Childhood tomboy (girl) friend who's brash
Kodachi - The rich with kinky fantasies (*Ahem* Darkness)

However, besides this one trope, Ranma is 100% unique from all other modern anime.

... The first obvious thing is the MC.
Ranma is not shy boy that knows better than anyone else the world.
He's no Otaku or a shut-in - he's the old school tough boy with a (unique) fighting style.

He chemistry with cast is hilarious and that includes all the female partners that he needs to manage.
He's like "Kazuma" from Konosuba, only he's actually an alpha male that is ready to tackle the world and is fairly confident compared to the bland modern Isekai character.
Sure, Ranma is not an Isekai, but we all know the trope of the Otaku become bigger than he is, is a fantasy coping for the masses.

Oh, and I forgot another element this show has - the other male characters of the show.
A show that includes multiple male characters along side the harem, is something that is rare these days (I am looking at you Monogatari series)

The male characters have the best chemistry because they just so bad, in terms of personality.
When writing them in bizzare scenarios with Ranma or one of the female partners, you can guarantee that something hilarious will happen.

The only "downside" to this is the plot that is completely non-existant.
If you expect Ranma to develop any emotions for Akane in later episodes, than I should note something about the series.

Ranma is more of a sitcom show where nothing actually moves forward.
There are not resolutions for characters that honestly need them, which are mainly the girls and the boys that need a partner in their life.

And if you think that's bad, than let's say that the manga does more of the most awful ending to it's main characters.
Let's say it's worse than Urusei Yatsura's ending.

Other than that, just so know that this specific Anime has one many famous voice actors you might know even today like:
Noriko Hidaka, Kappei Yamaguchi, Chō, Koichi Yamadera, Kikuko Inoue and many more actually.

This movie is a classic anime of the 90s.
It's basically the beach episode of Ranma but as an entire movie.

The movie looks great even for it's time and yes the "fan service" is up to the max with this.
No girl in this movie gets treated poorly when designed their outfits.
And the men get cool fight cutscene.
And it's all sprinkled in Ranma's classic comedy, which makes this a blast to watch.

If you look for a movie to turn to brain off and enjoy some classic animation, and this is for you.

... _________________________________________________________________________________

Who's doesn't need to see this movie?
Well, in general, if you like movie's with well thought out stories, than the Whole Ranma series isn't for you

--------------- Intro ---------------
_____________________________________

Zom 100 is a relatable anime for the many people who live in the western world and especially in current day Japan.
So at first glance, I thought to myself that it was gonna be a good show to watch.
But, since I know Japanese Anime tends to throw it's potenial after the first few episodes *AHEM rent a Girlfriend* in favour of pure fanservice, I ready to drop the show if such thing occured.

However, surprisingly enough, the fanservice was barely used even when it had the sauce to prepare such scenes.
Which make me really like this anime.

So, I'll start by givin' a brief summary ... of the MC and his companions.


------------ Akira (MC) -------------
_____________________________________

Akira looks like you typical MC from any ikekai, which sets him as a dull character at first.
This guy had fun with his high school friends and learned hard to get into a Job that society sees as worthy.
But, as soon as he starts working, he becomes immobile to do anything do to a lack of time outsite of Job and because the company exploits it's workers.

Luckily for him his life changed.. for the best? XD

------- Kencho (No homo guy) --------
_____________________________________

Akira's best friend is a play boy which similarly enough, hated his Job as much.
When he meets Akira, Akira shows me the potential to life outside of work.
Which sets him on a goal into becoming a comedian.

Kenchou comes as a support friend to the MC but not so much as making him a complete side character.
One obvious fact is that he's way better looking, can talk to girls easily and actully bangs them.
He's so manly, infact, that he strips naked almost every episode.

-------------- Shizuka --------------
_____________________________________

The is often used as the brains of the team, and was primary used as someone who initially rejects the MC way of living in the Zombie Apocalypse.
She's the embodiment of "survival" that rejects anything that doesn't benefit oneself.

Thus, she sets on her own life goals to thing outside of the survivor's mindset.
Oh BTW, the MC really wants her, so the series teases some kind of relationship.

------- Doitsu Onna (Beatrix) -------
_____________________________________

Beatrix is... really nothing to talk about.
She's the typical tourist that fell in loved in Japan because of tourist marketing that make Japan so appealing.
I seriously question the purpose of the her in the story, since, up to this point in season 1, almost all characters gave something to the concept of the show.

I hate to say this but, she might be the only pure fanservice material in this show - and I hate this.
Fanservice = Fast Food.


__________________________________________________________________________

Now, after diving briefly into each character, let's bring the meat of the review and the show - i.e. the concept


-------- Conception of Freedom --------
_______________________________________

While the anime "masks" the concept under a Zombie apocalypse settings, it instantly shifts to it's main theme which is freedom from the shackles of the western culture (YES, the western culture, not just the Japanese).

Akira becomes a slave to his own company and at some point , loses his motive to live.
When the Zombie apocalypse begins, he can think on only one thing, that starting from today, he doesn't need to work anymore.
Just the sheer thought of such thing freed him from the slavery he drowned in and sets his goals he wanted to do his life.

And for me personally, it resonated with me alot, and I think for a majority of people who watched it, did.
The first 2 episodes shows hom much he enjoys his life way better than he did in the past.
Of course, at some point, you can't enjoy the freedom you get without "sharing" it with another (much like in Genesis's first chater).
Thus, Akira tries his luck to get in contact with his best friend Kenchou.
Kenchou joins in, and instantly rolls with the idea of the bucket list.
And as I said before, he isn't a rival nor a lame side character, but a true friend that achieves his goals without overshining the MC or the opposite.

Shizuka comes as the embodiment of "survival", thus rejecting the MC's bucket list at such apocalyptic times.
However, since she does have a shred of humanity left in her, she often helps other if needed.
Shizuka finally joins the group when because she has no choice.
Personally, I don't mind that this is how the writer chose to add her, since it puts on her own character development, that again, doesn't get undermine her or outshines her.
She still embodies the survival aspect, but the MC's motivation also let's her to show kinder sides of her.

Also, the MC really likes her because she's hot...
I don't like this aspect, not because I think it's a anime cliche, but because it is the anime cliche.
When the MC likes a girl, it's dragged to a crawl, while progressing the story.
And whether you like it or not, relationship is something the western world is lacking a lot lately.
And espcially in Japan.

Anyway, besides Beatrix, which ain't important to the story, there's the MC's "evil rival" who's labeled as a NEET in society and become a complete Doomer.
So a doomer, unlike a slave, feels like society rejects him, which is why for him the concept of freedom was never on the core issue.

The core issue was acceptance - thus once the apocalypse began, his only salvation was a bucket list of how to make the rest of society suffer as he did.
Such is a mind of a doomer unlike a Akira the slave which only hated his job and not the people around him.


------- The significance of the show -------
____________________________________________

Zom 100 really shows all the aspect of freedom that come when the shackles of the western culture collapse.
What would you really do if you had the time.
Which people would you spend time with if you had the time.
Who are you if you had the time to find yourself.

Time is really the missing part for all characters in the 1st season.
Once it wasn't, finding their genuine goals was available to them.
Which really speaks volumes today for our western society which works way too much for any type of life style.

The MC really is the shining light of this show, as he's the true example of a "slave" that became a free man once he realized he finally had time outside of his work.
And that is the main reason, why I sticked to the end of the season.


--------- Minor Cons ---------
______________________________

The only minor cons are:

- Beatrix - a pure fanservice tool.
Seriously, you can't make me like this character.

- The doomer's henchmen getting the back story cliche.

- The writer's persistent to avoid the MC killing a human, i.e. the Doomer.
In other words, the whole morality part of the series is not needed.
Zom 100 uses Zombie apocalypse as an excuse, not as an actual tool for story development.

- The MC's boss (or "Chief") is such a asshole stereotype, that sometimes, it makes me think the show just wants to say that "hey guys, don't work in exploitative companies"
Which okay, but it still doesn't deny the fact that the western style of work is the real cause why you don't have time for yourself, whether it's exploitative or not.

--------- Conslusion ---------
______________________________

From the glimple of the latest chapters of Manga, it seems like the series is going nowhere.
So I dunno how much will I enjoy the next season.
You can only run with the concept so much that honestly, it should have been a movie.
But, atleast the final episode concludes that the team goes on an advanture to both save the world and enjoy it.
Meaning, that even without watching the rest of the seasons, season 1 is still worth it.

// ---------- Intro ---------- //

Kimagure Orange Road is one those series I have never seen in my county.
So how did I end up watching it?
Because damn, those 70s vibes with that bang music is so good.
So after watching a couple of scenes from the anime, I decide to watch.

From what I understood, the main female character, Ayukawa Madoka, is a delinquent who knows about the adult life, and as a result of that life,
has a widsom of a meture woman.

... So how does the anime start?


// ---------- The Start ---------- //
The series starts with the main character who's a boy that lives in a family with super natural powers.
The family recently moved into the big city, which is very different from what they're used to.
The boy, Kasuga, is the "main character" of this series.
He's kind young man who's about to change one girl's heart.

In the first episode where we see him meet Madoka, they both enjoy each other's company.
Madoka is pictured as a mature yet young girl, and Kasuga is rightly charmed by her personality along with her natural beauty.

After that 1st scene, we see in the 1st episode Hiruka, a cheerful girl who's also a delinquent like Madoka (supposedly).
To not spoil too much and ramble about the first 2 episodes, I'll summorize how the anime presented the 3 main characters.

Kasuga the kind young boy will who's suppose to change Madoka's life style.
Hiruka, the (supposive) delinquent that falls in love with Kasuga by pure Anime cliche.
And Madoka the girl that charms Kasuga but is slowly "purefied" from the delinquent life style.

// ---------- How Ayukawa Madoka was suppose to be ---------- //

Ayukawa IS the main character of the series, and it's not just because she's attractive and all.
From what we understand in the 1st 2 episodes (and some early episodes later), Madoka is a girl that opposes the system.
She goes to clubs
Smokes cigarettes
Drinks alcohol casually
Beats other people if the threat her or her friends and is feared among her classmates.
Raises her voice if someone talks down on her.
And probably knows about the ins and outs of sex (which is VERY hinted in one of the episodes, which I'll mention at the end)

However, the unique thing about Madoka, is that she ain't a delinquent in a cartoonish way.
Since she lives in the clubs (or "discos" as they referred to them back then), she matured rather quickly then her classmates.
She has this mysterious past about her which charms Kasuga Kyosuke, as he couldn't believe a girl like her can be a delinquent.

This is why in the 1st episode, Kasuga kyosuke stops her from smoking again.
While she was mad at him, she was touch by his reason for doing what he did.
"If you smoke, you won't have healthy kids".
Finally, someone in her life recognizes her as a girl and not a delinquent.
Someone that is kind to her and not afraid of her like her classmates.

I love this kind of plot and it gives Madoka a unique character development while also giving Kyosuke his own development into mature life.

However, this plot is immediately drop later down the series

// ---------- Suddenly, Ayukawa is also smart, good at sports etc.. ---------- //

So, after assuming Ayukawa was this serious delinquent girl with a hard & mysterious past, suddendly we see that:
- She's dedicated to academics and is shown to enjoy studying
- She can play tennis, despite smoking
- She can play Saxophone because her parents are a workaholic professional musicians that perform worldwide.
- So in other words, she's kinda rich and a celebrity
- And thus, in most episodes later, her delinquent life style is completely absent.

And this is main reason why I dropped the series.
You can't have a main character who's also a delinquent but is a Mary Sue as well.
What's the point of Madoka's stuggle in society, if she's completely fine without Kasuga's help?
If she can get anything and have no trouble, why did she become a delinquent in the first place?
Just because her parents were absent from her life doesn't mean her friends can't help her in her life.
She has 2 childhood friends that love her very much and their not that all delinquents.
So why did she become a delinquent if she's Mary Sue?
No idea.

And so we're , instead, stuck in a forced love triangle that doesn't elevate the series.

// ---------- A love triangle that flash froze the main plot ---------- //

If I would pick the 1# mangaka that knows how to utilize love triangles well, it's gotta be Rumiko Takahashi.
Wether it's for comedic scenes like in Ranma 1/2 or for love development and shifts in Inuyasha, it's always used right.

But in the case of Kimagure Orange Road, this only makes it tiresome to watch and suffer.
Madoka constantly flirts with Kasuga, and Hiruka is dumb AF.
So dumb, that even after catching Kasuga not once, BUT TWICE, with Madoka, she insists on forcing a stupid love on Kasuga.
She's pretty much the OG Ruka from Rent a Girlfriend, only here she's also naive and dumb and more annoying.

// ---------- Comdic scenes don't work with serious female characters ---------- //

You know, I really enjoy mature female charaters in Media.
One of the great examples for that has to be Kikyo from Inuyasha.
There's not one scene where Kikyo shows a cartoonish goofiness.
This works great, because it emphasises her mature personality compared to Kagome who's childish sometimes.

This goes for Madoka Ayukawa as well.
You can put her in an erotic scene, and it works.
You can put her in a serious scene, and it works.
But you can't use her for comedic scenes. It just doesn't work with characters like her.

It's like, imagine this, in Inuyasha.
Inuysha meets Kikyo capturing souls to keep her self alive.
She's immobilized and yet she trusts Inuyasha to comfort her (much like how Ayukawa trusts Kyosuke).
Inuyasha rushes down to support her, but then, falls to the grounds and ends up touching a tit.
Wow, what a funny scene to watch the MC comedically fall on her breasts or whatever *COUGH* NOT.
Oh well, let's make Kikyo mad like a tsundere and slap him in the face and shout "BAKA".

It destroys the persona of the serious female character.
I can't stress this enough.
And let alone by the fact that the series ditched the original concept for something so unoriginal.

// ---------- Summary ---------- //

Much like with Rent a Girlfriend, I expected this series to be one thing only to be another.
It had such great potential to transform Madoka Ayukawa from being a delinquent mature girl, to a truly pure mature girl (i.e. best of both worlds).

It could have used the scene where Madoka & Kasuga were on a date and suddenly, an adult couple called her out for being a slut, indicating that Madoka probably had sex once.
But nope, that too deep, let's make a shallow love traingle with a naive girl that refuses to except reality...

Oh well...

// =============== Intro =============== //
Rental Girlfriend is a unique anime/manga to this generation for many reasons.
The existance of radical feminisn, the birth of young MTGOW, the definition of a simp, and "love & relationship" in general.
Now when sexuality is used in almost all media,
Now that women are more aware of how many men will hit on them, i.e. because of social apps,
And Now that alot of young men, especially in Japan, are struggling with just finding a simple relationship,
The timing couldn't be anymore perfect than now.

However, the series never really tackles the themes it presents from the start. The chance to bright young men's ... mind over women and displaying women in the most realistic way possible; There's not much of it here as the series iterates the same issues over and over again with no character development at all.

Rental Girlfriend is mediocre, and I'm gonna explain why it is and how it lost it's potential

// =============== About myself (Westen Culture) =============== //
The review will be obviously full of spoilers, but taken from a perspective from a westen man (in short opinioned OBVIOUSLY)
I watched old animes back in the day and I watch new anime when they are in my taste.
My only conditions to starting watch/reading an anime/manga is:
1. Have a good story or lore for me to chew on.
2. Don't use fan-service to the point where every moment of is an ecchi moment but is pure innocent because of the context.

I genrally hate when fan-service is used to attract audience while trying to present a serious story.
Stories like Fairy Tale, SAO or Akame GA kill are an examples of that.
You either go full BAKA like Food Wars, High School DxD or hell Golden Boy,
Or you go full serious like Fate Zero, Naruto or Koe No Katachi (aka A Silent Voice).

I do more appreciate shows that use the fan-service for their own themes instead of just abusing it to gain more fans.
A prime example would be Konosuba.
Konosuba is fully aware of what the isekai animes are about. So instead of portraying the MC as this OP warrior that lots of girls want to bang him, he is instead a horny dude surranded by obviously 4 chicks that annoy the hell out of him.
However, unlike your typical shy and overly oblivious MC, He wants to bangs to chicks no matter what.
The show uses spectacularly the fan-service to turn it's comedy up the roof.

I digress from the sub-title of this section, i.e. myself, however I'll mention this later.
Anyway, as a man in his twenties, I am in a very good position in most aspects of life.
I have friends, I have a supporting family, I have a career, I'm very healthy and I'm aiming to have fit body much more than I have now. I'm not an Otaku nor am I an obbsessed weeb. I'm simply a man that loves anime with his own tastes and interest.

I am ,however, having struggles finding a girl, especially when the Corona limits my interactions with girls to just Okcupid, aka the worst place for an avarage men to get a girl. This is the ONLY aspect of life where I feel bad about myself.
It annoys me to no end.
Hence, why I was so interested about Rental Girlfriend when I first heard of the show.
How could a story like this go?
How will it portray women and men?
Especially in this generation?
You can see now why this show sparked interest for a-lot of anime viewers and even famous one like Gigguk from YouTube.
It takes the "waifu" and "harem" theme to realistic environment.

With that being said, let's talk about the good.

// =============== The Good =============== //

Rental Girlfriend initailly starts with a good plot.
MC gets torn up by the first GF, Mami, and is getting tired of getting rejected by girls in general so he seeks a girl to act like the Girlfriend of his dreams, via Rental Girlfriend service.

Chizuru Mizuhara, his 1st rental Girlfriend, provides with the service of his lifetime and makes his heart melt.
That is, until he finds out that she does the same service for her other customers.
He is further driven into madness when he rents her again just to make a statement that he can't stand girl that go out with a loser like him. Implying from the very start his weak personality.

After some comidic scenes in EP1 between them, the MC states that he wants to turn his life around and find a real girlfriend, and Chizuru more or less is "willing to help" via him renting her. Note that she's not trying to manipulate him but instead genuinely offers help.
Anime shows always tend show how some character offers help in the most ridiculous way possible, thus why no one would be surprised if renting her will result in some character development for Kazuya (oh yea, that's the name of the MC) and potentially her.

Mami, his ex, is the main reason for the plot to exist and she is successfully hated by most viewers, as the mangaka intented from the start. She is later introduced as the main "antagonist" of the plot and really makes you wonder why she is like that and it really makes you wish that she would just be gone.
The "She belongs to the Street" comments on YouTube shows how successfully she is hated.

The other plus I would give, besides the opening of the series is the usage of fan-service and display the Kazuya's horny mind.
This show is about a young man wanting to hook up with chicks in their twenties and it never misses a chance to display how women dress really good today. Kazuya's mind is essentially the audience's mind. We sure as hell want to be with girls beautiful as this IRL.
In a sense, The show has a right, as much as Konosuba, to display fan-service in every moment it gets, roughly speaking.

Sadly, this where the show has stopped to be interesting.

// =============== The Bad =============== //

The single reason for this is because of two main issues.

One, There's ZERO character development! No character ever questions their own motives or others'.
No character ever changes their behaviour based on what's happening around them.
This is especially anxious when even in the last chapter released in the manga, Kazuya hasn't changed in the slightest.
The show even begins to promote simp actions.
It's even more bad when this even goes for the other characters that really need that character development to resolve their own issues and struggles.

And because no character is ever developed or atleast changed, the story is only driven by cliche events that force characters to behave the same way they did before with they're obvious quirky attitudes.
It gets to your nerves when in much much later chapters, you seem to get that feeling of deja vu.
It's more annoying when you want the MC to grow at least a pair of balls, but instead, he is further pushing himself down for others when he clearly doesn't have to.

I get that, in Japanese culture of today, people are less assertive than ever, but Kazuya is going way beyond what Ruka Nishinoiri from the Terance House show, would do to not be too assertive with women.

Now that I laid the main issues of the series, let's dive into the characters' bio and progression in the story to understand why they needed character development so much!


// =============== Kazuya =============== //
Kazuya is the MC of the story as you all know by now.
He has loving parents, has a liquor store to inherit and has great friends to support him.
He's only, and I mean only issue is finding a girl to have a relationship with.
The reason why Kazuya never got a girl, was mainly because of two reasons:

The main one is that non of his relatives really believes in him, or treat him with proper respect.
From the very first episode, we see how his parents and grandma look in shock of how he managed to get such a beautiful girl like Chizuru. In later chapters, we get a small glimpse of Kazuya's past where his grandma came to his room and telling him to come eat dinner just hours later after he got rejected.
In addition, while his friends do care about him, they too never believe that he could get Chizuru.
One of them even points out his 2nd major flaw for his "unlimited rejection works".
It's great start, we get a loser MC to slowly become more mature and manly.
In the very first episode we see Kazuya's perspective towards women change in a negative light. This is the only character development he gets and then later reversed.

Throu out later chapters, Kazuya is slowy getting Mizuhara's heart due to just spending time with her, but we never get to see why she fell in love with him.
He saves her once and that's what it took to get her heart? Okay? what about her actor friends? did none of them never tried to hook up with Chizuru?
See, Kazuya is spineless because he has no hobbies or taste other than the craving for young pussy.
The mangaka never gave him anything to be recognized with.
The only thing he possibly has is his determination, which was only displayed when he simps for Chizuru about making a movie for her.
Other than that, he easily lets anyone to abuse him and he never explores himself in other aspects of life that don't involve women.
And it never changes! Not once does he ever think about standing up for his own and improving himself.

The second issue is His horniness that usually occupies his mind.
It's no secret that men want sex. Kazuya's lewd and day dreamy mind is never turned off in the series.
From the very 1st chapter up until now (chapter 158), every time Kazuya meets with one of the girls, it usually goes like this:
- He gets blushed
- He internally calls them Kawaii/Sexy
- If he goes even further, he describes their silky look while bashing his own reputation.

And each time the show has a fan-service moment, the comedy is backing it up with his horny mentality.
It gets tiring seeing this guy getting horny, he should feel less horny after so many fapping sessions in the series!

For me, I was so dissapointed when I realized he was never gonna change in the series.
I don't even have to bet that the last chapter of manga, he'll still be the same.
The only difference in the end we be the fact that Chizuru will be with him.

Speaking about one of the girls, I think it's time to introduce the 1st girl we meet, Mami Nanami.
But you get the my point about Kazuya.

// =============== Mami =============== //

Mami is pretty much the least flawed character in the story (i.e. in terms of character development and logical progression). She's also the most realist girl out of the 4.
I mean, yes she is a b*tch, but you know that you saw these kind of girls IRL.
She always wants to keep Kazuya on a leash. Keeping him as some sort of a backup ex boyfriend if ever needed.
I said this before, and I'll say this again, The mangaka did a great job with her. 99% of the viewers can agree that hating on Mami is legit.
The only small issues with Mami is that he we never really get to explore why she is the way she is.
Further more , her last appearance was in chapter 78, and currently the manga is in chapter 158.
She planned some scheme against Kazuya, by following his grandma's bussiness twitter account.
But it's never shown again. This scenario will probably play out much later, but I am not gonna finish this manga until I hear some actual character development for Kazuya.

// =============== Ruka =============== //

Ruka is the 2nd most flawed character in the series. She is, actually, viewed in the most wrong way imaginable.
Ruka portrays the type of girls that want that "special" feeling from a relationship. If, on 1st date, she doesn't get that emotional investment, she's quickly turned off.
Ruka's way to get that "special" feeling is by checking her heartbeat.
If she doesn't get a high heartbeat rate from a man, she can give 0 f*cks for him.
It's disgusting, but okay, it's an interesting character to put in the story.
In her first chapters, Ruka does one of the most disgusting moves.
She shames both Kazuya and Chizuru for the fake rental relationship.
She then "falls in love" with Kazuya after experiencing a "PLOT DRIVEN EVENT" where Kazuya talks with her on a bridge.
If you saw that scene, you can see how Ruka's frustration with Kazuya makes a heart rate go higher. She can't stand him at all. no infact, she just really hates him, YET she got that "special" feeling (i.e. higher heartbeats), so now she's like "oh wait, this guy provides me what I need, then that means he's a boyfriend material"

Excuse you?
Just because of that, she goes out of her way to expose his friend as a loser who rented her, and worse, she demands from Kazuya to be her boyfriend when he is clearly not interested in her.
Honestly, he should hate her for how she f*cked his friend. Remember, as long as you don't provide her that special need, she can give 0 f*cks about you.

How rude! and the show never exposes her abusive nature nor does it ever develop her to become less of a garbage human.
Say all you want about Mami, but Ruka will go full measures in order to get what she wants, even if it means hurting others.

She'll burst out crying in public if Kazuya won't do the thing she wants.
She'll flip the finger on Chizuru everytime she gets the chance.
And she'll never actually like Kazuya for who he really is.
He just so happens to provide her with that "special" feeling that makes her heatbeats go higher than usual.

You know what that "special" feeling is? it's nothing, it's unreal. It's girls' typical excuse why they won't let average men try to date with them. That is Ruka's most flawed perspective. She'll never find a decent relationship like that.
Only abusive relationship from that.
The sad part about this, is that Kazuya will never be developed as a decent man to shed lights on her toxic behavior.
He'll ,instead ,enable her to keep going like this until Chizuru finally cuts the relationship between them (not that there was to begin with).
Both she and he will never grow up, they will be flawed even in the end of this series.

Overall, Ruka's character is an interesting perspective on the type of girls that want the unimaginable emotional journeys.
However, the show never really does anything with her. She isn't really even a rival to Chizuru, since we all know that Kazuya will ultimately pick Chizuru to be his girlfriend. There's no real reason to keep her other than you typical high-school girl fan-service.
Sad really.

Before moving to Chizuru, the main course, lets take a look at Sumi, not that you get to see her all that much.

// =============== Sumi's useless for the PLOT =============== //

Sumi is the only girl in the series who is pretty much all fantasy.
Even thou She's super shy, she is super attractive.
Yet she has a cute naive behaviour trying her best as a rental girlfriend.
She's obviously a support character on in this series, but since she's such a sweet girl, she got her own spin of manga.

You're probably thinking, "if you praise her so much, what's there to criticize?"
The thing is, that she never really doesn't anything special, she has not much of a reason to "love" Kazuya, yet just practicing one time with him suddenly makes her like him.
She still respects him as a friend, but ..... I just don't get it.
The support character that Kazuya really needed was Kibe, his old friend.
He knows his friend the best, and points Mami's obvious malicious intentions.

Sumi is just.................................................... there to be cute.
A pure fantasy fan-service.
Really? we went that low?

Yea, I don't need to explain further.

// =============== Chizuru =============== //

Let's first start off with Chizuru's background, as it will explain her assetive behaviour unlike Kazuya's.
Her childhood was hard. Her parents left her in a young age, thus she lived with her grandpa and grandma with not alot of income.
she was constantly bullied for not having parents. which really, why? it's not like she's Nishimya Shouka, where kids can obviosuly exploit her disability to hear and speak.
Anyway, This establishes her tough persona.
In addition, she has a dream from childhood to become an actress just like a her grandmother.
Her grandpa pushed her to be the best she can in what she wants to become.
Even thou her grandpa died in a car crush, she insisted to furfill her dreams for him and for her grandma.
Her reason for working in the rental agency, is because it both provides good income and let's her practice her acting skills.
With the income she makes, she spends on acting school to get a chance to ignite her acting career.

The only issue Chizuru faces is being lonely and stuck in her career, and this is where Kazuya comes into her life.
Saving her from a future of loneliness before her grandmother will pass away.

Besides that, Chizuru is the literal definition of a strong indepented woman (and no, I ain't a feminist).
Unlike other female MC characters in the westen industry, Chizuru displays a strong personality. She isn't a b*tch, and will always remain calm and collective when performing her acting skills.
No need for special powers or other sh*t attribute that no women needs.

Now that I think about it, she really doesn't need much character development.
As stated by Kazuya, she really is strong in every aspect of life.

if she never met Kazuya, her actor friend will eventually ask her out, which he did in later chapters in the Movie arc.
The only reason she rejected him was because she already fell in love with Kazuya, but she never admits it because she only see him as a loser.
Remember when I said that all of Kazuya's relative look down on him? Well, not only does this effects his confidence, but Chizuru's perspective on him as well.
Even when he does a great job as being a producer for her movie, she is unable to think outside the box.
When her hot actor friend asks why she chose Kazuya over, she simply states "I don't like him, But I don't not like him".
LOL, what kind of a half answer is that?

This is where the mangaka realizes that since he's not allowed to change characters' values and beliefs, he needs a character to be the voice of reason and speed the plot via creating more PLOT DRIVEN EVENTS

Thus we meet the YouTuber loli Yaemori

// =============== Yaemori , the so called "Voice of reason" =============== //

Yaemori comes in much later chapters during the movie arc.
She immediately breaks the 4th wall and states the obvious for both Kazuya and Chizuru.
"You guys are so in love with each other that's written on your faces".
Her only purpose it to drive the plot forward and establish the true relationship that lies beneath.

Other than that, she doesn't do much, but least she drives the Plot unlike Sumi who is a literal walking PLOT EVENT DEVICE.

I keep mentioning PLOT EVENT and "PLOT DRIVEN EVENT" and it's time I explain this

// =============== The issue of PLOT EVENT Driven story =============== //

Since the characters' values ,perspectives ,motives and behaviour never changes in the slightest, the plot is moved by cliche events that force character to decide if they should do A or B.

In first chapters,
Should Kazuya break up with Chizuru? Yes, however their grandmas both want them to married. so nope, option B.
Wouldn't want to break their heart.
What's that? Chizuru needs to fall in love with Kazuya? better make her faint and somehow fall from a Boat, so that he can save her and show her his manliness.
*In later chapters*
Oh no, Chizuru has no one left other than her granmda, and she really wants to show her acting career. What a great timing, now Kazuya has more chance to prove himself for her.
What's that, they still deny their love? better create a 4th wall character to state the obvious for them and literally create PLOT DRIVEN EVENTS to push foward.

You see where I'm getting here, right?
It's all "by fate" , much like how the opening of the anime states from the start.

And this is where I really question the timing of this series, because almost of all the genres the series has don't matter

// =============== None of the genres matter =============== //

It's not that ecchi/haren, because the plot wants to contain series elements, so no super duper sexy scenes or anything beyond that, sorry.
It's not much a slice of life, because these kind of events are way to bizzare [insert Jojoke here] to be considered a slice of a normal life.
School life is barely noticed, since most of the events take outside of collage and are never revolved around them.
Maybe romance at best, since it pretty much iterates the same formulary in all romance anime where the main girl is always a tsudere type.

Huhhh... *sign...* so much wasted potential....

// =============== Outro =============== //

So in summary, the Rental Girlfriend series is just mediocre.
It wasted so much potential that I can't bear it.
Why not teach young men to be better?
Why not teach young women to not abuse their beauty? i.e. all Mami and Ruka girls out there.

The only series that finally has a solid reason to contain massive fan-service for plot reason, and it's wasted for nothing.
It took me a few days to read all the manga chapters that are avaialbe at this time (chapter 158).
There's no doubt that the manga has not much left to go for.
Chizuru is all alone, and Kazuya is more or less determine to get her.

So final act will happen with Mami's plan to throw Chizuru and Ruka out of the picture, but some PLOT DRIVER EVENT will save the day and grant Kazuya his dream; Chizuru as his real girlfriend.

Honestly, I kinda wanna see a "Lemon Popsicle" ending, when Kazuya thinks he finally got Chizuru, threw away Ruka,Mami and Sumi just for her, and then, as he opens a apartment's door, he sees her banging with the hot actor, looking shamelessly at his eyes.

And just as he's about to tear up, he stops and just goes slowly to his own apartment while "Mr Lonely" is sang in the background by Rie Takahashi (don't ask me why) and the credits role.

But I really don't care from this point.
Unless the mangaka decides to flip the table and finally give some character development to Kazuya, I don't care in the slightest.
No way will he drag this manga to 400 pages, much less for 300. probably in chapter 200+ the series will end and that's it.
Quick buck from fan-service and selling manga and off you go, to the next series.

I being way to harsh to Miyajima Reiji, and honetly I don't want to.
He does a great job and drawing characters and I love his art style.
I just wish he would practice more on his story telling skills, because he missed the mark by a long shot.

But oh well, sometimes you hit right, and sometimes you don't.

Thanks for reading my review!!