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The simple explanation of this manga is that it's a mystery about how people think and feel.

(This VERY long review below shows very, very mild spoilers and story insinuations that shouldn't matter.)

However, this manga is beyond being simple. What will have people become addicted to reading chapter to chapter will also be the reason people might drop this title: it's not the easiest read. Many manga use the quality of their art through good characterization and expression so you can understand feelings and tones without thinking. This title does quite the opposite which makes each panel so intriguing to delve deeply into.

Let's talk the story. ... Five people in a school setting living their everyday lives. Completely normal of a plot. Now throw in each of them having a distinctive power that gives some sort of a vague hint about a person. The power of a hand-sign which, upon thinking, *might* explain how they are feeling. A power which shows card symbols to represent an emotion and it's size. The ability to see someone's heartbeat speed. It's your typical silly power ability introduced like other stories but gives the author an immaculate way of making the most complex and obtuse characters out of any other story. Nothing is simple.

People aren't simple.

That should be the motto of this manga, where you can see the expressed hint of a person and need to think very hard on what that could imply. Seeing that a person is sad does not explain the reasons of why and how they are thinking about that. The stillness or quick beating of someone's heart in itself doesn't explain the full story. Just being able to see if someone is having a positive or negative feeling in their heart doesn't necessarily translate to a good or bad thing. This dilemma is the core story and what both the characters and you (the reader) are going to have to struggle with as the story unravels of five people trying to understand one another along with understanding themselves. I can't express enough how this plot allows the author to make characters in such a unique way to where the oddity of how they think and feel can be done without being lost on a reader completely. The mere fact alone makes rereading from the start have such different context.

The story evolves with an arc of each of the five characters, beginning with explaining what their special way of seeing how another person feels is as a power. With it, a not-so-blunt perspective is shown by this person on their personal concerns due to such a power and mainly relating to the main cast. It normally relates to romance, sure, where a very complicated person struggles to understand other complicated characters and possibly grows misconceptions just from misunderstanding what their powers are telling them. We get ideas from the representation of these powers and then a deeper understanding of how these people think and feel when the story decides to go by the POV of the next character down the line. It's so interesting, especially when you consider previous chapters you've read and now understand why a certain person acts or says what they say. Learning about another character and going some chapters back to see within another's POV gives so much new context and gives you more clues on what these people are truly thinking, feeling, and changing as time develops. The mystery actually has signs and small details which makes the manga so choked to the brim with personality and concepts.

The only things that might make people not enjoy the read is how difficult it is to understand these characters since that's the entire premise of the manga. As well, there is a certain pacing that is present to make the story work. You'll be following a character for a few consecutive chapters before it moves on to the next one. Some characters, by this POV, sort of never get the attention they previously did by a different arc and fade to the wayside till they are relevant again, so there will be times where you might not see a lot of a person. This is especially true for the VERY first character introduced: Kyou Ootsuka; this person will kick off the manga in the beginning and lay out the basics of the plot and drift off to the background while the rest are delved into. It's understandable as to why, but also a shame as others get a grand amount of characterization by comparison while his can feel more simple and less fleshed out; due to that, his current role in the story as well as him as a character feels pretty lackluster and sometimes irritating with how little agency or independent actions to the other four he expresses and wanes from either too shy or possibly too self-centered. Perhaps this will change as the manga finishes going over each person, so far covering four of the five at the time I've read, we can take a deeper look at the characters that deserve more writing. Keep a close eye on this manga. It's a great read.

The story and characters are the main great thing here, but the rest is good. Writing and way people speak doesn't hold your hand and all of the above said is complimented by rough line sketchings that also offer pretty great character designs and look. Highly recommend especially if you are looking for a romance/drama/mystery neatly and evenly package into one tale.

I have read other works from this author expecting a similar vibe and beat from them. In particular, I actually read all the way through their previous work 'The Boxer' and the reason I include that is sort of the reason I did not fully enjoy this with everything I list below. Their previous work still carry the same flaws with only fixing the unnecessary length and almost insultingly asinine means of introducing a theme to the plot. However, in doing so, a new issue arises.
Art is fantastic, story telling is above average, and I'd still say people should give it a shot worth reading.

Though ... for being so highly scored with many people loving this I felt the flaws show even harder on my not even high expectations for this and this mainly has to deal with the element of story-telling.
To summarize without spoiler,
This is a story from the perspective of a child. The method that they go through this is lack of text and more showing. Then a dissection of blunt philosophical proposition and logistical thinking. Large amounts of pain, suffering, and gore. All to the conclusion of finding hope and answer to it all. Some aspects of how this is done is actually good. Other aspects are actually downright bad to even feeling shoved to get a theme across.

((This is the spoiler section so skip if you rather not know. I will try to keep it vague, however.))

This is from start to finish leading to a religious answer and the journey to get there is rough for the reader. The first chapter very much displays this and the black/white visuals harshly set the tone especially when the violence and awful nature of life is displayed. Brevity is given especially during segments of color to actually help calm the mood. However, this feels more like a trap to make things feel worse when the next tragedy erases the purpose of the given hope right after.
This isn't a terrible thing. Depressing stories can be great. But contrived sadness can make readers feel cheated and manipulated. Considering the simplified perspective of a child's eyes with lack of needed lore to be filled and a short story, questions can start coming up that make this feeling apparent or more less than realistic. Bombs explode out of nowhere to cause a tragedy. The world can be empty and free for one moment until a necessary bullet, bomb, or disease is introduced to progress the depression. Characters introduced to be school of thought and taken away by the same method. Even absence of information and time is a trick to make a point with use of absence of plot and doesn't do the overall story any favors. Infact, a word said is "futility" when introduced. When enough loss is told, the conclusion is a religious answer for clarity after it all. It becomes even more questionable when bringing on the topics like why ANY of the tragedies even led to how it did. How a war can stretch out as far and vast as it does yet leave no discernable destruction save oceans of dead bodies. How a completely desolate landscape can suddenly become a war zone purely by the one moment they feel the need that a stray bomb hurt or kill someone important. That a world where many are logistical and moral or absolutely not at all. Things that, if you DON'T think about it, make the setting work. That is fine and people might like that, but the removal of realism, the lack of agency, and the very notion of fatalism is a depressing slog of what you can predict from the first chapter. It gets worse when what becomes an emotional chore is put under levels of scrutiny on what even makes sense and only seems fair when the very story itself introduces schools of thought. It can, at worst, feel contrived and even cheap in all ways of method, obstacle, and resolution. Personally for me, the idea used to essentially excuse all the horrible and tragedies as a simple fix and give simple content felt insulting as disempowering as much as it felt meaningless. The theme leads not to a humanistic ending and gives an ending that can be considered not meant for everyone in a bad way. And that's fine, but not a kind of fine for everybody. I'd even say some could feel even religiously or nonreligiously insulted by the journey. Some might find it hopeful, but I could see why others could see an even Nihilistic worldly perspective even with the heavy religious meaning.

((HEEEEY SPOILERS OVER YOU CAN CONTINUE))

So, fact at the end of the day? This was written for particular types of people with a point to be made for it's conclusion and the what it took to get there and what that end is can feel not worth the ride once the reader has been subjected to the suffering for the sake of suffering. It should be worth noting that, looking back on it all afterwards, you should really start to wonder if you were reading a story of suffering or forced to witness and feel despair to make the conclusion more as to what it is, which tends to leave a reader feel apathetic at best or cheated and hurt at worst. If both the creative and talented visuals/storytelling were absent and this same story was done with a less polished work in art, I feel it'd be more obvious when I'm making the minor complaint when it comes to what the story actually is and questionably rushed yet holding quality compared to a majority of Webtoon stories.

It's bad.
Welp, there you go. You can stop reading and continue on the site somewhere else.
Oh
You want to know why.
Right.
Look this is one of those mangas where spoiling it doesn't really ruin anything but I am just warning you ahead of time we have to talk about stuff in it, the real world relevance of what the main theme of this story is, and why it's some of the most low ball harem writing out there of recent where somehow almost every aspect about it being annoying/bad is appalling. Because in multiple ways and what probably irks everyone the most, there are SO many aspects ... that could just use some tweaking and each would drastically improve it.
Too bad it comes off like a cash grab. Oh joy.

(If you hate reading or spoilers there is a short one paragraph tl;dr at the bottom of this gigantic rant of a review.)

~Story~ 1/10

(Note: To clarify currnetly as of this review, I have read up to 246 chapters in English and have made sure my grievances are not translation errors.)

Absolutely, in the same way as the Characters, this is honestly the main problem of the manga by far. It's horrendously terrible in execution. Don't get me wrong, the real world relevance of Renting a Girlfriend is a real, real thing I wont diss the concept. People do what they want. Everything about this is just a mess, though.

Rent a Girlfriend's story is blunt by the name and simple in plot. The main character, Kazuya, has dated a returning character for about a month until she dumps him because she found another person more interesting. This leaves him VERY heartbroken, to the point of picking up an APP that you can find a girl, pay them, and they will pretend to date you and be your girlfriend so long as you have the money to give. He comes across a particular person, Chizuru, with a profile that sticks out to him questionably and decides to go for it.

So it goes from there. He pays her, she acts out her role well, he drools over it, date ends. Then he gets mad over how all of this is really just an ACT because it is a service he paid for, he rates her terrible on the APP then rehires her, and then she shows her true personality and chews him out. Reasonably. In the middle of this fight, Kazuya gets a call saying his grandmother is sick in the hospital. Bad news.
SO! BOTH of them tag along, his grandmother is fine and see this strange girl with him, and to explain he lies and tells her it is his girlfriend. AND so the story begins where our main male protagonist starts a lie and lies time after time after time after time after time AFTER TIME AFTER TIME TO EVERYONE to keep this pointless lie up and Chizuru going along with it because she needs the money and Kazuya is a god damn Cashcow with a family allowance of 1 million yen a month.

And so the main point of our story continues as Kazuya must keep up this façade while growing a harem and causing the story to steer in the most unrealistic, crazy, unfathomably stupid directions possible.

The amount of relevance that the Rent a Girlfriend app holds in Kazuya's life is unrealistically surreal where almost every female he knows is aware and/or involved with the APP. Infact everything about the show is unrealistic. The fact Kazuya went to the hospital with his fake girlfriend, decided to lie, continue to lie to friends and family and his sick grandmother, etc etc...

All the while Kazuya's sorry existence of flubbing about life in the most pitiful of aspects lead him to have the main female begin growing questionable fondness to him along with several other girls ALSO beginning to have feelings for him through almost the same exact reasons. The cycle continues. Through poor drama, mediocre comedy, and mountains of more lies to fix dramatic issues that consistently come up THAT DO NO CHANGE FOR 200 CHAPTERS.
Two. Hundred. Chapters. Of some of the most pitiful character motivations, explanations for thoughts and actions, theme and lessons of WELL THE ONLY WAY TO FIX THIS IS MORE LIES HAHA where the saddest part being that when catching them in the lying and it becomes a tense and drama-filled moment it is filled WITH YET MORE LYING. It is all not just irrationally unreasonable, but downright morally reprehensible especially since it has only got worse the more that time has gone on.

and this isn't like... just a comedy manga. There is a lot of piss poor drama albeit drama that is painted to be taken seriously. So when you have all these harem tropes with the type of story that is going on and character personalities (oh fucking joy just wait for that part.) and it is being framed to be taken seriously in some regard or another I got to admit that is exceptionally difficult when the main character is moronic, all the girls who like him are stockholmed, his ex is unwarrantedly trying to sabotage everything about his life for seemingly no reason, ALL the while of taking this job aspect of being a Rent a Girlfriend too seriously ALL the while still making sure that this lie stays believable after so long with bad excuses to make sure that it continues and thus cause problems for the innocent side characters and family involved.

The worst part? All this is unreasonably long. With Over 200 established chapters the amount of actual substance is negligible with 0 character growth from everybody to keep the plot purpose working and just all-in-all a lack of MEANINGLESS shit. Sure, things happen. Christmas comes, plot points happen, things that are relevant and become mentioned as time goes on has purpose, but it all really doesn't even mean anything with how awful these people are and their justifications. Not even in a funny way. Very cringe. Especially in how empty and shallow their personalities are to top it all off, this manga could contrive ANY kind of ending at this point and that ending would mean and feel NOTHING BECAUSE EVERYTHING LACKS MEANING OR MERIT EVERYONE IS JUST FLUBBING AROUND IDIOTICALLY IT GETS WORSE AND WORSE BUT EVERYONE GETS REWARDED WITHOUT REAL PURPOSE IT IS SO BAD UGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH

It is frustrating. Everything is so drawn out for seemingly nothing. It is hard to figure out what this whole thing is trying to tell. Is it just another romance story? If that were the case than this backwards storytelling and ability to weave some of the most redundant, bland, pathetic, or stupid plot points and logic jumping is insane to get that. A part of me wants to theorize this manga was actually trying to take to the aspect that this is suppose to be a subtle way of showing that people can have bad personalities. Or, more specifically, that people aren't perfect and sometimes their imperfections are bad or can be seen as morally bankrupt. I don't have a problem with these and if it were the case than that would make the story much better. Yet nothing really gives off like it's a perspective that it is suppose to be seen in this kind of light. There isn't any kind of way to evaluate any of these characters to that type of meaningful depth or if any of what is being displayed has any form of depth beyond just the surface-level expression of the art.
This is extremely important to note and the one thing I want you to consider off my review for my review of an unfinished manga. Because I have no idea what to take. Wasn't sure at Chapter 100, Chapter 200, and I know a LOT of people are unsure with the news that keeps getting sparked like the controversial Chapter 218 that made everyone flip out. Honestly, now that we've seen this after everything has happened and how it keeps going, it is hard not to think this isn't suppose to be some kind of long convoluted insult to anyone that reads it.

~Art~ 9/10

(To clarify, I have made the score more high because I like to have high notes when talking about anything. Because atleast there should be a "good" to contrast to the bad. It is not 9/10 art as there is much more deserving art in mangas out there, but I have bumped the score just to give this a little bit of a high note. Well, and also to explain why this trash is so popular.)

Art is the saving grace here. Atleast the artist has a knack for making great character designs that are beautiful to look at. Everyone including background characters feel individualistic with even the close resemblance of the grandparents of our two main characters are made distinctively that not only can I tell them apart but the art alone has even made me care about the side characters. Things like settings are drawn that compliment scenes and seasons which give a good flow to the time progression of the story and characters are made to be appealing by not only how they physically look but the choice in their clothes and fashion is always great and different. It is nice that a simple Winter sweater design for one of the waifus transitioning to a spring dress and greatly just let me know that seasons have change and, even if the story poorly reflects this, time is moving and changing.

Which is sad because this is probably the only reason people read this manga or watch the accompanied anime. It's very much eye candy and not just the kind full of erotic scenes and perverted shots. (There's still a good amount, though.) The art is genuinely really appealing and marketable which if met with better writing and story execution would not only bring it up from the bottom of the barrel even for the exceedingly low LOW standard of harem anime BUT would put it to some of the similar respects of the highest in its respective genre.

However, you would need to heavily work in the aspects of-

~Character~ 2/10

Let's just get right out with it and say that Kazuya is the saddest most pathetic male heroine protagonists. Ever. It's sad, rivaling even Shinji of Evangelion in regards of being a sad, pitiful, cowardice, and morally reprehensible piece of shit that uses the guise of "Actually, he is a really good person." to hide all these negative qualities that he has.

For starters, Kazuya lies. A lot. I know this has been repeated several times already but this is such an important reason for why he as a character is not only so hard to like but so easy to hate and not root for. A lot of the drama revolves or is in some way originates either because he has said something that isn't true or refuses to say anything or clarify. and if there is anything that 200 chapters displays, it is this very often. His grandmother and family, his friends, his love interests, it is extremely consistent and he never learns as a character even though it continues to dig him deeper into a hole where if the truth was ever learned he would be outcasted from everyone around. Actually. This almost happens. After like, a year or two the big lie is finally caught and his solution to fix this? In order to protect the reputation of the girl he likes? Well he stands up for her. and then complicates their lie even further. It's disgusting.
Things don't go his way or his irrationality and cowardice takes hold he sobs over it, constantly showing to the reader his personality can only be shown as being Whiney that he is alone, ALWAYS irrationally pessimistic even what is being said to his face is as blunt as it could possibly be, void of passion or goals beyond his crush for a girl that has shown vehemence for him in like the first 50 chapters or so, and the very worst part?
The ABSOLUTELY WORST part of all this? These cynical attitudes and terrible actions caused from them from the start of his Rent A Girlfriend to cover his grief or the lying to not be seen as pitiful to stalking and lying to dragging people around because he isn't clear to them or selfish is all REWARDED! When he does something bad? Even when called out? He's given gifts or furthers the bond with the person around him. It just all works in his favor.

There really isn't any excuse for it. The character has a pretty good life. He's got an education, a good and loving family that is constantly shown to love and respect him even at his worst, MONEY and LOTS of it which literally fuels this plot, he's old enough to have lived 21 years of his life to had the experience to be mature, so what gives? Shit gets handed to him on a plate all the time and it encourages him to act out his most shittiest aspects of his personality and never displays his good sides if there are any worth listing any that aren't just circumstantial. He isn't the lowest of the low, and somewhere deep through all the mess it can be seen that deep down he is somehow a good person? But the story doesn't do any favors to paint him in this light unless SOLELY the manga arc is trying to bluntly state this and normally it is a deceiving way to make it appear as though he is "deserving" of something. He's never really seen to be punished for these flawed ways of thinking or actions taken.

The other characters are not that level of bad but it doesn't help.
From the beginnng Chizuru is blunt in telling Kazuya is just a customer and that's that. It's from the get-go yet her taking a fond interest in him because of an early on "heroic" act of him saving her is literally all it takes for this attitude change where she... well her attitude isn't that much different. No longer volatile but seemingly her only interest is the money. Which, you know, fair.
The manga tries desperately to paint her as honestly the perfect girl have Philosophical levels of rationality, large amounts of interests, and aspects of herself that are buried deep under a mask so people wont see her for how she truly thinks and feels. Because deep down, she struggles. Though these aspects are interesting and cool when seen by her as an individual, then don't really COMPLIMENT anyone or bring out aspects of others except negatively in Kazuya. She is heavily recluse about her feelings and emotions and this is all the time when Kazuya has his episodes of doubt or self-hatred or poor decision making. Although she is all for helping and being their for Kazuya when he has problems, her incessant need to guard how she thinks and feels (Even when asked sometimes) only makes Kazuya double down. Or, if not, he wants to be there to help and support Chizuru in her endeavors and these usually consist of Kazuya's bad tactics and self-doubt and masochistic means of putting her or anyone else first even if it damns him.
Infact, although Kazuya normally causes problems for himself, Chizuru a lot of the times makes his problems worse. Which puts her to blame. and then he feels bad that this could possibly put her in trouble so he puts himself in the way, makes it worse.
She's thankful, the cycle continues.

Ruka is another girl that shows up at some point. She falls for the main character. Not a lot about her. She has some kind of sad past but trying to take it serious insults my intelligence even at an elementary level of understanding. She likes Kazuya, too, but it isn't the slowest burn in history like chizuru's is. It's just sudden with dumb reasoning. What IS sad about her character is the plot relevance she is to this story which is being Kazuya's "second choice". Kazuya treats her in regards that if Chizuru isn't obtainable, Ruka is the perfect backup as a potential love interest and it is kind of gross that this is the case. I don't even think it is ever used for the purpose of comedy either but really parts of drama in some arcs. He leads her on and this makes Kazuya look even more like a bad person.
and don't misunderstand me.
I like character flaws.
Truly.
If this was suppose to be like.. a manga that introduces experiences we have in life that we have as we are an older adolescent growing up and learning from that would totally be cool. So when in the 200 chapters does Kazuya right his mistake and be upfront with her finally and once and for all and NOT in the halfhearted way he does early on that keeps her as an oblivious side piece who believes she has hope?
It doesn't?
200 chapters in and that's her only pathetic character role and personality?
FUCK. MAN. REALLY?????

There's Mami, Kazuya's one month ex. She becomes relevant later and her role is being the poster child of most hated bitches in the fandom or any fandom of respective series. She hardly has any relation to Kazuya and it almost seems like they barely had any time or chemistry together from the wriitng. Yet, for some dastardly unexplainable reason she is around to fuck over and complicates Kazuya's life as much as she possibly can. It is if as though she absolutely hates him as a person. I'm not sure why. I've read so much of this harem story and I can't say if there is really a concrete or understandable reason. At one point they give you her really sad backstory. That's not being sarcastic; compared to Ruka it actually seems like an actually sad backstory. (Regardless of what you think of the writing quality of it.) It doesn't matter though and I am not sure why they told it. It doesn't explain why she acts the way she does or is a terrible person entirely and, right after she gives this backstory about herself, she doubles down and becomes worse.
and though I think she is shit.

She is a necessity.
Her total hatred and the catalyst in revolving around this story and starting it is a must. I mean, she's the reason Kazuya gets pushed into picking up that dating app to begin with and starting this story. Her bad actions push the story almost attempting to right the wrongs that have continued to exist and even being the reason to have the existing characters become closer as response. I mean, they never work out like they should. Her plans always fall short and it makes Kazuya teeter the line between "Woe was me this girl has mistreated me and is still abusing me." to "Haha I am still in love wiht Chizuru I will lie to everyone."
Whatever story resolution this character gets, it wont be good from what has happened so far. The only way her story can go positively for what is written is either forgetting all of this and moving on to ignore the rest of the main cast or apologizing to Kazuya and/or help him pursue his love interest.

Which, you know, either isn't deserving of either of them or anyone. It's hard to say that characters deserve anything good when they constantly make decisions and say bad things and don't fix ongoing problems or exacerbate them and continue being the same person they were the moment they were introduced in the manga. Infact half these character issues and turning my score from a 2 to maybe a 5 or 6 could be fixed simply by giving Kazuya... something. Maybe self reflecting from everything that occurs rather than his over emotional and irrational responses to literally everything. Maybe more character depth than him masturbating to his crushes and this causing emotional turmoil. Maybe being able to walk down the street doing literally nothing and not have emotional turmoil. But seeing as it has only shown that what is established is he has a new crush and is sure on this and wishes her best, it also shows every unlikable aspect about him has gotten worse.

Everyone else I can't remember too well. Either they didn't have any depth or are merely meant to be victims of the overall lie that is the focal point of this story.
There ARE others, but I have made this section so long already and there is still aspects about characters and the way they interact with each other.
Which, by the way, characters and their personalities DO NOT have dynamic. That's a big thing here. People just kind of... are... and they will speak as they are as a two-dimensional person regardless of who they are talking to excluding Kazuya and his harem and even then something about character dynamic is fundamentally wrong. Especially in between the main characters of Kazuya and Chizuru. But that's enough I've bloated this too much to make my point.

~Enjoyment~ 3/10

If you read this review and thought "Ah, he must've liked this" in any regard you've must've read a different review. I'll admit I really like the art and character designs. They are pretty good, sharp, distinctive, detailed, and if you showed me like a picture/poster/anything with the art from it and I saw it without any context for this story I'd be like "Man, that's pretty good." Infact, that's why I read it. I hear that's why a lot of other people did,too. INFACT, Around the time I picked this up was when the first episode of the anime came out and I decided to check it out and I thought "God damn, this animation and style and art is so detailed. SO much work went into this."
and that's like the one positive I can say is that it is great to look at with art quality from start to finish being excellent yet does not make up for everything else that's terrible for SO long. It actually gets irritating and insulting from the quality of the writing and story elements staying the same in all regards EVEN IN PLOT premise all the way to the last chapter I read. If you were to read chapter 73 and skip to 246, excluding all the drama, there isn't any difference really besides marginal romantic progression and at this point I could care less. In fact, it'd be a more meaningful story if it didn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OVERALL~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3/10

It's not a 1/10, so many other mangas deserve that title. There are many things that manga authors can do to make a story dreadful and the worst is make one that is so unlikable and boring and bad that no one reads it.
Fact is with all the problems this has, to an extent it is an entertaining read and does make you stomach the ridiculous amount of chapters to witness when things become different and get better. Most agree to the points I've made about the stories and characters. I kept reading because even as I thought these I thought it would be very interesting to see character growth and change. I mean... this is a damn popular series at the moment with quality all over the cover. It's bound to change, right? I mean... I am reading chapters. I get to Ch.25.
"Well, things will get better maybe Kazuya will-"
So it doesn't and I get to 50.
Then 100.
I only kept reading just solely on the audacity and amazement that such bafflingly bad writing and story could continue this long. THIS FUCKING long. With nothing changing. So much space and production and skill and talent could have been put into this being way more than what it is. The bar is so exceptionally low and changing small little details could dramatically make it better without even trying.
and that is the bottom line to finish off with. and a

---------------------------------------------------------------------

tl;dr

This story and it's characters beyond their good designs is so egregiously bad in the beginning and would be fine with a change in story writing which could use this as a basis to grow as a character and also add to the story. Instead, it is the same thing without much difference and a repetitive and sad watch as an awful main character is in the same circumstances and mental space from chapter 1 to 200.
but if you were able to find some enjoyment out of this? I am happy for you. Whether you deeply liked it or just appreciated it with a "I don't care, turning my brain off" mentality, I want people to like what they like and have a good time.
But I couldn't and there are too many objective issues in this read that more people than just myself have a glaring problem with this harem but mainly romance

and the worst thing you could do for a harem or romance at all

Is make me not given a damn whether the canon ship or any ship happens or not because at the end of the day it doesn't matter and no one deserves anything good after all has been witnessed, said, and done. This statement makes a lot more sense if you've read up to the point I have.

Let's get a few things off the bat:
If viewing a possibly "toxic" relationship will make you dislike or think this manga is bad, the story isn't for you.
If moments of painful cringe and second-hand embarrassment ruin your mood, this also isn't for you.
In fact, this is not a manga for everyone. Atleast, if you are just someone looking for romance/comedy as those types of themes are very different for this piece.

Before we begin, let's address a few things that are the main talks from readers and my personal thoughts:
1. Yes, this deals with and displays bullying. Healthy and unhealthy. It is ... in the title. There are some people that says this isn't, but the subject matter and even the title of the manga say otherwise. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
2. Although one can view this as a metaphorical representation of Dominant/Submissive relationship, the material usually also touches on the social aspects of what that means and seems more speaking of something else rather than trying to show D/S in a positive light. (For reference, Nana to Kaoru does this well and bluntly.)
3. There is meaning in the manga that is positive. Something important, something misunderstood by a majority of people who stomach the first ten chapters.

I will include some *SPOILER* related content later to further elaborate some points but let's get to business.

Story/9: Yes. A story about a girl bullying a boy is good.
Why? Subtly. Simply put. From dialog, representation of art, and chapters that focus on a particular theme, this is a very strange story that is definitely more than meets the eye. Now some might disagree with me and say this is purely a story that encourages and enables both bullying and toxic relationships. Sure, you are welcome to that opinion and I wont say you are wrong for having it.
I'm saying look at it from a different light.
Reader, if you have not touched this manga at all or got past the first ten chapters, I ask you to take this into consideration. That the point of this manga to differentiate purposely hateful bullying from something else. A theme of characters with obvious flaws and displaying them openly for the reader to obviously not WANT to like. Growing and becoming more from these. As well as growing from another person and learning about yourself from the interactions of another. If you don't get that or want to understand more, I have some spoiler stuff at the VERY BOTTOM of this review. However, I encourage you to go into this manga as simply this:

A story of two people, flawed, having a questionably unhealthy relationship from the start and growing healthy from it. If something happens or is said in a weird way, ask why. Sure, it might seem like looking too deep into something that seems too shallow, but the story DOES do well in letting you know that both main characters have complex backstories and pasts that are slowly looked into as a slow burn while you read. Something sympathetic, something also along the lines of "This person is in a better position than where they were before."

Art/9: Not much to say here besides the art is really good. Main focus is purely in body poses and facial expressions. Something really important, as there is both a lot of attention to detail as well as showing you emotion better than what can be said. A lot of emotions are displayed not by words but by how exactly the characters are drawn and what they are doing, and there are panels where no words are said but something is being communicated deeper through the art alone.

Character/8: Two people are your main focus for the majority of the manga and both of them having glaring problems.
Your male MC who is usually just referred to as senpai (He does have a name though later as Naoto and is called various other nicknames) and your female lead Nagatoro.
Naoto is cowardly, introverted, and seems to suffer from anxiety constantly. While Nagatoro is a sadistic, cruel, energetic joking character. You get this quite heavily from the first few chapters in full and it is shown in a way where you aren't suppose to find them acceptable. Not these traits, and not the way these two seem to interact at first.

Yet, through their seemingly torturous and toxic relationship do these two become SOOOOOOOO much more as people. The main male character is shown to be this shy person who seems to have no friends or heavy passion until speaking with Nagatoro through an extended time and having a friend group that seems to genuinely care about him as a person. (Even through the teasing.) He seems to have ambitions and goals. Mostly in social skills and art. You get to watch these develop in babysteps as he grows out of his comfort zone in both to do better.
All because of Nagatoro. So how can a girl who constantly calls you a virgin and put you on the verge of tears help you to become better and achieve the things you want out of life? I mean, the first Ten Chapters seem to display this would have the exact opposite effect. As I mentioned before, there is a complexity to the dynamic that these two have that slowly unravels as the story goes on. Even the female character who is normally only shown to be a sadistic POS seems to have other things going on in her life. Sure, most of what is presented is her being a straight up bully, but she also seems so questionably bored. Even subtle hints at times like she has no other interests. Early on, you would thing from her actions and how she talks that she would have hobbies or goals. So there is some mystery of why Nagatoro acts in the way that she does and what is going on in her life that paints out a deeper personality. A personality that says she doesn't know how to convey how she really feels or what she actually thinks.
My only critique is sometimes it feels too slow, and that there is more focus on the bullying aspect than what I previously mentioned. It gives off a perspective that this really is some kind of Stockholm Syndrome bullying relationship without the depth I explained before.
Some would disagree with me completely, saying this is completely toxic and encourages unhealthy behaviors and relationships. ​That it is nothing more than smut. or disagree with me that there isn't anything over-the-line at all. Fine.
The whole point of this review is to maybe play the devil's advocate and look at this differently.

Enjoyment/8:
This manga treated ME through a BDSM relationship. Chapters are sometimes hard to swallow and painful only to be relieved by the next one to make up for the social torture this displays. In the further chapters, things become more... cute and therapeutic. That there was something emotionally nice and a deeper meaning behind the early sadism and I was happy I continued reading.
Try reading the first 20 or so chapters. If you can't see it from the perspective I have detailed above, I can't persuade you anymore and this probably wont be a fun read for you. Personally for me? As someone who has been bullied and in toxic relationships seeing what this manga is about? I liked it and thought it was both cute and funny.

Overall/8: **SPOILERS AHEAD**:

I wrote this review for the fact it seemed like it was getting a bad rep from a lot of people and I wanted to come in defense of it and not scare away the people that actually would like this manga and the story.
That it is a complex romance story from a weird perspective about overcoming your personal issues and traumas through unconventional means.

"How is the manga doing that? He's just being toyed with, ridiculed, and torture for someone else's sadistic pleasure! That's the only thing you could POSSIBLY take away from this!"

Let me point out a few things from the earlier chapters. In the first meeting between the two characters, two things are obvious:
1. Our male protagonist is someone who is lonely and has low self-esteem issues who is not happy with the person that he is and wishes for so much more.
2. Our female lead IMMEDIATELY picks up on this, tells him bluntly, and seems unhappy with this.
One could look at it from the obvious perspective that it is pity or she truly finds it disgusting.

Yet, she goes out of her way to see him almost on a daily basis and, through her own ways, helps him with these problems of his through strange ways. Ways that work.

Again, you can completely disagree and I both welcome/respect that, but I highly recommend looking more at this manga than what it is at the surface level.

What are we to do with ourselves, our lives, and our romances?
The biggest questions of our lives is really what we are suppose to do with them. A vague statement meant to be applied. In itself, its a common problem to deal with whether we are young or old. Just in different ways.

After the Rain tries to tackle these topics in a wholesome way, its downfall trying to fumble with the very answer itself and reaching something sweet but lukewarm after presenting and, at the end, dismantling it's main theme.

Story/5: (Quick tl;dr, this is a romance story with bittersweet realism and a giant age ... gap. Keep these in mind.)
Without spoilers, The story is a strange premise. If you go down the romance tags, a lot of the more well-known ones tackle age gap relationships and interests. This story stuck out to me the most for being one of the most mature and realistic ways dealing with this issue.
Now, our two main characters are from 17 to 45. One of the largest I've seen in a manga at the time. Not on the grounds of grooming or pedophilia, but how do you make something like this romance work? How can you portray this without it coming off as degeneracy even for the sake of it seeming plausible to present a message? More so, how will you tie such a thing into the philosophical talking points of the manga and it not seem morally reprehensible and also a mature story that wouldn't sound like some unrealistic erotic doujin?
((Spoilers Ahead: Please skip to ART to avoid any possible spoilers.))

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This is a story about aspirations, inspiration, and what it means to lose both. It is also a story of delving into an unexplained feeling and trying to grow from it.
So early on, when a confession occurs and our goofball 45yo man is dumbstruck, it all comes off as realistic. When you are old, you don't start to think of things occurring to you like you would in your teens. Unlike other manga, our character tries VERY hard to be a mature adult and role model to our other character even when romantic feelings get involved.
Even more, we are not surprised when romance never happens even when our female heroine tries so hard to both understand her feelings and pursue her love. She lost all her passion for her one joy in life from injury and gave up on it immediately. Our male protagonist, on the other hand, shares similarity when his aspiration to be a successful author falls short five years before the story begins. There's a comparison to be drawn from the two from start to finish on how they both supply this emotional necessity to pick themselves back up and push towards what they love the most even after all the hardships and doubt. It even pairs well when tackling topics only specific for age. Things you deal with as a young girls. Problems you suffer from when you are an older, divorced father. This realism is both lovable and also the downfall of this manga as what was used to both help nurture and grow these two into something more is also being framed as the catalyst for the romance between them.

As I asked earlier, how do you handle a romance such as this in a tasteful way and still keep all the themes I mentioned earlier properly?
Well, you don't. A romance never truly happens. It can't, or else it will abandon all the other morals and purpose the chapters try to set up from the start. Unlike other mangas, this one doesn't pull a "Age is just a number" or "I will wait till this love is acceptable". From the start, it wasn't going to work. The premise is pretty clear about this from metaphors and story itself. Disappointing to readers as everyone loves a good romance, the point isn't to fulfill a love story. It's telling a story of growth and maturity. Doing the right thing. This is why many characters seem unfulfilled and constantly troubled. This is why there is no official hook-up for anyone near the end. Only epiphany. In the end, if that is upsetting for you, blame the story premise from the start. This was never meant to be a blooming romantic tale and would be ruined it if did.

The problem is how it handles this. Along the way, the story is very slow and focuses VERY heavily on this story plot. In doing so, ALL the other aspects seemed to get watered down along the way and we seem to be missing out on details that probably would've made the story more appealing. Things like the backstory of our 45yo main character. I put emphasis on his age BECAUSE he wasn't always a man who abandoned his dreams and became content with life. Along the way, he grew to love writing, met someone, had a child, and had his life and ambitions fall apart to an extent. We don't see enough of this. We don't see enough of a lot of things that would make the story a lot more enjoyable. The pages seem like a waste and I can understand why people would become bored or frustrated with the plot after some chapters. Especially when they have doubt of a great and unsatisfying ending. So, if most of the pages aren't filled with that, what are they mostly used for...?
Well. Fluff. Unrequited romantic fluff with a clear idea of where this is all going to end.

Now, finally, to get to the point of explaining all this and why I haven't mentioned the obvious. "Are you saying it would have been BETTER if there was romantic fulfillment?" Well, no. Absolutely not; that would completely destroy the foundation that makes this all even remotely work. The problem is that I even have to talk about that BECAUSE the actual main focus of the plot seems to frame this unrequited love so much. More importantly, try to frame it like a romance plot. A lot, for dozens of grueling panels and heavy-handedly. It only begs the question... why?
Why go to such lengths to attempt that?

I mean, think about it in a theoretical. If you DID want this to be the "Taboo Romance Story", then this manga seems to fairly do a good job at how well it focuses it's time on the female and male main characters. Their interactions and "intimate moments". Yet, that doesn't seem to be the premise of it since we get what it is trying to do from the very start supposedly.

Is the point about the struggles of an adult man keeping his convictions to being a morally good person and role model? No. Because his intentions and convictions are set IN STONE from the very beginning. There is never any doubt, only caution. Which are two different things.

So, was it... maybe... suppose to be a story about a man who has always been a good role model with a story modeling his convictions and covering about a young girl , who is level-headed, confused by emotions and held down by their own problems with the complexities of both as they meet? Yeah, if you read only the beginning and ending while cutting out 90% of the inbetween, fine. But you have a lot of fat here that isn't spent doing that. So it seems confusing and wasteful and muddies the message. It's why you have so many fans split on how to feel about this story. It's why it a lot of times start seeming questionable or almost like... well... justifications for why all of this would be alright and persuading the reader should the ending actually be the romance while abandoning everything else it was presenting. It comes off as bait. Hey, maybe the ending pulls some kind of 180 and this is a romance, eh? or something else becomes involved. It's really hard to tell and that's bad, especially when there is this lingering feeling in the book itself letting you know "Guys. Listen. This isn't right." A feeling in the background by constant meetups, forced dates, and other mushy scenes. You want to make it seem believable and appear like a dilemma that needs solving? Fine. I understand. But the core of your writing needs to say that instead of being boring.

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Art/8: A majority of this manga's appeal is a very clean and lovely style they do for characters. Backgrounds and sidecharacters don't have a focus so usually they don't seem special, but when someone is focused on, there is so much detail to their design and facial expressions. Simple things from the slightest mouth gesture to even the perspective of the character being drawn to express an emotion is big in this. Most things aren't discussed or mentioned but instead uses the scene to show a mood and point. Now, it does seem like the quality quickly drops often or has almost no focus. The reason it has an 8 is because it is really good when it does and would have a 10 if this quality was more consistent.

Character/9: Characters, atleast our two main characters, are very well written. The side characters are not shown or spoken of enough, but at the very least
used to display the depth of our more important ones. Specifically, the male and female protagonists. It isn't particular personality traits or anything close. Sure, we have a seemingly stereotypical kuudere female and goofball clumsy male, but the look into their desires and what they do is what really makes them shine. The only reason it isn't perfect is there isn't enough content in the story on both the characters and the side characters.

Enjoyment/5: It's a realistic story with subtle enjoyments and subtle harsh feelings. Not rosey, not cynical. This comes off boring at many points to read through or unrewarding. With the sort of ending that it has, it will seem even more unrewarding to finish. I can understand the intention, but trying to portray realism and in the way it does it here doesn't exactly mean that, at points, the artistically beautiful work we have here wont come off as a dull slow-burn to nowhere but predictable.

Overall/tl;dr/7:
If I were to recommend any kind of Age gap romance to someone, it would definitely be this. Too many manga from Usagi Drop and others hold the mistake of trying to preserve this idea that "some exceptions are ok". Not the aspect of age gap itself, mind you, but something along the lines of a much older man and a highschooler. I get that writing stories of taboo relationships can be interesting and they surely are, the regularity and lack of giving a sense of maturity to them seem to just indulge in the simple vulgarity and excuse of allowing immaturity, however. (Especially of the older party.) There is no story that tries to explain and show why such a situation can be manipulative or immature as opposed to real thought-provoking stories that focus on this like House of the Sun.
Here we have a story of an older male. Who is experienced. Each time, disappointing the shippers, he does the right thing in his role as a more experienced person who struggles with his own dilemmas while assisting another's.

On the other hand, I wont be fooled that this TRIED very hard to also be a manga about romance. A heavy focus with a story meant to be portrayed. Themes and arts. At heart, this was really trying hard to be a love story by appearance. Yet it couldn't. No matter what, it was only recipe for a let down and could have been much more if done differently. Not in completing a romance but put more perspective on the other themes it had instead of placing it on the backburner.
Which makes the experiences, as whole, tediously boring and the growth subpar which finally concludes onto a vague close of the narrative. It spends so much time saying very little.

Browsing through the different manga left under rocks, you can find hidden gems or reasons why something doesn't kick off like it should.
Jikkyou!! Izumi-kun no Koi Moyou, straight to the point, feels like an incomplete and unsatisfying slice-of-life romance manga. There are scenes that feel unreasonable to be had, overly extended in areas and lacking any length in others, and a poorly executed great premise. I really liked this at the start and it failed to deliver. Why?
((The above is completely spoiler free. From here, this review might contain light spoilers. If you would rather have an easily digestible reason why I would not recommend ... this to someone, a tl;dr will be at the very bottom.))

Story - 3: Izumi is our main character and has felt like a completely isolated person who lacks any ability of social skills or confidence when it comes to interaction. Atleast, he thinks so. His self-defeatist mentality keeps him from gaining any kind of friends in his school or participating overall in life entirely. It makes him feel like a background character. Background character. Please, keep in mind how important that aspect is because the rest of the story is about Izumi dealing with that criticism of himself and how he wants to handle it. The story of how someone grows to not feel like a background character.
So, most of the talking and perspective comes the very interesting mindset of Izumi as he comments and rants in his head of what life is like around him keeping the theme of being harsh on himself but an optimistic outlook on everything else. There is a group of friends near him and, because of the meddling of one girl, he is forced into a daily routine of talking to her and the rest of these people way more than he used to do. (Which was not at all.)
This, in itself, is a really cool concept. A self-narrating main character with a heavily flawed but detailed mindset makes for good writing. Early on, it was wonderful and there are handfuls of scenes that are completely unique and can't be achieved by other manga from this concept alone. So why a 4?
The story was wasted. The main issue of our main character always speaking to himself and seeming like a background character seems like the main obstacle of the manga. From how the chapters go till even how it ends, it doesn't really seem to change. Sure, he gets one special moment in the spotlight that boosts his self-confidence. However, it's like the entire story is working against trying to remedy this obstacle and not in a well-written way.

Izumi makes other friends but only has a single panel dedicated to even socializing with them which is little less of "hi" and "bye" almost making it seem like he has acquired acquaintances only. Even his regular friends are rarely shown to be interacted with. (Although the story would like to say this is not the case, even the main character questions this often.) For almost all sixteen chapters, it still seems like he is a background character with only a shred of hope to obtain his one goal: to capture the heart and confess to the girl he loves who brought him to be more sociable. In the end, the manga only leaves a feeling of empty hopefulness. Minor plot obstacles are ended by forgetting about them and not really dealing with the issue, personal character growth barely seems self-rewarding, and the ending has our MC REJECT his personal desires and feed his sense of being a background character.
--((Spoiler/Please skip this line if you don't want this ruined for you: In the last chapter, Izumi wants to confess to his love but would rather support her own crush instead. This is a nice sentiment, but one that is seen for more than half the manga. It ends this way, with a "Maybe some positive things happen in the future?" cut to the Summer vacation between all their friends. It's disappointing, because it honestly feels like this was suppose to be a much longer series. This is where the purpose of our character who is suppose to GROW seem to recluse back into his style of life before. The unhealthy personality traits he had. It doesn't seem like support or doing what is right for him to become more. It seems like cowardice and giving up. It seems like a lack of finding new aspiration to keep getting better.
It seems depressing.))--


Even if it was cut short, there were plenty of ways they could've cut down on unnecessary details and focused way more on the ones left out. Even more, they could've stuck with a path which is a happy story of a man growing into a person who is less of a crippled introvert or a sad story where someone reverts back into his ways from his lack of determination. It seems they wanted to play it safe and take a middle ground while keeping the overall atmosphere of the manga 'happy' and leave a poor aftertaste of an interesting climax that you'd have to imagine. Wasted Potential. Very disappointing. Our boy, Izumi, starts as a background character, ends as one. Least we have hope. <Insert lobotomizing eyeroll emoji>

Art - 7: Art is clean cut for a slice-of-life. It doesn't often have the feeling of acid-washed pencil sketching and makes sure to make the characters (especially their eyes) show a lot of personality. It isn't amazing and the backgrounds don't especially stand out, but what it does right is done well.

Character - 5: This is a tricky one. You have an amazing main character with so much versatility and character. Someone with SO many flawed personality traits to be made likable. Maybe out of pity, but the pity is spared is mostly for his short, pessimistic moments. The main heroine is quickly shown to also have a variety of personality and design. Her crush has some, but not enough to care about his backstory or why he acts the way he does. The authors thought so as well as their answer to explaining his actions and reasons is with almost a single line.
Even if the explanation were true, he's mostly a plot point. Most feeling and thoughts are, in the biggest moments, conveyed through expressions and actions which is a really nice touch for such a wordy manga. It just is ruined with a completely unused cast of background characters that can't even get both well-written lines or EVEN ART detail. Even the main group of friends is barely focused on to the point I can't even recall their names or even when the manga literally mentions them. Which is sad when you are trying to write a story about the great feeling and importance of strong personal relationships with others.

Enjoyment - 8: You know, it was a unique idea and I was really excited at the start of it. Almost completely invested and hooked at the first diatribe of our main character's notes. Through the chapters, although aggravating to see them cut short or lack some closure/conclusion time and time again, I still REALLY liked seeing this concept (along with the concepts they were doing right) play out. If it actually had more work, this could've been really solid.

Overall - 4: I don't think anyone could read this start to finish and feel satisfied from the execution and conclusion story wise. I feel like people will really enjoy the concept and regret reading when they see it go nowhere and be so underused. I think a lot of people that love romance will not like how the romantic progression is nonexistent and possibly, canonically, does not happen. I don't think people will appreciate a character who is set up for a story to grow as a person barely scratch the surface and, technically, regress in certain aspects and only strengthen his self-deprecation.

tl;dr - It is really easy to read this and, at the end, think "Half done and poorly done". If others disliked it even more than my leniency, I wouldn't blame them. It is hardly rewarding in many aspects and is more a flowery roughdraft that seems exceptionally rushed. Yet, it seems like someone had a really good idea and wanted to do something. I don't know who, but I hope they learn from this and get to make what they actually wanted to. I understand the magazine was cut short and what they WANTED to do was not done, but that fact doesn't change what this "finished" product is.