Manga Interesting Concept
This one, oh boy. It is about Kazuya Kinoshita who is about to enter college only to discover that his girlfriend Mami dumped him after dating him for about a month. Distraught over that, he discovers a rather shady app where he can rent a girlfriend. So, he ends up meeting the seemingly perfect Chizuru Mizuhara. After their first date, Kazuya, despite knowing that this was a job, grows suspicious of Chizuru and gives her a low rating. Which makes her angry.
To make matters worse, Kazuya's grandmother collapses and she has the misfortune of meeting Chizuru, so they have to keep up the facade a little longer.
Characters. Kazuya himself isn't really likable. He's a pushover who everyone throws shade at. Everyone, including his own family. He can't stand up for himself; he's pretty much a loser. I get him wanting to have a real relationship, but as Chizuru pointed out to him, what she did was her job. That outburst in episode 1 was really unnecessary. He's borderline insufferable as a leading character. But a lot of that is intentional, so I can't really completely blame him for that.
The other characters are hard to really "like." Chizuru herself at the least is shown to at least see that while Kauzya can be foolish and an idiot at times, there are at least some good qualities about him. It is also good on her part that, while she is overly critical with Kazuya being the doormat he is, she does assist him with upcoming the visage of a relationship. She even stands up for him when Mami was talking smack about Kazuya. Which perfectly segues to...
Mami. Oy vey, Mami. What can I say about her? Out of all the shows I am watching this year, she is hands down the worst character in the show. On the outside, she looks bubbly and friendly almost like an angel. But on the inside, she is an utterly petty borderline sociopath.
For starters, she finds herself insanely jealous of Kazuya and Chizuru's "relationship" despite the fact that she herself dumped him in the first place under the claim that she met someone else she loved. It's her actions that led to him finding the rental app and yet she wants to destroy the (fake, but she doesn't know) relationship between the two because she cannot stand that Kazuya appeared to move on after her. She is a manipulative, verbally abusive young lady who tears Kazuya down with her words. While the show treats him as a punching bag, nothing about what she says is funny as not even the other characters humor her for it. Worse, she even forces Kazuya to apologize for her when she gets called out for her actions.
The worst part of her plot had to be when she was trying to tempt Kazuya when Chizuru was in a position where she likely would have died had it not have been for Kazuya's quick intervention. This just goes to show how much of a ruthless sociopath she is where she does not give a crap about whether someone lost their life because of her. Unlike with Chizuru where she has her own softer side, Mami doesn't have anything remotely redeeming about her. It's really because of her presence that the show feels especially cruel and I'd think that it would be better if she was written out. Maybe die in a car accident or some freakish scenario. She is trash plain and simple.
The friends of Kazuya are mostly one-note except for his childhood friend who does acknowledge that there are some good parts to Kazuya's behavior such as his determination. Kazuya's family...don't like them. His grandmother to me comes off as especially bad partially because of her trying to dip her hand between Kazuya and Chizuru. She has that snooty attitude as well which also makes her hateable in my eyes. Otherwise, characters are hit or miss.
Voice work is also fine as is the animation. It isn't amazing by any means, but it services the show well. Comedy is hit or miss because it revolves around the misgivings of the MC and if you don't care for that kind of humor, it can come off as painful.
Manga A Guilty Pleasure
This review covers up to Chapter 158
Rent-A-Girlfriend is a series that is difficult to recommend wholeheartedly, but I consider it a bit of a guilty pleasure that I enjoy in spite of its flaws.
The story is about a young man named Kazuya who, having recently been dumped by his first girlfriend, hires a rental girlfriend named Chizuru to fill the hole in his heart. Kazuya's friends and family come to believe that he is in a romantic relationship with Chizuru, and he is forced to keep up this lie.
The characters are a mixed bag in terms of likeability. Kazuya is, to be blunt, a loser at the start of the series, since he can often be pathetic and creepy, although he arguably has understandable reasons for acting the way he does. He does get better over time, although much of his Character Development occurs after the anime's first season ends.
Chizuru is somewhat more likeable than Kazuya is, especially considering that she has much more common sense. She isn't perfect, though, and she does have her own reasons to keep the lie going, but it's easy to understand why she's the way she is and sympathize with her.
Mami is probably the worst character in the manga. She's cartoonishly evil in how she tries to sabotage Kazuya and Sumi's relationship out of spite, and comes off as a one-dimensional villain.
Ruka is almost as bad as Mami, particularly how aggressively she pursues Kazuya, which serves little purpose but injecting additional conflict into the story.
The pacing is glacial, even for a romcom. Kazuya and Chizuru grapple with the question of whether to keep up the lie or come clean and break up for much of the series (apparently not even considering whether to give a real relationship a try). It doesn't help that most chapters don't cover much ground, at least for weekly manga.
The story struggles with forward momentum. Early on, Kazuya and Chizuru are constantly about to break up, only to end up postponing the decision for one reason or another. It also occasionally falls back on introducing romantic rivals to stir up conflict and drive the plot forward(e.g. Ruka), a bit like Citrus did.
That said, the story isn't entirely bad. The romance between Kazuya and Chizuru can be genuinely heartwarming, especially when it helps Kazuya start to become a better person. If I'm frustrated with the pacing, it's because I became invested in their relationship; I'd have dropped the series if I didn't care about them.
The art is well-done and has a number of nice touches, such as the small asides that are drawn on the screen in the anime, such as dialogue boxes commenting on when Kazuya does something particularly foolish. The artist is also good with small details, like the crack on Kazuya's smartphone's screen.
If you don't like stories in which you spend much of the time wishing the main couple would stop dragging their feet and get together, this is not for you. If you're willing to keep an open mind and put up with its flaws, you should give it a try.