Rent-A-Girlfriend begins its descent that leads you to wonder if it ever was more than meets the eye, or did rose-colored glasses trick you into seeing something more?
| Director(s) | Koga Kazuomi |
| Writer(s) | Hirota Mitsutaka |
| Aired (Crunchyroll) | 9/5/20 |
This content contains pertinent spoilers.
Recap
This Can’t Go On Forever – Kazuya, Chizuru, Grandma Kinoshita, Ruka
Ruka is growing tired of not being treated as Kazuya’s girlfriend and Chizuru getting his time, his admiration, and clearly being the one, not just he, but his grandmother wants. Yet, despite it being clear Kazuya doesn’t see her as a romantic prospect, and Chizuru has no desire to set aside this farce, Ruka is determined. So, while she asks of Kazuya to not kiss or cling to Chizuru, she commits to the long game. Which includes joining the karaoke bar that Kazuya works at to spend more time with him.
Review
On The Fence
I Don’t Know About You, But I’m Ready For This To Wrap Up
While Ruka’s introduction was awesome, at first, she hasn’t stirred the pot like the show needed, or I wanted. Yes, she is doing her best to be the girlfriend that Kazuya could want, but he is so smitten with Chizuru that it makes watching her attempts sad. And even with expecting Chizuru to fall for Kazuya eventually, it doesn’t really make this fun to watch anymore.
After all, where is the conflict, some sense of there being more than Kazuya fantasizing over having sex with Chizuru or Ruka grabbing Chizuru’s breast like she could feel her heartbeat that way? What once had potential is starting to show itself as something that is only as good as the viewer tricks themselves into thinking.
You took the words right out of my mouth. This show started fresh but now this episode has made the concept run thin. Kazuya always has felt like a scummy character but this episode cheapens Chizuru as well. At this point, both main characters feel like bad people who ironically label someone else a pathological liar. On that note, Ruka coming in like a wrecking ball to tear down their carefully constructed house of lies has practically been made a non-factor now. Structuring her as a nuisance character is in poor taste to me especially since she is presenting an opportunity to do the right thing and try a real relationship instead deceiving Kazuya’s family. Sorry I ranted.