Rent-A-Girlfriend

Template:Nihongo, abbreviated as Template:Nihongo, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Reiji Miyajima. It has been serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine since July 2017, and has been compiled into thirty-eight Template:Transliteration volumes as of October 2024. The series is licensed in North America by Kodansha USA, which released the first volume in English in June 2020.

An anime television series adaptation produced by TMS Entertainment, aired from July to September 2020 on MBS's Super Animeism block. A second season aired from July to September 2022. A third season aired from July to September 2023. A fourth season is set to premiere in 2025. A live-action television drama adaptation also aired from July to September 2022.

By March 2024, the manga had over 13 million copies in circulation.

Plot

Kazuya Kinoshita is dumped by his girlfriend Mami Nanami after dating for a month. He decides to rent a beautiful girlfriend named Chizuru Mizuhara. However, because he thinks she was inauthentic, he gives her a low rating. When Chizuru berates him for that during their next outing, he realizes she is meaner than he expected. Just then, Kazuya learns that his grandmother has been hospitalized following a collapse. Chizuru comes along and his grandmother is smitten by how great she is. Kazuya continues renting Chizuru in order to keep up appearances with his family and friends, but things get complicated when they discover they are next-door apartment neighbors and attend the same college. Later, other girls from the rental girlfriend business also join in, along with Kazuya's ex-girlfriend, who seems intent on ending this fake relationship. However, as Kazuya falls in love with Chizuru, he becomes determined to do whatever he can to make their rental relationship into a real one.

Characters

Main

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A 20-year-old college student who lives in Tokyo. Following a painful breakup with his girlfriend, Mami Nanami, he decides to rent a girlfriend named Chizuru Mizuhara.Template:Ref He soon finds himself in situations where he has to continue renting Chizuru to keep up appearances with his family and friends, and he eventually falls in love with her.Template:Ref Later on, he begins working part-time at a karaoke bar to pay for his dates and other expenses.Template:Ref

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A college student who moonlights as a rental girlfriend for the Diamond company.Template:Ref On campus, she goes under her real name Chizuru Ichinose, and utilizes a nerdy appearance with large dark-framed glasses and braided pigtails.Template:Ref It is later revealed that Chizuru and Kazuya are next-door neighbors in their apartment complex.Template:Ref She continues to let Kazuya rent her services in order to help his grandmother Nagomi, and to help him get over his breakup with Mami.Template:Ref

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Kazuya's former girlfriend. She has short blonde hair.Template:Ref She appears to be friendly on the outside but harbors jealous and possessive feelings that scare her friends sometimes.Template:Ref She is shocked and suspicious that Kazuya has found another girlfriend immediately after she dumped him.Template:Ref

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A girl who is introduced as Shun Kuribayashi's girlfriend. In actuality, she is also working as a rental girlfriend for another company.Template:Ref She wants to date Kazuya for real after seeing how kindly and passionately he treats Chizuru and her.Template:Ref She has a health condition where she has a low heart rate that she monitors, and Kazuya is the first guy who elevated it.Template:Ref Later on in the series, she quits her rental girlfriend job and starts working at the same karaoke bar as Kazuya.Template:Ref

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A girl with pink hair who also works as a rental girlfriend with Chizuru's company.Template:Ref She is in her first year at college and is a newcomer to the industry.Template:Ref She has a shy personality and through Chizuru's urging, goes on dates with Kazuya in order to improve her skills as a rental girlfriend, later developing feelings for him.Template:Ref In her spin-off manga, Rent-A-(Really Shy!)-Girlfriend, it is revealed she decided to become a rental girlfriend due to a desire to pursue a career as an idol.Template:Ref

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A girl who is a neighbor to both Kazuya and Chizuru.Template:Ref She is an influencer and into cosplay,Template:Ref and provides insight on crowdfunding to Kazuya when he and Chizuru decide to make an independent film together.Template:Ref She also encourages him to truly pursue Chizuru.Template:Ref

Supporting

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Kazuya's paternal grandmother. She is thrilled to find out that Kazuya and Chizuru are a couple.Template:Ref She operates a family-owned liquor store with Kazuya's parents and is friends with Chizuru's grandmother.Template:Ref

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Kazuya's father. He operates a family-owned liquor store with his mother and wife.Template:Ref

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Kazuya's mother. She operates a family-owned liquor store with her husband and mother-in-law.Template:Ref

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Kazuya's childhood friend and college schoolmate.Template:Ref He occasionally gives Kazuya advice about how to deal with his relationships.Template:Ref He also personally knows Kazuya's grandmother Nagomi, working part-time to help with her business.Template:Ref

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Kazuya's friend and college schoolmate. He has short light hair and wears glasses.Template:Ref He often goes by Template:Nihongo.Template:Ref

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Chizuru's maternal grandmother.Template:Ref In her heyday, Sayuri was an actress, inspiring Chizuru to become one herself.Template:Ref Sayuri and her late husband Katsuhito raised their granddaughter together after Chizuru's single mother died.Template:Ref She later falls ill and dies, albeit not before she is able to watch Chizuru's movie at the hospital.Template:Ref

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Chizuru's friend and classmate in acting school. Kazuya mistakenly believes Umi is Chizuru's real boyfriend at first.Template:Ref

Media

Manga

Template:Main Written and illustrated by Reiji Miyajima, the series began serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine on July 12, 2017. It has been compiled into thirty-eight volumes as of October 2024. The series is licensed in North America by Kodansha USA, which released the first volume in English on June 2, 2020. Kodansha published an anthology of the series on August 17, 2020.

A spin-off manga series, titled Template:Nihongo, also written and illustrated by Miyajima, has been serialized in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app since June 21, 2020. The series focuses on the character Sumi Sakurasawa. It has been compiled into three volumes as of May 2022. The series is also published in North America by Kodansha USA.

Anime

Template:Main An anime television series adaptation was announced on December 15, 2019. The series was animated by TMS Entertainment and directed by Kazuomi Koga, with Mitsutaka Hirota handling series composition, Kanna Hirayama designing the characters, and Hyadain composing the music. The Peggies performed the opening theme Template:Nihongo. Halca performed the first ending theme Template:Nihongo starting from Episodes 2–6 and 8–11,Template:Efn while Halca also performed the second ending theme "First Drop" for Episode 7,Template:Efn and Sora Amamiya performed the third ending theme Template:Nihongo for Episode 12. It aired from July 11 to September 26, 2020, on the Super Animeism programming block on MBS and other networks.Template:Efn Season 1 ran for 12 episodes.

Crunchyroll streamed the series outside of Asia. On August 11, 2020, Crunchyroll announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on August 28. In Southeast Asia and South Asia, the series is licensed by Muse Communication and released on the streaming service iQIYI in Southeast Asia. Animax later began airing the series.

On September 25, 2020, shortly before the first season's finale was streamed internationally, it was announced that a second season had been greenlit for production. The main cast and staff reprised their roles, with Studio Comet cooperating in the production. The second season aired from July 2 to September 17, 2022.Template:Efn The opening theme is Template:Nihongo by CHiCO with HoneyWorks, while the ending theme is Template:Nihongo by MIMiNARI featuring asmi.

On May 18, 2021, it was announced Sentai Filmworks picked up the home video rights.

After the final episode of the second season, a third season was announced, with Shinya Une replacing Kazuomi Koga as director. It aired from July 8 to September 30, 2023.Template:Efn The opening theme is Template:Nihongo by Halca. Amber's performed the first ending theme Template:Nihongo from Episodes 25–31 and 34–36, and the second ending theme Template:Nihongo from Episodes 32–33.Template:Efn

On July 12, 2024, a fourth season was announced and is set to premiere in 2025.

Video games

A crossover smartphone game titled Template:Nihongo was developed by Enish. It featured Chizuru, Mami, Ruka, and Sumi along with female characters from other Weekly Shōnen Magazine manga series like Fairy Tail, The Seven Deadly Sins, Domestic Girlfriend, Girlfriend, Girlfriend, Fire Force, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, and Negima! Magister Negi Magi. It was released in September 2021. The game's service ended on January 25, 2023.

A visual novel, titled Template:Nihongo, developed by Mages, was announced in July 2024. The game follows an original story, which is an alternate scenario set during the third season of the anime, and features all main characters. The main cast from the anime reprised their roles in the game. It was released in Japan for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on November 28, 2024. The limited edition of the game is bundled with a four-disc drama CD and an original soundtrack album, featuring over 30 tracks, including the game's theme song Template:Nihongo by Sora Amamiya, Aoi Yūki, Nao Tōyama, Rie Takahashi, and Yū Serizawa.

Drama

A live-action television drama adaptation aired on ABC and TV Asahi from July 3 to September 25, 2022. It stars Ryūsei Ōnishi and Hiyori Sakurada as Kazuya and Chizuru, respectively. Viki began streaming the series on January 27, 2023, under the title Rental A Girlfriend.

Reception

By July 2023, the manga had over 11 million copies in circulation. By March 2024, the manga had 13 million copies in circulation.

In May 2024, K Manga announced on its first anniversary that the series was the best selling and fourth most read manga on the app.

Critical reception

The series received a mixed reception from various critics. Joe Ballard of Comic Book Resources (CBR) described the anime adaptation as a "hot mess" with sluggish pacing but also an "intriguing, action-packed rom-com and a semi-developing love story". Meanwhile, Ethan Wescoatt of CBR praised the story, which he called "mature" for a harem anime, in addition to the male and female leads, noting that Chizuru was an intriguing character due to hiding her true, multidimensional personality behind her perfect girlfriend façade and that Kazuya's struggles were relatable to the audience.

Alex Henderson of Anime Feminist described the series premiere as "comedy of errors with a horny streak" but noted that but it also hinted at deeper themes. They further noted that the dynamic between Kazuya and Chizuru was intriguingly balanced despite the slapstick violence. Henderson praised the anime for touching on the social implications of the rental girlfriend business, treating Chizuru with respect and highlighting her agency. Meanwhile, Dee of Anime Feminist, who reviewed the first three episodes of the anime, noted that the series initially showed promise as a refreshing and potentially progressive rom-com anime adding that Chizuru was a well-developed character and Kazuya having potential for growth. However, Dee criticized the reveal of Mami's manipulative and abusive behavior in the third episode, stating it "suck all the joy out of the series". Dee further stated that the episode reduced Kazuya to a stereotypical "boilerplate hapless harem protagonist".

Nicholas Dupree of Anime News Network described the first two seasons as being tedious, with an interesting conflict introduced only at the last minute, while the preceding episodes were filled with repetitive and uninteresting rom-com antics. He added that while expectations for season three were low, the series "surprisingly" delivered a compelling romantic dramedy that addressed the flaws of Kazuya and found a "solid" narrative focus. Dupree concluded that the third season's production quality was consistent with previous seasons, focusing on character appeal, especially for the female characters. He noted that despite flaws, the third season offered the best material in a while, addressing key issues and delivering a compelling story.

References

Works cited

• Template:Note "Ch." is shortened form for chapter and refers to a chapter number of the Rent-A-Girlfriend manga as published by Kodansha USA.
• Template:Note "Ep." is shortened form for episode and refers to an episode number of the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime as produced by TMS Entertainment.

External links

• Template:Official website Template:In lang
• Template:Official website Template:In lang
• Template:Anime News Network