It's very easy to clown on Rent-A-Girlfriend because it does a lot of things wrong as either comedy or drama. It's a story that follows a protagonist who doesn't really have likable qualities, and anytime those likable qualities are showcased, they are either immediately walked back, or they're not strong enough to compensate for the sheer amount of frustration that is generated by this man's presence. A lot of the relationships feel very forced and manufactured, but the show is not nearly self-aware enough for me to suspend my disbelief. Finally, the show's main players don't have nearly as much romantic chemistry as it wants me to think they have. Season three gave me some hope that the show was finally taking a moment to be something more than it was. However, now that the story arc involving Chizuru's grandmother is done, this season brings me right back to all the empty, frustrating fluff that plagued seasons one and two.

The worst parts about this show are specifically how it pads out its story, because there is actually a lot of potential here to tell a pretty enriching drama. Last season showed me that Rent-A-Girlfriend can actually write solid character interactions with Chizuru's grandmother. But that might've been the show's biggest mistake because it makes this season's return to the status quo all the more frustrating. By the time this season ended, almost nothing had changed between episode one and episode twelve. Characters are still more or less in the same relationship status quo that they were in before; almost every major conversation has been avoided. The finale tries to end on this big dramatic hook, like I'm supposed to care about what happens next. I'm sorry, Rent-A-Girlfriend, did you just waste my time for multiple hours, resolve nothing, and then promise me that something interesting will happen in season five? Why couldn't you have talked about that stuff now?

There is this prevailing theme about how lies can tear people apart. This entire show is predicated on a lie, and season three took that concept to an appropriate thematic extreme, where sometimes a lie can be used in order to bring people closer together rather than tearing people apart. Chizuru and Kazuya's relationship is built on a lie, but just like how that lie gave their grandmothers closure, it could be used to establish their genuine romantic feelings. This can contrast with all the lies that everyone else is saying, and there's a good coming-of-age story in there about where the line is. The problem is that I need to actually be invested in the romance for this story to work.

The show is trying to build up tension by constantly dangling that carrot of the relationship getting exposed in my face, but all it ends up doing is negatively impacting one or two emotional scenes in the making. This season does showcase a little bit more of Kazuya's family, like his parents and his grandmother. I do like some of the side characters. Kazuya's best friend seems to genuinely be rooting for him, and there is a little bit of humor in just how guilty Kazuya feels the more he talks with everyone. But the more this gets dragged out, the more I just feel bad for these side characters because after over a year of lies, our leads have well passed a point of no return. I'm more invested in that potential emotional fallout than I am in any romantic relationship in this show.

This is something that I think Chizuru understands the most, and that's not surprising because she is the best-written character in the entire show that is walking this delicate tight rope. She is trying to wrestle with her feelings and her sense of professionalism. She feels indebted to Kazuya, but she also doesn't want her emotions to be overly swayed by that. I'm actually surprised that she is patient with him, even when she finds him in compromising positions. It feels like the show is highlighting that she is trying to take in all of this information and make the most logical decision. I might not agree with all of her actions, but I can empathize with her trying to get out of a potential no-win scenario.

This is a complete contrast to Kazuya, whom I don't like as a protagonist. He did display some sense of backbone and forward thinking in season three, but when you remove a project from this guy, he falls apart like a stack of cards. If I took a shot of alcohol every time this man boldly declared that he was finally going to tell Chizuru how he feels in this season alone, I would be dead by the time I got to the end. He has no confidence, doesn't go through any genuine change or emotional pathos, and falls apart at the slightest bit of pressure. This is a problem I had with him since the first season, and I was hoping that his arc would be about manning up or pushing himself out of his grandmother's shadow. But he is still a character who is very heavily dictated by the actions of everybody else.

This is showcased the most with his relationship with Ruka, a character who is just here to make things awkward. Her forcing Kazuya into a temporary relationship for them to at least try things out was interesting, even if it felt like a no-win scenario for her. However, now it's just being forced for the sake of generating drama. Kazuya is constantly trying to break it off with her, and she's just adamant that she's not going to let him, but this comes up almost every episode. In a lot of ways, Ruka just wants to be treated the way that Kazuya treats Chizuru, but Kazuya has made it clear that he's not going to see her that way. That's the only thing I can really respect him about, but the fact that Ruka isn't taking an answer makes it gross. There's nothing narratively or emotionally satisfying about their relationship; it's just frustrating.

And then there is Mami, a character whom I genuinely have no idea how to feel about, and I can't tell if that's a good or a bad thing just yet. Mami has always been sort of an enigma that has sat in the shadows most of the show. She has this weird interest in Kazuya's love life, and in this season, she does provide an actual reason, but I also don't know if I believe it. There's this antagonistic mystery behind her like she's some mustache-twirling villain, but the show is still playing its cards very close to the chest about whether or not what she is saying is actually how she's feeling. Laura Stahl does a great job playing with that ambiguity, and it's hands down the best performance in the show. It's not that anyone else's performance is bad; they're just given so little to work with. One thing I want to see in season five is this girl reveal what exactly her deal is. Still, I'm not sure if that would be worth sifting through potentially another episode of meandering frustration.

This season is uncertain in its own direction. It is most apparent with the music, which felt the weirdest in its implementation compared to the other seasons. The actual soundtrack is genuinely nice with a nice variety of gentle light motifs and surprisingly suspenseful strings. The problem is that how these tracks are used in the actual show sometimes almost feels random. Two characters will converse, and the scene will flip back and forth between two entirely different musical styles. Sometimes a suspenseful conversation would flip to joyful at the drop of a moment's notice. It's disorientating. The show also still uses what I can only assume are little manga dialogue snippets in the actual show. I thought that was originally a pretty fun idea, but ultimately, it doesn't really amount to anything, and at worst, it just makes the screen feel cluttered.

There were plot points or gags that needed to be brought up, but they didn't justify a whole season's worth of material. This season could've easily been told in just five episodes. There are two types of shows I genuinely hate reviewing: the ones that bore me and the ones that anger me. This show somehow made me feel both of those things. I feel like my time was wasted because nothing happened throughout the season, and this show doesn't check any of the boxes necessary to make it an engaging drama or romantic comedy. This is probably the worst season of this show so far.