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EP. REVIEW: Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2


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rakeka



Joined: 01 Apr 2021
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 11:40 am Reply with quote
This review can't be more on point. Saddddd... RAG has something, that's why people still follow it. In my case I just straight try to ignore every moment of Chizuru admiration on kazuya's mind and just try to find some plot. BUT it's getting more and more difficult to follow each week. I wish at least the manga had declared the start of final arc, yet we still on for more of the same, ups and downs.
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MagicPolly



Joined: 26 Nov 2020
Posts: 1568
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 12:17 pm Reply with quote
This show is a trainwreck except the train is going at 1 mile per hour

My friend brought up a great point while we were catching up with the anime last night. Season 1 of Rent a Girlfriend is at least enjoyable because it's actually paced like a normal show. There's actual progression and things are different in episode 12 compared to episode 1. Season 2 on the other hand has shown it's true colors of stagnating for all of eternity. Like I watched episodes 2 and 3 back to back and I can't remember what happened in what.

It's a shame because it could have had something with the concept, and college romcoms are few and far between. Unfortunately Kazuya acts like a goddamn middle schooler with how he constantly stares at Chizuru's ass while she's in his apartment.
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Spike Terra
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Joined: 21 Mar 2016
Posts: 358
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 1:20 pm Reply with quote
So I love Moe shows, Romcoms, Iyashikei and other super slow burn SOL style shows. Like some of my favorites are K-on, Non Non Biyori, Tamayura, Is the order a rabbit (I could keep going).

So believe me when I say this, each episode of Rental Girlfriend feels an hour to me. It's easily one of the slowest harem series I have ever seen. The jokes never land, no one develops and as a whole it feels like a major misuse of good visuals and talented seiyuus. I will say this show has good ideas. Like Chizuru is an orphan who wants to break out into acting. You have stakes like will she be able to achieve her goal before her Grandma passes and you have the conflicts that come from her taking on clients as a Rental Girlfriend to pay her bills.

Don't you think that sounds like an interesting premise? Well that topic is already present in the show. We could spend more time on that and less time on cyclical internal monologues on petty garbage. Every scene dedicated exclusively to Kazuya's simple yet horny thoughts make me realize that Rental Girlfriend is stuck in a weird low drama groundhogs day style.

Every time I think something will change up the status quo, Kazuya swoops in through my monitor screen and tells me "I wish I could stop being so lame but I guess I can't. Also, don't you think Chizuru is cute?". Like remember the time when Mami hired Chizuru for a date and somehow over the course of what should have been a very tense 12 minutes...nothing happened. Most of that time was spent on Kazuya reacting to the date. Episode 15 feels like they just took the same scenario as that date episode and just flipped some of the names and changed the places that people were in.

Now, you might as yourself "Spike Terra, if you hate this show so much; why do you continue to watch it?" and I'd say to you in return "The art is cute and I like the voice actors".
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 1:29 pm Reply with quote
Being stuck in Kazuya's head worked against it in episode one. With how he gushes over Chizuru, I actually didn't trust that Chizuru was the good actor he said. I expected it would turn out she was only middling until we see that someone else got picked over her because of prior connections. The sympathy I was apparently meant to feel for her in the moment kind of fell flat because of that.
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2093
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 2:53 pm Reply with quote
I read chapter 1 of the manga I think back when it first came out; aside from that, my familiarity with RAG comes almost entirely from /r/manga RAG-ging on it mercilessly. Which honestly sounds like the best way to experience it.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10960
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 4:01 pm Reply with quote
At least from an animation, fanservice, direction, and voice acting perspective, the show is still in top form.

I also like how they're peeling back the layers of Chizuru's character and exploring her background, her "real" personality, and what drives her, as well as how Kazuya fits into this in his own, dorky and cringey simp way.
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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 4:48 pm Reply with quote
MFrontier wrote:
At least from an animation, fanservice, direction, and voice acting perspective, the show is still in top form.


It kind of really ticks me off about how good it both looks and sounds. I can't lie. That's really frustrating. Rolling Eyes
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michizure



Joined: 28 Jun 2006
Posts: 177
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 8:50 pm Reply with quote
The most damning criticism I can offer is: KNKR/RAG has deteriorated (or maybe just dragged on) to the point where I actually miss Remake Our Life .
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10960
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 10:37 am Reply with quote
I wonder just how different things would be if Kazuya actually gave in to Ruka's advances and actually treated her like a proper girlfriend. It seems like he's so sexually unfulfilled and his progress with Chizuru so slow and barely noticeable that it would probably be healthier for him in the long run, even if he doesn't think he loves her like Chizuru.
michizure wrote:
The most damning criticism I can offer is: KNKR/RAG has deteriorated (or maybe just dragged on) to the point where I actually miss Remake Our Life .

You know, I don't know if I prefer Kazuya to the MC of that series...Mr. "I'm okay stringing along two girls who are into me but whom I have no intention of dating just because I want to make a game with them" or Mr. "I don't care about anything else but suffering through making a tough video game with my idols" or Mr. "I'm just going to ignore my future wife and daughter to go back in time because I feel creatively unfulfilled and assume my old dorm-mates feel the same."

Like, Kazuya's pathetic, but he never really riled me up as much as Kyouya did.
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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2022 2:18 pm Reply with quote
Ruka's the worst girl (yes even worse than Mami) and she gets more and more intolerable as the series goes, I'm sorry to say.

Nothing drives me more insane than a completely selfish character trying to brainwash another into buying that "I love you" BS while completely disrespecting their feelings at the same time.

In the end, the one Ruka cares the most about is herself.

Now Mami is pretty awful too....but once you learn why she is the way she is, you'll go "....oh. Oh DAMN......" Shocked

But they won't put that story in this season.
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MagicPolly



Joined: 26 Nov 2020
Posts: 1568
PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:51 am Reply with quote
Remember when Ruka has that random ass disease that causes her heart rate to be low constantly and only [expletive] Kazuya can raise her heart rate as a dumb excuse as to why she's constantly pursuing this loser? And this is almost never brought up again outside of vague references?
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 1000
PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2022 7:08 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Mostly that's because we finally get a return of Sumi, the best character in this show. And I don't say that out of any waifu loyalty or anything – Sumi is just the most engaging girl at this point, because she's the only one with a coherent personal goal that is actually advanced through her interactions with Kazuya. And she's also the only one he seems capable of having a conversation with, which means their scenes together have the most natural rapport of any dynamic in this show, despite one half of them almost never speaking. It's the closest Kazuya ever comes to having a healthy, friendly relationship with any woman in this story, so seeing them spend time together is easily the least annoying or tedious material of this season so far.


Look at Nick spitting facts.

I have zero investment in this show but even I realize that not only is Sumi the most endearing character in the series by miles, she is the only non-disastrous option as far as love interests go because she is the only girl that Kazuya can actually be tolerable around.

Sumi best. Give her more content.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10960
PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2022 10:32 pm Reply with quote
I guess I'm not surprised, but it's kind of sad Chizuru thinks so little of Kazuya that she genuinely couldn't believe he could restrain himself against Ruka even though he was being 100% honest.

Sumi is the best. So wholesome, cute, and earnest. And now it seems like she's genuinely falling in love with Kazuya.

I guess every struggling actress in anime has to do a Hero show at some point. And admittedly Chizuru fills out the costume well and fights surprisingly efficiently in those heels.

Kazuya may be a dork and a simp, but he does a surprisingly good job of cheering Chizuru up.
MagicPolly wrote:
Remember when Ruka has that random ass disease that causes her heart rate to be low constantly and only [expletive] Kazuya can raise her heart rate as a dumb excuse as to why she's constantly pursuing this loser? And this is almost never brought up again outside of vague references?

Didn't Ruka mention it in her last episode?
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MagicPolly



Joined: 26 Nov 2020
Posts: 1568
PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2022 11:19 pm Reply with quote
MFrontier wrote:
MagicPolly wrote:
Remember when Ruka has that random ass disease that causes her heart rate to be low constantly and only [expletive] Kazuya can raise her heart rate as a dumb excuse as to why she's constantly pursuing this loser? And this is almost never brought up again outside of vague references?

Didn't Ruka mention it in her last episode?

I think she did briefly by saying she wanted her heart to beat or something like that, and I'm pretty sure that's what I was referring to by "vague references". I guess the point of my post was me being annoyed that the plot point exists at all because it's so ridiculous lol.

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

Sumi would be great if she was allowed to appear more than once a season. I mean hell, she has her own spinoff to compensate for how little she shows up!
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JustMonika



Joined: 17 Jan 2022
Posts: 928
PostPosted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 6:02 am Reply with quote
I'm really enjoying this season so far. Of course I went through a grand total of $5500 to get a Chizuru car wrap so maybe I'm bias. Go and check it out, lol

https://twitter.com/Solidgearmara/status/1550769338113744896?t=0qVSEfRgOyrDEpw6Z34hMQ&s=19
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