Rent-A-Girlfriend / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Kazuya. Is his treatment of Chizuru, wanting Mami back even after she broke up with him and revealed her true self, and all-around immature nature that of someone who has no idea how to treat his current girlfriend (rental or not) so he treats her like she's an insincere person who pities him for not having a girlfriend, is rather dumb to continue pining for someone who has no problems call him every insult in the book, and who seriously needs to grow up and mature, or is it someone who, after years of what is technically verbal and psychological abuse from his close friends and family, ends up letting loose some pent-up bitterness on the wrong person, wants the only person who technically "wanted" him first ^note because no one else would take him, and because no one bothers to ask about, see into or even notice his personal issues, has to lie to make his life seem better than what it actually is? The Paradise and My Girlfriend Arc offers a more sinister interpretation, courtesy of Mami— that Kazuya is a scumbag who obliviously keeps Chizuru tethered to him because of his financial support, preying on her vulnerabilities by maintaining a close relationship with her.
- Chizuru:
  - After Kazuya nearly dies after saving her from drowning, she's more upset at endangering a client and says since she's a rental, he's allowed to use her however he likes. Is she getting too absorbed into the role of a rental girlfriend that she sees herself as an object to be used and thrown away, or was she actually hoping to die?
  - Her feelings towards Kazuya is also the subject of many debates. Does she keep him at a distance because she's a professional and her job forbids her from falling for a client, or is she afraid that she'll only end up losing him like the rest of her family? Or is she actually aware of her feelings and testing Kazuya's reactions to see how he feels about her? Is she Playing Hard to Get and trying to get Kazuya to man up and confess? Some contend that she sees him more as an acquaintance than a friend, has no romantic feelings for him whatsoever, and at worst, knows exactly how Kazuya feels, but keeps him close enough just to reap the monetary benefits and help her achieve her own goals, with no intention to repay him at all.
- Mami. While she may seem to be nothing more than a sociopath, there are a few hints that she did genuinely love Kazuya during their relationship. When she's clearly upset seeing him with Chizuru in Chapter 20, she remarks that falling in love is painful. Is she saying this because of her previous failed relationships, is it because she's finding herself obsessed with Kazuya knowing she had dumped him, or is it also because Kazuya stood her up to save Chizuru? Her backstory further muddies her motivations, as she's quite possibly lying to herself regarding her reasons for being upset at Kazuya and Chizuru's relationship. It doesn't help that her high school boyfriend, who she was genuinely in love with, acted a lot like Kazuya.
- Umi. Towards the end of the campaign, is he saddened because Chizuru had fallen for someone else, or because even he can't get Chizuru to open up and be honest with herself about how she feels? Or both? The ambiguity of his feelings and motives extends to his next appearance where he invites Chizuru and Kazuya to a party celebrating the movie, especially when he speaks to Kazuya one-on-one. Is he a Shipper on Deck trying to push them together? Does he still have lingering feelings for Chizuru? If he does, does he want to scope out his competition, or is he stepping aside for I Want My Beloved to Be Happy reasons? And how sincere are his efforts to befriend Kazuya?
- Sayuri's final words to Chizuru have some fans wondering if she's simply comforting Chizuru and not forcing her to say something she knows she's struggling with, or that she knew about the fake relationship for a long time and intentionally kept her response vague so that Chizuru doesn't have to feel burdened by confessing on her grandmother's deathbed.
Arc Fatigue: A common complaint about the manga is that the story drags out much longer than it needs to be. There are several instances throughout the series where it seems Kazuya and Chizuru are actually taking several steps forward and getting closer to one another, but little comes out of it and they often end up taking many steps back. Most chapters also don't cover much ground themselves, with several only covering a single date or other outing. In general, the pace is suited for a binge read, but once caught up, the ongoing weekly releases feel like a slow crawl. The Paradise and My Girlfriend Arc is especially notorious for dedicating over 18 chapters to a single day of a three-day vacation, and a not-insignificant portion of the page content is basically Kazuya's usual gushing over how beautiful Chizuru is.
Awesome Music:
- The Season 1 OP, "Centimeter" by the peggies isn't just catchy and upbeat, setting the tone of the series, but also describes the complicated relationship between Kazuya and Chizuru. As tempting as it is to fight how fate has pitted them together, little by little they grow closer and maybe fate isn't so bad after all. Even detractors of the series admit that this is a really good song.
- The ED of Season 1, "Kokuhaku Bungee Jump" by halca, is a fast-paced rocking headbanger about how hard it is to take the plunge and confess to someone who's dense and Oblivious to Love.
- The ED of Episode 7, "First Drop", also by halca, is another catchy rock song about Ruka's struggle to find someone that will make her heart race, and how determined she is to be loved by that person.
Base-Breaking Character: Pretty much every main character is one of these except for the universally beloved Sumi and, to a lesser extent, Mini:
- Kazuya is a major example:
  - People either like him for his realism, relatability, and potential for growth, or despise him for his tendency to lash out at others (especially Chizuru in the first chapter/episode), his habit of constantly lying to avoid rejection or embarrassment, and his creepy perverted tendencies.
  - A lot of his detractors think that he's too much of a pushover, especially when he initially continued to pine for Mami even after she dumped and later humiliated him in front of Chizuru and their friends. Then again, some find his low self-esteem understandable because virtually everyone else besides Sumi tells him how pathetic they think he is, too, even when he's making strides to become more self-reliant and dependable.
  - Another point of contention is that he can barely contain himself around Chizuru, even after being in a fake relationship with her for over a year; and his inability to cleanly reject Ruka, who he is technically still dating even after the Hawaiians trip despite living with Chizuru during this.
  - There's a faction who started to like Kazuya during the middle portion of the manga where he seemed to been gaining strong Character Development and started to grew as a person only to start to hate him again once he fell back into his bad habits way too many times to not been seen as a lost cause.
- Chizuru. Her inability to be honest about her feelings for Kazuya is either understandable because she spent so long without relying on others and having her loved ones leave her to really believe his claims of love (and, for all of his character development, the fact remains that he was a desperate and heartbroken guy who knowingly fell in love with a then-rental girlfriend), or frustrating because her playing hard to get just results in Kazuya pouring hours of money and time into her with very little positive feedback on Kazuya's end, never mind romantically. There's also the matter of wanting to keep up the fake dating when she learns her grandmother is on her deathbed; those in disagreement say it drags out the story and strings Kazuya along further since he had previously wanted to come clean, while those in agreement think it necessary so that Sayuri doesn't die knowing her last living relative has no one to lean on. Some have argued that she gets worse as the story progresses, as she keeps putting up her iron barrier the more Kazuya tries to be supportive of her, making it difficult for him to figure her out. Some of her detractors actually find her worse than Mami and think Kazuya is wasting his time on someone who doesn't actively reciprocate his feelings after everything he's done for her.
- Kazuya's grandmother, Nagomi. Many do like her biting remarks to her grandson, her no-nonsense approach to him and the family, and her friendship with Sayuri. However, just as many dislike how obsessed with Chizuru she is, to the point where she gives Chizuru a priceless family heirloom for her birthday, a birthday she was celebrating over her own grandson's, and her constant belittling of Kazuya. The latter point is made worse by him mentioning that she has been like this for years, and Kazuya's own mother mentions that Nagomi supervised nearly a third of her dates and butt her nose in her relationship whenever she could.
- Ruka. Her straightforward attitude and near unwavering affection for Kazuya win her big points from her fans, especially since she takes being a "trial girlfriend" seriously and sometimes stands up for Kazuya. However, her detractors find her clingy, nosy, and rude, especially because the whole relationship only begins after she emotionally blackmails Kazuya into dating her, persists even when she knows Kazuya isn't interested at times, and inserts herself into events she was never invited to (such as Kazuya's birthday party or the filming of Chizuru's debut film). Some of her more fervent haters even contend that she's as bad as Mami.
- Mami. Some consider her a shallow antagonist and a waste of space who doesn't have any reason to still be in the story. Others consider her to be a delightful Manipulative Bitch who is fun to hate. And there are even other fans who actually like her as a character, considering that even when she's tearing the others down she's usually not wrong in her assessments of their flaws and failings. People who consider the story's pacing to suffer major Arc Fatigue often look forward to Mami's appearances, as her actions tend to drive further conflict that gets the plot moving. The fact that her actions are fueled by what her parents did to her in high school also helps to have her detractors feel some sympathy for her.
Broken Base: Concerning the pacing of the story. Although many defend it for not rushing Kazuya and Chizuru's relationship just to appease readers, several others are finding themselves frustrated waiting a week for the newest chapter just to find out whatever significant progress was made in a previous one didn't stick, or that the confession that was teased went nowhere again.
Captain Obvious Reveal: Ruka being a rental girlfriend is a somewhat well-known aspect of her character, so it's easy to forget that in her introductory arc, it was supposed to be a plot twist. The key words being "supposed to," since some easily guessed this based on how it seemed overly convenient that Kuri got a girlfriend and how she easily guessed that Chizuru was a rental girlfriend.
Catharsis Factor:
- Ruka giving Mami a verbal smackdown in episode 19, about how she's the one who hasn't moved on and is pining after a man she can't have is very satisfying, given how it was one of the few times when Mami was actually called out on her behaviour.
- In the Season 3 finale, Chizuru finally crying inside Kazuya’s arms and the two letting it all out was incredibly cathartic to watch.
Character Rerailment: Unlike most examples, this is a negative one. Kazuya actually had some Character Development where he slowly starts to grow from how he was in the first chapter, taking more financial responsibility in the movie arc and struggling with the fact that Chizuru may not love him after all. Unfortunately, in Chapter 218, Kazuya went right back to what he was doing in the first chapter: imagining the girl he has feelings for having sex with someone else while getting turned on by it, this time being Chizuru instead of Mami, and every following chapter emphasizes how unworthy he feels for being in her presence. This received widespread backlash among the fans who felt it to be the worst instance of Status Quo Is God in the entire series, and for many a sign that the characters would never permanently improve.
The Chris Carter Effect: A prominent example of the Unresolved Sexual Tension variant. After over 300 chapters, the relationship between Kazuya and Chizuru hasn't progressed much since when the story started, and every major step they get in the relationship is quickly met with Status Quo Is God, with a lot of the Character Development either of the two gets is usually gone once the following arc starts — Chapter 218 in particular being an infamous example of this. As such, many fans have given up on the manga, feeling the UST is never going anywhere, and that Kazuya and Chizuru will never be allowed to fully improve as people for as long as the series can keep milking their romantic tension. It's pretty telling that there's numerous videos on YouTube from people stating that they used to like the series until they lost interest due to the constant employment of Status Quo Is God.
Diagnosed by the Audience: It's not immediately apparent, but Ruka's mindset isn't particularly normal. Her fixation on Kazuya stems from the fact that he's the only person in her life who seems to be able to make her heart skip a beat, with flashbacks indicating that she was all but emotionally dead before meeting him. Her tendency to believe her own lies and the fact that she became overly involved in a fake relationship that failed to become real to the extent that she treats Kazuya ending their provisional relationship as an actual breakup indicate that she struggles to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
Discredited Meme: The "Mami belongs to the streets" meme became this for its detractors for the following reasons:
- It started getting pushback on Crunchyroll after it became so widespread that every comment section of every other anime release had at least one person use some variation of it. At first, it got a chuckle along with bemused comments of confusion. However, after it continued week after week unabated, examples of it quickly got downvoted into deletion and scathing replies demanding that the meme stay out of unrelated anime became far more upvoted.
- The hatred fans have for Mami even extended to her English voice actress, Laura Stahl. Take note that the vitriol started right after the English cast was announced. Even worse, she was forced to address the hate mail she received on her birthday. As such, even those who consider the jokes about Mami herself to be amusing found this to be disrespectful.
- During the Rent-A-Girlfriend panel at the 2020 Crunchyroll Virtual Expo, moderators were forced to shutdown the live chat entirely because users started spamming the meme when her Japanese voice actress, Aoi Yūki, was introduced.
Draco in Leather Pants: The story notes numerous times that Mami, like the other girls, is very attractive and is frequently shown to be a Dude Magnet, something she uses to her advantage to toy with and manipulate boys. Unlike most examples of this, however, most fans do not like her any more or disregard her horrendous actions because of it, but she still has her share of fan art mostly because of how hot she is. Furthermore, for those who does not like Kazuya, Mami is widely considered to be the only real hero in the series on account of how she tries to make his life more miserable. Said fans unironically see her as the lesser of two evils who pays evil unto evil at worst, and some even arguing she did nothing wrong.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Even among detractors, Chizuru's grandmother Sayuri is a very well liked character, due to the absurdly hilarious work that she and Nagomi put into having their grandchildren be together. She also lacks the base breaking moments that make Nagomi divisive.
- Kibe quickly gained a lot of fans for knocking some sense into Kazuya and laying down some hard truths about how foolish he's been for holding a torch for Mami when he has a girl like Chizuru by his side, calling Mami out for toying with Kazuya's heartstrings, and trying to get Chizuru back together with him. He may not know the full story, but he's doing what a real friend would; he's looking out for Kazuya, sets him straight, and has his back.
- Kazuya's pet lungfish has no relevance to the story whatsoever, but the Deadpan Snarker commentary attributed to it as reactions to Kazuya's meltdowns and decisions are some of the funniest understated jokes in the series, with many viewing "Fish-kun" as an Audience Surrogate voicing the thoughts of Kazuya's critics.
Fandom-Specific Plot: Due to the aforementioned broken base regarding the story's pacing, there are many fanfics that depict what an actual relationship between Kazuya and Chizuru would be like after their love confession. As they move on from the rental lie to deal with the repercussions of telling the truth and the people they lied to; all the while they struggle to navigate their newfound romance.
Fan Nickname:
- Kazuya is often derisively called "Kazusimp" or "Cuckzuya" due to his obsession with Chizuru, occassional NTR fantasies, and general Memetic Loser reputation. Conversely, he is also sometimes called "Chadzuya", during his more impressive moments that defy the usual Memetic Loser status. The latter name is also used to refer to the handsome face shown in his Imagine Spot of confessing to Chizuru in a manly way in Chapter 170.
- Chizuru is commonly referred to as "Chorizo".
- In the Spanish-speaking community, Kazuya's increasingly cringey fantasies and behavior has earned him the nickname "Pajazuya" ("Paja" being a slang for masturbating).
Fanon Discontinuity: Due to how divisive the Paradise and My Girlfriend Arc is, many fans and detractors like to disregard it for the most part.
Fan-Preferred Couple:
- Out of all the love interests, quite a number of fans would rather have Kazuya end up with Sumi, mostly due to the other three being split among the fanbase while Sumi herself is universally loved. It also helps that out of all of them, she gets along with Kazuya the best due to their similar personalities, their interactions make them look like two dorks in love with each other, and in her spin-off from her perspective, fans can see the more confident and positive side of Kazuya that's not bogged down by his negative and perverted mindset.
- For a certain other subsect of the fandom, Mini also comes to mind. While Mini is Ambiguously Gay and enables his pursuit of Chizuru, both she and Kazuya have a completely platonic rapport for each other, allowing them to interact normally and for Kazuya to have a male-female relationship that doesn't evoke his romantic insecurities. Them interacting more following their apartment complex closing and their following cohabitation with Chizuru only strengthened this reaction.
Friendly Fandoms:
- With KonoSuba thanks to Chizuru basically being a more realistic and tolerable version of Aqua and Sumi being a cuter version of Megumin.
- There is also overlap with Girlfriend, Girlfriend, helped by the fact that Reiji Miyajima is friends with its mangaka, Hiroyuki.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: According to this article, the manga has gained a lot of popularity in China, selling 700,000 digital copies as of August 1, 2020. The Chinese apparently love it so much, Reiji Miyajima himself was invited to the Bilibili World convention as a guest, but could only attend via livestream due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. This does make sense, as Miyajima wrote the manga based on stories he read about actual rent-a-girlfriend services in China.
Harsher in Hindsight: Mami once said that she'd have named her and Kazuya's child "Maya", a portmanteau of the first syllable of her first name and the last syllable of Kazuya's. Around 200 or so chapters later, we learn that she had a miscarriage just after her parents destroyed her first relationship.
Jerkass Woobie: Mami. Yes, Mami. The girl is an absolute sociopathic bitch who spends the majority of her time manipulating the heartstrings of Kazuya, whom she abruptly dumped at the start of the manga, but after quite some time into its run, we finally learn how she ended up that way. Considering that her parents have a tight grip on her life and forced her to end an honestly happy relationship when she was in high school and later discovered that she had a miscarriage of her child with said boyfriend, she more than likely gets so much emotional pain from seeing Kazuya trying to move on with his life.
Just Here for Godzilla: It is not uncommon for people who hate the rest of the series to comment that the only part of it they consider worth watching is Sumi.
Les Yay:
- Chizuru and Sumi:
  - Aside from some official artwork showing Chizuru affectionately holding Sumi in her arms, Chizuru says that she "love(s) shy people" in her first conversation with Sumi in Chapter 3 of Rent-A-(Really Shy!)-Girlfriend. Sumi's awe at Chizuru's appeal to others almost comes off as an attraction to her. It's especially present when Sumi gets a phone call from Chizuru in Chapter 6 of Rent-A-(Really Shy!)-Girlfriend:
    Sumi: Chizuru-san's voice... it's so calm. I bet customers love her... she's gorgeous, sweet, stylish... They have a voice like this whispering kind words to them...
  - Chapter 13 of Rent-A-(Really Shy!)-Girlfriend mostly consists of Sumi getting just as nervous as Kazuya does at the prospect of going on a date with Chizuru, and pretty much swooning over Chizuru internally in the same way throughout said date.
  - One of the anthology chapters has Chizuru excitedly (bordering on lustfully) use her get-together with Sumi as an excuse to have her try on all sorts of clothes. Sumi passes out in the middle of it, but she gets a lap pillow from Chizuru and then gets sent right back into costumes.
  - Even Miyajima himself chimed in with the non-canon omake chapter "The Girlfriend and the Kiss", which has everyone trapped in a room and can only escape when two of them kiss. Chizuru, nervously and on purely platonic terms, proposes kissing Sumi and plants a nice one on her lips, but it doesn't work because they're both girls. Although Chizuru makes nothing of it, Sumi ends up passing out. At the end of the first route, in which they're able to escape after Ruka kisses Kazuya on the cheek by accident, Sumi points it out as if to ask Chizuru why she didn't think of a kiss on the cheek instead.
- There's a bit between Kazuya's grandmother Nagomi and Chizuru's grandmother Sayuri, who become fast friends after spending time in the same hospital together. They often use Affectionate Nicknames on each other; compare this to how Sayuri uses the "-san" honorific on her late husband's name. When Sayuri dies, Nagomi's somber but emotionally restrained behavior at her wake comes off as an O.O.C. Is Serious Business moment, especially to Kazuya, showing that Nagomi was deeply affected by Sayuri's passing.
- At times, Mini's insistence on getting Kazuya and Chizuru together looks more like she's crushing on Chizuru but using Kazuya to facilitate it. She's very eager to look at Chizuru's naked body, even taunting Kazuya about it after the girls share a bath, and she spends the most time with Chizuru during the cobahitation arc to the point where most intimate interactions with Chizuru are initiated by her rather than Kazuya.
Memetic Loser: While Kazuya is very intentionally written as a Loser Protagonist, he still earned a special level of derision from the fanbase (and detractors of the series) for his actions in the very first chapter/episode. After getting dumped by Mami, he spends the opening scenes crying in his apartment and then masturbates to the thought of Mami sleeping with someone else. Even though he does show some growth throughout the series, it often gets overlooked since he still gets nervous around Chizuru, still lacks confidence in himself, and is just as much of a pervert as ever, causing many readers and viewers to dismiss him as a "simp".^note Chapter 218 of the manga, unfortunately, had this come full circle where Kazuya suffers a Heroic BSoD after seemingly getting turned down by Chizuru. He proceeds to imagine a scenario in his head for several pages of Chizuru having sex with Umi and the chapter ends with Kazuya in tears and having an erection. To say that the fanbase went ballistic over this development would be an understatement, and the dragging of Kazuya magnified shortly after, to the point that this scene became both a meme and the thing he would forever be remembered for.
Memetic Mutation:
- "Mami belongs to the streets."^Explanation
- "No lewding Sumi!"^Explanation
- "I hate this show / This show is garbage, see you next week."^Explanation
- "Chizuru is Aqua but not useless."/"Chizuru is Goddess Waifu."^Explanation
- "Kazuya, Kazuya!"^Explanation
- "Kazuya's fish spittin' facts."^Explanation
- As detailed in Memetic Loser, everything about Chapter 218 became this thanks to the thoughts Kazuya has during his Heroic BSoD, which leads to him having an erection.
- It's rentin' time!^Explanation
- "Reiji forgot to take the pills again"/"Chizuru is Reiji's real waifu" ^Explanation
- "That's just your pessimism, I can see the benefits of governance to prosperity" ^Explanation
Moe: Sumi. Aside from being cute, adorable, and the sweetest girl in the cast, many readers and viewers alike found themselves completely endeared by her shyness as well as her efforts to overcome it. It's no wonder she got her own spinoff series, and expect to see variations of "protect Sumi at all costs" whenever she's brought up.
Narm:
- Oddly enough, applied to background characters. To emphasize the main girls' and especially Chizuru's status as Peerless Love Interests, many guys in the background will either gawk at them or comment on their beauty while putting down Kazuya for being with them. The audience would understand if it was done once or twice, but for virtually every outing? For many, it centers attention on the heroines in a forced and awkward way while implying that many of the background guys barely have as much self control as Kazuya (including those with girlfriends).
- Chapter 218 is intended to be frustrating and sad, since Kazuya corrupts all of his memories of Chizuru into sexual fantasies, believing that everything he's done with and for her was All for Nothing. However, some fans ended up laughing at Kazuya instead, since these intrusive thoughts are accompanied by a fully explicit sex scene, featuring one of the relevant parties in a fashionable beret that stays on even during multiple rounds of passionate sex.
- Chapter 304 uses a double-page spread for the riveting moment of... Chizuru telling Kazuya she's on her period.
Never Live It Down: In Chapter 218, Kazuya has a Heroic BSoD and regresses back to his old self, having a vividly detailed sexual fantasy of Chizuru having sex with Umi while crying, resulting in him getting a Raging Stiffie while in a public pool, which quickly became infamous both for resetting all his Character Development and for being extremely gratuitous to the point of resembling a Netorare doujin. The scene became a meme and permanently tarnished the reputation of the series for many readers, to the point that some report dropping the series at that exact point, and Kazuya himself is primarily known for this incident, cementing the audience perception of him as a pathetic cuckold pining over a girl who will never love him back.
Older Than the Demographic: Despite how most of the characters in the series are college students in their early twenties, the manga runs in a shonen magazine and is thus aimed at preteen and teenage boys.
One True Threesome: With Kazuya & Chizuru being the main couple of the series that gets the most development, Kazuya & Sumi being an adorable Fan-Preferred Couple with great chemistry, and the copious Les Yay between Chizuru & Sumi on both ends, it's not unheard of for fans to think that Kazuya, Chizuru, and Sumi would make a good throuple.
Ron the Death Eater:
- Kazuya's detractors tend to harp on his (many) flaws and consider him unworthy of the other girls' attention, especially his masturbation habit, disregarding how he gradually undergoes Character Development and changes for the better, though chapter 218 did cause quite the stir within the fandom due to Kazuya falling back into old habits and putting the aforementioned Character Development into question. Many also deride him as an inconsistent hypocrite for whining about his sexual frustration while Ruka is throwing herself at him, seemingly ignoring the plethora of reasons given for why it would be immoral and irresponsible of him to use her like that. Unfortunately, the use of Status Quo Is God which reset what development Kazuya had and his relationship with Chizuru never going anywhere caused this perception to gain more traction, giving detractors more reason to harp on him.
- Some of Chizuru's detractors dismiss her as stringing Kazuya along despite everything he's done for her and claim that she's manipulating him for her own benefit, forgetting that she's been remarkably patient with him in spite of his shortcomings, and has made sincere effort to support him in finding a real girlfriend. Some of those people seem to have the mindset that girls are obligated to return the feelings of any guy who does enough for them, regardless of what they personally want. Admittedly, her own wishy-washiness does not help her case.
Rooting for the Empire: For those who despise Kazuya's actions throughout the series, it becomes very easy to root for Mami as she goes out of his way to make his life miserable.
Sacred Cow: Considering how universally beloved Sumi and Mini are, they are considered this to the fandom.
Ship-to-Ship Combat: Kazuya/Chizuru vs. Kazuya/Ruka. The former camp seems to be the majority, but the latter camp has a significant number of vocal supporters.
Signature Scene: The infamous scene in Chapter 218 where Kazuya gets an erection while imagining being cucked, while in a public pool is easily one of the most notorious moments in the entire manga, to where many people have come to associate the entire series with that one scene.
Squick:
- The nature of Kazuya's apartment with wads of used, bunched up toilet paper thrown about everywhere and overflowing his trash can.
- Watching Kazuya masturbate to Mami's picture in episode 5 is awkward to say the least.
- When Kazuya needs to follow Chizuru and Mami out of the karaoke place where he's working while he's on the clock, he pretends to be sick by drinking some water and inducing vomiting.
- Just the fact that Kazuya was stalking Chizuru by following her around while in disguise.
- The infamous Chapter 218 itself can qualify for many reasons.
- Kazuya's behavior during the Paradise Arc can be a little off-putting at best and uncomfortable at worst. Some examples including freaking out when he and Chizuru are brushing their teeth and when they put their laundry together because in his mind, their clothes are "making out".
Tear Jerker:
- The flashback showing Chizuru's grandfather's death. She tried in vain to pray for him to pull through, but to no avail, as he died in his hospital bed.
- The death of Chizuru's grandmother. With her father having abandoned her, her mother long dead and her grandfather having died recently, Chizuru has lost her entire family.
- In Chapter 6 of Rent-A-(Really Shy!)-Girlfriend, Sumi's boss tells her that she needs to do better as a rental girlfriend. She pulls out all the stops on the next date, only for the client to give her a one-star rating due to her having sweaty palms and not communicating. Unlike Chizuru, who'd merely been peeved that Kazuya broke her perfect record, Sumi is heartbroken at seeing all her honest efforts at improving herself amount to nothing.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- Many criticisms of the Paradise and My Girlfriend Arc mention that Kazuya should have stuck to his guns and confessed the fake relationship to his family like he said he would, with the best opportunity for it just after Chizuru runs away from him before he can confess. Not only would it have shown some major growth for Kazuya and follows his mistaken train of thought that severing the ties would make Chizuru happiest, but it would have thrown Mami's plan down the chute before she even had a chance to act. Instead, he decides to keep it a secret until the trip ends, but when Mami exposes Chizuru, he doubles down and says he's dating the latter just recently instead of the whole time. When he and Chizuru do decide to come clean (i.e., fleshing out the modified lie), Chizuru does all the work, while Kazuya admits in the narration that he simply sat and nodded his head the whole time, and Nagomi broke the news to the rest of the family. Furthermore, all of this takes place offscreen.
- The three-month separation period. When Kazuya finds himself suddenly ghosted by Chizuru and doesn't get a response from her in three months, one would think that the story would use this as an opportunity to explore Kazuya's mindset after the events of the Paradise and My Girlfriend Arc, and especially to do some more retrospective on his relationships with others. Likewise that the story would also finally have Chizuru experience a life where she no longer has Kazuya's direct support which would force her to confront and finally understand what feelings she has towards him. However, the period itself was skipped over. Kazuya holes himself up in his room for all of it, and the whole incident is mostly played for laughs afterwards. There is mention of Ruka visiting him during this time, but it was only to clean his room. As for Chizuru, it turns out the reason she ghosted him was simply because she was never able to find the words to respond back to him and give him a proper answer. An answer she has still not found even after their reunion.
- In Chapter 210, Nagomi starts showing remorse for all the things she said and did to Kazuya, claiming that one of the reasons she admires Chizuru so much is because she must have seen something in Kazuya that she, his own flesh and blood who watched over him for the 21 years of his life, didn't, and outright states that she's a sorry excuse of a grandmother. This is pretty much the first time someone has apologized to Kazuya for treating him so poorly throughout the story. However, she goes back to being critical of him following the Paradise and My Girlfriend Arc.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
- Ruka being a Base-Breaking Character is largely due to this. For all intents and purposes, she actually has a rather sympathetic background of being unable to do most things girls her age could do or get excited over most things, such as riding a roller coaster, due to her heart condition, and her reasons for wanting to get together with Kazuya is that he's seemingly the only one able to make her heart race to a healthy degree, which in itself is understandable enough. However, her detractors tend to have trouble sympathizing with her since, regardless of her reasons, she's very blatantly blackmailing Kazuya into doing what she wants with no regard for his and Chizuru's feelings and is very demanding of him in their "relationship", such as when she blindfolded him and dragged him to a love hotel of all places. This makes her come off as a Stalker with a Crush who feels entitled to Kazuya because of her condition and claiming that she's the only one willing to date him anyway. This also isn't helped by the fact that, despite being a trial girlfriend, she acts very condescending to the other girls in Kazuya's life, especially towards Chizuru who she's shown to frequently slut-shame just for being near Kazuya and even tries to get involved in the movie she and Kazuya are making despite its importance to Chizuru.
- Chizuru can fall into this due to how the story portrays her. Her backstory and possible reasons for not wanting to pursue a relationship with Kazuya are very understandable, but many have pointed out that the numerous times he wanted to end the entire charade of their fake relationship, she was the one who stopped him at every turn for more or less a flimsy reason. This is also with the knowledge that everyone who knows about the fake relationship told her that prolonging it would only make it worse. This is mostly down to the fact that between the two, she's shown to be the more mature and smarter person. It comes to a head during the Paradise and My Girlfriend Arc when she not only evades Kazuya's confession on two separate occasions, but she also ends up trusting Mami to not say or do anything that would reveal the lie to everyone. Unfortunately, once the lie is revealed, she simply stands there, even when asked to tell her side of the story, making Mami's recontextualized version of the lie paint her in a negative light and forcing Kazuya to cover for her. Her subsequent ghosting of Kazuya for three months did more damage to her reputation, especially since the sole reason the ghosting ended was due to Mini's intervention and not any initiative taken on Chizuru's part.
Values Dissonance:
- In Chapter 55, Kazuya's father hits Kazuya, having witnessed him giving Chizuru money for the rental girlfriend service and erroneously coming to the conclusion that Kazuya had been borrowing money from her. A parent hitting his son in anger would come off as abusive in many Western countries, especially in the case of a technically adult son, but it's considered more normal in Japan. In fact, Kazuya mentions that his family actually spoiled him, so while Kazuya is annoyed about the misunderstanding, he understands why his father would be angry and isn't too upset about being punched.
- Ruka is a definite Base-Breaking Character, but Western readers appear to be much less tolerant than domestic audiences of her disregard for Kazuya's boundaries, especially after she Took a Level in Jerkass, seemingly due to concerns about Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male. Japanese readers appear to be more understanding of her behavior as youthful immaturity, but also root for her because she's honest with her feelings, and find that her eagerness to fight for Kazuya's heart is a sign of true love. Her negative traits also tend to be overlooked because of how cute she is.
- It has been noted that many of Chizuru's more base-breaking traits, mainly her inability to be honest with her feelings and commit to a relationship with Kazuya, is more acceptable within a Japanese cultural context than in a western one. Since the Japanese, in general, place far more value on maintaining their roles and responsibilities in society, therefore Chizuru breaking her client-rental relationship with Kazuya is a far more difficult decision to make.
The Woobie:
- One can easily feel sorry for Kazuya, since he suffers from rather crippling low self-esteem due to nearly everybody, including his ex Mami, his friends and even his own family, taking a shot at how lame he is, which started from childhood. Mami even labels it as something that's pretty much the norm inside their little group.
- Chizuru also hasn't had an easy life. Her father abandoned her, her grandfather and mother are dead, and her grandmother is terminally ill. She's also fighting an uphill battle to become an actress, and her succeeding, much less in time for her grandmother to be alive to see it, is by no means guaranteed. Kazuya even says that his life seems easy in comparison to hers.

YMMV / Rent-A-Girlfriend

Edit Locked