Now, I’m not the type of anime fan to typically yuck anyone’s yum. For example, I’m not a huge ecchi comedy fan. That said, if the characters are legal, I’ll let you cook (word to stuff like Golden Boy). I’m not really a big fan of hyperviolent anime, but I’m not against violence in anime–as long as there’s more to the story than shock value. That’s why I don’t like stuff like Redo of Healer, as it’s mostly shock value for the sake of shock value, but will watch TF out of Fist of the North Star, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure or Berserk. Simply put, I don’t really give a damn what you, you, him or her like. What you eat doesn’t make me [poo] and all that.

And then, there’s this little series called Rent-a-Girlfriend.

While I don’t knock its fans, I don’t get its popularity. Here, I’m going to try to explain some of the gist of the series and try to answer a question: “why does this still exist?” This isn’t a “why does this exist but [insert “better” series with 12 episodes] only gets one season” sort of thing. This is more a question of “why is this series (still) so damned popular?” I’ll add GIFs because, again, I know some of you don’t like to read.

For those who don’t know, Rent-a-Girlfriend is a romantic comedy about a “lovable loser” college student named Kazuya. Kazuya’s girlfriend, Mami (more on her in a bit), breaks up with him after a short relationship. Kazuya gets lonely, as people going through a break-up typically get. Meanwhile, his family wants him to have a relationship (and eventually get married), since they want Kazuya to be happy–and they need someone to take over their family business.

Because he’s lonely, Kazuya “rents” a “girlfriend,” Chizuru. Things are going well, Kazuya is getting his swagger back and is less sad and mopey. And then, Kazuya messes the bed when he introduces Chizuru as his actual girlfriend to his sick grandmother. His sick grandmother is actually friends with Chizuru’s also sick grandmother, who also wants Chizuru to find someone who makes her happy. This is because, as it turns out, Chizuru is pretty much alone in the world. Chizuru also turns out to be Kazuya’s next-door neighbor and college classmate, not to mention a newbie actress.

Of course, Kazuya begins to develop real feelings for Chizuru, like clockwork. This, mind you, is a huge, big-ass, oversized red flag of a no-no.

This is because rental girlfriends, contrary to views of the concept to some Westerners, are not sex workers. Rental girlfriends/boyfriends are more like “cute people you can pay to ‘date’ (in public spaces) hang out with (in public spaces), and have conversations with (again, mostly in public spaces).” Hell, rentals don’t even exchange actual contact information with their clients and “dates” are booked through agencies. Additionally, falling in love with a rental girlfriend isn’t the same as, saying, being “n luv with a stripper” in the US, for instance. There’re no rules saying you can’t fall for (or eat big-ass steaks with) a dancer in the booty club. The love may rarely be reciprocated in the same way, but it’s not illegal. There are, however, legally-binding terms that state that just about anything and everything beyond a platonic “date” is a violation of a rental girlfiend contract. Yes, this includes even hugging in some instances. Violations run the risk of the client being terminated and the girlfriend being fired.

As such, “hilarity” ensues as Kazuya and Chizuru have to end up perpetrating the lie to their grandparents, avoid having their secret exposed–and Kazuya has to keep his feelings in his heart (and pants). There are also, at least, three moments like the below per episode.

This is all while Kazuya subliminally doesn’t wholly care about getting Chizuru fired (because his feelings > her job). This is while he cares about, but doesn’t care enough to stop, lying to his friends and family. This is even while Kazuya stops really caring about himself, only about what makes Chizuru happy. His “love” for Chizuru starts to become more of an idolization, an obsession even at points. Chizuru, on the other hand, often sees this as a job–though she does value Kazuya’s companionship and whatnot. They become closer and closer, but they don’t ever make any progress because she’s a rental girlfriend and he’s a client. If any controversies arise, it’d ruin him and her (not to mention her burgeoning acting career) and would paint the rental company as seedy AF.

In his plight, Kazuya meets other rental girlfriends and people in general. One rental girlfriend is super shy (it’s anime, after all). One other character is Kazuya’s female streamer neighbor. The neighbor is someone who wants Kazuya to get with Chizuru by any means necessary. Girl is obsessed with Kazuya and Chizuru becoming a thing. So much so, it seems like she wants to, well, rub one out to the idea of the dynamic dumbass duo getting together.

And then, there’s Ruka. Ruka is a rental girlfriend who Kazuya doesn’t really rent. She falls for him and becomes his “actual” girlfriend. As his “actual” girlfriend, Ruka wants Kazuya all to herself. She goes out of her way to state and show this. In fact, she all but f*rces herself onto Kazuya on more than one occasion to point this out. Ruka is, in a word, obsessed with a guy who loves her but isn’t in love with her. Granted, f*rcing herself onto Kazuya several times doesn’t make her any better. In fact, it’s definitely worse. However, I guess, you’re supposed to “feel” for the girl because of her backstory and because our “hero” hasn’t chose her–and likely never completely will.

Meanwhile, Mami, the ex-girlfriend, is seen as a demon in the series. That’s because she becomes hellbent on exposing the rental GF lie. This is partly because she doesn’t want Kazuya’s family to be lied to anymore. That’s good. After all, Kazuya is a turd for lying about this for so long that his grandma gives him her wedding ring to give to Chizuru. Mami also wants to expose the lie because she’s presented as an utterly miserable person who wants no one, anywhere, to be happy because she, herself, isn’t happy (with herself or others). That’s bad. Of course, given that this is anime, she’s got the whole “wolf in sheep’s clothing” thing going for her.

She can’t be The Queen of Backstabbing Pettiness without that.

If she wasn’t so underhanded and vindictive, she’d be the most-relateable and realistic character in the whole damned thing. She’s, after all, one of the only people with half-a-brain. But, time and time again, she goes about things in ways more maniacal than some shonen battle anime antagonists. And, because of that, you can’t root for her.

Really, mostly everyone in this series you’re “supposed” to root for is kind of a bad person or pretty selfish. Even some secondary characters have their moments of being a complete POS. And there are five (soon to be six) seasons and 429 chapters of this. No true plot progression, no resolution, and tons of “will they won’t they” moments–as well as “will they finally get figured out” moments.

While Rent-a-Girlfriend doesn’t make me…you know, its overwhelming popularity is something that befuddles me. As it stands right now, (y)our favorite simp still hasn’t made much progress with making his rental girlfriend his real one, nor has he really become any better of a person. Kazuya is, in a word, still crappy from where I understand where the series has gone. To be honest, I mostly gave up on it after the third season because of little to no plot progression. While reading from its Wiki, reviews of the manga and gleaning of episodes from seasons 4 and 5, it’s been the same ol’, same ol’ headed into chapter 430 (and season six). In fact, it seems like some of the plot and characters have regressed over time.

Granted, Rent-a-Girlfriend isn’t for me. That’s fine. However, I still ask “why does it still exist?” Most series with this little plot progression, this little character development, and this many crappy people usually get dropped/cancelled. But here we are, almost a decade later, and it’s still going strong–in manga and anime form.

I think the reason is simple. While it’s not for me, it sells and is stupidly popular in Japan. Like, cultural phenomenon levels of popular. Considering it’s sold about 15M copies of the manga in about 10 years? Yeah, someone’s eating good.

Let’s be real here. Its popularity seems to be akin to why are there so many reality TV shows. That is, it’s cringy and guilty pleasure-levels of entertaining, but is well aware it’s cringy and guilty pleasure-levels of entertaining. People love the absurdity just as much as people (especially Western anime fans) love to hate-watch it. Either that or people realize that everyone’s a POS and they want to see if it all eventually crumbles beneath the series’ characters. Although, I guess that’d fall under the “hate-watch” category. Also, while Kazuya and the cast aren’t “good” people, they’re not exactly “I kick puppies and eat babies evil,” either. Well, except Mami, but she has her reasons (no matter how thin they may be).

Additionally, I assume it still sells well because, while the story drags, there are lots of “cute” anime women in cute/sexy clothes and sexy poses, sometimes even doing sexy (but not really sexual) things. There’s even a whole season or so dedicated to an arc that places the characters at a resort. During this season, its fifth if you must know, outside of Kazuya’s family, no one wears anything other than swimwear for more than a few scenes. And yes, this includes shirtless menfolk. Yay equal opportunity, I guess. The writing of that season, from what I’ve seen and gleaned, actually does a well-enough job of making you feel a bit of empathy towards Kazuya. He’s still pretty crap, though.

All that said, I feel that the creator of the series is smarter than some people give him credit for. Maybe, just maybe, we’re supposed to see that Kazuya and company are kind of crappy people. Maybe we’re supposed to want to see how the trainwreck ultimately bursts into flames. Maybe this is really a commentary on Japanese loneliness, the social media generation, and anime/manga tropes as a whole. It could, possibly, even be a critique of men’s idolization of “perfect” women. Maybe Rent-a-Girlfriend itself is smarter than its dumbass characters make it out to be. Maybe its lack of progression is some sort of social commentary as well. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll get a resolution that leaves its fans speechless–the good kind.

That said, I personally don’t really care enough to really ride it out. When it ends, y’all can tell me if I’m right or not. Again, what you eat doesn’t make me [poo]. Y’all do you, I won’t judge. If you like the inertia of Rent-a-Girlfriend, cool. After all, I get the “why” behind its popularity. That said, I don’t have to like it or contribute to it in any substantial way. And yes, I see the irony of that statement as I close out this piece.