English Dub Review: Rent-a-Girlfriend “Childhood Home and Girlfriend”

Overview:

Chizuru asks Kazuya to come with her to her family’s home. What does she have in mind?

Our Take:

I feel like most of this show is Kazuya not knowing how to act like a normal person while horny. Don’t get me wrong, we all have urges, and they crop up at odd times. But you mean to tell me that he can’t even help Chizuru clean her grandmother’s house without popping a boner? I’m frustrated with Chizuru, too, but her feelings are slightly more understandable. If Kazuya is being honest about wanting Chizuru to see him as a reliable partner, he needs to get his urges in check.

While they’re cleaning the house, a fairly sizeable earthquake happens. This leads to things crashing around the two and Kazuya predictably falling on top of Chizuru. Of course, it seemed like the two were going to kiss because of the sudden fall. But Chizuru put her hands over Kazuya’s lips. That was weird to me because who would do that when the instinctual response would be to protect oneself? It was an odd scene to me.

Odd as the scene might have been, it had major implications for the future of this story. When that earthquake happened, it cracked a lot of the foundation of the apartment complex that Chizuru and Kazuya live in. They can stay if they want, but the landlord will pay ten months’ worth of rent to people who move out because of the unsafe conditions.

This, of course, leads Kazuya to freak out because he and Chizuru will no longer be neighbors. He assumes that this means they will stop talking and drift apart. I understand his reasoning, but with how much they were texting recently, I can’t help but think his concerns will be unfounded.

Kazuya returns to his parents’ home, where they’ve welcomed an exchange student from the Philippines. As you might have guessed, this student is staying in Kazuya’s old room. If Kazuya had screwed up and that was why he was back home, I’d understand how he gets treated. It’s not his fault that an earthquake broke the foundation of his apartment. Kazuya’s family are assholes, but if Chizuru came with him, all would be well.

There aren’t many characters in this show that I like, but Kazuya’s fish is excellent. You could argue it’s not really a character, but I love all the shit it talks. If this show were about Kazuya’s pet fish, it would be infinitely better.