English Dub Review: Rent-a-Girlfriend “Christmas and Girlfriend”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After agreeing to Ruka’s deal Kazuya is bombarded with texts from Ruka and he’s unable to get enough sleep. Furthermore, he’s been unable to see Chizuru ever since then and has to make sure that Kuri doesn’t find out about their trial run. He avoids Ruka for Christmas with an excuse about his family and decides to spend the holiday alone. He stops by the bank and considers getting a job when he sees Chizuru walking by and meeting up with a guy. Kazuya considers it to be none of his business until the thought that the guy is her boyfriend occurs.

He ends up stalking the two on their date and overhears the guys talking on the phone in the restroom. Overthinking the situation, Kazuya stops the guy from making a move on Chizuru when it was really a misunderstanding. Chizuru then explains that she’s an actress and the guy she’s with is in the same class. The “date” was just him helping her with script reading and shopping and that the phone conversation was just so that the guy could recommend her to a casting director friend of his. After her friend leaves, Chizuru gives Kazuya a new phone case as an apology gift for having him stick with Ruka to keep their secret safe.

Our Take:

Rent-a-Girlfriend has its charms, but it also has unappealing moments which the episode demonstrates in Kazuya’s behavior and Ruka’s to a minor extent. I’ll start with Ruka’s constant need for Kazuya to respond to her texts instantly and how irritating that would be in a relationship. Her brief appearance resumes from the events of the previous episode which is good, but there’s no explanation given on why Ruka wants Kazuya to be her boyfriend. The series just drops that thread in favor of Kazuya moping to Chizuru going out with another guy later in the episode. Ruka does however agree to stop meeting him at college because of Kuri and how the situation would turn dramatic if it happened. Then Kazuya’s refusal to spend Christmas with her causes her to fade from the episode entirely as it shifts to Chizuru and her outing.

Speaking of Chizuru there isn’t much the audience or Kazuya knows about her other than the fact that she’s a rental girlfriend and that she’s a grandma’s girl. Additionally, she’s been secretive with her college friends which were surprising to know. Thankfully, this episode does answer that question towards the end. The revelation that she’s an aspiring actress taking classes and paying for them with her job is pretty exciting and it answers the financial issue she mentioned in the beginning. Her girlfriend mode and how flawless she slips into it even under extreme circumstances was a good hint onto this reveal. Aside from that, there’s the new fish-themed phone case that she gives Kazuya as an apology gift for the Ruka situation and having him be burdened with it all. It was a nice scene along with the snow that came after the conversation.

Then there’s Kazuya’s stalking after seeing her with another guy and assuming that it’s her boyfriend. From the misunderstandings to Kazuya’s determination for the imaginary squad of bros that previously rented out Chizuru the situation was wild. It also degrades my opinion of Kazuya and it’s hard to root for a character where the expectations have just plummeted to the ground. Admittedly I had to question the episode because it doesn’t always have to be from Kazuya’s perspective; the fourth episode proves that. The misunderstandings are fine, but the stalking is hard to watch because it shows that Kazuya’s development gets thrown out because of his hasty overthinking. While Kazuya does have some good intentions towards the end with protecting Chizuru because of the misleading phone conversation. However, it doesn’t excuse his creepy actions and thankfully Chizuru rejects him the right to walk home together. It’s like his development takes three steps back and one step forward after this episode.

Perspective is important to the show and when Kazuya assumes like that, it’s a crazy ride to watch as the misunderstandings piled up. The show is a riot with how Kazuya overthinks these situations and how Chizuru cuts down his assumptions. However, this episode could have at least given a scene on Ruka explaining her situation before changing gears to Chizuru. The dub was great at expressing Kazuya’s thoughts and Chizuru’s confession on her actress goal.