English Dub Review: Rent-A-Girlfriend “Provisional Girlfriend and Girlfriend”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Kazuya tries to keep Ruka from telling Shun aka Kuri about his fake relationship, but his actions only make her want to avoid him and she falls down the stairs, but Kazuya prevents her from getting hurt by the fall because she’s his friend’s girlfriend. That’s when Ruka reveals that she’s a rental girlfriend. Kazuya tells the information to Chizuru and they agree to stick close to Kuri and Ruka to prevent their secret from getting out. After that Kazuya waits for Kuri when Ruka shows up. Not wanting his friend to get the wrong idea he pulls her into an empty room and to talk when Ruka requests for a hug. However Kuri is close so they hide where Ruka checks her heart rate, and they separate with Ruka apologizing but Kuri sees them. Then Ruka thanks Kuri for renting her out and Kuri runs out of the room in shame.

Later Kazuya tells Chizuru the news outside of her apartment when Ruka approaches him. Ruka records herself promising that she won’t tell anyone about their fake relationship on the condition that Kazuya dates her. After requesting for Ruka to wait outside, Chizuru and Kazuya talk about her offer and his feelings. He decides that he shouldn’t date Ruka because of how it would hurt Kuri and attempts to see Kuri when Ruka comes in and then he falls. She runs after him and after he rejects her she starts crying. Chizuru pulls him aside and says that he should date Ruka since it appears that there’s more to Ruka’s situation.

Our Take:

This episode was a roller coaster of dramatic events and a reversal of fortunes with how the episode started and how it ended for Kazuya and Ruka respectively. From the revelation that Ruka’s a rental girlfriend to Chizuru convincing Kazuya that he should date Ruka in order to keep their fake relationship a secret. Now, most of the drama stems from Ruka and Kazuya’s antics to make sure she doesn’t spill about Chizuru’s job. The structure of the episode goes from Kazuya begging to Kazuya saying no to Ruka’s deal and that’s a good development for his character. However, it quickly morphs into a weird situation where Chizuru tells him to accept Ruka’s deal on her observation that there’s more to Ruka’s situation than meets the eye.

For starters, Kazuya’s persistence to confirm that Ruka keeps his fake relationship a secret was awkward with the addition of his accidental touching. However, true to his character, he does offer to do anything for her to keep his secret but she refuses. It’s understandable since he has been harassing her about it. However after the fall occurs, Ruka tells him her secret of being a rental girlfriend. Now the confirmation that she’s a rental girlfriend brings on the fact that Kuri rented her out and it gets revealed the next day. It’s a situation that Kazuya could face in the future with the same shame that Kuri’s feeling after knowing that his friend knows about his embarrassing secret. Hopefully, the two guys will talk it out in a future episode cause it could be a good preview to see how his friends would handle his own fake relationship secret.

Then there’s Kazuya, Chizuru, and Ruka at the apartment with Ruka’s offer on keeping their relationship a secret in exchange for Kazuya as her boyfriend. Ruka’s observation of how non hesitant Chizuru is entering Kazuya’s apartment was a good reminder on how Chizuru and Kazuya’s relationship has gone past the boundaries of a normal rental relationship. Chizuru and Kazuya’s conversation in his apartment about Ruka’s offer was good for the plot since the goal of their relationship is to get Kazuya a real girlfriend for his development. However, Ruka’s offer is blackmail and she was his friend’s girlfriend. That’s the reason why Kazuya rejects Ruka’s deal. Chizuru’s comment about the situation and relationships work is true. You don’t just one-sidedly demand to date someone like that, there has to be mutual affection otherwise the relationship is going to be unbalanced.

Now Ruka is bold with her blackmail and childish with her refusal of Chizuru’s request to give the two privacy to talk until Kazuya requests the same thing. I’m starting to question her age especially with that costume of hers. However, it does appear that she has feelings for Kazuya despite her forceful methods. Ruka’s situation appears to be more complex with the hints with her heart rate and her desperation. From the ending, it appears that Ruka has a heart condition where her heart beats slowly and she entered the rental girlfriend business to help find someone to help her condition so that she won’t feel like a robot. It’s an unfortunate condition but her methods are a bit too drastic.

At any rate, I’m glad we see Kazuya growing up with his actions, but the new development gives me mixed feelings. There’s no way that Kazuya is going to come out of this strange situation without breaking a heart or leave a good impression on the people in his life if Ruka clings him constantly while he’s still “dating” Chizuru. Hopefully, the next episode keeps growing Kazuya’s development as it appears that he’s found himself a girlfriend.