Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Review

Chizuru’s Movie Arc

Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 (Kanojo, Okarishimasu 3rd Season / 彼女、お借りします) is exactly what you expect. Have you seen the previous two seasons of Kanokari? If so, this season is more of the same content, for the most part. There’s one difference I’ll get to in the next section.

The main focus of this season is on Chizuru Ichinose’s (Mizuhara’s) acting career. As we all know, Chizuru wants to be an actress. She wants to be in movies and she wants her grandmother to see her on the big screen. But, until this season, her only experience was in stage performances.

That all changed at the end of Season 2 when Kazuya told her that he’d help her make a movie. Why did he do this? Because Chizuru’s grandmother is dying. There’s not much time left for her to see Chizuru in a movie. So, Chizuru and Kazuya need to act fast.

With all that in mind, there was a surprisingly small amount of movie-making content in the season. Yes, we see Chizuru and Kazuya working on the movie with a team of college students. But, that lasts for maybe two episodes.

Instead, the season focuses on everything else surrounding the making of the movie. The actual acting is only one part of Chizuru’s acting career. There’s also fundraising, scriptwriting, editing, and preparing for the premiere. All of these things get just as much attention as the acting itself. And then, there’s the emotional aspect.

Everything that happens in this season is a race against time. As I mentioned, Chizuru’s grandmother doesn’t have much time left. So, while everything surrounding the movie is going on, Chizuru also has to deal with that. And, this actually led to some very emotional moments I wasn’t expecting from Kanokari.

The Fifth Girl

So, what’s the big difference between this season and the two earlier seasons? Mini Yaemori. Season 3 introduces a new girl into the mix. Her name is Mini and she’s Kazuya’s new neighbor. Chizuru’s apartment is on one side of Kauzya’s. And now Mini’s apartment is on the other side.

But, who is Mini? Somehow, she’s a more complex character than the majority of the other girls in the series. Chizuru still has more going on than Mini. That’s to be expected as she’s the female lead. But, I’m going to argue that Mini’s more complex than Ruka, Mami, and Sumi.

As has already been established, Mini is Kazuya’s new neighbor. But, she’s also his underclassman at university. Like Chizuru, Mini has multiple layers to her relationship with Kazuya. Ruka, Mami, and Sumi don’t really have that when you think about it in depth.

Ruka comes closest to having multiple layers in her relationship with Kazuya. She’s both his “girlfriend” and his underclassman at school. I was going to argue that there’s no separation between those roles, but there kind of is. His friends at school believe he’s dating Chizuru. So, Ruka can’t be his “girlfriend” and underclassman at the same time.

Mami’s nothing more than Kazuya’s ex. And Sumi’s nothing more than a rental girlfriend who’s friends with Kazuya and Chizuru. So, Mini has more going on than either of them by default. But, what puts Mini above Ruka is that she has a life outside of her relationship with Kazuya.

Do we actually know anything about Ruka? I can’t think of anything. At least, nothing like how we know Chizuru’s dream is to be an actress. However, we know things like that about Mini. We know Mini is a cosplayer and streamer in her free time.

Ruka’s Gambit

Going back to Ruka, Season 3 was a big season for her. She “pulled ahead” of Chizuru in the competition for Kazuya’s affection. Though, ultimately, the gains she made in this season won’t amount to much. We know that Kazuya loves Chizuru, not Ruka. And, we know that Chizuru is the female lead.

But, how did Ruka pull ahead of her primary competition? There are two main things she succeeds in doing in this season. The first is that she gets Kazuya to take her on a date. That shouldn’t be a big deal considering their relationship, but it is.

Part of this date takes place at a public pool. And during that part, Ruka reveals her new bikini — the first bikini she’s ever owned — to Kazuya. But, it doesn’t stop there. She then somehow gets Kazuya to rub sunscreen on her body. Chizuru hasn’t done anything that intimate with him.

The second way Ruka pulled ahead of Chizuru is in how she refers to Kazuya. Chizuru calls him Kazuya-san. But, Ruka simply calls him Kazuya, which implies a closer relationship between the two. This is a sign of their romantic relationship advancing to the next level.

And, Ruka makes sure to rub this fact in Chizuru’s face. The next time she sees Chizuru, she makes sure to say Kazuya’s name multiple times so Chizuru gets the hint. In fact, she’s so obnoxious about it that there’s no way Chizuru couldn’t understand what she was doing.

What about Mini, though? Doesn’t her introduction complicate things for Ruka? Well, yes. But not in the way you might expect. Mini has no interest in Kazuya herself. She’s not a new romantic rival. But, she does support Chizuru and actively helps Chizuru become closer to Kazuya.

Final Thoughts

In the end, I gave Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 a 6/10, which is the same rating I gave the previous seasons. I was going to give it a 5 because Kazuya felt extra annoying this time around. But, I realized he’s always been that annoying. Is that a good reason to give it the same score, though?

No. If I was basing my score on that alone, this season would have gotten the 5. However, I opted to go with the 6 because of Mini and the emotional moments. Mini’s introduction changed things up in a good way. And, I was surprised by how good the emotional moments with Chizuru were.

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