The One Thing Kanokari Does Well

Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 12 highlighted the one thing the series does well. There’s a lot I don’t like about Kanokari. And, most of that has to do with Kazuya. But, I’m willing to acknowledge that the series isn’t all bad. It’s surprisingly good at emotional scenes.

I’m not going to try to argue that Kanokari is one of the best when it comes to making viewers feel something. Unless that something they’re feeling is rage. But, considering this is a rom-com harem series, the drama is pretty good.

However, I’ll admit that the two best parts of the entire series, so far, focused on similar content. The first part was in Episode 9 when Chizuru got to be by her grandmother’s side when she passed. And the second was in this episode when Chizuru broke down in tears.

There’s one potential issue I can see with these emotional moments, though. They both revolved around Chizuru dealing with her grandmother’s death. So, how reproducible are these kinds of scenes? Can Kanokari make me feel something in a different scenario? Is it going to keep doing flashbacks to these moments?

We very well may have witnessed the peak of Kanokari. I know there’s still a lot more content to come in the series. The manga is still ongoing, after all. But, I wonder if it will ever reach the same heights it did toward the end of this season.

What about the flashbacks though? Kanokari loves using flashbacks maybe even more than Naruto: Shippūden does. So, it’s likely that we’ll get a lot of flashbacks to Chizuru’s crying scene. And, if that’s the case, it may cheapen the scene over time. The more times we see it, the less impactful it will feel. That’s not good.

Mini’s Support

How many of you immediately scanned the QR code on Mini’s shirt when she appeared in this episode? Well, if you didn’t don’t worry, because I did. If you scan her shirt, it takes you to Yu Serizawa‘s profile on the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

Who is Yu Serizawa? I’m glad you asked. She’s Mini’s voice actor. It’s pretty cool to see the anime include things like that. I wonder how the decision was made, though. I assume Mini’s shirt in the manga chapter that covered this material didn’t have that QR code.

It may have had a QR code. But, even if it did, I’m not sure if Mini’s voice actor for the anime was even chosen at the time. It seems more likely to me that this QR code was a kind of ad placement.

Yu Serizawa isn’t only a voice actor. Like many other young, female, Japanese voice actors, she’s also an idol. And her group is i☆Ris. This is something that’s made very clear on her profile. So, my guess is that her management was able to pull some strings to get the code to link to her account.

Moving on from my conspiracy theory and back to the series, Mini continues to play the support role. I don’t know if she’ll catch feelings for Kazuya at some point. But, I hope she doesn’t. I like the role she’s in currently because it’s unique among the other girls.

Mini’s job is to support Kazuya in trying to date Chizuru. And, this week, she tells him it’s finally time to ask Chizuru out on a real date. No exchanging of money this time. Will Kazuya take Mini’s advice to heart? That remains to be seen.

Movie Premiere and Season 4

When the ending credits began playing, I got a little worried. I thought we weren’t going to get to the premiere of Chizuru’s movie and that we’d have to wait until the next season. But, luckily, that wasn’t the case — and the premiere went well.

So, we know one thing that won’t be happening in Season 4. However, this episode also hinted at a few things that will be happening. And one of the biggest is that Chizuru is going to continue on being an actress.

I assumed this was going to be the case, as I explained in my review of Episode 8. But, we got confirmation of that after the movie premiere. And Chizuru already has her sights set on staring in a bigger movie next. She wants to be in a real movie, not some college student’s indie flick.

Something else we learned is that Kazuya should be asking Chizuru out on a real date soon. And when I say soon, I mean as soon as the first episode of the next season. When Mini was suggesting that, some text popped up that said it was going to happen in the next chapter.

I’m interested to see how that goes. Will Chizuru accept his invitation? And if she does, what would that mean for them? Surely, they won’t become a real couple yet. The whole point of the series is that Chizuru’s just a rental whom Kazuya loves.

And, the final thing we can be pretty sure is happening is that Mami’s going to make her return. At the end of the episode, we see her hanging out with Kazuya’s grandmother. I’m looking forward to her return because she should help to spice things up.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 12? Do you agree that Kanokari somehow does emotional drama well? Did you scan the QR code on Mini’s shirt? And, what are you most looking forward to from the next season? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Girlfriend and Boyfriend

Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 11 covers the majority of a date with Chizuru. The goal of this date is for Kazuya to cheer up Chizuru after the death of her grandmother. And, just yesterday, I made some predictions about how the date would go.

I could make an argument for my first prediction being correct. But, I’m not going to. Both of my predictions turned out pretty incorrect. So, what did I predict? The first prediction was that the date would be a huge success. And the second prediction was that the scheduled date would end early.

Now, we haven’t seen the very end of the date yet. But, can we call it a success, so far? In some ways, yes. Chizuru does seem to be having fun for the majority of the date. And, in the end, I’m still convinced that things will work out.

However, there were multiple times during the date when Chizuru wasn’t enjoying herself. This wasn’t really due to any flaws in Kazuya’s date plan. But, they did have to do with Kazuya’s inattentiveness. So, I’m going to mark that off as a failure to cheer Chizuru up.

It’s much easier to see how my second prediction is wrong. The date definitely didn’t end early. Even though it’s not over yet, the pair made it to the final scheduled event. I assumed Chizuru would have a great time and then end the official date early so Kazuya could stop paying.

But, I also figured that after the date concluded, we’d get an emotional moment between the two. That emotional moment could still be coming. I certainly hope it’s coming, for Kazuya’s sake. However, it doesn’t look like it will be quite as positive of a moment as I expected.

The Good Parts of the Date

Let’s go over the good parts of Kazuya’s date with Chizuru before jumping into the bad parts. The good parts are fairly obvious because they’re all the things that made Chizuru happy. I’d say there were four good parts.

The first good part of the date was Kazuya’s choice to take Chizuru to a movie she’d enjoy. This was a bit risky, though. It could have turned out poorly if he had chosen the wrong movie. But, based on how happy Chizuru was talking about the movie after watching it, this was a success.

Next, there was the trip to the rock climbing gym after lunch. Kazuya remembered that Chizuru was good at and enjoyed rock climbing the last time they went. So, this was a great call. Chizuru had a good time and they even bonded over the activity.

I’d actually say that going to the climbing gym was the best decision Kazuya made. Sure, Chizuru is really into movies and we saw how much she enjoyed it. But, Kazuya isn’t that into movies. He couldn’t participate in discussing it with her. At the climbing gym, though, they can both participate.

After going to the climbing gym, the pair went to dinner at an expensive crab restaurant. Chizuru was a little skeptical about how Kazuya was going to afford the meal. But, based on her comments, it still seems like she enjoyed the food. That’s good.

And, finally, there were the fireworks to finish off the date. This was a good choice because it’s simple, cheap, and personal. It gives Kazuya and Chizuru the chance to be alone together and do a relaxing activity after a full day. So, overall, Kazuya’s date plan was well-thought-out and could be considered a success.

The Bad Parts of the Date

Okay, now let’s take a look at where the date went wrong. And, it actually kind of started off on the wrong foot with the clothes shopping. This wasn’t very personal. It’s clear that Chizuru saw this part of the date as standard rental girlfriend date material.

Lunch also didn’t go very well. Kazuya claims that Chizuru enjoyed lunch. But, that was probably her in “girlfriend mode.” From what we saw, Chizuru could tell that Kazuya was trying to buy her happiness at this point. An expensive meal alone isn’t meaningful.

But, if lunch was bad, why was dinner good? Shouldn’t the same thing apply to both meals? Yes, it should and it does. But, Chizuru genuinely seemed to like the food at dinner. She commented on how much she planned to eat, which wasn’t her in “girlfriend mode.”

But now, we’re getting to the biggest flaw with Kazuya’s date. He was paying more attention to the activities he planned than he was to Chizuru. The whole point of this date was to cheer Chizuru up. So, he should have been paying more attention to how she was feeling.

When they went to dinner, Chizuru saw a grandmother and grandchild walk passed. This made her sad as she remembered her own grandmother. But, Kazuya kept walking, too focused on the meal to pay attention to Chizuru.

This would have been a perfect opportunity for him to console her in some way.

Later, during the fireworks portion of the date, something similar happened. Kazuya left to get a bucket of water and returned to Chizuru crying. He didn’t know the fireworks would remind her of her grandmother. But, if he paid attention earlier, he would have known not to leave her alone regardless.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 11? Would you call Kazuya’s date with Chizuru a success so far? What do you think was the best part of the date? And, what do you think was the worst? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 12 is available now.

A Date with Sumi

Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 10 was a bad episode. Sumi’s cute, sure. But, I’ve been saying for a long time that she’s just not very interesting. Chizuru, Ruka, Mami, and now Mini are all way better characters. Sumi doesn’t have all that much going on.

Also, yes, I know that this episode aired last week. But, I was away. So, I only now watched it and I haven’t seen the next episode (which aired today) yet. I’ll be reviewing the next episode tomorrow. And, after that, I’ll be back on track to review the season finale when it airs next week.

Now, back to Sumi. Why don’t I think she’s a very good character? If you’ve read any of my previous reviews of episodes focusing on her, you may already know. Since she doesn’t have much dialogue, if any, she doesn’t get much character development.

What we get when Sumi is the star of an episode is an episode that highlights the worst parts of the series. We’re left to focus on all the little, cringe things that happen. These things always happen. But, usually, there are other things going on for us to pay attention to.

For example, there are the random characters commenting on how cute Kazuya’s dates are. This always happens and it’s always cringe. There are also all of Kazuya’s cringe thoughts, which again, isn’t new. But, the issue is that Sumi doesn’t do anything to distract from that content.

When Kazuya thinks “Wow this is so crazy that I’m on a train with Sumi,” it lingers. I’m left sitting here thinking how that’s actually not crazy at all. And this is because there’s no following dialogue to change the subject. Don’t leave me alone with Kazuya’s thoughts.

Sumi Heads to the Beach

Moving on to something more interesting, did you notice that Sumi was wearing a swimsuit? I don’t mean when Kazuya was imagining her in a swimsuit when they got to the beach. I mean when we got the upskirt shot of Sumi while she was climbing the stairs.

It turns out that Kazuya has a pretty good imagination. The swimsuit Sumi was wearing was the same one he imagined she would be wearing. But, how do I know this was a swimsuit? Couldn’t that have been her panties?

The first clue that what we saw was her bikini bottom is the frills on the sides. I’m not going to say that panties can’t have frills like that. But, it’s a pretty common feature on swimsuits. And, on top of that, the swimsuit Kazuya imagined Sumi wearing had those same frills.

Personally, I think that’s all the evidence you need. But, allow me to point out one other thing. As far as I know — and I could be wrong here — Kanokari hasn’t included any panty shots. I can’t think of a single time when we got a panty shot of one of the girls.

Kazuya has been flashed by the girls by accident. From what I remember, this even happened with Mini in an earlier episode this season. But, we didn’t see it from Kazuya’s perspective. If you can think of a time when we got a panty shot, let me know.

But, anyway, why is that important? It’s important because it’s not something this series does. And since this series hasn’t done panty shots before, why would it start now? The answer is pretty clear. That wasn’t a panty shot. It was a bikini shot, which is totally different.

Time to Cheer Up Chizuru

Why was Sumi wearing a swimsuit under her clothes despite having no plans to go to the beach? I don’t know. Kazuya only rented her out for an hour. So, it’s possible that she had a pool/beach date earlier in the day.

But, enough about Sumi’s undergarments. It’s time to move on to the reason why Sumi brought Kazuya to the beach. She wanted to cheer him up, obviously. But, it didn’t have to be at the beach. It seems like she only chose the beach because that’s where the first train was going.

She wanted to take Kazuya somewhere he could have fun. She wanted him to enjoy himself and relax for a bit. As she says (writes in the sand), at the end of their date, positivity starts with a smile. If Kazuya is going to cheer Chizuru up, he needs to start by making her smile.

As I said earlier in this review, I haven’t watched Episode 11 yet. So, I’m going to make some predictions about Kazuya’s date with Chizuru. And rather than waiting a week, I’ll only have to wait until tomorrow to find out if I’m right.

My first prediction is that Kazuya’s date with Chizuru is going to be a success. Surely, Granny Sayuri’s death won’t be followed up by a disaster of a date. Though, I have to admit that renting out Chizuru for a 10-hour date is pretty daunting.

Will Chizuru feel like doing everything on Kazuya’s date schedule? I doubt it. And this is my second prediction: They’ll end the date short. Or, at least, the planned events of the date. And, once they go off schedule, that’s when the emotional scene will happen. That’s when their bond will become closer.

Final Thoughts

What do you think about Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 10? Do you agree that Sumi doesn’t have much going on? Why do you think she was wearing a bikini under her clothes? And, what are your predictions for Kazuya’s date with Chizuru? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier. And, I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 11 is available now.

99% Lies and 1% Truth

The first half of Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 9 was very good. And then, the second half happened. But, let’s forget about the second half for now. In the first half, we got to watch Chizuru and her grandmother spend their final moments together.

In my professional opinion, Sora Amamiya, Chizuru’s voice actress, did an amazing job. I’ve seen her in a lot of other anime, probably most notably as Aqua in KonoSuba. But, her performance in this episode of Kanokari might be my favorite. Also, full disclosure, I had no idea she played Aqua until right now.

Anyway, before her grandmother died, she was able to see at least part of Chizuru’s movie thanks to Kazuya. He made it back to the hospital with the movie in time. So, that was great to see. Though, I assumed Granny Sayuri would survive long enough for that to happen.

After the movie finished, we got what I’d say was the best part of the episode. Even this late, Chizuru was still conflicted about telling her grandmother her lie. But, she did tell her grandmother that she lied — even if she didn’t say what the lie was.

Well, I should say that we don’t know if she told her grandmother what the lie was. We never actually got to see what Chizuru chose in the end. Did she stay quiet about herself and Kazuya? Did she come clean? Or, did she vow to turn that lie into the truth?

Personally, I’d like it if we later found out that the latter is the case. After all, if she and Kazuya do become an official couple, then she can say she followed through with her lie. It started out as a lie, but it became the truth.

RIP Granny Sayuri

Chizuru’s Granny Sayuri passed away in the middle of the night with Chizuru by her side. That’s sad and all. But, we’ve hit the point in the review where I’m going to start complaining about things. This is an episode of Kanokari, after all.

My first complaint goes back to that whole 99% lies and 1% truth flashback. Now, this isn’t specific to Kanokari. But, I was thinking about it during this flashback scene. How is Chizuru remembering that conversation? I know it’s relevant to her current dilemma. But, that happened years ago.

I literally can’t even remember a specific conversation I had yesterday. So, when I see flashbacks like this, it breaks my immersion. You expect me to believe Chizuru was paying that much attention to a random conversation?

Maybe I’m the problem, though. Too much anime is known to cause brain rot.

The other problem I had with the first half of the episode was Granny Sayuri’s speech. I know it’s for dramatic effect. But, Granny Sayuri was able to give an entire final speech even though she couldn’t open her eyes? I don’t believe it. But, again, maybe I’m the one who’s wrong.

Other than those two nitpicks, I don’t have anything else to complain about. At least, not when it comes to the first half of the episode. And, for most anime, I wouldn’t even call those things out. But, there’s something about Kanokari that makes me notice the little flaws.

Nitpicks aside, I’m curious to see how Granny Sayuri’s death will affect Chizuru. My assumption is that it’s going to push her toward Kazuya more. I know he’s not her family. But, at this point, he’s the closest to thing family that she has. Even their grandmothers were best friends.

Something Only Kazuya Can Do

The second half of Episode 9 was where all the cringe came into play. Even the cut from Chizuru’s grandmother dying to Mini crying on the ground outside was bad. Suddenly, I couldn’t take anything seriously anymore.

But, that’s by no means the worst of it. When leaving the wake, Kazuya’s grandmother says that there must be something he can do. He’s Chizuru’s boyfriend (as far as she knows), after all. Shouldn’t he be able to do something for her in her time of need? Of course. But, this is Kazuya we’re talking about.

He could have stayed behind at the wake with Chizuru. Even if she didn’t admit it, I’m sure she’d appreciate him standing outside with her. And, it’s not like it would be entirely unexpected for him to do that. As far as Granny Sayuri was concerned, Kazuya’s family.

As expected of Kazuya, he didn’t stay at the wake. He went home and freaked out over Chizuru, as usual. And, this is when the cringiest part of the episode occurred. What’s the one thing Kazuya thinks of doing for Chizuru? Booking a rental girlfriend date.

The implication here is that Kazuya booked a date with Chizuru. And, if that’s indeed the case, he’s surpassed all the other cringy things he’s ever done. I shouldn’t need to say that you should not try to make the girl you like feel better by booking her as a rental.

However, my prediction is that Chizuru isn’t the one Kazuya booked a date with. Surely, even he wouldn’t do something like that. Instead, I’m betting he booked a date with Sumi. And the reason he did it is so he can ask Sumi for advice regarding Chizuru. If anyone would help him, it’s Sumi.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 9? Did you expect Chizuru to tell her grandmother the truth about Kazuya? Did you think her grandmother would live long enough to see the movie? And, what do you think Kazuya should have done for Chizuru? Let me know in the comments.

If my prediction is right, next week should be the first Sumisode (Sumi episode) in a while. I’d like to see Sumi finally make a move. But, I can’t really imagine her doing that considering the circumstances.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 10 is available now.

Rental, Neighbor, and Girlfriend

Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 8 may have come a week late, but it’s here. It could have been worse, though. Jujutsu Kaisen just came back from a 4-week break. And Zom 100 had two breaks in a row. One week off isn’t so bad.

Anyway, in this week’s episode, Ruka did some serious damage to Mizuhara. Sure, she called Chizuru a rental girlfriend and herself his real girlfriend. That’s normal and doesn’t phase Chizuru. But then, she called Kazuya by his given name without the honorific. That’s a power move and shows that Ruka’s the one setting the pace.

Ruka’s not the one playing catch-up. She’s fully in the lead at this point. Though, I would argue that was already the case. After all, Ruka has kissed Kazuya. As far as I can remember, Chizuru hasn’t done that. But, I also don’t believe Chizuru knows that happened.

Something else this episode made me realize is that there aren’t actually four main girls. From the start of the series, we’re led to believe that there’s going to be a battle royale over Kazuya. There’s Chizuru, Ruka, Mami, and Sumi, right? Well, it hasn’t turned out that way.

Chizuru and Ruka have come out on top as the two main girls. And now that Mini’s in the mix, things are a bit awkward for Mami and Sumi. I could be wrong. But, I think Mini has had more screen time this season than Mami and Sumi combined.

Have we even seen Mami at all this season? I remember a scene of her plotting devious things online at the end of one episode. But, that could have been last season, for all I know. I’d like her to be relevant again. Mami brings the spice this series needs.

Chizuru’s Dreams

Does Chizuru actually still want to be an actress? Or is she only putting all her time and effort into acting because she thinks she has to? Did her grandfather’s encouragement to follow her dream turn into pressure to achieve it?

Chizuru’s grandmother seems to think that might be the case. Though, this isn’t something she thought up on her own. Before his death, Chizuru’s grandfather also worried the same thing. He wanted to push Chizuru to chase her dreams. But, he didn’t want those dreams to become a burden.

Now that Granny Sayuri sees how much effort Chizuru is putting into her movie, she has some concerns. But, I’m here to tell you, and Granny Sayuri, that there’s nothing to worry about. Following your dreams is never a bad thing. Even if things don’t work out, at least you tried. There’s no shame in that.

But, is being an actress still Chizuru’s dream? Dreams change over time. At one point, I wanted to be an engineer. I even went to college for that initially. And then I realized that I hate math, so here I am. Anyway, has the same thing happened to Chizuru?

No. It’s pretty obvious that becoming an actress is still Chizuru’s dream. Sure, there’s some added pressure right now because of her grandmother’s health. She wants her grandmother to see her on the big screen. So, there’s a time constraint right now. But, that doesn’t change Chizuru’s ultimate dream.

It’s not as if Chizuru’s going to stop acting once her grandmother dies. I mean, what other hobbies does she have? She goes to school, works, and devotes all her free time to acting. That’s not something you do out of obligation. You have to want it.

Make-or-Break

Toward the end of the episode, Granny Sayuri collapsed. She had to be rushed to the hospital and still hasn’t regained consciousness. According to the doctors, this is the make-or-break moment. So, do you think she’s going to survive to the movie premiere?

In my professional opinion, she’s not. Even if she was still alive by the time of the premiere, she wouldn’t be able to go. It’s clear that she’d be in no condition to leave the hospital. But, I’m going to go even further than that and say she’s going to die in the next episode.

To me, that’s the obvious conclusion. But, I accidentally scrolled down to the comments after watching this episode. And, I took psychic damage from some of the things I read there. Apparently, this isn’t as obvious as I thought. I even saw some people questioning where Kazuya was going.

Alright, so that might have been my fault for assuming Kanokari fans could use their brains. But, we literally saw where Kazuya was going and why. The movie edits are complete — or complete enough. So, he’s going to get the movie so that they can play it in the hospital for Granny Sayuri.

She might not be able to respond right now. But, the doctors said that she could still hear what they’re saying. And that means she’ll be able to hear the movie, even if she can’t watch it. She might manage to watch it, though. We’ll have to wait and see.

Anyway, why is this so obvious? Again, we saw the text Kazuya got about the edits being complete. And if tonight is make-or-break for Granny Sayuri, she has to see (hear) the movie tonight. I’m curious if Kazuya will make it back in time.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Kanokari Season 3 Episode 8? Is Ruka winning the Kazuya competition? Do you think Chizuru views acting as a burden? And, are you expecting Granny Sayuri to die before she gets to see the movie? Let me know in the comments.

As I said, I think Ruka’s clearly in the lead right now, even if we know Kazuya likes Chizuru more. And, again, I can’t see any situation in which acting isn’t still Chizuru’s dream. But, where I’m not so sure is when it comes to Granny Sayuri.

If she dies before Kazuya gets back, that would be very emotional. And, of course, Chizuru would be thankful for Kazuya trying to get the movie in time. But, I also feel like that may be a bit too dark for this series. So, I’m predicting she’ll die shortly after seeing or hearing the movie.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about becoming a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 9 is available now.