Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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As pathetic as Kazuya can be, I can relate to him wanting to relive his youth and have 'the perfect high school date'....cause I sure as hell never had one of those myself. I bet lots here didn't either.
 lol
Anime characters actually know how to have fun on dates....ever notice this? I'd only go to a movie with someone and then go home. Which is....really stupid when you are trying to get to know a person....you can't talk during movies! MY YOUTH WAS SO MISSPENT!! AUGH!!! I...should have gone shopping with guys...or to an amusement park (wait, I kinda hate those nvm) then..the aquarium! Or ballroom dancing! Or a festival with fireworks!! Why was I so dumb!!  I want to redo my adolescence over.
[sobbing] |
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JustMonika
Posts: 1144 |
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I just cut through the BS back in 1997 when I was 14 and fell in love with a girl and we did it, lol. 25 years and two marriages / divorces later and I still think about her occasionally, lol. Last time I believe I talked to her was 1999. I attempted to write her on Facebook about two years ago but was blocked, lol. To be honest, I doubt she remembers me because she was 12 and 13 during the brief time we dated and did the deed a few times, lol. |
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JohnRhogan
Posts: 164 |
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Have to agree with you about Ruka's character development. She knows she has nothing against Mizuhara. IF you've noticed, when Kazuya is with Chizuru, she gets his undivided attention. When he is with Ruka, all he thinks about is Chizuru. Ruka gets his divided attention. |
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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Ugh this party scene....
It really is kinda messed up that a family is paying more attention to their son's girlfriend more than their actual son on his actual birthday. No wonder why he has self-loathing issues. Oh yes, the "can't beat the favorite GF so I'll just assault him in the hallway" tactic. >:[ How romantic
Oh no Nick, I cannot agree. Cause....Ruka screentime just ruins most of this episode for me. Last edited by Chiibi on Sun Aug 28, 2022 6:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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MFrontier
Posts: 13677 |
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Honestly the fact that Kazuya's grandma worships the ground his (fake) girlfriend walks on and basically makes his birthday all about her while just berating him...explains so much about his self-esteem issues.
Which makes it even worse that the actual good grandma in this show keeps having health issues. But hey, Chizuru doing yoga! I admire Ruka's tenacity, if nothing else. And that was a good kiss. |
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Spike Terra
 Subscriber Posts: 361 Location: Maryland |
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I feel like Kazuya and his grandma have way too much in common with each other. Particularly their love for Chizuru, their disappointment in Kazuya and their tendency for repeating their own toxic habits. I'm with Nick on this one, as this is the second episode this season that I found to be legit fun. Mami and Ruka help keep me interested in this show. They work as good foils to Chizuru and they help keep this show interesting.
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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The feels are starting to hit hard...like how they did in the manga arc and with actual voice acting and animation, they'll be hitting so much harder now.
SUMI EP NEXT. It's one of the BEST scenes in the series. |
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09jcg
Posts: 535 |
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I think it's looking like they're going to gear up the season finalie to be a cliff hanger/ lead into a season 3 or some sort of continuation. The next chapter they're adapting is *not* an ideal place to leave off
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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Told you all Sumi-chan was Best Girl
I teared up too so...good job, show. Sharing your feelings with another and crying it out together is one of the heathiest character interactions you can show. He should really just give up on Chizuru and date Sumi. But we all know that's not happening. Even though they have the best relationship in the series. It's so sad. I think if Chizuru had a different family situation, Sumi definitely would have had a chance. But Kazuya's so consumed by the thought that Chizuru is the loneliest girl on earth and she needs someone's comfort (he's not wrong) but her stubborness is just so grating. (The reviewer sounds scorned by the decision to not tell Sayuri the truth..but I think it's better this way, for her sake tbh.) Do you want this kind old lady to die feeling happy or this kind old lady to die feeling betrayed and broken-hearted? That's very easy to choose between. It might be a lie at this time...but you know they're going to end up together by the last chapter anyway.
Honestly, I have no idea why they didn't just decide to do a two-cour season. Would make a ton more sense.  This title is so popular in Japan right now...don't tell me they didn't have the funds to do it.
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MFrontier
Posts: 13677 |
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Sumi is such a sweetheart. She goes all out to celebrate the birthday of the guy she likes, is absolutely cute and tries to be as confident and assertive as she can be despite her personality issues, and wants Kazuya to be open with her so she can support him emotionally.
It's just too bad he's still stuck on Chizuru...and that he didn't hear her confession. But at least seeing the girls in his live maturing and becoming stronger people has seemingly spurred Kazuya into manning up. |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 671 |
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So I'll preface this with the fact that I haven't read the manga or LN or whatever this anime is based on, so have no idea where things are ultimately going. I started season 1 as it aired, lost it for a while, binged to catch up ~ a month ago, and have been watching as it releases since.
Kazuya's family's messed up. Not in the spectacular train wreck over the top way that anime tends to highlight a messed up family, but in the more simple everyday sort of screwed up sort of way. His parents are highly aloof, apparently (possibly reasonably) due to working at their shop. The grandma is head of the household. Everyone has to cater to her, made worse by her fragile health, but she's passive aggressive in her domineering ways. She's not violent, and you get the clear sense she actually cares about and loves her family. But she is very, very, brash with her grandson and seemingly has no idea how to properly address his self-esteem issues, of which it seems she is aware. Chizuru is similar, but from a different end of the spectrum. She has no parents, her grandma is her only family. It is clear that she has also struggled with certain self-esteem issues, she mentions as much being a reason for getting into acting and the rental girlfriend business as a way to break out of that. But it has made her extremely rigid outside of her work. She has had to go it alone for so long that she is afraid of relying on others. The anime obviously overblows this dynamic, as you cannot tell me she can't find a different job whose rules complicate the very idea of her having a boyfriend, but that is only a part of the problem. I feel that absent the rental girlfriend portion she likely never would've given Kazuya the time of day, and may well herself turned to a similar means of trying to convince her own grandma that she had a boyfriend (probably the more old school method of using a friend at school as a stand-in). Mami is clearly got the more destructive self-esteem issues going. She is accustomed to having guys fawn over her for her looks, and definitely likes the attention. It's unclear to me at least if she actually liked Kazuya at all or always just saw him as a fling. I think a part of her definitely sees it that way and is jealous that he moved on to another girl that is at least on the outside looking in "better" than her in every way. But I think it also revealed to her what she missed out on, which has compounded her jealousy. I think she's realized Kazuya was a pretty decent guy and would've taken really good care of her if she kept him. I imagine that she'd be devastated to learn just how much his family would have worshipped her if she had been around long enough to be introduced as the girlfriend. All ot it is eating her up inside and she's lashing out at him for it. Ruka is cute and highly toxic. She knows Kazuya isn't interested in her - he said so outright from the beginning. She knows he's interested in Chizuru. She has an extremely obsessive compulsive personality, that while the writers want to make light of it and joke about it, is very, very problematic. Not only does it have her creating a completely chaotic and toxic relationship with Kazuya, it is liable to be a continued problem for her in her life that the show seems uninterested in addressing beyond the will she or won't she be Kazuya's girlfriend question. Personality wise she seems like a terrific girl otherwise, but that part of her personality cannot be ignored and is to me the biggest red flag of all the personality problems in the cast. Sumi is definitely the sweetest and most adorable girl in the cast. But I think a major part of that is the fact that she isn't romantically involved, so hasn't developed the same sort of relationship issues. Her and Kazuya work because neither seems to be trying to project a romantic idea on the other. For me at least it is still right now questionable whether she is romantically interested in Kazuya, or just seems him in the big brother/best friend sort of frame of mind. Her non-communicative nature makes it hard to tell at times, and with the dualism of Kazuya being really obtuse about some things while overreacting to the smallest hints, makes it very difficult to see how they could ever carry on a meaningful relationship at this stage. They'd likely drive each other crazy with false starts and racing ahead at various times, not knowing what the other wants at any given time (which is normal) but also having no idea how to communicate about it (what usually kills any relationship). In short, they work as friends because neither needs the other for more than brief periods at a time. End of the day, Kazuya and Chizuru actually probably suit each other the best. While their flaws are similar in nature, their attributes tend to cover each other's flaws too, whereas with the other girls there is an amplification. I could see Sumi working out in the long term supposing her communication difficulties are overcome and Kazuya can keep from being overly attached to any cute girl who is a little nice to him. Mami could work too, but it's going to be hard for her to break her manipulative tendencies, and she'll get bored of using him as a doormat eventually. Ruka I see as the least viable. She would likely be overly clingy, get super jealous if he even talked to another woman, and they'd likely end up being that couple where he's miserable because she constantly thinks he's cheating, she's miserable because she thinks he's cheating, and they just go along because that's what they're supposed to do. |
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njprogfan
Collector Extraordinaire Posts: 1219 Location: A River Named Toms |
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Ep 23 best episode? Possibly, it was one of the few time I didn't want to put my hands around his throat and strangle him. The two crying towards the end had me tearing up and I never thought I would, especially with him. I have no faith in him whatsoever to come to a satisfying conclusion with Chizuru and to be honest, she'd be better off a thousand times over. Ruka loves him with every atom and he's such a friggin' idget not to just go with her, UGH! I'm glad there's only one episode left and I can lower my blood pressure....
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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Ruka doesn't love him, dude; she likes herself way more. She pushes all her desires onto him and doesn't give a damn about his feelings as long as she gets what she wants. 'Selfish' doesn't even begin to describe her sins. Ruka is the type every man should get a restraining order against. She's psychotic. Nobody sane would date that girl. She actually got a job at the same place as him and tried to get the boss to dock his pay when he refused to make out with her there. @DRosencraft : without spoiling anything, Mami just doesn't want people around her to be happy. Sumi does love Kazuya romantically (that's why she confessed) but she also cares more about his happiness than hers because she's not a jerk like Ruka. Sumi's love is very pure because she does not want to cause Kazuya more stress. She just supports him. |
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MagicPolly
 Posts: 1623 |
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Man I feel really bad for Sumi, she's the only character who's done nothing wrong but she's stuck in 4th place in a 2 horse race. I haven't read her spinoff but I hope she finds someone else who will actually care for her.
We've got one week left, we can make it! |
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JohnRhogan
Posts: 164 |
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The way I view the 2 seasons of Kano Kari are as follows: 1st season introduces the characters, and the premise of the show's title, endind with Kazuya realizing he has feelings for Mizuhara, while she begins to develop feelings for Kazuya. S2 picks up from hte end of S1, with Kazuya & Chizuru beginning to lay the foundation of their relationship, along with Ruka trying to advance her relationship with Kazuya. By the end of S2, Chizuru has someone she can depend on, she can trust, and is starting to fall for Kazuya even more. Every time Kazuya spoke to Chizuru, you could tell by her eyes or her finger twitching that everything he said to her meant a lot. Sumi's Silent Bob moments are priceless.
Yeah, Kano Kari's a bit of a train wreck, but it's nowhere near the trainwreck of Domestic Girlfriend. And now that Mini will be coming to animation, things are gonna heat up. I've been reading the manga (I normally don't, but I made an exception), and I find myself wondering when are Kazuya & Chizuru gonna actually talk about their feelings towards each other. I know the Paradise arc changed things between them, but at least they're talking again. |
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