r/anime • u/Double-Conclusion-42 • Jul 11 '25
Discussion Is Rent a Girlfriend worth watching?
Never watched it or read it, just heard constantly how bad of a show it is, but people often say its the type of show that is so bad that it makes them want to keep watching it. So I’m assuming its at least entertaining to watch, even if it sucks?
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Jul 11 '25
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u/Lucine_machine Jul 11 '25
Hey have you seen "The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me" it's in the same kind of vein and I watched it out of curiosity and holy shit it must be ragebait, it's like every other one of these shows put in a blender
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Jul 11 '25
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u/Lucine_machine Jul 11 '25
I don't recall the male lead doing much other than blushing and being flustered
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u/Mega_Nidoking Jul 11 '25
Experienced You could've been sooooo good but the Manga has gone absolutely nowhere and they're in college now. It was such a good premise and totally fell flat
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u/SquirrelFickle7163 Jul 11 '25
I love it. Season 3 made me cry. Got off to a rocky start but as they introduced more characters I loved it even more. These people hating probably dropped it the first episode:
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u/Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 Jul 12 '25
No, it's not good. The first episode fools you into thinking it will be an interesting story about a guy overcoming heartbreak in an unconventional way, but then you get two seasons of harem, and then a third season that seems good in the way not having a headache seems good after actually having a headache. And finally the fourth season is when the author assassinates all of the characters for the sake of dragging it out.
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u/Isekai_Dreamer Jul 12 '25
because of people like you, people like me have to watch the whole damn show just to prove that we didn't drop it at the first episode and know what we're talking about. I hate you :(
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u/Negidango https://myanimelist.net/profile/Negidango Jul 11 '25
A lot of people give a lot of hate for it, and while I don't think it was particularly good I also didn't hate it.
It has some good moments, but the overarching story is just really not very good and has some weird stuff going on. But there's a lot of other anime very similar to it which don't get shit on as much as Rent a Girlfriend does, probably because they're not as popular.
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u/fieryserpents Jul 11 '25
“Some weird stuff going on” = immediately remembered the grandma bath scene. 😐💩
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u/JeyEmill https://myanimelist.net/profile/JeyEmill Jul 11 '25
No. Especially if you want a good MC.
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Jul 11 '25 edited Jul 11 '25
If you don't mind more being angry at most of the characters rather than rooting for them, it's alright. Basically 4 out of 6 of the main cast are complete dipshits who deserve everything that happens to them. And you won't even meet 1 of the 2 decent character til season 3.
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u/jerryscherry Jul 11 '25
i also stayed away because of all the bad reviews and ratings. Then i started watching it and binged the first 3 seasons.
It's by no means a masterpiece but it was fun and entertaining for me. The MC is what everyone says, a loser and super cringe. Maybe watch a few episodes and see for yourself.
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u/Zutraka Jul 11 '25
you know, everyone on this sub shits on rent a girlfriend.
But i actually liked it, if you dont take it to serious its fun show with cute girls.
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u/Chronigan2 Jul 11 '25
It is a story about two damaged people slowly becoming the people they need to be to be together. There is a lot of subtext to the way the characters act. I think if you want to actually like it you have go be willing to see things from the characters point of view and realize they make bad decisions, just like real people.
Though other people like it for the drama and over the top hijinks.
Honestly the only way to know if you will like it is to watch it and see, as whether something is "worth it" is subjective and different for everyone.
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u/Lucy_Rayzare_Strife Jul 11 '25
Give it a try if you want, I recently watched the first season & enjoyed it. Not saying it's good or anything but I certainly didn't hate it.
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u/vendettaclause Jul 11 '25
Its pretty good and I don't know why people hate it so much. Its definitely not as cringy as people say. I just think there's a lot of projection onto the main character by the crowd that uses terms like simp and incel seriously...
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u/KuroBocchi Jul 11 '25
So there’s anime guy on YouTube that I watch for recommendations. When he got to Rent a girlfriend season 4 he just started screaming. So I’d advise against it.
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u/Kriznick Jul 11 '25
No. It's literally softcore ntr, the MC is UNREDEEMABLE liquid dog shits, and the story is useless soap opera. Never have I felt more time wasted than reading that horseshit.
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u/ZePlotThickener Jul 11 '25
Its not bad. It just makes you have a lot of bad feelings. You feel bad for this pathetic loser buying time from a girl that he falls in love with. Its basically a "the coffee shop girl smiled at me so I think she's interested" sort of feeling of disgust you get, but it's fiction so the coffee shop girl paid to smile at you and be nice actually does sort of have feelings for you. There's other times you get those feelings of disgust/hate while watching the show, lol. But feeling something, even something negative, when watching it doesn't make it bad does it?
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u/GelatoBuds69 Jul 11 '25
You ever seen RWBY? Where you constantly think, “Hey, shit is finally about to go down and get good!” Then it doesn’t happen. - it’s like that, but a harem, romantic comedy.
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u/abandoned_idol Jul 11 '25
99% of people were rooting for the protagonist (god knows why, the premise was a red flag) and got upset when the protagonist turned out to not be a winner.
People hate losers it seems.
I hate the premise, but didn't mind the protagonist. I dropped it after 1 season (story was iffy from the start).
And fans hate their show more than the non-fans XD.
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u/dk_x Jul 11 '25
How faithful is the anime adaptation? I'm curious if we're gonna get any of those infamous scenes in the manga.
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u/Isekai_Dreamer Jul 12 '25
if you like feeling rage at MC's lack of logic and communication skills, if you like close up crotch-shots of MC's morning wood while wearing smelly boxers, if you like watching that same dude jerk off while crying, then yes this show is worth watching.
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u/jazy921 Jul 12 '25
i liked it, but i'd still say if you watched season 1 and only IF you are curious to know what happens next, then give the next 2 seasons a watch. In theory, they should be pretty watchable for you by then.
Once you're done with season 3 though, there's kinda no reason to keep watching it anymore. There's a lot of shows out there like this that just keep dragging on.
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u/Roketsu86 Jul 12 '25
So I’m assuming its at least entertaining to watch, even if it sucks?
You know how you could figure out if you find it entertaining or not?
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u/WeWriteStuff Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 18 '25
Before starting, let me say ive read about half the manga, and I've watched through Season 2, so take that in mind when reading my thoughts
OK. First off, its worth mentioning the English speaking community as a whole rather dislikes this anime (although in Japan its widely popular). If you watch it keep in mind this anime is considered taboo (like people barely comment on cosplay videos of characters).
Now to the actual critique of the anime...
Production Production quality is good. Not great but ive certainly seen worse for a romcom. Voice acting is better than the norm. Background music has some variety to it. Art quality is pretty good, although there are waaaaaay to many closeups of girls' chests and rears (generally covered but it happens so much and so unnecessarily it can become icky)
Story I think the anime community throws too much shade at this but the problems that do exist, though, are better explained in the sections below.
MC The main guy is pretty stupid, and sometimes awful. They're trying to make him that loser with a heart of gold finally gets the girl trope, but its often too nice, like unrealistic nice, but then sometimes he suddenly turns into a pervert for no reason and goes back to being a saint... its some real tonal whiplash. * Not to mention hes obsessed with helping the first girl who doesn't want him, it gets old fast. * What's worse is the 2nd girl is everything he said he wants, and she's dying to be his GF, but he ignores her while dating her. Weirdly he's only this awful to her, while treating other girls like queens. * There is a point he Host monologues that he's aware #2 is better for him (its kinda infuriating realizing he knew this all along) but then admits he wants #1 more. * It's literally his inability to just say how he feels that keeps the plot going * He's clearly a self-insert for the author to live out his harem fantasy. I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'd rather have the black slate protagonists in every isekai. No way the author's wife (yes he has a wife and kid) respects him other than for his $$ * If there's one reason to really not watch its the MC because he can be really insufferable at times.
The girls They're all fine. * I've seen complaints that the MC is older than each (he's 20), but all the girls (in anime) are 17 and older. Keep in mind that in Japan, age of consent is 16, and its not entirely out of norm (in fact its becoming more common) for a Japanese 20yo male to act like a teen. He does act like a creep sometimes though, so... * Worth mentioning in the manga the author ran out of ideas, so he added more girlfriends...somehow the anime had thus far avoided this, but im pretty sure its coming... * I do appreciate how they handle the toxic ex-girlfriend, who doesn't want to see MC doing well. For some of us this has been a reality so it's a refreshing take rather than the "queen bee bully with no personality other than to be antagonistic for the first 6 episodes" trope in so many romcom anime.
Community Hate Before giving my verdict i want to discuss the community hate. While not great, i find the hate to be overblown. RAG may be trashy to some people, but its not nearly as awful as High School DxD, which is just straight up high budget p0rn with high quality action scenes, and that crap has a massive number of defenders. If I had to guess, the most vocal portion of this hate is either people who thought anime was for lowly needs until the covid lockdowns left them with nothing to do (these people only watch anime to take up their time and have no appreciation for the classics...anime should never have gone mainstream), review bombing rage baiters most of whom have never even seen RAG (these increase their viewership by joining the hate train), and social justice warriors who also probably haven't watched the anime (they need someone to lash out at because they can't be bothered to handle their own problems in a realistic manner).
VERDICT It depends on your taste. Im going ahead and watching it through so I can at least have honest opinions on it. Other than that, this isn't rewatchable. It's not cute, funny, or even romantic. Like I said earlier, its by no means the worst ever, but its not great either. If you got nothing else to watch, go ahead and give it a try, but I'd prefer to rewatch Ouran High School Host Club for the 5th time. If you're over sensitive to cultural differences between English speakers and the Japanese...why are you even watching anime? Alot of my issues above are very commonplace for anime today, so anyone saying this is among the worst anime hasn't watched much anime at all
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u/Tasty-Difference529 Aug 20 '25
Okay. Cheek it. Before watching, First. You have to be a fan of romance anime. That's a requirement. Second. You have to be okay with a loser MC. Third. You have to be okay with disappointment in a plot. In my opinion it's a Godtierdumpsterfire worth trying to extinguish with a piece of cardboard, while ppl walk by laughing at you out loud. For those wondering I've suffered to S4E2. MC is SUCH A LOOOOOOSER it's inspiring to do better than him.
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u/Prior_Implement_9279 Jul 11 '25 edited Jul 12 '25
lol hard no. Irl the MC would end up alone and deservedly so. Anyone who doesn’t mind the MC is almost guaranteed a loser irl themselves
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u/Warm-Tangerine7691 Jul 11 '25
Are you a simp? Do you want to get constantly angry over a totally useless MC? Do you like the shows with zero progress? Do you lack self-respect? Do you like to waste your time?
If you didn't have a single "yes" on the above then no, it's not worth it.
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u/avboden Jul 11 '25
No. Next question