Rent-A-Girlfriend
Rent-A-Girlfriend, abbreviated in Japan as Kanokari, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Reiji Miyajima. It has been serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine since July 2017, and has been compiled into forty-four volumes as of January 2026. The series is licensed in North America by Kodansha USA, which released the first volume in English in June 2020.
The series follows a young college student living in Tokyo who decides to rent a girlfriend following a sudden and painful breakup with his ex-girlfriend. After a while, he legitimately falls in love with his rental girlfriend and is determined to turn their fake relationship into a real one.
An anime television series adaptation was produced by TMS Entertainment. Four seasons aired on MBS and its affiliates under the Super Animeism programming block from July 2020 to September 2025. A fifth season is set to premiere in April 2026. A live-action television drama adaptation also aired from July to September 2022.
By January 2026, the manga had over 15 million copies in circulation.
Plot
Kazuya Kinoshita is dumped by his girlfriend Mami Nanami after dating for a month. He decides to rent a beautiful girlfriend named Chizuru Mizuhara. However, because he thinks she was inauthentic, he gives her a low rating. When Chizuru berates him for that during their next outing, he realizes she is more intense than he expected. Just then, Kazuya learns that his grandmother has been hospitalized following a collapse. Chizuru comes along and his grandmother is smitten by how great she is. Kazuya continues renting Chizuru in order to keep up appearances with his family and friends, but things get complicated when they discover they are next-door apartment neighbors and attend the same college. Later, other girls from the rental girlfriend business also join in, along with Kazuya's ex-girlfriend, who seems intent on ending this fake relationship. However, as Kazuya falls in love with Chizuru, he becomes determined to do whatever he can to make their rental relationship into a real one.Characters
Main
;Kazuya Kinoshita;Chizuru Mizuhara / Chizuru Ichinose
;Mami Nanami
;Ruka Sarashina
;Sumi Sakurasawa
;Mini Yaemori
Supporting
;Nagomi Kinoshita;Kazuo Kinoshita
;Harumi Kinoshita
;Yoshiaki Kibe
;Shun Kuribayashi
;Sayuri Ichinose
;Umi Nakano
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Reiji Miyajima, the series began serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine on July 12, 2017. It has been compiled into forty-four volumes as of January 2026. The series is licensed in North America by Kodansha USA, which released the first volume in English on June 2, 2020. Kodansha published an anthology of the series on August 17, 2020.A spin-off manga series, titled Rent-A--Girlfriend, also written and illustrated by Miyajima, has been serialized in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app since June 21, 2020. The series focuses on the character Sumi Sakurasawa. It has been compiled into three volumes as of May 2022. The series is also published in North America by Kodansha USA.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced in December 2019. The series was animated by TMS Entertainment and directed by, with Mitsutaka Hirota handling series composition, Kanna Hirayama designing the characters, and Hyadain composing the music. The Peggies performed the opening theme "Centimeter". Halca performed the first ending theme "Kokuhaku Bungee Jump" starting from Episodes 2–6 and 8–11, while Halca also performed the second ending theme "First Drop" for Episode 7, and Sora Amamiya performed the third ending theme "Kimi wo Tousite" for Episode 12. It aired from July 11 to September 26, 2020, on the Super Animeism programming block on MBS, TBS and their affiliates. The first season ran for 12 episodes.Crunchyroll streamed the series outside of Asia. On August 11, 2020, Crunchyroll announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on August 28. In Southeast Asia and South Asia, the series is licensed by Muse Communication and released on the streaming service iQIYI in Southeast Asia. Animax Asia later began airing the series.
In September 2020, shortly before the first season's finale was streamed internationally, it was announced that a second season had been greenlit for production. The main cast and staff reprised their roles, with Studio Comet cooperating in the production. The second season aired from July 2 to September 17, 2022. The opening theme is "Himitsu Koi-Gokoro" by CHiCO with HoneyWorks, while the ending theme is "Ienai" by MIMiNARI featuring asmi.
On May 18, 2021, it was announced Sentai Filmworks picked up the home video rights.
After the final episode of the second season, a third season was announced, with Shinya Une replacing Kazuomi Koga as director. It aired from July 8 to September 30, 2023. The opening theme is "Renai Miri Film" by Halca. Amber's performed the first ending theme "End Roll" from Episodes 25–31 and 34–36, and the second ending theme "End Roll " from Episodes 32–33.
In July 2024, a fourth season was announced. The staff and cast from the previous seasons once again reprised their roles, with Kazuomi Koga returning as director. Originally scheduled to be released in two split cours, the fourth season ended up being released as a single cours, airing from July 5 to September 20, 2025, on the Animeism programming block on MBS, TBS, CBC Television as well as RKB, HBC, BS-TBS and AT-X. The opening theme song is "Umitsuki" performed by ClariS, while the ending theme song is "Boku no Vega" performed by Regal Lily.
A fifth season, which was originally intended to be the second cours of the previous season, will premiere in April 2026.
Video games
A crossover smartphone game titled Kanojo, Okarishimasu Heroine All-Stars was developed by Enish. It featured Chizuru, Mami, Ruka, and Sumi along with female characters from other Weekly Shōnen Magazine manga series like Fairy Tail, The Seven Deadly Sins, Domestic Girlfriend, Girlfriend, Girlfriend, Fire Force, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, and Negima! Magister Negi Magi. It was released in September 2021. The game's service ended on January 25, 2023.A visual novel, titled '', developed by Mages, was announced in July 2024. The game follows an original story, which is an alternate scenario set during the third season of the anime, and features all main characters. The main cast from the anime reprised their roles in the game. It was released in Japan for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on November 28, 2024. The limited edition of the game is bundled with a four-disc drama CD and an original soundtrack album, featuring over 30 tracks, including the game's theme song "Cider no Mukō" by Sora Amamiya, Aoi Yūki, Nao Tōyama, Rie Takahashi, and Yū Serizawa.
Drama
A live-action television drama adaptation aired on ABC and TV Asahi from July 3 to September 25, 2022. It stars and Hiyori Sakurada as Kazuya and Chizuru, respectively. Viki began streaming the series on January 27, 2023, under the title Rental A Girlfriend.Reception
Popularity and sales
By July 2023, the manga had over 11 million copies in circulation; it had 13 million copies in circulation by March 2024; it had 13.5 million copies in circulation by April 2025; it had 14 million copies in circulation by September 2025; and it had 15 million copies in circulation by January 2026.In May 2024, K Manga announced on its first anniversary that the series was the best selling and fourth most read manga on the app.
A collaboration between Rent-A-Girlfriend and Tokyo Dome City was held from June 25 to July 2, 2023. A second collaboration was held from November 21 to December 28, 2025.
On December 8, 2024, the city of Nakano, Reiji Miyajima's hometown, held the Nakano Kanokari Festival to promote the manga. On May 30, 2025, the city of Nakano announced a collaboration for the Shinshu Nakano Rose Festival on June 15. On October 30, the city of Nakano announced the second Nakano Kanokari Festival. It was held on November 9. On December 18, the city of Nakano announced the official online store of the Reiji Miyajima Support Committee.
On May 14, 2025, an X account was created for the character of Ruka Sarashina. On May 29, a crowdfunding campaign was launched on Campfire for a project celebrating Ruka's birthday. Once crowdfunding officially started on June 5, it was announced that the project successfully reached its goal of 10,000,000 yen in 12 minutes and became number 1 in the Campfire rankings. The project received a total of 29,265,498 yen once the campaign ended on July 31. On December 19, the campaign won the Fan Community Award in the Pop Culture category for Best Project of the Second Half of the Year at the Campfire Crowdfunding Awards 2025.
In August 2025, a collaboration between Rent-A-Girlfriend and Spa Resort Hawaiians was announced to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the resort, which ran from September 13 to November 30. Sora Amamiya and Masayuki Akasaka, Kibe's Japanese voice actor, appeared at a special event to commemorate the collaboration on October 19. On October 29, the resort announced that the collaboration had been extended until November 30 due to popular demand.
Critical reception
The series received a mixed reception from various critics. Joe Ballard of Comic Book Resources described the anime adaptation as a "hot mess" with sluggish pacing but also an "intriguing, action-packed rom-com and a semi-developing love story". Meanwhile, Ethan Wescoatt of CBR praised the story, which he called "mature" for a harem anime, in addition to the male and female leads, noting that Chizuru was an intriguing character due to hiding her true, multidimensional personality behind her perfect girlfriend façade and that Kazuya's struggles were relatable to the audience.Alex Henderson of Anime Feminist described the series premiere as "comedy of errors with a horny streak" but noted that but it also hinted at deeper themes. They further noted that the dynamic between Kazuya and Chizuru was intriguingly balanced despite the slapstick violence. Henderson praised the anime for touching on the social implications of the rental girlfriend business, treating Chizuru with respect and highlighting her agency. Meanwhile, Dee of Anime Feminist, who reviewed the first three episodes of the anime, noted that the series initially showed promise as a refreshing and potentially progressive rom-com anime adding that Chizuru was a well-developed character and Kazuya having potential for growth. However, Dee criticized the reveal of Mami's manipulative and abusive behavior in the third episode, stating it "suck all the joy out of the series". Dee further stated that the episode reduced Kazuya to a stereotypical "boilerplate hapless harem protagonist".
Nicholas Dupree of Anime News Network described the first two seasons as being tedious, with an interesting conflict introduced only at the last minute, while the preceding episodes were filled with repetitive and uninteresting rom-com antics. He added that while expectations for season three were low, the series "surprisingly" delivered a compelling romantic dramedy that addressed the flaws of Kazuya and found a "solid" narrative focus. Dupree concluded that the third season's production quality was consistent with previous seasons, focusing on character appeal, especially for the female characters. He noted that despite flaws, the third season offered the best material in a while, addressing key issues and delivering a compelling story.