An Otaku Rediscovery

Bismillah.

Hi there, fellow human.

This is gonna somehow be a long otaku content because a sis just discovered her inner otaku after a long time.

So few weeks back, I started to read a manga of an anime that I did followed few years back. It's Wotakoi: Love is Hard for an Otaku. The anime ended in a cliffhanger, so at the end of the series I was hella confused and thought, "okay that might be it then (?)". Turns out they gonna have season 2 later in 2021. I was hella relieved but at the same time be like, it will take so long I just decided to wait and catch up when they're out. But then I read somewhere on Twitter that they have a manga and I was like "EXCUSE ME I NEVER KNOW THIS??"

I'm sorry, some of you might know how hyper I've been for the past 24 hours upon my discovery.

So, I went to my usual manga site and read the manga. It stopped at chapter 64 and it is still ongoing. And I finished all 64 chapters in one night, being the one girl who can't stop reading once she's super hooked with a story. I was left in vain because there's no more to read and based on my experience waiting for new chapters of Detective Conan, it would take a longggg time.

So I looked at the tags to find some similar manga. The reason why I started to watch Wotakoi is, first of all, it's labeled as slice of life anime/manga, a genre that I really like. Why do I like slice of life genre, you say? First of all, it's real. It might be exaggerated little bit but it is realistic. You can somehow relate with the characters and the plot are usually things that happened in real life. Be it kdrama or anime, I would always go for slice of life series.

And that's on being the superior genre among all.

Okay, let me shut up about my series preferences.

So, I clicked the slice of life tag and looked over the list. I gotta admit that I am bit fussy about the art style of a manga so I judged based on their covers first. One book interests me, it has a pretty nice art style and it does not have an over-exaggerated anime waifus pose, so I clicked it. The title. Wait. Damn it, I still can't remember the Japanese name.

Oh yeah, it's "Kanojo Okarishimasu." The reddit community call it "KanoKari" for short, and thank goodness for that because I surely can't remember the name. 

English title, "Rent a Girlfriend."


You could get a gist of the story once you see the title, so I thought "Oh interestinggg!

I opened up the book, and thank god the art style inside did not disappoint me. You know how some series have amazing cover and yet the art style inside is just....you know, sad?

You guys are definitely gonna judge me for this, aren't you?

Anyways.

The first page already started weird, we are introduced with a guy named Kinoshita Kazuya ( remember Japanese family name is at the front, their real name kat belakang), 20 years old, a virgin (they highlighted this so many times I just feel the need to mention it) and basically just an immature, weird college guy. By weird, I really mean like loser-kind of weirdo. He just broke up with her girlfriend and since the story progresses based on his POV, so we were shown A LOT of his mind, such as his insecurities, negative self-talk and also those weird thoughts about girls that most men have in general.

No explicit content though, although the writer did hint it but nothing visual. You would not need to bleach your eyes afterwards. Maybe just your brain.

I was kinda weirded out at first, but then I say to myself, "oh come on, give him a chance!" so okay I continued reading.

Then, here comes the title. To get over his heartbreak, Kazuya rented a girlfriend through this one girlfriend renting application (i dont know if this exists in real life but whatever) and went on a date with this one girl. Which I also have trouble remembering her name. Wait. Um. Apa eh.

Ah yes, Mizuhara Chizuru.

Okay, she's the rental girlfriend, literally the definition of a perfect girlfriend. But then, Kazuya being the insecure guy he is, gave a one-star review to Chizuru and when they went on a second rental date (I don't remember why Kazuya rent her again), Kazuya yelled at her, criticizing her job and yeah, just being pathetic as usual. Chizuru threw her perfect girlfriend image away, and tadaa you see Chizuru chewing Kazuya back, being a savage queen and such.

But, in the middle of their argument, Kazuya received a call from his parents and he was told that her grandma named Kinoshita Nagomi (I literally checked Wikipedia for this) was admitted to the the hospital. Chizuru tagged along with Kazuya to the hospital, out of compassion (if im not mistaken) and the family misunderstood their relationship as being real, as they could not tell the truth and Grandma Nagomi grew a liking (like a real adoration) to her grandson's 'girlfriend'. Grandma Nagomi told her friend in the hospital about the news of her grandson having a girlfriend, and that friend turned out to be Chizuru's grandmother, Grandma Sayuri.

And there you go, the two are tangled in a 'contract' relationship of pleasing their own families (and their own developing feelings ehem).

There are currently 164 chapters (still ongoing, new chapters every Tuesday/Wednesday) and I finished all in one day, yesterday (Saturday). I started at 8AM something and I didn't stop reading until 2AM the next day, except for few breaks for a meeting and assignment. And that's on me getting obsessed uhm I mean, that's on being an engaging, amazing story.

I'm gonna go brief on the review since I've been ranting for so long about unnecessary stuff.

Anyways, just a reminder. This is the MANGA review. I haven't watch the anime yet. The gif that I used (they are from the anime) are just for you know, decorative purpose.

Art style; CHEF'S KISS. I really like the art style, like I could stare at a two-page panel for hours because it's literally so pretty I can't even describe?

I mean, look at this.

And this?

And my favourite yet 😭

Brb, I'm getting emotional.

Okay I think the pictures did justice in proving my point.

I definitely prefer the manga version rather than the anime version. I mean, based on snippets I've seen on Youtube, the anime is pretty too. But manga version wins for me because it's hard to make a scene looks really astonishing without colours. It's just stunning. There's more details to it. And there's so much emotions in it. It is also hard to touch people's heart with just motionless pictures, because you know there's nothing to aid in touching people's heart (ost, voice acting etc). Just the readers and their imagination. And the manga did it. 

Okay, moving on.

Genre; in general it's basically a romantic comedy, slice of life series and a harem (one boy, many female love interest) series. I don't know much about genres, so I can't speak that much.

Plot wise; slow-paced. Like literally. I was at the verge of giving up but I hang in there because it is super engaging that you keep wanting to know what happened next. It's currently at chapter 164 and they are still not together for real, like im about to just "bruh make your move". But if you read the whole manga, it's understandable that the author dragged it long, there are many plot-in-plot in the manga and I found almost every arc interesting! The pace could be frustrating but it doesn't bother me that much. It really depends on individual, how fast people like their manga to be like.

There is almost no unnecessary plot, at least to me. The Reddit community, r/KanojoOkarishimasu mentioned there were some plot holes, here and there but I'm forgetful yall. I can't remember small details. They say there were some inconsistent dates, and few minor story arcs that were laid down without any resolution but honestly to me? I don't mind at all. I'm on board for the two. If you guys are the analyzers (those who focus on the smallest, smallest details), there would be few parts that might bugging you. But if you're as forgetful as me, then you're good to go!

Character wise; Kazuya actually gets a lot of hate from people in general and I do not understand why. I like him. Aside of his perverted thoughts, he's actually a gentleman. A soft, sensitive guy. Sincere. A simp. He's a man of many flaws and he owns it up being the loser he is. He admitted to being pathetic and tried his might to not be pathetic and failed miserably. His character development throughout the manga is very subtle, you might not even realize that he's changing to a better person and that is what I like about his character.

In life, self-development are not always huge. It's often smaller, people might not even realize that you're changing. That's why I like his character, it feels real. Plus he's only 20. He's in that stage of growing to an adult, because you know, people say men's maturity is kinda late compared to women. His character feels....humane.

Okay, Chizuru.

Chizuru is the perfect girlfriend when she's on work but in reality, she is a true tsundere to its core. I like her character but sometimes it gets frustrating that she kept putting her walls up. People on Reddit kept saying she is emotionally dense (but they still love her) but I disagree. To be honest, Tsukamoto Tenma from School Rumble is even denser. Like, Tenma hold the record of the densest anime girls in history.

I'm sorry Tenma honey I still love you

Chizuru is in no way dense, she's just being protective of herself, being cautious of people she letting in. After knowing her past, it's understandable. She had and has a hard time in life, with losses, and in chasing her only dream. She's a really hardworking girl and I like her. Somehow, I could relate a lot to her. She faces a lot of emotional despair and I understood the cold-blooded nature the real Chizuru had. I would do the same. Not healthy, but I could relate.

Character development wise, her character development could be seen through her interactions with Kazuya. She matures earlier than Kazuya so you know, adulthood are not really easy. She faces adulthood with that wall she had, and yeah. You'll see how the walls are going to be destroyed by the pettiest man alive. You know who. How? I can't tell much. Go read the story.

There are also other characters, few girls with more drama. Mami, Ruka, Sumi, Yaemori yep a tone of girls. It's a harem anyways (a manga where the boy are chased by few girls). Yeah, he is chased by few girls but the competition is not that obvious except for that one girl, I wont tell. Their character developments are not yet apparent, but I really wish that the author would address it soon in the upcoming character. I mean, the character developments of the minor characters depend a lot on the main two's so yeah. Author-san, you know what to do.

Rating; 8.5/10. I want to give the series a 9, but considering how the series is still ongoing, I'm keeping the other marks for future chapters. I want to see more and I cant wait.

That's it. My entire review. Wow. So long.

It usually takes me forever to do a review because I lost interest in the middle of writing it, but this time I was super determined to finish this. I've been screaming about this manga since the past 48 hours so I'm writing this to make peace with this newfound obsession of mine.

Also, I'm actually considering to write more reviews but in my own way. Like this rant. This is nowhere near a review. It's more like a rant hahahaha. but do let me know if you like the way I review stuff, I might start writing more after this.

Anyways, thank you so much for reading this through, I need to go back to my responsibilities as a student. 

Take care, everyone!