Summary
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3, Episode 12, “Ideal Girlfriend and Girlfriend,” now streaming onCrunchyroll.
With the season finale approaching,Rent-a-Girlfriendhas been shaking up the narrative lately, though it seems that the storyline itself is moving at a snail’s pace. The previous episode’s heartfelt conclusion seems to have moved things furtherbetween Kazuya and Chizuru, yet it doesn’t seem likely that it will lead to any substantial developments in their relationship anytime soon.
Kazuya finally breaks through Chizuru’s act and proves that no woman is truly an island, and this development has clearly forced her to take a liking towards Kazuya. Despite the progress, it seems that author Reiji Miyajima intends to leave Season 3 on a cliffhanger, leaving the narrative incomplete once more.
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A Breakthrough With Chizuru
After being reminded of her grandparents while lighting a sparkler, Chizuru went intoa state of emotional distress. However, she shrugged it off as nothing in front of Kazuya and kept up her resilient facade, acting as if nothing had happened at that moment. This moment made Kazuya feel absolutely worthless, especially since he planned out an entire extravagant date and even that failed to bridge the gap between the two.
When all hope seemed to be lost, Kazuya burst out with a monologue of his ideal girlfriend, and the entire description alluded to Chizuru and her current lack of vulnerability. His words struck a chord with Chizuru as she suddenly remembered her grandmother’s words. In the flashback, Sayuri told Chizuru that a hug can make a person feel less lonely and take away all their sorrow.
Just as Chizuru envisioned these words, she ran towards Kazuya and shoved her face in his chest, sobbing and releasing all her pent-up emotions. This moment was exactly what Kazuya had hoped for with the date, as Chizuru finally let down her walls and allowed him tobecome a part of her grief. Even Kazuya found himself at a lack of words as Chizuru let go of all her sentiments at once. For the first time, there seemed to be an opening for Kazuya to finally become a legitimate part of Chizuru’s life.
Return to Normalcy
The heartfelt conclusion to the rental date was something thatKazuya had dreamed of for ages, and for it to finally become a reality seemed unbelievable for him. While Kazuya failed to keep the memories of that night at bay, Chizuru seemed to have moved on rather quickly. Kazuya tried to bring up the events of that night, yet Chizuru acted as if nothing ever happened between the two, quickly jumping to a conversation about the upcoming screening of her movie.
For Kazuya, the lack of acknowledgment of that evening was nothing less than a death sentence for his dreams of dating Chizuru. Kazuya goes back to his overthinking self and calls himself a worthless loser for even considering the possibility of something happening between him and Chizuru. For a moment, he even considers the possibility that it was all an act by Chizuru to play the role of Kazuya’s ideal girlfriend.
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While things may seem normal on the surface, both sides have their own sentiments about that evening. Chizuru acknowledges that she felt much better about her grandmother’s parting after venting in front of Kazuya, though she still isn’t willing to let her sentiments grow further than that. It’s obvious that their relationship has grownpast the initial rental facade, yet neither side is willing to take the next step for an actual relationship.
A Stale Narrative
After the movie screening, Chizuru finds Kazuya outside the screening hall, and the two have a heartfelt conversation about the movie and their future plans. Chizuru explains that she wishes to keep on acting since her grandmother can still witness her performances from heaven, and eventually states that she had fun making this movie. Her bright smile fades away all of Kazuya’s sorrows as he realizes hisefforts to cheer up Chizuruwere not in vain.
With this glimmer of hope, Kazuya decides to keep on pursuing Chizuru as she allows him to move forward in life. While this may be a step in the right direction for the two, it’s rather disappointing that after anentire season ofRent-a-Girlfriend, there seems to be minimal progress in Kazuya’s relationships. Kazuya is still following Chizuru’s footsteps and the possibility of the two ending up together anytime soon seems far-fetched.
Even with the progress in Kazuya and Chizuru’s relationship, there seems to be no end in sight, meaning the narrative could go in any direction. The episode lightly touched on all the othercharacters in Kazuya’s Haremwho were left neglected in this season, with Mami finally making an appearance for the first time in Season 3. While there’s no confirmation of a Season 4 ofRent-a-Girlfriendyet, it seems that fans will have to endure another season of the series to finally reach a satisfying conclusion.
