Rent A Girlfriend is a "gum" gone for too long, and fans know it too

As fans must be well aware, Rent A Girlfriend has often been perceived as the laughing stock of the animanga community. Therefore, although the series is quite popular, it is not new to criticism. However, this criticism recently grew tenfold after the series released its chapter 380.

Rent A Girlfriend, written and illustrated by Reiji Miyajima, is a Japanese manga serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine since July 2017. Ever since, the manga's chapters have been collected into 40 compiled volumes.

While this would have been a great achievement for any other series, Rent A Girlfriend's slow-burning, subpar romance plot has made fans sick of the story, comparing it to an overly chewed gum. Surprisingly, even the Japanese fans share the same sentiments.

Disclaimer: This article may contain spoilers from the Rent A Girlfriend manga.

Rent A Girlfriend should have concluded Kazuya and Chizuru's plot with chapter 380

Chizuru Ichinose as seen in the anime (Image via TMS Entertainment)

While there is no written rule stating that a romance manga cannot be serialized for a long time, by the time most series reach anywhere close to their 40th volume, the main couple end up together. However, that is not the case for Rent A Girlfriend, as the manga creator Reiji Miyajima seemingly wishes to push the story further.

The manga's latest story arc saw Kazuya Kinoshita go on his long-anticipated date with Chizuru Ichinose. With that, while fans were tired of the series, they believed that the couple was finally going to end up together. Unfortunately, to everyone's surprise, Rent A Girlfriend chapter 380 saw Chizuru reject Kazuya.

Kazuya and Chizuru as seen in the manga (Image via Kodansha)

While this development indeed dampened fans' expectations, they realized that the manga's story was like an overly chewed gum. While chewing a gum was often interesting, it tends to get boring after a while due to the loss of taste. Fans believed that Rent A Girlfriend was just like that, as the manga creator was holding onto the story for too long, making fans lose interest in the series.

Surprisingly, even Japanese fans had similar opinions about the series, as one fan elaborated their feelings online. As it was obvious that Chizuru was going to end up as the "winning girl," the fan believed that all the detours in the story were pointless and wished that the manga would end already.

Ruka Sarashina as seen in the anime (Image via TMS Entertainment)

Considering how long it had been since the manga began its serialization, at this point, the fan even hoped that the series would give them a twisted ending where Kazuya does not end up with Chizuru, but one of the other heroines in the story. Otherwise, another option would be for Kazuya to end up with no one, as all characters go their separate ways.

While the fan suggested this, they were certain that the manga creator would never be able to pull off something that poetic. Hence, all they could do was to wait until the manga creator reached his ideal ending for Kazuya and Chizuru. The good thing is that they felt prepared for such a tiresome story ever since the Hawaiian arc ended.

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About the author

Gokul has been an anime writer in Pop Culture division at Sportskeeda since 2022. His love for watching anime and his interest in the ever-growing anime industry inspire Gokul to produce insightful content about the genre on a daily basis. He holds a Master's degree in Communication & Journalism, and has worked for close to 3.5 years in the field.

Gokul likes to thoroughly research about the anime he is writing about and only credits a source after verifying its credibility. He loves the popular Shonen anime, Black Clover, for its memorable characters and their development throughout the story.

When not racking his brain behind his next anime story, Gokul likes to play video games, read manga, and play football.

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Edited by Gokul Chettiyar