The Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 release date is officially confirmed for July 1 2022, the Summer 2022 anime season.
Kanojo Okarishimasu Season 2 will have Kazuya Kinoshita and Chizuru “Mizuhara” Ichinose struggling to decide their feelings for one another.
On February 28, 2021, the premiere year was announced at the “Event to Kanojo -EveKano-” special stage event featuring the Japanese voice cast. On March 20, 2022, the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime sequel showed off a new preview trailer for Sumi as a well as a “date” key visual.
On May 14, 2022, the official website revealed the exact Kanojo Okarishimasu Season 2 release date. Additionally, they released a new character PV trailer for Chizuru:
On May 21, 2022, another Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 trailer was released. This time, the character PV featured a date with Ruka:
Similar to Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! (the Uzaki-chan Season 2 anime is confirmed), the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime series overcame negative reviews from vocal people who simply consider the anime unwatchable since they feel the main character is unlikeable as a person.
However, if those reviews are disregarded, the anime seems to be scoring fairly well on Crunchyroll and Reddit.
The Rent-A-Girlfriend anime is being produced by a collaboration between Studio Comet and Studio TMS Entertainment, which is also working on Dr. STONE Season 3 and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Season 2.
The studio is best known for its Lupin III and Detective Conan anime. Their subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film, produced the Tower of God anime, Rick and Morty vs. Genocider, and Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro. Tower of God Season 2 is reportedly in production and Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Season 2 is confirmed.
Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 will feature a returning main staff.
Director Kazuomi Koga is returning to helm the animation project. Before Rent-A-Girlfriend, the director had directed Rainy Cocoa and worked as an episode director on Akame ga Kill!, Goblin Slayer, The Devil is a Part-Timer!, and Steins;Gate 0. (The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 release date is confirmed for 2022.)
Returning artist Kanna Hirayama is the character designer and animation director. Returning writer Mitsutaka Hirota (Animegataris, Hunter X Hunter, Persona 4, X-Men) is handling series composition. Returning composer Hyadain (Baka & Test, Hunter X Hunter, One Punch Man, Punch Line) is creating the music.
A quick Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 trailer was a special teaser video featuring the main four Japanese voice actresses.
The Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 OP theme song music “Himitsu Koigokoro” will be performed by CHiCO with HoneyWorks, while the ED “Ienai feat.asmi” will be performed by MIMiNARI.
For the first season, the Rent-A-Girlfriend opening (OP) theme song music is “Centimeter” by the peggies, while the ending (ED) is “Kokuhaku Bungee Jump” by halca.
The first season premiered on July 11, 2020. The finale, Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 12, was streaming online on Crunchyroll on September 25, 2020.
- Updated June 13, 2022: Added Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 OP/ED info.
- Updated May 14, 202: Exact Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 release date confirmed by character PV trailer.
- Updated March 22, 2022: Added new Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 trailer preview and key visual.
- Updated January 14, 2022: Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 release date confirmed for Summer 2022
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Updated February 28, 2021: Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 release year confirmed!
This article provides everything that is known about Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 (Kanojo Okarishimasu Season 2) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve into what is certain.
Kanojo Okarishimasu Season 2 release date in Summer 2022
As previously noted, the Kanojo Okarishimasu Season 2 release date is on July 1, 2022. In Japan, the official website states the second season will start airing at 1:25 AM on “Super Animeism”, a nationwide network of 28 MBS and TBS stations.
TMS Entertainment is fairly well known for doing multiple seasons for anime series they produce. For their 2021 production schedule, the only project announced so far is Dr. STONE: Stone Wars.
They’re also working on Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, and a Shenmue anime adaptation, but the premiere time frames haven’t been announced. (Hopefully, they’ll squeeze in the Tower of God Season 2 anime into their production schedule.)
Since Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 was confirmed right after Episode 12 was streaming, the 2022 time frame announcement was planned for a Rent-A-Girlfriend event. Volume 1 of the Rent-A-Girlfriend Blu-Ray/DVD box set (which comes out October 28, 2020) included tickets.
Considering the quick turnaround on the 2nd season announcement, not surprising the anime studio has already been scheduled in advance for producing the series for July 1, 2022. The time frame is not a surprise since studio schedules are booked out years in advance.
Crunchyroll’s Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 English dub release date predictions
Crunchyroll’s Rent-A-Girlfriend English dub was released on August 28, 2020, with new episodes airing every Friday.
The Rent-a-Girlfriend dub cast includes Kazuya Kinoshita being voiced by Aleks Le, whose previous credits include Dorohedoro and Demon Slayer (see our story on Demon Slayer Season 2).
Chizuru Ichinose is voiced by Lizzie Freeman, whose previous credits include JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and In/Spectre.
Mami Nanami is voiced by Laura Stahl, whose previous credits include The Promised Neverland (see our story on The Promised Neverland Season 2 anime).
Crunchyroll’s Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 English dub release date was on July 15, 2022.
Rent-A-Girlfriend manga compared to the Kanojo Okarishimasu anime
The story for the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime TV show is based on the Kanojo Okarishimasu manga series by Reiji Miyajima. Serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine since July 2017, the manga has over 200 chapters, and it’s up to Volume 25 as of February 17, 2022.
A manga spin-off series called Rent-A-Really-Shy-Girfriend (Kanojo Hitomishirimasu) launched in June 2020. Also written by Miyajima, the spin-off focuses on the Rent-A-Girlfriend character Sumi Sakurasawa although Mami does make appearances.
Kodansha Comics USA is publishing the official English translation of the manga series. Volume 12 was published on April 12, 2022, while Volume 13 is scheduled for June 14, 2022, and Volume 14 for August 16, 2022.
When rom-com manga series are adapted for a TV series, the scriptwriters will often greatly rearrange story arcs, skip chapters, and condense content for time. A perfect example is the Kaguya-Sama! Love Is War anime (see our story on Kaguya-sama Season 3), which shifted chapters around with ease since most of the story arcs are self-contained.
By contrast, the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime is a more straight-adaptation of the manga series largely due to necessity. There is a definite story progression between most of the chapters, so making any changes has major ramifications due to all the connecting plot points.
That’s not to say the anime didn’t make changes. For example, Episode 1 switched some of the events of the first two chapters around by having the hospital scene take place before the college scene. Sometimes the dialogue is condensed, and they skipped some minor scenes like the beach pocky kissing game of Chapter 11.
The pacing of the first episode was relatively slow in comparison to the manga to allow certain scenes to have an emotional impact. But starting with Episode 2, the pacing picked up significantly. Episode 11 also reordered some events.
Here’s a guide to how the anime adapted the manga chapters:
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 1: Chapters 1-2
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 2: Chapters 2-5
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 3: Chapters 6-10
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 4: Chapters 11-14
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 5: Chapters 14-18
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 6: Chapters 19-22
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 7: Chapters 23-28
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 8: Chapters 28-31
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 9: Chapters 32-37
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 10: Chapters 37-41
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 11: Chapters 20, 41-45, 54
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 12: Chapters 46-50
Note: This story was originally published before Rent-A-Girlfriend Episode 12 was streaming on Crunchyroll and it was updated with new analysis over time.
Based on the pacing of the anime, it’s been easy to make predictions about how the anime’s first season will play out. The second Rent-A-Girlfriend Ruka Sarashina was introduced in Episode 6. The third Rent-A-Girlfriend Sumi Sakurasawa debuts in the manga in Chapter 41. As predicted, Sumi was introduced in Episode 10, which isn’t surprising since Sumi is featured in the key visuals and opening video.
As predicted, the finale, Kanojo Okarishimasu Episode 12, finished with a cliffhanger ending based on Chapter 49 of Volume 6. It’s the best stopping point since it has Kazuya finally declaring that he wants Chizuru as a real girlfriend.
Of course, the anime’s after-credits scene is based on the start of manga Chapter 50, which had Kazuya pulling an immediate reversal by offering up a lame excuse for what he really intended to say. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be much room for Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2.
Speaking of a second season, the manga currently offers more than enough source material for Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 to be made. Arguably, the manga is already long enough for Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 3.
The only bad news is that English-only manga readers wishing to read ahead of the anime series will have to wait until summer 2021 before the English Volume 7 releases.
Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
Note: Spoilers for the Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 anime assume the second season will pick up the story with Chapter 50.
Some anime fans may want to know whether Kazuya completely stops being a hateworthy cringelord in Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2. Unfortunately, the answer is mostly no, since the creator has Kazuya stuck in an endless cycle where he progresses toward maturity and manliness only to regress by the next story arc into a self-loathing sadsack.
There are insightful moments of self-reflection where readers learn to empathize with his plight, but Kazuya’s trashy behavior will continue since he’s a flawed yet genuinely good person. Kazuya just can’t believe a “perfect girl” like Mizuhara would ever fall in love with a “loser” like him, so he keeps pushing down his true feelings despite being devoted to her.
Mizuhara is stuck in a similar cycle, believing that Kazuya could never really fall in love with a rental girlfriend like her. Mizuhara also doesn’t want to acknowledge her blossoming feelings toward him. Still, even when Mizuhara does come to the self-realization that she loves him, she’s too stubborn to admit it openly.
But misunderstandings, ad-hoc contrivances, and characters refusing to acknowledge their feelings are all part of this type of manga story, which relies on back-and-forth character development to keep readers hanging on until the ending.
Speaking of which, Mizuhara has revealed that she started the rental girlfriend job at the Diamond app simply as an alternative training method for her planned acting career. With Mizuhara planning on retiring from her rental girlfriend job, Kazuya decides that the best he can do is offer moral support for her at the theater.
Mizuhara played the role of a comical Shinobi who throws doughnut shurikens and has a death scene. She was like a completely different person, and her antics on stage had the audience rolling with laughter.
While Mizuhara was the talk of the show despite not having the leading role, she didn’t manage to get the attention of the famous director since the actual lead actress Umi was related to a big-name sponsor. This setback meant Mizuhara plans on continuing her rental girlfriend, which made Kazuya feel like a louse since he’s secretly relieved.
But when Mizuhara claims that she’s “not good enough” and “lacks talent,” Kazuya can’t contain himself. Kazuya points out all the hard work she’s done so far is hardly the sign of loser, and she’s been perfect the entire time acting as a girlfriend. He declares that he’ll continue to rent her services so she can afford to chase her dream of becoming an actress.
While his actions moved Mizuhara’s heart a little, it’s sincere touching moments like this that made Sumi and Ruka fall in love with Kazuya, as well. And Ruka only reluctantly lets Kazuya continue to rent Mizuhara’s services.
Mizuhara even lets Kazuya accompany her as a “friendly neighbor” during her off-job hours to a batting cage. When she hits a home run toward a target, she goes for a high five (Kazuya thinks he’ll never wash his hand again).
Mizuhara also reveals that her parents are gone, and she grew up with her grandparents. She made a promise with her grandpa that she’d become a real actress, so the reason she’s so motivated is that she wants grandma to see her on the big screen before she passes away. With Mizuhara being so open and honest, Kazuya can’t help but speak about his own family and then ask to stand by her side as she pursues her future.
But Kazuya still doesn’t have a real relationship, and his family and friends are developing suspicions. Mami directly reveals to him that she knows about the rental girlfriend, but he refuses to answer honestly.
Kazuya is also not honest with Ruka even though she keeps forcing her vision of an idealistic relationship onto Kazuya even as he keeps trying to let her down gently. She cooks dinner for him, and when a huge typhoon abruptly starts pouring rain, she has the perfect excuse to want to spend the night at his apartment.
As you might imagine, the situation got intense fairly quickly, but Kazuya only just managed to stop things going too far. The problem is, Mizuhara overhears what happened, assumes something did happen thanks to Ruka loudly proclaiming to the world a lie, and begins to distance herself emotionally.
When Kazuya realizes that Mizuhara’s birthday is coming up, he decides to use the opportunity to clear the air with her. He also gets help from Sumi on finding the perfect birthday gift for Mizuhara. Thankfully, Mizuhara finally believes him.
Ruka is shocked that her plan backfired and doubly annoyed that it seems to have pushed Mizuahra and Kazuya closer together. And when Ruka accidentally meets Mami, she realizes she’s only in third place for Kazuya’s heart and declares war on the ex on the spot.
Feeling that she needs to up her game further, Ruka begins to hatch a plot that will make Kazuya’s life difficult. Worse, Mami’s suspicions have been confirmed, and now she’s also on the hunt!
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!