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Permission to be selfish ("The Girlfriend and the Birthday II," Rent-A-Girlfriend chs. 262-271)

“The Girlfriend and the Birthday II” is a story of Chizuru’s self-imposed expectations for returning Kazuya’s feeling—both admitting them and letting go of them, at least a little bit. Chizuru approaches her relationship with Kazuya with a fundamental misconception: that she must sacrifice more, and be better, in order to prove to herself she loves him enough to stand beside him. Though that mindset is quite similar to Kazuya’s sense of inadequacy, it is the opposite of what Kazuya wants from her: to feel included in her life, to be someone she wouldn’t choose to be without. Through Mini and Sumi’s guidance, Chizuru comes to understand that she can and should accept Kazuya’s generosity to reciprocate his affection—that she can and should be a little more selfish, and that doing so doesn’t make her unworthy of love. Chizuru puts aside her reticence to accept affection. (271) Chizuru has always felt unworthy of Kazuya’s love Chizuru has a long history of talking and...
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No longer lonely... and now with even more to lose (Rent-A-Girlfriend's cohabitation arc, chs. 256-261)

One of the things I think useful about looking back an entire sequence of chapters now, instead of the weekly breakdowns, is the ability to put things in perspective. We sat through 6 chapters of Rent-A-Girlfriend doing its best slice of life comedy impression, and now we’re back in soap opera mode, raising the opportunity for a higher-stakes clash now that we see what Kazuya and Chizuru have to lose. Chizuru can now smile about this situation, with no regrets. (261) Accepting Kazuya closer to her heart We saw back in ch. 250 how Chizuru felt alone and disconnected , having had to move away from Kazuya and into the empty house her grandma left behind. That sense of isolation led her to contemplate reaching out to Kazuya, to go out past her bedtime to see him when given the slightest reason, and to accept the opportunity host him at her home—at least for the next month. Chizuru has emerged from the first few days of their new arrangement all the brighter for it. S...
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All about Kazuya's emotional dishonesty - On "The Girlfriend and the Move" (Rent-A-Girlfriend Chs. 249-255)

Greetings, friends. The Lungfish Diaries has been on a bit of haitus due to vacations and various other things, but I’m happy to be back to talk about Rent-A-Giflriend ’s latest concluded arc. What may surprise people in this arc is just how much of an obstacle Kazuya’s emotional dishonesty with Chizuru is. It’s well established how dishonest Chizuru is—including some prime examples this arc—but Kazuya’s reluctance to be open and honest about his feelings is part of what keeps them from moving forward, and it’s his one moment of true honestly—given while too passed out to be aware of his words—that convinces Chizuru to move forward. Let’s take a look. To some, Chizuru acting like Kazuya might not take her up on her offer may come as strange, but indeed, from Chizuru’s perspective, it may seem a real possibility. (255) Kazuya has long kept his fullest, truest feelings under wraps Kazuya has held back from Chizuru for a long time. He famously denied being in love w...
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Fleeting glimpses of something real (Rent-A-Girlfriend ch. 248)

Chizuru Ichinose is one big, fat chicken, but the biggest chicken of them all is Reiji Miyajima because once again we get a glimpse of Chizuru’s true feelings only for the audience to enjoy while Chizuru’s actual affection for Kazuya remains hidden partly behind a wall. In this chapter, there are two moments that exemplify this. Chizuru laughs at Kazuya adopting her feelings on marriage. Backing down when the opportunity is there For Chizuru to back down when she had the change to push their relationship forward past a point of no return is no surprise. This is precisely what she did back in the Date (?) arc when she asked if he had feelings for her (174) . Given the opportunity to retreat back to safety, she did just that and attempted to reestablish a line between them and her position as the supportive rental girlfriend. Of course, Kazuya had already been pushed past that point; after all, Chizuru had no reason to withdraw the question unless she was invested i...
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Carrying on with a shoulder to lean on (Rent-A-Girlfriend Ch. 247)

I won’t say too much about the obvious tease this week, with Chizuru asking Kazuya to wait while he’s still on top of her. Much has been said by other astute observers already about the evolution of her reaction here, from the first time in chapter 2, to the second time in chapter 59, where she got cut off after asking him gently to move. Miyajima loves his repetition and parallels, and I’ve said that a lot already, too, so there’s not much more to observe with that. Instead, I want to focus on this look. Chizuru says, “Oh?” That look is the dagger! This game’s over! Kazuya, my man, this is the look that tells you you’re in. Chizuru has been coy with Kazuya only a handful of times: When going to meet the director, she momentarily teases him about needing to pay like a rental (117) She slips back into girlfriend mode to get a reaction out of him on the cheer-up date (158) She touches a soda can to his neck, catching him off guard after the premiere (167) But...
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Does Chizuru even love Kazuya for who he is? (Rent-A-Girlfriend Ch. 246)

This past week on Rent-A-Girlfriend , Chizuru brought Kazuya to her childhood home, and much of how Kazuya acted reminded her once again of her departed grandfather, Katsuhito. Kazuya’s supportive attitude and optimism (at least when it comes to anything outside himself) are traits he shares with Katsuhito, and the association between Katsuhito and Kazuya has been explicit ever since Katsuhito’s introductory arc. Moreover, it was heavily implied, retroactively at least, that Chizuru took a liking to Kazuya and cut him a lot of slack in part because his attitude toward his family is relatable to her. In other words, Chizuru felt comfortable with Kazuya (to an extent) from the start because he reminded her of Katsuhito. Seeing Kazuya spare no effort, just like Katsuhito once did, Chizuru can’t help but remember… Given how strongly Kazuya has paralleled Katsuhito, it’s valid to ask, then, whether Chizuru really loves anything about Kazuya at all outside of that feel...
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These friendships have something lacking (Rent-A-Girlfriend Ch. 245)

This week, we get a long overdue interlude with Kazuya confronting the fallout with Kibe after Paradise and the now-revealed secret of Chizuru’s true identity among their friends. This is a great opportunity to look back at Kazuya and Chizuru’s attitudes toward their friendships and how both sets of relationships have something lacking. Let’s take a look. Kibe saying he’ll gut Kazuya is supposed to be a sweet moment. Mmkay. Kazuya and validation The big thing to remember about Kazuya is that his friends and family constantly doubt him. Recall that when Kuri and Kibe saw Kazuya with Chizuru, they immediately assumed she was trying to sell him something (or trying to get him involved in a cult). Played for laughs as this was, it is a constant theme in Kazuya’s relationships, as his family couldn’t believe Chizuru could be his girlfriend, either, and his father once assumed Kazuya could only be giving Chizuru money because he must’ve borrowed some from her before. In...
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