5 Reasons Why Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 5 is the Perfect Spring 2026 Anime to Hate-Watch

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The following article contains spoilers for Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 5.

Rent-A-Girlfriend is a unique anime that’s surprisingly popular. It’s gained a large fanbase, even attracting many viewers who watch it mostly for the fun of criticizing it. Among other well-regarded anime like Witch Hat Atelier and One Piece, Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 5, which debuted in April 2026, is a popular choice for ‘hate-watching’.

This anime has a weak storyline, but the animation is incredibly well-done, which frustrates some viewers who feel a poorly written series doesn’t deserve such high production quality. But sometimes it’s best to just accept things. Here’s why Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 5 will deliver exactly what viewers want if they’re looking for something to enjoyably complain about.

5. The Main Character Sucks

Okay, let’s just say it: Kazuya Kinoshita is… not a great protagonist. Seriously, he might be one of the worst! I mean, needing to rent a girlfriend because you can’t talk to girls? That’s rough. But what’s even more frustrating is he never seems to learn or grow! He just keeps throwing money at these rental services because he’s too insecure to actually try and fix things. Honestly, watching him spiral is… strangely entertaining. His internal monologues are hilarious because he’s so pathetic! It gets incredibly frustrating at times, I admit, but once you get past that, it’s one of those shows that’s so bad, it’s actually good. I’ve even heard some fans were so annoyed they wanted the series to end!

4. Nothing Ever Happens

I’ve noticed something odd about this series. No matter how much happens – new seasons, story arcs, chapters – it always feels like we’re back at the beginning. Characters don’t really grow, and just when you think something significant is about to happen, they end up right where they started. Simple plot points drag on for ages. I mean, it can take dozens of chapters just to see a character attempt – and fail – at a confession, and then the whole thing starts over. It’s actually kind of impressive, in a strange way, how consistently the story manages to go nowhere for so long.

3. The Animation Is Surprisingly Good

It’s really strange to me how a manga like Rent-a-Girlfriend can receive such high-quality animation when so many truly great manga get disappointing anime adaptations. I’ve noticed it a lot – if you compare almost any episode of Rent-a-Girlfriend to anime like The Promised Neverland or even the second season of One-Punch Man, you can see a huge difference. Those other shows had amazing source material, but their animation just didn’t quite live up to it.

TMS Entertainment then focused its talent on animating a disappointing harem comedy with an unlikeable protagonist. The high-quality animation clashes with the weak storyline, which is distracting at first. However, if you stop comparing it to other shows that could have been made, it actually becomes quite enjoyable. It’s a bit absurd to invest in strong narratives when a show like Rent-a-Girlfriend exists.

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2. It’s Comically Embarrassing

Kazuya isn’t a very good protagonist, and he frequently creates embarrassing and uncomfortable scenarios for himself and his girlfriend, Chizuru. A particularly awkward moment happens when he imagines Chizuru with Umi while overcome with jealousy – this scene was animated in Season 5, Episode 2.

He’s obsessed with Chizuru, constantly overreacting to everything she does. To maintain the pretense of a real relationship – deceiving both their families – they’ve had some unbelievably awkward kissing scenes. It’s so cringeworthy that it’s almost funny, making it strangely enjoyable to watch.

1. You Might End Up Liking It

What’s most striking about this anime is its honesty. Rent-a-Girlfriend doesn’t try to be something it’s not – it’s not aiming for intense action or deep philosophical themes. It simply delivers on its core premise: a story about a guy who hires a girlfriend to maintain a fabricated relationship, and all the complications that come with it.

Honestly, I started watching this show purely for the laughs – it’s wonderfully ridiculous! But something unexpected happened: I actually started enjoying it. Kazuya is… well, he’s a mess, but you end up kind of loving him because of it. It’s strangely comforting that he never really changes! There’s a real charm in how straightforward it is – it’s just a funny, slightly messed-up story about a guy who has to pay for dates, and it doesn’t try to be anything more than that.

Rent-A-Girlfriend is available to stream on Crunchyroll, if anyone wants to hate-watch it.

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2026-05-09 14:37