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  "description": "\"Infnitezenith\" published an interesting review of the fourth season of the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime in a post titled Terrible Anime Challenge: Kanojo, Okarishimasu Season Four and Contemplating A House of Card’s Structural Viability. I mostly agree with the analysis for reasons I discussed in my narrower analysis of what the fourth season told us about the series' treatment of hair color. Infinitezenith's review was obviously more in-depth and his take that the show should be understood as […]",
  "path": "/naferrell/on-ruka-in-rent-a-girlfriend-03-04-26/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-04T18:41:07.000Z",
  "site": "https://social.emucafe.org",
  "tags": [
    "anime",
    "anime2025",
    "rentAGirlfriendAnime",
    "Terrible Anime Challenge: Kanojo, Okarishimasu Season Four and Contemplating A House of Card’s Structural Viability",
    "what the fourth season told us about the series’ treatment of hair color",
    "Nice Boat"
  ],
  "textContent": "“Infnitezenith” published an interesting review of the fourth season of the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime in a post titled Terrible Anime Challenge: Kanojo, Okarishimasu Season Four and Contemplating A House of Card’s Structural Viability. I mostly agree with the analysis for reasons I discussed in my narrower analysis of what the fourth season told us about the series’ treatment of hair color. Infinitezenith’s review was obviously more in-depth and his take that the show should be understood as something of a thought experiment is sound. I was inspired to write this short “reply” or “addendum” post by one passage about Ruka, who is characterized by her manic and obviously doomed pursuit of the main view-point character, Kazuya. I wrote of Ruka in my hair color piece:\n\n> Another one-time rental girlfriend, Ruka Sarashina, who is one of the most genuinely obnoxious 2D people I have had the misfortune of watching in nearly two decades of enjoying anime, makes Mami appear well-adjusted by comparison with her obsessive interest in Kazuya, and I am not ready to rule out the possibility that she will _Nice Boat_ this whole saga before it is all said and done.\n>\n> N.A. Ferrell\n\n(I hope someone out there appreciates my use of “Nice Boat” as a verb.)\n\nInfinitezenith wrote about Ruka, Kazuya, and the two other young women who play leading roles in the fourth season:\n\n> One must therefore be willing to accept that Kazuya, Chizuru, Ruka and Mami are not role models or people to aspire to be like, and instead, view their stories as cautionary tales. Once this perspective is taken, _Kanojo, Okarishimasu_ becomes considerably more enjoyable because rather than rooting for the characters or hoping for improvement, one can kick back and view things as one might a simulation gone wrong.\n>\n> Infinitezenith\n\nThis is a strong take. I will add my two cents on Ruka specifically, however. While I would not call the whole Kazuya-Chizuru relationship _realistic_ , the show does give a colorable account of Chizuru’s evolving feelings for the hapless Kazuya. Conversely, no such credible account is given for Ruka’s obsession with Kazuya. This is not to say that the show did not offer  _some basis_ for why Ruka falls for Kazuya, but all I will say is that it involved a heart rate monitor and is not at all credible, leaving me with the distinct impression that Ruka exists to irritate the audience and stagnate the plot. As I opined in my analysis, I do not think it is impossible for a thought-experiment with Rent-A-Girlfriend’s premise to be compelling, but Ruka is one of many reasons, big and small, why the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime is a slog.\n\n(Aside: Infinitezenith suggests in his review that Mami’s motivations, which are often inexplicable to me as an anime-only viewer, are described in more detail in the source material. While I will never read the source material, I am interested in seeing whether the eventual fifth season of the anime gives us a full and credible account of why she is interested in her ex-boyfriend’s quasi-relationship with a rental girlfriend when she had no apparent interest in him when she was dating him.)",
  "title": "Re; On Ruka in Rent-A-Girlfriend"
}