Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 - What We Know So Far

The 2020 summer anime season had some big hits, but among one of the most surprising standouts was the romantic comedy show "Rent-a-Girlfriend," based on the Weekly Shonen Magazine Manga from author Reiji Miyajima. Though the manga itself was a major success, especially in China (the Abema Times reported that in August last year, "Rent-a-Girlfriend" had taken the top spot as the number one manga, with 700,000 digital sales) the anime has soared to new heights. Miyajima himself even tweeted that the series had taken the fourth spot in Netflix Japan's highest ranked programs.

"Rent-a-Girlfriend" centers on 20-year-old Kazuya Kinoshita, who — after being dumped by his girlfriend, Mami Nanami — decides to use a dating app that lets him rent a girlfriend. He rents the attractive Chizuru Mizuhara but gives her a low rating after reflecting on the experience being inauthentic. However, the situation takes a turn when Kazuya introduces Chizuru to his hospitalized grandmother, who takes a liking to the girl. Kazuya and Chizuru also discover that they're neighbors.

As Season 1 drew to a close, fans wondered if there would be a Season 2. At one point, even the show's producer, Taiki Kakizaki tweeted for fans to pre-order the Blu-ray to drive up enough interest for a second season. 

Fortunately, "Rent-a-Girlfriend" Season 2 is confirmed. Here's what we know so far.

It certainly didn't take long for "Rent-a-Girlfriend" Season 2 to be announced. Crunchyroll, which streams the series, stated that a second season was confirmed just as the first was finishing up in 2020. However, a release date wasn't locked in at the time. Thankfully, that window has since been narrowed down, as Crunchyroll reported that Season 2 of "Rent-a-Girlfriend" will have a July 2022 release, though the specific date is unknown.

Fans might have been initially hoping for a 2021 release, but the COVID-19 pandemic might have potentially delayed the series from releasing another season the year after Season 1. As Nikkei Asia reported, Japanese animation studios have been greatly disrupted due to the pandemic, so a 2022 release makes sense. 

Season 1 of "Rent-a-Girlfriend" premiered in Japan in July, and then in the U.S. in late August, so Season 2 may follow a similar path in 2022 with the staggered release dates based on country — or they could premiere simultaneously. 

There hasn't been an official announcement for the cast of "Rent-a-Girlfriend" Season 2. Yet, it's probably a safe bet that much of the cast from Season 1 will return. After all, to go along with the official announcement of the show's second season, there was a special short video released that featured much of the main anime voice cast. That cast, according to Anime News Network, included Sora Amamiya as Chizuru Mizuhara, Aoi Yūki as Mami Nanami, Nao Tōyama as Ruka Sarashina, Rie Takahashi as Sumi Sakurasawa, Shun Horie as Kazuya Kinoshita, and Yukari Nozawa as Kazuya's grandmother Nagomi Kinoshita.

The production team also seems to be largely the same for Season 2, with TMS Entertainment serving as the studio behind "Rent-a-Girlfriend" and Kazuomi Koga returning as the anime director. Kanna Hirayama is definitely returning as an anime character designer, as they drew the visuals for the teaser trailer, according to Crunchyroll.

An official plot synopsis of "Rent-a-Girlfriend" Season 2 hasn't been announced yet. However, the first season didn't really veer off from its manga roots, following the first six volumes rather closely. And since the manga currently has close to 190 chapters and 19 volumes, with no word on an ending yet, there is actually a lot that the new season could pull from.

The final episode of Season 1 ended with quite a few interesting events. Mami actually rented Chizuru and then confronted her about Kazuya, revealing that she knew the true nature of her and Kazuya's relationship. However, Chizuru denied this, saying that Kazuya was really her boyfriend. She then asked Mami if she ever thought of Kazuya as the true love of her life, which didn't elicit much of a response. Later, Kazuya meets with Chizuru and sort of confesses that he wants her as a girlfriend, but backtracks a bit by saying that he meant as a rental girlfriend.

Season 2 is likely to further explore these developments between Kazuya, Chizuru, and Mami. And while the first season kept teasing these characters' true feelings, the second season is likely to give more opportunities for their actual romantic feelings to really push through.