Rent-A-Girlfriend Volumes 23 and 24 Review

With a fourth season of anime now scheduled for 2025, Rent-A-Girlfriend continues to prove as popular as ever. In the meantime, the original manga continues to come out at a steady pace from Kodansha. With that in mind, let’s take a look at volumes 23 and 24!

Volume 23 picks up where we left off in #22 with Kazuya, Mizuhara, Ruka and Mami on a waterpark resort trip with Kazuya’s family. Our protagonist has had enough of lying to himself and everyone around him so vows to confess his feelings to Mizuhara and turn their rental girlfriend relationship into something real. But that’s easier said than done when Mami is threatening to reveal all their secrets and Ruka refuses to give Kazuya a moment alone with Mizuhara!

Our heroine meanwhile is just as stressed out about Mami potentially revealing the truth of her relationship with Kazuya as a rental girlfriend. So far, Mami has sworn to Mizuhara that she has no intention of simply blowing everything up and only wants to protect her from Kazuya. But is that really the truth? Mami has figured out that Mizuhara has romantic feelings for Kazuya and fully intends to use that against her – the question is to what end?

When Kazuya approaches Mami about what she intends to do, Mami lies and promises Kazuya that she just wants him to be happy. She feels hurt that Kazuya never told her that he continued seeing Mizuhara and our protagonist wholeheartedly apologises for lying, but it’s clear to us readers that she’s trying to steer him away from noticing her true intentions.

Things go from bad to worse when Mami approaches Ruka, looking to get her involved in the scheme. After all, if Mami can get Mizuhara out of the picture then doesn’t that mean Ruka could claim Kazuya for herself as she desperately dreams of?

This leads us neatly into Volume 24 where the situation continues to escalate. Mizuhara and Kazuya are jumping at shadows whenever Mami’s around the family, fearful that she’s about to blurt out their secret. And even when that isn’t an active concern, Mami continues to pile on the pressure by telling Mizuhara she’s too invested and going too far for a simple rental relationship.

Meanwhile, Kazuya’s mother and grandmother continue to talk about how grateful they are for their son ending up with such a wonderful woman like Mizuhara, intensifying the guilt the pair feel for lying all this time. Will they make it through this turbulent trip together without someone getting hurt or their secret being revealed?

It seems we’re going to be in the Resort Trip arc for a while yet, given they’re still there at the end of Volume 24 with no real resolution in sight (and despite two and a half volumes having passed, they’ve only been staying at the resort for two days). As always with this series, the longer arcs tend to be a turning point for the story and that certainly seems to be the case here with so much at stake and all of the main cast involved.

Mami has been scheming away in the background for a while now, so it’s no surprise that she’s taking centre stage here and manipulating everything and everyone. I’ve never been the biggest fan of her character, so I’m hoping this arc is her final moment in the spotlight. Surely there is no good ending for her after all this, certainly, Kazuya and Mizuhara won’t be able to forgive and forget if she does reveal the truth. Still, this arc does capture the soap opera levels of drama the series is known for and despite my dislike of Mami, I still find it entertaining to read. You never quite know what twist is in store next!

As mentioned, Rent-A-Girlfriend Volumes 23 and 24 come to the West thanks to Kodansha where they continue to be translated by Kevin Gifford with lettering by Paige Pumphrey. Both releases read well with no issues. Not a lot on offer here in terms of extras, there’s no colour pages but there is the usual two-page bonus chapter at the end.

Volumes 25 and 26 are already available in print and digitally with #27 being the next up for an English release in late October. Slowly but surely, we’re catching up to Japan who are up to Volume 37 at the time of writing.

Overall, these two instalments of Rent-A-Girlfriend carry on the long arc we’re settling into. There’s plenty at stake and a whole heap of problems for Kazuya and Mizuhara. given all the characters involved, but that makes it all the more entertaining for us readers. Whatever your feelings on the series, it certainly knows how to hold your attention for better or worse.

Our review copies from Kodansha were supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.