Kazuya Kinoshita is now a fairy tale protagonist — at least, he is in the dream he has in Ciao Nekotomi‘s opening animation for Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 4, which debuted with the show’s second episode and has also been officially released on YouTube.
The fun and energetic opening sees Kazuya going on a quest to find Chizuru, with Ruka, Sumi, and Mini accompanying him and providing aid. Grandma Nagomi shows up briefly to give Kazuya a magical makeover, while Mami causes problems for Kazuya’s party with a dragon.
The opening theme song is ClariS‘ “Umitsuki.”
Nekotomi’s previous opening storyboard artist and unit director stints were on Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian and Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie. Her most recognizable anime credit is probably her assistant director role on OSHI NO KO‘s first two seasons (sharing the credit on Season 2 with Kuniyasu Nishina), where she also handled other tasks like color scripting and storyboarding and directing some episodes.
Rent-A-Girlfriend and OSHI NO KO character designer Kanna Hirayama served as animation director for the opening and drew a dazzling illustration based on it.
Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 4 had its Japanese streaming premiere on July 1 JST, and its Japanese broadcast premiere on July 4 JST (effectively July 5 at 2:23 AM JST). Crunchyroll is streaming the show, which is set to run across a split-cour format.
The anime is based on the romantic comedy manga by Reiji Miyajima, which Kodansha USA describes as:
In today’s Japan, “rental” services can deliver an afternoon with a “friend,” a “parent,” even a fake girlfriend! After a staggering betrayal by his girlfriend, hapless freshman Kazuya gets just desperate enough to give it a try. But he quickly discovers how complicated it can be to “rent” an emotional connection, and his new “girlfriend,” who’s trying to keep her side hustle secret, will panic when she finds out her real life and Kazuya’s are intertwined in surprising ways! Family, school, and life all start to go wrong, too… It’s sweet but naïve boy meets cute but ruthless girl in this 21st-century manga rom-com!
Series staff (reprising unless stated otherwise)
• Director: Kazuomi Koga (first two seasons)
• Series composer: Mitsutaka Hirota
• Character designer: Kanna Hirayama
• Animation production: TMS Entertainment (Seasons 2 and 3 had production assistance from Studio Comet)
Cast
• Shun Horie as Kazuya Kinoshita
• Sora Amamiya as Chizuru Mizuhara
• Aoi Yuuki as Mami Nanami
• Nao Touyama as Ruka Sarashina
• Rie Takahashi as Sumi Sakurasawa
• Yu Serizawa as Mini Yaemori
Source: DMM pictures YouTube channel
