The Summer anime season is fast approaching, and with it comes the fourth season of Reiji Miyajima’s Rent-A-Girlfriend. In the meantime, Kodansha continue to release the original manga at a regular pace and with the end of the Resort Arc in sight, it’s time to return to the source material once again.

Volume 25 puts us amid Kazuya’s family trip to the waterpark resort once again. Kazuya is prepared to make a heartfelt confession to Mizuhara in a bid to win her affections once and for all, but our heroine is being pressured by Mami, who is threatening to reveal everything to Kazuya’s grandmother.

It turns into a race against time for Mizuhara, who has to not only prevent Mami from spilling the beans but also justify getting her to keep it all a secret. So far, Mami has been putting on a fake nice girl persona and assuring Mizuhara that she only wants to help her escape from Kazuya. But under the surface, things aren’t so simple, and Mami’s real intentions are far more self-centred.

Ruka, meanwhile, is increasingly concerned that if Kazuya and Mizuhara spend too much alone time together, she’ll lose her boyfriend for good. Kazuya is upset about being ignored by Mizuhara (who rushed off to confront Mami just as our protagonist prepared himself for his grand confession), so Ruka is the furthest thing from his mind…

Perhaps the most important thing these two volumes do is shed some light on Mami’s past. We learn that she’s from a high-profile family with the heavy expectations that come from that. She’s never had a lot of freedom and certainly wasn’t allowed to do anything her parents didn’t approve of. Plain and simple, from what we see, she’s been in an abusive situation. And this doesn’t excuse her actions now, but it does explain why she’s so hellbent on ensuring Mizuhara and Kazuya don’t get an easy ride while lying to their loved ones.

Mami has always been my least favourite character in the series, but I was happy to see Miyajima’s attempt to justify her behaviour. Even just seeing her childhood and struggles growing up helps a lot. It humanises her and makes her less of a villain or antagonist and more just another human being who has become a product of her environment. I don’t think I’ll be changing my mind on her anytime soon, but this does at least mean she’s not as one-note as I previously thought.

The Resort Arc does extend into Volume 27, but only by 2-3 chapters. The majority of it is wrapped up in #26. And it’s in this volume that Mami’s scheming comes to a head as she ‘accidentally’ drops her phone in front of Kazuya’s friends and family, revealing that Mizuhara is a rental girlfriend.

Now our protagonist has to think fast if he wants to salvage the situation, but could this be the perfect opportunity to come clean about the whole situation? But then people begin badmouthing Mizuhara, which understandably angers our protagonist to the point where he wants to defend her and take all the blame upon himself, no matter what he has to do or say to make that happen.

We readers have known for a long time that Kazuya’s lies would all come crumbling down eventually, and this arc being such a long one seemed like it would be the perfect opportunity. So, this twist isn’t particularly surprising, but it is very entertaining to watch the entire cast stumble around under the pressure and figure out a path forward. I’ve said several times in the past that Rent-A-Girlfriend is a soap opera at heart, and it’s in storylines like this where that shines through. Plus, with the big secrets revealed, it means the story can move on and play with some different subjects moving forward.

What it boils down to is the fact that Miyajima is a good writer when he applies himself. The individual character stories and related development for the cast generated from those have always been a strong suit. He does tend to go over the top in situations like this with dramatic twists after dramatic twists, but ultimately, that plays into the persona that the series has created for itself.

You never know what to expect, and that’s what compels readers to continue turning the page. But there’s a much more heartfelt and genuine story underneath that, which is also what keeps readers like me coming back for more. Kazuyma often presents as an awful human being, but that’s not all there is to his character, and so I still find myself wanting to cheer for him and Mizuhara.

As mentioned, Rent-A-Girlfriend Volumes 25 & 26 come to the West thanks to Kodansha and continue to be translated by Kevin Gifford with lettering by Paige Pumphrey. Both of these books read well, just like the previous releases. While there are no colour pages, there are extras in the form of short bonus chapters at the end of the volume.

Kodansha have been releasing Rent-A-Girlfriend reasonably quickly and has already put out volumes 27 through 31 in English. The next release is #32 in August. Japan, meanwhile, are at Volume 40 already, so while we are gaining ground, it certainly isn’t slowing down there either!

Overall, these two volumes prove entertaining as they both offer some much-needed development for Mami’s character and move the story along effectively. A lot is changing in Kazuya’s world, but one thing remains the same – he will always find himself in the most ridiculous of situations.

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