Series Review – Kanokari

Kanokari, short form of Kanojo Okarishimasu, is a manga written by Reiji Miyajima. The manga came out in 2017 and is still in production. The series has its own spin-off (Kanojo, Hitomishirimasu) that grants more focus on one of the main cast in the story, Sumi Sakurasawa. In 2020, the series received its own anime with two seasons following shortly after.

Kazuya Kinoshita lives a happy college life with his newly acquired girlfriend, Mami Nanami. All of a sudden, Mami dumps him out of the blue, leaving Kazuya in shock and confusion. In his depressive state, he ends up with a chance encounter with Chizuru Mizuhara, a girl working for a rental girlfriend agency. The two soon get involved with each other and hilarious antics ensue. Soon, Kazuya finds himself in the middle of the company of all kinds of other girls.

In the Christmas of 2020, Santa Bushiroad gave us the present of the Rental Girlfriend trial deck. About a month later in the new year, the booster set also came out. Kanokari’s decks are centered around “waifu” deck designs where the girls show off their own individual abilities alone. Additionally, each of the girls carry a character-specific event that compliments their late game cards.

Chizuru, the main female lead, runs into the spotlight. Chizuru’s deck is all about delayed advantage with her event in the center spawning her finisher on the left early the following turn. Chizuru is all about setting up for her next date. After performing her finishing move, Chizuru gains the ability to bounce back to hand when she’s front attacked, allowing you to save her and replay her again if need be.

Not as forward as her senpai, Chizuru, but every bit as dazzling, Sumi is all about holding the spotlight as long as possible. As an aspiring star, Sumi stalls your opponent out, reducing their damage output with her combo. Sumi’s event brings the 3/2 Sumi out from your hand onto the stage while giving it two abilities to keep her alive and performing until the end of your opponent’s turn, protection from backups and hexproof. Furthermore, many of Sumi’s cards require her to have experience in the form of her level zero brainstorm in your level zone.

Relentless in pursuit of love, Ruka will ensure that your opponent will remember her. Unlike the other girls, Ruka’s event doesn’t interact with her finisher. Instead, Ruka’s event is all about gaining early advantage and swarming board. Ruka’s event deals seventy-nine damage to your opponent and draws out two copies of her level one combo from deck to stage while granting them power and soul for the turn. Ruka’s finisher has the modular ability at the end of her attack to restand or shuffle three cards back to your opponent’s deck. Ruka’s endless assault and determined passion will beat your opponent down.

Last but not least, Mami, the girl who kick-started the entire series is not one to shy from the race. Mami’s event allows you to search your deck and add any card with Mami [麻美] in its name to your hand, and then she allows you to play her finisher from your hand onto the field while supplying her with a burst of power. Similar to Chizuru, Mami provides delayed advantage, but in Mami’s case, her value comes at the end of her attack. Her combo allows you to scheme and set-up for your following swing at the end of her attack, allowing you to perform a Moca combo after her swing to try and guarantee that your next attack will go through. Just when your opponent thinks they are safe, Mami is ready with her knife right behind them.

Who knows what will come in store for our girls and Kazuya? There are rumours that maybe a new member may be arriving on the scene. Either way, support Sumi, she’s best girl, absolutely no bias here.