The 6th episode of the Rent-a-Girlfriend TV anime aired last night in Japan – and streamed on Crunchyroll around the same time –, marking the first appearance of the third heroine of the series, Ruka Sarashina. This caused the series to trend on Twitter in Japan, rising to the top 10 trends in Japan for the hashtag for the anime, and Ruka herself coming in at 23rd.
#彼女お借りします (Rent-a-Girlfriend) is trending in Japan as the newest episode airs and Ruka appears! pic.twitter.com/6w80cCN3IK
— Dazza (@DoctorDazza) August 14, 2020
#彼女お借りします
トレンド6位！！そして#瑠夏ちゃん
までトレンド入り！！ありがとうございます！！???? pic.twitter.com/cy9OygThyP
— 宮島礼吏 Reiji Miyajima (@Miyajimareiji) August 14, 2020
The manga creator of Rent-a-Girlfriend, Reiji Miyajima, along with the character designer and animation director on the TV anime, Kanna Hirayama, celebrated the first appearance of Ruka by illustrating some drawings of her. Miyajima even offered his to a retweet campaign!
本日もやります！
よろしくお願いします！！#彼女お借りします pic.twitter.com/ZlzSYPc46l— 宮島礼吏 Reiji Miyajima (@Miyajimareiji) August 14, 2020
もうすぐ！！！#かのかり#彼女お借りします pic.twitter.com/1HkSU1bHhI
— kappe(ひらやま) (@kaaaaaappe) August 14, 2020
Kanna Hirayama released Ruka’s dance animation key animation from the opening theme, showing off Ruka’s cute style.
瑠夏ちゃんトレンド記念にOPダンスカットの修正をどうぞ????#彼女お借りします#かのかり総作監集 pic.twitter.com/SnXHkshoVT
— kappe(ひらやま) (@kaaaaaappe) August 14, 2020
Rent-a-Girlfriend airs every Friday in Japan and appears on Crunchyroll not long afterward.
Sources: Reiji Miyajima on Twitter, Kanna Hirayama on Twitter
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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.