Chizuru Ichinose is the main heroine of Reiji Miyajima's manga and anime series Rental Girlfriend, also known as Kanokari for short. She is a university student who works at the Diamond rental girlfriend agency under the alias name Chizuru Mizuhara, and is a top-rated rental girlfriend due to her extremely attractive appearance, kind personality, and dedication to her work. To avoid revealing her secret in university, she wears long braids and glasses. It is later revealed that her ambition is to become a famous actress; her job as a rental girlfriend has enabled her to hone her acting skills while simultaneously providing the money she needs to study on an acting workshop.
Chizuru serves as the primary love interest of main protagonist Kazuya Kinoshita, who initially rented her after he was dumped by his ex-girlfriend. However, a series of events and coincidences, including them discovering that they're next-door neighbours, has led Kazuya to keep renting Chizuru in order to maintain the appearance of him having a girlfriend to his family. This fake relationship slowly becomes real as both parties realise their feelings for each other. But like a typical rom-com, whether they end up confessing their love to each other won't be easy and will take a very long time, as their personality flaws and the presence of other rival heroines will provide major challenges towards achieving this endgame.
Debuting in the Summer 2020 anime season, Chizuru was the only girl from that year to win both seasonals in r/anime and ISML as a result of Kanokari's popularity borne from the manga's highly appealing art style and waifu fans. She will be eligible for Best Girl 9.
Icons
ISML record[]
| ISML Profile Flavor Text | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (written by Momento10)
"Ichinose Chizuru is so sweet and caring. She really knows her stuff. No wonder she's the most highly sought out rental girlfriend in the business. She is very professional about her work as a girlfriend and it shows. Why can't actual girls be modelled after her? She's perfect!" - ★★★★★ "Ichinose Chizuru is the kind of girl you wish you can spend your entire lives with. It's hard to find anyone as sincere and comforting as her. She analyzes my body language and words carefully and reacts accordingly to provide the best result possible. She helped talked me through my concerns and give me a new lease in life. I am forever in debt to her." - ★★★★★ "Don't be fooled by all these 5-star ratings! Ichinose Chizuru is actually stubborn, arrogant, and hates to admit defeat. There are times she would lash out if things don't go her way or gets angry when she questions what was wrong with her service. Worse, she knows nothing about fish, the only creatures who would never look down on you or say nasty things about you behind your back. If you guys knew who the real Ichinose Chizuru is, you'd give her a bad rating, too." - ☆☆☆☆☆ "Okay, maybe I was a bit harsh. Mizuhara Chizuru is clearly working as a girlfriend for a good reason. She wants to show her grandmother that she is able to live on her own and hopefully be able to pay off all her medical bills. Behind both the studios and callous side of her is a girl questioning whether or not she can keep living her life like this behind her grandmother's back. Maybe she's more fragile than I thought. Maybe there is more to her that meets the eye if people actually took the time to learn about her personal life. Maybe she wants to live a life she can be proud of and call her own. It may not be now, but I wish her all the best, and I will continue to support her from the sidelines, even if she may not want my help." - ? ? ? ? ? | |||||||||||||||||||
Seasonal & Exhibition[]
- Elim. Round (Approval, max 16): 5001 (1st)
(16) Tohru Honda 5237 - 2155 (Eme 1)- (8) Michiru Hyoudou 3283 - 1508 (Eme 2)
- (4) Echidna (Re:Zero) 3702 - 2642 (Eme 3)
- (2) Komachi Hikigaya 3140 - 2993 (Eme 4)
ISML 2020 Couples / Ships - seed 5 (w/ 
Kazuya Kinoshita)
- (28) Himura x Yuuko (Ef) 3604 - 2290 (Ruby Gem)
- (21) Haruki x Sakura (Pancreas) 3480 - 2535 (Dia 2)
- (13) Heiji x Kazuha (Conan) 3251 - 4127 (Dia 4)
Main Tournament[]
- Overall record: 9W - 11L
| ISML 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Directly qualified (2020 summer diadem) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Preliminary R1 (Approval): 1653 votes (7th / 41st) Preliminary R2 (Limited to 3 max.): 1577 votes (2nd / 10th) Rank: 18th (ARP: 15.0) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Stage | Rd | Opponent | Score | W-L? | |||||||||||||||
| Split 1 Group G 1st (4W 1L) |
Aqua 1 |  Kazari Uiharu
|
1608 - 1420 | W | |||||||||||||||
| Aqua 2 |  Tamako Kitashirakawa
|
1792 - 1474 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 3 |  Shinobu Kochou
|
2541 - 2026 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 4 |  Takagi
|
2283 - 2091 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 5 |  Asuna
|
1569 - 2638 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Split 2 Group B 10th (5W 10L) 3-way tie for 10th-12th SCVPD: -2.201 |
Tpz 1 |  Misaki Shokuhou
|
1285 - 1763 | L | |||||||||||||||
| Tpz 2 |  Kaede Azusagawa
|
1123 - 1059 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 3 |  Mikoto Misaka
|
750 - 1451 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 4 |  Suzune Horikita
|
1398 - 1274 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 5 |  Origami Tobiichi
|
1366 - 1300 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Amet 1 |  Schwi Dola
|
1137 - 1315 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Amet 2 |  Shiro
|
907 - 1154 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Amet 3 |  Rikka Takanashi
|
1140 - 1581 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Amet 4 |  Taiga Aisaka
|
1567 - 1677 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Amet 5 |  Rio Futaba
|
2100 - 1619 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 1 |  Sora Kasugano
|
1425 - 1315 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 2 |  Shouko Nishimiya
|
1755 - 1846 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 3 |  Mashiro Shiina
|
1164 - 2025 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 4 |  Kurisu Makise
|
1631 - 1819 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 5 | Takagi (x2)
|
1766 - 1815 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Wildcards (Approval, Max 8): 2438 votes (18th / 20th, Out) | |||||||||||||||||||
| ...... | |||||||||||||||||||
| CONSOLATION ROUNDS | |||||||||||||||||||
| Split 3 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ruby 4 | 4 players (Range, Split 2 WC 9-12) | 652 (3rd) | N/A | ||||||||||||||||
| Final position: 43rd | |||||||||||||||||||
Poster Gallery[]
r/anime Record[]
Seasonal & Majors[]
Seasonal Salt: Summer 2020 - seed 2 (Winner!)
- (63) Watashi (Love and Producer) 526 - 55
- (34) Rakko Yumiya 524 - 113
- (18) Dolly (Raildex) 537 - 164
- (7) Minerva (Re:Zero) 424 - 201
- (3) Satella (Re:Zero) 426 - 257
- (1) Echidna (Re:Zero) 728 - 579
Best Girl of 2020 - seed 6
- (27) Kotoko Iwanaga 669 - 343
- (11) Minerva (Re:Zero) 552 - 350
- (3) Miko Iino 727 - 758
Honours[]
Contest Wins (4)
- ISML 2020 Summer Diadem (Seasonal)
- Seasonal Salt 2020 - Best Girl of Summer
- FB @No Anime No Life Waifu Tournament Pt.1 (2020) [1]
- Miss Sexy Anime 2021 - La Finalissima [2]
Non-contest honours[]
In the anime popularity charting website Anime Trending, Chizuru won the "Girl of the Year" title in the 7th edition of the annual AT Awards (contested between 2020 anime), placing 1st in overall votes. Elaina was the runner-up.
External links[]
Beware of spoilers and pop-ups.
- Kanokari Wikia
- MyAnimeList
- Baike Baidu (Chinese)
- Moegirl (Chinese)
- NamuWiki (Korean)
| ISML Seasonal Diadem Winners | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 |  Ririchiyo •  Kuroyukihime • Asuna • Rikka
| |||
| 2013 |  Black Rabbit •  Kurumi •  Kirigiri •  Mirai
| |||
| 2014 |  Chitoge • Shiro •  Chiyo •  Isuzu
| |||
| 2015 |  Megumi K. •  Isla •  Nao •  MitsukiND, SEQ
| |||
| 2016 |  Megumin •  Rem •  Aoba •  Chitose
| |||
| 2017 |  Kanna •  Chtholly • Suzune •  Nayuta
| |||
| 2018 |  Violet •  UrarakaND, SEQ •  Platelet •  Mai-san
| |||
| 2019 |  Kaguya •  Fumino •  Gray •  Ishtar
| |||
| 2020 |  Kotoko •  Kei S.SEQ •  Chizuru •  Elaina
| |||
| 2021 | Female |  MikuND, SEQ •  IinoND, SEQ •  Keke DC •  RanND, SEQ
| ||
| Male |  TanjiroSEQ, DC •  NatsumeSEQ •  Kimihiko •  Lugh
| |||
| 2022 | ||||
| ND - NOT a DEBUTANT; appeared in a seasonal contest beforehand SEQ - Appeared in a SEQUEL installment DC - Won inter-seasonal playoffs (Divine Circlet / Crown) DCX - Won inter-seasonal playoffs but not a seasonal (listed last) | ||||
| r/anime's Seasonal Salt Winners | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bold Underlined names indicate Best Girl of (the Year) winner. Girls who won best girl of the year but not its seasonal are listed separately. | ||||
| 2017 | (Summer & Fall only):  Yuki M. •  Moriko
| |||
| 2018 |  Zero Two •  Anzu •  Chisa • Mai-san
| |||
| 2019 | Kaguya •  Bocchi • Shinobu K •  Ristarte
| |||
| 2020 |  Maple • Iino • Chizuru •  Nobara •  Tsukasa
| |||
| 2021 |  Hori •  Vivy •  Saki Saki •  Miko Y •  Lena
| |||
| 2022 |  Marin •  Yor • Summer • Fall
| |||
| 2023 | ||||