No one can really predict how well a TV anime will help the sales of the source material, the added advertisement sure helps, and not all anime is made to promote the source material (there are other reasons for an anime to be made), but for Reiji Miyajima's romantic-comedy manga series Rent-a-Girlfriend, the airing of the TV anime – which is being streamed on Crunchyroll – has helped the manga series sell out in stores across Japan, surpassing the 5 million copies sold mark this August!

In June, just before the first episode of the Rent-a-Girlfriend TV anime was broadcast, the manga series had sold 4 million copies. Back in November 2019, it was at 2.5 million copies. In just a little over a month since the June report, Rent-a-Girlfriend has sold 5 million copies, selling on average 1 million copies a month. The manga creator, Reiji Miyajima, drew a Chizuru-themed celebratory illustration for the milestone on his Twitter account.

A representative for Kodansha, who publish Rent-a-Girlfriend in Japan, told Mantan Web that "the series is our most-read romantic comedy manga. Sales grew and grew just as the anime was about to air, then even more so after the broadcast!" Around Japan, stocks of the manga volume are limited and Kodansha apologizes for the lack of stock.

The Rent-a-Girlfriend TV anime starting broadcasting in July and is available to watch on Crunchyroll!

Source: Reiji Miyajima on Twitter, Mantan Web

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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.