Rent-A-Girlfriend Creator Admits Kazuya Is His ‘Clone,’ Fuels Self-Insert Theories

Rent-A-Girlfriend manga creator Reiji Miyajima has deepened fan controversy by explicitly stating that protagonist Kazuya Kinoshita is his “double” or “clone.”

He also labeled female lead Chizuru Mizuhara “the ideal woman.”

The remarks, made in a recent interview with Anime Corner, add fuel to long-standing accusations that the author uses his manga to live out personal fantasies.

Miyajima has faced backlash from a segment of the fandom for years over his perceived obsession with Chizuru.

He has shared posts on his official X account depicting himself going on dates with the fictional character and referring to her as his girlfriend — despite being a married man.

Critics have also accused him of using Kazuya as a self-insert character to achieve his own happy ending.

‘Clone’ and ‘Ideal Woman’ Comments

In the Anime Corner interview, Miyajima was asked which character he felt closest to in the series.

“The one closest to me is the protagonist, Kazuya. It’s almost like a double: what I think, Kazuya thinks roughly the same,” he said.

He also described Chizuru as “the ideal woman — with long black hair and so on.”

These admissions have only intensified fan theories that the author is projecting himself into the story.

Speculation of author self-insertion previously spiked after Kazuya underwent a makeover in Rent-A-Girlfriend chapter 399.

The protagonist’s new hairstyle bore a striking resemblance to Miyajima’s own look, leading readers to believe the creator was reshaping the character in his own image.

Author’s Creative Process: ‘It’s All About Me’

Some defenders have suggested that Miyajima may have based Chizuru on his wife, which could explain his apparent obsession.

However, in a 2020 interview with Kodansha, the author explicitly denied using real-life models for any of the heroines.

“No, I don’t. If I have to say, it’s all about me… For example, when I’m drawing manga, one side of myself respects following rules and thinks this is the way I should draw, and other side of myself thinks, ‘No, but I want to draw this way.’ There is an internal conflict within me,” he explained.

Miyajima elaborated that Mizuhara represents the part of him that values reality and rules, while Kazuya embodies the side that dreams and pushes creative boundaries.

“In this way, I’m trying to strengthen the part of myself that’s inside me and think about the personality aspect of my characters, so all the models are me,” he said.

This explanation has done little to quiet the debate.

Fans remain split between those who see a harmless artistic expression of internal conflict and those who believe Miyajima is blurring the line between creator and creation in an unhealthy way.

As the controversy continues, the author’s own words have now directly confirmed what many readers long suspected: that Kazuya Kinoshita is, in Miyajima’s view, essentially himself.