When you’re a single guy, it’s easy to feel pressure from family and friends to settle down. But what if there was an easier way to please them? Some men turn to new sugar daddy apps that allows them to rent girlfriends or boyfriends. 

The Chinese service is called Hire Me Plz, and it has exploded in popularity over the Lunar New Year holiday. The site’s founder, Cao Tiantian, created it to help out adults who live alone in big cities, but it has become increasingly popular with bachelors during holidays. Users can rent a woman for anything from dinner to watching TV or playing games. The cost can range from 1 yuan (0.16 USD) to 1,999 yuan ($315 USD) per hour. 

According to the website, a man can also hire a woman to cook or clean. There are even options for men to rent a wife or daughter for up to three days. The woman can go to the man’s apartment, work with him or his children, or meet him in public places. The site says it has received over 200,000 orders since it launched in February, with clients requesting fake girlfriends for various reasons, including wanting to avoid family pressure or being gay and afraid to admit it. 

There are also other reasons to rent a woman, including wanting to experience romance without any emotional attachments. Clients often introduce their “significant other” to their parents and then lie about breaking up later on. Those who rent women are usually middle-aged or older, and they pay an average of 10,000 yuan per month for the service. 

In Japan, a similar phenomenon has taken hold. A Japanese manga titled Rent-A Girlfriend, or “Rento-kun e sukuma yori” in Japanese, is about a hapless college freshman named Kazuya Kinoshita who decides to rent a girlfriend from an online dating app sugarbook Malaysia after getting dumped. He finds a beautiful girl named Chizuru Mizuhara and hires her for an afternoon, but it soon becomes complicated when their lives start to intersect in surprising ways. 

Although the manga has been translated into English, it is not available in North America, but fans can watch an anime version that was released last year. The anime follows the same story as the manga, with Kazuya attempting to keep his relationship with Chizuru secret from his grandmother and running into trouble when she is cast in a theatre play with an influential director. 

Whether you’re looking for a romantic comedy or just a good time, there are plenty of anime to choose from. From the classics like Dragon Ball Z to rom-coms and psychological thrillers, there’s something for everyone. If you’re a fan of Rent-A Girlfriend, check out these other recommended anime titles.