One of my favorite animes is called The Quintessential Quintuplets(japanese version: Gotoubun no Hanayome, or Seven Equal Brides). I liked it so much I watched it twice and read the manga, something I've only done for one other anime, Spy x Family. So I decided to write a review of it.
Warning: This review will contain full spoilers of the plot, including the ending.
The basic plot of The Quintessential Quintuplets centers around Fuutarou Uesugi, a poor high school student trying to help provide for his family. He ends up getting hired to tutor five identical quintuplets by their rich father, but they don't want him there. The basic story structure from here involves Fuutarou getting the quintuplets to warm up to him, as well as improving their grades.
To start out with, the show is a super fun, sweet, funny, romance anime, and the atmosphere and music are fantastic. I love the characters(with one notable exception I will mention later), and overall it's just plain fun and makes me happy.
That said, it does have some flaws. Let's talk about them.
First, it's too short. Now I don't just mean I want more of it, although that is also true, but it felt like everything was moving too fast. They say that when you're writing something, whether that be a book, movie, tv show, or whatever, every scene should further the plot. Well, Quintessential Quintuplets does this, and the end result is that it makes it feel rushed and too short. Something that furthers the plot happens in every episode, and it makes everything move faster than feels realistic as well as faster than is enjoyable. Of all things, this is one show that could actually use some filler episodes, as it would give us more time to get to know the characters, enjoy the world, and just enjoy the show as a whole.
The manga has the same problem, although there are a few scenes in the manga that weren't in the anime(which I heard will be fixed, more on that later) which both gave more context and more characterization.
The second flaw is the fanservice. For most of the show, there's little to no fanservice, but there's a couple sections where there's a massive amount: Specifically, the hot springs scene when they're on the way to the camping trip, and pretty much the whole scrambled eggs arc in season two. So if you don't like fanservice, maybe skip this one, it gets pretty heavy at points.
Those are the main issues with the story, so now lets go over the characters!
Fuutarou: The protagonist. Is obsessed with studying, to the point of ignoring pretty much everything else in life that isn't mandatory. Actually inspired me to study more!
Ichika: The oldest quintuplet. Friendly and a bit flirty. Ends up being a bit problematic later on.
Nino: The second oldest quintuplet and my least favorite. Classic tsundere, with a little extra helping of jerk thrown in.
Miku: The middle quintuplet and objectively the best one. Shy, kind, and sweet, she's a great underdog to root for and the first one to exhibit feelings for Fuutaro.
Yotsuba: High-energy and athletic(although the least intelligent of the bunch), Yotsuba is a classic genki girl. Very friendly and cheerful. Good character.
Itsuki: Youngest of the quintuplets, and the first one we meet. Doesn't get enough screen time, but still good anyway.
Raiha: Fuutarou's adorable little sister. Everyone loves her, in-universe and out.
With all the characters introduced, let's go over them in more detail, including their character arcs.
Ichika wants to be an actress, and ends up achieving that goal. there's not much to say about her except for what happens in season 2.
In season 2, Ichika pretends to be Miku and tells Fuutaro "Ichika likes you. I think you'd make a good couple." Which confuses Fuutarou as by this point he's probably figured out Miku likes him. This is dishonest, and made a lot of people end up understandably not liking Ichika, including myself. However, it was just one time and she didn't plan it out, it was more of a spur of the moment thing(for context, she was tired of people fangirling over her because of her acting career, so she dressed up as Miku to avoid them. Fuutarou ends up running into her, and she does the thing. Not great, but still not super terrible). Then she does it again. Twice. After being caught in the act.
Either she's a bit stupid or just super desperate, but either way it's not a good look for the character. This, combined with the reveal that she was a bit of a bully when they were younger, drove pretty much everyone away from Ichika. From a storytelling point of view, I don't like this behavior, as it basically removed her from the pool of characters the audience would root for, and ideally for a harem anime, all the characters should be roughly equal by the end, except for personal preference. Because of this, she's my least favorite quint behind Nino.
Speaking of Nino...
(Deep breath)
Nino is by far my least favorite character. Including Ichika. If Fuutarou had ended up with Nino, I'd have been angrier than if he ended up with Ichika. And yet, she's tied for most popular quint with Miku. To understand this, we'll need to go over her character arc.
At the beginning of the anime, Nino is by far the most antagonistic towards Fuutarou. All the quints except for Ichika and Yotsuba start out disliking him for various reasons, but Nino flat out hates him. To her, him tutoring her sisters amounts to intruding on their way of life and damaging their relationship, and she will stop at nothing to get him to give up. This includes drugging him(which I'm pretty sure is illegal even in Japan). Twice.
This unreasonable hatred for someone who's just trying to help them and do his job is the reason I don't like her. Her actions just aren't justified. Let's go over her list of crimes:
1. Intentionally sabotaging her sisters' study sessions, jeopardizing their grades just because she hates Fuutarou.
2. Literally drugging him to get him to leave.
3. Twice.
4. The first time he shows up.
5. Being a jerk to her sisters despite her claims of attacking Fuutarou because she cares for them.
6. Acting entitled to Fuutarou's affections once she decides she likes him(spoiled brat syndrome).
7. Dismissing the effort Fuutarou is putting into tutoring the quintuplets.
8. Basically gloating to Miku after Miku has just been through an embarrassing and traumatic experience.
9. Did I mention she literally drugged him?
10. Twice?
Let me elaborate.
First, she intentionally disrupts their study sessions multiple times, for no other reason than "I don't like Fuutarou". Then she drugs him, once to get him to leave, and twice because she's mad at him for(unintentionally) lying to her. She's also constantly fighting with her sisters and being a jerk to them.
After she decides she likes Fuutarou, she absolutely refuses to leave him alone, even after he's already chosen someone else. There's a scene where It's explicitly revealed to Fuutarou, that Miku likes him, which coincides with Ichika getting caught pretending to be Miku. Miku is understandably upset, and runs away to cry. Nino then berates Ichika, saying that she(Nino) would want to be happy for whoever Fuutarou chooses and acting holier-than-thou. Immediately afterwards, she basically gloats to Miku(who is currently very upset) saying, basically, "Well hey, this is good news for me because you're basically out of the competition now. Later, loser."
That moment made me hate her more than Ichika.
Much later on, after Fuutarou chooses Yotsuba, Nino flat out says she'll steal him from her if she gets the chance.
"I'd be happy for whoever he chose because I care about my sisters," eh?
Before this, when they're deciding on what groups they're going to be in on the school trip, she demands to be put in a group alone with Fuutarou, saying he should be grateful he gets to spend time with her. Real charming there, Nino.
The only redeeming moment she has is basically lying to their dad so he won't fire Fuutarou, which, while being nice, feels like it came out of the blue, as she's shown nothing but hatred for him up to this point.
I genuinely don't understand why everyone loves Nino. She just changes from being a jerk that hates Fuutarou to a jerk that likes him. Even Ichika felt bad after pretending to be Miku, and even supported her before she realized she also liked Fuutarou. Plus, Ichika is pleasant and friendly outside of the whole lying bit, while Nino is just plain mean all the time.
If you're interested, the reason she realizes she likes Fuutarou is because she developed a crush on him after mistaking him for someone else, and then, once she realized it was Fuutarou, she decided she didn't hate him anymore. It would be a good character arc if she wasn't so unpleasant.
But I've complained about Nino enough for now. Let's get to my favorite character: Miku
Miku is best girl. She's shy, kind, sweet, and just plain a good character. She's one of the first ones to accept Fuutarou, and the first one to develop feelings for him. Ichika and Yotsuba even encourage her in this before they realize they like Fuutarou too.
Her character arc basically involves her increasing her self-esteem and learning to be more confident in herself. By far, she has the best character arc in the series, and she also gets the most screen time, which is probably one of the main reasons why everyone(including me) loves her so much.
There's not much else to say about her. She's just plain good. She starts out feeling like she's not good enough for Fuutarou, but eventually accepts her feelings for him. She also goes from being terrible at cooking to good at it, even running a bakery in the end. Although that's more of a secondary arc, it's actually pretty symbolic of her arc in general, and works well.
From a narrative point of view, it makes the most sense for Miku to end up with Fuutarou, as she gets the most screen time, is the first one to fall for him, has the best and most in-depth character arc, and is practially the main character. If I remember correctly, the manga author said she kind of got away from him while he was writing, and boy, does it show.
To summarize, let's just say there's a reason so many people love her.
Next up is Yotsuba. She's the one Fuutarou ends up choosing at the end, and it's also eventually revealed that she was the one he met when they were kids.
Side note, I really don't like how the author pulled the whole "childhood friend" card. It felt like a cheap way of pushing Yotsuba forward without giving her enough characterization.
Yotsuba and Itsuki get the least screen time of any the quints, which kinda sucks given that she's the one he ends up choosing. We barely get to know anything about her until right before he chooses her, making it feel forced, like the author realized "Oh crap, I need to give her some characterization!"
Like I said, this show could have used a good few filler episodes to show more of the characters' inner thoughts and feelings and let us get to know them better. Yotsuba in particular suffers from this.
Fuutarou's reasoning for choosing her is that she liked him from the start and was always there for him, which sort of makes sense, but it feels like flimsy reasoning when she barely got any screen time and the time she did get felt forced and shoehorned in.
Overall she's my third favorite after Itsuki.
Speaking of which, Itsuki. She gets a fair amount of screen time at the beginning, even being the first quint Fuutarou meets, but then basically disappears for a while. Next to Miku, I think she's the best one to put Fuutarou with, as they had quite a few moments together, such as going to the arcade with Raiha, Itsuki staying over at his house during her fight with Nino, and, uh... That's kind of it. The fact that she's still my second favorite despite having almost no screen time just goes to show how much Miku overshadowed the rest of the characters. Still, I think her personality fits Fuutarou's well, but unfortunately she seems to be the one that's least interested in him. It's like the author forgot about her until the end and then realized "Wait, I forgot to make her like him".
Fun fact: Each of the quintuplets is named based on the order they were born in.
Ichika was born first, and ichi means one in japanese.
Nino was born second, and ni means two in japanese.
Miku was born third, and mikka means the third day of the month in japanese.
Yotsuba was born fourth, and yottsu means four things in japanese.
Itsuki was born fifth, and itsuka means the fifth day of the month in japanese.
So their mom had quintuplets and literally named them "one two three four five". Pretty funny!
So my ranking of the quintuplets goes as follows:
1. Miku(duh)
2. Itsuki
3. Yotsuba(would be Ichika if it weren't for the whole lying thing)
4. Ichika
5. Nino
To summarize, the show is a great romance/harem anime that just plain makes me happy, although it has too much fanservice, a couple unlikeable characters, it's too short and rushed, and the ending left much to be desired.
There were quite a few scenes that were in the manga but not the anime, but I hear they're making a few new episodes based off of those, which I'm looking forward to.
It also does the classic romance/comedy anime thing of being lighthearted and fun at first, and then becoming heart-wrenching and emotional at the end. I don't know why so many animes do this. They're good, but my heart can only take so much.
Overall I'd rate it an 8/10, very good, but still plenty of room for improvement.
