The Quintessential Quintuplets - Reviews

Nothing is never perfect, but this manga comes close.  I was almost instantly hooked from chapter 1.  The story was funny and lighthearted for a majority of it, but it was also serious and dramatic at other times.  The driving factor that made me want to finish as the manga went on was "Which one does Fuutaro marry?"  Then by the end, even while reading the last chapter, I ended up just wanting him to marry them all because of the love between them.  Great manga definitely recommended to anyone looking for a good rom-com manga.  Haven't had time to watch the anime, but from what I've seen and heard it's just as good as the manga.

This manga is really good but if not for the end i would have put a better note to it. I really liked the characters, they were interesting aswell for the story and the art is great.

But as I said I have a tiny problem with the end (not a big thing but I would have put a 8 or a 9 with a better end). For me (and some other persons too) the end causes troubles for the character development because it doesnt take into account the character development of the other characters. It seemed me weird. It's blurry to explain my point of view without spoiling but it's the kind of situation where you are asking to yourself "why do they do that ? It's a nonsense they were firmly doing the exact opposite up until now but now they decided to do it without any reasons". Once again it's an opinion but i'm not the only one to share it.

Regardless of the end, this is one of the best harem that I have ever seen because all the girls were great, different and lovable. The plot were not cliche, the characters are not cliche aswell. I think it's a manga to read if you are interested in harem or in romance.

MC was (for once in harem genre) not an idiot and he doesnt give a feeling of worthless MC like in a big part of harem or romcom where you have the wortless MC, idiot, ugly and all and beside him, the beautiful girl known all around the school, smart, athletic and all. This MC was very smart, not tense (he was conscious of what was happening all around him), very kind even of he's not the best to communicate and as a teacher for the girls, he was necessary for her unlike in those romcom where MC is a worthless loser but for some reasons, the most beautiful girl is falling in love with him at first sight or anything else and she finishes to stick with him everytime.

The ending was really good and the story was great . I really liked this manga and was hooked to it until the end . I was a bit sad that it ended . But it had a satisfactory ending and it's anime adaptation is also good and I really recommend this story.

***Major Spoilers***

More of a rambling about the anime that i watched first compared to the manga that i just finish and the choice made at the end then any review.

After first watching all the series and now reading it all i can say with certainty that Miku was the best character, Nino 2nd, Ichika 3rd and Yotsuba 4th. Miku's steady growth in the show from start to finish and all the interactions with Fuutarou, developments and the love she showed towards him were the highlights of the series. How much she grew, changed and developed by the end was leagues above the rest in all aspects. Then you have all her cute facial reactions and just overall cute moments throughout the series added on top. These do seem to be toned down a bit in the manga compared to the anime, but its only in a few scene where she gets less time compared to the anime. She does however get one extra scene in the manga that i really loved and I'm so sad they left it out of the anime. Vol 5, Fuutarou is babysitting a kid with the girls and playing house. Miku is the secretary in love with Fuutarou the father and during a break in playing house she says in the spur of the moment "go out with me" after realizing even more things she loves about him. In that scene she was being so serious and beautiful, it was amazing. Obviously though its misconstrued as part of playing house and forgotten. I really am even sadder she wasn't picked in the end after how much work was put into her character during the story compared to any of the others. Well beside Nino, who is probably the only other i would have been fine with. Also so glad they switch the pilot one-shot manga design of Miku to the current one, its so much better.

With that said the story in the manga does do a better job at setting up Yotsuba as a potential pick by the end. Where as the anime it was mostly all dumped in at the end making most of the story up to it seem almost wasted or pointless. This still is mostly the case with the manga but it sort of tries to make it less jarring then the anime by adding a few more events, developments and hints to her feelings earlier in the story. Like as early as Vol 5 they have their date out on the town and go to the park with the swings where he eventuality proposes. This scene makes its appearance in the manga much sooner then the anime and It gets you thinking about the two of them as more of a possibility much earlier in the series, it ends up adding a lot to later scenes. You also get a extra scene on the date with her changing in front of him in a dressing room lol. Then they show the kiss scene at the bell almost as soon as it happens and its obvious its either Yotsuba or Itsuki so that adds to her character unlike in the anime where its never really shown. Another scene we get that's new for Yotsuba is her looking for a present for Fuutarou. You see her running around more then other girls asking classmates about what to get him for his birthday. It leads to all the classmates thinking they are dating and she almost asks him out in the end because of it, but never does. Adds even more to her character and shows her interest in Fuutarou way better then any scene in anime. Unfortunately that's really all they add and it still doesn't lessen the gap between her and Miku or Nino for me.

The manga does do a better job at making all the girls a possible choice by the end compared to the anime, well beside Itsuki who is the same really. She does get a few extra scene or nudges in the manga compared to the anime, but still not enough. Manga shows that she is still doubting her feelings even after Yotsuba is chosen or that she is just coming to grips with them, hard to tell as she is still being a tsundere at the end. Still the worst of the characters.

Series is still great and even though they do improve on Yotsuba in the manga i still can't get behind the choice. Others still show way more growth development and love in the story compared to her. She was still to forced and plain in the end, but it was better then anime. I can even sort of see why she is picked in manga compared to anime at least a little bit. They should have just illustrated it better like the others, instead of trying to make it such a surprise out of nowhere thing. The series was still more about sisterly bonds then the romance for me as the romance wasn't top tier and it was broken by the ending choice for me.

Miku #1 god i love her character.

S1 - 8/10
S2 - 9/10
Movie - 8/10
Manga - 9/10

I enjoyed large swaths of this manga and it was quite easy to binge-read. The least engaging storyline was probably when Itsuki and Nino were beefing, though there were a few other storylines that I also wasn't horribly impressed with (such as the school trip stories and the festival story, which were a mixed bag for me). My favorite sections were probably the climactic exams and the hot springs trip which occurred immediately afterwards (ch. 55-68). I also like the technique used several times where the same events or days would be re-told over multiple chapters, showing the various perspectives of the sisters. I liked the different personalities with each of the sisters and I liked how this was somewhat portrayed through the way the smiles and the eyes were drawn. The girls are drawn pretty cutely, though the boys and some of the other aspects of the artwork are a bit more mediocre.

This manga did an impressively good job of making almost all of the girls have engaging and cute romantic arcs, so much so that I found myself frequently switching who I was most rooting for to end up with Futaro in the end (with only Itsuki being someone who I never rooted for). And while these rankings were a little bit fluid throughout the series, this is basically how I would rate my excitement level for each of the girls: 1) Ichika, 2) Miku, 3) Yotsuba, 4) Nino, and 5) Itsuki. Though, most honestly, I was genuinely hoping that this manga would end with some sort of polyamorous set-up, where a few or all of the sisters would end up with Futaro instead of just a single one of them. I even deluded myself into thinking that the five-way hand-holding in chapter 32 was intended to be foreshadowing that type of ending and that this would be the ultimate plot twist that the author would spring on us. All of which is to say that I was genuinely disappointed when it turned out that this manga was going for a monogamous route.

Nino's straightforwardness is really adorable and cute and I loved the scene when Nino re-confessed to Futaro when it seemed like Futaro hadn't heard feir initial confession. Baller. Ichika's two-faced lying can be frustrating to sit through, and made me conflicted about rooting for feir character (even though I often still kinda did). The way that Yotsuba never seems to stand up for femself makes me pity fem more than anything, though it can also be kinda cute the way fe doesn't seem capable of lying and stuff. Miku is the first sister where I felt like fe developed a genuine connection with Futaro and it made me want to root for fem, though feir story arc also seemed to stagnate partway through the manga. And Itsuki...Itsuki comes across like the author didn't actually intend for fem to even be a contender for romance. Like, a few sparse plot points are thrown in here and there that involve Itsuki showing some sort of basic level of interest in Futaro, but it never actually rises to the level of being engaging or cute like how the stories of the others did.

Some of the ways that Futaro comes across as manly or whatever can feel corny and repetitive. Fe'll save people from stuff falling on top of them or from them falling and hurting themselves, which will also lead to fem getting within their personal space.