Minor Spoilers
In the world of anime, there is one genre that has a way to move the masses to create stans. Teams of sorts that will do anything in their power to fight for the one they deem best girl. Of course, I am talking about the one and only harems. In the world of False Love, sis cons, and straight-up ecchi messes, a series has come to take the title of top harem. A series about a boy who is well versed in the art of studying, stuck teaching 5 failure sisters, none other The Quintessential Quintuplets.
Getting a second season green lite that started this winter. Quintuplets have quickly become the most popular harem in recent memory, breathing life into a genre that hasn’t had a flagship since Nisekoi, a series I loved both watching and reading to its fullest. Itching for a similar fix I decided to read Quintuplets over its 122 chapters, a bit shorter than some of its counterparts but still more than enough page time to paint a picture of love and loss the genre does so well, usually.
Quintessential Quintuplets follows MC Uesugi, Fuutarou. A big-brained study hawk whose sole purpose in life is getting good test scores, or so one would think. Always carrying around a photo of a blonde-headed rebel it is hinted at that Fuutarou is a bit more complex of a character than one first may realize, except he isn’t. What this series does well is making a mascaraed of Fuutarou in general, it sets a tone that the strict tutor has a soft underside but he keeps it buried to instruct the five sisters to success. But as one would go through the chapters something becomes very clear, he is to a T one of the most boring MCs I have ever followed in a story. He doesn’t have any remarkable traits, he isn’t funny, when put into situations that even the densest of MCs would get flustered he remains straight-faced, only caring about studying.
This very early on sets the tone for the book and it isn’t a good one. The first half of the book (60 chapters) is a snooze fest that only keeps me engaged because of the girls and to be honest, they aren’t THAT interesting. Enter stage left Itsuki, Miku, Nino, Yotsuba, and Ichika Nakano. Each filling their own dere role, the sisters are incredibly stupid but at the same time not? Forcing their very wealthy father to hire Fuutarou to help them graduate. Right away, however, their distaste of being taught comes to light, doing whatever they can to avoid their new teacher all the way up to a point Nino whole ass drugs him and sends him passed out back home.
Nino is set up to be the jerk, Itsuki the one who tries too hard, Miku the cute quiet one that is a bit nerdy. Yotsuba the reliable but overall airheaded one, and finally Ichika the oldest but overall most mature one. Ichika right away stole my heart, charming and cute, willing to help Fuutarou while also shouldering a ton of responsibility running down her dream of being an actress. However, in chapter 60 the narrative changes from just a bunch of girls being taught by some guy, a confession, from one of the girls quickly throw the story into a romance gauntlet and Ichika gets to the point where she doesn’t pull any punches, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
It was around this time I jumped ship on Ichika and became a permanent Nino stan. The bitchy, bratty, rude ass sister who at every turn was causing issues, fighting everyone, and just generally creating way more problems than solving suddenly became the most honest, true, and boldest sister. She quickly shifts gears in what would turn out to be a 5-way love battle, knowing what she wants and stopping (almost) at nothing to get it.
Chapter 60-90 I actually enjoyed quite a bit. It was drama, family drama, love drama just pure heroine drama and it was fantastic. But, sadly it overstayed its welcome, becoming more of an annoyance as the sisters have their own arcs to play their feelings for Fuutarou who honestly seems like he couldn’t give two fucks. Add in some random outsiders who suddenly are sorta in the running without having any reading time and the story quickly became a series I didn’t much care for.
And don’t get me started on the ending.
Overall I didn’t like Quintessential Quintuplets, it was boring, Fuutarou is a moron and the sisters aren’t much better. Nino is fantastic and quickly went from trash girl to waifu, even with her shitty choices in the end, I still loved her. And with the blessing of Nino alone I give this series a 6/10, though at the time of writing this I feel it more deserved a 5 but whatever.
Side note a day after finishing the series I found some sauce in reddit that is about Nino, an 80-page doujinshi that I will be also writing about shortly titled Nibun no Yuudou | Half Seduction-1, a series that left me with a ton of joy and better closure than the actual series. Yes, I am saying a porno left me with a warmer wholesome feeling than the actual book did. No joke read 80 chapters of the series, then go read that and cut the losses, its a much better ending.
Anyways, thanks for the read!
Otaku Post 