Quintessential Quintuplets [Manga]

I don't agree with that. And mainly because most people are judging her as a romantic partner and not as a character. Sure, as a romantic partner, she's definitely the least developed. But as a character? She's the only one who has a personal character arc across the entire series that deals with her feelings towards her Mother and what she wants to do with her life.

Because she's not treated immediately like a romantic partner, she has a much more natural relationship with Fuutarou and not bogged down by standard romcom shenanigans like the others.

Its not static at all because every major development with Fuutarou is kind of signalled with Itsuki in some way, even if it's not in the romantic sense.

tldr: Itsuki is treated like an actual person, with goals and likes separate from just being another love interest in a harem like her sisters are. Because of that, her relationship with Fuutarou is vastly different and more grounded.

That I will agree with, honestly. I do wish Miku and Nino were also given more to work with and work towards than just winning Futaro; Itsuki has her teaching dream and Ichika has her acting work, and Yotsuba can be excused for not having a concrete dream right now because she's still working on being allowed to follow her own desires at all instead of jumping to help everyone who asks.

It is kind of unfortunate that Miku and Nino both have kind of compacted into focusing on Futaro and nothing else... I like both of them and they're charming characters, but it would be nice to see them get a bit more to do.

The problem with that kind of first-girl syndrome stuff is twofold: first, having her development be mostly independent of Uesugi makes it feel like he's less important to her than she is to his sisters, and vice-versa. It's hard to root for her when it feels like she's the one who needs and wants him the least.

Second, while she's in the background literally every other girl is getting more screentime and romantic development, and having the specter of Itsuki the First Girl in the background adds an air of futility to the whole thing. We've spent more time following Miku's growing love, Nino's mellowing, Yotsuba showing her Hidden Depths, and Ichika's finding her own independent place and now going completely off the rails in what feels like a cheap way to sink her ship, and it can be incredibly frustrating to get invested in all that while still feeling like they don't have a chance for purely meta reasons.

Plus one of the main draws of the series is the mystery aspects: gradually throwing out little crumbs of hints as to who the bride is. Nobody likes a mystery that gives you an answer in the first minute.

Edited by IniuriaTalis on Feb 27th 2019 at 9:33:41 AM

Miku is by far my favorite, but she really doesn't stand out more beyond being the standard Shrinking Violet love interest. Any focus she gets is almost exclusively related to her feelings for Fuutarou and not much else. I like her archetype, but that's all she kind of is, an archetype.

Nino is kind of funny because she was a much more rounded character arguably before she developed feelings for Fuutarou. Not being romantically involved allowed for more focus on her relationship with her sisters, and she served a good source of conflict. Now that she's basically devoted entirely to winning Fuutarou's heart, she kind of lost that.

Ichika is probably the most interesting character now because of how devious and vile she's being about all of this, which is definitely not something you'd first expect from the "Onee-san" type. It doesn't necessarily make her likable, but like Nino, it serves as a great source of conflict.

There's some irony to be had though that I find the characters more interesting when the series isn't focusing on their romantic feelings, despite that being the entire point of the series being a harem. Harems always feel better to me when they're not trying to tick off a checklist and this series does that very well (and sometimes it does not)

Also of note; out of the five sisters, Itsuki is the only one that doesn't really fall into a standard harem archetype. At least the common ones. Ichika is the Cool Big Sis, Nino is the Tsundere, Miku is the Shrinking Violet, and Yotsuba the Genki Girl. The closest thing Itsuki falls into is a type B Tsundere but that fades pretty fast. Just a note.

I understand all of that, but like I said. Its better to look at this series more as a character drama than a romantic story. I know that sounds ass-backwards because it's a harem, but when I look at it that way, everything just kind of falls into place.

If this series were a more bog standard Harem, I'd agree completely with you. The characters would be two-dimensional archetypes and all we'd be doing is just shouting which one was best girl and then the series would probably never reach any kind of conclusion or if it did, it'd just be a generic one.

But this series actually goes out of it's way of looking at these characters as just a bit more than standard harem archetypes, and its all the more interesting for it. That's why I don't mind Itsuki so much, because she serves a much more vital role than simply being the first girl who wins the MC in a harem.

Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Feb 27th 2019 at 9:39:29 AM

But that's the thing, it is a harem. Romantic development is just as important as character development if the romance is supposed to be the main draw. As of now I could see Itsuki achieving her dreams before any of her sisters, and I'd think that makes perfect sense. But as for actually being the bride, I just couldn't see why.

Well then let me ask you, what do the other girls have over Itsuki? The fact that they like Fuutarou romantically? Last time I checked though, it takes two people to form a relationship. How can you say they're better suited as romantic partners if Fuutarou has not displayed any romantic feelings towards any of them?

A big thing people tend to ignore in harems is the male lead's feelings; which is understandable because a lot of the time, they're just blank self-inserts for the reader to project their own feelings on. Fuutarou however is not that. He is a fully fleshed out character with his own goals, feelings, and the like. And right now, its kind of easy to say nobody is really in the "lead" despite what appearances may tell you.

Because at the end of the day, no matter how much the other girls may love him that doesn't necessarily mean Fuutarou reciprocates.

• Miku has actual hobby and is consistent supporter of Fuutarou.
• Ichika has her Job and working morale
• Yotsuba has her Hidden Depths
• Nino has her character arc and general chemistry with everyone.

Itsuki doesn't really has much in comparison.

Edited by Tenzen12 on Feb 27th 2019 at 4:03:29 PM

He blushed and let Nino have the chance to win him over. He recognized Miku, in what was stated to be an ability that comes from love. He's spent way more time getting to know them and Ichika than Itsuki. What makes you think that he cares more for Itsuki than them?

I want to make it clear that I have nothing against Itsuki as a character. She's developed fine as a character. But for people to be attached to a relationship, then that relationship needs development too. Otherwise (assuming that people in this thread also follow the other huge romcom that got its anime this season) I'd be rooting for Kaguya and Ishigami, because they both have more development than anyone else in the manga.

Did you....not read any of the above paragraphs at all when I just went over what Itsuki has?

Yes, I'm not denying any of that. But none of that is an outright confirmation or statement of "This is the character I want to spend the rest of my life with". Fuutarou himself doesn't even know how he should feel about this because its all very new to him.

Look, I'm not saying you have to like Itsuki as a romantic partner nor am I saying your preferences are wrong. But you can't really say that he has no relationship with Itsuki whatsoever, that's blatantly false. A romantic relationship, fine. But like I said, there's more to these characters than simply their romantic feelings and I believe that's why we're having this dissonance right now.

Everyone is looking at this series through a strict lense of standard romcom tropes when I kind of feel like it requires just a bit more critical thinking than that. Its not fucking oscar writing or anything, but its kind of something that makes you question your common knowledge a bit.

I mean by all means, if you just don't want Itsuki to win because she's the first cool, I won't stop you. But I feel there's a lot of subtle development going over everyone's heads.

Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Feb 27th 2019 at 10:24:01 AM

Yes and from most part I don't think it amount a much.

Edited by Tenzen12 on Feb 27th 2019 at 4:20:06 PM

Welp, then we'll just have to agree to disagree then. Personally speaking I don't really care who is the bride in the end, even if I have my own preferences. I mostly care how the narrative strings everything together cohesively.

That being said, man an Itsuki win would piss a lot of people off lol.

I never denied that she and Fuutaro have a relationship. I just think it's crazy that you're arguing that romantic development shouldn't matter in a romance.

I never said it didn't though? All I said is that she has a relationship with him just like the other girls, even if it's not necessarily romantic. That's not saying romantic feelings don't matter, that's arguing your point that she has no relationship with him period, therefore isn't suited to be a romantic partner.

The series isn't even over yet, I kind of think its a bit premature to say anything is set in stone on who wins at this point.

Except that I never said or implied that? Ever? Can you point me to the post where you got that from?

And if "Most people are judging her as a romantic partner and not as a character. Sure, as a romantic partner, she's definitely the least developed" and then talking about how people are wrong for not liking Itsuki/Fuutaro because of that isn't saying romantic development doesn't matter, then I'm not sure what it's supposed to say.

Edited by IniuriaTalis on Feb 27th 2019 at 10:43:14 AM

I literally just said that you aren't wrong for how you feel. I know I said that. I said its shortsighted to dislike her simply because she's the first girl and nothing else. And this whole tangent began because you said that you wouldn't like an Itsuki ending because she's the first girl and her relationship with Fuutarou means less than the others.

I don't know what else you're trying to argue here because it feels pretty straightforward to me. You said your piece and I said mine, what else are you trying to say?

Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Feb 27th 2019 at 10:50:43 AM

I'm just confused about why you keep saying that I said things I never did.

I don't think I did that, and if I did I apologize.

This remind me of a manga name "A method to make the gentle world". It already ended but i quite like it end, especially since it not fall into " First Girl win" tropes and how it handle the romance.

Okay, whatever.

Anyway, the fact that the reveal has been delayed makes me wonder how it'll go when Miku finds out about Ichika's lies. It might happen that Fuutaro tells Miku, "Sorry, but despite what you said earlier I don't like Ichika." I can imagine how Ichika would deal with getting her heart broken at the same time as at least one of her sisters will inevitably be upset with her.

Edited by IniuriaTalis on Feb 27th 2019 at 11:24:40 AM

I'm still interested in seeing where this goes, but yeah, the mystery framing does kind of do Itsuki a disservice. Because First Girl Wins is so ingrained into romance media, it's hard not to read Itsuki and Futaro's interactions in that light - and it may be that in order to keep from being seen as piling onto the Itsuki train when she already has that advantage, Haruba may be holding back on giving her too much to do in the story so far. She's always involved, but rarely at the center. Compare and contrast how Yotsuba, the other non-direct-competition sister, is handled - Yotsuba's always around, usually for a bit of comic relief or being cute, but she doesn't have the same kind of focus given to her as Itsuki does, even though neither of them has had a big focus arc.

Edited by RedSavant on Feb 27th 2019 at 11:32:41 AM

I think you are kinda being dismissive there by saying anti Itsuki sentiment is JUST anti first girl sentiment.

Like, i still maintain that how Futarous speaks about other girls and interacts with them has him having much better chemistry with all of them than Itsuki, with Itsuki they act like completely platonic friends <_<

I think it would be a nice spin to turn Itsuki to a platonic friend for Futarou, like in the manga i mention above.

Edited by BattleRaizer on Mar 1st 2019 at 3:08:50 AM

I agree that Itsuki makes a great friend, but there's been basically nothing indicating any kind of budding romantic relationship with Fuutarou (other than standard romcom cliches, ie: the "first girl" thing). So it would be a little odd to go for that kind of ending. It's possible they could set it all up in the final arc, but that would just make it seem like we've been wasting time until now.

Edited by Clarste on Feb 28th 2019 at 12:40:53 PM

@Spooky: Sorry, it wasn't my intention to be dismissive. I mean that it's possible the author is holding back on romantic developments for Itsuki (barring little things like her sharing the kiss Imagine Spot with her other sisters minus Yotsuba) because he's conscious of Itsuki's First Girl status and doesn't want to tip the scale, whether that concern is warranted or not.

Edited by RedSavant on Feb 28th 2019 at 4:03:07 AM

I kind of agree that Miku and Nino became a bit less interesting when they became entirely focused on winning over Fuutarou, although Nino also became much more likeable in the process and their rivalry is fun to watch in its own way.

And regarding Itsuki… well, everything's been said already. Now as someone said, we can't forget Fuutarou's feelings in the equation. The fact Itsuki is so chill and friendly with him might make him more easily attracted, while Nino's aggressive combat tactics might turn him off.

On the non-romantic side, I kinda wish we saw more of Itsuki's supposed "motherly" side. We were told that she tried to replace their dead mom, but it isn't really obvious…