Quintessential Quintuplets [Manga]

My summary of why people hated the ending is as such: unless you are already a huge shipper of the bride and Fuutarou, the story not only fails to illustrate why she's the right choice but even seems to argue that she isn't.

I've only read up to the beginning of the arc immediately following the end of season one of the anime. So to around volume 5. I don't mind who the winner is, she's in my Top 3 of the Quints, I just hate that I was spoiled.

I had no particular favoritism at the time, just a general feeling that three of the five would make for a satisfying ending and another could be made so with minimal work. The winner was the fifth. My distaste for the ending isn't about shipping so much as narrative consistency.

Speaking as someone who followed the series up to the end (I admittedly got in via the 1st season of the anime), the reason why the ending was such as letdown seems to depend on who you are. If you are a fan of the bride, then you may like it just for that alone but there are some who believe that it could've been done better (Not enough show, too much tell), but if you're a fan of other characters, you may not like it and the lackluster way it was done can be/has been used as a convenient excuse.

Myself, while I do like the bride, I have to admit that it was disappointing as not only did it feel tacked on (Almost as if the author was determined to push this pairing by hook or by crook), but the reason why the bride was chosen seems faulty as, thanks to Fridge Logic, another girl seem to fit that description more.

This video does a decent job explaining why the ending was so much of a letdown.

Edited by LLSmoothJ on May 19th 2022 at 10:18:06 AM

That's my general take, yeah. She needed more development (and more relationship development), but instead she mostly got the general relationship development - serving in some ways as the sibling with the least specific connection to Futaro.

...It does make me unfortunately wonder if she was chosen because, as the least specifically developed relationship, she allows for a "sisters as a whole" win rather than someone with more developed goals and a stronger willingness to be selfish.

Edited by RedSavant on May 19th 2022 at 8:44:11 AM

From what was mentioned in certain character books, Negi wanted to avert certain tropes (one of them being a Pet-Peeve Trope) so that might've been a factor on why the bride was chosen to be the bride.

I will repeat what I said before, the chosen bride makes sense if you are looking at the choice from Fuutarou's point of view in the story, which is not exactly the same as the audience's since there's a lot of "show don't tell" missing that makes the choice satisfying and the fact that there's not enough Character Development without entering into spoilers makes the final reveal not that fun.

Edited by raziel365 on May 19th 2022 at 9:13:58 AM

Well, the movie is officially out in JPN and people are already reporting on it.

The bride is not changed (No shit), but they do add in additional scenes to better justify Fuutarou's choice in the end. Chapters 91-95 have been Adapted Out.

Edited by LLSmoothJ on May 19th 2022 at 1:36:45 PM

My take on the bride is this; if the author had actually developed the relationship more, it defeats the purpose of the mystery. But by having it be a mystery, it means the author had to backload all of the relationship development.

So, I kind of think Negi shot himself in the foot by trying so hard to be different that the story falls apart.

Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on May 20th 2022 at 7:57:21 AM

......That sounds so twisted that it's actually quite ingenious, really.

My take is that you could also have proper Character Development and chemistry with the chosen bride, the thing is that for said Character Development to matter we would also have to take some distance from the past since a resonance would give away the mystery too soon. Like, say, Fuutarou having a different personality than his kid self (energetic kid, laidback teen perhaps) and yet the bride falls even more in love with him after getting to know him more.

This is a spoiler for a technically unrelated work, Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister, but since it's done by a former assistant to Haruba and wears that influence on its sleeve, I think it's acceptable.

In Amagami, the protagonist, Uryuu, does have an encounter with a girl his age who's quiet, subdued, and cautious (and drawing clear inspiration from Futaro's meeting with Rei). It's not made clear who it is until later, when it's shown that she's ditzy, carefree and slightly irresponsible older sister Yae. So it's sort of an inversion of your suggestion.

Edit: Speak of the devil, it actually appears it might be a sneaky-wink sequel or same-universe series.

Edited by RedSavant on May 20th 2022 at 10:32:19 AM

I've been enjoying that series a lot too. Started off pretty generic but when the supernatural elements started to gain prominence it really came into its own.

Yeah. At first I was like, wait, is this just Quintuplets with fewer sisters? But the supernatural elements are a great touch and provide a nice element of driving force.

New animation project announced, seemingly to cover chapters that haven't been adapted yet.

On the one hand, some of the chapters that were left out were pretty entertaining or had major character beats, like Itsuki's Belated Love Epiphany. On the other hand, they're largely standalone chapters that were scattered throughout the series. The article also doesn't say if the project is going to be a series, movie, OVA (are those still a thing?) or a series of shorts.

They can go Haruhi or Hori Miya route and just re-air the old series with new episodes added. But who knows.

BTW, I got tired waiting for decent subs for the movie so I watched it as it is. And I think it was good. I know, people are still salty that Yotsuba won.

I was "team Miku" myself, probably. But really, I was fine with any ending besides Itsuki or harem/no ending so I liked it.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Apr 3rd 2023 at 12:58:08 PM

As far as the ending goes, Miku was the girl I most wanted to be the bride, but I feel like all of the quints had good chemistry with Futaro, so I don't think it was bad for Futaro to choose Yotsuba. Her character arc did end up feeling kind of weak, so while I wouldn't call the ending bad, I wasn't wholly satisfied with it.