The Quintessential Quintuplets

"Devoting time... Getting to know their behaviours, voices, unconscious habits, would you not say that is love?" -Quintuplets' Grandfather This has been a ride. Gotoubun no Hanayome, a.k.a The Quintessential Quintuplets, has and is an truly unique take on the harem romance genre. Does it revolutionise the harem genre? Probably not, but it sure does bring some breath of fresh air into this stacked genre. The very first chapter I've read this manga, I knew it was going to be something, and with this review, I'll tell you my thoughts as to why, I think this is a manga series that YOU, should not pass outon, albeit with a small caveat that I'll talk about in the finishing thoughts. Story / Character -9- The absolute reason why Gotoubun no Hanayome is this fantastic. Full of turns and twist, the story revolve around our male protagonist, Fuutarou tutoring the newly acquainted quintuplets, and as the story goes on, each quint starts to fall in love with Fuutarou. Unlike most harem, we have been told in the very start that the MC will choose one quint as the bride, and us readers are to figure out the identity of the bride. And the fun part of the story? Each quint is so well developed that you will find yourself scratching your head, constantly figuring out who might she be, and with the subtle hints Haruba Negi brilliantly put around the story as the icing on top of the cake. As for the characters, they're also what contributes to such a dynamic story. Fuutarou, whom seems dense, actually picks up on things considerably well, he pays attention to the smallest details even though he doesn't show them, pours his heart out to help out the quints even though it may mean that his grades will worsen. Now to the quints, Ichika, the eldest sister is your 'Ara Ara' nee-san who constantly teases Fuutarou, which often times brings us the most interactive and engaging conversations. Nino, your classic yet unique tsundere, she is bold, she is always in your face, whatever she wants she will go out her way and get it. Miku, she's shy, she's subtle, she's also one of the best. The silent killer, she doesn't do much on the outside, but she puts all her efforts in the background that makes you uncontrollably cherish her hard work. Yotsuba, your 'Genki' outgoing girl, all she wants is everyone to be happy, and that includes you too, her action throughout the manga can never fail to make you 'aww'. Itsuki, the youngest sister, but she acts as though she is the most mature, and she is! As one who looks to become a teacher in the future, she does pour in extra effort to ensure she becomes one. Art - 9.5- Haruba Negi’s art is nothing less than phenomenal, and in Gotoubun, it very much shows. Each quint is drawn distinctly beautiful with an unique accessory to help us readers identify them. All characters look clean, the flow of the panels are well drawn out and are very easy to your eyes. Nothing much to say about the art honestly, the work proves itself. Caveat I’ve given the series a 8.5/10 as a whole, and most of the points come from the start of the manga till the very end of it, which is the last arc. (Mild spoilers ahead so do beware) The choosing of the quint and basically the entire arc felt very lackluster, as compared to the previous arcs. Where the previous arcs thoroughly developed all quints equally, this arc essentially destroyed the development and foundation of each quint to give way for the winner. What does that mean in one word? Rushed. The ending was inevitably rushed, despite the fact that the last 100 chapters were so well done I would’ve rated it a perfect 10/10 score, the ending arc was a hit in the gut. Not to mention the very last chapter of the series as well, nothing in the chapter was coherent, the ideas were painfully obvious that it was all over the place. Had this series been given another volume, it could’ve gone down as IMO the best harem series of all time, but as the fact stays, this ending is nothing but disappointing. Conclusion For someone who has literally followed the series from the very beginning, it has been one hell of a ride. Every week I would look forward to the release of the new chapter and keep thinking of different theories on who would be the winner, discussing it with friends and stuff. This manga had me so invested into the series that I could feel in on a personal level, and I’m sure many will feel that way when reading this manga, and that unfortunately will also mean that many will too, be disappointed in the series when it comes to the ending. Here comes the question, do I recommend this for people looking to read a Harem/ Romance manga? By all means yes, the development of this story for the grand scheme of things has been fantastic, terrific even. I do want to emphasize that, despite the lackluster ending, the reason I still think it's worthy of a 8.5/10 is because a few bad chapters does not and should not overshadow the great work that is the majority of the manga. It has been such a great read, and I will wholeheartedly recommend this series to anyone looking for a good manga to watch.

Well, I didn't cry to this one like I have in the past. This manga had an amazing story. It put a unique twist on a "harem" story. Some arcs were pretty boring having to show every main character's prospective, but that doesn't really take away from the story. The ending though was kinda off putting. I wasn't really sure what had actually happened. I still loved this manga and feel like reading it from start to end again. Everything about this was amazing, however I found another manga with the same concept where the MC is a tutor to a group of girls. Iaccept this manga and its ending. It could have been longer and maybe a bit different. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a funny love story.

*Spoilers ahead for those who have not completed the manga and/or only watched season 1 of the anime* I wanted to believe that this manga would have been different from the rest of the generic harem trash out there on the market. I so wanted to believe that Negi Haruba would have written the manga in such a way that the ending would be acceptable to most of the fan base surrounding it. BUT NO. He had to fuck up a manga that could have gone down as one of the best harem manga on the market by rushing the ending and completely disregarding the fan'sopinions expressed through the popularity poll. Story: 2/10 At the start, Futaro was portrayed as a MC with excellent grades who needs money to feed his family and hence took up a tuition job to tutor 5 girls on their grades. Of course, those 5 girls were all rather spoiled and despondent when it came to their grades, and he was supposed to be the all-mighty savior to turn their shitty Fs into passes, which is basically the gist of the manga. As the story progresses, Futaro gets more and more involved with the girls when it comes to their personal life, and starts to form more personal relationships with each one of them, acting differently when it comes to each of the 5 girls. He had to deal with Nino being adamant about not joining in when it comes to studying (whereby she went to the extent of drugging him in order to drive him away), he had to deal with Itsuki being rather cold as well albeit not to the extent of Nino, and while to a smaller extent with Yotsuba, Ichika and Miku, he had to deal with the fact that the 3 of them were not picking up the material as quickly as he would have liked and find a way to work around it. Up till this point of time, while the MC was undoubtedly kinda plain, at least the premise was pretty good at least up till the School Festival Arc (this is where the shit-storm starts). Although you may call me biased, the way Yotsuba started to become the main focal point of the manga and how he started to begin seeing Yotsuba as a potential romantic partner is pretty bullshit and poorly written. Yotsuba, the girl which showed almost no interest in him romantically by trying to hide the fact that she was the "special girl MC met during their childhood but didn't want a head start over her sisters" suddenly gets a freaking confession outta nowhere from the MC. Seriously, she had the least screen-time other than Itsuki and undoubtedly the least amount of interaction with the MC on top of the most forgettable arcs in the entire series (seriously, she almost had nothing going for her that readers can remember other than the fact that she is popular, sporty and the dumbest out of the 5 quintuplets since she was the reason the 5 had to transfer in the first place). Fucking terrible. And to rub salt into the wound, the ending was out right garbage, leaving it as the ending that elementary teachers would scorn upon and lecture to their students that you should NEVER LEAVE THE ENDING AS AN OPEN ONE (A.K.A A FUCKING DREAM). Honestly, the only reason the story did not get a 1/10 is because the earlier development of Nino and Miku, which I still find as the most suitable choices for the MC (and the fan base did too) made me feel kinda guilty since their developments were not half-bad, thus the 2/10. Art: 7/10 Artistically speaking, this manga does shine quite a bit with the designs of the female characters, making them rather distinct and visible from other girls from other manga. For Ichika (while the most plain in terms of design), her short hair does make her easily recognisable. The other four, Miku, Nino, Itsuki and Yotsuba, have their special quirks, which are the headphones, the butterfly head attachments, the star hair attachments and the ribbon, which in all honesty are rather outstanding when it comes to the design of female students in manga. There were no points in the manga in which I found the art being lackluster or poor, and thus I do not have any complaints about the art style of the manga whatsoever, though i found Futaro's design to be super basic (which I guess is meant as a blank canvas for the reader's to portray themselves upon since he is as generic as Kirito from SAO.) Character: 1/10 Oh boy. I could go on all day about how Futaro made a shitty decision or how the author rushed the ending to make me rate the characters a 1/10, but I don't want to spend any more time reviewing this manga. For the MC, as I have stated earlier, he as plain as shit. Plainer than porridge, plainer than drinking water. Extremely generic, since he has the "I will save the damsel in distress mentality" that all basic bimbos of a MC have in harem manga like this. However, even though he is generic, there is not really any particular annoying trait of his that I hate, other than the fact that he pretty much disregards the advancements of the other 4 sisters and chooses the 1 sister that honestly had nothing going for her other than her "childhood friend trait". Sigh. Now on to listing the 5 harem girls. Ichika: She was pretty alright until the fact that she tried to back stab Miku when they went hiking. Reader's got to see the dark side of Ichika and how she was trying to manipulate her way into getting the MC to hate Miku and choose her over the other girls. At least in the end, she redeemed herself by realizing she stood almost no chance after that incident and became kind of a wing man to the other sisters. Nino: In the begining, she was a generic bitch. That's it. But later on, as the saying goes, "Tsunderes are not bitches. They are misunderstood", which holds true in this regard by suddenly becoming the strongest forerunner in the race to becoming Futaro's significant other. Her change in demeanor and development in character was what kept me reading the manga. Itsuki: Well, not much of a development here. Was never a favorite to win the race nor the worst choice when it came to the girls. However, she was the girl that helped to keep the social cohesion among the sisters and was undoubtedly the most mature of the bunch, even though even till the end she kept up her Kuudere tendencies which I found pretty unfortunate. Miku: The girl that won everybody's hearts in the anime. A very shy and timid tsundere and kuudere mix of social anxiety. Throughout the manga, her resolve in trying to get Futaro to like her back is seen to become stronger and she gains more confidence throughout the entire show, which proves that there is a meaning to her existence in the manga other than her cool appearance. Solid. Yostuba: Utter garbage. There is nothing going for her at all. A boring, stupid girl that is joyous and cheerful and yet aggravates me whenever I think of this particular sister. Acts like she does not reciprocate Futaro's feelings but in the end still ends up marrying him, much to the dismay of Nino, which took her many days to accept the fact that this sandbag of a character won his heart when she did nothing particularly outstanding thing throughout the manga. Definitely the worst of the 5 by a light-year. Overall enjoyment: 2/10 All I can say is that this manga is extremely disappointing. It left a rather bad taste in my mouth reading the ending of the manga and it goes to show the lack of aptitude of Negi Haruba when it comes to ending a manga. As good as the first 90 chapters or so the manga was, the last 30 chapters basically destroyed the foundation that made me enjoy the manga in the first place by chucking down all the development that has been done for the rest of the girls. Would I recommend it? Fuck no, unless you want to be cuckolded by a shitty ending and/or a humongous Yotsuba fan from the anime because I see no reason why this manga is currently above 8/10 on MAL. Thank you for reading this rant/review.

Just completed the manga! At first glance, hmmm what's this unusual name huh? Oh the manga cover has 5 cute girls! So it must be a harem right? It must be where the mc's luck is out of the world and gets all of the girls in his unusual charisma, right? Where it has many ecchi scenes, filled with big oppai girls, censored by the holy steam right? Well it is not your usual harem manga- [This is a Non spoiler review] This manga will surprise you, The first chapter begins with the MC marrying one of the 5 cuties, and remembers his days with the girls.This is a very bold move by the author, other harem mangas begin with the usual first girlfriend and then the second girlfriend and it goes on and on with its comedy. While the author of this manga decided that "You know what I'll make the MC so dense that He won't even realize that he's surrounded by these 5 beauties." And that's what happened, the mc did not see them as Woman/Ladies. According to him, they are just some idiots. And this characteristic of the mc made the 5 girls fall for him. The 5 girls try to improve themselves so that the mc would recognize them as Proper Ladies, but whatever they did goes unnoticed by the mc [Until a point in the plot]. And as the MC notices that the 5 girls have fallen for him, and when He finally recognized the their Love for him, the drama between the 5 girls increases until the very end! The manga is filled with smart humorous elements. The beginning of the manga is quite funny but the humor slowly decreases as the drama and the twists increases. But the humor is not non existent, just that its much less humorous towards the end. And the curiosity of "who is the bride at the end?" will make you keeping reading it. Story - 8/10 Character Development - 9/10 Art Style - 8/10 Humorous Elements - 7/10 Overall - 9/10