5-toubun no Hanayome ∬

(TLDR at the bottom, and as always, thanks for reading) I was originaly going too rite liek this and give QQ (not china app) a 3/10 becuase it reminding me to much of Nisekoi (very bad cartoon) and STFU NINO, BRUH. But then I actually gained the brain cells to notice that it was time for me to be a mature reviewer of myanimelist.net and thus, constrained myself from writing such vile, such lazy parody of a review. In seriousness, I just found a liking to The Quintessential Quintuplets 2 which is surprising because ridiculous stories like themselves tend to get the worse side of me. I guessbeing a lenient person has its benefits. More truthfully, the story execution just gave me a reason to stay. I don't usually tend to enjoy a lot of harem anime because they feel like a distorted version of romance bent and shaped so much to the will of the story that no character or plot holds any real value anymore, it just becomes a superficial but hollow inside. I am glad to say that this wasn't the case with The Quintessential Quintuplets, or at least, it wasn't exactly as I described some harem anime. Before I start, important questions must be answered immediately. Which will serve as some meaning later on in this review. Which team am I on? Team Miku. I am a simple man. I love the sweetheart. This is coming from someone who has dead emotions too. She is one of a kind cinnamon bun. The amount of times she makes me squeeze my pillow is amazing. But enough about me. Which character do I hate? Nino. Think of it like this. Taiga, but has pink hair and is taller. Narrative: Very simple narrative, I would like to assume people reading this are already completed with the 1st season. In which case this season starts off from that point. I will tell the honest truth now. I don't remember a bloody thing from the previous season, I watched it quite a while back anyways. Though, the continuation from the previous season felt really smooth getting into the details of what is the be of this 2nd season. No unnecessary time was taken for the sake of it. So I give props to that. It also manages to converge the two parts of the 1st and 2nd season without any hint of awkwardness, excluding nerfed animation. What really gives the story its good quality is how it differentiates from other harem anime similar to it, and that is the race to Fuutarou. Like every harem anime similar, there has to be some kind of battle to who can get out with the MC the fastest, some are more explicit with making the race more obvious. But Quintessential Quintuples takes the cake for me. Admittedly, I am not widely into the genre, but I would like to believe that this is one of the few stories that actually knows how to make a good race to the MC. These sisters are willing to use their appearances to their advantage by manipulating Fuutarou into thinking things that don't correlate to the person behind the facade. They are also willing to physically go as far as changing themselves in terms of school grades, family relationships, and other miscellaneous. It is interesting to watch really, I wouldn't have guessed that such writing skills actually existed for harem anime. To be fair, you could argue that this is quite superficial in that the use of sisters, especially for this story is one that allows for shortcuts. And well, I suppose you could say that. I don't have many counters for that. However, the idea has been taken and has been used in a substantial way even though there are some arguably cheap shortcuts used. Problem with that? I wouldn't say I find that too bad, but it can easily get static for the sake of moving the plot forward. That doesn't happen too much with this one though, I will give it that. Not the best, but decent writing honestly. As for characters, we don't like Nino so we can skip her out of the review… I guess Nino does have some good points that need talking about. She actually has one of the best developments in the show, and I could argue the best. You would think tsunderes like her would stay static for the sake of binary diversity, but she changes for the better in some sense. Whilst maintaining her character she also manages to implement a sense of reality in herself, which leads her into actions you might have seen coming, but not as early as you thought it would. She has a surprisingly logical rationale when talking to others about some points too. I just wouldn't have guessed for her to be this much better honestly. Ichika is a sly lady, who likes to mess up with others' attempts at getting closer to their goals. I quite like how she plays if I am honest, even if it is a dirty trick or two. I don't usually see characters like her a lot, but it is probably because this story has the interchangeable sister theme going on, which allows easy tricks like misinformation to happen. Good character overall. Miku is another interesting one, if I could put it into perspective, she would be like every "girl chasing boy" anime, but, in this story, there are her sisters to worry about alongside. It makes for an interesting path for her honestly. When she tries her best, whether it be for simple day to day activities to powering through studying, there is some kind of foil she has to beware of. How she goes around this is well, keep trying for her side. I can't dive too deep into her character. I don't have much to comment on Yotsuba and Itsuki, they don't have as much importance as the other three in this season. Yotsuba feels a little like those characters who constantly lie to themselves in the name of keeping the stability of the sisters and Fuutarou higher rather than lower. Quite a classic trope but she prevails with it. Not a problem with how she is used in the anime really. Itsuki is the same old in my opinion, she is the least interesting in my eyes and doesn't really do anything to better her own character. Shame, but who cared about her really. I swear I don't like Fuutarou. He doesn't develop and is still the dense dude he was from previous seasons. How can this dude not tell who is who by now is beyond me. But hey, some misunderstanding just had to exist for the sake of it now. But his character is unbelievable and just ridiculous. I can't give him the benefit of the doubt or tell you that you will like his character. Audiovisuals: They are nerfed in comparison to the 1st season. I can't say it was appalling but it was generic for the most part, you can certainly find something better in this day and age. The animation was decent for the most part. I have nothing to complain about. Audio is the same really, generic OST, OP and ED. Don't get me wrong though, they were good to listen to but it for sure doesn't match up anything of 10/10 in my opinion. Enjoyment: Now. Why I answered the important questions above was simple. This is really enjoyable when you are on someone's side. I liked Miku, so I went with her. I had moments where I was like "well, damn." and "wooooo yeahhhh" just because I would have wanted the best for the character I choose. I think that is an interesting way to go around enjoying the anime in an external sense. With the quality of the race being that much better, it is actually really fun to just watch what happens next to your favourite girl in the series. Harem anime needs to take notes on this on for real. Other enjoyment factors come down to general comedy moments, they aren't anything that will get you wheezing but they get the job done well enough to be fair. It is fun overall. Overall - 6.4 (6) ---------- TLDR Review: Story - 6: Good writing for the race to Fuutarou, even if a lot of shortcuts were taken. Visuals - 6: Fine, standard, everyday animation. Audio - 6: Same as visuals. Characters - 7: They are all good characters, apart from Fuutarou Enjoyment - 7: Now that's a fun race. Overall - 6.4 (6) ---------- I can't really say I have anything to say other than this is a good surprise. I was legitimately going to give this a low ass score if it took the Nisekoi way around of telling the story. Glad to say it didn't. I would recommend you keep watching this but this isn't a high recommendation regardless. I mean. This is just fine rather than exceptional. Still good I suppose.

Quintessential Quintuplets Quietly returns with a Quaint little sequel. Queerly enough, it didn't seem to garner too much attention, though that could possibly be due to the popularity and notoriety of several of the anime it's airing alongside sort of pushing it out of the spotlight. Or perhaps it's because a Quite common complaint people give about this show is that it's "generic". And you know what? They're right. But Quizzically, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Despite having several themes and tropes in common with similar types of shows, along with having a pretty simplistic narrative that follows a typical romcom formula, Quintessential Quintupletscan still be a Quality viewing experience. Questing for the ultimate harem may seem like an unattainable dream to most men, yet for Fuutarou, it's a reality. A beautiful reality. Yet what does he do about these girls who clearly like him? NOTHING. To him, studying > about everything else > romance. I don't know whether to respect this man for his dedication to academics or facepalm at his denseness. I guess it's a bit of both. The show primarily focuses on his continued tutoring of the girls and the development of the relationships between the six of them. It's a little more bare bones than season 1 because in that season, Fuutarou had to work to get the girls to trust, respect, and want to learn from him, which was interesting to watch. Now that that's been established, this season hones in more on the slice of life aspect of things. Quips and other sarcastic sayings are constantly used to provide humor. These moments are often enhanced through the characters making funny and sometimes chibi-esqe faces. Jokes are primarily about romance misunderstandings, the stupid nature of the girls, and the oblivious nature of Fuutarou. The comedy is definitely one of the driving forces of the show, so if you're not into the type of humor utilized, this anime probably isn't for you. Of course, there's still the more serious aspects of the show that you could enjoy. Quarreling with one another ends up being a common driver for conflict in this anime. This season gives a lot of attention to Nino in particular and her conflicting feelings, as well as the girls accepting that they're growing up and changing into their own individuals. It's by no means an amazing narrative and the themes are pretty obvious for a show whose heroines are Quintuplets. But the "drama", if you can call it that, can keep things interesting. Though for me, what stands out about this anime and makes it truly worth watching would be the girls. So it's time to go over them! Quiver in fear before the might of NINO! When she's able to build up her confidence and character, her resolve is astounding. I can totally see her going around and saying embarrassing things to strangers like "Hello, my name's NINOOOOO!" I'm gonna say it. She became best girl for me because of what she did this season. It's no secret that tsunderes are one of my favorite character tropes, and Nino fits the bill for this type. She was the most hostile towards Fu-kun and rejected his involvement in her and her sister's lives, even though deep down she's probably the most feeling and affectionate of the bunch. But through a sequence of events, she eventually realized that this greedy and deadbeat dude was in fact her prince charming. And I just love how she acts after that. From flat out confessing to him to making sure she won't lose to anyone for his feelings...it's just great. Once the dere side emerges from the tsun, Nino becomes quite the strong and caring individual, and I really enjoyed her character arc. Quoting historical warlords would probably be considered fun by our next girl Miku. She has the coolest character design and personality, and despite having a more emotionless nature, the girl lights up in the presence of Fuutarou. Like Nino, I'm a big fan of her type, and her dedication to the man she loves is admirable. Miku is definitely the most supportive of him, and she has a ton of heartwarming moments. She also easily gives the best facial expressions in the show. Fun stuff. She also has the most lewd scenes since she's drawn seductively several times wearing lose and skimpy clothing. Sexy stuff. She's right there with Nino for me in the fight for being "best girl." Quenching this girl's hunger may be difficult. It's Itsuki! She's probably the calmest and most reliable of the girls, but also has some deep rooted fear and uncertainty. She's not really involved in the battle for Uesugi-kun's affections. Instead, she acts as a sort of voice of reason and moral support for him. I like their dynamic, and think it's a great aspect of the anime. Quake in anger at Ichika's underhanded methods at getting ahead! Yeah, I definitely feel like some will be rubbed the wrong way by her using her sisters to try and indirectly hook her up with Fuutarou-kun. But hey, as they say, all is fair in love and war. She likes to act like the big sister and provides for her siblings through work, but might be the most immature deep down. I'm interested to see if she ever gains the ability to let her true feelings out. Quick in terms of speed, not in terms of smarts. That about sums up Yotsuba. She's definitely the girl who gets the least amount of focus as she's not shown to be vying for Uesugi-san's affections like 3 of her sisters or being a frequent presence in his life like Itsuki. Nonetheless, she has some fun moments. Hmm...maybe she's playing for the endgame and is actually brighter than we all thought... Qualms you might have about this anime are understandable. Now I don't think there's anything particularly bad with the anime asides from some inconsistent and mediocre art outside of the care and detail put into the girls' designs (At least the studio has their priorities straight!). Also, the difficulty in trying to portray the girls as being identical yet giving them completely diverse designs and voices can make things feel off. I get it, it would be boring if the girls all had the same character design and voice actress and this way we get a nice variety of looks. But it still makes other characters, especially Fuutarou, look like complete idiots when they fail to properly differentiate between the siblings, especially when they're not even trying to impersonate each other. We just gotta be able to understand this fact and deal with it. And I can definitely understand people calling the show plain, since it doesn't particularly have any big moments...except for Nino's straight up confession because wow, you practically never see a girl do that in an anime. But overall, I feel like this anime can be a fun, relaxing, and enjoyable watch for most. Quantifying a score for this anime was actually a difficult task for me. It has a fair share of good things going for it, but it also just feels a bit lacking in several departments. Overall, I would have given this a 6/10, but because Nino and Miku exist, I decided to bump up my rating. Hey, what can I say, cute anime girls just have that kind of power! And ultimately, that's what will probably make or break this show for you. Whether or not you like the cute anime girls. This is clearly a character driven narrative, and for me personally, the girls are a colorful bunch who most certainly make Quintessential Quintuplets worth the watch.

[!]THIS REVIEW TALKS ABOUT THE WHOLE SERIES AND NOT JUST A STANDALONE INSTALLMENT[!] Over the years, I’ve been watching harem anime that end up being either vacant and boring or severely infuriating, two sides of the sheer negativity a harem has for the most part. The Quintessential Quintuplets (from here on out shortened to 5toubun) is the biggest offender of both sides—a series that doesn’t care about its story, its characters, pretty much its goddamn everything at this point. Not even good voice acting could save this car crash. Yes, I know you came here when I answered this question “What is the worst harem animeof all time?” But yes, I do believe this is possibly the worst harem anime of all time. Before we get to me reviewing the series, let’s recap the disclaimers again: All of these are 100% opinion-based. What you’ll see is very subjective and therefore, shouldn’t be taken seriously. I have no problems with anyone liking the series. If you’re a fan of the series, feel free to share why you think it’s better than what I said. Alright, let’s get to it. What is the idea of 5toubun? Well, 5toubun is a harem series where a poor high school second-year named ‘Fuutarou Uesugi’ has a part-time job where he tutors 5 girls who happen to be quintuplets of each other. Each quintuplet has a distinct personality to each other and all of them equally hate studying. As a concept, I find this to be quite ‘eh’. It’s not too bad. It’s actually better than a lot of other premises in other harem anime. I just think that it feels a bit too dry and doesn’t feel any more engaging. But don’t worry. I’m pretty sure the show itself would make solid or even decent use of it, right? …he he …RIGHT? To which I would add, NO. Not even close to that. Now this is where the series drops really hard. What makes this series such a big fail is the scriptwriting. The dialogue is downright atrocious. It’s either dry and monotone or chaotic and out of place, and I don’t mean the latter in ways that would make the show mindlessly enjoyable. You got interactions between Fuutarou and any of the quints with discussions that aren’t very special. They’re just topics that feel very shallow. Hell, the characters aren’t even the best at tackling them. They just talk back and forth to each other about random things randomly. It gets old really quickly to be honest. Another massive issue is how there are a lot (not all but a lot) of tropes around. I don’t necessarily mind seeing a handful of tropes in any show but the series is completely littered with stale harem tropes to the point where it doesn’t feel realistic in the slightest. You also got the so-called “comedy”. As mentioned, it’s not even funny on the surface. It’s a massive headache to sit through. It’s all over the place. If the scriptwriting is dog water then so is the cast of characters. What we have here is Ichika, the teasing actress, Nino, the tsundere, Miku, the quiet girl, Yotsuba, the energetic girl, and lastly, the serious and gluttonous Itsuki. Are they distinct from each other in terms of character basics? Yes. Are they anything to write home about as actual characters? I’m afraid not. Literally far from that. I don’t know if I could call them “characters”. They don’t even have ‘some’ moments that made them stand out one bit. The “female cast” of 5toubun is a bunch of annoying and boring goblins who would overblow their character quirks instead of having any decent development whatsoever. Though for the annoying part, Miku is an exception because she’s a little more of a quiet girl, as the series states that out. She’s not really annoying to sit through. But even she’s a living archetype for the whole series. It’s just that she stood out from the other quints a little bit just because she doesn’t show as many expressions as the others. The others can suffer from whip spanking. Itsuki is a crybaby, and I don’t mean a good crybaby, an insufferable one. She straight up takes almost everything too seriously and it gets head-scratching. Yotsuba is just the happy-to-go-lucky girl who hypes herself every time she’s on screen. Nino is a classic annoying tsundere who’s abusive for little-to-no reason regardless of conflicts and relations. But no one, NO ONE is as punchable as Ichika. She’s not only extremely annoying, but she’s also unreasonably manipulative. Nino is also manipulative but the manipulativeness from Ichika is a lot worse. How she “teases” Fuutarou isn’t enjoyable or cute. It’s incredibly toxic. That’s like punching a kid over a LEGO figure and calling it “teasing” for a living. So yeah, those are the quints. They are living mannequins with quirks that don’t even help their characterization at all. Oh, wait! We can’t (or perhaps we can) forget the protagonist of the series, Fuutarou, the man who tutors all 5 girls. He is undoubtedly the most boring organism ever. Kirito and Tanjiro are well-written and inspiring characters compared to that milkless pawn. Now you would think that he would carry the series since the girls are a pile of nothingness, right? No, he’s literally just there. Hell, I forgot what his sole purpose of the show was. What does he do again? Oh, that’s right. To tutor the 5 girls. How interesting is this? As far as how the show presents, as interesting as toilet paper. Besides that gimmick, there’s just nothing special about him. Most of the time, his interactions with the quints are just boring and forgettable. It’s like reading a bunch of chores to deal with in an essay format. If you are as boring, if not more boring than Fuutarou then I am deeply sorry that happens… Btw, if you’re wondering what my ranking on the quints is, here’s what it looks like: Miku > Itsuki > Yotsuba > Nino > Ichika All of them suck-ass either way. Okay! Enough of the shitshow of the story and characters. Let’s move on to the miscellaneous elements. Artstyle is okay but is rather generic. Didn’t like the music in the series whatsoever. I guess the opening is fine-ish, but I don’t know, I couldn’t listen to any of the tracks one bit outside of watching the show. The Japanese voice acting is good. Not a fan of the English voice acting but Nino’s dub voice is kinda spot-on personally. And that does it. So how do you make a good harem? By at least making character growth and interactions more intriguing while not going too hard on any of them. 5toubun can’t achieve any of that. It just makes the goddamn everything force. Now I actually don’t mind the first few episodes. They’re not special or anything but they’re not offensive to the series either. But by the time the show progresses, the whole presentation turns into a dry and outdated sponge. It’s not interesting and it’s not even entertaining. It’s just a massive chore to sit through. Despite my negative feelings towards this show, again, I have zero problems with anyone liking/enjoying the series. The girls do look admittedly cute. Thanks for reading.

This is my first review so do bear with me. 5-toubun no Hanayome ∬ (QQ), what a ride. It was somewhere around episode 5 of Season 2 that I decided I loved the show and binged the manga. I could not stop grinning ear to ear watching this show. It's marked a harem and while the quintuplets themselves may arguably fall into generic anime tropes, it doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment. Why you might ask? Perhaps, it's because each quintuplet genuinely cares about the other. Though they want to succeed, they don't want each other getting hurt in the process. That in itself is acontradiction, and the show explores how and if the quintuplets can overcome this. Moreover, they have that little something that makes them unique and distinct from one another despite being quintuplets. That's the hook. Another reviewer, compared this to Nisekoi but I feel saying that's a stretch is an understatement. Nisekoi is a great show (I've recommended it with S1 of QQ) with an interesting story, but the characters are very cookie-cutter and generic in nature and could have been in any show. QQ isn't like that. Each one is tailor-made, naturally, for this show alone. Admittedly, I enjoyed this season more than the first (though the first was very good in and of itself) because this time around, I feel the characters are better expressed and are given more time to shine. Though the tutelage aspect of the show is one of its quirks that I adore, in the later episodes this is toned down and the story focuses more on Futaro learning the things outside the books, like what it's like to be in love and loved back. It's just so nice. In terms of adaptation quality, it's very faithful to the manga in my opinion and not much has been left out. The opening song, Gotōbun no Katachi, is a pleasure to listen to - slightly more than the first - and is played on repeat in my house. The sister's being the vocalists for the song is just icing on the cake. This season had many great shows, but topping all those shows off in my humble opinion was Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Part 2 (9.5) and this (9.5). It goes without saying I'm excited for Season 3! It's only 24 episodes long (including the first season) so if you have time, give it a watch :)

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