- Titles: 5-Toubun no Hanayome, The Quintessential Quintuplets, Go-Toubun no Hanayome, Gotoubun no Hanayome, Five Equal Brides, The Five Wedded Brides
- Genre: Comedy, School, Harem, Romance(?)
- Episodes: 12
- Studio: Tezuka Productions
Futaro has troubles. For one, his dad is a bit too laissez-faire about the whole parenting thing so since his mother died, he feels responsible for his little sister. Also, they’re broke. Maybe I should have mentioned that first. But that’s o.k. because Futaro is a genius, or at least, really skilled at studying so the situation won’t last for long, right? In fact, he may get out of debt even sooner than expected when he finds himself tutoring five academically challenged but very rich sisters. Could this be the lucky break Futaro was dreaming about? Or will this turn into a nightmare as five strong-willed teenage girls who hate studying may not be that easy to teach after all?
I like the word Quintessential and I also like alliteration. But I can’t help but feel like something may be getting lost in translation with the title The Quintessential Quintuplets. After all, quintessential simply means, standard or basic. And although I can see how this could be a very sarcastic tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement that this is a basic harem, I somehow don’t think that’s what they were going for. Or were they?
The Quintessential Quintuplets is a decent looking show. Ironically, even though canonically 5 of the 6 main characters are supposed to be identical, I actually found the cast more diverse looking than a lot of shows I have watched. Maybe all the one face syndrome anime I have watched has forever skewed my perception. Just goes to show you how far a hairstyle and a few accessories can take you!
The production was alright. The art was consistent enough and if you like the designs then that’s all that really matters. The animation was a bit stilted as if in low frame-rate or something but there are very few high action scenes so I doubt it would bother anyone. I would say the low point for me were the performances which although perfectly proficient seemed a bit phoned in and didn’t convey much sense of fun or joy.
Bottom line though, if this is an art style that speaks to you, I think you would enjoy the production values. There are a lot of quite pretty glamour scenes of the girls.
I’ll be honest with you, I picked up The Quintessential Quintuplets because I needed an anime that started with the letter Q and I went into it not expecting to like it. Not that I expected to hate it either but the art style and the premise just didn’t really speak to me. And I didn’t hate it.
In many ways, my experience with The Quintessential Quintuplets is better defined by what it wasn’t than by what it was. It wasn’t particularly sexist, it didn’t glorify any harmful tropes such as romantic abuse or illegal age gap relationships. It didn’t sexualize the younger sister character and somehow avoided the incest trope. Most impressive, the sisters didn’t turn into raging jealousy monsters or emotional wrecks even after they started having feelings for the same guy.
All in all, there’s really nothing I can reproach the series. Even the fanservice was considerably more tame than I thought it would be. And in a way, that may be the problem.
Even though I can’t really point to anything in particular, as a whole, The Quintessential Quintuplets was just kind of bland. A perfectly o.k. harem but one I’m not likely to remember. And I have no urge to watch another season. At the same time, I wouldn’t be opposed to it as I am with other shows.
And that is entirely due to the characters. The premise is decent and they could have done a lot with it. But there’s a repeated line that the girl’s mother used to say they are all one-fifth of the same person. And that rings true in an unfortunate way.
Futaro is a harem protag. He’s fine but that’s not what we’re here for. He’s the dark-haired every man with a bit of a temper but ultimately a really nice and dependable guy. You know the drill. What is supposed to set The Quintessential Quintuplets apart is the quintuplets. And they’re… well for one they all look alike. That’s fine, it’s the entire premise of the show. And it is used here and there. Most notably in that one is considered more attractive and is much more popular with boys even if they are identical. It was a cute add-in but it didn’t really go anywhere.
The girls are all just a little unrealized. They are 5ths of characters. Each of them is an archetype, the sexy one, the genki one, the shy one, the tsundere and the girl next door who’s also tsundere for some reason. And like 3 of them have hobbies that set them apart but that’s about it for characterization. For me, I just ended up liking whichever one I thought was the cutest in the moment and that’s all the connection I mustered.
Again, that’s not necessarily bad. All it means is that if you don’t find the designs cute at all, you may not enjoy the show that much.
The Quintessential Quintuplets is the type f show I would recommend to throw on when you don’t want to engage too much with an anime and you think these particular girls are cute. Sometimes, that can really hit the spot. And in many ways it was charming. For me, I was left with the impression of mostly harmless.
Ultimately, for me, the show lived up to its name. It was a standard harem and there were five girls in it. So you know what, that’s as advertised. I can’t complain!
Favourite character : the Father
Suggested drink: a High Five
- Every time Futaro is being frugal – take a sip
- Every time Raiha is being adorable – awwwww
- Every time there’s a wedding scene – make a toast
- Every time we learn the price of food – get a snack
- Every time Yotsuba is proud of something she shouldn’t be proud of – take a sip
- Every time anyone calls Futaro creepy – take a sip
- Every time the sisters bicker – get some water
- Every time there is actual fanservice – take a small sip
- Every time we hear about someone’s dead mother – pour some out
- Every time Futaro tries to convince the girls to study – listen to him
- Every time Futaro falls asleep – take a sip
- Every time Itsuki wears her glasses – take a sip
- Every time any girl does the puffy cheeks face – take a sip
- Every time we see blowing flower petals – take a sip
- Every time anyone holds hands – blush
In case you’re new here, I have a Pinterest with all my screencaps (there are a lot!). If you can’t find a show you are looking for in my main boards, just go to Anime Screenshots. I move the shows I have reviewed there. Of course, I’m still going to add a few images here!
Watching the dub, it helps that one of my favorite voice actors – Felecia Angelle, who speaks for Kohaku on ‘Dr Stone’ – does likewise for the middle quintuplet, Miku.
( The characters are worlds apart, which makes the feat all the more impressive. )
Picked up the show during a forced delay in Funimation’s ‘Dr Stone’ Simuldub – due to the recent disastrous weather events in Texas – was in the mood for a romantic comedy as a palette-cleanser: I’d glimpsed the cover of the first manga volume at some point, and yes, must confess that I found both the art style and premise appealing.
It’s a bit of a slow burn, and I had to study almost as hard as the Quintuplets to lock their names/birth order into active memory (… Miku is the textbook definition of a middle child!) but I low-key enjoyed the first series.
Up to Part 2, Episode 4 now, and some of the emotional beats and (… subtle) character growth are beginning to pay off, but I’m just a big bowl of mush for such things: The show puts me in the mind of the old ‘Sentimental Graffiti’ game, in that only one of the sisters will end up as ‘The Bride.’
I’d have to agree that the characters are a little thin/under-baked at first, though that’s almost the point: There’s a narrative device that’s introduced in the second season which underscores the ‘Growth ≈ Change’ theme – it’s maybe almost a little too ‘On-The-Nose,’ actually – but I’m pretty much invested now.
I’ll disagree however about additional ‘Ecchi’ elements improving the intermix formula: This is an almost remarkably chaste, emotionally contemplative show, with a solid emphasis on how the title quintuplets relate to each other within their clique, as well as to the male lead, and too much fan service – in my opinion, at least – would detract from that.
( Being an only child, I find sibling dynamics oddly fascinating. )
… and yes, also an ideal premise if you’re only able to draw one female face well.
The manga has already concluded – wasn’t even that lengthy a run – so shifting back into ‘Spoiler Avoidance’ Mode for awhile – I think Season 3 has already been announced, and that ‘might’ wrap things up.
Sometimes, less is more.
It is very chaste, I don’t remember the emotionally contemplative part at least in season 1. At that point the focus of the series was the sister’s relationship to the main character. It seemed to follow harem archetypes pretty closely, which isn’t a bad thing in my opinion but attraction between the characters was already implied so I though a few saucy touches could have added a sense of fun. I could be wrong mind you.
I’m glad you liked it. I hope you’ll continue t enjoy season 2 and 3!
“Emotionally Contemplative” might have been poor phrasing (… and overstatement), the intent was to say that the quintuplets were somewhat introspective, and aware of their shortcomings.
Season 2, Episode 4 might have made for a better Season 1 finale, bit of a game-changer, and paid off some setup. I’m curious where things will go from there.
By the way, both the first and second series have very understated title sequences, so not at all surprised the first one made little impression.
Gotoubun No Hanayome’s first season is amongst one of my favorite romance anime, has in my opinion, one of the best OPs of the genre, and really great animation and drawings.
Really. I don’t know much about the romance genre. I have to admit, I don’t remember the OP although I’m pretty sure I didn’t skip it.
You’re gonna have to take that puffy cheeks face/take a sip part out, coz people will end up dead drunk. xD
This show is all about the artwork I think. It’s top-tier beautiful imo. It’s kind of fun watching them go through all the crazy situations they go through, but primarily I sit and enjoy this show visually. I’m not a huge fan of harem anime, so I don’t seek it out intentionally, but I found this show engaging so I’ve stayed with it. I’m a little underwhelmed by the current season so far, but we’ll see how it goes. It’s still great to see all of them together again.
Thanks for the review! I was planning on writing one when S2 wraps up. We’ll see what happens!
Ugh I’m not logged in for some reason! That comment is from me, Blue Hawk from Anteiku Anime Reviews. Dunno what’s wrong with the login settings…..
That explains it. Now we know where to look for the review
I think I have much the same view. I look forward to your review
You probably found the best anime starting with Q, evne with your taste in mind. Well, it’s possible that Queen’s Blade has some surprises up its sleeve; I haven’t watched any of it. Qwaser no Stigma… ugh, no. Then there’s Qualidae Code, which is decent and could be a contender, but I’m not sure it’s good enough to win out by genre bias.
Personally, I quite like the show. It’s such a harem main-stay, with little to no ecchi intrusion (though I also liked [i]We Never Learn[/i], the other recent tutoring harem, this one with many ecchi jokes). It’s tailor-made for best-girl wars.
I think it would have been improved by some ecchi. I could be wrong