5-toubun no Hanayome (The Quintessential Quintuplets)

Considered a genius, high school student Fuutarou Uesugi excels at studying and obtains a perfect score on every test. Due to his intense focus in that regard, he is a reclusive person with no friends. Additionally, he lives in a tight financial state as a result of family debts.

Fuutarou's mundane lifestyle is interrupted when Itsuki Nakano, a new transfer student, contests him for his usual lunch seat. After a short altercation, Fuutarou emerges victorious by insulting Itsuki's eating habits, which angers her enough to leave. However, when Fuutarou learns that he has been offered the private tutor position of a wealthy family's academically hopeless daughters, he immediately regrets his prior encounter. It turns out that the beneficiaries of his tutoring are none other than Itsuki and her four identical siblings: the shy Miku, the cheerful Yotsuba, the devious Nino, and the mature Ichika!

Teaching these quintuplets may prove more difficult for Fuutarou than he initially expected, as the last thing they want to do is seriously study. Now, Fuutarou must face the various challenges of tutoring five beautiful yet eccentric girls.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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5-toubun no Hanayome won the 43rd Kodansha Manga Award in the shounen category, along with Fumetsu no Anata e. The series ranked eighth in the Best Printed Manga category at the fourth Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards in 2018.

The series was published in English as The Quintessential Quintuplets by Kodansha Comic USA from June 26, 2018, to August 11, 2020. It was also released in Spanish by Panini Comics from December 18, 2019, to February 9, 2022; in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics from April 3, 2020, to June 18, 2022; and in Polish by Studio JG from October 23, 2020, to June 30, 2023.

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Nakano, Miku

Main

Nakano, Nino

Main

Nakano, Itsuki

Main

Nakano, Yotsuba

Main

Nakano, Ichika

Main

Uesugi, Fuutarou

Main

Uesugi, Raiha

Supporting

Uesugi, Isanari

Supporting

Nakano, Maruo

Supporting

Nakano, Rena

Supporting

Reviews

Jan 2, 2025

ingridgms

Recommended

This is a love letter.
I’ve never been a fan of the harem genre. To this day, it doesn’t interest me. That’s why I say that, when I started reading this manga, I wasn’t expecting anything good. Honestly, the basic premise screams disaster: a harem with quintuplets. I would’ve never given it a chance if I hadn’t seen some surprised buzz a few years ago claiming that it was, in fact, good. That piqued my curiosity—how on earth could something with such a lousy premise be even remotely decent?
So, I read it.
And it was good.

This manga is proof of ... what happens when you’re not afraid to give your characters flaws and to create a protagonist with a distinct personality. What always annoyed me about this genre is how they make some bland, personality-free guy who somehow attracts a bunch of women.
But Fuutarou? He’s a mess. He’s arrogant, stubborn, socially isolated because he’s obsessed with studying and money, determined, constantly making mistakes, and above all, he’s driven by the desire to secure a good future for his sister. He oozes personality, and it makes sense why each girl develops feelings for him for different reasons.

And the girls? They’re DUMB.
Completely clueless, hate studying. All five of them flunked their classes, and their father—who’s a jerk—hires a private tutor for them.
Fuutarou needs the money, so he’s forced to get close to each of them to do his job. This isn’t your typical harem where the girls inexplicably fall for a bland guy. My man earns their affection through blood and sweat, and every romantic feeling is a logical progression of the story.

And them being quintuplets? It’s not just a quirky gimmick. It’s deeply woven into the narrative, influencing every layer of their relationships—with themselves, with each other, and with Fuutarou. The feeling of being “born stuck together,” the struggle to break free from that unity, the yearning to stand out as an individual among five, and the fear of growing apart as they mature.
Each girl starts from a basic stereotype: the quiet one with low self-esteem, the bold one who flirts with the protagonist, the tsundere, the sporty and reliable one, and the possessive one. But all these personalities are developed with care, rooted in solid reasons for why each girl is the way she is.

When I first started reading it, I loved it, but it was still ongoing, so I paused, deciding to wait for it to finish. When it finally ended, people said the ending wasn’t great—that the girl Fuutarou ends up with didn’t make much sense. I set it aside and forgot about it. Only now did I come back and finish it.

It’s incredible. Simply incredible.
The girls grow so much throughout the story, just like Fuutarou, who changes immensely from the person he was at the beginning. I’d say he’s the character who grows the most, but the quintuplets aren’t far behind. The girl who “wins” makes perfect sense within the narrative, and I feel like all the threads gently point toward her as the story progresses. But I understand how someone rooting blindly for their favorite might miss the nuances and be caught off guard by the decision.

I can’t find the words to express how special this manga is to me, and here I am, saying so much. And this doesn’t even cover half of what I feel about this story. I could write an equally long text just about Itsuki—my beloved. Maybe I secretly like myself, since I always fall head over heels for characters so similar to me.

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Jun 12, 2024

darkpixelftw

Mixed Feelings

TL:DR
Great writing and charming characters but it can't quite live up to the premise of five equal love interests and suffers from a very rushed ending. Mixed Recommendation

Story: 6/10
Well paced for the first ~80%. There's a long section at the start where there's little to no romcom shenanigans and I wish more manga slowed down at the start to give us a chance to get to know the characters outside of a romantic context.

The author gave themselves herculean task trying to develop six distinct main characters (the sisters + Uesugi) and, for the most part, they manage to pull it off. They manage to portion ...

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Feb 21, 2025

Grayfox55

Not Recommended

Any of the other four girls—Nino, Ichika (my favorite), Miku, or even Yotsuba—would have been a far better choice. Or better yet, the author could have given each girl a separate ending, allowing fans to enjoy their preferred outcome. And if they really wanted to please everyone, a proper harem ending would have been the most fitting.

But no. Instead, they went with the least interesting girl and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, threw in a last-minute, forced backstory just to "subvert expectations." It wasn’t clever—it was lazy, rushed, and completely unearned. The buildup throughout the series was tossed aside in favor of an ending ...

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A new 5-toubun no Hanayome (The Quintessential Quintuplets) anime was announced at the series' 5th anniversary event in Yokohama Arena on Sunday. The new anime...read more

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5-toubun no Hanayome
The Quintessential Quintuplets
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The Quintessential Quintuplets
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