5-toubun no Hanayome
The Quintessential Quintuplets

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I'm living a deja-vu, another great manga with a controversial ending. A conclusion that has several mixed feelings. The ending lacks the charisma and emotion of the entire series. 5-toubun no Hanayome and the 4 broken hearts. 1- I want to get married and the twilight zone where dreams can give us the wrong impression.

First, I want to clarify this; we could have a manga with the "What if" ending. Some will complain and try to indicate that it is not valid. However, Negi said it in an interview where he points that he wants to write an ending that would make everyone happy, and ... we need to accept the reality, this is a total disaster. Following that order of ideas, I think that we are mistaken, and we are right, Negi made a colossal mistake, yes. He buried the work of 85 - 90 chapters. Negi had a good idea, yes. However, he didn't conclude it in a good way. We have the right to criticize an ending that feels rushed, incomplete, and that's what I am going to do in this creepy review.

Let's begin with art and panel dynamics. It is outstanding. Overall, the mangaka delivered a beautiful and clean manga with excellent character design, a well-developed environment that flows correctly from panel to panel. Ironically as it seems, the art, in the end, is wasted because the author could not explain his decisions in a controversial story where the status quo was affected. The nonsense and the pressure to finish the story as soon as possible buried it in a hole. The last arc is misplaced and unconcluded.

On the other hand, the story was terrific. I want to underline the word was. We have a group of five sisters (Quintuplets to be precise) that could have particular love interest or feelings towards their tutor, a student from the same school, the annoying and insolent, Fuutarou Usegi. The question that all the readers have in mind was who will end with Usegi?

As the story progresses, each character showed a magnificent development. However, one of them froze in an endless loop that kept memories of the past and avoided any desire for the sake of her sisters. That character decided to be a shadow, and it was a shadow to the point that some readers thought it was close to a supporting role. That's where the real problem begins. This character never showed a significant development, and in the end, Negi, the author, could not give an adequate conclusion creating an inexplicable incoherent plot. If we compare the background that the author provides for the rest of the cast, this character never grew.

Furthermore, this shadow eclipsed the whole story without any proper explanation and ended as the most central character in the story. Does a kiss entitle you to destroy the entire background of the rest of the characters? The answer is a big NO. Where does the fight end, the desire that all the other "quints" showed throughout the story until the end?

Albeit this nonsense, the author tried to twist the plot, and he added an ending that plays with the readers and mocks with them with a big question mark "What happens if" Usegi ends with this sister? Everything could be accepted because it was a mere illusion. From my perspective, it's a horrible joke. Negi is playing with the reader's feelings. Furthermore, if the author has a preference for a particular "quint," then he shouldn't write a useless ending as he did. He should give the audience the tools to understand his decisions. Still, in this particular case, he couldn't even explain those insignificant reasons leaving the fans with a weird look in their face wondering if all was a silly joke. Also, the ending impales the heart of the other sisters. If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't be planning the honeymoon trip, and I will be upset at my home.

Lastly, I am sad. I was not a fan of any quint, I could accept any of them, but this conclusion is a mere joke that affects the background of all the characters. Usegi, cold, calculator, the guy that never showed big emotions, appeared in the last chapters as Romeo saying, "will you marry me?" Are you kidding me? Are the other quints not going to fight for their beloved? We are more complicated than what was shown in the end.

Changing the subject, this could explain why an average studio is the one adapting the second season. It is understandable that a good studio with vast experience avoids encouraging a conclusion that will have some disapproval and mixed feelings. This was something that was not a top-secret within the animators and the VA circle. The decision was made a few months ago when the spooky ending began to be published, why do you think Azur Lane episodes were delayed to improve quality?

Calling Gotoubun a finished manga is like calling Fuutarou’s lunch a proper meal. It isn’t. It needed at least two more volumes to be finished, and much more to be entertaining. Once held in the highest regard as a romance/harem manga, its journey was cut short, and with it comes a bitter taste—a taste of overwhelming amounts of salt. From screaming fans nonetheless.

It flopped because Negi tried too hard subverting tropes. The ending shouts "haha *she* won you never saw it coming did ya" when in reality it lacked any substance. I started reading the manga when the first season aired, it was like 70 ... to 80 chapters long. And was a strong 7 to 8 for a while, until seeing the last 25 to 30 chapters.

It went from something interesting and unique into something like any other. The last festival arcs were especially dreadful, carrying a huge tonal shift that felt abrupt and out of place. But out of the five, Itsuki no doubt got the worst end of the stick. She was thrown into a corner until Negi was like "shit totally forgot about her" in the last arc. The biological dad, which had no impact in the story until then, felt like a convenient plot tool. It ended with melodrama trash, which was a distaste. The sharp writing was nowhere to be seen from then on.

With that, let's talk about the other four.

Ichika, she had no chance after the school trip, but at least an interesting character. I cheered for her all the way, and I would say I am satisfied with how she ended up. Definitely has the best resolve out of the four.

Nino, the confession scene was great, her blunt nature while still loving her sisters goes the same. Though by far with the most development under her belt, her change of heart can be seen as quite shallow. For reasons I can't mention because of spoilers.

Miku, the most generic. She later became Nino's ally and brought the two biggest ships together. Hot take, but she ended up being a more boring Nino. Nothing much to say.

And finally Yotsuba. Her story ended five years ago. The beginning teased about something great happening in the past but did not deliver. She has no resolve, and nothing of her felt finished once all the trouble was over. Worst character out of the five.

The art was good, Negi clearly got better the course of these two years as well. But nothing could make up for this mess of an ending.

There are times when you regret what you choose, and I regret being invested in Gotoubun. I remember the last time I became this disappointed in a series was when I finished watching Charlotte. Gotoubun lacked an explanation, and Negi's tricks to balance the chances of the five meant the story lack direction, there will certainly be outrage no matter who won with how it closed out.

It wasn't like any other harem, but it certainly ended like one.

QUINTUPLETS & THEIR TUTOR'S LOVE INTEREST

**Asking me for any Romcom or Harem recommendations? Yes, this manga is definitely one of them.

Minor spoilers:

If you are interested in how sisters compete against each other knowingly or unknowingly for the love of the protagonist, Fuutarou, then this manga is definitely for you.


Story: 9.5
As a manga in the category for Harem, it is rare to find a manga that DOESN'T FOCUS on a ton of ECCHI moments (such as constantly showing naked girls or girl undies). If you are trying to find pure love development without wasting time on ecchi moments, this is truly the right manga for ... you.

What I appreciate the most about this manga is that the Mangaka is able to draw the conclusion in the beginning while baffled with which girl of the quintuplets will be the ultimate bride. Through chapters and chapters, each quintuplet is given a fair chance to compete and continues to trick the readers into thinking "maybe she is THE BRIDE?". While doing so, the transitions are so smooth and won't make the readers feel repetitive or feel that the story is stagnant.

**Even though the plot was slightly shaky around the middle-ending section (-0.5), there were still no side stories or stagnation even until the end.


Art: 10
Huge 10. In order to draw and help distinguish the difference between the quintuplets, it requires a ton of mastery in drawing out the details of the characters. For me, I have no difficulty in telling the difference among those quintuplets (except the bride!!!!!!) ;(, why does Haruba san have to make it so hard for the readers!!). Even when quintuplets switch minor things, such as hair ornaments, with each other, the Mangaka was able to draw their faces so well to the point that I also have no difficulty of getting confused.


Emotions and expressions are drawn to the point that some scenes literally melted my heart. 1010101010101010
The backgrounds are also on point


Character: 10
The Mangaka definitely put in a huge effort into creating the distinct personality of the characters. Even if the quintuplets look alike, their difference in personalities never ceases to amaze me as to how they flow from chapter to another chapter. Their actions, purpose, and motivation are so clear to the point the I feel like they are real.


Enjoyment: 10
When I first know this manga, it was updated to chapter 56. I have no problem binge read those chapters in the early morning from 7:30 am to lunchtime. Then, whenever the manga is being updated, I naturally just click to read. <3

**Two years later, here I am re-editing this manga review :D


Overall: 10
A masterpiece of harem manga. I was so happy that this manga was announced to have an anime for itself in 2019. Congratulation because it is truly well deserved. No wasted time for side stories and each chapter has the meaning and purpose of the upcoming chapters.

**It is alright if the ending isn't your taste. It is also perfectly fine if the bride of the story isn't who you predicted to be. This manga supports why love is just such a complicated yet exciting topic to write and read about. Moreover, this manga is a "simple" refreshment for everyone to enjoy!


I am grateful to have the chance to read this manga.
*(Still am after following this manga for a year)
**(Love the ending even though I wanted someone else to win. Thanks for this manga! No regrets <3)


orig Chapter 56->*edit Chapter 87 -> **second edit Chapter 122
P.S. My favorite chapter is definitely the motorcycle ride in Chapter 59

*SLIGHT SPOILERS*

I'll keep this short and simple (if possible). 5-toubun no Hanayome/Gotoubun no Hanayome/The Five Wedded Brides is a very sweet, romantic story thus far about the main protag, Uesugi, and quintuplet sisters who need tutoring in school to pass. Right at the beginning we find out that Uesugi marries one of the 5 sisters, but we don't know who yet which makes it so mysterious and interesting.

The story so far is great! The pacing is perfect in my opinion, and there isn't any filler (so far) to halt the progression of the story/plot. We find out many things about Uesugi and each sister, ... and how different they are from one another. We learn how the sisters (somewhat) feel towards Uesugi and what they think of being tutored. (P.s. I love the sisters and seeing them work together at times is cute and amazing!)

I'm really enjoying this series and I really REALLY hope he ends up with Miku! But no matter who Uesugi chooses, I just want an amazing story! I'd recommend giving this a try to see if YOU will enjoy reading it, as not everyone will.

"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 out ... on, 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. I ... accept 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.

5-toubun no Hanayome has an interesting premise for a harem by having not two nor three sisters, but five sisters as part of the harem. And to top it all off, they are quintuplets. They are each given a personality quirk and an appearance quirk in order for them to stand out. Our male protagonist is a standard, book-smart and uptight guy who has been hired to be a tutor to the sisters. As it turns out, the sisters are really bad when it comes to studying and are reluctant to have him as a tutor. But the guy has to stick to this job ... because he is poor and has to think about his family. Thus the misadventures begin.

And while this premise seems interesting enough to create a decent enough length for a serialized manga, it falls short in establishing decent enough character arcs to drag it to that length, a problem that is generally faced when trying to establish multiple main characters. This is a problem that first time authors often face, especially when trying to force complexity where it isn't needed.

Over time, the sisters' personalities don't stand out too well, essentially resulting in simple and similar character arcs for all of them. The male protagonist, however, has much better faring in this regard. His uptight nature is brought to check under the unruliness of the sisters, who all are in love with him somehow.

There's not much to comment on the story itself, since there isn't much to it and it doesn't stray too far off of what you'd expect from a harem where characters are at least aware of being in a harem. This could lead to better story-telling eventually, and has been observed in simpler harem manga (like Ichigo 100%, for example), but this would really depend on whether the writer chooses to stray away from the self-contained and rather uninteresting path that the story is currently at.

The best part about the manga, however, is the art, which is crisp and while not too original, is good enough to create distinguishable characters for the most part. It is observably better than the art of Rengoku no Karma, a manga which was drawn by the same author.

All in all, what starts as an interesting premise for a harem romance, quickly mellows down into a more generic and uninteresting one. It is certainly not one of the better harem stories I've come across, or rather I should say, it's a bit late at arriving since it doesn't really do anything spectacularly different aside from having quintuplet harem members. But, needless to say, it has potential if the author could add better complexity to the character arcs and manage multiple main characters in a single story, which is its biggest flaw. Whether it happens or not, only time will tell.

Rewriting the wheel. In a world where harem has been dogged, overdone and rehashed, 5-toubun no Hanayome is the revival of the harem genre. The story focuses on the protagonist (Uesegi) having to help quintuplet sisters graduate high school. While the premise of the story may not be original (hint hint "We Never Study), it wins in a place so many harems fail: pacing/plot and excessive fan service.

Due to the complexity of love stories, authors constantly dig themselves into a hole and introduce filler arcs, fan service or new girls to slow the story down. These speed bumps lead to a clunky, inconsistent story ... that just isn't believable. In this manga, however, there are no problems. We learn about the characters without being distracted by constant fan service (clothing malfunctions). Thanks to this the story moves forward in a consistent, believable fashion with progress such a hand holding coming in 5 chapters instead of 50.

Overall, I feel like this manga is a huge upgrade from Nisekoi and harems others. If you want a story that possess good romance and pacing, this is what you're looking for! Enjoy!

SPOILERS INCLUDED

Boy, what a ride.

Quintessential Quintuplets is one of those series that get you obsessing over every character and chapter and where you can't sleep because the hype is so good.

And I'll maintain the fact that despite the negatives, I am still thankful to the author for blessing us with this work of art.

However, the negatives are pointed, and we'll start with those. [SPOILERS START]
The most glaring one is how the story got to showing who the bride is.
...
I don't have a problem with Yotsuba being the bride. I felt any of the Quints being the bride would've made for a satisfying (if tragic) story. However, how the author got there was the killer for me that made me give an 8 for the story, unlike the 10s I gave for everything else. Simply put, for 85% of the story, Yotsuba had minimal development and spotlighting as a character. A random guy on Reddit can elucidate better than me:

"I would suggest that all five of the quints have evidence leading to them being the bride. The only reason why we're seeing plenty of evidence for Yotsuba alone is because we're reading the conclusion back into the prior chapters.

I see this as basically a murder mystery in which five different people all stabbed the same victim but then the author retracted the evidence for four of the murderers because there's only one murderer.

While that retains the mystery before the conclusion is revealed it makes it so that you have four knives covered in blood at the scene of the crime that are unexplained unless you read the conclusion back into those murder weapons. I.e. "There's only one murder weapon because there's only one murderer." (The evidence/development of the murder mystery didn't lead you to that conclusion. The conclusion led you to that evidence. It's backwards.)"

And I can't agree more. There's well... very little chemistry between Yotsuba and Futaro, in comparison to the other quints, and chapters dedicated to developing Yotsuba, and her relationship with Futaro. Compared to Miku, Nino, Ichika, or even Itsuki, she felt way more like a supporting character than a main one. When I watched the anime, I genuinely didn't feel that she was even a LI for Futaro because they cut *one* chapter. That's it. It felt more or less completely platonic for the overwhelming majority of the time. Even reading the manga which included more scenes putting her as an actual LI, I still thought to the end it would be one of the other girls.

Let's compare her character development with that of her sisters.

Ichika's torn between her role as eldest, looking after all her sisters, and her love for Futaro for which she'd knowingly hurt her sisters (emotionally) by being "selfish", willing to lie and scheme for the man she loves to that end even if it hurts her sisters and herself. Eventually reconciles these conflicting wants and desires by wanting Futaro; being willing to accept his love if he chooses her, while not interfering with her sisters' plans for him and letting him judge for himself.

Nino starts off as completely unlikeable, but we see her grow as time goes by and she gets a redemption arc that emphasises her overwhelming love for sisters which manifests as first as hate for Futaro, but eventually grows to include him as well once she understands his love and care for her sisters.

Miku's character arc is about her growth as a person, starting with her self esteem issues and lack of confidence and eventually culminates with her breaking out of her shell and becoming more than "the quiet one", all motivated by her love for Futaro. This is the "traditional shy girl" trope, except done well.

Itsuki's the most interesting one because she's the one that shows the most independent character growth (separate from her character development with Futaro) among all the quints. She finds her own path, thinks about their mother's legacy and decides what's right for herself. She as a character is the quint most going on separate from Futaro in that she never even gets to confess, but is instead presented as separate from her sisters, which was why despite rooting for Ichika, I 100% thought she would be the one to win.

Yotsuba? Well, her arc is like Itsuki's, sans the independent character development. She shares moments with Futaro, but the majority of these are ones shared by the rest of the quints, and she barely gets any independent development like Itsuki. In the beginning, she's the stupid one. In the end, she's still the stupid one. Yes, she does play a role as "Rena" and the one who he met 5 years ago who was his motivation for change but those things are overshadowed by her sisters.

But simply put, while the case for her being the one Futaro falls for isn't weak, her sisters' cases are far stronger. When I first read the reveal, I thought there was a twist coming, (which would've made it even worse) because it was such a... weird development. Ichika, Nino, and Miku had solid development as love interests, whereas Itsuki stood out while being similarly developed. Yotsuba while a great character, was criminally underused for the role she played.

The conclusion of "the Yotsuba route" 100% felt it was rushed to completion. Again, any of her sisters would've felt more in place with being chosen, and that's not the fault of the timing, but rather, how it was framed the entire time.

I personally cope by telling myself that the ending was a subtle harem ending, because I don't care how close you are with your sisters, no one goes on a honeymoon with someone other than your spouse, especially with sisters who still haven't moved on from your husband in five years, the husband that also loves them.

Now to the positives.

Every girl is best girl. I can't stress this enough. Every quint has her own unique personality, struggle, and development that makes you want to root for them. I mainly rooted for Ichika despite knowing it was more or less a lost cause from the start. (Archetypical onee-san never gets the guy, and I was right). Any girl winning would've been bittersweet at best simply because of how likeable all the characters were.

The character development and interactions for the rest of the Quints are simply great. You simply "get" how much they've grown and developed through the series.

The art, panelling, writing are all terrific. Even the ending could've gone much worst judging from other anime. Finishing it, it's more a sadness about how both this amazing series is over, and how it could've been even better.

After being dedicated to this story for so long, I was ecstatic to finally pick up the last few copies and finally get to see who is the lucky bride. Every turn of a page got me more excited as I tried to guess out who it might be. I finally reach the end-all moment… the next page will reveal it all… wait… stop. No… no feckin way. You’re feckin kidding me right mate?

^That’s probably what you’ll experience reading this manga^

*Semi spoilers ahead*
(To understand some of the things I’ll rant about, the story revolves around the situation that the MC tutors quintuplets and it’s ... revealed early on that he will marry one of them.)
Alright, so, I can’t rate this entirely on its ending, no matter how disappointing to me it was (more on that later). To start, please believe me when I see this is a damn good story. I’m not much for harem manga/anime so I was not expecting to be so engrossed in this as much as I was but, damn. If a single volume of a story leaves an impact and multiple thoughts in my head after finishing it, I know it’s good (to me at least), and this one did not disappoint. Every volume would put a smile on my face and excited for more. Holy shet did the surprises actually surprise me too. Whenever some revelation came to, I would actually throw down the book and pace around whispering, “Holy shet, wow… oh my-,“ you get the point. The only reason I did not enjoy it more was because of its ending. Everything was going great, the story was coming to a close and I was touched by all the conclusions written for each sister, but to then have the MC choose the sister that probably had the LEAST development out of all of them… that really killed the mood for me. It’s not because my favorite girl didn’t win or anything, it’s simply for that fact I just stated– that the chosen sister has the least amount of development and special “moments” with the MC. When I first saw the page that revealed it, I could not believe it. I surely thought that it was a joke and that the real chosen sister got messed up some how. Unfortunately, that’s not what happens. It was almost sad afterwards too, because the creator, Negi Haruba, even goes as far to write an entire volume worth of chapters to show us the after effects of the MC’s choice. Seeing the other sisters who were so dedicated to the MC (and should’ve had a much better feckin chance) get crushed by this defeat is absolutely heart wrenching. I think it would’ve been fine if it were a different sister, but because it was the lesser one that was chosen, it just made it seem really sad and upsetting to see the other sisters’ internal conflict with the MC’s choice. Of course, they all “accept it” in some way later because you have to have a happy ending or some bullshite, but dammit Negi Haruba… why the hell did you end it like this?

Moving on, never have I seen so much development in a harem before. You have a cast of characters that are all lovable and have real plot (not that other kind of plot, if you catch my drift, but don’t worry there is still plenty of that) and growth to each of them. The MC was not entirely dense as is common with these. He has his… ahem… special… moments, we’ll call ‘em, but it is clearly revealed that he does have a sense for what is going on around him in the romantic area. This is shown during moments of confession by certain sisters when he doesn’t seem entirely oblivious to their feelings and WOW… he has feelings too? By far the most entertaining characters I’ve seen in awhile and their stories just really sucked me in.

The only reason I did not rate lower or come to despise this manga, is because of the journey I had while reading it. Truly, it was not about the destination in this story (because that shet was disappointing af) but the hype and development leading up to it, even if it turned out to be for nothing, is what made this manga so damn good. Don’t let the stuff about the ending stray you from reading and/or watching this series though. It was so much fun to read and watch and I don’t regret doing so, but before you get real engrossed in this, just remember to not expect an ending that will blow you away or deliver half as well as the rest of the story did. That might save you some of the disappointment.

I still really had fun reading this manga and will stand by my high rating, because I won’t let 10 bad chapters out of 100-something change the fact that I really enjoyed the hell out of this series. So if you want a harem with a twist, cute girls with big bonkhonagahoogs, and a captivating story unique to its field… then The Quintessential Quintuplets may be a read for you.

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

Quintessential quintuplets is definitely one of the best harem romance manga's out there.

Unlike most harems, quint has a objectively good ending where the mc chooses 1 girl seriously. This ending is actually pretty good story-wise, and subjectively, i loved it. You get teased at the ending throughout the series about who wins. The story is consistent and moves forwards well, all the girls get around the same amount of attention and personal arcs. Overall all the characters get character development which is satisfying to see if your best girl didn't win. Some ppl dislike the ending mostly because they say it doesn't make sense, ... but that's just them not paying attention to every little thing that all the girls have done during the series.

The art is pretty good and clean, there aren't many different art styles, but its generally nice to look at, and the volume covers are actually stunning.

The characters are not only consistent from the very beginning, but their roles are perfectly balanced, each character get development throughout the story, some early, and some late, but they all get their own time to shine. The author does a good job of making each of the characters diverse, and likable, obviously there will be some girls that most ppl will hate and some that everyone likes, but that's just degenerate taste.

My enjoyment grew every chapter, i watched both seasons of the anime and i still reread all the chapters ive already seen, but it was still a great read. The ending is sudden but at the same time stretched out, and because my best girl one i obviously was overjoyed.

Overall Quint is going to be one of my favorite mangas for a while, the story is captivating in the first couple of chapters, its gets deeper quickly, and each character gets a happy and satisfying ending.

*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's ... opinions 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.

Come on. After reading this I was very pissed off about my life, the ending sucks, at least the ending of who he ends up with, the ending was very well done and very complete, the problem was that he ended up with the worst sister ever, it really was a tragedy, I wouldn't have read the last chapter if I knew that. I would have stopped there at 100 and it was good, but it wasn't like that and it had the worst possible ending. The story is good, it excites you in many parts, you root for him to stay with the best ... sister all the time, until he gets to the end and discovers the bullshit that was done in the end... But until it ends, it's very good. It's a lot of fun and it goes by very quickly, you read on and notice that it's over. The romance is going very well with the sisters that it would be worth having an ending, they all have their own personality and do what they want so they end up with it in the end, whether we agree with the way or not, they all give their best, except the worst sister. The end ends up being very neat, I liked it. I hope the anime changes the ending, but anyway, thanks to read, the quintuplets are a lot of fun and it's nice to watch it.

Vamos lá.
Depois de ler isso eu fiquei muito puto da minha vida, o fim é uma porcaria, pelo menos o fim de com quem ele termina, o fim ficou muito bem feito e bem completo, o problema foi ele terminar com a pior irmã de todas, realmente foi uma tragédia, eu não teria lido o ultimo capitulo se soubesse disso. Eu teria parado lá no 100 e já estava bom, mas não foi assim e teve o pior final possível.
A historia é boa, te empolga em muitas partes, você torce para ele ficar com a melhor irmã todo o tempo, até chegar no fim e descobrir a besteira que foi feita no fim... Mas até acabar, é muito bom. É bem divertido e passa bem rápido, você vai lendo e repara que acabou.
O romance anda muito bem com as irmãs que valeria a pena ter um fim, todas tem uma personalidade própria e fazem aquilo que querem para elas terminarem com ele no fim, concordemos ou não com a forma, todas dão o seu melhor, menos a pior irmã.
O fim acaba sendo bem arrumado, eu gostei. Espero que o anime mude o fim, mas de toda forma, valeu ler, as quíntuplas são muito divertidas e é legal de acompanhar isso.

I read Go Toubun no Hanayome and that was amazing. It is different from other comics in three ways.

1) Main character
The main character Futaro is very cool. In most romantic Japanese comedies, the main character tends to be foolish and bad at guessing others' feelings, especially romantic feelings. That is a little bit weird. However, Futaro has a good ability to guess others' feelings. That is nice. Also, Furtado is very smart. That is also a big difference with other romantic comedies. He has pride and confidence. The other typical characters don't have that. He is very cool.

2) Break typical scenarios
In most of ... the Japanese romantic comedies, there are typical stories. One of them is that when the heroine confesses her feeling or something to the protagonist, because of some accidents, he doesn't hear her. Similar things happen in Gotubun, but this was different. I don't want to give away a spoiler, so I can't explain more than that, but it was amazing. This comic is different from ordinary ones.

3) Focus on personality
The interesting thing is that the heroines are quintuplets. That means all of them have almost the same faces. We can't identify them from appearance. For this reason, the comic book focuses more on the characters' personalities. Futaro has to decide on one person, of course, but this is not because of appearance but because of personality.

Well that was a journey.

This reading this manga is enjoyable.

The characters where likable.

And I am satisfied with the end ship.

Just because I didn't specifically routed for anyone.

... Actually I lied, I routed for Ichika to win up until ch.90.

I love the art too.

It is really appealing to the eye.

And the characters designs where nice too.

If not for the disappointing ending, I would have given it a 10/10

Overall I recommend you read this manga, if you are tried of this cookie-cutter shit mangas.

And lastly, don't listen to the community when reading this manga, they just got trolled lmao.

Story: A harem manga about a tutor who tutors (obviously) 5 quintuplets with similar looks but different personality's. Overall story is pretty good and progresses well but is relatively simple with the end goal being to marry futarro.

Art: THE ART IS SO GOOD, probably some of the nicest looking manga I've seen and the detail is great in the quints so overall not disappointing at all.

Character: Every one of the quintessential quintuplets has so much going for them as they all have unique personality traits and its really interesting to see them interacting with each other and the mc. So overall compared to other harem ... manga which does not give a lot of time for some of the characters this distributes the time equally.

Enjoyment: Although I am a hardcore otaku I think that this is a must read for anyone looking for a casual manga with exciting characters that just makes you want more.

Overall: Not perfect but definitely well made and it shows how much time the author spent designing every character.

P.S ITSUKI IS THE BEST GIRL DONT EVEN TRY ME

"They had us in the first half, not gonna lie" is a sentence that could perfectly describe the writing of 5-toubun no Hanayome. For the first 90 chapters, the manga was pretty good. It had some flaws obviously, but was very enjoyable and promised a great future.

But then, the festival arc came, and it only went down from here.

Also, massive spoilers ahead, you know the deal.

For the first half of the manga, I think we can all agree that it was pretty enjoyable. We were promised an ending immediatly, and we had to figure out what girl was going to marry Fuutarou based on the ... elements we were given throughout the manga.

To be fair with Negi, this must have been a tough story to tackle. Balancing a good amount of mystery with a good amount of romance, while developping 6 characters was definitely not an easy task, and oh boy did he fail at that.

The problem is that the more you work on the romantic side of the story, the more the mystery of who will win becomes obvious, and it was pretty obivous who would win. So when Fuutarou made his decision, I thought one of those two things would happen :

- He wouldn't chose anyone. A realistic assumption considering Fuutarou never showed any romantic interests towards any of the girls. And that would mean that he would chose a girl later in the story. Sadly there were only a handful of chapters left.

- Or he would chose Nino, the only realistic choice at that point. It wouldn't make any sense for Miku's character arc to be with him at that point, Ichika didn't stand the chance, and Yotsuba and Istuki were never in the race to begin with.

More than anything, I think Fuutarou's decision arrived much too soon in the manga. Like I said, he didn't seen to have any romantic interests, and it didn't make any sense for his character to make this choice at that point. He wasn't oblivious the the quints' feelings, but it didn't feel like he liked anyone. This manga needed at least 2 more volumes for Fuutarou to developp some romantic interests to give a satisfying ending to the story.

And just like that, he chose Yotsuba, even Shyamalan wouldn't make a plot twist this dumb.
I have no problem with Yotsuba winning the race in itself, I have a problem with how it was done and why Fuutarou chose her. There were ways to make any quint win in a satisfying way, but sadly this didn't happen.

For the whole manga, Yotsuba was pretty much a background character, and it didn't change one bit with this decision. She is exactly the same in the first chapter as she is in the last. A typical Genki girl that would be good a side character and a plot tool to make the story move, but lacks the depth to be a main character. She has no progression, no character arc, nothing. She doesn't even have a job in the last chapter of the manga, she just lives with Fuutarou, and that's it.

In the chapter after he made his decision, Fuutarou explains that he chose her because he would've collapsed long ago if it wasn't for her. Okay, fair enough, but how doesn't that apply to Miku and Itsuki as well ? Sure Yotsuba helped him get the quints together, but Miku and Itsuki did just as much if not more.

This ending is insulting. I don't have the slightest clue with Negi chose to do it this way. It just doesn't make any sense. If the manga really had to end quickly, it would've been better to make Nino the bride since it didn't need several volumes from that point to justify why they love would love eachother.
It wouldn't be a great ending but it would at least be satisfying.

After the festival arc, Nino even regressed in her character developpement when she gets heated over Yotsuba winning. Didn't she say that she would support anyone that wins ? Sure I can see her emotions getting the better of her like when she pushed Fuutarou in the water during the school trip, but at least make her regret the things she said to Yotsuba.

And during the wedding, she even cries when Fuutarou calls her during the last quint game ?? It's been 5 years and she's not over that already ?


This ending also leaves a lot of plot points unexploited.

Who kissed Fuutarou under the bell during the scrambled eggs arc ? Since Yotsuba won, it's supposed to be her, but it would be so out of character for her to do that. I guess you could say that she kissed him to make him see her sisters as potential romantic partners but that would be hard to believe. I think it as supposed to be Ichika, doesn't make sense for any other quint to kiss him in such a way.

Did Fuutarou learn that Yostuba was the girl he met 5 years ago and that Ichika didn't lie when she told him that she played with him ? I think that if Yotsuba has to be the bride, this should be a major plot point.

Did Fuutarou learn that Itsuki was playing Rena ? What was in her love charm that fell in the water ? What was the point of that story if it's left like that ?


Overall, 5-toubun no Hanayome was pretty enjoyable. The first 90 chapters were brilliant, Ichika, Miku and Itsuki had great character arcs and it was a very good premise.
Sadly, the ending was rushed and didn't deliver on the expectations. A very disappointing ending for what could have been the masterpiece of harem mangas.

Spoiler free review!

Gotoubun no Hanayome, ah...where do we begin. So much here has been excellently executed, yet a few of the most important parts were utterly destroyed. And it's a pity that despite being few in number, the problems are massive. My mind is literally all over the place as I'm writing this because this series had all the hallmarks to be truly special; and I don't mean this the way people did when talking about Nisekoi or whatnot. Gotoubun was literally amazing up to the final eight to ten chapters: what's utterly shocking here is how QUICKLY it stagnated. Feels like the story was ... cut short by at least 50 chapters, for reasons I simply cannot fathom.

Characters: 8/10

This for me, is where the Quintessential Quintuplets truly shines.

The work that Negi Haruba put into his characters prior to the end was truly a joy to read and experience, especially for characters such as Ichika, Miku, Yotsuba and Nino. The author manages to take these girls beyond the generic tropes you'd expect and actually craft human beings, with clumsy spats, interesting views and motivations together with the pangs of adolescent love and drama that tends to challenge their powerful bond as quintuplet sisters. Besides having great chemistry with themselves and making for some honestly very moving moments, most of the girls have great harmony (chemistry wise) with the protagonist of this story: Fuutaro Uesugi, who himself, is a fantastic character.

Futaro goes through the motions of a goal oriented achiever, who's stunted in many aspects of life. I love how his academic ability is chalked down to exceptional hard work ALONG with intelligence. Futaro's academic excellence is contrasted with an abrasive personality; he's rude, impatient, unable to consider others' views easily and intolerant towards failure. He isn't some protagonist that's just good at everything he does. Seeing this teenager grapple with his responsibilities to his family and his own deficiencies as a person is truly joyful to watch. Through his job tutoring these five Quintuplet heroines, the readers get to see Futaro become a more wholesome human being who learns the value of altruism and kindness, getting a genuine desire to help the young girls succeed in both their academic endeavours and their lives as a whole. The fact that these virtues grow within him and are not innate at the start of the series adds something to Futaro that most harem/romance protags lack — since they're almost all great, standup guys from the start.

Seeing this non dimensional teenager grow through the course of the manga was extremely rewarding. Brilliant character work.

While perhaps not as subtle and well played out as Futaro's, the characterisation of some of the Quintuplets comes close enough; with certain characters such as Miku and Nino going through very meaningful arcs, especially relatable for teenagers. The simple nature of their problems that isn't greatly exaggerated but is still enough to create conflicts makes for some great development with these two: and while I say it these developments aren't as profound as Futaro's evolution, I genuinely enjoyed how the author explored what made those two tick and act believably. Yotsuba has a good character plot throughout the story as well, though some viewers may throw the term 'predictable' around. Now I'm afraid I can't delve exactly into these details else I reveal spoilers; but these three girls stood out the most to me compared to their remaining siblings.

Compared to the storylines that develop Miku, Nino and Yotsuba; Ichika has a more controversial arc that brought huge character growth but that which may be interpreted differently by others. However it is arguable that due to the rushed nature of things, some of the characters simply did not receive equal treatment to Miku, Nino and Yotsuba; which really is regrettable, since both showed great promise at the start.


Art: 8.5/10

I really love the character designs on this one. Aside from being consistent throughout, the expressions the characters display are comical and fun to follow, with the infamous pouts becoming a regular fixture whenever anime/manga memes are mentioned. Again, it's very reminiscent of another manga with great expressions — Nisekoi. I also liked how every girl is made unique from the other even when they're without their identifying accessories or hairstyles: with enough practice and chapters under your belt, you'll be able to tell the Quints apart based on the slightest things: the shape of their eyebrows, the position of their eyes, their posture, their actions. Subtleties, just like how you can tell twins and triplets apart when you start spending more time with them. Nice details.

Story: 5.5/10

Now let's say we ignore the last ten chapters or so; the story would probably cap off at a 7.5/10. That's because this was always a story based on how the characters interact with each other and enjoying the fruits of those interactions. It's a waifu war story not just of love, but of growth and accepting oneself. Actual Fullmetal Alchemist levels of story and writing were not needed for this story to work, but despite that, somehow the author managed to derail his good work with such a rushed ending. I literally cannot emphasise how let down I feel with this ending; the closest comparison I can think of is Kubo Tite's Bleach, which derailed over a longer period but derailed all the same.

Gotoubun's end was sudden and the stagnation was equally shocking. Many suspected the story would take a pounding the moment it was announced that the story wouldn't even reach 130 chapters; which was shocking considering that one major character hadn't even had an arc yet. The author went through the motions nevertheless and left numerous loose ends, while also half assing an ending that kind of backtracked on some important moments of development. I do not know what Negi Haruba was planning, but he betrayed the good work he had done in the first 90 chapters especially. It's always disappointing when something so good you expect to never be able to fail, fails within a short time and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

So why do I still give the story an above average score?

Simply because I enjoyed the plot well enough until the closing few chapters. I don't have the heart to give it anything lower than a five, but that ending was truly atrocious. People who are about to pick this show up should suck in all the great moments because the final few chapters are probably, to most, atrocious.


Overall: 6/10

A good enough score, but this manga was poised to land in an 8.5 at very least, in my book. Great character work with Futaro, Miku, Nino as standouts; catchy art designs and a coherent, simple enough and fun to follow story manage to make up for an absolutely messy ending and questionable treatment of some of the development received by the characters. Overall, Gotoubun is well worth the read — there's a lot here that shouldn't be missed, but that can't make up for the fact that this was supposed to be the best harem/romcom in a long time.

And it simply could not live up to what it easily could have, and would have been.

OVERALL (8.5/10):
I enjoyed this series a great deal over all 122 chapters. Starting strong with an interesting concept and main cast, I was quickly enthralled with the 5 fold will they won't they concept as it unraveled. Each heroine has a unique personality that while following common templates to a degree, were made richer through their sisterhood and how connected their actions, emotions, and decisions were most of the time, adding a depth that was quite enjoyable.

After completing this series I can solidly say that it is a great Harem romance with (Minor but obvious spoiler: a single romantic partner at the end). The ... way story, art, and character worked in harmony meant for an extremely enjoyable read with no obvious weaknesses (beyond a sub-average ending for the series).

STORY (8/10):
As mentioned in the General Thoughts portion, I found the premise and general plot points to be almost exclusively quite good with the only detraction being somewhat lacking development during the choose your harem member portion. I, as many others have stated, believe another 1-2 volumes would have greatly benefited the audience in understanding the protagonist's thought process behind his decision and added some emotional impact behind it.

In general 4-toubun no Hanayome was able to infuse enough drama to spur growth and development without feeling like it was there solely to extend the series and was a great win for a genre where crazy dramatic turns are often thrown in.

ART(8/10):
The art is very consistent and quite good. I found that the background were really nice and that except for the quints, each character was distinct and easily identified at a glance, with good emotion and expression illustrations to match. Moreover, the occasional text-less spreads and panels were all really nice and still added to the story, emotion, setting, and overall enjoyment of the series.

The main detraction, as I see it was that in certain panels it could be quite tricky figuring out which quint is which when it was meant to be somewhat obvious; however, it is worth noting that as I continued to read it became really easy and I can understand the justification that the protag also went through the same difficulty.

Lastly, despite strong art, it was not exceptional in any field, I can think of better backgrounds, more detailed characters, more convincing expressions, and more clever panels in other series thus the very good but not great score of 8.

CHARACTER (8/10):
Enough development and attention was given to each heroine as I see it. Each heroine grew more distinct and likable as the story progressed. There motivations, decisions, emotions and reactions all felt earned in large part and I never found any noteworthy fault before the protag's final and major decision at the end which made sense but which, I felt, lacked the degree of emotional development behind it, that I would've liked.

One thing I did love about the series is that the protag is generally a good person though not some crazy philanthropist or saint, making him feel grounded and somewhat relatable. There was never a moment where I felt like I hated any MC like in other Romance series.

ENJOYMENT (9/10):
As a sucker for a good premise the culmination of each element of 5-toubun no Hanayome was something I continue to love even after a slightly rushed ending. Each moment of drama was engaging and motivated me to continue reading, I loved the heroines, and the occasional comedy was welcome and pretty good.



CONCLUSION:
I would definitely recommend this series to anyone interested in a less conventional romance series or one with an intriguing premise while not delving into ultra dramatic whirlwind relationships I've seen in a few other series.

I also want to say that harem romance that avoids common harem pitfalls and culminates in a one true love, this series is certainly among the best I've yet to read (and I've read and watched a fair few).

There is a lot to love in 5-toubun no Hanayome if you give it a shot!!