The Quintessential Quintuplets – Ep. 2

So, I was originally planning on watching The Quintessential Quintuplets and comment on it briefly on a Lightning Round. Why am I giving it another dedicated post then? Well, it turns out that I actually have a lot more to say than I expected…because I think I’m starting to really like this show now. I’m stumped, to be honest. I mean, I like the premiere about as well as I probably could as a non-harem guy but I still didn’t think I’d enjoy the second episode about as much as I did. Simply put, this was really good.

If you recall from reading my First Impressions post, I expressed skepticism over the fact that apparently, all five quintuplets are dumb. This does justify the need for Fuutarou to tutor all of them but where I was concerned was whether or not this meant Quintessential Quintuplets would skim over their academic strengths and weaknesses and only focus on their stock personalities. Turns out, the show is actually going in the direction I’d prefer. Fuutarou notices from a mock test he gives, only girl answered each question correctly resulting in a combined score of 100 and suggesting that if the girls pool their knowledge together, they’ll overcome their flunking streak. From there, Quintessential Quintuplets has Fuutarou getting to know each girl and what their interests are one by one, starting with the quiet one, Miku (Miku Itou).

Miku, by the way, is so goddamn likable. Honestly, she’s a big part of why I really enjoyed this episode. Part of that is me admittedly my own bias. I generally have a soft spot for very quiet and/or anxious characters. So moments such as when Miku asks to talk to Fuutarou in private and makes it look like a confession or when she actually tries to run away from a potentially awkward conversation with him has a lot of charm to me. I also just love that her apparent interest right now is Japanese warlord trivia. That’s so random and yet I buy it when she explains she became so interested from a video game she recently played, a quirky enough origin to match a quirky enough interest and a pretty relatable one at that.

That all said, it’s the developing chemistry between Fuutarou and Miku that really won me over. I find it particularly surprising that Miku starts off more knowledgeable about warlord trivia than Fuutarou. Not that such a subject would appear so often in his studies in the first place but it’s nice to know that Fuutarou isn’t just some know it all. He might be smart and fit to be a tutor but even he has his limits. And while he does kind of study warlord trivia to spite Miku (the last thing he wants to be called is uninformed), he also does it to prove how serious he is about tutoring her which Miku does come to recognize. It’s also nice how Fuutarou acknowledges Miku’s interest in warlords as a strength. True, the first time he tells Miku to have pride in what she likes is just sweet talk but towards the end, he genuinely means it and even tells her to take it as a sign that she can do well in class if she puts her mind into it. All in all, this is a really good start to their relationship and while I don’t want to say I ship it just yet (time will tell how the other girls will fare), I must admit that Miku might’ve set the bar high.

There’s only one scene in this episode that I didn’t get and that was when Miku disguises herself as Yotsuba and Fuutarou actually falls for it. I still found the scene funny but…seriously, Fuutarou? All Miku did was put on a bow similar to Yotsuba. Are you sure, you’re that smart?

Maybe Quintessential Quintuplets got lucky with this episode but if that is the case, I hope its luck won’t run out just yet. It’s shaping up in a direction I can be behind and if there’s more episodes like this one, then I’m all for it.

ED: “Sign” by Aya Uchida

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Thanks for reading!

The Quintessential Quintuplets is officially available on Crunchyroll.

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