Oh joy, a Nino focused episode. I’m so “excited”. Then again, it was looking to be the case from Episode 2 ended.
While cleaning himself up in the hotel, Futaro explains to Nino what happened to him at the lake. As established in the last episode, he meets the mysterious girl again, who introduces herself as Rena, and the two catch up while riding a boat. Rena secretly being one of the Nakano quintuplets is increasingly obvious as she is somehow already familiar with Futaro’s current situation and reacts suspiciously to Futaro’s talk of the girls. The conversation doesn’t shed light on what the promise Futaro and Rena made with each other though it’s implied that Futaro hasn’t lived up to. Thinking she’s tying Futaro down, Rena makes the surprising decision to disappear on him again, this time for good. She even goes as far as to take the photo of them from Futaro’s handbook. Futaro tries to reach out to Rena as she leaves, only to trip into the water, hence him being soaked at the end of Episode 2.
It’s still pretty hard to tell who exactly Rena is. There are some hints that it’s Itsuki. At one point, Rena repeats a certain line of dialogue Itsuki told Futaro earlier this season. Rena also hands over her good luck charm to Futaro and while all five sisters probably still have their copy of the charm, we know Itsuki has held onto hers. I still have a hard time believing it’s Itsuki considering her lack of recollection but if it’s a ruse, she sure is convincing. I didn’t think the show would do it but it would be an amazing tell if Rena namedrops one of the girls and talks about how cool she is.
Surprisingly, Nino mostly gets along with Futaro this episode (mostly). While Futaro cleans up, she makes some small talk with him and she becomes so invested in the story about Rena that she actually tries to cheer him up. Later, Futaro notices that Nino has actually held onto the study guide he made for her. Nino admits to working on the guide and she actually apologizes to Futaro for how she behaved during the last study session. Color me surprised. Of course, Nino still has to make things harder than it has to be so she refuses to apologize to Itsuki. I do get Nino’s reasoning. She’s in disbelief that Itsuki slapped her and she’s struggling to accept that her sisters has changed over time. I just want this to be over ASAP because that means less time I have to deal with Nino.
Having had Rena tell him to do the same, Futaro suggests to Nino that she should leave the past behind. Nino admits that she should do that but brings up that she’d still have one last loose end in her life: Kintaro. So in order to help Nino move on and reconcile with Itsuki, Futaro puts on the blonde wig again for a date in the hotel room (not like that). Even though it’s Nino, I must admit that it is pretty funny how she constantly runs off to call Futaro for info on Kintaro.
The dilemma Futaro faces in the date is how to end it. Either he somehow convinces Nino to give up on him or he pulls the wig off and admits the truth to her. Knowing Nino, the former is the safer approach but it’d be harder to execute than the latter. “Fortunately” for Futaro, Nino does the hard work for him as she actually deduces that him and Kintaro are one and the same. And since this is Nino we’re talking about here, she of course gets super mad at him so she drugs him and leaves the hotel while he’s knocked out. I guess all the good will Futaro tried to build this episode goes down the drain. Again Nino fans, I’m still waiting for when she gets good.
Having done all he could, Futaro decides to check up on Yotsuba during a track team meet. This subplot isn’t all that prevalent but because I don’t like Nino, I’m frankly more invested in this than I am with all the stuff going on with her. In a pretty funny moment, Futaro tries to quiz Yotsuba during practice but with his poor stamina, he can barely keep up with her. To Yotsuba’s credit, she has been studying and her retention has improved. The problem is her accuracy and with her being preoccupied with the track team, Futaro lacks the time to help her out.
I know I’m biased but I did get excited when Ichika and Miku started to enter the picture again. Props to Ichika for getting Yotsuba to admit that she wants to quit the track team and having Futaro listen in on it via a phone call. By getting confirmation, Futaro will have no qualms in getting Yotsuba away from the track team. As for Miku, she manages to locate Nino’s new hotel and decides to pay her a visit. It’s interesting that Miku takes it upon herself to tell Nino to shut up and give up, assuming that is what she’s doing. These two barely get along and if you want to bring up Futaro, they’re on the complete ends of the spectrum. That said, these two derailed the studies in the first place so it’s only natural for Miku to be the one to start patching things up.
Watch The Quintessential Quintuplets 2 on Apple TV and Crunchyroll
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