As established at the end of the last episode, Miku pays Nino a visit. Now that I got to calm down, I do understand Nino’s anger with Futaro/Kintaro. Not only did she find out that her crush doesn’t exist, the one assuming his persona is her least favorite guy in the world. That said, I’m still not willing to give Nino a pass as frankly, she blew the whole thing way out of proportion. I’m so glad then that Miku brings up the double standard to Nino’s grudge. How many fake outs have these girls pulled at this point? And to add onto Miku’s point, how many misunderstandings did any of them have with Futaro? Yeah, I think Nino can get over it.
Miku is a fitting choice for resolving Nino’s arc. Those two started the whole conflict in the first place, it falls on them to resolve it. I think it’s also important that Miku learns about Nino and Futaro’s conversation and have her continue what Futaro started. Miku and Nino are polar opposites and that puts Nino’s whole shtick about family on its head. Nino is afraid of the family drifting apart but differentiating from each other is part of growing up and that doesn’t necessarily change the fact that all five sisters still care about each other. It’s time that she let go of her ideal and move on. I think the show says it best with the whole tea metaphor it provides. Miku and Nino prefer different types of tea but as it turns out, both types use the same type of leaves. They’ve branched off but fundamentally, they’re the same. That nicely sums up the takeaway Nino should have about her dilemma.
Of course, it wouldn’t be character development without a haircut to go along with it! In all seriousness, Nino cutting her hair short is a pretty good visual for her character development. She mentioned in the last episode that she keeps her hair long because all the quintuplets used to do that. The old hairdo was her holding onto the past and by cutting, she finally lets the past go and accepts the reality of the present. If nothing else, I must admit that she’s rocking the short hair (but then again, character design is the least of Nino’s problems).
I am not the least bit surprised that Futaro’s plan to get Yotsuba out of the track team is having one of her sisters impersonate her. I mean, the plan has worked plenty of times before. Why fix what isn’t broken? Unfortunately, with Miku talking to Nino and Ichika heading off to check on those two, Futaro’s only option is Itsuki. I don’t know about you but I think Itsuki has a bad track record with impersonation. For crying out loud, Futaro has managed to catch her in the act. Twice even. So unsurprisingly, the track team captain sees through Itsuki’s ruse.
Fortunately, one of the other sisters make it in time to successfully impersonate Yotsuba. I find it cheeky that Futaro first assumes it’s Miku. Miku impersonating as Yotsuba is the first fake out any of the girls ever did in the series and I remember her being really darn good at it too. Ultimately, it’s Nino who comes to the rescue, her new hairdo coincidentally coming in handy here. Thematically speaking, Nino is the right one for the job. One thing I can’t deny about her is that she’s assertive and that’s the exact opposite of Yotsuba’s indecisiveness. Even though Nino successfully gets Yotsuba off the track team, she encourages her sister to talk to them. Nino is right: all of this could’ve been avoided if Yotsuba simply declined to help and Yotsuba needs to stand up for herself in general. An even better point Nino makes is that if she of all people can grow, surely Yotsuba can as well. Damn, that is really on point.
With Nino reunited with everyone, she of course reconciles with Itsuki and Futaro. I like that Nino owes up to her behavior and tells Itsuki that she doesn’t have to apologize. The two getting tickets for a movie they each excited for is a nice touch. Obviously with Futaro, Nino is less direct but she does make an interesting choice of words by admitting that she’s heartbroken but she doesn’t blame Futaro for it. Perhaps she’s realized that Futaro did not intend to hurt her by pretending to be Kintaro and that it kind of is her fault for contributing to that persona. Overall, I’m very pleased with this whole conflict turned out. It takes a bit of trudging because Nino is that much of a brat but I have to admit that it does pay off in a big and satisfactory way.
Unfortunately, the gang only has two days left to study for the finals. To the girls’ surprise, Futaro creates crib sheets for all of them to use. Obviously, there’s more to this than Futaro is letting on but for the time being, it taps into the girls’ desire to legitimately pass the tests and go along with the crunch that they’ll have to do. It’s pretty funny how softly Futaro asks Nino to accept the plan though what’s interesting is Nino actually agreeing to it. Given that her arc has been resolved, I see this as Nino finally coming around to liking the guy.
The finals then arrive and given the circumstances preceding it, the girls mostly achieve low scores again. They expect Futaro to give them an earful but to their horror, Futaro has resigned from the tutoring job and their father has banned him from entering their apartment. Replacing Futaro for the time being is Ebata (Yuuki Sanpei), the girls’ limo driver and a former educator. Futaro’s decision is surprising but it is understandable. He got a second chance and he promised results. Even though it’s not his fault per se, the results speak for themselves. Chances are, Futaro would’ve gotten fired anyway but the fact that he resigns says a great deal about him. He genuinely wants the girls to do well in school, so much so that he’s willing to get replaced by someone possibly more qualified than him.
While studying under Ebata, the girls decide to open their crib sheets, only to discover that they form a farewell message left behind by Futaro. Realizing that they still want Futaro as their tutor, the girls decide to make arrangements to get him back. Impressed with their growth, Ebata agrees to help. There are a couple of holes here. One, Futaro technically hasn’t vanished. He still goes to the same school as the girls so they can talk to him whenever. That said, I’ll give this a pass since the girls need to stick the landing and time it right. Two, they have Ebata dress up as a shady guy for a fake application form to trick Futaro into thinking they’re screwed. For whatever reason though, they still list his credentials so the form ends up backfiring on the girls. Come on, at least write down a crime or something.
I don’t know why they bothered making that form as the linchpin to their plan is easily its most persuasive component. The girls reveal to Futaro that they’ve rented a middle class apartment, largely thanks to Ichika making enough money from her acting. That’s a clever loophole around Futaro being banned from the fancier apartment. With the girls (and by girls, I really mean Ichika) paying for their own place, they’re free to let Futaro in however they want. More importantly, the fact that they’re willing to live out on their own and forego a luxurious lifestyle shows how much they want Futaro back as their tutor.
As a show of their resolve, the girls toss their apartment keycards into the nearby the river. Futaro impulsively jumps into the water to grab them. The girls jump in as well, technically to save Futaro but I think it symbolically works as a “we’re all in this together” kind of moment. The most interesting moment is when Futaro loses his good luck charm to the water. As he tries to grab it, Nino starts to drown. Obviously, Futaro chooses to saves Nino over an inanimated object but the symbolism is there. Futaro finds himself at a crossroad between his past and future and by saving Nino, he does what Rena wants him to do: let go of the past. As for Nino, she’s a bit shaken, not just from the near-death experience but also Futaro’s heroics. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationship between these two evolve from there.
Ultimately, Futaro agrees to the girls’ request. An important thing to note is that Futaro is returning voluntarily. The girls can’t pay him, either because they need their stepfather’s bank account or because Ichika is the only one with pocket change. Futaro is purely doing this simply because he likes the girls and they want to finish what they’ve started. Honestly, it’s a really exciting direction for the show. All five quintuplets are now on board with having Futaro as their tutor and Futaro is no longer tied down by the need to prove himself. The only goal on their minds is passing the next round of exams. Hopefully, third time’s the charm.
Watch The Quintessential Quintuplets 2 on Apple TV and Crunchyroll
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