In a moment of freaking audacity, The Quintessential Quintuplets 2 does not immediately reveal which girl made Futaro ring the Bell of Vows. And despite interacting with all the girls in this episode, the show doesn’t leave a hint. Goddamn it. Since the show is refraining in this regard, I’m guessing the identity of the girl is going to be a big surprise. Come to think about it, there’s the possibility that the girl dressed up as Rena to make her identity even harder. Admittedly, it’s unlikely after Rena told Futaro to move on from her but I still think it’s possible. Surprisingly however, this is not the biggest WTF moment in this episode.
Anyway, we begin Episode 9 with Ichika telling everyone to stop mooching off of her and get jobs to help pay for their rent. If one of them doesn’t, they’ll have to move back to the old apartment. Admittedly, this was bound to happen. Ichika is exhausting herself as is. That said, I can’t help but think there’s an ulterior motive here. Like, maybe Ichika is finally doing this to physically divide the girls so that she has a better chance to have some alone time with Futaro. With what’s been going on with her as of late, it’s possible. Somehow however, this is not the craziest thing she does in this episode? And yes, I am foreshadowing here.
Yotsuba easily finds a job involving janitorial work, making good use of her athleticism. Itsuki meanwhile is still searching for one. As for Miku and Nino, they both apply for the same job at the bakery Futaro works at, Revival. Take a wild guess as to why they choose this place. Futaro’s boss (Kousuke Toriumi) agrees to decide via a cook-off and obviously, Nino wins. I figured for a while that Nino would eventually work at Revival. It seemed like such a perfect opportunity for her. In hindsight, I should’ve seen Miku trying to work there as well. No way she would go down without a “fight”. Despite losing the chance to work alongside Futaro, Miku is surprisingly undeterred and she decides to apply for a job at a neighboring bakery to improve her baking skills and increase her chances of getting Futaro to fall in love with her. As a result, Nino feels she hasn’t entirely won. I don’t believe Nino is aware that Miku is in love with Futaro though she clearly sees Miku as a rival to some extent and a very strong one at that.
At long last, the gang begins their third year at high school. Surprisingly, all five quints are in the same class as Futaro. It’s an excuse to make it easier for Futaro to interact with the girls though I do think it works in a symbolic sense, representing how close he has grown with the girls. Wanting people to see how cool Futaro is (and totally not to have some potential alone time with him), Yotsuba volunteers the two of them as the class representatives. I’m surprised Nino didn’t come up with this idea but I suppose she’d be at a massive advantage if she did and succeeded. Hilariously, the class is okay with Futaro being the male representative as he’s the best person in the room at telling the popular Nakano sisters apart. I never thought I see the day where Futaro is considered the best in this regard. There’s a weird moment where the class briefly speculates that the top student, Yusuke Takeda (Soma Saito), would be the male representative but not only does he not object to Futaro’s nomination, he disappears from the episode after he’s introduced. I have no idea what the deal is with this guy.
On her first day of work at Revival, Nino struggles to adjust to the restaurant’s hectic environment. Futaro consoles her by showing remnants of mistakes he’s made at Revival but while this does cheer Nino up, it also forces the two to discuss the awkwardness that has arisen from Nino’s confession. Futaro admits that he’s never had anyone confess to him so he can’t help but feel nervous and guarded around Nino. He never offers to give an answer to Nino’s confession though Nino stops him and promises that she’ll do whatever she can to prove that she loves him. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I really like Nino in this moment. She’s well aware that Futaro’s answer is going to be neutral at best. She’s been nasty to him in the past, she admits it and she owes up to it. It’s going to be an uphill battle to get Futaro to reciprocate her feelings towards him but she’ll do whatever it takes to change his mind. For a long time, I thought it was impossible for me to like Nino but with moments such as this, where she shows growth and determination, I must admit that she is starting to winning me over.
Towards the end of the episode, Futaro bumps into Ichika, who is chilling in front of a coffee shop and “definitely” not waiting to walk to school with him. One of Ichika’s projects has attracted some buzz so she’s wearing glasses to maintain some anonymity (though this obviously doesn’t help her at school). When Futaro spots the other four quints, Ichika requests that the two of them skip class. Bottom line here is that Ichika is vying for attention. She’s going out of her way to secure alone time with him and she’s jealous once Futaro begins to talk about her sisters. Even as the class flocks over to her as a celebrity, all she wants is for Futaro sing her praises (which he ultimately does, by the way). Trying to skip class with Futaro is pretty dumb as this is Futaro we’re talking about but Ichika stooping to that does show how desperate she’s getting.
Of course, if we’re going to talk about stooping, we got to talk about the ending. After school, Ichika disguises herself as Miku to avoid attention and Futaro mistakes her as Miku. Fearing that she’s not special compared to the other quints, Ichika decides to take advantage of her disguise by telling Futaro as Miku that Ichika likes him and that they would make a good couple. Now, that’s the WTF moment of this episode.
I probably should’ve seen something like this happening at some point. With how good girls are at impersonating at each other and how bad Futaro is at telling them apart, any one of the girls could easily pretend to be someone else and indirectly inform Futaro of their feelings towards him. The potential is irresistible so of course the show would do it. That said, there is no denying that this move is dirty. It might be the worst stunt any of the girls could do as it’s extremely advantageous, it preys on Futaro’s struggle to recognize the girls, and it’s incredibly unfair to the person the disguise is based on. It’s especially egregious that Ichika is pretending to be Miku as she’s well aware that her sister is in love with Futaro. I really like this moment for how ballsy it is but I must admit that it’s going to be hard to root for Ichika from this point on. It runs the risk of making her unlikable and I feel it’s setting her up for disaster.
So where will the show go from here? Will the next episode show the immediate aftermath or it will fast forward a bit in time like the show did with the Bell of Vows? I’m leaning towards the latter though if the show wants to make Ichika’s stunt crazier, it has a couple ways to do so. For example, it could have Futaro figure out that he’s not actually talking to Miku, putting Ichika in a very awkward and uncomfortable spot. Alternatively, it could have the real Miku walk into frame (and just by the dialogue alone, she would know that it’s Ichika). My trashy romcom senses can see this happening though it would definitely be disastrous.
Watch The Quintessential Quintuplets 2 on Apple TV and Crunchyroll
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