The penultimate episode of Season 2 begins with Itsuki looking at Futaro and Rena’s old photo before Yotsuba walks in. The two then meet up with Futaro and Raiha at the mall. Raiha brings up that the school trip will be at Kyoto so maybe there’s a small chance that Futaro will run into Rena, who Raiha describes as Futaro’s first love. Yotsuba gets curious what the two are talking about, forcing Futaro to explain a bit of his backstory to her. The whole plot thread with Rena bookends this episode so I’ll save my two cents for the end of this post (but believe me, there’s plenty to unpack here).
On the train ride to Kyoto, the quintuplets play with cards. Miku confides in Yotsuba that she’s successfully made lunch for Futaro. Ichika proposes for the last round of cards that the winner can make the losers do whatever they want. Obviously, this is a ploy to make it easier for her to spend some alone time with Futaro. It’s the kind of underhanded tactic that Ichika would use though it is gamble and it does backfire on her as Yotsuba comes out as the winner.
Upon arriving in Kyoto, Nino overhears a camera flash and this becomes a recurring thing as the trip progresses. Later in the episode, Nino finds out on the internet that there’s a creep lurking around Kyoto, taking photos of touring students. Nino worries that she and possibly her sisters are being targeted by this person. I’m curious how this plays out in the next episode because right now, this show has enough drama going on so including a peeper in the narrative feels overkill.
Obviously, the first thing the girls do is follow Futaro. When they lose track of him on the crossroad at the bottom of a mountain, Yotsuba takes advantage of her victory in the card game by forcing Itsuki, Ichika, and Nino to go one path while she accompanies her on the other. I find it interesting that Yotsuba sides more with Miku. Maybe she just thinks that Miku needs more of a push compared to Nino and Ichika. Because Ichika sucks now, she deliberately sneaks away from Nino and Itsuki and makes it to the top ahead of everyone else. As if that’s not enough, she decides to don her Miku disguise so that she can fool Futaro once again. That’s an incredibly risk move considering that the real Miku is nearby but then again, I think Ichika stopped being reasonable a couple episodes ago.
Sure enough, Yotsuba arrives with the real Miku and the two discover Ichika’s plan. Yotsuba calls Ichika out on sabotaging Miku’s confession but Futaro overhears this when he arrives, resulting in Miku running away in tears. Itsuki and Nino arrive and Nino proceeds to tear into Ichika when she realizes what her sister tried to do. An argument where I’m siding with Nino? Pinch me, I must dreaming. Joking aside, Nino is in the right here. While she can’t deny that both her and Ichika are trying to win Futaro’s heart at all costs, the fact remains that she didn’t abuse Miku’s trust in her. Nino loves her sisters so even with some of competing against her, she’s trying to beat to win fair and square rather than cheat her way into victory. I also buy Nino’s claim that she’d be happy if Ichika wins. Even if she loses, at least one of her sisters is happy and she’s learned over the course of the series that things won’t necessarily go her way and she has to accept that. It still feels surreal to say but I honestly am rooting for Nino more than Ichika right now.
As they head back to the hotel, Futaro admits to Yotsuba that he’s been aware of Miku’s feelings towards him for some time. Futaro may be dense but given some of his past scenes with Miku, he had to suspect something. This reveal does make me wonder why Futaro never responded to Miku’s feelings. I suppose it’s the same case as with Nino. He’s not used to a girl being in love with him and once Nino confessed, he was probably more unsure of what to do with Miku. The conversation then shifts over to Yotsuba. There’s an interesting conundrum made here as Yotsuba wants everyone to be happy but after she failed her previous school’s remedial exam, she feels that her sisters deserve to be happier than her, thus contradicting her former claim. Futaro whatever action Yotsuba makes, even if it’s inaction, it’s impossible for her to make everyone happy. More on this later.
The next day, Nino stays behind to talk to Miku, who has holed up in their hotel room. Nino tells Miku that she will take advantage of her absence to make Futaro hers. That’s certainly something Nino would do but in a weird way, this is also her encouraging Miku not to give up and go down without a fight. I have to hand it to Nino. She wants to win and she didn’t always got along with Miku, but she wants to keep things fair between the two of them. The lack of Ichika in this scene is interesting. Maybe she really is taking advantage of Miku’s depression though after Nino picked a bone with her, I’m hoping she isn’t. That would be a new low for her.
Parallel to that, we have Futaro visiting the temple of Kiyomizu-dera with Itsuki and Yotsuba. Itsuki has Yotsuba take a picture of her and Futaro in similar fashion to Futaro’s old photo of him and Rena. Between this, the beginning of the episode, and the scene from last episode with the box, Quintessential Quintuplets really had me thinking that Itsuki is Rena. It’s still possible that she did dress up as Rena in Episodes 2 and 3 but it turns out that the girl in the old photo is not her but Yotsuba instead. The only reason Itsuki replicates the photo is to get Futaro and Yotsuba to talk about their encounter six years ago. I’m surprised that Yotsuba is Rena as she didn’t make much of a reaction when Futaro talked to her at the beginning of the episode. She probably didn’t go by Rena but the overall story should’ve sounded familiar to her. Then again, if Yotsuba knew all along, she might’ve been hiding it since the beginning of the series so it probably wasn’t hard for her to fake a reaction.
Now, what exactly does Itsuki aim to do here? She tells Yotsuba that she should tell Futaro the truth but I’m guessing it’s not just for the sake of transparency. Does Itsuki think Yotsuba has loved Futaro all this time? Does she want her to throw her in the ring? I suppose if Yotsuba loves Futaro, and if she has felt that way for so long, she deserves a fair chance just as much as everyone else. That said, the ring is messy enough as is and while Yotsuba clearly likes Futaro, it’s not explicitly confirmed if she loves him. There’s also the matter of whether or not Yotsuba wants to. I don’t agree with it but Yotsuba is willing to let her sisters be happier than her. The fact that she is Rena might also put her at an advantage and it may result in her winning and leaving everyone else unhappy.
Watch The Quintessential Quintuplets 2 on Apple TV and Crunchyroll
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