The Quintessential Quintuplets is back one last time with a special adapting missing content from the manga source material. The special screened earlier this year in Japanese theaters as a single entity though for television, it’s been split into two episodes. I’m going by the TV edit so I’ll be covering the special in two posts. As of writing this post, the special isn’t officially available for streaming in the US so I did have to put on my pirate hat and look for a fansub.
Getting to this special feels pretty weird. The real finale to the anime is the movie and this special takes place before it so I have to rewind my headspace a bit. I saw the movie for the first time pretty recently so it’s kind of hard to look at the cast the same way I did pre-movie (especially for a certain someone). Honestly, it’s silly that the production committee greenlit an adaptation of some, if not all, of the missing content after the staff adapted the manga’s ending. Like, I’m glad they ultimately reversed the decision to cut stuff but they could’ve also done the simple thing of adapting the table scraps along with the full course meal. But whatever, this is how the cookie has crumbled and I can let it slide if the special turns out to be good.
We have yet another change in studios. Tezuka Productions did Season 1. Bibury Animation Studios did Season 2 and the movie. For the special however, we have Shaft at the helm. Apparently, Shaft helped Tezuka Productions for an episode of Season 1 so the producers probably had them up for consideration since then. The new art style isn’t as drastic as it was with Season 2 in comparison to Season 1 but you can tell that a different studio worked on this and Shaft’s usual flairs do show up here and there. Honestly, given Shaft’s pedigree, the special is probably the best Quintessential Quintuplets has ever looked, more so than the stinking movie finale. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Chronologically, the special appears to mostly take place between Season 2 and the movie. Futaro (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) and the Nakano quintuplets have just concluded their field trip to Kyoto and are about to begin their summer vacation. Curiously, this first episode ends with Futaro asking the girls if they want to go to the pool with him, which is briefly shown at the beginning of the movie. That kind of makes me wonder where the second episode will fit in the timeline but at least with the first episode, those who would prefer to go by chronological order can safely watch it between Season 2 and the movie.
With summer vacation arriving, Futaro announces that he’ll take a break from tutoring the girls. Considering that we all get stupid after vacation, letting the girls put their studies on hold sounds like a risk to me. Then again, Futaro could use a mental break from dealing with the girls’ shenanigans on a presumably daily basis. Among the girls, Nino (Ayana Taketatsu) isn’t particularly troubled by the news as she works at Revival with Futaro. However, the plot quickly realizes this advantage over the other quints as the manager of Revival (Kousuke Toriumi) injures his leg and inadvertently throws a wrench at Nino’s agenda. The only time Nino sees Futaro before the trip to the pool is when they visit the manager at the hospital.
Apparently, Futaro has been reading a book on romantic advice. I suppose that’s meant to be foreshadowing to what he ultimately does in the movie. One piece of advice the book gives Futaro is to pull someone towards a relationship if pushing them doesn’t work. Nino might’ve read the same book as she spends the day pushing Futaro’s buttons. Considering that she’s one of the residential tsunderes in the Nakano family, this act comes pretty naturally to her. The problem with this however is that she’s been pushing Futaro’s buttons since Day 1 so the guy is more annoyed than endeared even when he infers what she’s up to. Eventually, Nino panics and while she doesn’t explain what just happened to Futaro, the two do reconcile afterwards.
I’m not fond of how Nino behaved back in the day, as integral as it is to her arc, but it is fun seeing her act like this again. There’s a lot to like here: the fact that Nino thought this was a good idea, the plan backfiring on her, and her immediate regret and embarrassment that contrasts to how she used to take every opportunity to pick on Futaro. All of it is really funny. By far the funniest bit is when Nino thinks to herself that this is the first time she’s been mean to Futaro and the show fills the frame with snippets of her in Season 1 and the early episodes of Season 2. Clearly, this girl remembers the past differently than I do. To be fair, she is in love so I can see how her feelings can cloud her memories.
In the second half of the episode, we see Futaro taking Raiha (Natsumi Takamori) to the beach. Raiha hopes to run into the Nakano sisters there but to her chagrin, all of her brother’s classmates show up except for the ones that actually matter to her. The day still proves to be a fun one, with Futaro enjoying some of the usual beach games with his classmates. The show did skim a little over Futaro getting along with his class and the positive effect the Nakano sisters has had on his social life so it’s nice to have a more extensive look at those plot threads.
As for the quintuplets, they don’t show up at the beach as they’re preoccupied with moving their stuff back into their old apartment, due to the other one getting torn down. While sifting through items, the girls come across a drawing by a little girl named Kiku (Satomi Arai), the daughter of Ichika’s agent Oda, and they reminisce when they had to babysit her with Futaro. As evidenced by Nino having long hair, this flashback takes place during Season 1. I kind of figured that the special might be jumping across time but at least with the framing device, the show can present this scenario while still allowing you to watch this episode between Season 2 and the movie.
This scenario doesn’t necessarily advance the essentials so it probably was an easy omission during the production of Season 1. That said, it does present an interesting perspective on the main characters’ lives. Kiku tells Futaro, Miku (Miku Ito), and Ichika (Kana Hanazawa) that her mother ditched her father for someone else. She tries to toughen up but Futaro tells her that she has every right to feel lonely and he encourages her to be honest with herself. Considering that Futaro and the Nakano girls lost their mothers, this scene kind of offers a glimpse at how the main characters have come to terms with their loss.
Drama aside, this scene is also a fun one. Kiku has her babysitters play house and when she asks Futaro to play as the father, Miku and Ichika become a bit too eager to act as the mother. I know this takes place during Season 1 but it’s weird reverting back to when the race was just between those two and when Ichika didn’t do the worst thing ever. It wasn’t the best era in the story but I can’t deny that it was a simpler time.
As mentioned earlier, this episode ends with Futaro inviting the girls for a trip to the pool. Naturally, almost all of the girls are keen on the idea. The only one who isn’t is Itsuki (Inori Minase), who was hoping to keep the peace between her sisters. Oh Itsuki, you should give up while you have the chance. This scene leads directly into the movie, which briefly shows the trip at the beginning. That said, there is still another part left in the special. I wonder what else is left for the show to share.
OP: “5-toubun no Mirai” by Nakanoke no Itsutsugo
ED: “Takaramono” by Nakanoke no Itsutsugo
Xenodude Scribbles 