The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie: An Anime Movie Review and Reflection

I know you’re scared and your pain is imperfect
But don’t you give up on yourself
I’ve heard a story, a girl, she once told me
That I would be happy again

–Hold My Hand, Lady Gaga

In their final year of secondary school, Futaro and the Nakano quintuplets prepare for their school festival. Amidst the preparations, Futaro expresses that he’s fallen in love with one of them and indicates that he’ll make it known as to which of Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba or Itsuki’s his feelings are for. While the school festival ends up being quite a tumultuous affair (Nino had longed for their father to visit, while Ichika grapples with the fact a visiting lecturer, Mudō, is actually the Nakano quintuplet’s biological father, and Miku grows jealous Futaro’s hanging out with another girl), with Yotsuba collapsing from exhaustion as a result of having done too much. When the festival draws to a close, the Nakanos separate and head for five different places on school grounds, asking Futaro to meet up with the one he has fallen in love with. It turns out that Futaro’s fallen in love with Yotsuba, but she turns him down, feeling unworthy of being the only one of her sisters. She recalls how she’d first met Futaro and made a promise with him, but over time, lost confidence in her ability to keep it as her sisters began moving forward at their own pace. Futaro persuades her to be honest about her feelings, and Yotsuba tearfully admits that she’d been worried about the others in spite of the fact that she reciprocates Futaro’s feelings. After confirming to Nino and Ichika that his feelings are true, Yotsuba and Futaro begin dating, and at the playground they’d previously visited, Futaro proposes to Yotsuba. Five years later, Ichika’s become a full-fledged actress, while Itsuki’s become a teacher. The meet at the cafe that Miku and Nino have opened together, and here, they help pierce Yotsuba’s ears so she can wear the earrings their late mother had gifted to them. On the day of Yotsuba and Futaro’s wedding, the five quintuplets decide to play a game and see if Futaro can tell them apart. He has no trouble in doing so, and demonstrates how over time, he came to realise that there was more to life than just studying. He correctly identifies each of the five sisters and places a wedding ring on Yotsuba’s finger. Following the wedding, Ichika, Nino, Miku and Ichika help Yotsuba and Futaro pick a honeymoon destination, although much as they had with their graduation trip, they cannot all agree on a suitable place. Futaro smiles, recalling these old times with the sisters who’ve helped to change him, and with this, The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie is now in the books. The film acts as the conclusion to The Quintessential Quintuplets, and during its 136 minute runtime, crams a great deal of content into things to ensure the story is wrapped up in whole.

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie is a busier movie in that it also deals with how each of Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba and Itsuki come to terms with the fact that only one of them will be with Futaro, Miku’s becoming more open about how she feels towards others, Nino’s efforts to show their father that her dreams to be a pâtissier are viable, and the motivation behind Itsuki’s desire to become a teacher. The decision to include all of these secondary elements into the film in conjunction with the feature presentation, Yotsuba coming to terms with what accepting Futaro’s feelings would mean, create a movie that characterises just how many moving parts there are where relationships are concerned. At its core, The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie finally puts Futaro’s feelings into the open, and shows why of each of the siblings, he’s chosen Yotsuba. As it turns out, both he and Yotsuba had promised one another that they would study hard and become successful so they could look out for the people most dear to them. This is ultimately what pushed Futaro to excel academically, and while over the years, he’d lost sight of his original promise, reuniting with the quintuplets, and Yotsuba, helped him to remember why he’d been so focused on doing well for himself. Understanding the change Yotsuba wrought in him is why after all this time, Futaro treasures her the most strongly of everyone. On the other hand, Yotsuba hadn’t been quite as successful, and in her bid to be special, eventually saw herself as falling behind while her sisters had raced ahead, each with a clear picture of their own futures. As a result of this, Yotsuba saw herself as being unworthy of Futaro, even though the reality had been that, while perhaps not being academically inclined, she still retains the same desire to do well by those around her, and it is ultimately thanks to her promise with Futaro that set him on his present course. It takes a bit of a push to get Yotsuba to take that step forward, and in this way, The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie shows how falling in love is one of those instances in life where it’s okay to be selfish. The complex interplay of being selfish to be with Futaro, but also being selfless and being happy for the quintuplet who ends up with him forms the bulk of the tension in The Quintessential Quintuplets. Looking back, Yotsuba marrying Futaro follows well because of the five sisters, she’s the one that put up the strongest facade to cover for her own doubts. While the other sisters all eventually developed a stronger idea of what their futures entailed, Yotsuba had slowly fallen behind even though she’d been the one to spur everyone on. To give Yotsuba a reliable, ever-present source of support therefore would allow her to move ahead in her life, as well. The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie is therefore able to provide a definitive conclusion to the series; despite being a story with multiple moving parts, some of which did not receive more exploration, the film does a satisfactory job of answering most of the lingering questions I had following The Quintessential Quintuplets∬.

Screenshots and Commentary

• As memory serves, The Quintessential Quintuplets∬ finished airing in April 2021, and the film premièred in Japan back during May 2022, about a year later. I originally watched The Quintessential Quintuplets‘ first season back during August 2020, after I’d become curious to check the series out, and while things began on a reasonable solid note, by the time I finished the first season, I was convinced that this was an anime worth my while. By this point in time, I’m familiar with all of the lead characters, and continue to be impressed with the all-star cast’s voice acting.

• The film opens a ways after the class trip seen in the second season, dropping viewers right into the midst of a culture festival. In Japanese secondary education, the culture festival is a culmination of one’s social experiences, combining camaraderie with one’s class and the total experience one accrued through their club activities to create one final memory of school before one sets their sights on the future. Many anime thus place a great deal of emphasis on culture festivals because they represent a time where students are allowed to channel their efforts towards something besides their academics.

• The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie is structured in a novel way: it is interspersed with flashbacks, and the culture festival is broken down into five distinct acts, one for each of the Nakano quintuplets. Each of these happen concurrently, giving each of Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba and Itsuki screen time as they navigate the culture festival and manage their feelings for Futaro. There are multiple overlapping stories that take place during the culture festival, and I recall writing previously that a third season of The Quintessential Quintuplets was probably necessary to adequately cover everything.

• As it turns out, I get to stand by these old assertions – the culture festival sees Nino finally earning her father’s approval in her future plans, has Itsuki confronting doubts surrounding her reasons for becoming a teacher and sees Miku finally becoming more assertive. However, each of these stories are condensed into a vignette that shows different sides of the same three days, and as a result, there’s not a large amount of space to explore the significance of each of these stories. From what The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie shows, however, it is clear that Ichika, Nino, Miku and Itsuki all have a very concrete plan for their respective futures.

• I imagine that this is why the film was structured the way it was; each of these sub-stories are important and do help the characters to grow, but at the same time, it also hints at the fact that, despite how deeply Ichika, Nino, Miku and Itsuki love Futaro, they also have something that they can devote every fibre of their being to. Losing Ichika isn’t enough to prevent these four from achieving their goals, so it was probably decided that these moments just needed to be shown and tied together so the film could focus on Futaro’s choice.

• The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie has a runtime of 136 minutes, but a full one cour season would offer a minimum of 240 minutes. With double the space, there is no doubt that a third season could have given some of these side stories more emotional impact: one episode to set the stage, followed by a full episode for each of the quintuplets would’ve given sufficient time to cover the culture festival, and subsequently, the remaining six episodes could then deal with Futaro’s kokuhaku, Yotsuba’s struggle to accept it and how things get smoothed over.

• The only logical argument I can think of for a movie format is that it would provide a single cinematic experience for viewers, acting as a swan song to The Quintessential Quintuplets. The longer runtime and extended budgets that anime movies have often allow them to tell stories at a much larger scale. However, having seen the remaining story through The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie, it does feel that the movie format may not have been strictly necessary, and a third season would’ve been able to yield an equivalent emotional impact.

• For me, I prefer television seasons over movies even though the latter often have improved production values – anime movies do not follow a consistent release pattern because Japanese distributors aim to maximise domestic profits, and it is more profitable to charge viewers exorbitant amounts for a theatrical screening than it is to make a film available on a streaming service or releasing them to disks. The end result is that films now take an average of eight months to come out, and the better a film does at the box office, the longer it’s kept in theatres. From a business standpoint, this is perfectly logical, and overseas viewers like myself have grown accustomed to waiting long periods for films to come out.

• However, some viewers feel compelled to fly over to Japan, or even more there, so that they can be the first to watch a film, have an opinion on said film, or even spread spoilers online for e-cred. I’ve never understood this sort of behaviour: spending thousands of dollars to watch an anime film solely for the purpose of making a few Wikipedia edits, forum posts or Tweets spoiling experiences for others appears irrational. Individuals like these degrade the anime movie experience, and one of the challenges that I face is avoiding spoilers shortly after a film is released in Japan.

• In the case of The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie, I was able to avoid spoilers for the duration of the wait, and for this, I was met with a film which, while not strictly needing the silver screen format, was one that still proved to be a satisfying conclusion to the series. After the culture festival ends, the film finally enters its endgame. I’d long known that Yotsuba would end up with Futaro – when I watched the first season, I hadn’t been too concerned with spoilers and therefore, had no qualms reading ahead to see what would happen. Of course, knowing the outcomes don’t really bother me quite as much as knowing how a story reaches the point that it does.

• Here in The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie, seeing how things came to be was the highlight, and while the series had done a fantastic job of leaving it ambiguous of who Futaro would choose right up until the end, as it turns out, the first season had not-so-subtly foreshadowed the outcomes. Of everyone, Ichika and Yotsuba had warmed up to Futaro the quickest, while Miku and Nino were cool towards him, and Itsuki was outright unresponsive. Looking further, The Quintessential Quintuplets had also shown Ichika as being more proactive than Yotsuba. Based on elimination, once Miku, Itsuki and Nino warmed up to Futaro, and since Ichika had always shown some interest, it follows that Yotsuba was unlike the others.

• As it turns out, Yotsuba had been the quintuplet that had run into Futaro long ago, and it was with her that he’d made his promise. Putting two and two together allowed me to accept Yotsuba as the one for Futaro – although each of Ichika, Nino, Miku and Itsuki are suitable candidates, they lack the same promise, and one of the smaller themes in The Quintessential Quintuplets is that it’s okay to lean on one another, so it followed that Futaro would begin falling in love with the quintuplet who’d motivated him to do his best for the future. However, if Yotsuba had immediately returned Futaro’s feelings, it would rather detract from the conflict that’d been building up until now.

• A fair amount of the conflict in The Quintessential Quintuplets stems from problems in communication, and I realise that I’m fond of saying in my posts that good communication is usually essential to managing conflict. When it comes to most problem-solving, I prefer being direct and open, but now, I understand why this isn’t always a method people are willing to take. Yotsuba loves Futaro, but she also loves her sisters and believes she isn’t worthy of Futaro. It takes a bit of nudging to get things to a point where she is confident enough to put herself first.

• Although Futaro’s been hanging out with the Nakano quintuplets for some time, there’s an aura of awkwardness surrounding their first few dates. This isn’t unexpected, as nerves will doubtlessly be present. The pair’s first date is to a family restaurant, which is admittedly different from the old standby, the local coffee shop, and then the local library. Along the way, the others end up following to make sure everything is going along smoothly. This is a classic gag, during which concerned parties tale the newly-minted couple to see what goes down, and while a long time ago, I would have said that I’d can spot a tail on a date, I’m not quite sure I’m confident I could say this claim holds true anymore.

• The day eventually sees Futaro and Yotsuba return to the playground where they’d previously shared a pivotal conversation. The Quintessential Quintuplets has an all-star casting, and Yotsuba is voiced by Ayane Sakura. Because I know Sakura best as GochiUsa‘s Cocoa Hoto, it’s a little difficult to shake the feeling that Futaro’s given a kokuhaku to Cocoa, and this thought similarly reminds me that I’ve been around the block long enough to know some of the key voice actresses now. This is actually how I’ve been telling the different quintuplets apart when they dress up as one another – while they may appear similar physically, their voices still sound different enough.

• When Yotsuba propel herself from the swing, Futaro promises that if he can reach a similar distance, he’ll pose a question for her. Although he fails, Futaro decides to press forward with proposing to Yotsuba anyways, surprising her. Yotsuba is right in that Futaro bypassed basically every step in the process and remarks that doing something this way would almost certainly send someone heading for the hills, were that person not her. With this in mind, this is the only other proposal I’ve seen in an anime besides CLANAND, where Tomoya proposed to Nagisa in a similarly sudden and unromantic moment. However, like CLANNAD, the strength of the feelings are such that this matters little, and with Futaro proposing to Yotsuba, things draw to a close as the quintuplets each prepare to pursue their futures.

• The end of 2022, and the arrival of 2023 has seen a few relaxing days: I spent the whole of New Year’s Eve tending to housework and the like so I could have New Year’s Day easy. During the evening, we had a family dinner whose centrepiece was a prime rib roast with roast cauliflower and fully-loaded mashed potatoes. We subsequently stayed up to midnight for the New Year’s countdown, the first time I’d celebrated here at the new digs, and then yesterday, after sleeping in, the day was spent at home. Earlier today, the skies were gorgeous, so I ended up taking a walk out to my favourite viewpoint in town.

• Work resumes tomorrow, and I’m admittedly quite excited to return to my usual routine: this winter break’s been fantastic, and I’m fired up, ready to do my best. The flow of time is relentless, and days disappear in the blink of an eye. In this way, The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie puts the pedal to the metal as each of Itsuki, Ichika, Nino and Miku pursue their respective futures. One of the challenges the quintuplets had faced throughout The Quintessential Quintuplets was maintaining their promise to be with one another, and I’ve found that in many anime, this is a major problem characters encounter as they part ways and pursue their goals.

• On my end, I’ve never actually worried about this because at the end of every journey, I always had the option of keeping in touch with people I’ve become friends with. While people naturally drift apart over time, the strongest friendships find ways of enduring, and moreover, even if people do fall out of touch, sometimes, they can return into one’s life as an unexpected, pleasant surprise. Knowing that the means of keeping in touch with friends and colleagues means that a parting of ways is rarely final, but in the context of anime, I’d imagine that stories are written to accentuate how strong the bonds are between people who share experiences over time.

• The Nakano quintuplets realise this and pursue their futures wholeheartedly, knowing that they can always make the effort of remaining together even as their paths diverge. In this way, five years elapses in The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie, and the story subsequently resumes after everyone’s graduate from post-secondary. Assuming everyone was seventeen during the culture festival and following events, a five year time skip puts everyone at age twenty-two. For most people, twenty-two is when they’ve completed their post-secondary and are ready to become full-fledged members of society.

• Not everyone’s path is quite so smooth: when I was twenty-two, I’d completed my honours degree in health science, but otherwise was uncertain of my future. I took a gap year to figure things out, ended up applying to graduate school and the rest is history. There is no single “right” way of living life or pursuing the future, and I believe that Tamayura best puts it, while everyone sets sail differently, the single most important thing is that eventually, everyone does set sail and make their own way. Seeing Itsuka, Ichika, Miku and Nino embracing their future was a reassuring sight, and one touch I liked was how Miku’s wearing her hair in a different style, suggesting that she’s become more confident.

• One aspect of The Quintessential Quintuplets I found unexpectedly enjoyable was the soundtrack. As of The Quintessential Quintuplets∬, I began noticing the soundtrack; the music captures the sort of yearning and wistfulness surrounding the Nakano siblings and their feelings for Futaro. The film’s soundtrack was also phenomenal, swelling to an emotional crescendo whenever the moment called for it. There are more whimsical pieces of incidental music that capture comedy and light-hearted moments, but the best tracks are played in the film’s most touching scenes.

• Five years is a nontrivial amount of time, and by the time Yotsuba and Futaro’s wedding arrives, the other quintuplets have made peace with things. They still like messing with Futaro, however, and on the day of his wedding, Futaro is met with Itsuki, Nino, Ichika, Miku and Yotsuba wearing identical hair styles and wedding dresses. They propose a challenge to him and say that he’s only of marrying Yotsuba if he can find Yotsuba amongst everyone else. Admittedly, if The Quintessential Quintuplets hadn’t introduced the visual characteristics that make each quintuplet distinct, then voices and mannerisms would be the only way to tell them apart

• Earlier in the film, when Futaro is shown taking Miku to an aquarium and they spot a penguin show, the attendant is shown as explaining that the keepers tell penguins apart based on characteristics like their markings and mannerisms. Over time, Futaro has learnt to do the same, and this is what ultimately shows the Nakano quintuplets’ father that Futaro is worthy: Mudō had completely failed to tell Itsuki apart from Miku, and throughout The Quintessential Quintuplets, one of Futaro’s first tasks had actually been to tell everyone apart. As he became increasingly proficient in doing so, he earns the quintuplets’ begruding respect.

• Futaro’s identifying each of the quintuplets and following up with a comment on everyone’s individual strengths and weaknesses shows just how well he knows them. In this moment, it was also a show of how, because he is able to connect at this level to each of the quintuplets, Futaro’s decision to marry Yotsuba was made based on assessing all of the facts and making the choice based on what his intentions and desires were. The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie might be rushed in some places, and some of the story elements may have been better presented in a third season rather than a film, but there is no denying that the story’s most powerful moments were still conveyed to viewers.

• Overall, The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie represents a satisfying and worthy conclusion to the series, which, when taken together, exceeded my expectations. The premise of quintuplets falling for the same person had initially been intriguing, and I had thought that little more than comedy would arise, but seeing The Quintessential Quintuplets explore each quintuplet’s motivations and backgrounds, plus their growth over time, made the story feel more life-like. This helped me to become invested in the characters, and I found myself curious to see how things would be resolved.

• Having had a chance to listen to the film’s soundtrack, a handful of the songs ended up reminding me of Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand”, which was a single composed for Top Gun: Maverick. On The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie‘s soundtrack, “Fūtarō o shinjiru” reminded me of Maverick‘s “Talk to me, Goose” and “Penny Returns” because they share similar instruments and carry a similar tonal aesthetic. I found myself thinking more than once that “Hold My Hand” would actually be well-suited for some scenes in  The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie.

• Seeing the entire journey in The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie shows how even more outlandish situations can be resolved over time with communication, honesty and sincerity. Futaro’s character is essential in this: being studious and devoted, he’s also decisive and commits to his choices, which eliminates ambiguity. In any given love story with multiple prospective partners, this is essential. CLANNAD had done the same: early on, even before Tomoya formally asked Nagisa out, he’d (subconsciously) made it clear that he had eyes for no one other than Nagisa, and while this deeply hurt Kyou, Tomoyo and Kotomi, the directness of things also meant the others wouldn’t be led on and hurt further, in turn allowing them to step forward and recover

• After the wedding’s done, Futaro and Yotsuba begin looking at honeymoon destinations, and to no one’s surprise, Itsuki, Ichika, Nino and Miku also help out. The fact that everyone picks different destinations is another show that despite their similarities, everyone’s their own person, with unique traits, and in doing so, The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie reminds viewers, one final time, that everyone’s found their own path. However, because the moment is overlaid with a flashback to a similar moment in secondary school, it also shows that some things don’t change, and these things can certainly be cherished.

• This post, my first of 2023, is now in the books, and while I am looking forwards to seeing what this year will bring, I have a few final comments. The first is that I’ve been following Bocchi The Rock! and Uzaki-chan Wants To Hang Out! ω during the last season. I’ve completed the former over the break, and only have one more episode for the latter. I intend on writing about both before the new season’s shows hit their stride: for the winter season, only Bofuri and Mō Ippon! have my eye, and I’ll likely write about them after three episodes have aired.

I had originally entered The Quintessential Quintuplets two years ago and, after the series had established its premise, became curious to see how things would unfold. Although the idea of multiple people falling in love with the same individual (and the resulting love tesseracts that arise) is nothing new, author Negi Haruba had drafted The Quintessential Quintuplets to explore what might happen when five sisters experienced this. Although the story had originally been rejected by Haruba’s editor, after Haruba was given a chance to do a standalone manga and found the story to be well-received, The Quintessential Quintuplets took off. It’s certainly one of the more unique portrayals of love in any work I’ve seen – the lack of a familial bond means that the different suitors can completely focus on themselves. Where family is involved, the Nakanos are forced to realise that if they move forward, someone’s going to get their feelings hurt, but at the same time, if they concede, they might one left with regrets. The push-pull between this drives much of the tensions in The Quintessential Quintuplets, and seeing how over time, the girls deal with their feelings and accept the outcomes, was what made this series increasingly worthwhile. While The Quintessential Quintuplets is a little rough around the edges, it is able to capture the raw emotions surrounding falling in love, along with the idea that at the end of the day, people are at their best when they’re motivated to do something for the sake of those around them. Futaro had begun his journey with a promise to Yotsuba, and years later, fate would bring him back into contact with the Nakanos. However, despite their cold reception towards him, his perseverance and insistence in reaching his goal of having the girls perform well enough academically to pass eventually wins them over, alongside their father. Along the way, Futaro also learns that there’s more to life than just hitting the books, and he comes to appreciate the Nakano quintuplets’ company, as well. The payoff at the end of this hectic journey is meaningful, and as such, I ended up having fun watching this series to completion.