The Quintessential Quintuplets (Episode 21) – Welcome to Class 3-1
The new school has begun and Futaro finds himself in a class with all five of the quintuplets. If that wasn’t enough, Yotsuba asks to be class representative and then nominates Futaro to join her!
What happened?
Everyone seems quite excited to have quintuplets in their class, well, everyone but Futaro, who just wants to get back to studying and regain his perfect score. Everyone seems to think he’s a bit cold, so Yotsuba recommends him to be the male class representative, completely against his wishes, and it sticks. He then finds that he has a new role within the class helping the other students tell the five girls apart.
Meanwhile, Ichika has decided that she’s not going to pay for their accommodation alone. So, all of the other girls will need to get a job and pay their way or move back into the apartment. Yotsuba gets a job as a cleaner and seems to enjoy running around with a mop. However, Miku and Nino both apply for a job at the cake shop that Futaro works at.
After a bake-off, Nino gets the job, however, Miku is quite unfazed by this and applies for a job at the bakery across the street. She’s determined to become a good cook, which is one of the things Futaro looks for in a woman.
On her first day at the cake shop, Nino gets a bit flustered as they try to prepare for a mystery reviewer who has the power to increase an establishment’s profits by multiples. Futaro reassures her and shows her all the times he’s screwed up on the job. He also tells her he’s never had someone tell him they love him, so he doesn’t know how to respond to it. Before they can continue the boss calls them to show them the mystery reviewer, who looks a lot like Itsuki…
Ichika just happens to bump into Futaro as he’s walking to school. It’s the day after her movie was released and she’s trying to keep a low profile. When Futaro spots the other quintuplets and starts to talk about them, Ichika gets jealous and tries to turn his focus back to her. She even asks him to skip class with her. Of course, he says no.
When they arrive at class, everyone is excited to see Ichika the movie star. Futaro was surprised that is was such a big deal, but congratulates her all the same. After class, some of the students run after Ichika, who disguises herself as Miku to escape them. Futaro spots her and thinks she is Miku. Ichika then tells him that Ichika likes him and that she, as Miku is rooting for them as a couple…
What did you think?
I really enjoyed this episode, however, I am concerned about the way things are going, especially the way Ichika told Futaro about herself. Doing it to his face, as Nino did is one thing, Miku hasn’t expressly said it to him, but she did get him Valentine’s chocolates, but Ichika told him dressed as Miku. I like Ichika and feel like she is a very close second to Miku, but this felt like she was crossing a line. A line that will have the sisters falling apart in their efforts to be with Futaro.
It should have been an inevitable conclusion to the story. They can’t all be with him and if they all like him, there’s going to be some falling out. I felt like the way the first season did it, that they may be able to keep it amicable, but that ship appears to have sailed. I’m worried for the girls, especially as Futaro is pretty much oblivious to everything other than studying.
What have you learnt?
One of the funny things about Futaro is that he is so predictable. That might not sound like it would be funny, but it is when Futaro is presented with a clear decision that everyone watching is thinking that he will finally buck the trend and do something fun, and he does exactly what we’re expecting. Like with Ichika, we all secretly hoped he would skip class and do something fun, but of course, he stayed true to character and shot her down in an instant.
When a character does something unexpected, there better be a good reason or we should see the development as to why they might. It can pull you completely out of a story if they suddenly do something that goes against everything we’ve been told about them so far. It’s similar to Nino falling for Futaro. If she had just suddenly realised it after one episode, it would have felt fake, but to have her agonize over it for a number of episodes it made it a believable development. Much like Futaro’s reluctance to skip class – he’s not there yet!
Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Season Two
- Episode 13 – Quite the Crappy Kyoto Quagmire
- Episode 14 – Seven Goodbyes Part 1
- Episode 15 – Seven Goodbyes Part 2
- Episode 16 – Seven Goodbyes Part 3
- Episode 17 – Good Work Today
- Episode 18 – The Last Exam
- Episode 19 – Begin the Offensive
- Episode 20 – Scrambled Eggs
- Episode 21 – Welcome to Class 3-1
- Episode 22 – Five Cranes in Return
- Episode 23 – Sisters War: Part 1
- Episode 24 – Sisters War: Part 2
