(L) 5-Toubun no Hanayome

[Lex79]

I previously said, based on the spoilers, that I can understand how Nino feels but she looks like a sore loser. I'm saying now after reading the chapter that I can understand how Nino feels but I seriously wanted Fuutarou to punch her in the face.
I also have to thank again Negi for giving the development I wanted when the story is over and it's too late. /s
On a different note, I tend to like more manga that keep going after the main characters confess/start dating, butbI don't mind too much series that end with the confession if that comes after proper development and buildup and the story made the feelings of the protagonists clear. This time I'm getting no romantic development for Fuutarou before the confession because mystery and no romantic development after the confession because pointless drama. Well done Negi.

[Tactics]

Now it released ...

Love how several discussions outside goes,
"Nino is a b*tch, its because of her we can't have Yotsuba dating chapter. Doing nothing? Yotsuba is always reliable and help him as MC claim on his confession!"

I guess mission accomplished, now Nino looks awful, at least for non-Japanese reader.

[Kuroageha]

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

So Itsuki admits that she didn't care at all how Ichika, Nino or Miku made efforts to gain Fuutarou's affection, she decided that solely supporting Yotsuba getting together with Fuutarou was the only correct choice. But now that her wish was granted, she can't even be happy for them, not because of her other sisters being down, but because of her own feelings of uneasiness. *Clap* *Clap* What a joke.

With all of the lame cold talks, Nino is the saving grace of the chapter with that remark to Yotsuba. Already elaborated on it in previous posts.

It really felt like Fuutarou wanted to talk about Itsuki about confessing to Yotsuba, that's why Yotsuba being there killed his plan. Anything, but Itsuki being his practice partner, I swear...

If the Nino-Yotsuba confrontation just ends with a quick reconciliation after Yotsuba displays the willingness to date Fuutarou, then it will just prove how the past 3-4 chapters were mostly a waste of time. Out with the KG secret! Out with the Rena secret!

I bolded the NOW.
That's wrong and I pointed it out on other chapters being the pool chapter one of the most attention catching:
Itsuki in her words supports Yotsuba but in her actions plays against Yotsuba.
That hasn't changed at all so far.

[WingedAccelerator]

In the pool chapter, her worry was that a bloodbath will happen between the sisters, if Fuutarou arrives. Chapter 91 was the setup. She overreacted and admitted her mistake. Even the fact that she had to slide with Fuutarou was only there, because she is the neutral one and a rival that way can't one-up another rival. In hindsight, we can say that she was not allowed to be direct with being Rena, because Negi wanted the plot to reach a conclusion, where Fuutarou chooses Yotsuba without knowing the full extent of KG and Rena. So she didn't play against Yotsuba, and the NOW stands, because Fuutarou chose Yotsuba and she wanted to influence Fuutarou to pick her with Rena, because she knew that KG meant the world to Fuutarou. That's why when Fuutarou told her his grateful speech, she suggested Yotsuba to come clean and tell him already that she is KG. She voiced this again in Chapter 90.

[Ichinotachi]

Originally Posted by Tactics

Now it released ...

Love how several discussions outside goes,
"Nino is a b*tch, its because of her we can't have Yotsuba dating chapter. Doing nothing? Yotsuba is always reliable and help him as MC claim on his confession!"

I guess mission accomplished, now Nino looks awful, at least for non-Japanese reader.

I wonder if Negi is trying to destroy his career with all this bullshit, this last chapter was embarrassing and painful to read to say the least.

[devil_slayer]

Is there another break next week?

[DragoonKain3]

OMG I HATE YOU GUYZ! YOU GUYZ MADE ME FULLY SUPPORT YOTSUBA AND NOW SHE LOSE BECAUSE OF IT! :HEH:

But seriously speaking, I only have myself to blame, because even though I swore not to fully support Yotsuba till I see that ring on her finger, I got carried away by that destiny 4chan GET. I always thought that after Yotsuba was revealed to be KG, that it will be Itsuki/Yotsuba endgame (before the KG reveal I thought it would Itsuki/Nino endgame), but I chose to prematurely celebrate anyways. But good thing Yotsuba is still the frontrunner, I guess? Which leads me to this...

Originally Posted by dragon213

So what now? Think that yotsuba will still win or do you think itsuki will win in the end? I always thought that she gave small hints that she liked him (even if she didn't know that herself) and now in this chater she thought to herself 'this wierd feeling I have always had', showing that she has probably liked him for quite a while now only she is only becoming aware of it now.

As THE person who was pushing Itsuki the most just until recently, I do think she has romantic feelings, as this is the THIRD time that the story explicitly told us she was jealous/envious. The previous two were in c99 when she said she felt envious after Fuutarou's decison to choose at the end of the festival, and in c70 when girls were touchy-feely with Fuutarou. But as with all romance, it takes two to tango, and the all important question is if Fuutarou actually reciprocates.

If we had 1 more volume, then it's 70 Itsuki/25 Yotsuba/5 other girls chance of winning, and admittedly I thought it was going to be 15-16 volumes BECAUSE I thought Itsuki was going to win. But we only have 5-7 chapters left, which makes the switch improbable but not impossible, so it's 70 Yotsuba/25 Itsuki right now. Of course, that may be my Yotsuba bias skewing it too much on her side, but let me explain why I really do think Yotsuba is still the frontrunner:

Spoiler for it's lengthy don't say I didn't warn you:

This chapter, no doubt it has many calls back on Itsuki/Fuutarou relationship in chapter 1. Among them is sharing the table like they shared in c1, there's Itsuki giving Fuutarou food and him actually accepting it, and Itsuki saying she and Fuutarou often break out into arguments when they meet despite not having a proper fight since FOREVER. But that's to be expected, since those are obvious 'bait' for the Itsuki camp as it showcases development for their relationship, but it's hard to infer from these if romance will bloom from the two.

Luckily for us, this chapter gives us two important callouts to deduce the likelihood of Fuutarou switching his choice from Yotsuba. These two are:

A) Nino: I mean, the other side just comes to you [Yotsuba] without you having to do anything. Talk about easy.

B) Drama: Itsuki feeling hurt from seeing Yotsuba/Fuutarou is a sign of her being romantically interested in Fuutarou, DESPITE her initially cheering the two. Itsuki will steal Fuutarou's heart because she can't surpress her yearning.

Let's be real here, Nino was talking about Yotsuba's love life as much as she was talking about her sports recommendation. So in A, it means one of two things... first is that Negi agrees with a lot of the fandom that Yotsuba didn't do anything, and thus undeserving of her win. The other option is that Negi does not agree with this part of the fandom, that Yotsuba did plenty to earn Fuutarou's love, and this is pretty much a jab at them.

First let's explore if Negi does not agree with Nino, and that Yotsuba did things to deserve Fuutarou's love. In this case, considering that Fuutarou already made the decision to choose Yotsuba, then there's no chance Fuutarou will change his mind if Negi believes Yotsuba deserves the win. That is, formally speaking... 'Not-A' then Yotsuba wins.

Next, let's consider if Negi believes A is true. This means that Negi does agree with a lot of the fandom that Yotsuba is undeserving of the win. But considering Fuutarou already made his choice back in the Final Festival arc, Negi must foreshadow the alternative girl stealing Fuutarou's romantic feelings away from Yotsuba... which is exactly what B is and it's very conveniently located in the very same chapter as A. The drama tells the story of a girl, who used to cheer to get a certain couple to get together, will eventually steal the guy's heart. There is only one quint who cheered YotsubaXFuutarou before they got together, and that is specifically Itsuki (ie. any other quint doing the switch is PURE SPECULATION). As such, if A is true, then B must be true, in which case Itsuki wins.

And for those not in the know, if 'A implies B', then 'Not-B implies Not-A'. But as I said before, if 'Not-A' then Yotsuba wins. That is, if I can prove that B is foreshadowing the opposite, then it naturally follows that a switch isn't going to happen. Which in turn means that Yotsuba wins, since there aren't any other instances of foreshadowing that any other quint will steal Fuutarou's romantic feelings away from Yotsuba.



So, how do we prove that B foreshadows the opposite? Simple, by precedent. If people don't remember, there are two other instances of a romantic drama appearing in this series, apart from this chapter. They are as follows:

Drama c51: Girl confesses "I love you" to a guy and they kiss.
Drama c101: Sisters all fall in love with the same guy, they fought each other, one gets married while the others get no closure.

Clearly, there is NOT one instance of a girl confessing her love that leads to a kiss in this manga. Not only that, but Ichika and especially Miku had very fitting closure chapters already. So while these romantic drama appearances looks to be foreshadowing future events in the manga, it in fact foreshadows the opposite of what it shows.

Still not convinced? There is another chapter where it hints with explicit words (ie. 'on the nose') at Itsuki's romantic feelings, just like in this chapter. That is in c77 and specifically, the quote is:

Fuutarou: Well at least with [Itsuki], I have a feeling that worrying about [romantic issues with her] is a waste of effort.

The beauty of this quote is two fold... either Negi is playing this foreshadowing straight and Itsuki doesn't have romantic feelings for Fuutarou (in which case there's no way Itsuki is going to be the bride), or Fuutarou does indeed have to worry about Itsuki's romantic issues. As such this would be another example where Negi foreshadows the opposite when it comes to 'on the nose' hints. Not only that, but in the very same chapter we have this:

Nino: The school trip... it's going to be in Kyoto. I'll settle everything there.

And as we all know, Nino settled jack squat in terms of her own romance there.

So yeah, with FOUR instances of related foreshadowing to B that tells the opposite, I'm pretty sure B ALSO hints at the opposite happening. That is, Negi won't have a switch, and thus Yotsuba will stay as the winner.

Of course, this is all assuming I'm reading things correctly (I do agree I have Yotsuba bias), that Negi is a good writer (which a lot of people don't agree with), and that Negi intentionally linked all these together (they really could just be all unrelated). As such, I can't claim with absolute certainty Negi won't switch (25% Itsuki end) or he may just switch to another quint altogether (5%), but I have good confidence Yotsuba will prevail.

[Lex79]

I still think you are worrying too much. There is nothing I'd love more than Itsuki winning, but Fuutarou Is dead set on Yotsuba with no ambiguity shown and there is mo time for him to gave a change of heart.

[Tactics]

Originally Posted by Ichinotachi

I wonder if Negi is trying to destroy his career with all this bullshit, this last chapter was embarrassing and painful to read to say the least.

As long it sells like a hot cakes?

I don't know how it goes for Japanese reader; who knows if only AS readers found it as bad writing, while majority of readers out there agreed that Nino, Ichika and Miku deserved what they got.

Especially Nino who now revealed to be a b*tch unable to accept her defeat after all this time we think of her as a dreamy girl pursuing her love.

[Sixth]

Originally Posted by Lex79

I still think you are worrying too much. There is nothing I'd love more than Itsuki winning, but Fuutarou Is dead set on Yotsuba with no ambiguity shown and there is mo time for him to gave a change of heart.

It also makes Fuu looks like the autumn skies if he changed heart now and both of them are not even start to date

[WingedAccelerator]

What I fail to see is how Itsuki is the only candidate for an almost impossible switch scenario. The vibes I'm getting is almost similar to how reddit perceive Uruka in BokuBen. Whatever she does, it's a losing flag. Ichika talked to Fuutarou. She is out. Miku had a suppossed sendoff chapter without Fuutarou. She is out. Nino is just out for burning Yotsuba. People act like the switch depends on the girl realizing her feelings way too late, and not Fuutarou should be the one that comes to the realization that for whatever reason, he made a mistake with his pick, he is not in love with Yotsuba. And in that case, nothing guarantees he would just switch to Itsuki of all girls, first girl paranoia aside. If you want the bait aspect to be relevant with the switch outside of Yotsuba, then a girl who decided to support them after losing, or a girl who supposedly moved on would make a bigger switch than the support, who realized her feelings way too late.

Speaking of sendoff, I talked about at some point how Miku was the only quint Negi didn't bother to tweet about her festival chapter(s). Now the same with her suppossed sendoff chapter. He used her as the face of Christmas, and recently posted a doodle for the holiday with her. Yet, she didn't earn a proper semi-burial like 4 of the others.

Originally Posted by devil_slayer

Is there another break next week?

I think there will be no breakes till the ending.

[Emperor of D.]

I suppose it makes sense that Itsuki's role is starting to get bigger at this point of the story as not only is she the first girl introduced in the story but she also has the biggest connection to Fuutaro despite her feelings being ambiguous. Yotsuba being chosen also makes sense given their past and also because she's helped Fuutaro the most.

Despite Miku and Nino being the most popular in the fandom, they have the least in common with Fuutaro even though their feelings are more openly and Ichika is just there. So in a way it makes sense the final showdown would be between Itsuki and Yotsuba.

[WingedAccelerator]

Any kind of potential showdown is non-existent. Either Fuutarou sticks to his choice or picks someone else. But a showdown implies competing, fighting for Fuutarou, before he makes a choice. The choice already happened, there won't be a showdown, even if he changes his mind.

Whatever is the purpose of this arc, it started having Five in the chapter titles, so I guess it will be a 5 chapters long arc, so it ends in Chapter 119. Completely unnecessary if it was just Yotsuba dragging out dating Fuutarou.

[Tactics]

> Final Showdown

I'd say you expected too much;

As Winged said, the choice is already made. Now we saw other quints being made shot their own legs, currently at Nino turn.
No hard feelings but IMO the "Itsuki potential" will be no more no less than saying its her turn to be eliminated next; the author seems set on removing them for good, look at this chapter, no Miku and Ichika, the quints treated like they're going home to different houses just so they can make fuss on an empty classroom.

The remaining part to be closed is Itsuki disguise under Yotsuba order.
I kinda expecting we will got MC learned such event, Itsuki using that fact to confess, then we got "I love her no matter what, she changed my life, my first ally" things to knock both Nino and Itsuki ensuring they never annoy Yotsuba for the rest of their life.

Maybe with some, "Remember when I told you to get off in shopping mall? That's because I know you not Yotsuba".
That way we can get MC stand up to protect his GF as well as "Yotsuba did nothing wrong" also confirming first ally reason to be true because the past girl meant everything for him even after some talk about 'move on from past' at some previous chapters.

[~Yami~]

oh no.. so the potential of the sisters kill each other still alive

dem Nino is on fire
and finally we could see a little bit about Itsuki's feeling... she started way too late.. don't ruin this author.. remove Itsuki for sure in 1-2 chapters

[256]

Come on. Nino is obviously going to win.
Chapter 60: The conquest begins.
Chapter 120: The conquest ends.

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

So Itsuki admits that she didn't care at all how Ichika, Nino or Miku made efforts to gain Fuutarou's affection, she decided that solely supporting Yotsuba getting together with Fuutarou was the only correct choice. But now that her wish was granted, she can't even be happy for them, not because of her other sisters being down, but because of her own feelings of uneasiness. *Clap* *Clap* What a joke.

If after all of that if Itsuki is the one to attempt to steal Fuutarou from Yotsuba I'm not sure about Negi's sanity.
I was thinking that maybe it's just the case of:
- She's not sure about her feelings
- 3rd party comes in with "It's LOVE of course!"
- She gets self concious and starts believing it herself.
And since her and Fuutarou were said multiple times to have very similar personalities...

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

If the Nino-Yotsuba confrontation just ends with a quick reconciliation after Yotsuba displays the willingness to date Fuutarou, then it will just prove how the past 3-4 chapters were mostly a waste of time. Out with the KG secret! Out with the Rena secret!

I'd think that before this chapter, but now it seems like Nino's problem with Yotsuba is bigger than just her constanly running away, so I don't think it's just going to end with just that.
I also don't think that anything Yotsuba says can make Nino fold especially when Fuutarou and Itsuki are listening in. For that to happen she would either have to have a one-on-one converation with Yotsuba or Fuutarou, because I can't see Fuutarou and Itsuki being spectators to Nino giving up. Unless that's a common thing in romcoms that I'm unaware of.

Originally Posted by Tactics

That way we can get MC stand up to protect his GF as well as "Yotsuba did nothing wrong"

To be precise: "Yotsuba did nothing"
Funny thing he couldn't do that in this chapter when Nino completely trashed her and his response to that was staring with a stupid expression and "N-Nino didn't mean it like that...". He's fucking pathetic. I guess he and Yotsuba are really made for each other.

Originally Posted by Tactics

I guess mission accomplished, now Nino looks awful, at least for non-Japanese reader.

The anti-Nino commentary from Yotsuba fans has been going for some time because she refuses to go down. Same with Itsuki when she said she can't congratulate Yotsuba. Ichika and Miku kindly folded almost immediately, so they're treated all right.
No, looking at twitter, Nino is getting hate from the Japanese readers too.
At least Ichika turning into a villain was built up for multiple chapters and she had a lot of time to redeem herself. There's 5 chapters left and at this rate this will be how Nino is remembered. Well, I don't think she's wrong and got used to her being hated on for more than half of the manga.

I really wish that Nino's future plans that Negi tries to hide at all costs are going abroad as far away from her shitty sisters as possible so she won't be used as a stepping stone for their development ever again. Geting real tired of that shit after more than a year, Negi.

[wuhugm]

I just skim this manga now

[DragoonKain3]

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

What I fail to see is how Itsuki is the only candidate for an almost impossible switch scenario.

If one can provide where Negi even hints at another quint stealing Fuutarou's romantic feelings away from Yotsuba, I would agree with you. Probably the only one that gets close is Ichika with her stealing Yotsuba's identity way back when they were kids at the inn, but that particular thought has been squashed with Miku's closure chapter which basically states a quint can't truly become another quint. Of course one can't rule out that Negi may put a foreshadowing that hints at another quint doing the switch in a future chapter, but that currently is in the realms of speculation and we are running short on story time.

So yeah, unless I missed something, any non-Itsuki quint performing the switch is based on 'gut feelings' with no basis on what the story has shown us thus far. Which is a very poor indication of predictive power, and as such should be given minimal thought of it actually happening.

Because honestly, assuming Negi is NOT pulling a switch? Just like Nino 'throwing a fit' this chapter is Negi making a jab at the fandom that thinks Yotsuba did nothing to deserve her win, Itsuki potentially stealing Fuutarou's romantic feelings is Negi making a jab at the other part of the fandom that thinks this is "4toubun no Hanayome and the Great Friend Itsuki". Him bringing up the two most vocal criticism of his work in the same chapter is no coincidence, and he is killing two birds with one stone with what little story he has left to work with.

[WingedAccelerator]

A switch would be just another dice role. Not role stealing, not hinting the steal, just a switch. No need to overanalyze it, just because of first girl paranoia or how you still think Negi is a good writer, whose details 100% serve a purpose. Fuutarou pulled Ichika at least two times back, but make it three. He can easily do it with those, who have folded as well. Only one and a half day have passed since his choice.

Take a look at Scrambled Eggs. Negi went out of his way to suggest that Fake Itsuki is Ichika, only for it to be Miku. It was not a proof that Grandpa said that Fuutarou is touching her grandchildren again. He didn't say it was Miku again, only that Fuutarou already pulled something similar.
For a switch, it is practically Negi going out of his way to suggest that Itsuki will be the switch. Only for reality to strike that there will be no switch or he switches to someone unexpected.

[Honjo Masamune]

This manga already went to shit a long time ago.....fuck Negi!!