(L) 5-Toubun no Hanayome

[Snowbold]

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

The wedding flashforwards together made no sense as a cohesive collection of clues. Negi and his editors were not stupid, so I bet they were designed to suggest till last minute that the popular girls will take the win, then you know the drill, clues and elements got retconned out of existence to the point not a single wedding flashforward suggests Yotsuba. Because of subversion!

While finding the bride and mysteries were indeed the point, when not a single one of them rewarded the reader's intelligence in execution or how it resolved, it is also a giant disservice to the entire series. Except for Kyoto Girl and Rena, which I sucessfully predicted as two entities and that Yotsuba is the real Kyoto Girl. The rest is shitting on the reader with baits and red herrings. Not giving an answer would be the least of the issues.

It also hinted at a harem ending in one of those flashforwards where the bride tried on like 10 dresses and that the sisters were missing. (To me, that sounded like they were going to have one girl officially marry him but they were all going to be together, hence the 'absence' of the sisters.

So yeah, total dick move to just change that and say Yotsuba gets the gold by virtue of being Yotsuba...

[Tenzen12]

Worst thing about it that even late in story there was option built Yotsuba end right, but manga went instead for such flimsy writting it almost feels intentional

[Tactics]

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

Finally, remember that they have announced a novel version? Oh, boy...
It's just a retelling of the story, based on the TV anime version for some reason. Shameless, low effort cashgrab. But guess what, they are already damage controlling there with Yotsuba. They have managed to make the only description of the work, or contents of the first 12 chapters that only mentions Fuutarou and Yotsuba by name, like they are the obvious future couple:

WTH

Normally, one would listed each names of the troubled quintuplets then ended summary with "Can MC deal with them?" but here they straight denying the other four existences, putting them on "sisters" while painted Yotsuba as the only good person among them (the honest? Are you saying someone like Itsuki is not honest enough compare to her?). I'm curious to see who approved this kind of summary or at least their estimated sales and target audience as it definitely won't score well to other girls supporters (they expected movie will be a big hit with this being side-material?).

[WingedAccelerator]

The summary probably wants to oversell the "twist" that Yotsuba is not honest at all.

In story, about 20 chapters in, Fuutarou called her "the only" honest and straightforward one. Still bullshit, but whatever. Fuutarou insulting Itsuki, and lying to Miku to get her into studying, which made the two distrust him is somehow their fault. Fuutarou is allowed to make mistakes and be insensitive left and right, but not the quints. They lost because they didn't join the studying sessions from Day 1, so Fuutarou's view and memory about them is negative. Even if it's mere days. Yotsuba never ever did anything wrong.
Yotsuba bias

[256]

Are you excited for volume 14.5 with one new epilogue chapter?
I'm getting sick already.

Originally Posted by Lex79

I wasn't aware, well I can only hope Negi loves to make jokes, because finding who was the bride was the whole point of the manga and not giving an answer would invalidate the series, at least in my eyes.

2 days ago someone asked him whether Ichika has actually graduated (in the graduation photo she's the only one without visible diploma and has no boutonniere). He just laughed and said he's going to leave it to reader's interpretation.
He's completely spineless.

[WingedAccelerator]

One post-ending chapter is nothing if they share the screentime. Which is already annoying because I bet Nino and Miku would get shared amount since they are at the same place.

So to twist the knife even further in my back, I think this chapter will be Fuutarou-Yotsuba wank centric. Maybe finally she says she is the Kyoto Girl on-screen to him and they go back to Kyoto to that shrine. Maybe MILF Yotsuba happens if it's a big timeskip. Or finally Negi tells what even are their professions?

[dark44]

if this chapter well show other sisters with thier husbands i wont like it

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by dark44

if this chapter well show other sisters with thier husbands i wont like it

Unlikely, but I rather have that scenario. A full meme chapter is also possible with every single one of them giving birth to quintuplets.

[Kuroageha]

And IF chapter for every girk

[Tactics]

Originally Posted by dark44

if this chapter well show other sisters with thier husbands i wont like it

Please, editor-san would knew too well doing so is the same as asking people to bring torch and fork on movie premiere.

[WingedAccelerator]

I still think most of the viewers are aware of the outcome. While Yotsuba was never the biggest merchandise girl, she probably wasn't the least marketable either. And she was not excluded from any "Marrying your quint of choice if you pay money" events and such. So it's not like it's forbidden to give them love interests after the work is over for more than 2 years, but chances say that they still squeeze the last droplets of milk from this cow of a franchise. Spinster quints forever.

[256]

Originally Posted by dark44

if this chapter well show other sisters with thier husbands i wont like it

If Nino could find happiness and someone who appreciates her after Negi served served her 5 years of heartbreak and bawling at the wedding, then I'd take that in a heartbeat.
20 pages divided in 5 to introduce other sisters' husbands would still show more romance between them than 14 volumes had for Fuutarou and Yotsuba.

Well, I'm looking forward to this series finally dying and fading into irrelevance where it belongs after May 20.

[WingedAccelerator]

New PV for the movie (almost) 100% confirms that there won't be major changes to the manga's final arc and choice.

The Kyoto girl flashback was known to be there, the Yotsuba POV is still up in the air.
The swimsuits chapter (Chapter 92) made it, context may change. Is Yotsuba getting the center and POV highlight already another damage control moment?
Tsun-dere-tsun (Chapter 93) most likely got cut.
Ichika's commercial is shown (Chapter 95), but I see nothing that hints at her school quitting two-parter. It could be rushed or off-screen information.
Pre-festival is there.
Takebayashi is there.
Itsuki's drama is there, but no signs of the biological father.
That damn karaage voucher and Fuutarou lying down is you know exactly what.

Now the only question that remains is the one I brought up before. Will they go hard on the dream ending mostly because of that new game or not? Also, how much they will jump and skip after the choice? Even with 130+ minutes of runtime, even with the post-choice chapters being really bad, I can't help but think that the whole movie will be one giant disorganized, rushed mess.

As for what you have said, 256, I have this inkling fear that this will be the exact time Kodansha announces a spin-off with different writer and artist. They made sure to keep the franchise alive more than 2 years after it ended, Negi even writes some new material for it, so I'm fully prepared for their greed to strike again.

[MK-95-]

Damn, forgot about this one. Well going off the direction of the recent conversations here, I'd say I did pretty good to jump ship when I did. Y'all reinforced my decision and I feel no need to come back and finish reading the chapters I missed.

Sad part is that this had so much potential and honestly could've been one of the better stories in the harem genre... so long as Fuutarou chose either Nino or Miku. That was literally all he needed to do and he still fucked up. XD

I'm reading his Sentai manga and it's good for the most part, but I'm cautious because I'm half-expecting it to begin declining around the halfway mark since there are already developments that are a bit iffy at best presently in the story (looking at you current arc).

[WingedAccelerator]

You indeed did the right thing.

Most of the problems arise when authors start giving out interviews and hindsight the disgusting lies become apparent. When the dust settles, then they say something totally opposite, further making you hate yourself ever giving the work a chance or liking it. 5toubun, Shokugeki no Souma etc. In this case, Negi saying that Yotsuba is just an early guide for Fuutarou, then later saying that originally this was planned for 5 volumes where Yotsuba still would have won without an arc and only with interlude chapers just plainly stinks. His annoying surprise and subversion writing became apparent during the Last Exams arc where it started to substitute any form of substance and rewarded no one. Nothing matters, it just needs to create discussion. He succeeded.

Nino and Miku. A lot of can of worms. Fuutarou considers Nino's confession as a first, but then thought Yotsuba's joke one was real all along. But somehow Miku's in the living room didn't register with him, yet later thought Miku was in love with him based on the clues. Contradictions. If he wanted to reject Nino and Miku, or deep down rejected them before the final arc, why not inform them if he is so sure? He admitted to Ichika that there are those two confessions he needs to answer. He didn't answer them, but didn't push them away either pretending they have a chance for months. Not only that, he followed Itsuki's advice and started relying on actual experience, spending time with someone's loved one. Yet, choose Yotsuba because the festival circumstances heavily checked the right boxes to favor a Yotsuba confession, even though he didn't do anything significant with her for months. Hated throughout the manga Yotsuba's martyr complex, suddenly appreciated it even after she collapsed on the festival and found it admirable. Rejected Nino on his wedding with Yotsuba, 5 years later, telling her that he couldn't gave her an aswer back then. Okay, so when did he exactly asnwer Miku then? Yotsuba got the "Sorry for the wait" referring to potentially for her joke confession. He apologizes for not acting upon that, but Nino and Miku can fuck themselves with actual, non-joke ones. It's a mess and a lot of things makes no sense. Fuutarou fell as a character real hard along with the work.

[MK-95-]

Wait. Fuu waited 5 yrs and on his wedding day no less to reject Nino? Wtf is that?

I dropped this somewhere around the start of the Culture Festival arc when the writing was slipping, but wasn't down horrendous at the time. What happened for shit to hit the fan that badly my guy?

[WingedAccelerator]

Bad writing in general and Negi admittedly burning out, but insulted his fans by rather producing this instead of taking a break or go on hiatus. Nino-wedding

After he chose Yotsuba, somehow he had trouble ever saying he loves him, so he practiced with some statue. The other quints got shit closure chapters or useless attempts at them, some of them are like half chapters. Fuutarou confessed at the festival and Yotsuba back at him, but Yotsuba let go of his hand, she still has issues. Ichika played some badminton with Fuutarou who went to advice for her, seemed like she makes a move, then just smacked him on the back and became supportive. Ichika's end. Nino pushed Yotsuba down to the floor, got angry with her. Miku found Yotsuba, did karaoke with Yotsuba and got the most decent closure, although it was redundant. Fuutarou barely talked with Miku post-choice as if there is no unfinished business between the two. Miku told Yotsuba that of course they are angry at her, but she is also hurting them by tiptoing around Fuutarou and still blaming herself about the school transfer. Good God, Yotsuba got peptalks from all of the main cast at this point and still acted annoying. Back to Nino, her issue was Yotsuba apologizing for getting chosen even though she or Negi sneaked in meta remarks that it must be nice getting things on a silver platter without doing anything. Yotsuba wanted everyone's blessing, but it's good enough if they give it later, but she doesn't intend on choosing between Fuutarou and her sisters, she wants both. Contradicting what Fuutarou foreshadowed earlier in Sisters' War that choosing something means not choosing something else. They made up, Nino makes one last speech that Yotsuba should still consider her to be her rival and Fuutarou should be on guard or she still him or something. Itsuki last minute got made into loving Fuutarou, but didn't realize it soon enough and accepted the early friendzone, cherishes those memories. Fuutarou proposes in high school by comically falling down from Yotsuba's favorite swings and hitting his head. Yotsuba accepts because apparently it was her dream all along to be a bride. Convenient. Fuutarou goes to Tokyo University, Nino tags along with Miku to some cooking school, Ichika already has acting, Itsuki gets admitted to some teaching university. What Yotsuba and Fuutarou does for a living, we don't know. Fuutarou moved in together with Yotsuba recently not so much before the wedding. Nino and Miku has a bar at the same place the old Uesugi place were, Fuutarou's father gave to them. Apparently he still rented the empty place and brought poverty on his family for no reason just to honor the dead mother of Fuutarou who cooked there. Terrible father. On the wedding, they pull one quintuplet game on Fuutarou and he succeeds at identifying them. The other quints tag along on their honeymoon. There is a possibility the whole marriage and I would say dating aspect of the story was a dream as there is a scene with Fuutarou waking up, asking about the marriage, and they had no idea what is he talking about. Later he wakes up again as married, so it kind of counters the dream theory, but Negi also refuses to openly say if it was a dream or not.

I would argue that not only Miku got the most decent closure compared to the rest, even on the wedding it felt like she got the best words from Fuutarou while he dissed the rest, even Yotsuba + the Nino thing.

Oh, almost forgot. The Bell Kisser thing also made no sense. Apparently that was their only kiss before the wedding and Yotsuba not only didn't tell Fuutarou about it, only moments before the actual wedding kiss hinted that they have kissed 5 years ago, Yotsuba also didn't tell him about being the Kyoto girl yet. And what was her motive for kissing him? Nothing. He wanted to check on Fuutarou, but felt that Itsuki should go instead because Fuutarou might not recognize her, but Itsuki reassured her he will. But he didn't. Why did she need to rush there, tiptoe, pluck her lips? She is totally selfless, yet did this shit. And also sneaked in a kiss during the festival when Fuutarou was asleep. Her character also crumbled. She constantly did selfish things that benefitted her and always framed it, or the story did as selfless, or she is too stupid to realize a contoversy. But she is a saint.

[Chosen_Hero]

^I wouldn't call Miku getting all of her achievements throughout the manga retconned and given to Yotsuba, then after the choice being left in the background as if she didn't exist and for her ending to be what we knew she wanted for a while "decent closure".

- Fuutarou never spoke to her even one word after the choice, which means that...

- She never got a proper reply to her confession.

- All she got as the last thing she did was having Yotsuba basically lording over her how much she won during the karaoke chapter and Miku having to not only forcibly accept that somehow she didn't do enough or something and that it was her own fault that she lost because she didn't change enough... what?

All Nino got was to end up being the bad guy for saying the truth and to stay forever salty about it while at the same time accepting she lost.

Negi dropped the ball really hard in that entire last arc, you can literally see Negi forcing the story to go his way (that arc felt like 5 different arcs in one), which is sad because at the end all he did was to ruin the characters themselves.

Ichika got her entire character assassinated.

Nino got to end up as the bad guy.

Miku got her existence retconned out of the story.

Itsuki became a Yotsuba shipper.

Yotsuba did nothing and won, which is sad because her arc screamed of "let go of the past and move on, this obsession with the promise isn't healthy for you or anyone around you", and for a panel it looked like she was going to do that... but we know how that ended up.

And somehow the worst part of it all is Negi literally confirming to the fans that everything before the choice was just a literal waste of time because Yotsuba was going to win no matter what and nothing but Yotsuba ever mattered.

I have seen fanfics do a better job with the last arc than the actual manga ever did, and you can tell that the fanfics have more respect for the characters than Negi ever did.

Btw, yes, I AM still salty about it, thanks for asking.

[WingedAccelerator]

Decent closure in a sense, where she is the only quint that genuinely changed for the better and she herself concluded her own journey on a positive note. While she can't be Yotsuba, the opposite is also true. I don't want to downplay Yotsuba's efforts for sports, but the story really didn't give me the impression that her training for sports was out of this world. She capitalized on her talent with training, but she had that talent among the quints pointed out in the flashback. That's all she has and her sports recommendation comes from last minute overplaying her past "joining all clubs in need" fetish as breaking all sorts of sports records wherever she goes. Miku on the other hand mastered something she was completely bad at, cooking. Meanwhile outside of that one test, which she lost due to plot convenience, she is also the smartest quint academically. Sucks that she or rather Negi deliberately robbed her from a chance of a going to a decent university, or even Tokyo University. Still, she has way more reason to be proud of herself than Yotsuba.

[Tactics]

I'm not sure to call it an effort when the summary of the process is:

Help all sports club -> Oh you must be good at sports -> No you're wrong, I'm talentless -> Let me tell you, you wasted too much time -> Right, gotta help every club again -> What a selfless girl, totally deserve a reward.

Ichika concern about modelling looks more genuine to be considered as effort IMO.