(L) 5-Toubun no Hanayome

[Lex79]

I'm not sure what to wish for the end of this arc. On one hand, getting a non committal answer after ten or more chapter would be infuriating. On the other hand, we know from the Ichika chapters that at the end of the second day Fuutarou still can't choose a quintuplet, so if he pick one on day 3 one of those things must happen:
1) he already likes someone, but changed his mind at least twice during the festival, first by deciding to not pick anyone after talking with the kid and then going back to choose one;
2)he doesn't know who he truly likes by the end of the second day,but then something happens on the third that makes him aware of his feelings.
In the first case, Fuutarou would be too easily swayed by the moment for someone who is thinking about the matter for months. In the second case, it would feel completely anticlimatic.
I hope Negi is going to surprise me, in a good way.

[WingedAccelerator]

No matter what Negi does, this arc is bound to be disappointing one way or another. The length is already looking to be longer than Seven Goodbyes. Day 1 + Day 2 + 5x2 quint chapters= 12 chapters. Day 3 is pending right now, but there is a bonfire there, plus the supposed decision, so it's going to be longer than 12 chapters. If we have to endure this much to get a "delay/dragging", then seriously screw this series. Even an upset is better at this point, just let's get this over with.

Unfortunately, Fuutarou is pretty much relegated to the number one issue right now. Negi overplays him being indecisive, just to keep milking the manga. He is thinking for months and always something comes up, which he overthinks or underestimates the bonds of the quints, and refuses to change the status quo between them, even if it would be a rejection towards certain quints. It's all part of Negi's way of keeping up the Bride mystery as long as possible. But at the cost of a satisfactory build up!

Both options you listed, Lex, are pretty much leads to the same thing Ichika suggested with the Bell Kisser. Fuutarou has to consider seriously who would make him happy as the kisser, which quint he actually prefers over the rest? Either he always had a preference, but refused to acknowledge it, or an event on Day 3 leds him to accept his preference, and his preference will magically turn out to be the Bell Kisser.

[Lex79]

The quintuplets' POV chapters should have never happened in this arc, or at least, not two for each girl.
You said it right, Negi is sacrificing everything for the sake of mistery, we are seriously risking to see Fuutarou falling in love out of nowhere just because the author never wanted to give us hints on what he truly thinks and feels.

I'm going to add this: the only redeeming point of the last chapter is that Negi spared us from a love triangle between Mario, Rena and Fuutaoru's dad.

[WingedAccelerator]

That clock screwed over my timeline idea. Turns out the Fuutarou-Nino-Yotsuba talk was just before Fuutarou's announcement at 15:00.

Spoiler for Timeline:

Day 1
#01: 10:00. Opening performance by Nino. Fuutarou, Yotsuba, Miku, and Itsuki watch.
#02: Pancake stall - Miku. Safety inspection - Yotsuba.
#03: Nino is hiding from her fans. Nino meets Itsuki, they talk.
#04: Ichika arrives at the festival, spends a considerable amount of time with Fuutarou. They separate when Fuutarou keeps people away from her. Reminds her about the meeting.
#05: Itsuki is studying, Fuutarou helps out an old man by showing him the way, while carrying chairs.
#06: Isanari and Raiha visits Miku at the stall. Yotsuba helped out the Drama Club, has a role on Day 2 as well.
#07: Fuutarou and Yotsuba came to fetch Nino for, just a bit before the announcement. They talk about Papa Nakano's invitation.
#08: 15:00 and a bit after (15:23): Fuutarou's announcement in the classroom.
#09: 15:20 and after Fuutarou's announcement. Ichika wants to hear his answer. He says he won't choose anyone.
#10: Looking for Papa Nakano. Fuutarou and Nino met Isanari and Raiha. They talk about Papa Nakano, and also Rena/the wifes to some extent. Raiha mentions that Day 1 is almost over, while Nino refers to Fuutarou's line in the classroom, so it happens after the announcement.

Day 2
#01: Papa Nakano comes to the festival. Takebayashi comes to the festival.
#02: Nino and Itsuki met the cake shop and the bakery manager.
#03: Yotsuba is busy helping out, Fuutarou is suddenly has a lot of free time. He has no money to sample the stalls, but a place comes to his mind.
#04: Fuutarou met Takebayashi.
#05: Miku gave an interview. Papa Nakano leaves afterwards.
#06: Miku and Yotsuba met. They witness Fuutarou hanging out with Takebayashi.
#07: Nino and Itsuki met Takebayashi and Fuutarou.
#08: Takebayashi leaves, everyone goes to do their thing afterwards. Ichika meanwhile is shooting for a drama.
#09: 17:00. End of Day 2. Fuutarou is there to pick up Nino to bring her to Papa Nakano.
#10: Unknown quint collapses either during the bike ride, or during Fuutarou's and Nino's visit to Papa Nakano, and gets there while they are also there.
#11: Ichika visits the collapsed quint. Nino and Fuutarou is already there, Nino goes back to school for clean up, Fuutarou escorts Ichika back.
#12: 22:42 and a bit after: Ichika kisses Fuutarou.

Now with that correction being done, I'm wondering about something else. Nino said to Fuutarou in the hospital that she is going back to the school to clean up, so he has to escort Ichika... But it's already nighttime. I really doubt Fuutarou and Ichika walked hours and hours, and that's why it's ended up being 22:42. So what's up with that? Is this a real thing during these festivals? Clean up work hours after the day ended at 17:00? Or did Nino lie? Supposedly Fuutarou gave her a ride to the hospital, so she is going back alone? And Fuutarou also left the bike there, and walked with Ichika? I'm curious...

[wuhugm]

Confessed in public

[WingedAccelerator]

Negi tweeted that he made some sort of mistake last chapter, then people pointed out more odd things for him.
- Nino wears a scarf in Chapter 99, during the opening performance. The scarf is not present in Chapter 103.
- Miku has her usual hairstyle in Chapter 100, during the interview with Tsubaki. She has a ponytail in Chapter 103.
- Was Miku supposed to be somewhere there with Nino and Itsuki, when her manager called out her name? Or was she supposed to say Nino-chan there, or did she mistake Miku for one of them?
- Why does Fuutarou act surprised from Isanari calling Papa Nakano as Maruo, when he heard him calling him by his given name already in Chapter 68, during a bath with them? He was clearly paying attention, since he even heard what did they talk about when he got out of the bath.

[256]

I've waited some time to cool down, but it doesn't seem like it's happening.
I apologize for this heap of salt in advance.

What a great chapter!
We finally learn more about Maruo and Rena.
Yotsuba and Fuutarou have some great interaction and there's some nice foreshadowing for her chapters.
Cake shop's manager meeting Itsuki was funny. Maybe that's a foreshadowing too?
The only thing I disliked was Nino being shoehorned into those scenes too much.

The translated chapter somehow turned out even worse than I imagined based on the raws.
Nino only thinks about Maruo now.
Even the scenes I previously thought were connected to Fuutarou turned out to be Maruo
- Nino taking part in the opening performance? Because Fuutarou asked for her help? Because she wanted to impress him?
Of course not! It's because she wanted to see if Maruo came!
And to foreshadow Yotsuba owerworking herself.
- Nino yearningly looking at a guy and a girl during the escape room? Did she want to spend time with Fuutarou during the festival? Visit some stalls?
Of course not! They were a father and a daughter! She wanted to be with Maruo!
- Nino sitting in front of the pancake stall with Itsuki because she was troubled over Fuutarou declaration?
Of course not! She was waiting for Maruo!
This and 104 is what her 93 and 97 chapters were leading to.
It's a romcom and her romance with the MC is secondary and frankly, non-existent since 71.

I'm starting to wish her confession never happened. 2 great chapters won't make up for the 43 chapters of nothing that followed.
Not to mention they completely neutered her character.
Before chapter 60 she had some great moments with Fuutarou. They were butting heads, supporting and helping each other. The times when it happened were impactful because it was unexpected coming from her.
After her confession she got reduced to only focusing on her love for Fuutarou. Which still wasn't too bad since she was straighforward in her approach which was refreshing. What was too bad was that it never amounted to anything.
"Get ready, Fuu-kun" - nothing.
"I'm going to settle everything in Kyoto" - nothing.
I get that Negi has 4 other heroines to attend to (even though he still focuses on Ichika and Miku 100 chapters in instead of Yotsuba and Itsuki) and can't keep giving Nino focus, but it only makes those few instances where Nino declares to take action and theres no follow up all the more jarring.
I would be fine with Nino losing if she got a fair shot at it.
"I will make you concious of me", "I already know you don't like me, but I want to show you how much I love you" - allow her to actually do something and lose knowing that she did everything she could, but it wasn't enough.
Instead, her plans don't work out, some other sister gets to do what she wanted, she gets denied because Fuutarou has other plans, just loses on luck, or straight up goes against her own interest to help her sisters get closer to him.
She got turned into the butt of the joke: "Look, look! Nino tried to do something, failed miserably and is now frustrated! Hilarious!".
It started as early as chapter 63 with the mixed bath and continues without fail until now.
But wait, there's more.
She got even further neutered after the Kyoto arc.
She's not even straightforward, "aggressive", or only focused on Fuutarou anymore.
She won't take the initiative, looks for excuses to do something with him, one of her strong points, her confidence, got turned into timidness instead.
Even her minimal interactions with Fuutarou after her confession turned out into nearly non-existent interactions after Kyoto with multiple chapters where they don't even exchange one word with each other.
Ichika got over her snakery, lies and underhandedness, and was finally able to express her feelings.
Miku got over her timidness, cowardice and lack of confidence, and was finally able to express her feelings.
Meanwhile insted of her character progressing like her sisters, Nino keeps gradually degrading. It's like she's trading her character traits with other quints.
Even Yotsuba and Itsuki are moving forward (although at a snail's pace because Negi refuses to give them spotlight).
And to make the matters worse, even the long awaited Nino chapter (93, after 22 freaking chapters of no focus) turned out to be just a lead up to her daddy issues arc.
This gets us to the current chapter.
While Ichika gets to exclusively spend 2 whole chapters with Fuutarou despite supposedly her acting career keeping her busy, Nino's mind is only focused on Maruo.
With the word "Final" in the chapter's titles and possible decision coming from Fuutarou, she doesn't care about it and wants her Papa to come play with her at the festival.
Maybe that's the ultimate "Push instead of pulling" technique.
After 43 chapters of denying her (almost) every attempt and giving Ichika such hype chapters, this is what Negi gives Nino and her fans. Maruo, Maruo and Maruo.
If the decission really happens at the end of this arc, it's truly an amazing note to end on for her.
Well, I doubt anything substanial with Maruo will happen in just one chapter, especially when one of the quints will get hospitalized at the same time.

"You worked up your courage to send the invitation, didn't you? I'm not okay with this!"
Truly brilliant coming from someone who ignored her confession for 7 months after she "worked up her courage to confess" and only decided to reply because someone else told him to and wasn't even going to reject her to give her some closure, but try to preserve the status quo.
You and Maruo are made for each other, Fuu-kun.

These chapter covers don't look good too me, either.
If he gathers them all in one classrom to tell them his decision, it means that he didn't even have the deceny to respond to Nino's confession first in private.
And if they're in different classrooms and he's only going to meet with the chosen one, it's even worse.
But I get ahead of myself. Most likely the decision won't even happen.
Which, I suppose, I should be hoping for to give Nino some fighting chance, but it's still garbage.

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

Supposedly Fuutarou gave her a ride to the hospital, so she is going back alone? And Fuutarou also left the bike there, and walked with Ichika? I'm curious...

At this point their escapade looks like this:
- Starts with a romantic, emotional moment where Fuutarou comes on a bike to snatch her away in front of a crowd of people to help with what's been troubling her for the past few days, Nino drops what she's been doing and both of them ride off into the sunset.
- Stuff happens
- Ends with Nino telling Fuutarou to see another girl off while she goes back on a train (or even walks if she didn't take anything with her) alone, during night, to an dark, empty school to clean up what she left when Fuutarou came for her.
Negi should have it raining too for a good measure.
Maybe like you said she was lying and went somewhere else. Maybe to talk one-on-one with Maruo.

[Chosen_Hero]

^You are idealizing the Nino and Fuutarou moments a bit too much, to the point where it feels like we might be reading two different mangas. If you had been paying attention to Nino's entire part from the very beginning you would have noticed that her entire story arc revolves around her sisters and her dad like 99% of the time. The "Fuu-kun" stuff isn't just rushed, it is also not as important to her story, kind of why her moments with him always feel shoehorned and like bait (the end of the last chapter for example, where we already know why he went to pick her up, to go to the hospital).

Also, please don't take as fact that it is Yotsuba who is at the hospital, we still don't know who it is, heck, it could just as easily be that Itsuki was forcing herself to study so hard that she passed out.

[WingedAccelerator]

Not sure if I can say "Called it", but at least I suggested it.

Spoiler for Chapter 104:

https://i.imgur.com/UM8dNF5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/CxKGM6A.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/z64puO0.jpg
Fuutarou and Nino almost kiss accidentally, then when Papa Nakano turns his back on them, Nino pulls him in for a real one. Obscured just like Ichika's.

Kissing royale it is, unless Negi just decided on a random whim that he stops after Ichika and Nino.

[Ichinotachi]

It seems that Negi is going to do the same for every girl until we reach Fuu's answer, oh boy the milking is real.

[thefreakmike]

Negi likes to push on to generation xerox thing with Maruo & Rena with Fuu & the quints to the point its disturbing IMO, like young Maruo was so identical to Fuu that they could actually pass as father and son lmao

[Kuroageha]

Oh god, they're pulling a sukisukiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Lex79]

So...

Spoiler for ch 104:

the pieces are starting to fall into Place, Takebayashi was brought back to push Yotsuba into kissing Fuutarou, he will learn who was the bell kisser bu the way they kiss, and choose the one who made his heart racing the most. I guess since he cannot simply choose the one with the biggest boobs since they are identical, this is the next best thing.
At least this is what I'm hoping for, in order to not make this and the bell kisser arcs into pointless ones.
I wonder how he's going to make Itsuki kiss Fuutarou, though. An accidental one, or is she entering the race?

[WingedAccelerator]

I understand that the Bell Kisser is the special one above all specials, but man, imagine the conversation during the wedding after the potential of more kisses.
"This is something I overheard. Apparently, on that day five years ago, they had already..."
...
"Yeah, and we couldn't sit still and decided to kiss him on the school festival, right?"
*Awkward silence*

Now then, the real question is, if there are more kisses, then the rest also took place in Day 2? So After Takebayashi, in whatever order Miku-Yotsuba-Itsuki had their turns, then Nino and Ichika for last? If this is the case, then Fuutarou still checked Ichika's lips after supposedly having four kisses on that day and remembered Ichika's line about "Whom being the kisser would make you the happiest?". This would be a heavy Ichika win flag, even if he still couldn't get who is the kisser.

[256]

Great Maruo chapter. Not sure why Negi keeps forcing Nino in. The wank is real.

"If I make them kiss, the readers will forget the fact that those 2 chapters had almost nothing to do with Nino and Fuutarou's relationship!"
I guess he can't come up with anything original for each of the sisters and we're going to get a kissing contest.
The structure of this arc is a horrible slog and on top of that he keeps on insisting on making everyone equal. It not only completely shits on the efforts of those girls who actually tried before this arc, it also shits on Yotsuba and Itsuki by trying to resolve their struggles in the matter of 2 chapters (assuming that will actually happen) instead of giving them their arcs.
This is no different than keeping the status quo untill the very last chapter and making the MC choose on a whim.
Although that would mean this arc is a complete fucking waste of time (outside of potentially finally dealing with Yotsuba and Itsuki, albeit in a horrible way), I have to hope nothing will come out of it and we will get something other than manufactured development afterwards.

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

^

Please re-read the manga and my post without your raging Nino hateboner and with a bit of reading comprehension. And don't skip Nino chapters this time.

[WingedAccelerator]

Yeah, Negi further wrote himself into a corner.

The only certain thing is that Fuutarou and Nino didn't learn about the collapse of one of the quints yet. But there is already nighttime out there, so the "How?" leans towards Yotsuba and overworking, but I won't take it for granted.

Whoever is the collapsed quint, since Fuutarou and Nino are there, I have serious doubts that the collapsed quint will kiss Fuutarou in the hospital. Either she has the guts to do it, while Nino is there with him, or Nino goes to the toilet, Fuutarou remains there with her, and then she takes her chance. Unless of course, the collapsed quint didn't already kiss him before getting to the hospital, but somehow I doubt it. It's enough to think about how Fuutarou gets kiss after kiss, and she just proceeds to the next girl, and acts like nothing really important have happened just a bit before.

So the obvious problem will be how the collapsed quint could stand out, if she doesn't get her kiss on Day 2. If that quint is Itsuki, it could be explained, but that also makes it seem like she was never a romantic candidate. But if the collapsed quint is either Miku or Yotsuba, and they don't kiss Fuutarou in Day 2, that would kind of suggests that Day 3 will be special for one of them, unless Negi shits on them, and neither of them get a kiss or get chosen.

Tentative Day 2 kiss order:
- If the collapsed quint kisses Fuutarou in the hospital: (?)- (?) - Nino - collapsed quint - Ichika.
- If the collapsed quint kisses Fuutarou before the hospital: (?) - (?) - (?) - Nino - Ichika.
- If the collapsed quint doesn't get a kiss on Day 2: (?) - (?) - Nino - Ichika - (?).

But of course, Negi can also stop after Ichika and Nino, and call it a day, but that would be another type of middle finger to the fans, if the Bride and the Bell Kisser is going to be either of them, and the others get nothing. And as Lex mentioned, Itsuki would be another interesting take...

[Lex79]

A possible scenario is that only four quintuplets kiss Fuutarou during the festival, with the one left being the bell kisser. This way each of them gets one kiss with Fuutarou, he could still figure out his feelings by comparing the kisses, and if the bell kisser is the collapsed one there is no need for a convoluted setup for a kiss. Drawbacks: this would give away the answer of a mystery ahead of time and we know Negi hates that, and if the bell kisser isn't Itsuki she doesn't get a kiss scene not in disguise before Fuutarou's answer.

[WingedAccelerator]

I'm still going to say that Itsuki as the Bell Kisser would be the biggest asspull of the entire manga, even if she doesn't end up winning. She was aware that Yotsuba met Fuutarou as a kid, and it didn't set well with her that she had to cut KG's past ties with him due to Yotsuba's orders. Not only that, she learned that Miku is in love with Fuutarou, acted genuinely surprised, and even asked her to talk things out with him on day of the kiss. Also, she agreed with Fake Itsuki, and made Fuutarou accept that they are friends, and not partners anymore. Friend and support roles all over the place.

But even if I look at things from Ichika's thought, where the question is "Whom being the kisser would make you the happiest?", I didn't see anything that would make me believe that Fuutarou developed feelings for Itsuki, or hopes/wants Itsuki to be the kisser, a love interest. Unless flashbacks, flashbacks, flashbacks.

Back to the topic, I brought it up in Ichika's second chapter that if we won't see Ichika talking to the collapsed quint in that quint's chapter, even though Ichika came from her room, then my bet is that the collapsed quint is the Bell Kisser, and Ichika just asked her there about the kiss, she told her, and that was Ichika's main reason for going for it herself.

If 4 of them, or even all of them kissed him on Day 2, but he still had problem choosing in front of the vending machine before Ichika kissed him, then either he really wants the Bell Kisser to be Ichika, or really should take the initiative and think about his own happiness already. He should be the one that initiates a kiss with the winner on Day 3, and not let things end with said girl forcing a kiss on him a day before, while he couldn't really answer. The only downside of this method is that all of the girls would be in the classroom supposedly. So if he initiates a kiss on Day 3 with the winner, then it must happen after his announcement or happens before, but we only learn about it afterwards. Otherwise there is no point in bringing everyone in the classroom, if he chose the winner by initiating a kiss with her.

[Xero8420]

As much as I want to enjoy the moments Nino chapters, I can't. Some incoherent pricks in /a/ making twists & turns to come up with a twisted & skewed narrative to dismiss Nino's chance in an ever more extreme ways. I can't stand wasting my breath & energy on morons who refuse to be at least respectful to their rivals. But no, they just wanna beat up others into pulps with extreme prejudice.

Look, I don't know how you guys think of me, but I swear I'm one of the sane-minded ones. For this two weeks, I'm beginning to see patterns that strengthening Nino's chance to be the bride when see both Isanari, Raiha, Maruo, Nino's two close friends & then both Fuutarou's boss & Miku's lady shopkeeper (well, uh... Boss man's potential future wife, if you will) all appeared in the same chapter last week. And most of them are the very same characters who will appear in the future wedding.

(I liked how Negi just rubbed those classmates in disbelief. They were like: "Uesugi-kun... He, of all people, is Nino's boyfriend?" Then I was like: "What about it? Are you guys surprised by the idea of girls like Nino would fall for a dork like him?")

[Chosen_Hero]

Originally Posted by 256

Please re-read the manga and my post without your raging Nino hateboner and with a bit of reading comprehension. And don't skip Nino chapters this time.

You mean your incomprehensible post where you try to play both sides of the spectrum by calling out the Nino wank but then you turn around and let your Nino fanboyism show by raging about how she doesn't think of Fuutarou and is instead thinking about the character that has been front and center in her personal arc from the beginning? That post? I definitely read it, so my previous post still stands.

Clearly you are the one that needs to go back and re-read the manga and learn some reading comprehension if you haven't noticed that her entire thing is about her sisters and her father to the point that you make that kind of post. If anything, the stuff about her father is the most consistent part of her character, everything else is just a mess of wank, so again, go back and carefully read through it once more.

Funny how in my previous post I actually defend Nino's actions only to be once again called a hater.

No, no hate boner here, just pointing out the truth about her character (just like I do for the others, but of course the others don't get the kind of consistent and jarring wank that Nino does so it's kind of difficult to keep doing so just as consistently for the others), if you or another Nino fanboy doesn't like it then I don't care, I will keep pointing it out and posting about it. Call me whatever you want, I am not stopping any time soon.

Also, nice of you to ASS-ume that I skip her chapters, I didn't know you were hanging around my shoulders whenever I read the manga to know such a thing. I mean, it's not like there are countless of posts here on this thread where I talk/write at length about some of the more controversial aspects of her chapters which I mention that I read and re-read and point out in clear detail why I disliked the ones that I disliked and why I thought they were just character wank.

It's pretty funny, if you dislike a characters writing and don't give a proper reason as to why you are a hater and you just didn't properly read. If you dislike a characters writing and give a proper reason as to why, you are still a hater and still didn't properly read. You disagree with someone, you are clearly a hater and you didn't properly read. You criticize a character without bashing the character and even point out how it could have been done better, clearly you are just hating and bashing that character. You defend the character, still a hater.