(L) 5-Toubun no Hanayome

[Sixth]

Just finished reading the speed scan chapter.

It is a nice conclusion for this manga. It is just a matter of the time that Fuu will impregnate 5 of them if they (4 sisters) keep tagging him along. We all know how much Yotsuba loves her sisters so she will definitely don't mind sharing Fuu with them if other sisters are fine with that.

I have seen this happened in real life too where one businessman married 3 sisters, so it is possible.

Also, I am in the crowd that it was not a dream. The wedding happened.

This is definitely a romance manga I will recommend to those who hate 1st girl passionately as the winner.

Hope we will get an epilogue or additional info in the final volume.

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by xrick

I know this is being unfair to the community as a whole, but... Isn't it high time for everyone to understand how this kind of stories work?
There's been SO MANY cases already for everyone to not see it.
The girls fans tend to gravitate to HARDLY EVER end up being the end-girls. There are exceptions, sure enough, but it's usually an exception, not the rule.

I also understand that this time the major complaint is about how the author worked his story in the latest parts, and I kinda agree.
From a certain moment in the story, I ended up reading it just to see how it ended.

Still, Waifu Wars, Shipping Wars, Fan-pandering, all of that ends up being detrimental to a story's development, in my opinion.
It ruins many people's experience of the story overall, due to focusing too much on the mentioned above.

An author, to make this kind of story sell, has to bring in tons of girls, no doubt about it.
The problem comes when he develops them (even on the slightest) and one girl other than the author's planned end-girl becomes a fan favorite.
After that, any plan of his will be under the community's strict scrutiny, trying to figure out if the end-girl is their favorite more than who may actually be.
This all, of course, if the author already has an idea who he wants to win the race

If I'm wrong on any point, you're free to counter my arguments. This is a matter that depends on each one's PoV of these stories.

The sheer irony is that Negi cited Ichigo 100% positively, where the author admitted that he changed the initially planned endgirl, because the story evolved past the point he thought it would make sense.

Here, Negi went along with his initial idea, which ruined the manga. On top of that, he was lying a lot in his interviews. Only the editor was honest enough to tell that the basic concept is Fuutarou not recognizing KG, his first love when they have met again, because she is a quintuplet.

If Negi wanted Yotsuba to win, so be it. But the execution, throwing out, ignoring clues, details for the others or retconning stuff are inexcusable. Negi talked about a short serialization. Her winning wouldn't have made much sense in 50 chapters as well, but it wouldn't have been atrocious like this 122 chapters ride.

[Eisdrache]

Originally Posted by omimon

They are grasping at straws.

The best part about this story is the amount of salt and reality denial it generates from specific parts of the community.

[Chosen_Hero]

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

After the speedscans and the TL's feedback.

You can't hold anything against "dreamers".
Just like with the relationship portrayal, Negi could have made it blatantly obvious, but he didn't. In what world do you think the following things are normal:
- Fuutarou was dating Yotsuba for 5 years and they only had 3 kisses. He had no idea she was the BK until the bridal kiss, and he is unaware of the festival kiss. So in his mind the bridal kiss was their first.
- Only just before the wedding did the quints witness Yotsuba calling him finally Fuutarou.
- Fuutarou is poor throghout the manga. No explanation how they can afford such a luxurious wedding. He is a fresh graduate at best. Papa Nakano didn't pay for everything that's a fact.
- Raiha brings him the rings, because he forget, on the most important day of his life, but even then he just won't use it. No explanation.
- Fuutarou was surprised to see Maeda, implying he was unaware he will be coming to the wedding. Now Maeda looks like some sort of best man from nowhere. Takeda got forgotten.
- The worst offender: The quints barging in on their honeymoon and Yotsuba permits it. What's worse here? Yotsuba, or even after 5 years, everyone being still attached to Fuutarou this much? Combine this with Fuutarou bothering to remember that he didn't answer Nino 5 years ago, on his wedding day, while also saying that Yotsuba is a coward, his wife, compated to her.

Fuutarou confirms Miku is the true winner. Thanks, Negi!

Either awkward word choice ("She is Fuutarou's partner at work") or Fuutarou and Itsuki are coworkers/teachers. If not, then it's another episode of two people going in the same path, yet Negi didn't bother with one of them telling the other that they will be doing the same for ages. If it is, then Fuutarou and Yotsuba concludes the manga without having their professions revealed, outside of the infamous Bride/Housewife.

The BK incident confirmed bullshit and pure disgusting hypocrisy. And I remember people wanted to crucify Nino, if she turned out to be the BK after saying how she hates people doing stuff in the background. Yotsuba just goes "Fufu, there is plenty of other things I yet to tell you, Fuutarou". As Fuutarou once said "It really helps that at least there is one person, who is straightforward and honest."

The graduation trip part can easily countered with a lot of things. The obvious one is graduation getting completely skipped, unless you find that color page satisfying. The second one is my apartment logic. The collages in Chapter 120 not even once showed Fuutarou visiting the quints, he was not even present on the party they held for Itsuki. He was studying in his home alone, he was studying in the library with the quints. When they were going to their separate ways, Ichika was already acting on that TV drama. So somehow Fuutarou came up with a graduation trip, somehow he fell asleep after he visited the quints, somehow Ichika was still there and somehow this should have taken place off-screen after Chapter 119... I'm not buying it.

Here we are. Instead of Fuutarou marrying Yotsuba with gradual buildup while the others started building their own private, love lifes, the lesson is that the quints will always stick together with him, be it a dream or not. We were the 5toubun no hanayome.

Umm, winner at what exactly? That last chapter sounds like the trainwreck I imagined it would be after all the bullshit.

[Hakai]

Yes it was all a dream. Even the part where you read the manga. 5Toubun manga and Haruba Negi does not exist in real life

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

Umm, winner at what exactly? That last chapter sounds like the trainwreck I imagined it would be after all the bullshit.

It's from Fuutarou's dialogue.

[Chosen_Hero]

^So basically one last fuck you to Miku, "you win, but not really, but you win though"... seriously, what dumpster fire this manga became in the end.

[WingedAccelerator]

Yup. People predicted that she will get the best scene again, while Yotsuba just fulfills her Bride role with gratitude speeches for them. Even in the last chapter, the losers felt closer to Fuutarou than the main heroine.

[rulfo]

Originally Posted by xrick

I know this is being unfair to the community as a whole, but... Isn't it high time for everyone to understand how this kind of stories work?
There's been SO MANY cases already for everyone to not see it.
The girls fans tend to gravitate to HARDLY EVER end up being the end-girls. There are exceptions, sure enough, but it's usually an exception, not the rule.

I also understand that this time the major complaint is about how the author worked his story in the latest parts, and I kinda agree.
From a certain moment in the story, I ended up reading it just to see how it ended.

Still, Waifu Wars, Shipping Wars, Fan-pandering, all of that ends up being detrimental to a story's development, in my opinion.
It ruins many people's experience of the story overall, due to focusing too much on the mentioned above.

An author, to make this kind of story sell, has to bring in tons of girls, no doubt about it.
The problem comes when he develops them (even on the slightest) and one girl other than the author's planned end-girl becomes a fan favorite.
After that, any plan of his will be under the community's strict scrutiny, trying to figure out if the end-girl is their favorite more than who may actually be.
This all, of course, if the author already has an idea who he wants to win the race

If I'm wrong on any point, you're free to counter my arguments. This is a matter that depends on each one's PoV of these stories.

I don't think it would have been impossible to develop each girl in their own way. The bridge that can be used is Fuutarou. If each girl becomes the focus for certain period of time and it constantly affects the male protag's POV, these things would be a lot more convincing.

In the latter half of this manga, Fuutarou just became a static character like Yotsuba who had minimal amount of change. What makes matters worse is that Negi would rather hide Fuutarou's thoughts in order to preserve ~mystery~ rather than develop a coherent character that develops and is affected by the circumstance. Take a look at Scrambled Eggs for example. That was one of the best this manga has to offer.

[rulfo]

Originally Posted by Sixth

This is definitely a romance manga I will recommend to those who hate 1st girl passionately as the winner.

And for those who want minimal or barely existing romance for the winner.

[Endless_Despair]

Alright I've got some details from the Yotsuba book so get ready!

-Negi likes writing about Yotsuba a lot to the point that he has to be careful, how he wants to do more with her but needs to keep himself in check and how much he wants to show her interacting, how careful he was so with her popularity. He goes on and on about how carefully he intended to show her real personality and issues.
-He loves Genki Girls that have a hidden dark past and that for him is her main appeal.
-She was originally planned to be the one who was supposed to meet Fuutarou first NOT Itsuki. Editor requested Negi to change it because Yotsuba would have been too kind and it needed to be someone opposed to Fuutarou so it switched to Itsuki.
-On their "date" neither Fuutarou nor Yotsuba saw it as a date themselves, she saw it as a chance to make him happy, and he sees it as a reward for her for helping him during the school camp.
-Yotsuba's room being full of plants is linked to her feelings of wanting to live for the sake of others.
-Yotsuba has a habit of leaning over while standing and speaking.
-The reason Yotsuba's favourite animal is a Camel is because she finds their faces funny. Negi comments how one time he went to the Zoo with his WIFE and once they saw their faces they couldn't stop smiling the whole way through.

So from my interpretation of this, Yotsuba really was the planned winner from the start but Negi didn't want to give it away too easily, for the "mystery" so he intentionally held back on giving her "too much" focus. The problem here Negi is that one of the biggest complaints from fans in general for her winning was that she didn't get enough focus and yet here you're saying in the interview you wanted to do more with her.

[Tactics]

Well, technically he already achieved it, by having her made drama with Nino.

That's already lot enough considering her screentime in general.

[Lex79]

I can't imagine how would have been this thread now if Yotsuba was also the first girl.

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by Endless_Despair

Alright I've got some details from the Yotsuba book so get ready!

-Negi likes writing about Yotsuba a lot to the point that he has to be careful, how he wants to do more with her but needs to keep himself in check and how much he wants to show her interacting, how careful he was so with her popularity. He goes on and on about how carefully he intended to show her real personality and issues.
-He loves Genki Girls that have a hidden dark past and that for him is her main appeal.
-She was originally planned to be the one who was supposed to meet Fuutarou first NOT Itsuki. Editor requested Negi to change it because Yotsuba would have been too kind and it needed to be someone opposed to Fuutarou so it switched to Itsuki.
-On their "date" neither Fuutarou nor Yotsuba saw it as a date themselves, she saw it as a chance to make him happy, and he sees it as a reward for her for helping him during the school camp.
-Yotsuba's room being full of plants is linked to her feelings of wanting to live for the sake of others.
-Yotsuba has a habit of leaning over while standing and speaking.
-The reason Yotsuba's favourite animal is a Camel is because she finds their faces funny. Negi comments how one time he went to the Zoo with his WIFE and once they saw their faces they couldn't stop smiling the whole way through.

So from my interpretation of this, Yotsuba really was the planned winner from the start but Negi didn't want to give it away too easily, for the "mystery" so he intentionally held back on giving her "too much" focus. The problem here Negi is that one of the biggest complaints from fans in general for her winning was that she didn't get enough focus and yet here you're saying in the interview you wanted to do more with her.

Wow...

Firstly, thanks for sharing this. I had a good laugh.

Another episode of Negi being a piece of shit, while his editor is a hero. What did Negi say in one of his interviews? He hates the first girl trope. Turns out she wanted Yotsuba be the first girl, but the editor's intervention came through.

My interpretation: If, no... Big IF... IF Negi wanted to give the readers Yotsuba crumbs slowly, but surely, then maybe... He should have shown more dedication towards his own work and extend the manga for that 150 chapters that should have been more than enough to get Itsuki and Yotsuba the attention and character development they needed! The real copout is the Yotsuba flashback and the disappointing ending that followed.

[Hakai]

Itsuki protected her sister from all the first/main girl hate

Truly the ultimate Yotsubro

[Wandering Soul]

Ignoring the whole dream part, I found it hilarious how the girls are actually tagging along on the couple's honeymoon.

[mastermind3342]

This manga should be made virtual novel with multiple ending....
Everyone can choose their own end girl

[256]

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

What did Negi say in one of his interviews? He hates the first girl trope. Turns out she wanted Yotsuba be the first girl, but the editor's intervention came through.

Didn't he also say that originally Fuutarou was supposed to meet all of them at the same time, but the editor made him change that to "make it easier on the readers"?

It's a brilliant strategy. Use the losers as a smoke screen, don't do anything with the winner and you can achieve your subversion of expectations and epic plot twist. Throw in lying to your readers in interviews for a good measure.
If you gave everyone clues and development equally (muh 5toubun) you could still keep your mystery while making the winner a reasonable option.
If you have to keep the winner completely static for 120 chapters in fear that you're going to give the conclusion away, then maybe your initial idea wasn't good in the first place.

[DanielSong39]

It was a lousy manga that was commercially successful.

I mean it was bad but not as bad as the manga from Seo or Kei. Some of the humor was pretty funny (though it got old quick).

In another world Fuutarou will meet a nice girl who treats him well and doesn't troll him. He will go to university and get a good corporate job working long hours, maybe become manager after 10 years.

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by 256

Didn't he also say that originally Fuutarou was supposed to meet all of them at the same time, but the editor made him change that to "make it easier on the readers"?

It's a brilliant strategy. Use the losers as a smoke screen, don't do anything with the winner and you can achieve your subversion of expectations and epic plot twist. Throw in lying to your readers in interviews for a good measure.
If you gave everyone clues and development equally (muh 5toubun) you could still keep your mystery while making the winner a reasonable option.
If you have to keep the winner completely static for 120 chapters in fear that you're going to give the conclusion away, then maybe your initial idea wasn't good in the first place.

Couldn't find that one, but I also remember there was something about "making it easier on the readers". But have fun with these priceless ones.

"I decided how many volumes are left, when I drew Ichika's cover for Volume 7. I depicted the quints' feeling to Fuutarou until now, but since they will marry in the end, I should show how their feelings will become mutual from now on. Focusing on Fuutarou's feelings, I'll draw an ending which as many readers as possible can accept."
He failed.

"Because he made the characteristics first before the visuals and he added and subtracted tropes from the characters, there wasn't a quint that is designed first."
Editor: The main concept is Fuutarou reuniting with KG. From Yotsuba's character book, he loves dark genki girls.

"He thinks if readers don't see the "hidden parts" of a character, it would make us interested in the character longer."
Cool, maybe he should have done something with said character(s).

"He didn't expect to be serialized for a long time, so he put the flashforward at the start as the goal line."
Cool, maybe he shouldn't half-assed reaching that goal line after he got serialized for long.

"When thinking about what appeals in romcom, the first thing is "Who is the chosen one?""
It should have been "Why is she the chosen one?", showing why does it make sense.

"After Miku became conscious of Fuutarou, the other sisters were "pulled" to change as well."
Yotsuba flashback.

"The quints' expressions and interactions with Fuutarou changed after falling in love."
What's the glaring difference between KG Yotsuba and high school Yotsuba?

"Negi personally doesn't see the appeal of heroines, who like the protagonist from the start of story."
So he is a masochist, I see.

"He wanted to draw the scale from hate to like/love, so he made all quints start from "negative" point. However, he needed someone to get the story moving, so he made Yotsuba as Fuutarou's guide for early chapters."
*Snicker*

"If I get axed, I can never turn this around", but he thinks it was because of this excitement he was able to be serialized to this day."
Not even in any, early potential axing point did Yotsuba make sense. Ichika, Miku, Itsuki were all plausible choices, Nino joined in after Seven Goodbyes.

"His wife knew who the bride is from the start and supports her. She is reading with the perspective "What would happen that makes this girl the bride?""
Bad writing. Spank your husband.

"He wants the reader to feel sad after the story ends, as in "I can't enter the quints' world/story anymore."
He managed to make them sad with an enormous quality drop instead.

"The events leading to the ending is not finalized. He didn't expect to survive serialization for this long and there were some parts that he added as he went. However, he already has a picture in mind how each quint will end up."
Nino: Restaurant --> University --> Best cake shop --> Bar. Well thought out.
Yotsuba: Most likely sports university, unthought profession even though it was a recurring question --> Bride.

"Haruba-sensei has a clear vision of what he wants his readers to feel like. For example, he wants them to be surprised or make that "The theories turned out like this?" to prove them wrong, to make an impact on them. So it's like he has something he wants to achieve, but before going into details of the manga. To achieve that goal, he thinks of how the character or the situation would be able to meet that goal. So he has these strings of making it at "this" first, but twist it like "that" later."
Subversion over consistency. Makes sense, why Yotsuba has won.