On Quintessential Quintuplets S1E10, !!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Current Ranking:
1. Ichika
Woah. Yeah that’s right, Ichika is number one now. I’ve just found how she uses her wisdom to assist Uesugi in his times of struggle with the sisters, in addition to her dedicated pursuit of an acting career, a career of which i’m personally interested in, as well as her chill and laid back attitude to be really attractive. Compared to Miku, Ichika is not only helpful, but I feel like there’s more weight to her actions, especially given that she’s usually done them in sacrifice of her philosophical lack of desire to study. While Miku just gave off short bites of information here and there, Ichika uses her knowledge to point the group here and there and, for the second time, has had one-on-one discussions with Uesugi about him and his relationships with the quintuplets. With all this in mind, it’s hard not to view her as a greatly admirable person, having a great sense of heartwarming care, passion, kindness, and emotional intelligence. This is not to mention the humility she displays in the last episode and this one, passing off her dance with Uesugi to Miku even when she’s clearly interested in him. It can be argued at the end too that it’s implied she cares so much about Uesugi, that when he suggested they call off her dance, she cried. If that doesn’t go to show how big this sacrifice was for her, I don’t know what will. Ichika’s supposed, non-consensual kiss can be brought up but according to Itsuki’s flashback, it didn’t happen. Even if it did though, I feel like I can let that one mistake slide under the rug for now. Still waiting for her to do whatever crazy thing you guys hate her for, but for now, I proudly support Ichitrash.
2. Miku
I can’t keep defending Miku, unfortunately. Her character has been boring and predictable for a while and I’ve honestly gotten tired of talking about her being the most receptive, relatable, and kind a hundred times over. The writers haven’t really done a good job at further developing her character as well as the relationship between her and Uesugi. In this episode, she doesn’t really do much but further the narrative that she’s romantically interested in him. That’s about it. Her credit still remains for all things I’d complimented her for in the past, however, as it expresses a consistent loyalty I respect and desire in an ideal partner. If she continues at this rate though, she’ll quickly make her way to the lower ranks and never recover her first place position unless I find everyone exceptionally worse. In short, trying to maintain my affinity for Miku has been like trying to maintain a long distance relationship with someone who’s barely online. I’m holding onto hope, however, as I know that with further series involvement, she can recover her spot.
3. Nino
Interesting character development, but I still believe as viewers that at this point, we haven’t seen enough of her true-self to make any fair rankings yet. I will say though that I’m vibing with this little sneak peek they did. To “Kintaro” (Uesugi), she presents herself as a whole lot more passive and vulnerable, starkly contrasting her mean-spirited attitude she’s shown in earlier episodes. It’s shown in how she kindly asks him for help and converses with him, though it would’ve been more fitting for her character to carry a more commandeering tone. Instead of accusing him of being a pervert when he lands on her, she simply thanks him too. When she notices a bruise on his forehead, and unhesitantly treats his wound, showing signs of resourcefulness. It completely breaks this archetypal characterization of Nino that we’re used to as an audience, again, strengthening the idea that her hostility stems from being on high alert for her sisters, and that she carries a softer inner core in reality. This is reinforced by her fear of the forest being haunted, of which she bluntly refused to express in front of Itsuki. It raises the idea that, in truth, she’s the type of person who likes to hide their weaknesses and appear tough in front of others. Of course, she may be playing herself up to appeal to Kintaro, her ideal partner, but with the background of past episodes, I believe there’s something greater at play here that I’m interested in seeing unfold.
4. Yotsuba
I think Yotsuba’s character has been too weakly written to really be considered seriously. There’s been one attempt to characterize her into a childishly energetic girl with a twist of maturity that has fallen flat on its face. When she and Uesugi were left at the quintuplets house, she expressed self-awareness for her lack of change. However, it just kind of just happened but didn’t really go anywhere, she continued being the same and didn’t use her self-awareness for good. In this episode, she tells Uesugi that she desires for both of them not to leave camp with any regrets, and I expect this too will go nowhere, but we’ll see. Apart from that, Yotsuba’s involvement can simply be chalked up to comedic stupidity and enthusiasm.
5. Itsuki
Need I say much about her? It seems to me that her relationship with Uesugi has really been lacking in development recently and it’s led to less screen time and less character development. I’d say her character still has potential, given my past analysis on her stresses to expectations, but it’s really up to the writers to decide whether or not they’re gonna tap into it. Her involvement in this episode pretty much chalked up to comedic relief, being the most openly anxious of the forest legends.
Extra notes:
I love Emilia.
Ok but seriously, at this point I think the only thing the show has going for it is comedy and spicy moments.
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