Gotoubun no Hanayome, ah...where do we begin. So much here has been excellently executed, yet a few of the most important parts were utterly destroyed. And it's a pity that despite being few in number, the problems are massive. My mind is literally all over the place as I'm writing this because this series had all the hallmarks to be truly special; and I don't mean this the way people did when talking about Nisekoi or whatnot. Gotoubun was literally amazing up to the final eight to ten chapters: what's utterly shocking here is how QUICKLY it stagnated. Feels like the story was cut short by at least 50 chapters, for reasons I simply cannot fathom.
Characters: 8/10
This for me, is where the Quintessential Quintuplets truly shines.
The work that Negi Haruba put into his characters prior to the end was truly a joy to read and experience, especially for characters such as Ichika, Miku, Yotsuba and Nino. The author manages to take these girls beyond the generic tropes you'd expect and actually craft human beings, with clumsy spats, interesting views and motivations together with the pangs of adolescent love and drama that tends to challenge their powerful bond as quintuplet sisters. Besides having great chemistry with themselves and making for some honestly very moving moments, most of the girls have great harmony (chemistry wise) with the protagonist of this story: Fuutaro Uesugi, who himself, is a fantastic character.
Futaro goes through the motions of a goal oriented achiever, who's stunted in many aspects of life. I love how his academic ability is chalked down to exceptional hard work ALONG with intelligence. Futaro's academic excellence is contrasted with an abrasive personality; he's rude, impatient, unable to consider others' views easily and intolerant towards failure. He isn't some protagonist that's just good at everything he does. Seeing this teenager grapple with his responsibilities to his family and his own deficiencies as a person is truly joyful to watch. Through his job tutoring these five Quintuplet heroines, the readers get to see Futaro become a more wholesome human being who learns the value of altruism and kindness, getting a genuine desire to help the young girls succeed in both their academic endeavours and their lives as a whole. The fact that these virtues grow within him and are not innate at the start of the series adds something to Futaro that most harem/romance protags lack — since they're almost all great, standup guys from the start.
Seeing this non dimensional teenager grow through the course of the manga was extremely rewarding. Brilliant character work.
While perhaps not as subtle and well played out as Futaro's, the characterisation of some of the Quintuplets comes close enough; with certain characters such as Miku and Nino going through very meaningful arcs, especially relatable for teenagers. The simple nature of their problems that isn't greatly exaggerated but is still enough to create conflicts makes for some great development with these two: and while I say it these developments aren't as profound as Futaro's evolution, I genuinely enjoyed how the author explored what made those two tick and act believably. Yotsuba has a good character plot throughout the story as well, though some viewers may throw the term 'predictable' around. Now I'm afraid I can't delve exactly into these details else I reveal spoilers; but these three girls stood out the most to me compared to their remaining siblings.
Compared to the storylines that develop Miku, Nino and Yotsuba; Ichika has a more controversial arc that brought huge character growth but that which may be interpreted differently by others. However it is arguable that due to the rushed nature of things, some of the characters simply did not receive equal treatment to Miku, Nino and Yotsuba; which really is regrettable, since both showed great promise at the start.
Art: 8.5/10
I really love the character designs on this one. Aside from being consistent throughout, the expressions the characters display are comical and fun to follow, with the infamous pouts becoming a regular fixture whenever anime/manga memes are mentioned. Again, it's very reminiscent of another manga with great expressions — Nisekoi. I also liked how every girl is made unique from the other even when they're without their identifying accessories or hairstyles: with enough practice and chapters under your belt, you'll be able to tell the Quints apart based on the slightest things: the shape of their eyebrows, the position of their eyes, their posture, their actions. Subtleties, just like how you can tell twins and triplets apart when you start spending more time with them. Nice details.
Story: 5.5/10
Now let's say we ignore the last ten chapters or so; the story would probably cap off at a 7.5/10. That's because this was always a story based on how the characters interact with each other and enjoying the fruits of those interactions. It's a waifu war story not just of love, but of growth and accepting oneself. Actual Fullmetal Alchemist levels of story and writing were not needed for this story to work, but despite that, somehow the author managed to derail his good work with such a rushed ending. I literally cannot emphasise how let down I feel with this ending; the closest comparison I can think of is Kubo Tite's Bleach, which derailed over a longer period but derailed all the same.
Gotoubun's end was sudden and the stagnation was equally shocking. Many suspected the story would take a pounding the moment it was announced that the story wouldn't even reach 130 chapters; which was shocking considering that one major character hadn't even had an arc yet. The author went through the motions nevertheless and left numerous loose ends, while also half assing an ending that kind of backtracked on some important moments of development. I do not know what Negi Haruba was planning, but he betrayed the good work he had done in the first 90 chapters especially. It's always disappointing when something so good you expect to never be able to fail, fails within a short time and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
So why do I still give the story an above average score?
Simply because I enjoyed the plot well enough until the closing few chapters. I don't have the heart to give it anything lower than a five, but that ending was truly atrocious. People who are about to pick this show up should suck in all the great moments because the final few chapters are probably, to most, atrocious.
Overall: 6/10
A good enough score, but this manga was poised to land in an 8.5 at very least, in my book. Great character work with Futaro, Miku, Nino as standouts; catchy art designs and a coherent, simple enough and fun to follow story manage to make up for an absolutely messy ending and questionable treatment of some of the development received by the characters. Overall, Gotoubun is well worth the read — there's a lot here that shouldn't be missed, but that can't make up for the fact that this was supposed to be the best harem/romcom in a long time.
And it simply could not live up to what it easily could have, and would have been.
