There were no words to describe my excitement. I had watched and completed the first two seasons of the anime back in January of 2022 and it immediately became one of my favorite rom coms. I loved everything about it from the story to the beautiful animation, all the way down to the soundtrack and amazing characters. Futuro Uesugi and the ever so wonderful quintuplets were all gems from the start.
Naturally, when news of the movie came about, I knew I had to buy tickets, so I did and went to see it (on December 2nd to be exact ), excited to see a highly anticipated anime of mine come to an end in what I thought was going to be a showstopper…
However, what I got…wasn't entirely what I was expecting.
And instead of starting off with the old scoring on MAL, I am instead going to go in order of the 5 main aspects that an anime can have in my opinion from best to worst.
Art - 9/10
From the get go, the art was stunning and there was pretty much nothing wrong with it at all. Just as beautiful as the first two seasons. Backgrounds, animation flow, character designs, even the attention to hair detail and the EYES. Omg the eyesssss.
I could go on and on about how much I love the art style for this anime but we'd be here all day. After all, there are much more pressing matters to attend to.
Sound - 8/10
Similar to the art, the soundtrack was pretty close to perfect. I’ve loved the op’s, thought the ed’s were nice, and thoroughly enjoyed the instrumentals…
There isn’t really all that much to say. My main criticism stans to be that I’ve heard piano and pretty OST’s before and I just go by what I think sounds more unique to what doesn’t
Characters - 6/10
Okayyyy…so from here, we start to have a few issues.
If you’re reading this review, then I think I can safely assume you’ve seen the first two seasons of The Quintessential Quintuplets, which means you’ve had PLENTY a taste of everyone’s character and their personalities. Same for me so I’m just gonna flat out say it.
Something went wrong in this movie.
I can’t pinpoint how or why but…Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, Itsuki, and even Futarou…Did not have the same feel in the movie as they did in season 1 and 2.
I will certainly bring up this topic in talking about story and enjoyment because it's a very important aspect of the movie that I felt was heavily present through the whole thing and why I believe it fell short for me.
The character’s (and their development) felt VERY rushed.
In two hours, we are expected to see the feelings, development, and concluding story (which grows to be the obvious point about 20 minutes into the movie) of all 5 sisters, plus squeeze in the deciding factor with Futarou. And that sounds like a very demanding thing to do. It IS a demanding thing to do.
Don’t get me wrong. I still enjoyed our lovely sisters, and Futarou as well, but they just didn’t feel as lively to me as they did in the first two seasons. I think part of that has something to do with a personal idea of mine that this movie (and the manga) tried to do.
Change the genre from romantic comedy to romantic drama at the very last minute.
Now, in the first two seasons, we most definitely had drama. But it was healthily combined with each sister’s personalities, Fuutarou’s actions, etc. We had a nice 50/50 of each when appropriate. Part of the joy I got from this series were the sister’s interactions, goofy and or serious in all.
But then, it’s like that ratio changes to 70/20. And it’s not a good change. I feel we lost some of that bouncy entertainment that gave The Quintessential Quintuplets its charm, and though everyone’s character wasn’t terrible, they could have certainly been better.
Enjoyment - 5/10
As we head downwards, it's only natural to assume that my enjoyment for The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie faltered quite a bit, but it wasn't the most disappointing aspect.
A 5 to me, at any point, will always be considered "mediocre". Not good, nor bad. Would I watch the movie again? No. Probably not. But there were still plenty of scenes that I found enjoyment in within my single, and probably only viewing.
As stated above, animation and sounds were delightful, characters were decent, the dramatic scenes were okay (though felt a little unnatural and rushed), and the romance was…a little underwhelming.
Something I didn't bring up was the fact that I actually went to go see the movie with my brother, and the WHOLE way home, we were just talking and talking about things that didn't happen in the movie that we wished had.
To start off, everyone in The Quintessential Quintuplets fandom more or less probably has the choose of who their favorite sister is. Ours was Miku. And it's not that we were disappointed that it didn't end up being her…but it was just the execution of the chosen sister that felt a little off.
In just trying to think about things rationally…it would almost make sense that Miku would be the chosen sister over Yotsuba BECAUSE she's the middle sister. She honestly felt like the more odd one out to me in comparison to the other four as far as personality went, but it was Yotsuba who was the "special" sister for claimed reasons.
Besides the point though, despite Yotsuba being the chosen sister, I really feel like they did too much with her but also not enough at the same time. And what I mean by that is how rushed her development was in the second half of the movie, and her romantic interaction with Futarou.
And that leads me into the final aspect of this anime 's finale. The story.
Story - 4/10
As someone who does not read manga, I found it bizarre when I actually searched for it when I got back from the theater and found it on some website and did a little bit of a read through. And just from the movie alone, it doesn’t take an idiot to say that “A LOT HAPPENED.”
If I knew just how much story existed after season 2, or even how the rest of the story went, I would have preferred for there to be the development of a 3rd season with 12 episodes instead of a 2 hr 16 min film. It’s the FINALE, and everyone wants a finale to be well thought out and have the best execution possible. And this movie…didn’t do that.
We’re at the point where Fuutarou must pick between each of the 5 girls, and we go through this movie with major character development that needed more time to actually be considered development instead of a rushed mess, time jumps that almost had no tell of where they started and where they ended, and alternating events and scenes that made the whole thing feel like an otome dating sim game if there wasn’t already a set goal in mind.
This took place in the first half of the movie, and I almost missed when the transition into the 2nd half actually occured when we really start to see a glimpse into Yotsuba's person.
It was definitely intricate and unique, but like I said before, very rushed. There was also plenty of room for more detail, but because they already had so much to fit in, there wasn't any room for more.
But by far, the 3 biggest aspects and problems I had with the movie were all near the end where a major conclusion to the story was set to occur. 3 events that I thought would be the perfect way to tie everything together that DIDN'T happen.
1. A reveal scene that Yotsuba was the sister that Futarou met all those years ago.
As far as I was concerned, this matter was a MAJOR, if not the whole premise of the anime. Who did Futarou meet all those years ago ? What's his reaction going to be when he finds out? It's as if the movie was just leaving us to imagine that Yotsuba revealed it to him eventually, but it wasn't important enough for us to see the scene play out in front of our eyes. All we see is that he picks Yotsuba. No epic reveal after that with any heartfelt hugging or more tears and reunion scene of "I FINALLY found you." There are no words to describe how bummed I was when that didn't happen. (There was also no reveal as to which sister posed as "Rena" on the boat ride in the 2nd season which was also a disappointment)
2. A kiss.
Throughout this whole anime, I was anticipating a kiss. But not one that's hidden by hair or a shadow or off screen or on the cheek. No. I mean an ACTUAL kiss at maybe a…oh I don't know…A WEDDING ???? We have a nice little wedding scene but no kiss ???? Nothing to show their love ? In a ROMANCE anime ??? It's been almost 2 weeks and I'm STILL fuming.
3. An ACTUAL, heartfelt ending.
I'm sorry but…what the actual hell was that ending? I feel like I've already spoiled enough in this review so I'm not going to say what the actual ending was but…man what a disappointment. My ending desire for this film was to not have it conclude the way that it did, especially considering how beautifully executed the first two seasons were.
I'm being serious when I say that the manga author for The Quintessential Quintuplets was climbing uphill for creating a damn near masterpiece. But then the ending just…ruined it for me. All of the anticipation and story that occurred throughout the movie just seemed to be flushed down the toilet. A questionable conclusion was far from what I was expecting for this anime. I wanted something satisfying, heartfelt, sweet. Like a picture or small scene of everyone in the future married with children, because those are the vibes that I ended up getting from this anime. Or even a picture of Futarou with Yotsuba on the altar at their wedding. Not the BEST sounding ending, but certainly better than what was given.
I know I sound sour, but everyone has a preference of the kind of ending that they want for an anime they adore. Sometimes it exceeds expectations, sometimes it's subpar, and sometimes it doesn't deliver at all.
Overall…I didn't hate the movie. But I didn't leave satisfied either. For such a wonderful romcom, I wanted better, EXPECTED better, but we can't always get what we want in life.
But I'll always look back on the moments from this anime I enjoyed and I will always treasure it for what it is. A heartfelt series with wonderful character and an amazing outlook on the rocky, emotional, but beautiful relationship between some very Quintessential Quintuplets.
