The Junkyard presents a review by Daz of the anime series The Quintessential Quintuplets:

So… I finally got round to watching this show. Decided to binge it in one day seeing as we can’t really do much.

Where do I begin with these Quintessential Quintuplets… I dunno really. Another show without an ending. Getting bored of these shows that beg you to wait until Season 2. Luckily for us this has got a Season 2 incoming unlike some…

Harem anime isn’t something I ever really watch. I can count on my hand how many I’ve actually seen. Most of which were seen by fluke like this.  Brynhildyr in the Darkness is one of my favourites but strangely enough, only in dub. The main character’s attitude in the sub is horrible. He’s often verbally abusive to the girls and acts like they are a hindrance to him. I decided to watch this in dub too as I thought it might have a similar feel. The setups are usually the same: guy in a bad situation gets put in charge of some girls.  That is very much the case in Quintuplets too but it just didn’t gel with me… or did it?

Our MC lives with his dad and little sister and they are hard up for money. He ends up getting a job tutoring five sisters. They come from a wealthy family and he won’t get paid unless they all pass their exams. Yet this is all played out in the past, as when the show starts, the MC is getting married to someone and we have to watch the show to find out who.

This isn’t so much about him being poor or the stress of teaching these girls so he gets paid, but more about helping each one with their own problems. Not that these things aren’t dealt with, it’s just that they aren’t the main focus. It’s clear from this point that this show isn’t going down the more serious route. Not that teenage problems aren’t serious, just that it could have dealt with the realities of the threat of being homeless and the pressures of that.

As with harem shows, eventually all the girls develop some kind of feelings for the main character and they have kept the “which one will he choose” angle different by making them all look exactly the same just with different hairstyles and colours. It works for the readers/viewers as they can show them together in any kind of circumstance yet with a different style and you still don’t know.

The MC isn’t the worst guy either. I was happy about that point. Sometimes these guys get on my nerves with their attitudes. Luckily this guy didn’t have one. What he did have though was an interesting backstory about a former life he had and reasons why he changed up. This is somehow linked to the girls but we don’t know how. Season 2 will probably show us.

The crazy thing is that as I’ve sat and wrote this I’ve realised that I actually liked this show. It made me laugh and people cared. Genuinely cared. It’s not the deepest thing in the world or the smartest. It doesn’t have great visuals but it’s got a certain charm that is essential in stuff like this.

For that reason, I’m going to give this show a 7/10.

One thing for certain is that there is a massive abundance of shows like this. Stuff that builds too quickly and in most cases needs more time to develop. Friendships aren’t made so fast in reality and things appear purely for plot reasons. It’s what ultimately kills stuff like this for me instantly. I mean sometimes these shows are just poorly written and you can’t see how it even got greenlit yet there it is… on your screen… wasting your time and the people that made it too.

I guess we have the seasonal format to blame for a lot of it. Companies clamoring for the next hit and a share of the spoils. Quality really takes a hit and unfortunately I can’t see this changing any time soon which for some is great but not for me.  DT

For another review of this series please see: The Quintessential Quintuplets.  We also have a The Fanservice Debate article.