(L) 5-Toubun no Hanayome

[Xero8420]

Yes... This week's wholesome Nino chapter gave a sweet smile on my face! I knew it would be a hospital visit chapter when it was hinted in Fuu & Nino's conversation last week, and Negi delivered it. Thank god Miku didn't come along, or people will hate her more for being an annoying nuisance.
Seriously, though, Miku's recent character don't seem to go on the right track, concerning that she might go down to the level of insufferable. Heck, even Nino wouldn't dare to go too far when her bikini was the only one that looked oddly modest compared to the rest.

Spoiler:

Anyway, this chapter pretty much indicate that both Fuu & Nino are a couple of steps closer to reciprocate each other's feelings. I always got the impressions that he has been acting odd whenever he's near Nino for a reasons. Even the flowers on the background behind Fuu are budding pretty much mean something.

Besides, before this & a couple of chapters back, I already knew there will be an Ichika drama arc coming soon. Especially in the end of Sisters War arc, her "closure" don't even looked like a proper closure at all, I suspect she was up to something & that got me thinking there would be a story about her personal dilemma for another time until Ichika come to eventually make a proper closure with Fuu after when she finally being honest to herself & finally bleed out her love for him.

As far as I'm aware, more than just Ichika stayed with her sisters for a little while because of Fuutarou, I suspect she must have been building up her hopes around her dear Fuutarou-kun for her future life, all those time. I suspect she has been dreaming of wanting to spend the rest of her life with him, which explained why she worked hard, threatened her sisters to leave if couldn't pay their share for the rent & has being very desperate on Fuutarou-kun. But after the Kyoto drama that somehow upset Fuu, her hope has crumbled into pieces to the point that she consider to give up both on him & her sisters altogether & leave it all in pieces on a whim like that, without actually resolving her own personal dilemma.

This time, seems to me like both Fuu-kun & Nino will be trying to bring Ichika back, convince her to first complete her study before proceed to move on with her career & graduate with them together as one family. Something Nino wants for her family along with Fuu's vow to make it happen. Even the late Rena wanted the same thing too.

However, I even get the feeling that Ichika may also want to plead Fuutarou to be her first man she love before consider going down for a proper closure.

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by MK-95-

Only one of the quints' current and future path is deeply intertwined and associated with their mother's and that quint is Itsuki. At this point, the very first person that pops into most readers' minds when they think of Rena is Itsuki (she even uses the name as her alias ffs! Excessive much?).

To put it another way, the death anniversary is an Itsuki-exclusive event and flag.

Funny you say that, cause if I understand correctly, the self-proclaimed mother only talked about Ichika's issue to the "real" mother of the quints, Nino, before Ichika revealed it to all of them. It just shows once again how incapable Itsuki is as a mother replacement.

As for the chapter itself, I'm neutral about it. It's not bad, but I don't think it's better than Chapter 71. There is another wedding parallel with how Fuutarou scratches his head during the ring exchange part in Chapter 68 and we see their manager, and now something identical when the manager is peeking at them in the hospital. Is Negi really give it away constantly with these Nino "clues", or Nino is the ultimate red herring collector?

[Xero8420]

The kumihimo bracelet charm is too strong to be a red herring that you cannot dismiss. It could as well be a form of red string of fate, if you watched Kimi no Na Wa.

Don't be too surprised if some Japanese actually believe in the work wonders of what those braided cord charms can do in any kind of shape or form & it's not entirely a superstitious myth when it has been backed by a spiritual folklore.

[MK-95-]

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

Funny you say that, cause if I understand correctly, the self-proclaimed mother only talked about Ichika's issue to the "real" mother of the quints, Nino, before Ichika revealed it to all of them. It just shows once again how incapable Itsuki is as a mother replacement.

As for the chapter itself, I'm neutral about it. It's not bad, but I don't think it's better than Chapter 71. There is another wedding parallel with how Fuutarou scratches his head during the ring exchange part in Chapter 68 and we see their manager, and now something identical when the manager is peeking at them in the hospital. Is Negi really give it away constantly with these Nino "clues", or Nino is the ultimate red herring collector?

We can both agree on the fact that Itsuki is incompetent when it comes to being a surrogate/replacement mother figure. However, that doesn't detract from the image or reputation she's built up as being the momcon of the group. Who might I add, willingly continues to shackle herself to this idealized image she has of their mother.

By now, it's basically impossible to not think of Itsuki when we think of Rena. That's why, even tho she's incompetent as a replacement (and Nino fits the role much more naturally than her), readers will still associate Rena with Itsuki 90% of the time.

[WingedAccelerator]

^Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah, that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Xero8420

The kumihimo bracelet charm is too strong to be a red herring that you cannot dismiss. It could as well be a form of red string of fate, if you watched Kimi no Na Wa.

Don't be too surprised if some Japanese actually believe in the work wonders of what those braided cord charms can do in any kind of shape or form & it's not entirely a superstitious myth when it has been backed by a spiritual folklore.

I'm not talking about the charm here, but that's also among the many clues, probably the biggest one. I wonder if Negi deliberately made it "disappear", cause he realized it's too much of a clue if it only has a connection to Nino. Ultimately Chapter 32 with the charm could have gave away the bride's identity already, while Chapter 68 further strengthened it with Fuutarou's and Nino's manager being there in the wedding.

It's up to Negi obviously, but if this turns out to be true, then it somehow feels insulting. When I started reading this, the hook to me was that any of them could be the bride. I expected good competition with (close to) equal chances till the end. But Negi unnecessarily started assassinating characters, while clues kept piling up for Nino. Is it really necessary to potentially give away the bride's identity with these? Nino is in a good position regardless, because Negi wanted her to be in a good position in the first place. Is there any need to suggest to your readers that everything was over just above 30 chapters with showing a certain charm on the wedding, and the shipping will be just formality for the rest of the manga?

[256]

As far as I remember, nobody bought it back then. It was mostly "Negi is throwing Nino a bone since she's a bitch and has nothing going for her".

Originally Posted by WingedAccelerator

Is there any need to suggest to your readers that everything was over just above 30 chapters with showing a certain charm on the wedding, and the shipping will be just formality for the rest of the manga?

Everything was over in 30 chapters. The quint who held his hand is the bride.
Regardless of who it turns out to be, no other girl stood a chance since chapter 32.

[WingedAccelerator]

It's not the same thing. With the Binding Legend, and even with the Bell Kiss, the ambiguity remains. However, the charm had a huge role just few chapters before the flashforward to the wedding, where Fuutarou still wears it. It's outright got introduced in the same arc as the Binding Legend with all of its benefits. The anime even added an original line, where Nino sees the charm on Fuutarou's arm after the hospital visit, and says: "You can keep that for a little longer." And that scene was right after the flashforward.

Keep up the guessing (Binding Legend) + Keep up the guessing (Bell Kiss) Vs. Flashforward (Chapter 32 - The charm --> Nino) + Flashforward (Chapter 68 - The cake shop manager --> Fuutarou and Nino)

[Kadmos1]

This is not a post about who is the best girl. Rather this is about which girl is considered the lead girl. You know, the one that is the main heroine? I think Itsuka is the lead girl. By lead in terms of who acts as the boss, that is Ichika. Yes, I know that each of the 5 sisters is important as anyone of them could be the bride but still!

[Tenzen12]

Not all girls can be bride. Ichika and Itsuki are pretty much out of race. Leading girl would be either Nino or Miku.

[256]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

Ichika and Itsuki are pretty much out of race.

I wouldn't count Itsuki out yet. She apparently had no reason to kiss Fuutarou, yet Negi is still pushing her to possibly fall for him. Wouldn't that be a waste if she had no chance on the account of not being the kisser?
Unless that will just end up being nothing.

[Tenzen12]

It's pretty common in harems having girls with no chance falling for mc. Actually it's extremely rare to find work where it's not the case. Itsuki having thing for Fuutarou would hardly be big surprise either.

You can obviously still argue whether it's waste or not, either way it doesn't make difference imho.

[Lex79]

With the anime second season scheduled for next January, I won't be surprised if the manga wull be extended until at least March or April 2020 to better capitalize from the advertising. In that case, while not an easy task for the author, even Ichika could make a comeback.

[Kadmos1]

One thing that I do like about various other harems is that they might make it easier to know which girl is the lead character after the lead guy. You know, the deuteragonist (second most important character after the protagonist).

[shanimebib]

>One thing that I do like about various other harems is that they might make it easier to know which girl is the lead character after the lead guy

Lolwut?

Originally Posted by Lex79

With the anime second season scheduled for next January, I won't be surprised if the manga wull be extended until at least March or April 2020 to better capitalize from the advertising. In that case, while not an easy task for the author, even Ichika could make a comeback.

Completely possible. Ichika could fly to the States because of the overly used Hollywood-bound trope and still make a triumphant return.

[Kuroageha]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

It's pretty common in harems having girls with no chance falling for mc. Actually it's extremely rare to find work where it's not the case. Itsuki having thing for Fuutarou would hardly be big surprise either.

You can obviously still argue whether it's waste or not, either way it doesn't make difference imho.

Are you forgetting

Spoiler for spa:

Yoshino from Masamune's Revenge didn't have a thing for the MC but suddenly on the last 5-6 chapters of the manga virtually everyone(including the main heroine)told her to go after MC and so she did only to get rejected on the very last chapter?

Well Negi can pull the same crap saying Itsuki was in love with him all this time but wasn't "aware" of her feelings because she was putting her sisters above her own happiness (which is a load of BS if we remember how much of an attention wh*re she is while she cuts MC from interacting with her sisters).

[Tenzen12]

I am certainly not "forgetting" Masamune. I dropped it early, never returned to it and never felt need pay attention to it afterwards. I don't have anything to forget about it.

But as far as your spoiler goes, it sounds like it proving my point perfectly, doesn't it?

[thefreakmike]

Originally Posted by Kuroageha

Well Negi can pull the same crap saying Itsuki was in love with him all this time but wasn't "aware" of her feelings because she was putting her sisters above her own happiness (which is a load of BS if we remember how much of an attention wh*re she is while she cuts MC from interacting with her sisters).

Are we talking about Itsuki or Yotsuba here

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by 256

I wouldn't count Itsuki out yet. She apparently had no reason to kiss Fuutarou, yet Negi is still pushing her to possibly fall for him. Wouldn't that be a waste if she had no chance on the account of not being the kisser?
Unless that will just end up being nothing.

I had this idea about Scrambled Eggs being a red herring, even if the possibility seems low. The Bride is talking about a kiss that happened 5 years ago, and she seems quite proud. With the flashforwards to the wedding, cutting back to the kiss, and even one of the losing girls mentioning the kiss, Negi really wants to suggest that the Bride was talking about that kiss. But as you said, Itsuki had no reason to do it, and I also said before that she is the only one, whose reason would be bullshit, or something completely stupid. And it's not just her unlikeliness that's fishy for me, but Fuutarou claiming the Bride as someone special from that kiss, when he had no idea who kissed him.

Negi can easily pull another kiss with the winner in the remaining 4 months from August-December, and that would still count as "A kiss that happened 5 years ago".

[Kadmos1]

Originally Posted by shanimebib

>One thing that I do like about various other harems is that they might make it easier to know which girl is the lead character after the lead guy

Lolwut?



Completely possible. Ichika could fly to the States because of the overly used Hollywood-bound trope and still make a triumphant return.

My comment there is me pointing out that I like it when there are harem series that make it easier to know who the deuteragonist after the protagonist. For example, in "Sekirei" we have Musubi/Yome as the lead character after Minato.

[wuhugm]

Hnnggh!!! So cute!!!