The Quintessential Quintuplets Vol. 4

Title: The Quintessential Quintuplets Vol. 4
Author: Negi Haruba
Series: The Quintessential Quintuplets #4
First Published: May 17, 2018
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Pages: 194
Genre: Comedy Romance, Romance, Shonen
Format: Ebook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Rating:

Futaro continues to lead the Quints to academic aptitude, but there are some treats in store for him as well! Having nearly missing his long-awaited school trip, Futaro tries to make the best of the situation and works on getting closer to all five girls. After getting a tip from one of the Quints, Futaro takes a different approach to getting the girls interested in their studies. Will they accept him into their lives...? Or will this really be the end of his short tutoring career?

And every volume the grinch’s heart grew bigger and bigger. This series is really starting to grow on me and I’m coming to like all of the main characters. This volume was all about a school trip, and it’s good except for how it started with them all on a trip without their class; it just felt like forced proximity. But I can forgive small things like this.

The more I think about it, the more I like that the choice of making the main characters quintuplets. On the surface, it’s gimmicky, but it adds another layer to the character relationships and gives them more reason to be closer, rather than them all being total strangers whose only connection to each other is the one man they all want to date. There are, of course, twin antics that can be used in both comedy and to create complicated situations. I like that the small jealousy piece was present but not overblown and toxic, and that the sister’s relationship is still important.

At this point in the story, I’m the most partial to Ichika, probably because I’m older now, and I appreciate her maturity and ambition. I don’t typically care for aspiring actress-type characters, but I really like how level-headed she is and willing to sacrifice her own happiness for her sister’s. Miku is also self-sacrificing to a fault, and I get why she is the reigning queen among readers; she is the one I found most relatable from when I was in high school, which I am sure is the case for many.

The chaotic pacing returned, and I felt only okay about the skiing and search portions, something about the way this section was handled felt awkward, but the rest of the volume was great. I laughed a lot at Nino’s crush on “the bad boy” Futaro, and I liked that a few more scenes were included on the wedding day with a grown-up Raiha. Seeing Maeda in the future was also adorable, and although he’s a very minor character, I appreciated the inclusion of his character; it illustrates how sometimes the people you least expect when you first meet them end up being the ones coming out to support you later in life. I am curious if the quintuple from Futaro’s childhood is the same one he’ll end up with in the end. I am comfortably invested in this series now and hope that it continues to improve.