The Quintessential Quintuplets Anime Ending Isn't Perfect and Why I'm OK With It

So I recently watched the ending to The Quintessential Quintuplets anime and I'm a little late in opining on this series since the ending aired a couple of years ago, but I'm throwing my opinion out there regardless. It was an ending that surprised me, like it did for many fans of the series, but I viewed it more as a bittersweet ending rather than the rage inducer that affected some fans. Maybe that is because of my rather oddball approach to the series.

My previous anime experience was the typical Shonen (such as Dragonball Z, Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Clover, Naruto, Attack on Titan), a couple of mecha animes (Robotech and Gundam Wing, most notably), & various harem animes (a guilty pleasure; the lewder, the more hilarious). The Quintessential Quinteuplets was my second Slice of Life anime, the first being My Dress-Up Darling. I watched My Dress-Up Darling because it was a noteworthy anime in an ad by Team Four Star did for Crunchyroll. Team Four Star proved to me with their Dragonball Z Abridged series and "Beastars (S1) in 8 Minutes" that they have a strong insight into anime characters that, in the case of DBZA, can even surpass the original creator's. So for them to mention that specific anime in an ad made me curious. I found it an adorable, wholesome romantic comedy. And the final episode had me wanting more, both for that series and others. So it was obviously doing something right. I decided on The Quintessential Quintuplets as my second venture into the Slice of Life genre, which, if I'm being honest, had the stench of a harem anime by the description. So I felt like it was a good fit for me.

And when I first watched the series I certainly viewed it more like a harem anime, still not fully understanding the concept of the Slice of Life genre. It had some of the tropes. Nino is a tsundere, Miku is a dandere, Yotsuba is a Genki girl, Itsuki is a himedere, and, for lack of a better trope, Ichika is a yandere. But unlike a harem anime, these tropes do not define these characters as they are far more three-dimensional; harem girls are almost always one-dimensional, defined solely by their trope. Nino, although strong in the tsundere trope would oftentimes show some real vulnerability once she starts accepting Futaro into the group. Her tsundere-ness does not stem from a denial of her feelings towards Futaro, but as a defense mechanism to protect her sisters from a man she feels is just as domineering and distant as their step father. Miku is often emotionless like a dandere but it stems from a lack of self esteem and a poor self image for she does have emotions, she just can't express them very well. Yotsuba is easily the most athletic of the Quints but she is a complete airhead, honest to a fault, and a little too much of a people pleaser. Itsuki only barely fits into the himedere trope due to her haughtiness towards Futaro in the beginning of the series as a direct result of Futaro's haughtiness towards her in their first encounter. She is stubborn in direct opposition to his stubbornness. Ichika in the first season is very kind and often helpful towards Futaro in his efforts to ingratiate himself into the group. She often has a sweet smile on her face and she always seems down for some friendly, good-natured teasing. But then the second season assassinated her character when she attempts to sabotage Miku's efforts to gain Futaro's affections in order to give herself a leg up.

Even Futaro at first seems like a typical harem anime protagonist, but, just like the Quints, he is also more complex than that. He is a social outcast and seems to relish that he's living a rather stodgy lifestyle, but he endures it for his ultimate goal of getting out from under his family's debt. When the Quints enter his life, things turn upside down and his once boring life opens up into more experiences he never would have had otherwise and he learns how happy that can make him. In this regard he is like Wakana, the male protagonist of My Dress-Up Darling, who has his uneventful life of making hime dolls upended by a chance meeting with the manic pixie dream girl character of Marin. The Quints collectively could be viewed as one manic pixie dream girl.

When I first watched the series it was on Funimation, which only had Seasons One and Two. During Season One I fell in love with Miku's character. I love seeing strong women in the art and media I consume. At first my definition of strong women would only include characters like Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise, Kira Nerys from Deep Space Nine, Lady Jessica Atreides from the Dune novels. As I grew older my concept of a strong woman evolved. As an example, in the last season of Deep Space Nine, a new character was introduced to replace another character that was killed off at the end of the prior season. The new character, Ezri Dax, was unsure of herself, had a nasty habit of oversharing, and was weak willed. I hated her. She was a poor replacement for her literal predecessor, Jadzia Dax. Jadzia was confident to the point of being cocky, a lover of life, and seemed utterly in control of her life. As I grew older my narrow view of a strong woman changed. Yes Ripley, Kira and Lady Jessica are all strong woman by definition, but like there are different types of strong men and how they can be strong, there are also different types of strong women and how they can be strong. Ezri was certainly annoying at first, but she was thrown into the deep end to either drown among the legends she was now immersed with or to fight to establish herself among their ranks. As the season progressed, so did her confidence level. Her hangups, although still present, were things that she was overcoming. She was starting to earn her place alongside the other legends in her life. I certainly do not envy Nicole de Boer (the actress who played Ezri) the mountain she had to climb in bringing this character to life in only a single season, but she did very well with what she had. But getting back to The Quintessential Quintuplets, this is how I viewed Miku as a strong woman. Her poor self image held her back for so long that overcoming them is one of the hardest things she has to go through. Seeing her grow as a character and into a confident and self-loving woman is one of the more touching aspects to this series.

Also in Season One I grew to love Ichika. Her smooth confidence and flirtatious nature were very endearing. She was by no means my favorite out of the Quints, Miku obviously takes that spot, but she was kind and loving towards her sisters. She is also the second of the Quints to help in facilitating Futaro's private tutelage of them. She helps him in figuring out how to interact with the two most stubborn Quints: Itsuki and Nino. She even encourages Miku to pursue her feelings for Futaro and feels bad when she realizes that she inadvertently gets in her way. However in Season Two, she suffers character assassination. All of the goodwill she earned in the previous season goes out the window when she, dressed as Miku, tells Futaro that Ichika has feelings for him and that he should pursue her. Ichika just so happened to be dressed up like Miku to escape some fans, so it could have been any of the Quints that she pulled this stunt with. However it was thet fact that she KNEW Miku had feelings for Futaro, felt bad about getting in the way during the bonfire dance at the end of Season One, and knew that Miku was the most unsure of herself that makes this act so hard to swallow. After a stern talking to from Nino and getting called out on her deception by Futaro, Ichika does attempt to make up for it. She and her sisters enable Miku to get a lot of alone time with Futaro for the last day of the school trip to Kyoto. It did not fully exhonerate her, but it was a good step in the right direction. At least, audience-wise. But needless to say, I was no longer on Team Ichika.

And that was it. That's all I could watch on Funimation. As with My Dress-Up Darling, I was hooked and wanted to see more. Throughout the series there are glimpses of the wedding day between Futaro and the Quint that he eventually marries. The show throws a lot of misdirections at the audience. Examples are the Bride Quint having dark red hair pulled up into a bun. Itsuki's hair color is the same shade of red, but only two of the Quints have hair long enough for it to be pulled into a bun (Nino did, but she cut it shoulder length in the first half of Season Two). Both ears of the Bride Quint are pierced with stud earrings. The only Quint to have pierced ears is Ichika and although she uses a stud earring, she only has one ear pierced. The Bride Quint never speaks, instead her lines appear as text on the screen so the audience can't tell which Quint it is from the vocal mannerisms. Raiha, Futaro's sister, brings the ring to him and she remarks how many dresses the Bride Quint has and marvels at how many times that she was going to change outfits that day. Not knowing Japanese wedding customs, I thought that this could indicate that it was either Nino, Itsuki or maybe even Ichika as they strike me as the types that would want to change their outfits throughout their wedding day. So my experience with harem animes colored my prediction in that I figured that Itsuki would be the Bride Quint or Futaro was going to marry all five of them at the insistence of their step father. Yes I was solidly on Team Miku, but had no real belief that she would ultimately be picked. I figured Itsuki was the Bride Quint due to her being the first Quint that Futaro interacted with, which in harem animes is usually the sign that that is the girl that the male protagonist ultimately pursues. She is also the one Quint to interact with Futaro's family the most. But unlike harem animes, Itsuki gets about as much screen time as the rest of her sisters and even similar amounts of intense, private interactions with Futaro.

The show even tries to throw some hints at the audience. During the school camping trip at the end of Season One, the local legend is that a couple that are dancing around the bonfire and hold hands when the music stops, they are destined to me together forever. Futaro gets sick and is lying in bed so he cannot be at the bonfire, but all of the Quints sneak into his room. When the music stops all the Quints are each holding a different finger on Futaro's left hand. It is also revealed in Season One that five years prior Futaro met a girl on his school's field trip to Kyoto. It turns out that that girl was one of the Quints, but Futaro does not know that at first. Each of the girls declare their feelings for Futaro in some fashion. In the middle of Season Two at the hot springs, there is a bell that, according to the legend, if a couple rings it together they will love each other forever. All of the girls have to dress up like Itsuki (more on that later), and one of them rushes Futaro under the bell trying to kiss him. She pushes too hard and makes him stumble. He grabs the rope for the bell to break his fall causing it to ring and both end up kissing when they land on the ground. Even the end credits of Season One try to give the audience a hint. There is a flash of five heart-shaped containers, I think they are perfume. After a couple of flashes of other images, there is a flash of differently colored (I'm assuming) mascara or eye shadow containers, but the second to the left one is a heart-shaped container. Again after a couple of flashes of other images, is a flashed image of a complete set of five differently colored mascara or eye shadow containers. This time the heart-shaped container has been replaced by a purple container. Purple is a color associated with Nino and Nino is the second born of the Quintuplets. When Futaro tells Itsuki about the girl he met in Kyoto it was pretty clear to me that the little girl's personality closely matched that of Yotsuba. And we find out later in Season Two that Yotsuba was in fact the girl, but she doesn't want Futaro to know it was her.

After some time had passed, I switched from Funimation to Crunchyroll as Crunchyroll had bought Funimation and less and less content was being streamed on Funimation. I watched the series again, this time with the third and final season, which was a movie instead of a regular season of twelve episodes. This time I paid more attention to Miku's character growth. I loved that she is the only one to challenge Futaro in an intellectual duel. She actually gets the better of him, which makes him study historical warlords to show that he can talk to her on her level. It was a great moment for both of them as characters. Unfortunately she doesn't pursue this path any further, which is probably better as then they would only ever be student and teacher. Instead she finds out that Futaro would like a girl that can cook, so she tries to learn how to cook in order to gain his affections. The problem is that she is very bad at cooking until Nino starts to teach her how. I could see when another character would compliment Miku, (e.g. a classmate says that she has a cute face and wonders why she hides it), but these compliments don't seem to matter unless Futaro says it. Even when asked what Futaro seeks in a girl and he reveals his top three characteristics, Ichika, Yostuba and Nino all recognize that he merely described his little sister, Raiha. Those three Quints were all disappointed at how anticlimactic that is, but Miku takes it as gospel and feels bad about herself because none of these characteristics are her. Though this event does prompt her into trying cooking and finding out that she likes it. Though her development as a baker does stem from her desire to get validation from Futaro. All of her ups and downs all hit harder this time around.

And then the time came to watch the third "season." Knowing that it was a movie instead of a full season told me that either the show was canceled and they were trying to wrap things up quickly or that there wasn't enough content to spread out into twelve episodes. Whichever it was this was the format that the animation company chose. The movie centers around the last school festival before they graduate. At the end of the first day Futaro gathers all of the Quints together and professes his love for all of them. They are shocked initally at his directness. He goes on to say that it's not fair to drag it out for all of them, and that he will choose one of them on the third and final day of the festival. What follows are the events of the next two days separated out by Futaro interacting with each of the Quints, with only four of them kissing him. The last night comes and the girls decide to separate out into five different rooms and all Futaro has to do is enter the room of the sister he chooses. They all know that four of them will be heartbroken but they agreed that it would all be easier this way. The tension builds. Ichika reacts, proudly stating that Futaro "figured it out." Miku opens Nino's door nearly in tears and simply says "It's over." Itsuki just sits at her desk. Yotsuba rushes back to her room since she forgot her cell phone there. And she finds that Futaro is there waiting for her. She rejects his declaration of love and runs away. Itsuki tells him to run after her. He chases her down and finally gets her to state how she feels about him. We are then shown what happened to Yotsuba after her encounter with him in Kyoto. Aftwards Yotsuba confronts Nino and Miku in order for them to get an understanding of each other and how this event will shape their lives going forward. It culminates in the wedding several years later and the five sisters gather for one last instance of the Quintuplets game, where they all dress up as exactly the same and Futaro has to pick out his bride, proving that he does in fact love her. He identifies them all correctly, and it's a happy wedding.

To say I was surprised is not enough really. I certainly was shocked that Futaro picked Yotsuba. As stated before I was on Team Miku but had banked on Itsuki being picked. Itsuki was the first that Futaro interacted with afterall. Yes, Yotsuba was the girl he met in Kyoto when they were children but that seemed to factor very little in the choice. But when the movie went on to not only make Futaro's decision a not instant happy situation but also the aftermath that followed allowed me to view the ending as more of a bittersweet one.

But it stuck with me. I felt listless for days. I didn't want to watch another anime, or play games or even continue reading the book I was in the middle of. All I could think about was that ending. It was almost like I was the one that got my heart broken. I could think of special interactions with all of the Nakano sisters, with the exception of Yotsuba. Yotsuba was there, but nothing I could think of stood out as an intense, private interaction with Futaro aside from their initial encounter in Kyoto as children. I did remember that she was the only one that didn't try to pull a fast one on Futaro, so maybe that was it? Didn't seem like a strong enough reason.

So after nearly two weeks I started watching the series again, this time watching for the interactions between Futaro and Yotsuba. Their first interaction in the anime is when Futaro's test falls out of his pocket and Yotsuba picks it up and returns it to him. I looked to see if there was a sign that she recognized his name as it is revealed in the flashback in the movie that Yotsuba knew Futaro's name (why she didn't introduce herself, I don't know). But the anime does not show any sign that she recognized him, though I suspect that she did. It certainly seems so in the movie when they flashback to this encounter. Throughout Season One, Yotsuba is always beside Futaro, helping him in some fashion. She backs up Miku in the suggestion that Futaro reveal what he wants in a girl. She "teases" Futaro when he gets an upset stomach from overeating Miku's terrible food. She does this by kneeling at his head, cradling it in her hands, leaning close in and declaring that she likes him which freaks him out. This occurs after she tries to lie to keep Nino and Itsuki at the apartment so that they will study and she only makes the situation worse. Futaro states that she's a terrible liar, so she does this to "prove" she can lie. In the movie, she tearfully declares her love for Futaro in the exact same position and that she has always loved him, meaning she wasn't lying about how she felt in the earlier scene. What she lies about is lying about it. During the school camping trip she feels extremely guilty when Futaro gets sick and she dragged him out for skiing when he should have been resting. She finds his schedule book for the trip with several tabs marked indicating to her that he was really looking forward to the trip and she feels like she ruined it for him. Itsuki opens it up and finds a note that Futaro wrote indicating which memories he wants to share with his sister when he gets back. This cheers up Yotsuba and inspires both her and Itsuki to sneak into his room during the bonfire ceremony, although separately. In Season Two, she is still helping Futaro as much as she can, but she is also very supportive in her sisters' feelings towards Futaro. At some point Yotsuba asks Itsuki to masquerade as grown up version of the girl that Futaro met in Kyoto and effectively tell him to move on.

There is one scene in which Yotsuba and Futaro connect in a way that the other sisters don't with him. Futaro takes Yotsuba out on a date as a gift. He tells her that she can do anything she wants. So she goes shopping and wants to get some clothes for a sister. She wants to watch a movie that Ichika has a role in. After a couple of instances like that Futaro calls her out in that all these things are for her sisters, he wants to do something for her. She's embarrassed in that she doesn't know what she wants to do for herself. So they end up at a playground and they swing on a swing set. Yotsuba shows Futaro a different view of the city, literally and figuratively. He has never seen the city at this angle before and Yotsuba says that she likes to imagine every light represents a family. She then swings hard and leaps off the swing. Futaro tries the same maneuver but ends up swinging so far that he ends up upside down still on the swing. When he swings back to right side up he unabashedly laughs. Yotsuba sees how happy he is and she realizes that that was the gift she wanted. No other sister is able to make Futaro laugh like that. No other sister is able to get Futaro to not take life so seriously even for just a few seconds. During the movie we see why Yotsuba is so humble and puts the needs to her sisters above her own. After her interaction with Futaro in Kyoto when they were children, she decides to start wearing a green ribbon in her hair. She seeks validation from her mother about her decision to identify herself apart from her sisters and if that makes her the best. Itsuki then appears with her star hairpins in her hair. Their mother admonishes Yotsuba in that it's fine that she wants to look different, but she's not in competition with her sisters. It doesn't sink in and she starts bragging about how much better her grades are than her sisters'. Slowly her sisters start doing better and better and even start surpassing her. She refuses help from Miku still clinging to her idea that she is the best of them. It's not until her grades become so bad that she is going to be held back a grade that she comes to grips with her delusions of grandeur. She is devastated. Then her step father speaks with the principal and arranges to have her transferred to another school so that she does not have to be held back. Now she panics because this would be the first time that she would be truly separated from her sisters. Then all of her sisters declare in front of her, the principal and their step father that they all cheated on the last test and they should all be transferred. It's not until now that Yotsuba realizes that she needs the strength that her sisters give her, that even with her haughtiness towards them, they still loved her enough to completely uproot their lives in that school to remain with her. Yotsuba cuts her hair and the entire series is her attempting to make up to her sisters for her hubris. She cannot allow herself to pursue Futaro as she was unable to fulfill her end of the promise they made to each other all those years ago in Kyoto. She feels unworthy.

Therein is the thread that ties them together. Their chance meeting in Kyoto sparked a fire in them to do better for their loved ones, but both of them grew too absorbed in the wrong things and as a result both were not able to approach their goals until their second meeting realigned them. Futaro as a young boy was just shy of being a bully. He enjoyed causing a scene, being the center of attention and asserting himself over his friends. He even has a crush on a girl in his class and thinks his antics will gain her attention, but he finds that his antics don't sway her at all. He tosses a boy's homework on the floor of the bus, declaring that homework on a trip was stupid. But his crush merely helps the boy gather up his papers. He also finds out that his crush has been helping the boy with his studies as they had been lifelong friends. As a result of this event he realizes that he is the trash element in his friends' lives and opts to remove himself to make it better for them. It's during this time that he runs into Yotsuba. He realizes through Yotsuba that being a good person feels much better than the jerk that he was being. He then desires to do better for his family in the same way that his crush was making things better for the boy: by being useful and being more studious to secure a good job. Yotsuba, inspired by Futaro's resolve, vows to do the same thing. Futaro becomes so obsessed with being studious and getting good grades that he forgets to live his life. Getting a good job is no longer the goal, getting top notch grades has become the goal. Both Futaro and Yotsuba had become convinced that they were better than those around them, one through overzealous studying and the other through delusions of grandeur.

But Futaro and Yotsuba's first meeting did not just affect them. Yotsuba, as the first of the five sisters to officially start to have her own personality, troubled Nino as she felt like Yotsuba was able to break free of the chains of being a quintuplet. Something that Nino struggles with even into Season Two of the show. She deals with this struggle by being confrontation with everything she perceives as a change that could threaten the bond she has with her sisters. That even includes her pursuit of Futaro once she accepts that she has feelings for him. She is the first to confess her feelings to him and would not back down even when she finds out that he didn't hear her initial declaration due to the motorcycle they were riding drowning out her voice. Miku tried to be helpful with Yotsuba's grades when it was found out that she wasn't doing so well, but Yotsuba in her haughtiness cuts the idea down without a second thought. This event I think pushed Miku into feeling inadequate about herself. Miku also got into history and warlords due to a video game that Yotsuba gave her since Yotsuba declared that she was too adult for video games anymore. Ichika was a bit jealous of Yotsuba's outgoing personality and would often "steal" her friends, since they all looked the same at the time. Yotsuba brings this up at the hot springs, which could be a direct reference to Ichika going to play cards with Futaro while Yotsuba tells her sisters about the boy (Futaro) she met when she got lost. There could be other examples of this "friend stealing" but the only other instance we see in the anime is when she tries to steal Futaro away from both Nino and Miku towards the end of Season Two. Itsuki is also inspired by Yotsuba to start putting accessories in her hair. She is also the sister that tries to be more like their mother after she died.

So all of these events culminates in the ending for this series. From what little I was able to find out, the author of the manga was rushed to complete the series due to his wife's pregnancy with their daughter. I didn't delve too deeply as forums and Reddit are just rabbit holes I refuse to go down. But several YouTube videos suggested that the outrage concerning the ending stemmed from viewers being angry that their "best girl" wasn't picked and that it all felt rushed. It was already stated above that Yotsuba had tried to take herself out of the equation due to her feeling unworthy, but I feel like Itsuki also took herself out of the running before the end of Season Two. She's the one sister that knows Yotsuba is the girl that Futaro met in Kyoto and she sees Yotsuba struggling to deal with it. When Yotsuba finds out that Futaro basically viewed that girl as his first love and how it pained him that she was effectively out of his life forever now, you can see her normally cheery demeanor and positive energy deflate a little. Itsuki definitely sees it, and even asks if it really is all right that Futaro doesn't know the truth about the Kyoto encounter. Itsuki even starts conniving ways to get Futaro to remember, though she isn't very good at it. Her biggest contribution to the plot of the movie is when her biological father suddenly appears. It's a very strange tangent as there doesn't seem to be a reason for him to suddenly show up, nor why he targets Itsuki and none of the other sisters. But his tangent is quickly dealt with as he fails recognizing that he's talking to Miku and not Itsuki, proving that he doesn't truly love them as he could not tell them apart. You could say that it was also the final nail in the coffin in her feelings towards Futaro as her biological father was her mother's teacher. Her mother, Reina, was inspired to become a teacher because of him and even started a relationship with him. But when he found out that she was pregnant with quintuplets, he ran out on her. She was miserable. But it's revealed that her step father was a student of their mother's, so she wasn't against the idea of such a pairing, even after dealing with that scumbag. This tangent in the movie's plot is probably the most rushed in my opinion. It certainly would have felt more impactful if given a two or three episode story arc to show how much it rattled Itsuki and how much stronger she becomes because of it. She resolves to be a teacher because she wants to be a teacher, not because she wants to emulate her mother. Her decision also has the aura of deciding to no longer pursue Futaro like her mother did with her teacher. It is for this reason (plus one other) that I feel is why she is the only one of the quintuplets to not kiss Futaro at some point during the school festival. The other reason is, I think she was the sister that kisses Futaro under the bell at the hot springs. Ichika, Nino and Miku all declare their kiss with him as their first. Yotsuba kisses him as a last hurrah in her decision to sever herself from her past history with him, resolving to be unhappy. Even Ichika seems to have taken herself out of the running due to her actions at the end of Season Two. In the section of the movie in which she and Futaro are hanging out at the festival, she gives some money to Futaro to buy himself a drink but which drink he chooses indicates which of the sisters he chooses. She lists only four drinks. He chooses the drink that represents Yotsuba. Since Ichika, Itsuki and Yotsuba had taken themselves out of the running, I believe this is why Miku and Nino are the only sisters shown to comfort each other in the aftermath of Futaro's decision.

During Yotsuba and Futaro's date, the other sisters chaperone from afar. They comment on how the date is pathetic as Futaro is using coupons for a dinner at a family restaurant, they go to a playground, etc. And Futaro acknowledges that he's not mature enough yet to plan a proper date, but neither of them actually cared. They were together and they were enjoying each other's company. They were being themselves without the inner pressure they had put on themselves to be something else. This is why they work. It's not an "opposites attract" thing, or even a "red thread of fate" thing. It is two people bringing out the best in each in a healthy relationship. Yotsuba encourages Futaro to enjoy life to the fullest; Futaro encourages Yotsuba to better herself without feeling superior and to take care of herself from time to time.

But the above isn't the only reason why I'm OK with the ending. The Quintessential Quintuplets isn't Futaro's story, nor is it Yotsuba's. It is a story about the quintuplets themselves cast against the backdrop of Futaro and Yotsuba's finding each other again and eventual marriage. Throughout the series the sisters repeat that they are five fifths and that together they are one. This was a mantra taught to them by their mother. It's why they all dressed and acted the same as children. It is also why their grandfather, who runs the hot springs they go to in Season Two, makes them dress identically while they are visiting him. He takes them dressing and acting differently as a sign that they are not getting along with each other. Such a practice is good for when they are facing hardships as they will make each other stronger and it discourages competition between them (something that Yotsuba and Ichika learn first hand throughout the series). But it also can hamper them. Miku, as the middle child, is surrounded by stronger personalities than herself. She's the most adept at imitating her sisters because she desires to be like them. Nino is stuck pining for the days when the sisters were more alike. Ichika feels guilty about doing her own thing as an actress and desires to keep it a secret from her sisters. And Itsuki, as the surrogate mother figure, reminds them the most about the mantra. The trip to the hot springs brings into focus how inept Futaro is at telling the sisters apart. Previously he is able to tell via the accessories that they wear. He sees that their grandfather can tell them apart easily and asks him how he does it. "Love," he says. It's how the sisters learn who actually loves them and who doesn't. It's why Miku rushes into Futaro's arms when he for a split second recognizes her dressed as Itsuki. It isn't much and not a perfect identification, but it is enough validation for her that she could not contain herself. Futaro declares in the movie that he loves all of them. He officially proves it just prior to his wedding to Yotsuba. The five sisters all dress up identically. He correctly identifies all of them even though he only had to identify Yotsuba. This last instance of the Quintuplets Game was for Futaro to prove to all of them that he indeed loves Yotsuba, but he went futher and proved that she still loved all of them.

At first I was disappointed that none of the other sisters had even another romantic relationship at the time of the wedding, but the more I viewed the series as the Quintuplet's story and not just Futaro's or Yotsuba's or both, it made more sense for them not to. The entire series is about the bonds that tie the sisters together, and eventually the bond that ties Futaro to each of them. The bonds between all six of them would waver, strengthen, break, reconnect, throughout the series. Having the sisters develop relationships off screen after the ordeals they all went through would only cheapen the bonds that were developed in the series. If I would wish anything changed in the movie, it would be to further develop the biological father tangent and the part where Nino subs in for a pop singer at the festival opening (it just seems like a weird thing given her character development up to that point). And that is why I'm OK with the ending despite it not being a perfect ending for the series.