5-toubun no Hanayome ∬

Through their tutor Fuutarou Uesugi’s diligent guidance, the Nakano quintuplets’ academic performance shows signs of improvement, even if their path to graduation is still rocky. However, as they continue to cause various situations that delay any actual tutoring, Fuutarou becomes increasingly involved with their personal lives, further complicating their relationship with each other.
On another note, Fuutarou slowly begins to realize the existence of a possible connection between him and the past he believes to have shared with one of the five girls. With everyone’s feelings beginning to develop and overlap, will they be able to keep their bond strictly to that of a teacher and his students—or will it mature into something else entirely?

What did I think about the second season to 5-toubun no Hanayome? Weirdly enough, for what is primarily a harem, the second season was actually pretty good. Which was something I never thought could be a thing for sequels to harems, but here we are. 5-toubun no Hanayome is different from most harem anime because it actually feels like each character is unique. You do not get that typical, we all want to be with the male protagonist at all times. Each character had something that made them different, each person had their own personalities and quirks about them. In many ways, 5-toubun no Hanayome reminds me of Nisekoi. In both instances we got to learn about each character and what makes up their character. We got a deep dive into their thoughts and we got to see them develop over the course of two seasons.

I also thought that there was a difference in how the second season of 5-toubun no Hanayome feels when compared to the first season. To me, the second season felt like it was more focused on the individual. Whereas the first season felt like it focused more on the group. It’s because of this difference that I liked the second season quite a bit, which was something I didn’t expect. We learned a lot about the five sisters. we learned what made the click, what made them insecure, what they loved and disliked. We got to find out what their true feelings were whenever Futaro walked into view. This is what I enjoyed most. In short, 5-toubun no Hanayome ∬ does an excellent job at bridging that gap between viewer and character.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were a few things that were negatives (in my eyes). For starters, the first episode felt really off to me because the art style and design didn’t match what had already been established in the first season. Albeit, it was all very minor and by the end of the anime I didn’t notice a difference. Just the way episode one looked, felt very off. At first I thought that they had just outright changed the character design and style of the anime. As everything is about first impressions, to me, I didn’t like that inconsistency.

Since I am on the topic of first impressions, let me just say. Episodes one through four were my least favourite episodes. They were straight up frustrating and I almost called it quits, that’s how unentertaining those sets of episodes were to me. Part of the problem for me throughout those episodes was that Nino has always been a character I had a hard time liking. Since all four of the first episodes had Nino has the primary focus, her stubborn, strong willed, and alpha personality was put on blast for everyone to see. For me, four episodes of a strong personality was very hard to get through, there were several moments throughout the episodes that I didn’t like, especially when Nino felt like she needed to spike Futaro’s drink. That was probably the lowest point for me. Fortunately for me, Nino’s distaste for Futaro at the beginning of the anime turns into one of fiery affection for him.

Something else that I didn’t really understand was the ending of 5-toubun no Hanayome ∬. To me, it felt extremely unsatisfying. It’s maybe because I was expecting more from episode twelve, but then again, I didn’t know what to expect which is weird. I didn’t know what to expect, however, I felt like I needed more. I also didn’t really get the “Sister’s War” which was the Arc that played out over the last two or so episodes and to me, I didn’t really like the arc. I thought it was unnecessary and the conflict between the quintuplets felt almost identical to what happened at the end of the first season. In both instances they (quintuplets) found something they could ‘hold’ against one another, only to have whatever it was resolved the episode after. To me, that’s unsatisfying.

Anyway, to summarize all this, I am pleasantly surprised. Normally, harem anime don’t fare that well in general. The second season to 5-toubun no Hanayome was also better than expected and it was also very entertaining. Like I said, the 5-toubun no Hanayome series reminds me of Nisekoi, however with one exception. 5-toubun no Hanayome ∬ (second season), was better than the first season and wasn’t a disaster like Nisekoi:. 8/10, A.