Considered to be one of the best harem animes of recent years, The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie is a good send off to these girls.
As stated by Crunchyroll, “The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie is the highly-anticipated conclusion of the popular romantic comedy,” of which the first two seasons are currently available to view on the streaming site.
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The official plot of this new film is as thus: “When five lovely young girls who hate studying hire part-time tutor Futaro, he guides not only their education but also their hearts. Time spent has brought them all closer, with feelings growing within the girls and Futaro. As they finish their third year of high school and their last school festival approaches, they set their sights on what’s next. Is there a future with one of them and Futaro?”
While we admit that harem anime isn’t our particular cup of tea, it seems like this film manages to be a proper send off to an anime that portrayed the genre – along with its many tropes – very well.
Love is in the air…for a bit too long
This film is important not just because of its finality, but also because it involves Futaro figuring out which sister he actually wants to be with, which of course occurs during the School Festival.
But despite finally giving viewers what they want, the film also does a good job at building up to that moment. You aren’t watching the movie in frustration, just hoping that they’ll get to the part with the big reveal. Instead, you get invested in the problems that the characters are facing in their current state of life, and the relationships that the sisters have with one another.
The film chooses to take an interesting narrative approach by telling the story multiple times through multiple different perspectives – that of the Quintuplets, as each sister has their own storyline. The film impressively manages to keep continuity while also making the same story fresh each time, by adding in little mysteries to one plotline that will inevitably get resolved in another plotline. However, despite that, this process does become a little grating, as it causes the film to be much longer than it needs to be.
This length is only felt more when romantic significance is placed on every sister. Since this is potentially their final hurrah, each of them gets a mushy victory lap both before and after Futaro’s confession, but it’s often rehashing a lot of the stuff that the anime already covered.
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The film is quintessentially harem
Granted, the shipping potential is the main driving force of this franchise, so while the film does a good job of making all the girls seem like good potential partners, whether or not you like this film may very well depend on which girl is your favorite, and which one Futaro picks. Such is the curse of harem anime, but it’s arguably better than stringing the characters – and simultaneously the audience – along with a half-baked answer. Futaro makes a decision, and the film validates that. This not only marks it a step above other harem anime, but it also makes it a step above most anime films, since they rarely make a significant impact on the show’s plot.
Though it wouldn’t be a good harem anime if the other girls were just thrown to the wayside, so the film makes sure to tie up everyone’s storylines, and it certainly does continue its use of harem tropes.
This means a gratuitous amount of fanservice, which is present almost from the moment you begin the film. Fanservice will always be a staple of the genre, but it does tend to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. We’re guessing that since you’re potentially planning to watch this film, you’ll love it, but if you’re not a fan, it could really turn you off from the rest of the movie, especially considering that these are mostly underage girls being focused on in their bikinis. Though maybe the anime’s semi-poor production value will help distract you from it.
The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie review score: 3/5
While probably not for general anime audiences, this film is a love letter to the series and its fans.
It has managed to step above other recent harems by focusing on the relationships between the girls themselves, allowing for more compelling storylines, all of which get to shine in this film. Even if it does go on for too long, fans would likely riot if any girl was left out, so the passion and care is clearly present.
Ultimately, while every sister can’t have Futaro’s heart, they can certainly have ours.
The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie hits theaters in Australia and New Zealand on December 1; in North America on December 2; and the United Kingdom and Ireland on December 7 & 8.
The first two seasons of The Quintessential Quintuplets are available to stream on Crunchyroll.
