The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie Review: Love is Selfish

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie is an elegant reminder that love is selfish. For you to float on cloud nine & walk on air, someone else must lose out and be heart broken.

Tears rain down on their shoulders from your cloud of happiness… But it’s no one’s fault. In fact, it hurts that much more because there are no guilty parties.

Love can’t be fair or reasoned with. You can’t negotiate someone’s feelings or win them over through sheer will. In the end, love is always a solo choice. Not a team sport.

This Quintessential Quintuplets Movie review contains spoilers but does not reveal Futaro Uesugi’s choice. The review is based on the English dub of the film.

While the film teases the audience in the beginning that every Quintuplet can have her happy ending equally with a five bride wedding opening… Reality soon comes crashing down that Futaro must make a decision, it’s unfair to leave things up in the air any further.

Photo Credit: © Negi Haruba, KODANSHA / “The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie” Production Committee.

Futaro knows deep down which Quintuplet owns the keys to his heart, even if he can’t admit it at first. Depending on your favorite Quintuplet, you have a 20% chance of being joyfully elated or crushed the rest of the way. It’s inevitable.

One of the most well-crafted scenes is actually when each Quintuplet stays in a separate room at school, with Futaro promising the one he goes to is his choice.

Photo Credit: © Negi Haruba, KODANSHA / “The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie” Production Committee.

The film cuts away multiple times to each Nakano sister till the very end’s surprise twist. It really gets the audience’s emotions racing. Maybe a borderline intentional bait and switch depending on your favorite Quintuplet.

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie builds up towards Futaro’s post-school festival decision by showing five final date-like scenes with each Nakano sister.

Photo Credit: © Negi Haruba, KODANSHA / “The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie” Production Committee.

They really went all out making Futaro’s choice that much more painful because you get to see just how much Miku, Nino, Itsuki, Yotsuba, and Ichika need him in their lives. You see the incredible impact Futaro has made in their lives and how much he’ll be missed when he exits the picture romantically, forever.

Even if you weren’t rooting for a Quintuplet outside of your favorite, the devastating visual each time one loses out and cries will get to you.

No Decision Tease and Takebayashi Jealousy

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie briefly fakes out the audience early on. During a scene with Ichika Nakano, Futaro plays with the idea of not making a decision at all. That none of the Nakano sisters will be chosen out of love, so none of them will be hurt.

Ichika promptly hits Futaro as if she was the audience itself watching the film. The non-ending tease is only the beginning of the film toying with the audience’s emotions nonstop.

Takebayashi, Futaro’s childhood friend, visits him during the student festival. They go on an impromptu semi-date, infuriating the Quintuplets. Nino, Miku get especially jealous but so does Yotsuba surprisingly and Itsuki is noticeably holding back.

Miku later confronts Futaro directly on the nature of his relationship with Takebayashi. She is immediatley relives when Futaro says it’s just a childhood friend. Just another case of toying with the audience that Futaro won’t choose one of the Quintuplets.

Missed Opportunity: Rena Photo

There is a big missed opportunity in this reviewer’s opinion that Yotsuba pleads with Takebayashi not to reveal she is the Quintuplet sister in Futaro’s picture. Takebayashi recognizes her immediatley but Yotsuba does not want her identity as Rena to influence Futaro’s choice. It would honestly have been a great plot point to work on, and a scene that seemed to have so much buildup over the course of two seasons already.

It was a bit surprising that The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie would not give the audience that a-HA moment.

Standout Scene on the Swings

Speaking of Yotsuba, one of the most memorable of the five Quintuplet dates is when she goes with Futaro to a playground and they stand on swings. Yotsuba shows him if they swing with all their might they can get a grand lit up view of their town. The visuals, animation, and soundtrack in this scene are artfully precise. Top tier.

A returning father’s influence and full Quintuplet backstory

Itsuki meets her biological father Mudo who walked out on the Quintuplets when their mother was pregnant. This is one of the film’s stronger arcs because Mudo tells Itsuki she shouldn’t be like her mother professionally because Rena Nakano (Itsuki’s mother) actually despised being a teacher every day of her life. That he didn’t want the same fate for his daughter.

Combined with Itsuki’s borderline failing grades, she starts wondering if Mudo is right despite resenting him. But we won’t give away Itsuki’s decision. We’ll just say the result is a powerful scene.

Bittersweet Epilogue

After Futaro gets married to one of the Quintuplets, you get to see them five years down the road. While the film tries to play up the success of each Quintuplet, you can’t help but feel only one got to be truly happy in the end. Their love for Futaro never went away, even if their bond as sisters remained intact.

The film concludes on a up-tone note with the Quintuplets going on a vacation with Futaro… But it’s bittersweet. Just as such a life-changing romantic decision would be in real life.

Conclusion: The mystery of which Quintuplet will be chosen by Futaro is naturally can’t miss. If you’re a fan of The Quintessential Quintuplets, you won’t be able to resist seeing the film.

Photo Credit: © Negi Haruba, KODANSHA / “The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie” Production Committee.

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie – English Dub Cast: Main

Photo Credit: © Negi Haruba, KODANSHA / “The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie” Production Committee.

Josh Grelle as Futaro Uesugi
Terri Doty as Young Futaro Uesugi
Tia Ballard as Itsuki Nakano
Jill Harris as Nino Nakano
Bryn Apprill as Yotsuba Nakano
Felecia Angelle as Miku Nakano
Lindsay Seidel as Ichika Nakano
Kimberley Anne Campbell as Takebayashi
Brianna Roberts as Rena
Dani Chambers as Raiha Uesugi
Christopher Wehkamp as Maruo Nakano
Kenny Green as Mudo
Ricco Fajardo as Maeda
Jim Foronda as Isanari Uesugi
Stephen Fu as Yuusuke Takeda

Additional voices include Suzie Yeung, Alejandro Saab, Bradley Gareth, and Dani Chambers to name a few.

Where can you watch The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie?

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie opens in theaters in Australia & New Zealand on December 1; in North America on December 2; and in the United Kingdom & Ireland on December 7 & 8. Visit the official film website for local showtimes, dubbed and subbed!

Nakano Quintuplets – Photo Credit: © Negi Haruba, KODANSHA / “The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie” Production Committee.

– Get The Quintessential Quintuplets: Season 1 Blu-ray and Season 2 Blu-ray on Amazon to relive the memories!

– Crunchyroll subscriber? You can also stream all 24 episodes of the first two seasons on Crunchyroll!

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