The Quintessential Quintuplets – 18 – The Taught Become the Teachers

Last Chance Time! Fuutarou fires up the quints, assuring them he’ll do as he pleases, and what he pleases is for them to pass their exams. But in the middle of his pep talk, his nose bleeds—an apparent symptom of being force-fed chocolate by Miku, who is trying to ascertain what kind he likes. One day Itsuki is missing from the study group, and the others inform Fuutarou that she visits their mother’s grave on the 14th of every month.

Itsuki ends up encountering Shimoda, who was taught by their mom. Shimoda describes her sensei as serious, strict, and quick to smack them, but to be fair, she was a delinquent. Itsuki’s mom set her on the right track, and now she herself is a teacher. Itsuki says she wants to follow in her mom’s footsteps, and Shimoda thinks that’s fine, but not if the sole reason is simply wanting to become her mother.

The theme of making use of one’s talents to teach others is present in every one of the smaller side-stories involving each quint. First Itsuki gets some insight into the kind of teacher her mom was, then Ichika notices Miku is making no progress in improving her cooking, and sends Nino to help teach her. When Miku tears up with frustration, even Nino can’t withhold advice.

Ichika keeps Fuu from interrupting by going to the store with him to buy a book they already had. Ichika also buys a book Fuu wanted about how to be a better teacher. A gift every once in a while is fine, but she doesn’t want to become Fuu’s sugar mama, so she resolves to give up on him. Even so, it only takes one smile and kind word from him to make her fall for him all over again!

With the finals fast approaching, the quints hit a wall. Fuu consults his book, which says excessive cramming can be counterproductive, so he sanctions an afternoon off, which they decide to spend at an amusement park. Everyone’s having fun, but at some point Yotsuba sneaks off with a “stomachache”.

Fuu senses something’s off, and eventually spots her bunny ribbon from the window of a Ferris Wheel pod. He joins her for the next revolution and learns she’s studying on her own, worried that failing will hold her sisters back. The five once attended a fancier school, but when she alone failed the exams there, they transferred as a group.

With this in mind, Fuu decides to allow for studying even on their afternoon off, but to his surprise, she’d already completed her Japanese assignment. It dawns on him that she’s better than any of her sisters at Japanese, and thus could assist him in teaching them, just as Miku could help him teach them social studies, or Itsuki science. Yotsuba is encouraged…and dare I say bashful!

Another 14th arrives and Itsuki visits her mom’s grave again, only this time Fuu tags along. She notes how making everyone a tutor is working, and it’s also helping her decide that she wants to pursue a future in educating others.

The next morning, Miku emerges from her bedroom with pajamas askew to find that Fuutarou has already eaten the chocolates she stayed up late to make, and he earnestly liked them! He then announces that she’s “number one”—words she takes precisely the way someone who liked Fuu would take them—only for him to clarify she was first in the latest mock exam.

Out on the balcony, Miku asks Ichika why she didn’t buy Fuu chocolates, knowing full well Ichika likes him too. After all their time together, Miku laments that Fuu doesn’t yet see them as girls, only students. She wants to pass her exams, graduate from being a student, and tell him how she feels.

Miku makes clear she won’t hold back on Ichika’s account; this is a race, so if Ichika slacks off she only has herself to blame. It’s clear Ichika would rather not have to compete with a sister for Fuu, but isn’t so averse that she’s going to give up altogether.

The day of the finals arrives with little fanfare—though the episode’s cold open depicts the five sisters heading into battle, and in the final scene we gradually learn how each sister faired. Yotsuba got the lowest total score of the quints, but more importantly didn’t fail. Itsuki is third, while Miku is second; Ichika claims the prize for the highest score. If she can win at exams, maybe she has a shot at being Fuu’s Number One too, eh?

I was worried for a second when Nino wasn’t present that she somehow managed to fail, which would have been a disaster, but she too passes, albeit with only a slightly higher total than Yotsuba. She left a note with Fuu’s boss saying she “has no further use for him”, but he’s not about to let her off that easily, and heads out to track her down so they can all celebrate together. After all, they did it by tutoring one another. Teamwork made the dream work.

Episode Six Quintuplet Ranking:

1. Yotsuba: She may be the “dumbest”, but she’s the best at Japanese…and she won the Fuutarou Ferris Wheel sweepstakes! Total Points: 17 (3rd)
   
2. Miku: Just misses winning the week with her most assertive performance of the season. She didn’t score the highest on the exams, but she finally won at cooking, and had some great reaction faces to boot. Total Points: 14 (5th)
3. Ichika: I don’t expect Ichika to be the woman Fuu marries, and that’s a cryin’ shame, because there’s no denying how much she likes him and how well they go together. I wish she’d do more to help her own cause, even though she’s to be commended for helping Miku out. Total Points: 16 (4th)
4. Itsuki: Didn’t have a terrible showing; her placing fourth is more about everyone above her having such a good week. She’ll make a great teacher one day! Total Points: 20 (2nd)
5. Nino: Even a super-passive episode can’t knock the odds-on favorite from her overall top spot. Total Points: 23 (1st)

Kaguya-sama: Love is War – 08 – Study Long, Study Wrong

Three stories this week! Story the First: Kaguya encounters a cute visitor who she remembers is really Miyuki’s little sister Kei, StuCo treasurer of the middle school division. Kaguya gets it into her head (deep, deep into her head) that if she suceeds in nurturing a close friendship with Kei, she’ll look at her as a sister, giving her the familial love she craves and bringing her closer to Miyuki.

Heartbreak strikes when it turns out Chika (whose imouto is in Kei’s class) is a shitload closer to Kei than Kaguya could ever imagine. But the true twist is that the end, when we learn Kei is actually infatuated with Kaguya, and laments to her oblivious bro that she wasn’t able to close the distance between them. Thus Kei loses.

Story the Second:  With final exams approaching, both Miyuki and Kaguya engage in elaborate games of lies and deception, both of them absolutely determined to claim the top student ranking with their grades. They manage to convince Chika that she doesn’t need to study to do well, but neither of them particularly care one way or another about Chika’s fate, only their own.

When the scores and rankings are posted, Miyuki has prevailed once again, with Kaguya finishing a close second. Internally, Kaguya wants to roll around in the pool of blood that threatens to shoot out of her eyes, but she keeps her composure and congratulates the President, noting that he must be pleased.

At the same time, Miyuki claims that he can’t feel any joy over such a close and hard-fought victory, only relief…but when he retires to the men’s room it’s a different story, as he’s so overjoyed he starts shadowboxing for no reason…as one does. Winner: Miyuki.

Story the Third takes place a week before the finals. Kaguya is aware that the next exam Yuu fails will force him to repeat the grade, a black mark against the honor of the StuCo she as its veep cannot allow. To that end, she grabs his hand and spirits him away to a dark supply closet where she commits to making sure he studies enough not to fail, on her honor as a Shinomiya.

Yuu is initially as terrified of Kaguya as usual—she makes him do the two things he fears most, after all: studying, and eating tiny dried sardines—but when two classmates spot the two in the library and look primed to spread weird rumors, Kaguya stands up for Yuu, telling them she doesn’t judge people by what others say, only by her personal experiences with those people.

Yuu ends up passing, and rising a number of spots in the rankings (up from second to last), but Kaguya is still furious that he only barely passed after all the hard work she put in. Miyuki drops his guard in assuring Yuu that while Kaguya may seem cold-hearted, she is someone who can always be relied upon to follow through. For his unsolicited flattery of his opponent in the War of Love, Miyuki loses the round.