The Quintessential Quintuplets (Gotoubun no Hanayome) Chapter 88 Manga Review

The Yotsuba Arc Everyone Has Been Waiting For

A new chapter of the manga dropped and it continues the long awaited Yotsuba arc that everyone has been waiting for, and so far, it hasn't disappointed. If anything this arc has brought Yotsuba up in ranking among fans as to who is the favorite of all of them. 

In this chapter we get to see a flashback where young Yotsuba and yound Futaro are hanging out in the city after both of them got lost and having the time of their lives. The two of them hit it off and we get to see the reason for why Futaro grew up into the way he is in the present. It was all thanks to Yotsuba's inspiration that Futaro started studying so hard.

It was a fantastic chapter that really delved into the mindset of Yotsuba. It also gave us the reason as to why the sisters ended up being so different from each other as they grew up. In this chapter we got to see Yotsuba being the first one to break out of being a twin after witnessing Futaro talking to Ichika and him believing she was Yotsuba. She ends up donning her trademark ribbon and claims to never want to be mixed up for one of her sisters ever again. 

Then after showing off her ribbon to her mom, we see Itsuki come in with her trademark star hair clips claiming that she wanted to be different just like Yotsuba. From there the dominoes fell one by one as the sisters steadily became more different from each other and started growing apart.

Also in this chapter we got to see the aftermath of their mother's death and the devastation the five sisters felt. We also got to see how their father decided to take them in after their mother's death because they had no where else to go. 

The big story of this chapter was the realization of what happens to Yotsuba and her inner pain. We see young Yotsuba promising to Futaro that she'd study hard to help her mom out but knowing how she turned out in the present day we can tell she never did. That was most likely due to Yotsuba losing motivation after her mother died and kind of giving up. 

It also makes sense as to why Yotsuba doesn't want to tell Futaro that it was really her that met him five years ago and made that promise with him. Futaro has worked hard and studied because of what Yotsuba told him when they were young and had been working to live up to her expectations. But Yotsuba probably feels that if he found out it was her, he'd be disappointed in what she had become and how she wasn't able to keep her promise to him. She feels shame when it comes to Futaro and maybe that is why since the beginning of the series she has always tried so hard to help Futaro out.

This was a very sad arc and honestly, has made Yotsuba one of my favorite characters of this series. She had already been on a steady increase throughout the series but with this chapter she has shot up in my eyes as being one of the better written characters of this series, maybe even better than Nino. I can't wait to see what else comes of this Yotsuba arc and how it all plays out. Will it end in a Yotsuba confession? Or will she continue to bottle her emotions away because she thinks it's best for all of her sisters?