The Quints and Why I'm Drawn to Rom-Com Animes

I admit that I am sucker for rom-com animes. I remember the times when I spent the night 'til the wee hours of the morning just to watch episodes of High School Rumble and the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

However, it was a very long time a ago since I watched a rom-com anime and it was just a replay of Haruhi's antics. So I was pleasantly surprised when I sampled the first half of the first episode of Quintessential Quintuplets.

(Source: Long Zhi Tian Xue)

Actually, I resisted watching it. I tried watching The Way of the Househusband but it didn't clicked with me. So I returned to the Quints and it is the best decision I did because I truly enjoyed this anime.

Quintessential Quintuplets is about quintuplet sisters who eventually fell in love with their classmate and tutor. The mystery is who among the quintuplets will marry the man of their dreams? Well it's still a mystery for anime-watchers but not for the manga-readers.

One reason that I avoid reading a novel or watching a new series is that it affects my sleep. I kept on saying that it will be my last chapter or episode before I go to sleep until it's 4 am. This is what happened recently so I was able to finish two seasons of Quintissential Quintuplets in 3 or so days.

Quintissential Quintuplets is a Shonen manga that is for teens. However, it pulled a string in me. Well, I guess I am still an isip-bata. Or maybe Quintessential Quintuplets reminded me of my uneventful high school years sprinkled with rare drama. The tensions of the Quints, culminating in a sisters war, is a direct opposite of my high school experiences. Yes, there were crushes, school activities, sports events, the banter between classmates, the fights...all of it not worthy to be featured in an anime, of course.

I ended my high school with a tragedy of sorts. During prom, I danced the night away with a girl from another section who I just met that night. I saw my girl "bestfriend" in tears. Did she cried because I did not partnered with her? Does she have feelings for me? Or maybe I was just assuming? I cannot recall it that much but everything between us changed after that night. After the prom, I courted that girl from the other section. I was flatly rejected just to discover that she had a crush on my classmate who is handsome (well he was our section's representative to pageants). That was the last time I ever courted a girl.

For an immature me in high school, rejection by a crush is a great tragedy. I think it intensified my belief that I am "ugly" or no girl will like me (although I daydreamed that they like me). This is the reason why I was a torpe in college and never had any romantic relationship until that less-than-a-month girlfriend came along and confessed her feelings to me. Well, it ended in tragedy and it kinda soured the final months of my college. Well, we were immature back then and I don’t know how to handle a relationship. Instead of fighting for it (well, was it worth fighting for?) I chose the easy way of ending it, hesitantly. The only positive effect of the tragedy is the creation of this blog to soothe my broken heart.

I guess I can relate with the male protagonists of these rom-com animes - Harima Kenji, Kyon, Fuutarou Uesugi - socially awkward and torpe. One scene when Fuutarou said he is the "garbage" in their group of friends reminded me of the days when I felt that I was alone in my college “barkada”. As the years progressed, I drifted far and far away from the "barkada" until I became a loner.

Just like Fuutarou, I just focused on studies during college and my classmate though that I am smart and tutored them from time to time.

Miku is the best Quint.

Back to the anime, my favorite Quint is the silent-type Miku. There's no surprise there. When it comes to anime, I always root for the silent type like Yakumo of High School Rumble and Nagato of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

I think she deserves to be the bride of Fuutarou. However, I had feeling that Yotsuba will be victorious or maybe Ichika.

(Source: Akhbar24)

Up until now I feel emotional with Quintessential Quintuplets. My heart felt warm during Miku's confession and that the second season ended without the Quints falling apart. My favorite scene is on Episode 8 when Miku was so happy because Fuutarou guessed rightly that it was her despite having the same face and attire as her sisters.

Fuutarou recognized Miku.

So, why do I watch anime? The simple answer is that it is a sort of stress reliever. I was under the weather these past days because of demanding bosses, unpaid overtime, exacting tasks --- I was feeling so bad that I think of migrating to Canada or New Zealand.

The Quints helped me destress, but now I couldn't help but be stressed about who will be the bride in the end. And the next season is said to be released next year! It is a long wait.

Oh well, I guess I have move to another anime so as to bear the long wait or I just read the manga.

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P.S.

So I cannot stop thinking about the ending of Quintessential Quintuplets so I decided to end everything by finishing the manga. Well, it was a disappointment not because Miku was not the bride but the ending is "meh". The mangaka even gave it a sort of "harem ending".

The mystery bride is Yotsuba and I didn't like it simply because I consider her as the worst of the Quints. 

I consider Yotsuba as the worst Quint because her cowardice is the cause of the pain and sufferings of Fuutarou and her sisters.

She could've told Fuutarou early on that she is the girl that he met in Kyoto 5 years ago. But she chose to hide the truth just because she was afraid of Fuutarou's reaction because she did not fulfill their promise of studying diligently.

Some claim that Yotsuba is the best Quint because she supported Fuutarou during the whole duration of the story. However, the best support that she should've given is in telling the truth. What she actually did is to avoid, evade  and run away during the whole story.

Even though she knew that Fuutarou longs for the girl that he met in Kyoto, she used Itsuki to "release" him from the past. She even pushed Miku and Ichika to go for Fuutarou, even though she knew that Fuutarou is looking for her, longing for her. 

She used her sisters as her cover. She used her Itsuki disguise to kiss Fuutarou at the bell. She claimed that she "supports" her sisters' love for Fuutarou and yet kissed him while in disguise. In the end, her cowardice exposed her sisters to heartbreak.

It is unfair then that Yotsuba is the winner in this story. The victory should've gone to any of the other four Quints because they went out of their comfort zones to show their love for Fuutarou.

My second favorite Quint, Nino, going on the offensive.

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P.S.

I think I've gone full circle in this blog. In the past I only wrote about my petty heartbrokenness and other personal stories of my life. I realized then that no one read such things. So, I decided to make this blog more interesting and draw more audience by writing about my travels. The number of visitors grew and I got minimal compensation due to ads.

Now that I am older and have no time to write lengthy travel posts, I return to my old ways and just write about myself. I know no one will be interested but hey I am just returning to the true purpose of this blog, which is being my stress reliever especially now that the pandemic is affecting me.

I also thought that this blog would be a good way for me to remember my life when I am already a senior citizen.

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Visita Iglesia (2021): St. Michael the Archangel Chapel (Taguig City)

Of the three angels named in the Holy Bible, Michael is considered as the warrior since most of his "screen time" is him fighting some demons. In the Book of Daniel he fought the Prince of Persia, who is a demon who rule over the Persian Empire. In the Book of Revelations, Michael led the faithful angels against Satan and the fallen angels.

As the leader of the heavenly host, many Filipino soldiers consider him as their protector and patron saint. Because of this, the chapel located within the grounds of the headquarters of Philippine Army Support Group along Bayani Road in Taguig City is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel.

The facade of this chapel is unremarkable with a facade that is plain and forming the shape of a quonset hut, which are temporary structures popularized by the military.

Just outside of this chapel is an armored personnel carrier.

So far, this is the only church that I encountered that has a war vehicle parked in front of it.

Despite being a chapel, the interior of St. Michael the Archangel Chapel is quite spacious.

I finally saw this chapel's altar. I was disappointed during my last visit because a tarp covered the crucifix.

In front of the altar is the image of the chapel's patron saint.

The church is under the care of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines, which provides pastoral care to the members of the military, police, and coast guard.

Catholic military chaplains are a unique group of priests because they have military ranks and can be deployed to a battlefield. They minister to the wounded and the dying.

One striking scene in the movie Saving Private Ryan is of a military chaplain, possibly a Catholic, ministering to a dying soldier while under fire.

(Source: Quora)

In fact, the story of Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on the story of a military chaplain of an airborne regiment.

Military chaplains were also present during the 2017 Battle of Marawi. A military chaplain was the first priest to celebrate mass in Marawi Cathedral after it was retaken from terrorists.

(Source: Rappler)

The Holy Mass was held while the sounds of war still rang all around Marawi. The dismembered image of a saint and the desecrated image of Christ is still around while the mass is ongoing.

I attended a couple of masses in St. Michael the Archangel Chapel and the celebrant is a military chaplain and the servers are members of the military. It is an unusual sight for a civilian like me.

Angels are classified into nine choirs or ranks. St. Michael is an archangel, which is the second lowest choir. Lucifer, who led the third of angels in rebellion against God, is a member of the cherubim, which is the second highest choir.

It is interesting to note that St. Michael of the low rank led the faithful angels and defeated Lucifer of the second highest rank. Revelation 12:7-9 tells us the story of that great battle:

And there was a great battle in heaven. Michael and his Angels were battling with the dragon, and the dragon was fighting, and so were his angels.

But they did not prevail, and a place for them was no longer found in heaven.

And he was thrown out, that great dragon, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduces the whole world. And he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.

This story of St. Michael tells us that being in a lowly rank or humble situation in life is not a hindrance to serve God. All we need is to be faithful to Him so that we can away the evil dragons that imperil our soul.

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Visita Iglesia is a Catholic tradition of visiting seven or fourteen churches during Maundy Thursday. For each day, this Holy Week, I will feature one church as a sort of virtual Visita Iglesia.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and the lockdowns, I was only able to visit three churches. So, for this year's virtual Visita Iglesia I can only feature 3 churches, namely:

Palm Sunday: St. Polycarp Church in Cabuyao City

Holy Monday: St. Francis Church in Ortigas, Mandaluyong

Good Friday: St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in Taguig

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Read about my previous visit to St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in 2017.

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