see my original review here. this meta-commentary is written some time in 2023.
Reading back in 2023, my first thought was that this review turned out to be more of a rant than a proper review. Partly because it was typed on my phone in a hurry while I was on the move (I distinctly remember that I had forgotten that the final chapter was out on the day and rushed this out), but also partly because I was disappointed in how the author Negi about handled this ending.
While my memories of Gotoubun have now faded, I think that I have made a poignant observation in the original review that deserves more elaboration. Specifically that the Gotoubun story “lack an explanation”.
I have read and watch a handful of harem manga and anime when I was a teen, some great and some not. Regardless of their quality, however, all of them had something in common. Either they would have a narrative element beyond the romantic and dramatic tension that naturally arises in a harem; or that they are more akin to “will they won’t they” story, with an obvious winner and other love interests as also-rans here for the sake of more titillation. In rare cases it could even be both, but I digress.
Negi took a different path when writing Gotoubun. He declared a singular winner in the first chapter while balancing the chances of who’s going to win throughout; he limited of the sexual encounters (in comparison to earlier works, trust me when I say there are still plenty); and he focused on the relationships between the cast instead of building a separate narrative.
On paper, the complete inversion of established tropes sounds like a refreshing take on an established genre. And credit where credit is due, Gotoubun indeed had a flying start because it. All the heroines having similar chances was exciting, and it certainly didn’t hurt that the lovable characters got to have more panels to themselves since there isn’t any exposition needed to build a narrative.
Unfortunately though, this outright rejection of the old had only proved why manga artists and light novel authors didn’t break from the norm. Gotoubun hit a break wall when it’s time to finish up the story. Negi committed to a single winner, yet when the time comes all five of the quintuplets still had a chance.
Some familiar with fan theories would say that that is not true. Infamously, Reddit user u/Nicosarea posted a 9000 word write-up on why Yotsuba was going to be the winner to the Gotoubun subreddit long before they revealed that she was the OG in chapter 86, arguably the first major “hint” of the series.
I disagree. Popular sentiment remained that there was no way to tell who was going to win at the time. Right up until chapter 112, just one chapter before Fuutarou chooses one of the quintuplets as his love interest (sounds wrong but we’ll have to run with it), people still had no idea who’s going to win. Just take a look at the r/manga dicussion of this chapter.
While it looks as though fans are satisfied by Fuutarou’s choice on the whole, I am certain such an ending would have been lambasted by any other fandom. Gotoubun’s whole story is based on the “who would win?” plot and showing a proper journey for the eventual couple to come together is, I feel, the bare minimum.
A few dozen of chapters showing why Yotsuba is the special one would have been perfect, but because of one reason or another, Negi didn’t bother. The poetic reason would be that Negi didn’t want to “succumb to the tropes”; that’s what I assumed 3 years ago. The more likely reason would be that Gotoubun was facing the guillontine from the publisher, but as a foreigner that didn’t even buy the magazines, I could only speculate.
Anyways, this is what I meant by “lacked an explanation”, all this was condensed into a single sentence in my original review. But now at least you know why I wrote what I wrote. I still ended up giving Gotoubun a 5/10 because I felt some great parts of the manga should be recognised. Although I am still flabbergasted to this day by the generally positive sentiment on Gotoubun’s ending, after 3 years’ time to calm down, I think if I get the chance to read it again, I would.
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