Waifu Wednesday: Miku Nakano (Quintessential Quintuplets)
I’m on record as saying that Quintessential Quintuplets is one of my favourite shows of the past few anime seasons, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I would choose to celebrate one of the Nakano sisters for a Waifu Wednesday feature. The only difficult choice is, of course, which one? The answer, for me, is Miku Nakano.
Why does the most quiet and shy of the Nakano sisters deserve such special treatment? I’m glad you asked, because that’s kind of the crux of this week’s Waifu Wednesday article.
Who is Miku Nakano?
The Quintessential Quintuplets follows the story of the five Nakano sisters as they fail at every academic hurdle they face. Their failures are so spectacular that their father brings in Fuutarou, a broke but brilliant student, to tutor the five sisters. Of course, this being a harem anime, each of the quintuplets develops feelings for their tutor. In flash-forward glimpses ahead in time, we see one of them marrying him, but because they are all identical, we don’t find out who until much later.
Miku Nakano is the third oldest sister, which, incidentally, also makes her the third youngest. She is the exact middle child of the family. As such, she is often quieter and more reserved than the others, not being one to cause a scene if she can help it. Despite this, she has great faith in her sisters, believing that they are smarter and more talented than she could be. Miku is most comfortable supporting her sisters to achieve their goals until her passions come out. Then she is a force to be reckoned with in her pursuit of those passions.
Why we love her
It would be easy to write Miku Nakano off as the typical shy anime girl, since that’s how she comes across for the first several chapters of the series. She simply has the most difficulty in expressing her passion to her sisters, who often spend time fighting over the limelight.
Even though she is generally uninterested in most academic subjects, she has a deep love for the generals of the Sengoku Period of Japanese history, going so far as to get into a duel of sorts with Fuutarou to see who had the greater knowledge on the subject. When Fuutarou eventually wins (after having to study up on the subject himself), Miku Nakano finally agrees to accept him as his tutor and help him win over her sisters as well.
Despire being painfully shy, Miku is the first of the sisters to openly express her feelings toward Fuutarou and she is the first to get jealous when any of the other quintuplets tries to get too close to him. Though it takes her a bit longer to get up the nerve to say how she feels to him, it is a big step for her to put herself first among her sisters. There is a sweetness to her approach to her emotions and a bare honesty behind her motivations that makes me root for her throughout the series.
Why you’ll love her
Miku Nakano is a deeply honest and caring girl and, at the core of it, that’s what makes a great waifu. She might not be as outwardly expressive as her sisters, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love just as intensely. If you like your girls on the nerdy side, Miku is your girl.
You can catch the first two seasons of Quintessential Quintuplets steaming in both subbed and dubbed on Funimation. If you prefer to catch your slice of life romance in written form, the whole series is available on the Azuki app.
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