First Impressions / Go-Toubun no Hanayome

「始まりの写真」 (Hajimari no Shashin)
“The Picture that Started it All”

Following exam week, Fuutarou has his work cut out for him in Episode 08 as he figures out what his battle strategy should be from here. However, with explosive revelations coming left and right in this episode, Go-Toubun is looking to shift its focus on character relationships with many more allusions to both the idea of one of the sisters marrying him and one of the sisters knowing him in the past back when they were kids.

In a change of pace, this episode gives some attention to Fuutarou, who is having a problem of his own when his student handbook goes missing in the Nakano’s condo. While it may just seem like your standard handbook, it has a photo of Fuutarou from back when he was a child, when he took on a blonder, rougher appearance. Fuutarou taking after his dad’s rebellious looks explains how his mindset was during his childhood, but also lets us understand that at some point between then and now, he made the resolve to change himself away from the delinquent look and take up a far more studious demeanor. Some of his mischevious behavior does come out in this episode when he aims to get revenge on the classmates who got him to be a part of the haunted house by scaring them. It does explain why he’s got a harder edge to him than other harem protagonists with how assertive he is, but applying his attitude towards getting the girls to study helps to flesh out Fuutarou’s character and show how he was able to channel his younger, rowdier self into his current, studious persona.

Episode 08 also developed some of the Nakano sisters too as Yotsuba finally gets some time to herself with Fuutarou. So far, we’ve only gotten scenes where Yotsuba has cheered Fuutarou on from a distance while outright ignoring her studying. That changes in this episode with how she plays a pivotal role in trying to get on Fuutarou’s good side, starting with a failed attempt to get Nino and Itsuki to study by pretending that he’s gravely ill. For a positive change of pace, Yotsuba is also able to prioritize her studying to a larger degree as she puts basketball on-hold for the time being until she catches up with her education. For a spicer twist, we got a “confession” out of Yotsuba. It would definitely complicate matters if it was an earnest confession with Miku trying to get with him. But whether her insistence that she was kidding was a joke or not, it sure took Fuutarou aback.

What is fascinating about Episode 08 are the implications it has towards the future. This episode was a chance for Nino to get back into the fold as Fuutarou had the chance to pierce her ears if it meant she wouldn’t look at his handbook. She was smitten by the older look Fuutarou had since she loves the bad boys, but with Fuutarou insisting that he was a relative, it put their particular development on-hold. He’s still keeping the door open considering that he was anticipating having her meet the guy in the picture someday. When she left the room, it’s revealed that part of the image was obscured specifically because the other side of the picture had a girl who is one of the Nakano sisters next to him. That brings in two mysteries for the series: “Who is the bride?” and “Which sister is the girl in the photo?” While there were other key moments in the episode such as Ichika being the first girl to ask for his email address (and threatening to send a picture of him sleeping on her lap if he didn’t gather the others), Miku making overbaked croquettes that Fuutarou ended up liking anyways, and Fuutarou cursing in English, this was an episode that ended on an explosive note that will eventually pave the way towards the series’ greatest mysteries being answered.

Preview

24 Comments

    1. There’s a theory based on the different wedding dresses seen in the manga that they do all 5 marry him… but somewhere down the line I would think there might be an issue with 5 wedding registers being received at the district office (though maybe if you registered each in a different district?).

      NaweG
      Reply

      1. my theory is each wears a dress at different time during ceremony, thus having all the shippers somewhat satisfied. but the winner girl goes last and is officially bride.
        course winner should be nino or we riot.

        cpn mango
        Reply

      2. The title of the series literally translates to “Five Part Bride.” (also five-way bride, five equal brides, and a few other possibilities, all still holding the implied meaning that the “bride” is five people.)

        Wanderer
        Reply

    1. To be fair, it’s not that he “doesn’t realize” in a stupidity sense. He never actually looked at the photo of all five of the girls as kids when Nino offered to show him and so he couldn’t know.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

    2. That is a frustrating detail. That he could’ve had a lead on one of the sisters being the girl in the picture if it wasn’t at a time that Fuutarou conveniently ignored Nino while she was showing him the group photo. Seems like it was for plot’s sake that this was the only window that Fuutarou had to see the picture so that it’ll take several more chapters, if not dozens more chapters, for him to see the sisters’ childhood photographs.

      Choya
      Reply

  5. https://randomc.net/image/Go-Toubon%20no%20Hanayome/Go-Toubon%20no%20Hanayome%20-%2008%20-%2036.jpg
    I certainly hope he doesn’t end up with this girl. Would like the present situation to be the deciding factor instead of the past. Kinda doubt it’s Nino, since who would actually forget someone whose their type? Sadly I don’t ship Nino…

    https://randomc.net/image/Go-Toubon%20no%20Hanayome/Go-Toubon%20no%20Hanayome%20-%2008%20-%2035.jpg
    Kinda hard to guess who’s who. I think 2nd from the left is Miku, while the right most one is Nino. Got a strange hunch that the left most one is Ichika. Even after this episode, I still can’t tell which one is Yotsuba, wouldn’t be surprised if any one of them was her.

    theirs
    Reply

    1. You mean like going down the path of the trainwreck that was Nisekoi, where it took well over 200 chapters for the MC to figure things out and was the plot driver of the entire manga? Initially, if that damn locket had a picture of Slenderman in it, he would have married him.

      Don’t worry, while it’s brought up later in the story it’s only briefly, and oddly, and it felt more like the author was experimenting with the idea and then realized it was not a good path to go down (or his editor nixed the idea).

      7godeohs
      Reply

      1. Nah, it will matter. But this is not Nisekoi’s author: the childhood friend is not guaranteed to win, and the author has shown to like using Red Herrings. Unlike Nisekoi where those mysteries were part of the plot, in this story those mysteries are for the readers to have fun with.

        Nayrael
        Reply

    2. It would be too convenient if it was the girl in Fuutarou’s childhood photo that wins. I have a feeling that he wouldn’t be as apt to fall for the girl in the photograph just by reuniting with them alone. Where Fuutarou seems like the type of person to take his present relationships to heart more than get sentimental enough to marry his childhood friend. And then there’s the “childhood friend” rule in harems that interferes with the idea since they are more often grabbing the short end of the stick in harem anime.

      Choya
      Reply

    1. First Girl Syndrome is likely to give Itsuki the win at some point, but there are quite a few of the sisters who are putting in a good enough fight to seem like viable options.

      Choya
      Reply

    2. That’s what I thought at start as well, but 75 chapters into the Manga and now she is the only one I do NOT see as a possible winner @_@
      It’s also worth noting that the author very much likes the mystery aspect here. He isn’t trating it like Nisekoi, where it was just a Plot McGuffin.

      Nayrael
      Reply

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