AnimeJapan 2022 featured a fun talk show with The quintessential quintuplets voice actors Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Futaro Uesugi) Ayana Taketatsu (Nino Nakano), and ayane-sakura (Yotsuba Nakano) ahead of the film’s release in May. But this was no ordinary talk show. The three were competing for a 10,000 yen (approximately US$81.15) gift certificate to bic cameraone of the largest electronics stores in Japan.
The premise of the game was quite simple: Matsuoka, Taketatsu, and Sakura would have to answer three questions. The twist was Taketatsu and Sakura would only get points if her answer matched Matsuoka’s. This meant that Matsuoka could mess around with his answers if he wanted to hog the prize. There was, of course, a bit of time before the voice actors had to write down their answers, which meant that Taketatsu and Sakura could question Matsuoka to find out her answer. In addition to this, Taketatsu and Sakura told Matsuoka that they were at AnimeJapan to promote the upcoming movie, so he should answer truthfully, as far as Matsuoka thought it was true.
The games began with the simple question “What’s on May 20?” Both Taketatsu and Sakura made sure that Matsuoka knew the date and how important it was. Relentless, Matsuoka assured the two women that he knew what May 20 was. When the answers were revealed, every voice actor had the same answer: the day the movie was released. However, Matsuoka took a slight twist by changing the kanji used for the word “release day”, kōkaibi (公開日), to the phrase “regret day”, kōkaibi (後悔日). A fun little play on words by Matsuoka, but clearly not the same answer as Taketatsu or Sakura, although they did try to argue in the spirit that the words are phonetically the same. Unfortunately, Taketatsu and Sakura’s pleas fell on deaf ears and Matsuoka got the point.
The second question got a little personal for Matsuoka with the question, “What kind of dish would you like someone you care about to make?” Matsuoka insisted that the two women probably didn’t want to know the answer, but Sakura was looking for the prize. She therefore showed great interest in Matsuoka’s response. Or so the audience was led to believe, as it was actually Taketatsu who led the questioning to the point of asking if the dish was curry or hayashi rice. This clearly put Matsuoka in a tight spot, as she seemed like she wanted to answer the truth, but, again, rewarded. However, in the end, Matsuoka relented and when the answers were revealed, Taketatsu and Sakura’s answers matched Matsuoka’s hayashi rice.
With the score tied 1-1-1, the final question was the tiebreaker. Another personal question for Matsuoka: “What kind of place would you go to?” He mentioned that it was a bit outdoorsy, but it wasn’t really a place where you could feel the change of seasons. A tough track for Taketatsu and Sakura, the two women bent the rules a bit and asked a few more questions after their time was up. All for the prize. And again, all three had the same answer: Aquarius. Thus, giving the actresses the victory. Or so everyone thought until Sakura asked to see Taketatsu’s answer one more time. Upon further review, it turned out that Taketatsu had missed a stroke in the kanji kan (館), giving Sakura a distinct advantage over Taketatsu. Still, in sportsmanship, they both had the same answer as Matsuoka. Thus, the tiebreaker was for the public, being the clear and decisive winner Sakura for the correct writing of the kanji.
This was a fun little game for the audience at AnimeJapan 2022 and for those watching from home. We were able to learn a bit about Matsuoka and Taketatsu and Sakura’s competitive but very fun nature. It was also a good look at the harem’s career in The quintessential quintupletswhich will be completed in May. May the best girl win.