No matter what genre the anime may be that you're watching, there's always sure to be a tsundere character. No matter if it's a harem or a reverse harem, you'll immediately be able to spot the obvious "hmphs" or the hostile attitude. That's exactly what occurs in Quintessential Quintuplets with the memorable introduction of Nino Nakano amongst the other quints.
With her very long pink hair, butterfly accessories, and always painted multicolored nails, you can tell what archetype Nino is before hearing her voice. It also happens that she shares her Japanese voice actress, Ayana Takettsu, who is known for voicing tsunderes from other popular anime like Kirino Kousaka from Oreimo and Suguha Kirigaya from Sword Art Online. Past Nino's cold exterior lies an amazing story, so this list is going to explain 10 reasons why Nino is in the running for best girl. And if you're only an anime watcher who hasn't caught up to the manga, please turn away because there will be spoilers!
10 SHE GETS EMBARRASSED EASILY
To begin this article, we'll take a look at Nino's most displayed emotion next to anger in the 1st season of Quintessential Quintuplets: embarrassment. Whether it's something that comes with her archetype, Nino is not good at hiding her embarrassment at all. Since she doesn't have good eyesight, she wears contacts while she's out.
In an episode, Nino ends up mistaking Futaro for a quint and accidentally falls. To save her, Futaro broke her fall, making them end up in a compromising position. While it's understandable why she's frazzled, she doesn't forgive him for a while, even after he gave her an explanation.
9 SHE'S A GREAT COOK
It's true. Nino is a wonderful cook. She even makes Futaro a delicious plate of food and allegedly poisoned it without his knowledge. After some time between episodes/chapters, Nino and Miku also had a cooking competition to see who was the better cook.
Unfortunately, Nino lost due to Futaro's taste buds being as useful as air conditioning on the moon, but it she is obviously the real winner, considering the high-quality anime food Nino cooked and the black mass of charr on a plate Miku concocted. Despite the quints all looking the same, Nino is the only one in the bunch who can cook something without it being inedible -- it's also because her passion is food and her dream is to become a chef.
8 HER CHARACTER DESIGN
It's no secret that out of the other quints, Nino's character design is the most praised. Her butterfly-shaped ribbons, long-sleeved sweater, pink hair, and well-maintained nails were probably thought about a lot while creating her as a character. She's also definitely the most girlish quint out of the bunch with the many cute accessories she possesses.
The only thing missing is some earrings, but to her chagrin, she's too afraid to pierce her ears -- even asking Futaro to do it once. Nino not only stands out with her personality, but also with her beautiful design that many can agree is the best out of the other quints.
7 HER BLUNT PERSONALITY
As the middle sister and most fashionable of the other quints, Nino isn't one to mince words. She immediately tells Futaro how she feels about him being their tutor and refuses his efforts to get them to study. Although the other quints don't accept Futaro as a tutor with the exception Yotsuba, Nino is the most adamant about not allowing him to teach them.
She even "poisoned" his food so he wouldn't feel well and scare him off from ever coming back. However, once it is learned the reasons why Nino goes to extreme lengths to push Futaro away though, it all begins to make sense.
6 SHE'S ACTUALLY A GOOD TSUNDERE
As soon as Nino meets Futaro for the first time, she confronts him for following them and demands to know if he's a stalker. But the more she interacts with him and understands the meaning behind his actions, Nino's ice-cold exterior melts as well as her heart after falling in love with him.
But of course, even after falling in love with him, she remains as sharp-tongued as she was before, the only difference being that she acts more honest about her feelings. Because Nino isn't a tsundere just to fill an archetype, it makes for a refreshing difference from other tsundere characters.
5 SHE ACTIVELY MAKES PASSES AT FUTARO AFTER CONFESSING
Remember all those confessions in romance anime that were "too loud" because of the fireworks or the protagonist was too stupid and asked what they said? That happened in Quintessential Quintuplets. But the difference was even after Nino confessed and Futaro claimed he couldn't hear her, Nino came right back to him and confessed for the second time on the same day.
That's how determined she was to get her feelings across to him. She broke the norms and did what fans always wanted a character to do -- ensure their voice was heard by mustering up their courage and confessing once again.
4 SHE'S THE MOST MOTHERLY OF THE QUINTS
Despite Nino being the second oldest out of the quints, she acts more motherly towards her sisters than anything. While Ichika may be considered the leader as the firstborn, Nino's care for them - such as carrying around bandages because one of them was bound to get injured, clearly shows - the attitude she has with them.
Even when Nino falls in love with Futaro, she doesn't discourage Miku because they share the same feelings. She instead cheers her on by telling her she's cute and that she should confess as well so they can have fair competition for his affections.
3 SHE DOESN'T FALL IN LOVE WITH FUTARO IMMEDIATELY
This is a refreshing one for all those tsunderes who do end up falling head over heels with a couple of interactions between them. Nino is not the type to give her affection to anyone easily, and it's stated from the beginning of the series. Even when she sees Yotsuba's acceptance of Futaro or how Miku fell in love with him, she only tries harder to limit their interactions.
It makes the start of their relationship a rocky one, but the fact that she falls in love with him through seeing his acceptance of the other quints makes her love feel a lot more genuine.
2 SHE WAS THE FIRST TO CONFESS HER FEELINGS TO FUTARO -- TWICE
Although she isn't the first to confess, Nino is the first to successfully confess her feelings to Futaro in Chapter 59 of the Scrambled Eggs arc. Although throughout the chapter Nino tries to deny the fact she may be in love with Futaro, as they ride together on his motorcycle, she confesses as she's speaking about how it will get lonelier since they all passed their exams.
Nino's confession is also the most "confession-like" one of the series, with Miku's being one word -- her pointing at him and stating "love" -- until Yotsuba confesses her own later in the series.
1 HER HUGE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
We finally come to the 1# reason why Nino is best girl. After cutting her hair to medium-length after their summer break, it's like she grew 10x more than the other quints -- and even brought the then-Miku fans over to Nino's side. She confesses her feelings to Futaro, becomes very aggressive in her efforts, and even stops having too much of an attitude with him.
She musters up her courage to ask him if he wants a body wash -- albeit it's fruitless because he doesn't recognize her with short hair -- and tells the other quints she's going to win the competition for Futaro's heart. Despite starting on a rocky road of tsundereness, Nino has gained the right to be called a best girl through her tireless efforts.