I continue to believe it’s a very fragile alchemy Oshi no Ko is maintaining in holding my interest – so much can go wrong. But for now it’s quite entertaining. Aqua is an interesting figure to build around. His dour personality is quite the mismatch with that bishounen appearance, but his attitude permeates the material. It’s quite a misanthropic and bitchy piece of work because that’s how he is. Frankly I think it would be better off if it – and he – remained that way, but I’m somewhat skeptical that will happen. We’ll see.
The final scene of “I’ll Go With Sweet Today” lived up to the potential it promised last week. For all his self-deprecation about his acting skills, all that stuff Aqua did here – using the tools available at his disposal, changing the mood, influencing the performances of the actors around him – is exactly what good actors do. It’s a bit far-fetched that it was as successful as it was, but he even managed to draw a decent performance out of the mannequin playing the male lead. Kana (the main beneficiary) at least appreciated what he pulled off – as did the director, and the mangaka too. The first crack in the armor of cynicism, hopefully not leading to a flood of industry apologism.
The after-party was also interesting. Kaburagi turned out not to be the father – as was inevitable. But he did know Ai well professionally, and as such remains a person of interest for Aqua. The two of them apparently hatch a deal – the producer will share what he knows about Ai (Aqua passes himself off as a fan, but unless Kaburagi is dumber than he’s made out to be he has to suspect otherwise). In return, pretty boy Aqua agrees to perform in a reality dating show – surely among the lowest forms of entertainment there is, and one which I can’t imagine Akasaka will try and glorify into something worthwhile.
With that, it’s back to school, where Kana happily steps into the role of wise sempai showing the siblings the ropes. Ruby seems a bit overwhelmed by how gorgeous everyone is, which is rather ironic given her looks. Her neighbor in class Kotobuki Minami (Yomiya Hina) gets her attention for her G-cup. After googling her (yeah, that has to be a faux pas) Ruby realizes she’s a pinup girl. The school is full of actors, models, idols, and such. The biggest star among them appears to be (what’s with these names?) Frill Shiranui (Seto Asami). She’s seen Aqua’s performance in fact, but about Ruby she has nothing (much to her chagrin). Apparently Frill is another Kaguya-sama tie-in character, or so I’m told.
Ruby hasn’t had a lot to do so far, if we’re honest, and it would be nice if she actually gets a meaningful arc at some point. If she ends up in an idol group with Kana that would certainly count. Aqua suggests it, but I wonder how Kana will feel about that considering her desire to be taken seriously as an actress. It might be seen as a test of what’s more important to her, her craft or just being famous. And as such, might have the potential for some interesting character development should Akasaka be thinking along the same lines.
Again, two main points for me – so far so good, and damn, is the road ahead a minefield. I know it’s extraordinarily popular but my experience with Kaguya-sama doesn’t give me confidence that Akasaka is a good enough writer to pull off this balancing act. On the other hand, though, so far Oshi no Ko is undeniably pretty clever and rather engaging in a slightly trashy sort of way.
Joshua
May 4, 2023 at 11:18 pmI am kinda worried that Akasaka would rather use this series to air his grievances rather than actually write pointed critiques towards the industry. We’ve seen this with how this whole live-action filming arc was basically inspired by his own frustrations with the production of the live-action Kaguya-sama film and how Aqua just so happens to resolve those problems right there with little issue.
To add to the whole concerns I have with this possibly leading to a “status quo” ending (if it won’t go down the Marvel route of villain who has reasonable points but goes too far in his actions), what if Akasaka doesn’t really want to actually criticize the idol industry? What if it instead tries to claim that “pure” idols like Ai are merely manipulated by very bad people and yet no one actually wants to fix the underlying issues that lead to tragedies like her death? Just that disposing of the bad producer or making him see the error of his ways will magically solve everything (ala what Paripi Koumei did)?
Simone
May 5, 2023 at 6:32 amJust out of curiosity, remind me what your experience with Kaguya-sama is in terms of episode count? Because honestly I think you’re underestimating Akasaka as a writer (though I’ll say I consider OnK less interesting than Kaguya, personally) – Kaguya has a stylised nature (including some patently unrealistic characters and anime-isms) and plays with the tropes fast and loose, but the longer it goes on the more it dives into the character work, and by the end it’s got an incredibly large and fleshed-out cast that carries the story very naturally. It stops being just situation comedy and becomes fully character-driven comedy (and sometimes dramedy) in which any two members of the cast can be paired up and have natural interactions that emerge just from their personalities. I think the man has plenty of skill as a writer, though it’s not like Kaguya was entirely without flaws. In fact, one of the biggest flaws seemed to me that he’s fantastic at comedy but seems to be irresistibly attracted to melodrama, which IMO he’s not quite as good at.
Guardian Enzo
May 5, 2023 at 8:42 amMaybe a half-dozen? If a show can’t win me over with Omata/Hatakeyama directing, you know the writing isn’t clicking with me. I’m not sure I found a single gag funny.
Simone
May 5, 2023 at 7:32 pmI’d say the stronger character writing chops start showing up towards the end of S1 and then following material (up to the latest movie which is really the culmination of a lot of that).
That said, yeah, it’s still a comedy at heart, so if the humour doesn’t click with you it’s hard for anything else to carry it. But as far as the main relationship goes, it’s really one of the most insightful and mature representations of romance I’ve actually seen in manga, ever. It builds up two personalities with both qualities and flaws that feel like they could believably fall in love with each other and go through reasonable conflicts. It actually really recontextualises the early “two tsunderes falling for each other” plot by making it suddenly look a lot more grounded in their psychology and history.
Zemo x2
May 5, 2023 at 8:53 amHe is definitely underestimating him
Frankly I don’t think he really watched or read Kaguyea Sama to bad mouth. If he did, he wouldn’t say so many half ass complaints about it.
Guardian Enzo
May 5, 2023 at 10:20 amIf that helps you.