You know, I can never get too comfortable with Oshi no Ko. On balance I’d rather barely follow shows that veer between extremes than ones that are mediocre all the time. But the flipside of that is that there’s a certain comfort factor in the latter – I know it’s never going to really piss me off. OnK is a series that pisses me off a lot, and this mini-arc (but especially this episode) certainly qualifies. At its best this series can be almost exceptional, and even at its worst at least its usually interesting. But boy, can it be annoying.
I think the issue really comes down to the yawning disconnect between Akasaka’s worldview and my own. He sees what went on here as great, and it just makes me want to puke. And the fact is, he does a very good job of capturing the sheer awfulness of the awful things he fetishizes, like Japanese TV series such as the one featured here. The truth is the overwhelming majority of “unscripted” Japanese programming – and there’s a shit-ton – really is this unbelievably bad. The thing is, my impression is that Akasaka knows the awful things are awful, and he loves them anyway.
As for Ruby, I don’t know where he’s going with her. Are we supposed to find her heroic or admirable because she’s so good at manipulating people? I’m not absolutely confident the answer is yes but that’s the direction I’m leaning at the moment. It’s not as if Aqua isn’t a master manipulator too, but there seems to be a qualitative difference between the two of them on this front. There are places Aqua wouldn’t go, clearly, but you get the sense Ruby has no such guardrails – any means would be justified by the ends she’s pursuing. That would be one thing if the writing was using her as the villain, but I think it’s the opposite that’s happening here.
Meiya, the pro cosplayer she drafts into the TV debacle, is really a pawn in this more or less. I don’t think Ruby knew that Urushibara was going to conduct that hideous interview or anything – that was just a lucky break from her perspective. From then on Meiya is just another tool to be weaponized, which Ruby is very good at. Everyone else is caught in the middle, and Aqua gives the vibe of someone watching a slow-motion traffic accident at the “apology” broadcast. And as for that whole ending with the cosplay, what even was that? What are we supposed to have taken away from it?
I get the idea we’re supposed to have felt some sympathy for Urushibara, which I certainly don’t. This is another Akasaka-ism – he just can’t bring himself to condemn anybody if there’s a connection with something he’s a fanboy of. Urushibara is a disgusting pig of a man and really, we didn’t need to go any deeper than that with him. All the rest of it is unnecessary and dilutes the original message, because Akasaka just can’t stop himself from going past the finish line and crashing into the grandstands beyond. If I take any solace here it’s that this storyline, at least, appears to have been a brief one. But Ruby being the prime mover doesn’t seem like it’s going away, and that may prove to be a lot to take.
Rob
January 29, 2026 at 10:44 pmThere’s a clear difference between trying to explain the perspective of someone who is obviously an abuser and justifying that abuse under the guise of empathy.
Akasaka seems to believe in an entertainment world where everyone is genuinely passionate about what they do and only ‘take the wrong path here and there.’ For a series that apparently prides itself on portraying that world as it truly is—both the good and the bad—this feels like a low point for him.
Guardian Enzo
January 29, 2026 at 10:53 pmPretty much that.
Andy L.
January 30, 2026 at 12:46 amWhew watching this and Cosmic Princess Kaguya within the same 24 hours is some hella whiplash.
catterbu
January 30, 2026 at 2:21 amPhew. So much to dissect in this car crash of an episode. As I watched the earlier episodes, I was thinking to myself that I will really like getting to see Urushibara get his comeuppance. Then I remembered what show I was watching and it managed to be…quite bad. Akasaka is hardly the first mangaka to try to justify the sexual harassment of others (hell, Watsuki is still making manga. Comparatively, this is minor). As I realized that we were going to see the abused forgive the abuser on screen, I was quite disgusted, but then I realized that this is definitely the sort of shit that a show like this would pull. Then, I held at the (unrealistic) hope that there might be some signaling at the end that this maybe the reality, but we want to challenge it. I am reminded of the ass-pull Aqua pulled to save Akane from her bullying. Would it have been too much to ask for some similar treatment to condemn this sexual harasser and serial verbal abuser? I think not.
The one good thing from this arc for me: as you mentioned, Enzo, Ruby really does not seem to have a line she will not cross. She always struck me as such a shallow character, probably the most shallow in the show. Like Akasaka came up with “sick girl who loved idols and dreamed of becoming one gets to be reincarnated and achieve that dream” and decided that was all she would ever need as a character. Now we can at least add “pathologically driven to accomplish her goals”. At least she now has a little more shading.
lol
February 3, 2026 at 12:42 amEh. I think the episode would have been better off if the director had not been portrayed sympathetically because it’s clumsy and doesn’t add much, but I’m not inherently opposed to the idea of forgiveness. I’ve had several abusers and forgave the ones who tried to make amends, and they did a hell of a lot worse to me than ask a few sekuhara questions. I’m kind of opposed in general to the idea that the way to combat injustice is to never forgive anyone for anything ever. Meiya letting things go makes sense given the context (the original offense wasn’t that bad and the director went to fairly extreme lengths to apologize), even if the episode would have been better with that angle just completely absent.
Vance
January 30, 2026 at 7:32 amI also found this episode appalling, Enzo. However, I expected this since the show appears to require for Aqua and Ruby to successfully make connections to find their father, and letting projects die goes against that, so I’ve accepted that everything has to go swimmingly ’cause the target audience of Oshi no Ko is fans of the Japanese entertainment industry and those who work in the industry themselves.
Guardian Enzo
January 30, 2026 at 10:21 amYeah I mean, I don’t disagree with any of that. It’s still frustrating as hell though.
lol
February 3, 2026 at 12:34 am“Are we supposed to find her heroic or admirable because she’s so good at manipulating people? I’m not absolutely confident the answer is yes but that’s the direction I’m leaning at the moment.”
I don’t think so…? I think you’re inventing a problem here that doesn’t exist. It’s pretty obvious to me that you’re just supposed to find her personality change interesting and some spicy drama and… that’s about it. This harkens back to the old days where sanity slippage was a common trope in anime (School Days, Code Geass, Shuffle, 11eyes) and you’re old enough to remember those.