Review of [Oshi No Ko]

This is some kind of different take about this season, considering the rolling-on-the-floorable atrocity I had to read here. Oshi no Ko is a manga series written by Akasaka Aka and illustrated by Yokoyari Mengo. The story is initially about Hoshino Ai, a famous idol and leader of B-Komachi. Our main character, a gynecologist who attends by the name of Amamiya Gorou, is a big fan of hers, even though he is the usual doctor at first sight; and so is Tendoji Sarina, a little girl at terminal state in the hospital, and Gorou's patient. One random common day, he receives a special pregnant visitor,who turns out to be Ai herself, who was brought by Saitou Ichigo, her manager. Ichigo himself doesn't know of the identity of the father, since Ai doesn't tell him at all. Fact is that young idol couldn't let her pregnancy of twins be of public knowledge, hence the secret visit.

Right before the babies were born, Gorou was pushed down a hill close to the hospital. The identity of the murderer is unknown in that moment. After this sudden death, Ai's healthy twins were brought to this world. And the surprising part is that her kids are Gorou and Sarina's reincarnated (the girl lost the battle to her disease, as revealed later). The offspring now attend by the name of Aquamarine and Ruby respectively, and are simply the son and daughter of a star; and still diehard Ai fans thar always take part on her show with happiness. We see the young idol's life as she accepts roles in a radio, a TV series and fashion magazines. One single dark day, the teenager receives an unexpected visitor – a supposed B-Komachi and Ai fan – holding a bouquet. After the door was opened, he took a knife out of the flowers arrangement and stabbed the idol right before Aqua's eyes. Reasons being that he knew that she had offspring, and that it was a “betrayal". Ai remembered him, and told that the man was always in B-Komachi ‘s meet and greet. This conversation lefts the man in tears and despair. The unknown man leaves the crime scene, and right after it he commits suicide. The idol falls on the ground close to the door, and hugs a crying Aqua. Ruby is on the other side, in tears as well. Ai tells that she loves both, and dies seconds later.

This is when we are brought to a inner perspective of the showbiz world, with Aquamarine and Ruby as the new protagonists. We meet many more characters in this journey, such as Arima Kana, Mem-Cho and Kurokawa Akane (the latter having one of the most accurate online shaming-depression-suicide attempt depictions I have ever seen). I have seen some people comparing Oshi no Ko with Perfect Blue, since both show us the bad side of the colorful idol world, although in completely different approaches. I think this series is as current as ever, since we live in the age of easy access to hatred spread. And with this I'm not talking about “boo hoo right bad” kind of thing. This anime shows us how people write on Twitter things they would NEVER ever say in real life. As long as we live in the comfort of our four walled world and supposed safety, we can say whatever we want without giving a damn about the proportions. And it's not about individual attacking, but a multitude of insults to a public image (even after said image's passing) as shown in the needlesly long first episode. The truth is that people could pull somebody into an emotional cliff dive, and never care about the consequences as long as no one never sees their own actions and words as one of the main reasons.

About animation quality, Kobo gives a good impression. This anime is bright, it is colorful, but also manages to use dark palette when needed. The atmosphere and mood is always set in the right way, never detracting. The OST isn't so memorable in my opinion, however it has some good tracks, such as the main themes and the idol songs that give me some Triple H vibes sometimes. And as a matter of fact, the girls here are as cute as in manga (thanks). The pacing made me a bit worried, since my initial impression was that they were going to devour the manga in large parts – like episode one. And well... this is the case but just in the beginning. I am enjoying the way the series is flowing so far. The comedy factor is not slapstick or childish cringey, which is a good point. If doesn't break the atmosphere, and flows in the right moment.

Oshi no Ko in general is a very good show. Of course, people hype it and to be honest I don't blame them at all. The top anime of this site will always have some overrated titles, so complaining about it is just pointless. It proves that the issue here is with the anime itself, which is hilarious and amusing to read and see. I like Akasaka storytelling a lot, and Mengo's drawing complements everything really well. If you are searching for a unusual story, be sure to give Oshi no Ko a try.