Review of [Oshi No Ko]

The first season has already ended, so I can evaluate the series a bit better. It has been confirmed that there will be a second season, and I haven't read the manga, so, of course, I'm going to evaluate only the first season, for now. First, the obvious, so I won't go into detail: Technically it's impeccable. It's not a series with fights or spectacular scenes, but what it shows, it shows at a high level (art, animation, lighting, sound, character design...). One thing, the stars in the eyes might be something only I don't like, but it doesn't prevent me from enjoying the anime. Andon the other hand, the story. I find it has a good part and a bad part. The good part is that it remains interesting all the time, although it has peaks and valleys. In addition, the world of show business is treated from within and from the artists' point of view and, personally, I find it interesting. The relationships between the various characters who meet and compete within this environment are quite plausible. There are friendships, but mainly rivalry.

In addition, we also see the team behind the scenes and their relationship with both the actors and the projects on a global level.

Still within the good part, I include the romance, which is quite typical of school romance, but it fulfills its role.

And now the bad part, in my opinion. This story doesn't invent anything, but twists the characters in order to have the story the author wants. The problem starts in the acclaimed first chapter, which temporarily placed the anime as number 1 on MAL.

We start with details that are a mix of Boku dake ga Inai Machi / Mushoku Tensei, with a very small character who has the mind of an adult, but unlike the other two anime, here the protagonist's personality has completely changed. Will being a doctor be of any use to him at some point? He goes from being quite a clownish and otaku guy of Ai to the typical handsome teenager who keeps the situation under control and only smiles when he needs it. I don't mind either type of character, but I don't understand the radical change. Yes, when he is very small he has a clear advantage over the rest of the child characters, but soon he is the same as the others.

The part before being reborn is practically irrelevant. It could start directly with Ai's children being normal and ordinary and everything would proceed the same, except for the parts where the children have an "adult" mentality. Then Aqua grows up and seeks revenge, everything the same.

The whole "rebirth" thing under those conditions seems to me a crude attempt to attract attention at the beginning, totally wasted because the characters do not use their knowledge of a past life at all, apart from "knowing fan things about Ai". The protagonists seeks revenge for Ai’s death, not his own, and it’s the same person, so he doesn’t need to be killed himself to have a reason to go for the killer.

And what about the "mystery plot"... Does the author remember this? What does Aqua do until adolescence? Just when he has the chance to be a star child, far superior to his rivals and thus meet many people in the industry, he stays rather apart. But then when he takes up the matter again he entertains himself playing the little brother, studying editing, acting... If they want to fool us into thinking he's a smart and methodical guy, it shouldn't be hard for him to find the one who got an extremely famous idol pregnant... In a world of perversion and lust like that of actors and idols, his pretty face should be a total victory card to get information. If he's such a fan of Ai and cares so much about finding the culprit, I don't know what he's waiting for.

Having said that, I still like the character of Aqua (if I take him as a teenager and that's it). And the series remains interesting thanks to the fact that the rest of the characters are even more interesting. I want to see how they progress in their stories and in their relationships, independent of the protagonist's rebirth or Ai's mystery. For this reason, I look forward to the second season, despite having glaring inconsistencies at its base.