Review of [Oshi No Ko]

I finally came around to watching what many dubbed "Anime of the Year". I was skeptical then, and by the end of it, this is not AOTY. It is good, enjoyable, with a great prologue episode, which hooked me, but the story is plagued by a 10 episode aftermath of the prologue, which fails to stay focused. I get that this anime is building towards something, but this is why I absolutely hate half seasons, or cours or whatever you want to call it. We have seen what can be done in 10, 12, or 13 episodes with other series thatknock it out of the park. Oshi no Ko doesn't lend itself to settling a score, and instead focuses on a long game strategy to build this anime over a period of time. This is fine, and I'm sure once it has built upon this foundation, it will turn out great. Going off of these 11 episodes, I have to say the story could have been more substantial, something important could have been done for a cliffhanger. The biggest happening of the series was episode 1, and then the series has a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a mystery, slice of life, harem? Yes, it's all of the above, but doesn't stay in a lane. If this was a 24-26 episode proper season, maybe we would have gotten that substantial cliffhanger, or something to really bring this story together. As of now, it's not there for me.

Animation 10/10
- Absolutely beautiful eye candy as Frill would say.
Sound 10/10
- Great music, and voice acting.
Story 3/10
- Lacks focus, trading its story for character development for later seasons.
Characters 8/10
- Great characters and development, but Ruby is third string to Kana, which doesn't make sense to me. She is the first character the author asks you to care about, and by the end of the season, she is almost a background character.
Enjoyment 7/10
- Despite my perceived flaws of the show, I had no trouble watching it, and enjoyed every episode except ep 2.

I have mixed feelings recommending a series like this, because it's clear, this anime intends to drop multiple seasons, and IMO a series like this should be enjoyed in binge fashion, especially when the first season fails to deliver substantial plot development. If you are okay with the start/stop fashion of cours, then I recommend it.