Review of [Oshi No Ko]

Ah, yes, the showbiz. Everyone wants to be a star, everyone wants to be on top and be remembered for their talent, looks and/or personality. But the way to the top is steep, heavy, painful, and not at all fair. Will you betray your own self and become someone else to get to the top? Will you use likes and deception to make your way to glory and fame? This is Oshi no Ko. Story about lies, deception, and everything ugly about entertainment industry. It will be hard to review this anime without spoiling it, but I’ll try my best. The story follows famous idol namedAi and her children. At the beginning, in the first episode, Ai travels to secluded town to have birthing secret because young idol giving birth Is very bad for her image and career. Gorou Amamiya, her doctor, who is also an Ai fan, dies the same day Ai is supposed to give birth and reincarnates as her son. Okay, I know that this sounds like isekai cliché bullshit, but hear me out. So anyways, Ai gives birth to twins Aqua and Ruby. Aqua, as I mentioned, is actually her doctor that reincarnated as her son, and Ruby his twin sister was as also reincarnated. She was a young girl and also a huge Ai fan who died from uncurable disease. And now, reincarnated as children of their favorite idol, and with memories of their past lives, they learn about their mother and how entertainment industry really works. When they become high school students, both get involved in entertainment industry, Ruby to follow her dream of being popular idol as her mother, and Aqua for his personal reasons.

Okay, now. What makes this anime so special. It might look like some slice of life anime with reincarnation element, but it’s much deeper than that. The characters are great, they are really well made. Anime isn’t just one main story. It’s a combination of several stories taking place at the same time. You follow Ruby in her pursue of career as an idol and Aqua and his personal quest to find answers hidden deep within the industry itself by using people around him to get himself on top and closer to his goal. Arima and Akane, two side characters that have deep background and different personal problems they are dealing with. They are complete opposite of each other. Karima is a former famous talented child actress. Her emotions and acting were considered one of a kind, but as she got older her popularity fell and she can’t find any new huge roles. So now she is scraping, so to say, in low budget dramas with amateurs to try and keep career alive. On the other side, we have Akane. Complete opposite. Also, a talented actress but with insecurity in her own abilities. Always thinking she isn’t good enough and that she needs to work harder. That’s puts a heavy burden on her, making her insecurities stronger. Both Arima and Akane are chasing the same goal but can’t stand each other’s presence and are in a way, respectful of one another. They realize their rival is a talented and respected actor and will take every opportunity to outshine them. This combination of different story is one of strong points in this anime and it’s what makes characters so loveable and interesting.
Of course, everyone will tell you that first episode is the bomb. It’s by far the best episode. It’s an hour long, maybe even a bit too long, because in some parts you can feel that story isn’t progressing or that pace has slowed down significantly. But in the end, it really pays off. It sets up the plot in excellent way. I won’t spoil it, just trust me and give it a chance. And that’s where we come to pacing. After great first episode, next several episodes can feel a bit dragged and you feel like nothing is happening. It’s because the first episode delivers an amazing presentation and introduction to the series and after it can feel like excitement has dropped down by 90%.
Oshi no Ko requires a bit of patience to get a momentum after first episode and it really pays off. If you are the type that requires that almost every episode is and emotional and eventful bomb, which I also personally prefer, that this anime might not be for you. But if you give it time, it will pay off.

Animation is great considering the genre of anime. Most of times, for me, in drama animes, I don’t find animation that important. I will though, criticize it or praise if it sticks out. In this case, its great, Scenes where characters are acting or dancing on the stage are rly nice and fluid. Their movements and reactions are not stiff or unnatural. It shows the intention of the scene and it looks really good. Emotions on character faces are also really well done. When characters are sad, happy, frustrated, angry, depressed, the art style depicts that as it should. You can feel their emotions, which automatically makes character more likable.

In drama and thrillers, you usually don’t prioritize action and flashy effects. You must focus on characters and narrative. And I think Oshi no ko does that pretty well combined with great animation and character design. Again, after first episode, pace slows down a bit, so if you are not very patient person, that might get you away from this show. It requires patience. If you have patience, you will end up with a great show that nicely depicts how entertainment industry is working, how young rising starts deal with stress, popularity, criticism, how it impacts their private lives and to what ends they must go just to keep themselves above water and what price they have to pay to stay relevant because entertainment industry can be rough and unforgivable.