Oshi no Ko is one of the line-ups of the recently concluded Spring Season, and without a doubt, from the show’s very first episode, it has already piqued the interests of many viewers and avid anime watchers.
Oshi no Ko premiered with a one-hour special, which is unusual for an anime that had just begun, but because of the interesting story revolving around the Idol star and one of the main characters of the show, Hoshino Ai, fans were able to sit through that one-hour episode. During the show’s premiere, there was a “you had to be there” moment as an unexpected twist occurred at the very end of the episode. Hoshino Ai, the main character of the series, was murdered by a stalker fan in the comforts of her own home.
This scene alone shows that being a celebrity is no easy job. It requires you to give anything and everything in order for your career to blossom into something that’s worth bragging about. However, the first episode wasn’t the only instance in the show when the star-studded celebrity life was brought into ruins. Some episodes later, we also see Kurokawa Akane, another key figure in the show, struggle because a false accusation was directed towards her which almost cost her her life. Turns out, the dazzling and shiny celebrity life we all thought was perfect isn’t as flawless as it presents itself to be.
Hoshino Ai: Love and Lies
If you’ve ever heard the English version of Oshi no Ko’s theme song, “Idol” by Yoasobi, you’ll know that it relates to the enthralling narrative of Hoshino Ai and her brilliant career as an idol, which she accomplished through her ability to fabricate the most profound sensation of all: love.
Being a superstar is unquestionably one of the most complicated lives one can have. In the industry, success is linked with popularity, and popularity can only be achieved while surrounded by thousands of people. However, this also implies that you must consistently please this large number of people in order to gain their affection, which is a difficult undertaking.
However, in order to maintain one’s individuality, times of solitude become necessary—a chance to be alone with one’s thoughts, confined to a select few inside the inner circle, whether it be a family or close friends, who offer the attention, care, and affection required to keep grounded. Those who can handle both sides while retaining their sanity are the ones who actually endure the harsh reality of the entertainment industry, a concept that the anime vividly depicts.
When Hoshino Ai became Ruby and Aqua’s guardian, she took the resolute choice to protect her children from the volatile show business sector. She went to considerable measures to keep their actual identities secret from the general population. She raised children with the utmost care and affection, ensuring that her employment never interfered with their well-being and growth. Hoshino Ai effectively shielded her children while maintaining the idol image that had endeared her to the public until her tragic passing.
Furthermore, in order to further her reputation, Hoshino Ai pursued other artistic areas like acting and modeling. She had already established herself as the dazzling idol, of Hoshino Ai, by the time her children were four years old.
Everything Ai did, however, was founded on falsehoods. She had never known true love as an orphan, and her goal for entering the profession was to define love on her own terms and persuade the world that she did, despite the fact that her assertion was false. Nonetheless, this one untruth brought her enormous success. Ai won the affection of many in the business and among her followers for her effort to understand the genuine meaning of love.
Surprisingly, this dynamic of superstars proclaiming love to numerous individuals they’ve never met is also mirrored in real life. While there may be no practical reason why idols and other famous persons exhibit such intense feelings in front of thousands of supporters, fans anxiously await hearing those remarks, even if they are not true. It is crucial to note, however, that telepathy is not a true superpower, and one can never completely foresee or identify a person’s true feelings and thoughts.
Falsehoods about love may have disastrous repercussions. Love is a complex term that cannot be reduced to a simple sensation of ecstasy and admiration for another person. It may also emerge as an unhealthy obsession, and someone who is consumed by excessive fixation and obsession may inflict physical injury. Ai’s terrible death is a striking reminder of the dangers of an industry based on pleasing others and striving for fame. Sharing oneself with the public always has dangers, and in Ai’s case, those risks were eventually fatal.
Kurokawa Akane: Behind Every Show
Behind every show is an artist who is willing to give it their all in order to make a mark. That artist is Kurokawa Akane. Akane is a renowned theater actress who has slowly but surely been gaining popularity through her acting skills.
Akane was first introduced as one of the members of the high school dating show LoveNow where she was cast alongside Aqua. During the first few episodes of her appearance, Akane was seen running around the set with a notepad and a pen listing down all the things she had to know about the progression of the storyline and about her role.
However, no matter how hard she tries to leave an impression on the viewers and the other cast members, she can’t seem to make it work. That was until she finally decided to be the villain to a budding love story between two of the cast members. Upon assuming the “third-party” role, she saw that those who watched the show slowly began taking notice of her. For Akane, any role is fine as long as she is seen, and her role as the other girl might be doing the trick.
This role quickly stabbed her in the back when the directors of the show decided to air an accidental incident where she had cut the face of her model co-star, which, during that time, was the main girl character of the show. Because LoveNow had a big audience, this incident triggered an enormous issue. Akane was unable to shoot with the show for days, her appetite was down, and she was seriously so close to losing herself. That episode of the show brought about some very cruel comments from the viewers, most of them directed at Akane, and a lot of those who supported the main couple started to call her names because of the accident. To cut a long story short, Akane was saved by the cast members led by Aqua through video footage which showed their true friendship with each other, and because of this act, Akane decided that she would become someone who Aqua liked.
Behind every show is an artist who is desperate to make a mark. Upon learning that Aqua’s ideal type was someone who was like Hoshino Ai, Akane studied…obsessively in a desperate attempt to make Aqua like her. This was successful of course, as they were pronounced the final couple of the series, however, the one episode where Akane was seen studying endlessly–night and day—to achieve her goal, and ultimately achieving a perfect replication of Ai Hoshino when the cameras turned on was something so unbelievable that even Aqua himself was stunned when he saw how Akane seemingly brought Ai back to life.
This sort of dedication and obsession with work is common amongst those in the show business industry, even in the real world. With many other actors, actresses, and idols who all want to be popular, having the talent and skill to keep up with the demands of your work is essential. Not only that but gaining the ability to ignore the backlash and the triggering remarks is also a skill you must acquire.
Oshi No Ko: A Summarized Plot
Did this article gain your interest in any way? Perhaps you’re thinking of watching Oshi no Ko sometime soon, well here’s a summarized version of the plot for you. Brace yourselves if you haven’t watched the anime yet, this plot will be a handful.
Gynecologist Gorou Amamiya is charged with assisting in the delivery of Ai Hoshino’s children, an idol singer he admires, without the general public’s awareness. However, on the night of Ai’s birth, Gorou is assassinated by an obsessed Ai admirer and reborn as Aquamarine Hoshino, Ai’s son, with his memories of his former life intact. Aqua’s fraternal twin, Ruby Hoshino, is also a reincarnation of one of Gorou’s patients who was a fan of Ai’s, unbeknownst to him.
Four years later, Ai is assassinated by the same admirer, who subsequently commits suicide. Aqua, on the other hand, concludes that the killer may have had his and Ruby’s father as an accomplice and vows to join the entertainment world in order to discover and kill him.
Aqua and Ruby have graduated from high school and have been adopted by Ichigo and Miyako Saito, the founders of Ai’s talent agency, Strawberry Productions. Ruby aspires to be an idol singer herself and works for their family’s agency. While Aqua returns to acting, she joins an idol group called “B-Komachi” with actress Kana Arima and YouTuber Mem-cho, named after Ai’s old group.
For now, that’s all the anime has covered, and with the second season of the show announced, we will for sure learn more about Aqua, Ruby, and their future quarrels and quests.
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