[Oshi No Ko] Volumes 5, 6 and 7 Review
2024 has been a busy year for [Oshi No Ko] fans. Not only did we get Season 2 of the anime adaptation, following on from the very successful Season 1 from last year, but the manga very recently finished in Japan and in English we got four volumes released this year: the three I’m about to discuss now, and the fourth is due out in mid-November.
A quick reminder of the story so far: Aqua and Ruby are the secret twin children of the famous idol Ai Hoshino, who was murdered in her apartment by a fan many years ago. Aqua, now a teenager, is set on making it big in the industry to find out who his father is, and in turn, who was responsible for Ai’s murder. Aqua’s secret weapon is that he remembers his previous life as a doctor who helped Ai during her pregnancy, and his next target is the director of the Tokyo Blade play, based upon a very famous manga. But with personalities clashing on set, and the original mangaka being unhappy with the script, can Aqua get close enough to even get his answers?
Volumes 5, 6 and 7 cover the entirety of the 2.5D Play arc, which in the anime adaptation, ending up taking up a whole 10 episodes of Season 2, so yeah, it’s a long one alright. Considering that the first four volumes had the prologue, the Show Business (Sweet Today drama), the Dating Reality show and the First Concert arcs, the 2.5D Play arc is the longest arc so far (26 chapters) and it really feels like it too. In the past, story arcs have been divided into three parts: one part looking at the darker sides of the entertainment industry, one part character arcs for either the main or side characters, and the last part developing Aqua’s quest to track down Ai’s killer. Usually the parts are equally divided, but the 2.5D Play arc is very heavy on the character drama, with the other two parts getting less page time, and I think it’s this imbalance that makes the arc feel like it’s dragging its feet.
But let’s start with the positive. The actual play itself is very interesting; we don’t really get 2.5D plays over here (we do get plays based on anime and manga, but they’re not the same thing) so seeing the production of one on page is interesting. The rehearsals take up all of Volume 5 and some of Volume 6, but unlike before, we don’t see a dark or exploitive side of it (at least not to the same extent) instead we’re given a look at the politics side. Such as what happens when the mangaka is unhappy with the script, enough to completely stall production and want the scriptwriter fired. The drama feels real, not just because it’s very likely to happen in real life, but the mangaka (Abiko Samejima) is friends with Yoriko, the mangaka behind Sweet Today, which got a terrible live action drama in the previous volume. So it’s understandable she doesn’t want to end up the same way, with her beloved work ruined live on stage. When Aqua and the rest of the cast enrol Yoriko’s help in order to get Abiko to reconsider, Yoriko ends up going over and the two really hash it out, in probably one of the highlights of these volumes. The two work overnight to get some manga pages done, whilst arguing and letting out all their feelings out in the process. It’s a really funny back and forth between these two, as you can really feel their passion for their work, believe how they’ve known each other long enough to know what to say to make the other one angry, plus the clash of personalities really works too. The fact that the in-universe manga is a weekly release, and [Oshi No Ko] was also a weekly release, makes me sure that the creators let off a lot of steam in this chapter. When the play does get back into production, and what we see of it within the pages, also looks really engaging and amazing, I almost wished that Tokyo Blade was a series in our world that I could check out for myself!
Volume 5 is largely taken up by the play drama, but it brings us back round to our main hero Aqua just in time for a gut punch of a ending. As he’s trying to invoke emotion for his character, reacting to another’s death within the show, he instead brings on a panic attack when he gets flashbacks to his mother. It’s a really haunting full page spread of Ai we see, a reminder of the pure horror that kicked all this off, and grounding Aqua, shattering his hardened heart and the unstoppable teen façade that he projects to others. I did like how his trauma is portrayed as his past self, but full of darkness and terror, an unwelcome voice that is making his present life worse. I also like how the characters around him react to it to; they take it seriously and don’t downplay it, they call it for what it is and try to give Aqua advice on how to deal with it. I also really like Aqua and Akane’s bonding in Volume 6, as he reveals part of his motives to becoming an actor, and they grow closer as a result. Then when we do get Aqua’s big emotional scene, it’s not an overcoming of trauma, but an embracing of it, as he realises that he’s punishing himself and not letting himself be happy, as he blames himself for Ai’s death. Despite being a child when it happened, he has the mind of an older man, a really devoted fan too, so it’s that contradiction that shapes Aqua’s messed-up world view, but you can see how he came to that conclusion. Sadly, Aqua’s character arc hits a bit of a bum note in the end of Volume 7. At some point during production, he diverts his attention away from the director to get information, and decides to ask a fellow actor, but we never see what prompted this change of tactic or how he came to a conclusion he reveals. Then when he finds out more information, that the man he’s seeking is no longer part of the picture, Aqua he loses his whole motivation. This should bring about a traumatic, or at least an emotional response, instead he goes quiet for a few panels and doesn’t have anything to do for the rest of the volume. I’m hoping we’ll get more of an emotional catharsis or maybe we continue the mystery in a different way, because the dropping of Aqua’s whole story motivation as it is currently, is really unsatisfying right now. It also doesn’t help that Aqua knowledges the ‘love triangle’ he’s currently in, between Akane and Kana, but it’s tossed in randomly within a conversation and he shows no internal conflict about it. It reads more like the mangaka is throwing the audience a bone, to let them know that they haven’t forget about it and will get to it in their own time.
The rest of Volumes 6 and 7 is taken up by the first performance of the play, with a lot of heightened emotions and character revelations to go with it, and this is where the arc starts to drag a bit. Individually, I do like the character moments that are in here, but when played back-to-back in quick succession, it becomes a bit much. Let’s go from best to worst arcs. Akane Kurosawa’s passion for acting, to outdo Kana (whom she used to idolise) and also convey the emotion of her character in very few lines, is the most compelling overall. She also gets the most stunning manga panel of these books, where she’s in full costume and there are panels detailing her micro expressions, finishing with a perfect pose (I hope this page is in the upcoming art book because it really is that beautiful). Then we have Melt Narushima, who’s been a background character, mostly for jokes, up until his moment to shine in Volume 6, where he tries to compensate for his poor acting skills, by being able to pull off a move from the manga. Even though he’s not a star of the show, you can’t help but cheer him on when he manages to accomplish it, especially when the two mangaka in the audience watching him like hawks, cheer up considerably at his performance. And finally, the character arc that I felt was the weakest goes to Kana; I do like her character overall, and her rivalry with Akane is good too, but her arc hits a lot of similar beats she went through in the First Concert arc, but instead of doubting her singing skills, she’s doubting being able to make it as an actor. Considering that Kana took the spotlight in the previous arc, when it really should have gone to Ruby (who’s absent from these books, aside from the very end of Volume 7) the re-tread of material made it more of a hassle to get through.
The art continues to be excellent in these pages; the costumes for the play look really good and consistent with each other on set, there’s also great use of shading and framing to emphasise the big moments of the play and in turn the character emotional highs and lows. Despite not being a big fan of Kana’s arc, I did like the imagery of her being in shade, pointing the spotlight at her fellow cast mates, at her lowest moment.
Taylor Engel also continues with their excellent translation; I really enjoy the translation notes they provide with each volume, especially the information about [Oshi No Ko] being weekly, and the information about the indie cabs too.
The 2.5D Play arc was a lot to get through, with a lot of emotional highs and lows, but the series is still going strong with its excellent art, good use of characters (for the most part) and interesting insights into the entertainment industry. But now that Aqua’s arc has (seemingly) come to an end…where will we go from here?
