Oshi no Ko's Rise to the Top
By Eduardo Benitez
Oshi no Ko, is written by Aka Akasaka and illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari, is a Japanese manga that has gained a massive amount of popularity in Japan and the West. It is a story about the entertainment industry, the rise of an idol and her tragic fate. Ai Hoshino is the face and star of Oshi no Ko, but she is not one of the main characters.
Ai Hoshino is a rising idol in the industry with a very rough past but has built her career on lies. Lies can be used to explain how Ai lived her life and used it to get as far as she did in the industry. In idol culture, fans believe they have an emotional connection to their favorite idol and Ai used her “love” to gain popularity as she was the “perfect” idol.
The story has gotten a lot of attention because of the opening song Idol by YOASOBI, but it has also gotten a lot of attention because the story has so many questions to be answered but also for its narrative complexity. As readers continue reading the story some questions are answered but others pop up. As readers delve deeper into the story, numerous questions arise, keeping them engaged and eager for more chapters.
The story touches on many things that happen in the entertainment industry from how reality TV is produced, jealousy of costars, extramarital affairs, idols and tabloid worthy news. Oshi no Ko has also received some strong criticism for the topic of cyberbullying and social media that leads to suicide. The backlash came from the plot resembling a real life story, that of Hana Kimura, who committed suicide in 2020 after being cyberbullied.
The main characters of this story are Ai’s kids, her twins she had in secret at the age of 16. Her son Aquamarine (Aqua) and her daughter Ruby who are both reincarnated fans of their now mother. They too are built on a lie, a lie that her fans and people in the industry are unaware of.
The twins have very different goals from each other, Ruby wants to follow her mother’s footsteps and become an Idol. She learns that being an idol is a lot more difficult than what her mother made it seem. Meanwhile Aqua is trying to get revenge on his father, who he doesn’t know but is trying to find and reveal his mother’s lies which she built a career on. While, Aqua seeks revenge against his unknown father and aims to expose the lies upon which his mother's career is built.
The manga is ongoing, with chapter 136 being released most recently. The anime adaptation has season one completely done but many are eagerly awaiting the release of season two. Anime adaptations are always a difficult thing to get perfect, however Oshi no Ko’s adaptation has been almost a perfect copy of the manga.
Episode one of the anime covers all of the first volume of the manga which is nine chapters and really is the only way you will understand why this series has gained a massive following. Season two of the anime is set to release later this year. Oshi no Ko has people hooked on it's story and characters that keep you invested as the story progresses.