One of the things I like the most about Japanese popular media, be it anime, manga, light novels or video games, is how it can take what appears to be, on paper, an absolutely batshit insane premise and turn it into something fascinating and thought-provoking.
Such is the case with Oshi no Ko, a manga series illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari and written by Aka Akasaka, the former of whom is probably best known for Scum’s Wish and the latter for the immensely popular Kaguya-sama: Love is War. Although the series kicks off with the sort of premise one might think would be better suited to an “isekai” style story, what then follows is a thoroughly compelling, uncompromising and honest look at the Japanese entertainment industry — both the good sides and the bad.
At the time of writing, five volumes of Oshi no Ko are available in English, and an anime series that covers pretty much up to the end of the fourth volume aired in 2023. After reading the five volumes (and not watching the anime), I’m thoroughly hooked and can’t wait to see more. So let’s take a closer look at this thoroughly interesting tale.
The initial setup for Oshi no Ko is that a gynaecologist, who previously bonded with a now-deceased patient over their shared love of the idol Ai Hoshino, is murdered by a stalker after an incognito Hoshino shows up at his hospital pregnant with twins. Several months later, he is surprised to find himself reincarnated as Aquamarine, one of Hoshino’s two babies, along with his former patient as the other twin Ruby — though as of the current five volumes available in English, the two are seemingly not yet aware of this.
The pair are, however, not only aware that they have been reincarnated, but they have also maintained their memories and knowledge from their previous lives. This causes the pair of them a considerable amount of glee to now be “mothered” — literally — by their favourite idol.
This “reincarnation as a favourite idol’s child” premise is not as out of nowhere as it might appear — idol otaku expressing a wish to be reborn as a favourite idol’s child is a common joke when idols announce that they are getting married. This was the initial premise Akasaka came up with for the manga; subsequently, hearing complaints about the Japanese entertainment industry gave him a good idea to build upon the premise into something more significant.
For starters, it provides a good opportunity to critique fans’ attitudes towards idols: to more obsessive idol fans, idols “must” remain pure and innocent at all times, and the idea of them being involved in a relationship — let alone having kids, which implies them having a sexual encounter — is utterly taboo. Combine this with the fact that Ai Hoshino is sixteen years old when she gives birth to Aquamarine and Ruby and you can hopefully already see there’s some ready-made drama here.
Indeed, the first volume concludes with Ai herself being murdered by a stalker — likely the same one who murdered Aquamarine’s previous incarnation — having learned the truth of her having children, despite it being a closely guarded secret by almost everyone.
What then follows is a large timeskip in which both Aquamarine (who prefers to go by simply Aqua, for reasons that are probably obvious) and Ruby become teenagers, and both get involved in the entertainment industry for different reasons. Despite their origins, their true parentage is implied to have remained a secret, allowing them to work their way up on their own merits rather than simply using their mother’s name as a stepping stone to success.
Ruby and Aqua both have very different philosophies. Aqua is obsessed with tracking down his true father — who he believes informed the stalker-murderer of Ai’s situation — and taking revenge on him. Ruby, meanwhile, simply wishes to become an idol in her own right, since her previous incarnation was so physically weak she couldn’t even sing and dance along with the idol performances she loved so much.
Interestingly, what gradually transpires is that Aqua is something of a natural at working in entertainment — particularly acting — while Ruby is someone who has to work for success. Ruby is happy to work hard for her dreams, but Aqua has mixed feelings; he would much rather work “behind the scenes” on production — as he had done as a child, following an early encounter with a director in his younger years — but his pretty-boy appearance and natural acting talent sees him ending up in front of the camera more times than he would probably prefer. Still, he sees each opportunity he gets as a necessary evil on his quest for the truth.
Each volume of Oshi no Ko focuses specifically on a particular area of the entertainment industry. The first volume, as you might expect, ponders how idols are forced to live a lie in order to keep their fans happy — and how this, in turn, prevent them from having a normal, happy private life of their own. It also sets up some later narrative elements about actors who were highly sought-after and in demand as children, but who for one reason or another fell out of favour as they grew into teens and adults.
The second volume takes a look at live-action adaptations of popular manga, and how such works are often used more as a means of promoting particular stars — stars who often have no particular acting skills — than the original source material. This volume was clearly of particular personal interest to Akasaka, who had overseen a live-action adaptation of Kaguya-sama: Love is War.
The third explores “reality” TV and how so much of it is anything but “real”. It also takes in the concept of cyberbullying, and how the tide of public opinion turning against someone online can lead to severe consequences, up to and including suicide.
The fourth takes a look at how a new idol group might establish itself in this highly competitive space — and how individual members might not necessarily have all the right talents, but are able to work together to cover one another. It also brings back Kana Arima, one of the “child stars” first seen in the first volume, and explores the way in which she feels great uneasiness at being the new idol group’s “center” — almost like she doesn’t deserve to be there, despite clearly being the most experienced and talented of the bunch.
The fifth, meanwhile, looks at stage play adaptations of popular manga and anime, and focuses on the conflicts that can arise between different creative specialists when adapting a story between two very different forms of media.
The great thing about each and every volume of Oshi no Ko is that it feels focused, well-researched and informed, and that it has something meaningful to say. Each volume is very much a self-contained arc in itself, but each builds on what has come before, particularly in terms of relationships between characters.
Some of the most interesting relationships in the story surround the rather troubled Aqua. As part of his reality TV show appearance, for example, he ended up kissing Akane, one of his co-stars — the one who nearly committed suicide after a cyberbullying incident — and getting together with her as a “work girlfriend”. There’s clearly no real romance there, as the pair often don’t see each other for weeks at a time and only get together for occasional social media shots to keep the audience invested in their relationship.
Except there’s a complication thrown in the mix: one of the reasons Aqua even took an interest in her in the first place is because she’s an experienced actor who researches all her roles thoroughly. And, as part of her research on how to have better presence on screen following her controversy, she ended up taking some ideas from Ai Hoshino. Upon seeing his “mother’s” face before him, Aqua naturally found himself drawn to Akane, though she quite rightly pegs him as being only interested in the part she’s playing rather than the real person beneath.
To further complicate matters, former child star Kana Arima has clearly been carrying a rather large torch for Aqua ever since the pair first worked together as toddlers, and she is not at all a fan of how Aqua is stringing along both Akane (who, it gradually becomes apparent, hopes that their “love” will become real one day) and the audience. Aqua, being an incredibly sharp, intelligent individual, successfully manages to get Kana to open up via rather underhanded means, but their relationship takes on a new feeling of “honesty” from thereon.
What works so well about Oshi no Ko as a complete work is that it successfully manages to acknowledge both the glitzy bright side and the dark underbelly of the entertainment industry. This is probably best exemplified by the contrast between Ruby and Aqua; Ruby is honestly, earnestly simply hoping to enjoy herself and bring joy to others by being an entertainer, while Aqua has been cynical and practical about everything pretty much ever since he first “woke up” in his new incarnation.
Aqua, in particular, is almost obsessed with the idea of how entertainment is a series of lies designed to bring comfort and joy to the audience. This isn’t always a bad thing — suspension of disbelief is a thing, after all — but when it crosses a terrifying line into people’s real lives being affected or even cut short by fans who don’t know how to maintain appropriate boundaries, that’s when you have to take a bit more of a long, hard look at things.
The underlying premise of Oshi no Ko may be crazy on paper, then, but it’s approaching the subject matter from an interesting angle. The characters are compelling, the tales they have to tell are fascinating and enjoyable, and the critique of the entertainment industry is very much on-the-nose.
I’m really looking forward to reading more of this series when it becomes available — and I’ll be fascinated to see where it goes in the long term. In the meantime, I can highly recommend the volumes that are currently available — and though I haven’t seen the anime, I hear it’s pretty good also — and will doubtless have more to say when we get a bit more of the series in English.
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