Oshi no Ko

Oshi no Ko
is a Japanese manga series written by Aka Akasaka and illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari. It has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump since April 2020, with its chapters collected in twelve tankōbon volumes as of July 2023. It has been licensed for release in North America by Yen Press and is simultaneously published by Shueisha on their Manga Plus platform. It follows a doctor and his recently deceased patient who were reborn as twins to a famous Japanese pop idol and navigate the highs and lows of the country's entertainment industry as they grow up together through their lives.
An anime television series adaptation, produced by Doga Kobo, aired its first 11-episode season from April to June 2023. A second season has been announced. In North America, Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series with an English dub, which premiered on Hidive in May 2023.
By October 2023, the manga had over 14 million copies in circulation.
Plot
Obstetrician-gynecologist Gorou Amamiya is tasked with helping deliver the children of Ai Hoshino, a famous pop idol whom he admires, without the knowledge of the general public. However, the night of Ai's delivery, Gorou is murdered by an obsessive fan of Ai's, and is reincarnated as Aquamarine "Aqua" Hoshino, Ai's son, retaining his memories of his previous life. Unbeknownst to him, Aqua's fraternal twin, Ruby Hoshino, is the reincarnation of Sarina Tendōji, one of Gorou's patients who was a fan of Ai's. Four years later, Ai is murdered by the same fan that had killed Gorou. The fan later commits suicide, but Aqua deduces that the murderer may have had his and Ruby's father as an accomplice and resolves to infiltrate the entertainment industry to find and kill him.
Twelve years later, Aqua and Ruby have become high school students and have been adopted by Ichigo and Miyako Saito, the owners of Ai's talent agency, Strawberry Productions. Ruby dreams of becoming an idol singer herself and becomes employed by their family's agency. She forms an idol group with actress Kana Arima and YouTuber Mem-cho named "B-Komachi" after Ai's former group, while Aqua returns to acting. Both Aqua and Ruby begin building their careers in entertainment, with Aqua using his newfound friendship with actress Akane Kurokawa as a means to locate his father.
During a stage production, Aqua discovers that he shares the same father with his co-star, Taiki Himekawa, and that he had died by suicide before Ai's murder. However, Aqua learns through Akane that their father may be actor Hikaru Kamiki, who is still alive. At the same time, during a shooting for B-Komachi's music video, Ruby finds Gorou's corpse and learns about the culprit behind his and Ai's murders. Both incidents fuel Aqua and Ruby's grudges respectively and motivate them to find their father. However, as they both become increasingly manipulative, Aqua and Ruby find each other at odds throughout their attempts to reach their father, eventually losing trust in each other after Aqua leaks their connection to Ai to the media.
With the help of Gotanda, Aqua creates a screenplay for an autobiographical film based on Ai, titled 15 Years of Lies, in hopes of drawing Hikaru's attention. Ruby aggressively and successfully lands the starring role. She is also forced to confront her past when her mother from her previous life ends up being one of the film's sponsors, but this causes her and Aqua to realize each other's true incarnation.
Characters
Main characters
A popular and charismatic pop idol. Ai lived in the countryside without her father, missing from birth, and her mother, who was arrested. She grew up in an orphanage and at age 12, she was scouted by the president of Strawberry Productions, Ichigo Saitou, to become an idol. Ai did not believe she could become an idol due to not knowing love. Ichigo explains that she can lie and pretend to show love to her fans. She eventually becomes the face of the idol group, B-Komachi. At age 16, Ai was pregnant with twins. She decided to keep them and hid the fact from the world to experience a family and puts her idol activities on hiatus. After the birth of twins, Aquamarine and Ruby, she returned to her idol activities. At age 20, she was murdered by an obsessive fan after tracking her down in a new apartment. In the last moments of her life, she realizes that she really loved her children, and wished to be a bigger part of Aqua's and Ruby's life, finally being able to feel what it was like to truly love. Her death had become a pivotal moment that led her son, Aqua, to pursue his acting career with the intention to seek revenge. Her name in Japanese order can translate to "starry eye", in reference to the six-pronged stars in her and her children's eyes.
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Originally an obstetrician-gynecologist in his mid-thirties named , he was a big fan of Ai Hoshino and also responsible for delivering Ai's babies. He met his demise after Ai's stalker killed him, causing him to be reincarnated as the son of Ai himself. When his mother was murdered, he swears to discover the truth behind the murder. He theorizes that his father is in the entertainment industry and suspects he may be responsible for giving information about Hoshino's whereabouts, which leads him into pursuing a career in acting to find him and avenge his mother and murder his father.
Originally a terminally ill patient named under the care of Gorou, she finds herself reincarnated along with her twin-brother, Aquamarine, as the daughter of Ai Hoshino. Before her reincarnation, Sarina obsessed over idols and dreamed to become one. A few years after being reincarnated, Ai is murdered. After Ai's death, Ruby trains to be an idol like her mother was. However, she is still not very good at singing. At the age of 14, Ruby auditioned to become an idol but was rejected through a fake phone call made by Aqua, who did not want her to follow in Ai's footsteps. Instead, Miyako offers Ruby the opportunity to form her own idol group under Strawberry Productions. The idol group, named B-Komachi in honor of Ai's old group, consists of her, Kana Arima and Mem-cho.
Kana was considered an acting prodigy as a child and known as "a genius child actor who can cry in ten seconds". Kana first met Aqua when a movie she was featured in needed an extra and Aqua stepped in at the request of Director Gotanda after accompanying Ai to the shoot. As a teenager, her number of acting roles decreased because she would always steal the spotlight from her peers. To survive in the acting industry, Kana decided to hold back her acting talent. Kana reunited with Aqua and Ruby in high school and started developing feelings for Aqua. Still struggling to make it big in the acting industry, Aqua and Ruby persuade Kana to join Ruby's idol group, B-Komachi. Kana joins and becomes the center of the group. After 2 years as a member of B-Komachi, Kana leaves the group to focus on her revived acting career.
Akane is a stage actress who signs up for a teenage reality dating show, My Love with a Star Begins Now (LoveNow), where she meets Aqua. During the show, Akane was an overlooked character who wanted to make her presence known to promote the Lalalie Theatrical Company that she is affiliated with. On an episode of LoveNow, she accidentally scratches fellow cast member Yuki Sumi in the face. The viewers of the show lashed out and began insulting her on social media with death threats. After reading the death threats, she was going to commit suicide. Aqua stops her after getting her to calm down. Near the end of the show, her image improves due to the efforts of the rest of the cast and Aqua kisses her during the last episode. The couple decides to stay together after the show to maintain appearances, and Akane later genuinely falls in love with Aqua. Her approach to stage acting has her research the characters she is playing and infer much about their motivations and characteristics, much like method acting. Several months into their relationship, she figures out Aqua's plans to avenge his mother and vows to support him any way she can. However, Aqua breaks up with her soon after for her own safety. When Aqua enters the final phase of his plan for revenge against his father through Ai's biographical film, she vows to stop him from stumbling into the darkness of his personality permanently.
Strawberry Productions
Ichigo is the president of Strawberry Productions. He is the husband of Miyako Saitou. Ichigo was responsible for the recruitment of Ai Hoshino to B-Komachi. He acts as the caretaker for Aqua and Ruby after Ai's death. Soon after Ai's death, he disappeared for a decade until Ruby tracked him down in order to get advice on her own plans for revenge on her mother's killer. Soon after, he was tracked down by Aqua as well, and expressing a fellow desire for revenge on the killer, assists Aqua with his plans.
Miyako is the wife of Ichigo Saitou and acts as the primary caretaker for Aqua and Ruby after Ai's death. She manages Strawberry Productions and keeps the business afloat after the disbandment of the original B-Komachi and the disappearance of Ichigo.
Mem-cho is a YouTuber and TikTok influencer that signs up for LoveNow. She pursued a dream to become an idol but could not due to her family situation. She decided to become a livestreamer and lied about her age to gain many followers. After LoveNow, Aqua recruits her to B-Komachi. She was reluctant due to her age, but ultimately decides to join.
Pieyon is a anonymous famous physical training Youtuber affiliated with Strawberry Productions, who coaches choreography for B-Komachi members. He makes over 100 million yen a year.
Entertainment industry
Stars/performers
Frill is a student of Youtou High School's Performing Arts Program and one of Ruby's classmates. She is a multi-talented performer who can sing, dance, and act. She later is expected to play Ai's Manager in Director Gotanda's and Aqua's planned Ai biographical movie after originally being chosen for the role of Ai before allowing Ruby to play the role following a self audition where she was impressed by Ruby's acting skill and conviction.
Melt is a model and actor affiliated with Sonic Stage Productions. He was an arrogant and untrained actor when playing the male lead in the Sweet Today live-action adaptation, but still managed to deliver a solid performance for the final scene after being provoked by Aquamarine Hoshino. The experience humbled him and he has worked on improving his acting skills by the time he joined the stage production of Tokyo Blade. He later is expected to play the president of Strawberry Productions on Director Gotanda's and Aqua's planned Ai biographical movie.
Minami is a student in the Performing Arts Program of Youtou High School and a classmate of Ruby and Frill. In the show business industry, she works as a gravure model.
Yuki is a fashion model and a participant in the reality dating show The Beginning of My Love With An Idol or LoveNow. Initially imagining she would fade into the background, she used her character to create drama and interest.
Taiki is an award-winning stage actor affiliated with the Lalalie Theatrical Company, first seen as the main star of the Tokyo Blade stage production. It is later revealed that he is also Aqua and Ruby's older half-brother, conceived when his mother cheated on his legal father with their father. However, he himself remains unaware that he is the product of an affair.
Production
Taishi Gotanda is the film director who scouted Aqua and convinced him to become an actor when he saw his potential. After Ai's death, he recruited Aqua as his student at Aqua's request. He is one of the few people who knows the real identity of Aqua. He was once recruited by Ai to make a documentary film of her prior to her death. The creation of this biographical film of Ai's life is part of Aqua's plan of revenge against his father and Ai's killer.
Kaburagi is a producer affiliated with an internet TV Station Dot TV!, and producer of the Sweet Today live-action adaptation and the webshow Dig Deep! One Chance. He seems to have deep ties with Ai at the past.
The mangaka behind the popular manga series I'll Go With Sweet Today and Abiko's mentor. She also serves as producer for its live action drama where Kana is starring.
Abiko is the mangaka behind the popular manga series Tokyo Blade, and became a producer for its stage play after expressing displeasure with how its adaptation and script was progressing. She used to be Yoriko's assistant and student.
Hikaru is the mastermind of Ai's and Goro's murder, and also biological father of Aqua and Ruby. He was molested by a married adult actress who gave birth to his first child, Taiki, when he was just 11-years-old. At age 15, he meets Ai at the Lalalie Theatrical Company where he was teaching as an alumni, and the two began a brief relationship resulting in her pregnancy with the twins. He is suspected by Aqua to have recruited an obsessive fan of Ai to commit her murder, and has been involved in numerous orchestrated murders of other actresses. He is identified by Akane through clues gleaned from Aqua and her own research into Ai and after she comes across him at a film award ceremony, which leads Aqua to move forward with exacting his plan of revenge.
Others
Crow Girl
A mysterious unnamed girl in the woods who is a seemingly supernatural being who is aware of everything that transpires within the story, including Aqua and Ruby's reincarnation.
Development
Writing
Aka Akasaka considered writing a story about being reincarnated as an idol's child, a well-known joke in Japan often used after news of an idol's marriage is revealed. He later began hearing complaints about the entertainment industry through streamers and working on the live-action film adaptation of his previous manga Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. He decided that it was the right time to create a story about the entertainment industry and used his previous idea. When he started writing, Akasaka had already decided on the plots of the first and final acts. Manga about the entertainment industry typically focused on traditional forms of entertainment, such as films, dramas, and plays. However, the industry saw significant change with the rise of the internet. Akasaka therefore decided to include more contemporary themes in the manga.
Akasaka did extensive research into the Japanese entertainment industry while writing Oshi no Ko. He talked to many different types of entertainers, from idols to managers to YouTubers. In an interview with Anime News Network, he highlighted the many differences between the industry in Japan and the United States, such as the lack of unions. He was inspired to portray the idol world in a dark light after becoming friends with an entertainer who was attacked by a fan. While the entertainer came across "tough", they confessed to him that they were badly hurt emotionally from this encounter, leading Akasaka to realize that entertainers hid their true feelings for the sake of their career and fans. Akasaka said: "I want people to know how young talents are being hurt, exploited, and suffering. I think that this work also asks the question of how people should deal with and treat those talents."
Many of the stories in Oshi no Ko are based on pieces of real-life events. Akasaka stated that he considered his fundamental writing style to be that of Oshi no Ko and that the comedy in Kaguya-sama originated as a request from the editorial department. However, he included similar humor in Oshi no Ko to make it easier to read. When writing, Akasaka sometimes became fond of certain characters and gave them larger roles in the plot, like in Mem-cho's case.
Art
When Akasaka came up with the concept for Oshi no Ko, he immediately contacted artist Mengo Yokoyari as Yokoyari had dealt with the entertainment industry in her one-shot Kawaii before. The two had long been acquaintanced but had never worked together. When designing characters, Akasaka usually sends a rough sketch to the person in charge of the storyboards. He sometimes allowed Yokoyari to draw the designs as she pleased. The only time they changed a character design was when one of the characters looked too much like the real-life person they were modeled after.
Media
Manga
Oshi no Ko, written by Aka Akasaka and illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari, has been serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump since April 23, 2020. Shueisha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on July 17, 2020. As of July 19, 2023, twelve volumes have been released.
In April 2022, Shueisha began publishing the series in English on the Manga Plus website and mobile app. In July 2022, at Anime Expo, Yen Press announced that they licensed the series for an English release.
The series has been licensed in Taiwan by Chingwin Publishing Group, in South Korea by Daewon C.I.; in Indonesia by M&C!; in Thailand by Luckpim, in France by ; in Germany by Altraverse; in Italy by ; in Argentina and Spain by Editorial Ivrea; and in Poland by Studio JG.
Volumes
Chapters not yet in tankōbon format
These chapters have yet to be published in a tankōbon volume.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
Oshi no Ko -interludes-
Interlude Chapter 1
Interlude Chapter 2
Interlude Chapter 3
Interlude Chapter 4
Anime
An anime adaptation was announced in June 2022. The anime, later revealed to be a television series, was produced by Doga Kobo and directed by Daisuke Hiramaki, with Chao Nekotomi serving as assistant director, Jin Tanaka writing the scripts, Kanna Hirayama handling the character designs, and Takurō Iga composing the music. It aired from April 12 to June 28, 2023, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The 90-minute first episode also premiered at selected theaters in Japan on March 17 of the same year. The opening theme song is performed by Yoasobi, while the ending theme song is performed by Queen Bee.
After the airing of the eleventh episode, it was announced that a second season was greenlit.
At Anime NYC 2022, Sentai Filmworks announced that they had licensed the series, and would be streaming it on Hidive. An English dub premiered on May 24, 2023. Medialink licensed the series in Asia-Pacific and they streamed it on the Ani-One Asia YouTube channel, Netflix, Bilibili, and iQIYI.
Novel
A spin-off novel written by Hajime Tanaka, titled Oshi no Ko: Ichibanoshi no Spica, is set to be released on November 17, 2023.
Reception
Manga
By April 2021, Oshi no Ko had over 1 million copies in circulation; it had over 3 million copies in circulation by October 2022; over 5 million copies in circulation by March 2023; over 8 million copies in circulation by May 2023; over 12 million copies in circulation by July 2023; and over 14 million copies in circulation by October 2023.
Oshi no Ko ranked eleventh on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2021 for male readers; it ranked seventh on the 2022 list. The series ranked fourth on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2021" by the Honya Club website. The series ranked thirteenth on the 2021 "Book of the Year" list by Da Vinci magazine; it ranked 25th on the 2022 list. Oshi no Ko was nominated for the 14th Manga Taishō in 2021 and placed fifth with 59 points; it was nominated for the 15th edition in 2022 and placed eighth with 49 points. In August 2021, Oshi no Ko won the Next Manga Award in the print category. The manga was nominated for the 67th Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category in 2021; and for the 26th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2022. It was also nominated for the 46th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 2022. The series ranked fifth on AnimeJapan's fifth "Most Wanted Anime Adaptation" poll in 2022.
Anime
The premiere episode was reported by Hidive as the most successful premiere in the streaming service's history in terms of total viewers, new subscribers, and free trial signups. Yoasobis opening theme song "Idol" reached a total of 100 million worldwide stream and video views on Spotify and YouTube within two weeks after the anime's release. The opening theme also topped the Billboard Global 200 Excl. U.S. charts with 45.7 million streams and 24,000 copies sold outside the U.S. "Idol" has become the first Japanese song and anime song to top the Billboard Global chart as well as taking the first spot on the Apple Music's Top 100: Global chart.
The anime adaptation received positive reviews. Lauren Orsini of Anime News Network wrote in her review of the premiere that Oshi no Ko "offers a potent combination: the glitz of the industry and the gritty darkness just underneath—and I'm certain we haven't even scratched the surface." Ali Griffiths of Digital Spy praised the series' depiction of the production of dating shows and Akane's cyberbullying, describing Oshi no Ko as a "compelling watch". In contrast, David Opie of Radio Times felt that the anime had changed its content and impact compared to its premiere episode, writing: "the show no longer stands out as unique in the same way that the first episode did."
Controversy
The sixth episode of the anime, which depicts character Akane Kurokawa becoming a target of cyberbullying and subsequently attempting suicide after starring in a controversial episode of a reality television program, was noted by critics for its parallels to the similar real-life case of the suicide of Hana Kimura, a Japanese professional wrestler. Neither Akasaka nor the anime's production team commented on the similarity, and some viewers commented that the manga chapters on which the episode was based were planned prior to Kimura's passing. Kimura's mother, professional wrestler Kyoko Kimura, criticized the episode for the similarity, saying that she did not approve of the case "being used like free source material" by the anime writers. Kimura further stated that she felt the topic was portrayed with no consideration for real-life cyberbullying victims. The series' English licensor, Sentai Filmworks, added an advisory message to the end of the episode providing the phone number to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline on its streaming service, Hidive.
Footnotes
References
Further reading
External links
2023 anime television series debuts
2023 controversies
Animation controversies in television
Anime and manga controversies
Anime series based on manga
Doga Kobo
Drama anime and manga
Fiction about murder
Fiction about reincarnation
Fiction about social media
Japanese idols in anime and manga
Mystery anime and manga
Murder–suicide in fiction
School life in anime and manga
Seinen manga
Sentai Filmworks
Shueisha manga
Supernatural anime and manga
Teenage pregnancy in anime and manga
Teenage pregnancy in television
Television series about show business
Television series about social media
Tokyo MX original programming
Upcoming anime television series
Works about the music industry
Yen Press titles