Aqua Hoshino

*"It's a secret~"*
This article contains **SPOILERS** to later chapters. Read this page at your own risk.

## Aqua Hoshino

* Anime
* Manga

## Biographical Information

### Nicknames

Aqua「アクア, *Akua*?」
Ah-kun「あーくん, *A-kun*?」 (By Kana Arima & Nobuyuki Kumano)
Aqu-tan「アクたん, *"Aku-tan"*?」 (By Mem-Cho)

### Age

0 (Chapter 2)
~1 (Chapter 5-6)
3 (Chapter 7)
14 (Chapter 11)
16 (Dating Reality Show - Mainstay arc)

17 (Scandal arc)
18 (Movie arc)

## Status

### Occupation

Medical Doctor (Previous life)
Actor
TV Personality
Model

### Relatives

Ayumi Hoshino (Grandmother)
Ai Hoshino (Mother)†
Hikaru Kamiki (Father)
Ichigo Saitou (Adoptive Father)
Miyako Saitou (Adoptive Mother)
Ruby Hoshino (Younger Twin Sister)
Taiki Himekawa (Older Half-Brother)
Gorou Amamiya (Previous life)

### Relationships

Akane Kurokawa (Former Girlfriend)
Kana Arima (Friend)
Taishi Gotanda (Mentor)
Mem-Cho (Friend)

## Portrayal

### English VA

Jack Stansbury
Chaney Moore (young)

**Aqua Hoshino**「星 (ほし) 野 (の)  アクア, *Hoshino Akua*?」, full name, **Aquamarine Hoshino**「星 (ほし) 野 (の)  愛 (あ) 久 (く) 愛 (あ) 海 (まりん) , *Hoshino Akuamarin*?」 or more commonly referred to as just **Aqua**「アクア, *Akua*?」, is the male protagonist and one of the titular characters of *Oshi no Ko.* In his previous life, he was known as **Gorou Amamiya**, a medical doctor who was murdered by a stalker of one of his patients, Ai Hoshino, and reincarnated as the latter's child.

An orphan and a fan of Ai in his previous life, he enjoyed being her child, entering the entertainment world from an early age. Unfortunately, this happy life ended when the same stalker who killed him in his previous life murdered his new mother as he watched. This event fundamentally changed him, prompting him to go down down the dark side of the entertainment industry to find the person who sold Ai out, his father.

**Spoilers Ahead!**

He momentarily gave up on his quest when his primary suspect turned out to be already deceased, allowing himself to live a normal life. However, his vengeance returned, stronger than ever, once he realized that he targetted the wrong person, and upon finding his real father, he hatched a plot to expose his crimes.

## Appearance

*Main article: Aqua Hoshino/Gallery*
Aqua is a relatively tall boy who is described as "handsome" (he was often called cute by those around him as a child) with blonde hair (much like his younger twin sister Ruby Hoshino) that has long bangs hanging on the left side of his face and aquamarine blue eyes (which his late mother Ai Hoshino named him after) that features a star in his right eye, symbolizing that he and his sister are halves of their mother.

He often changes his appearance due to his job as an actor.

Due to being Ai's son, many people were able to point out their similarities despite being unaware of his pedigree. Much to Aqua's dismay, as before Chapter 105, he wanted to keep the truth about his late mother from being known to the general public. He also bears a strong resemblance to his biological father Hikaru Kamiki.

## Personality

Before the tragedy that struck his family, Aqua was considered relatively normal other than his unparalleled prodigious talent in acting even as a child and his quick wit and intelligence like reading complex books. With him retaining his past experiences, he accomplished many things not expected for someone his age. Performing acting jobs was something he was open to and excelled at.

After the tragedy that killed his mother, Ai Hoshino, he changed and became cold, calculated, cunning, and discreet, willing to do whatever means necessary to see his goal of finding his father through. His psychological trauma from Ai's murder tends to resurface anytime he seems to forget his goals. This is the case when Kana Arima suggested that he'd look back at his happy memories in Chapter 50 to improve his acting on the spot. It is a case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and doubles as an active reminder to not stray from his original purpose of vengeance. He blames himself for being weak-willed during that moment, even though he was but a child. However, he used these negative emotions to exemplify his acting performance during his scenes in the Tokyo Blade Theatrical.

Aqua is described as someone with *emotional distance*; he is shocked when he hears from Kana that he is ''*gloomy''*, but despite this, he does genuinely care about the people close to him. Aqua is overly protective of Ruby, his younger twin sister. It is mainly described by Taishi Gotanda, his mentor, as someone with a *sister complex,* which is understandable since he was initially unwilling to let his sister become an idol and suffer the same fate as their mother. Thus, he surreptitiously destroyed almost every chance Ruby could get to be promoted due to this overprotective nature, despite knowing how she longed to follow in their mother's footsteps. Ultimately, he helped Ruby and the new B-Komachi group prepare for a gig so they could accomplish a task long thought impossible. He was also one of the main driving forces behind a project that served to save Akane Kurokawa's reputation.

**Spoilers Ahead!**

After being told that his father, the main reason for his quest for vengeance, was dead, he becomes warmer to those around him and begins smiling more. He ponders whether he could now be happy and live normally as he recalls his girlfriend's smiling face. Moreover, he becomes more supportive of Ruby's ambitions and encourages her to do her best. He was deeply ashamed of himself for continuously using Akane for his own selfish ambitions, but after she broke down, he wiped her tears and vowed to keep her safe as he gave her their second kiss that was removed from ulterior motives.

After learning he was mistaken in assuming his father was dead, he has a mental breakdown at the realization. As a result of this and discovering his father's true identity, he becomes even more cold and calculating than before. He even develops black stars in both of his eyes, similar to Ruby. He's even gone as far as believing that he won't survive once everything is over, saying his actions are necessary so Ruby can live once he's gone.

**Spoilers for Later Chapters!**

Throughout the series, Aqua shows signs of being a psychological manipulator. While he has shown to care for those around him, at the same time he also uses them to further his and Ruby's goals.

This manipulation is best seen in his relationship with Kana Arima, taking advantage of her low self-esteem and emotional dependence on several occasions. He employed various tactics, including but not limited to love bombing, superficial charm, and flattery, to get her to join his sister's idol group. He continued doing so afterward to keep her close. Even when she distanced herself after he began a relationship with Akane Kurokawa, he continued with his act, making her believe that they might have a future together. However, despite his manipulations, Aqua has genuinely respected Kana's acting ability.

Aqua also used Akane multiple times for his own gain, trapping her in a relationship by pretending to truly love her. While saving her from cyberbullying and attempted suicide during the filming of *LoveforReal*, his primary reason for starting a romance was due to her connections to the Lala Lai Theatrical Company. To this end, he showered her with gifts, attention, and affection while placing a listening device on her to ensure she would not leave him due to a possible fear of abandonment. Over time, however, his false feelings for her were slowly becoming real, subtly trying to get her to stay away out of concern, and he ultimately threatens her into staying out of his revenge plan, ending their relationship, ironically to protect her.

## Skills & Talents

Arguably, Aqua's greatest talent is his ability to mimic as demonstrated when he puts on a disguise and pretends to be Pieyon. His mimicry is so uncanny that he is able to fool his own sister.

In terms of acting, it is Aqua's nature to reenact samples that he saw somewhere, as noted by Kana. And after watching tapes of his performances when he was younger, Akane Kurokawa concludes that Aqua's acting was all planned ahead of time. Furthermore, Aqua has also demonstrated his ability to improvise on set. Taken together, it suggests Aqua follows the Meisner technique, an acting technique that emphasizes on emotional preparation, repetition exercises, and improvisation.

And due to working for Taishi Gotanda as an intern, Aqua has also become proficient at editing videos.

## Etymology

* The name **Aquamarine** means "love, affection" (愛) (**a**), "long time" (久) (**ku**), "love, affection" (愛) (**a**) and "sea, ocean" (海) (**marin**).
	+ His nickname **Aqua** means "water, sea-blue, one from water" in Latin.
		- The name is also associated with a blue-green color reflecting his eye color.
		- Just like Ruby, Aquamarine is a gemstone that is a blue-green color.
	+ The romaji pronunciation does not follow traditional methods because Aqua's name is a *kira-kira* name, with 海 pronounced as "Marin" instead of "Umi".
* Aquamarine's surname **Hoshino** means "star" (星) (**hoshi**) and "field, wilderness" (野) (**no**).

## Career

### Film

* That Was the Start
* 15 Year Lie

### Television

* I'll Go With Sweet Today
* We're About to Fall in Love for Real
* Dig Deep! One Chance
* Some unknown drama titles

### Theater

* Tokyo Blade
* Unknown stage play title

## Trivia

* Everyone calls him "Aqua" because "Aquamarine" is too long.
* Ai Hoshino had one star in each eye, whereas Aqua inherited a star in his right eye while his younger twin sister Ruby Hoshino inherited it in her left eye. After the revelation that his "father" was 'dead,' he lost the star, implying it is a feature dependent upon their emotional state.
* Possibly due to memories from his past life, Aqua reveals that he can't really use technology as the youngsters do nor does he understand the reason behind their popularity.
* Aqua is constantly called and labeled a sis-con (**a person with an extreme attachment to their sister**).
* Aqua starts high school at 16, a little after the first episode of *We're About to Fall in Love for Real*.
* Aqua once admitted to Kana that he prefers women who are older rather than younger.
* Aqua dislikes bell peppers.
* Aqua is in class 1-D during his first year at Youtou High School.
* Aqua spent over five million yen when trying to find out who his biological father is.
* Aqua is shocked by Kana's comment that he looks *gloomy*; this wasn't something noticeable to him himself, although it is a common perception of him.
* Aqua is the only one of the four main cast members to be male, with all of the others (Ruby, Kana and Akane) being female.
* Young Aqua is voiced by Yumi Uchiyama, who also voiced Rudeus Greyrat from Mushoku Tensei, a character who also died and was reincarnated in a young body.
* Aqua manages to do a perfect vocal impression of Pieyon without Kana noticing the switch.

## Notes

1. ↑ The twins' age during the filming of *That Was the Start* was never outright stated, but it can be inferred that they are at least one year old from available information.

## References

1. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 6 (p. 1).
2. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 23 (p. 5).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 24 (p. 6).
4. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Official Anime Website: TALENT -アニメ『【推しの子】』公式サイト- (in Japanese).
5. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 2 (p. 4).
6. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 5 (p. 2).
7. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 7 (p. 2).
8. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 11 (p. 2), Aqua and Ruby are twins and the same age.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 23 (p. 10).
10. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 84 (p. 8).
11. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 100 (p. 6), Kana is 18 before going off to meet the director and Aqua is 1 year younger than her.
12. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 117 (p. 7), it has been 2 years since Aqua asked Kana to become an idol.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 81 (p. 10), Mem-cho mention Aqua acts in several dramas as supporting characters & he's also a model in fashion magazines.
14. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 95.
15. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 106.
16. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 36.
17. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 50 (p. 8).
18. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 52 (p. 7).
19. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 62.
20. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 83 (p. 5), Aqua said he have been casted for Lala Lai's next stageplay.
21. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 13 (p. 15).
22. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 11 (p. 18).
23. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 14 (p. 1).
24. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 94 (p. 16).
25. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 30 (p. 8).
26. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 35 (p. 16), Aqua as Pieyon reveals that he hates bell pepper.
27. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 41 (p. 4), Conversation taking place in class 1-D.
28. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 72 (p. 9).
29. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 107 (p. 12), Aqua is shocked when he hears from Kama that he looks *gloomy?*.