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[Oshi No Ko]
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Nov 13, 8:05 AM
#1
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Jul 2021
144
I was surprised to see how many people hated this ending. I noticed some complaints about rushing the ending and tying things up too quickly, or that Kamiki was underwhelming; I think those are fair complaints.

But Aqua dying seems like the most logical conclusion to the story that we started with. From the beginning, this story focused on commentary about show business and the idol industry. It focused on the obsession fans get for those they idolize and other stars (from Ai being killed to Akane being harassed online).

Amamiya Goro and Aqua Hoshino were no exception to the list of obsessive fans we’ve met. The story introduced Goro as a grown man with a creepish obsession over a 16 year old idol (hence the jabs from his nurse calling him a creep about wanting to date Ai if he could). In his reincarnated life, Aqua’s obsession only got worse over the trauma of Ai’s death. The trauma he developed from the incident is understandable, but he had an unhealthy desire to get revenge for his mother. Akane tried to help because she saw his obsession. Ruby and their adoptive mom also felt he was becoming distant.

Him dying to get his revenge makes the most sense for me. I think it epitomizes the toxic parts of the idol industry and what it drives fans to do. It’s supposed to be uncomfortable and upsetting. The crow girl showed him an alternate timeline that he could have had if this wasn’t the path he took. The unresolved shipping wars and other melodrama help emphasize the tragedy of this story.

I really like this ending and wanted to get my thoughts out on it. I’m open to hear why others disagree with my interpretation.
Nov 13, 8:19 AM
#2

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Jan 2014
1327
I think people don't like the ending cause of how rushed it felt, and when you really think and look into it, it does feel rushed. While I do think there is a hint of a overreaction from some, mainly because I bet some wanted a happier ending in regards to everyone living, ships being worked out etc. Or if they were gonna go down this route, that they could've either better led to this moment, or expanded on the afters afterward. Cause it could've gone on for so many more chapters really, if both those happened. But the end, even if I think gets overhated, just feels like 'Oh, Ruby got over it' then bing, bang, she's fast tracked to filling Ai's dream, everyone seems to have moved on like that. While it shows them being together and such, rising above the tragedy. But it more or less feels like it came, and went like that. It reminds me of the second forbidden season of Promise Neverland. How that ending was a slide fucking show.

Even if context can make sense in regards to all this. It still feels very rushed, and could've gone better.
Nov 13, 8:21 AM
#3

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Jul 2021
1093
The process how Aqua died just seems silly imo. Like he really did not have to die to stop his father, there were other options just seems forced. Double suicide was the best thing he could come up with?
The ending also being everyone moved on with their lives just seems rushed
Nov 13, 8:21 AM
#4
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Sep 2020
39
I just wanted the ending to not be as generic as it was
Nov 13, 8:28 AM
#5

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Jul 2023
2234
That's not smt I expected from oshi no ko as the ending of this series... so rushed, generic like 3 out of every 5 of the average manga or series ended their series like that... but that's not what I want from Oshi no Ko!!!


Nov 13, 8:29 AM
#6
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May 2023
11
the plotholes are insane why is it a problem for ruby to be the sister of a murder but not to be the daughter of murder which is revealed in the movie that aqua himself published
Nov 13, 8:49 AM
#7

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Jul 2021
1335
YOU👏SACRIFICE👏EVERYTHING👏FOR👏THE👏HAPPINES👏OF👏YOUR👏SISTER
that doesnt mean dying, that means killing Kamiki and marrying your little sister living happily ever after in a cottage somewhere away from civilization.
Shit ending.
Nov 13, 8:59 AM
#8
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Jul 2024
12
I agree that it was rushed, and i think its not clear of what we wanted to do the ending didnt fit the story
Nov 13, 9:00 AM
#9
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Mar 2018
8
Reminder that Kaguya ended early for this. Horrible ending. Aqua's sacrifice was pointless and stupid. Atleast, Akane survived all the death flags.
Nov 13, 9:03 AM
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Dec 2017
43
Exactly what I’ve been trying to tell everyone
Nov 13, 9:11 AM

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May 2016
1129
Aka is good at setting the hook, but doesn't know how to reel it in, lol! Like Love is War, he had no idea how to finish it when he got bored with it.
"Genki is Life, Genki is Love"
Nov 13, 9:29 AM
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Mar 2023
278
The biggest flaw with the series final arc is that it doesn’t flesh out conclusions for each of the characters it built up. It rushed to a conclusion that technically was a fitting end to the series but felt slapped on to the reader then suddenly ends with little explanation.

The series shows Aqua discouraging Akane from committing suicide then repeats that message when Kana discourages him from thinking about it himself. When it seems Aqua has moved on from the idea he suddenly just goes through with it with a simple explanation of “this was the only way” without actually being shown WHY that was the only way. Aqua is shown to be extremely intelligent but will rush to rash decisions due to his obsession. Even though we as readers understand that about his character it still left many feeling dissatisfied that we’re left with very little explanation to his sudden decision.

Kana was built up to confess her feelings to Aqua and await his response while discovering her place in the industry. Likewise Akane remains a supportive friend of both of them but clearly still harbors feelings for Aqua. When Aqua dies their storylines just abruptly end with him. Once again the reader is left with a simple explanation that boiled down too “they were deeply hurt but then they moved on”. Kana and Akane’s conclusion should’ve been fleshed out over one or two chapters show casing how they managed to either cope or overcome their grief and what they ultimately decided to do with their careers. Obviously neither of them will ever get closure with Aqua but readers don’t get the explanation how the two personally came to terms with that.

Finally Ruby, much like the other characters, gets a rushed sequence of her grief and continual lies to herself for the rest of her life. How did Sarina process these events vs Ruby? Does the Sarina half disappear now that the Doctor half of Aqua is officially dead? Does Ruby finally forget her previous life much like how Aqua moved on from his? From the ending that was given its clear Ruby simply becomes what Ai was at the very start essentially repeating the cycle of lies. No other story is given in terms of her relationship with those around her. Is she truly open about her feelings with her adoptive mom, Memcho, Kana, and Akane or does she now feel the need to put on a persona for them like Ai did with everyone. Are their relationships the same, stronger, or weaker? It’s just implied they’re still friends and thats it.

All this to say, once Aqua dies and his story ends so does everyone else’s with barely any closure for the readers. Aqua was the central relationship for all the characters but the characters still had relationships with each other that reader is given a rushed conclusion to. It’s just two chapters of panels showing their grief then some time jumps showing they moved on while still being scarred. The end. Barely any dialogue between the characters discussing the events or how they moved on from it. They just stuck together and that’s that.

Personally, I thought the ending was okay. I understand why it ended the way it did as well as the idea behind characters decisions they made but I think it wasn’t fleshed out enough. I also think readers should’ve been given better closure amongst the core characters that were built up in the story.
Nov 13, 10:02 AM
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Jul 2021
144
Reading everyone’s responses I admit I didn’t consider how Aka didn’t really build up to the finale arc at all. Things moved quickly in the ending and left things unresolved, I do agree with that.

Rushed endings feels like a symptom most manga suffer from. When a manga is ending, they seem to set a five chapter timeline to finishing and bring it to a wrap no matter what goes unresolved. I’ve felt the same way when MHA, JJK, and Naruto all ended tbh.
Nov 13, 10:28 AM
puer aeternus

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Sep 2021
1506
Of course a horrible ending would fit a horrible story.
Nov 13, 10:32 AM

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Aug 2009
20055
Aka could have killed Aqua but not like this. A)Kamiki does it, b) Aqua miscalculates(one of teh accomplices WE NEVER KNEW ABOUT) and his plan fails, killing him as well.

What was the point of showing him making an effort for stuff outside his revenge? The murder SUICIDE was dumb as fuck.

His death dragged for 3 chapters.

Two last chapters are 90% narration. Fuck me, the last chapter has so many ideas that would be great to see fleshed out,like Mem thinking of quitting and Kana stopping her and acting as a shield from cameras for them. Or the new member.

We literally have no idea what everyone not named Ruby,Kana and Akane think. They are sad obviously but give me a break.

Taiki is at his family's grave. Is he to grieve for his legal father?To judge his mother? Who knows? Maybe his car is buried next to them.

Ruby becomes Ai 2.0 in every bad aspect, and somehow this is a good thing????

Oh and the ultimate message of a series where the MC couldnt let go of his grief and feelings FOR TWO FUCKING LIVES, is that people can move on.


Yeah, totally an overreaction from some fans.

Only reason it doesnt get an 1/10 is because up to 157 it was still looking good. Actualy fuck that. 157 is the true end.
Nov 13, 11:09 AM

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Jan 2024
1009
The ending is fine as it is. The perfect ending of Aqua living happily with Aqua×Kana achieved was achievable. But this works too.

The problem is what happenes after Aqua dies... Akane's Narration that's it.

No closure of Akane, no respect to Kana.
This two specially Kana needed few chapters to get proper treatment just move on doens't work. Her life was hanging due to Aqua at this point. She was shunned so bad. I really feel bad for us Kana fans.
Even Akane, likes of Himekawa, Miyako, Saitou, Gotonda all needed more development post Aqua than few panels.

Ruby's final descisions, moving on and achieving dreams felt very cheap. I am happy she did it. But it felt satisfying for the pinnacle of this manga that it's supposed to be. Her becoming like Ai was good idea but again it CAN'T BE DONE IN ONE CHAPTER.

Honestly it needed 10 more chapters to close things out properly it was very rushed and that's why a decent ending is getting treated badly.
It just made impression on such a masterpiece of an work. Just sad..
Nov 13, 10:59 PM
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Dec 2021
208
Cestlavie_ said:
The process how Aqua died just seems silly imo. Like he really did not have to die to stop his father, there were other options just seems forced. Double suicide was the best thing he could come up with?
The ending also being everyone moved on with their lives just seems rushed

yeah I agree. It felt like Aka had an idea in mind of how we wanted the story to go but decided to just skip over some of the pages he wrote to just get to the result as fast as possible.
Nov 15, 8:03 AM
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Nov 2022
10
Isn’t a justification
Nov 15, 10:49 AM

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Apr 2012
21403
Oh, another attempt to justify the ending by saying that the manga is dark, so a dark ending suits it, completely ignoring its qualities, actual character development, or the direction in which the story was moving. This is not an interpretation, it is simply the most obedient and simple attempt to accept what Aka wrote. People should be able to study things and ask the author questions based on them, rather than trying to find a way to explain them and accept them when the author himself cannot do so.

@Nory993 Honestly, Akane dying trying to save Aqua from his obsessions or Ruby dying in Aqua's place to show the futility of his revenge made even more sense than the original ending and Aqua suddenly going into suicidal mode.
RobertBobertNov 15, 10:52 AM
Nov 15, 2:48 PM

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Jan 2022
953
I don't mind if this is the ending Aka intended. A small part of me thought my time is wasted with the way it's executed.
Nov 15, 4:36 PM
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Apr 2011
283
We are getting an extra chapter form the final volume and a kana and Akane novel
Nov 16, 2:35 AM
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Sep 2017
41
Execution is key, his death really lacked any emotional impact. If anything, it took away alot of the build up the series had.

Aka didn’t spend time making us ponder a “will he die or won’t he die” kind of plot. If anything it took away alot of the impact of building up his characters relationships with the other members of the cast.

I remember the Chekhov’s gun where build up should be used. The god of death added a mystical element to the series and gave it a sacrificial feel. Jesus was reborn but this loli god didn’t do jack shit.

What about his romantic relationships? What about memcho’s future, Kana’s shift to acting? (They were all one paged…)

Theres about 100 problems unresolved and man decided to end it all in one move. (To solve 100 problems in one move is a chinese metaphor for suicide)

The ending feels so weird because it feels like just that, suicide. Alot of emotional gaps and plot points that could be explored were left unfulfilled, it didn’t feel like sacrifice, it felt like suicide. The reason for it can’t even be more spectacular… “because it would jeopardise your sister’s career”. Like even after Aqua died, they pinned the blame as an act of self defence against Kamiki. The world already knows him as a murderer, I’m sure a deus ex aid from god would be even more sound of an ending that this…
StarboomNov 16, 2:49 AM
Nov 16, 2:52 AM

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Apr 2012
21403
Reply to Starboom
Execution is key, his death really lacked any emotional impact. If anything, it took away alot of the build up the series had.

Aka didn’t spend time making us ponder a “will he die or won’t he die” kind of plot. If anything it took away alot of the impact of building up his characters relationships with the other members of the cast.

I remember the Chekhov’s gun where build up should be used. The god of death added a mystical element to the series and gave it a sacrificial feel. Jesus was reborn but this loli god didn’t do jack shit.

What about his romantic relationships? What about memcho’s future, Kana’s shift to acting? (They were all one paged…)

Theres about 100 problems unresolved and man decided to end it all in one move. (To solve 100 problems in one move is a chinese metaphor for suicide)

The ending feels so weird because it feels like just that, suicide. Alot of emotional gaps and plot points that could be explored were left unfulfilled, it didn’t feel like sacrifice, it felt like suicide. The reason for it can’t even be more spectacular… “because it would jeopardise your sister’s career”. Like even after Aqua died, they pinned the blame as an act of self defence against Kamiki. The world already knows him as a murderer, I’m sure a deus ex aid from god would be even more sound of an ending that this…
@Starboom Not only did he not do it, we literally had a chapter where he denies Goro's identity and embraces life and his interests a couple chapters before he madly gives up his life for a half-baked plan. If Aka really intended this to be a "what a twist" then it was amazingly shitty writing. It looked like an edgy bait death of a minor character to shock readers, rather than a well-constructed death of the main character.
Nov 16, 2:54 AM
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Sep 2017
41
@RobertBobert exactly! Like where did that development go.

There is also one more thing that bugs me…

Its the movie, like as a big brain masterplan which spans the whole manga, I thought it’d have more of a payoff than just
1)Cancelling Kamiki (which by the way DIDNT happen)

2)Getting him to reflect on his ways (which also DIDNT happen)

Turns out he could have solved this since chapter 80 or something by just jumping off a cliff, “leak” his personal investigations online, and then have the police investigate Kamiki. Maybe write a “suicide” note about how he is terrified of Kamiki coming after him
StarboomNov 16, 3:02 AM
Nov 16, 3:06 AM

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Apr 2012
21403
Reply to Starboom
@RobertBobert exactly! Like where did that development go.

There is also one more thing that bugs me…

Its the movie, like as a big brain masterplan which spans the whole manga, I thought it’d have more of a payoff than just
1)Cancelling Kamiki (which by the way DIDNT happen)

2)Getting him to reflect on his ways (which also DIDNT happen)

Turns out he could have solved this since chapter 80 or something by just jumping off a cliff, “leak” his personal investigations online, and then have the police investigate Kamiki. Maybe write a “suicide” note about how he is terrified of Kamiki coming after him
@Starboom I think that people who complained about the ending of the penultimate arc being too banal and actively expected that the “happy ending” chapter would be just a flag of death before the real ending, now sincerely regret that the manga did not end then. Because even the anticlimactic chapter about how Kamiki turns out to be an overrated nonentity and commits suicide himself was much better than what ended up happening.
Nov 16, 4:56 AM
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Jan 2021
26
KSzet said:
the plotholes are insane why is it a problem for ruby to be the sister of a murder but not to be the daughter of murder which is revealed in the movie that aqua himself published

See, she was a literal toddler when her mother got murdered so no one can blame her, since she was a victim. However now that’s an adult. People may start rumours of her being in on it, it would taint her reputation of being an instigator rather than the victim. It doesn’t matter that she didn’t approve of what Aqua did, the whole story was about how the truth can be twisted.
Nov 16, 12:00 PM
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May 2023
31
i never really saw this story ending another way tbh. i can understand if people think it’s rushed, but the dude didn’t really take much of a break after Love is War right? he’s been drawing/writing for almost ten years straight now. i think Aka is entitled to hurry the ending along a little personally
Nov 17, 5:33 PM
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Mar 2022
247
I didn't like that Ai's greatest wish was never fulfilled

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