"Oshi no Ko" 2nd Season Episode 13 Discussion

_MushiRock11_ said:
Great conclusion, and what a set up for whatever's to come next! I knew things'd take an interesting turn when the Miyazaki plan started taking off.

Surprised that Aqua was using Akane-san to find his past self's corpse too, I thought he lost a little bit of control over himself but I guess not. Looks like Aqua is hesitant to call it off yet but I wonder how it'll change once he finds himself back in the revenge plot.

Crow girl makes her first appearance too! Two people lurking in the hospital, I'm guessing the other person must've been the real dad. Very short and just a kid, though. Considering Ai-san was about 17-18 then, so maybe not? And damn, that shot of Ruby in the river with those revenge-activated bloodshot eyes. She's been focused on just finding the doctor so time to switch gears, finally. It'll be interesting to see when the two find out about each other's plot and work together to solve the mystery. Even during the nighttime conversation with Akane-san, there was an eerie vibe from her deadpan stare.

A shrine visit to end off the trip. Given the buildup, I was totally prepared for some kind of showdown, lol. Crow girl was around so I suppose it wasn't for naught. For it to come after the credits, though - Not bad. Who the heck was that taken out though?

Pretty dope MV they came up with! Ruby used that anger to good effect, just like Aqua. Responsibility seems to have switched for the time being and I can't wait to get started on the Ruby revenge plot to air next.

While the animation was going absolutely bonkers, I still felt it was a little lacking with the progression. Hope it'll come back to that and put it centerstage. Still, strong 8/10 from here.

Season 3 announced, let's go!

aReviewer said:
@MyllerPhiem
She is an actress by the name of "片寄ゆら Katayori Yura." She is yet another victim of the series of murders, and this is practically the only scene in which she appears.

So this is not a spoiler.
I write this so as not to read too much into the story unnecessarily or to go into false deductions.

sharydow said:
At the very least you could appreciate some aspect of it.... But actually yes. Yes it HAD to be this long. It was made longer by anime-only scenes, but the anime only scenes are literally the play itself aka the stuff nobody would want to be taken out of the show. Everything else as a purpose for entertainment showcase, character growth, setup/payoff, character psychology, etc.

Some people call it filler, but it’s really not. Everything is a cascade of effects to get where we thanks to some butterfly effect. Problem on the script -> Aqua intervene -> save the show -> needs to emotional act -> reveals stuff to Akane, etc. Everything is a logical consequences from that little scriptwriting issue. It’s brought up beautifully too, Akasaka is a great writer. AND the situation is different after the arc than before, that’s the exact opposite of a filler arc. Filler means the plot didn’t advance, the character didn’t change and didn’t grow. The Tokyo Blade arc is the exact opposite, the characters changed more than in any other arc before in season 1 (beside the prologue arc with Ai’s death etc.).

The prologue is a major arc of course, but Sweet today arc, just introduced Kana, but no character growth, the reality show arc introduced Akane a little bit of Aqua growth but really not so much, the B-Komachi concert arc might actually be a filler arc the characters didn’t grow or leaned shit, but you know it’s necessary. At some point idols need to be idols... The Tokyo Blade arc is actually the first arc where the characters changed so much. We introduced everyone in the main cast, now our character needs to live through some shit and grow. Major change for Akane, major change for Aqua and character growth for Kana too. Both Tokyo Blade and Private are pivotal arc, the show is completely different at the end of season 2 compared to the start.

LotteGiants said:

There will probably be some callbacks in future arc where some of those actors help out or something (like with the show from the first season) but as it stands most of those characters were relatively flat nobodies with stories that didn't really go anywhere.


You don’t need a callback, not everything is a layering stuff for future callbacks. The arc already has a purpose. It changed our characters profoundly and it delivered info about our characters. We didn’t actually knew a lot about Akane or Aqua before this arc. After this arc, we know a lot more about Aqua’s trauma and inner demons, we know about Akane’s past and her relationship to Kana, we know more about Kana’s family too. Akane learned a lot of stuff and joined the revenge plot (you think the revenge is so so important, but you’re overlooking the fact that Akane joining on that is a HUGE FREAKING DEAL and she joined because Aqua infodumped her and he did because he had a panic attack in front of her and he had an attack because of the Tokyo Blade script writing plot!). Aqua literally learned about his "father"’s death and give-up on the revenge, which is also a huge deal. The Tokyo Blade arc has a LOT more depth than just the play and the script writing stuff. More subtle, but this is Ruby’s introduction to the acting world too (reason why they showed Ruby’s reaction to the play multiple times) and as she said to Akane in the Private arc she is now a little bit interested in acting. The arc did fulfil it’s purpose, there is no need for callbacks.

I do understand that by episode 3, you are wondering where all of this is this going, what does this leads to because it’s a long shot. But then every plot point naturally evolves into major plot points that makes the show go forward. And everything important happened as a consequences of the seemingly minor plot points from the first 3 episodes.

You’re probably thinking that all those plot points could be dealt with with a shorter arc and less narration. But narration is what makes a show a show. If not it would just be a fandom wiki summary. It’s a narrative arc not a wiki article. Stuff needs to happen organically and for a reason. They spent the right amount of time to deliver just a little bit by little bit on us each episode. The amount of new info on this arc is huge, making it shorter would be overwhelming with stuff to learn about our characters, and I mean the main cast, not the secondary characters. I like the private arc, but if you ask me, it’s a little bit too dense. They’re dumping too much on us all at once, Tokyo Blade could have been the same but for 5 episodes straight, thank god it was not.

About the characters being "nobodies", all characters start as a nobody till the show starts being about them... I mean, Akane was a nobody introduced into the third arc. You didn’t know she or Mem-cho would be main cast before they were and still you got invested in them. What you actually mean is that they’re not recurring characters (we don’t know that yet either). Which is something that is really really weird to complain about. Narrative arc has new characters only for this arc??? What??? Absolutely shocking! Spoiler alert, season 3 will have more arcs and more new characters that appears for this arc only.

LotteGiants said:
And even if you personally think the explanations of the entertainment world are important you are in a minority compared to the people that think this show is murder mystery or nothing. The early episode threads are littered with "wtf is this boring crap?" comments and the murder mystery ones are filled with "OMG!! PEAAAAAK!!!" comments. Again, I like the explanatory stuff but it isn't what makes the show special.


No? The murder mystery only people with short attention-span are very vocal and annoying. But the Tokyo Blade arc is a fan favorite. When you ask what’s your favorite arc, Tokyo Blade is ranked really high.

And it’s more than just entertainment info dump. This arc has everything that makes Oshi no Ko Oshi no Ko. Entertainment world, check. Drama, check, character psychology, the biggest psychology arc so far, check. Revenge plot, also check very important dialogue with Akane, huge reveal with Himekawa, check. Manipulation and mind tricks from Aqua, also check, nice advice given to Melt, plus a few stuff from Aqua himself. Oshi no Ko is a psychological drama about the entertainment world and the Tokyo Blade arc is a psychological drama about the entertainment world, doing EXACTLY what Oshi no Ko does best.

Honestly, if you can’t handle Oshi no Ko at Tokyo Blade you don’t deserve Oshi no Ko at Private. This show is wasted on you. The narration, the psychology, the delivery, the characters, Tokyo Blade isn’t my n1 favorite (my n1 is probably Mainstay right after private, it will be the first arc of season 3), but it’s so great. Easily one of the best arcs. Above every arcs of season 1 that’s for sure (except maybe prologue).