"Oshi no Ko"
[Oshi No Ko]

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Started reading this today after reading Love is War, another one of his works. To start off, I honestly got mislead by the cover art and thought is was just going down the Shounen/Shoujo path; boy was I wrong... This story definitely has what I look for in most Manga.

1) Catches my attention
2) Leaves me on the edge of my seat
3) Has some sort emotional rollercoaster/a sense of realism
Lastly,
4) A clear story with a goal in mind (this isn't a must, but it definitely helps with most things I read)

Long story short; I definitely recommend reading this, it wont disappoint.

One of the few sleeves that as you go you are attracted to more and more.
The beginning of the story cannot be one of the best, at the beginning of the second chapter, it simply hooks you up and you want to keep reading more as you read the story.
The characters are unique, including with art remains a simply amazing result.
The protagonist is the typical character who has a single objective and to reach that goal he will have to do many things, which can corrupt him.
Another side of the world behind idols and actors, problems they become, in their lives to become a success ... over others.
It's just unbelievable to me.

Oshi no Mid" is a terrible manga that I would strongly recommend avoiding. The storyline is incredibly boring and lacks any real depth or substance. The characters are poorly developed and lack any real likability or relatability. Furthermore, the manga promotes negative and harmful behaviors, such as murder, which is not appropriate for children or any responsible reader. Overall, "Oshi no Mid" is a poorly written and morally questionable manga that I would not waste my time reading, nor encourage anyone else to do so.
The manga contains mature themes, such as child abandonment, manipulation, and psychological abuse, which may be triggering or uncomfortable for some ... readers. Additionally, the story can be slow-paced and repetitive at times, which may not appeal to readers looking for fast-paced action or a more engaging plot. Ultimately, whether someone likes or dislikes "Oshi no Ko" depends on their personal preferences and sensitivity to mature content.
I would rather play watch against the wall then reading this abomination again.

Oshi no Ko is a manga that left me feeling disappointed and underwhelmed. While the concept was intriguing, the execution fell flat. The story lacked a clear direction, and the pacing was inconsistent, with some scenes dragging on while others felt rushed.

The characters in Oshi no Ko were one-dimensional and lacked depth, making it difficult to connect with them. The dialogue felt forced and unnatural, and the relationships between the characters were underdeveloped and unconvincing.

The artwork in Oshi no Ko was competent but unremarkable, with a generic anime style that failed to stand out. The backgrounds were often sparse and lacked detail, which made the ... world feel flat and uninspired.

Overall, I would not recommend Oshi no Ko to anyone looking for a well-crafted manga with engaging characters and a compelling story. There are many other options out there that are much more deserving of your time and attention.

I would rather watch apes throwing shit, then reading this abomination.

After reading Oshi no Ko, I was left feeling unimpressed. The storyline lacked coherence and felt disjointed, with the plot meandering without any clear direction. Additionally, the characters were one-dimensional and lacked depth, making it difficult to become invested in their arcs.

The artwork was serviceable but unremarkable. The character designs were uninspired and lacked originality, and the backgrounds were often plain and uninteresting. Furthermore, the pacing of the story was uneven, with some scenes dragging on for too long while others felt rushed and underdeveloped.

Overall, I would not recommend Oshi no Ko to anyone looking for a manga with a compelling story and engaging characters. ... While it had some potential, it ultimately failed to deliver a satisfying reading experience.

A story that manages to combine quite a few things together to create something very interesting. The story tackles the entertainment industry and a lot of its different parts from clean to unbelievably dirty. It also manages to highlight the serious flaws in idol culture while not dissing the actual hardworking people just trying to reach their dreams or saying that idols as a whole shouldn’t exist or are dumb. And all of that is just in what amounts to the prologue. The story has an interesting start and while they both have their flaws as well both twins manage to be lovable and endearing ... characters. The motivations of the two being so very different despite being so much alike and both moving into the entertainment industry is also a nice dynamic. And the mystery of their father and if he was actually involved in the murder is something keeping me invested. The story hasn’t even really reached its stride yet, and even so I have reasonably high hopes for this series and can’t wait to see what happenes.

Oshi no Ko is a manga that has been highly anticipated by fans of the genre, but unfortunately, it falls short of expectations in several areas. While the artwork is stunning, the story and characters leave much to be desired.

One of the main issues with Oshi no Ko is its pacing. The story progresses at a snail's pace, and the narrative feels like it's going nowhere. The slow pace can be frustrating for readers, especially considering the potential of the story's unique premise.

Another issue with Oshi no Ko is the way it handles certain topics. The manga has been criticized for its portrayal of the ... idol industry, which some readers argue is unfair and overly negative. While the industry does have its issues, the manga's treatment of it can be uncomfortable for fans of idols or those who have worked in the industry themselves.

Furthermore, the character development in Oshi no Ko is lacking. Many of the characters feel one-dimensional, and their motivations and actions are often confusing or illogical. This can make it difficult to care about their struggles or invest in their journey, ultimately leading to a lack of emotional impact.

Overall, while Oshi no Ko has its strengths, such as beautiful artwork and a unique premise, its slow pacing, problematic handling of certain topics, and underdeveloped characters make it a difficult recommendation for many readers. The manga could benefit from a more focused and faster-paced narrative, as well as more nuanced and well-rounded characters.

As someone who enjoys manga and anime, I was intrigued by the hype surrounding this series. However, after reading it, I found that it was a huge letdown. Firstly, the plot is convoluted, jumping around from one timeline to another. The characters are poorly developed, leaving the reader feeling disconnected from them. Secondly, the artwork is lackluster, with bland character designs and rushed backgrounds that fail to capture the reader's imagination. Finally, the pacing of the story is incredibly slow, with a plot that drags on for far too long without any real payoff. Overall, I would not recommend this series to anyone, as the ... confusing plot, lackluster artwork, and slow pacing make for an underwhelming reading experience.
"Kaguya love is war" is way better.
1/10

Oshi no Ko is a manga that has generated a lot of buzz and excitement, but unfortunately, it fails to deliver on its promises. While the artwork is visually stunning, the story and characters are lacking in many areas.

One of the main issues with Oshi no Ko is its slow pacing. The story progresses at a snail's pace, with very little happening in each chapter. This makes it hard for readers to stay engaged with the plot and can lead to a lack of investment in the characters and their journey.

Additionally, the character development in Oshi no Ko is weak. The characters are not well ... fleshed out, and their motivations and actions can be confusing or feel out of place. This makes it difficult to care about their struggles and ultimately makes the story less impactful.

Moreover, some readers have found the manga's portrayal of the idol industry to be problematic. The manga is criticized for its negative portrayal of the industry, which can be uncomfortable for fans of idols or those who work in the industry. The portrayal is seen as oversimplified and unfair, which takes away from the overall narrative.

I would rate this piece of Toilet paper -5 if I could.
Not recommended.

If you're here, I'm assuming you're here for 2 things

You want to see how others think about this new piece of manga that Gigguk recommended
You want to see other people's opinions on this manga
Just as the manga itself predicted, people are heavily influecned by the modern rise of the internet, where every opinion matters. So I will do you guys some good by providing my unfiltered opinion on this manga. With that being said, spoilers will definitely apply.

Oshi no Ko is one of the best mangas I've ever read, even though I don't read much manga, this one instantly shot up into my "keep reading" ... list and made its way into my favorites. It explores so much about the performing arts industries to a depth that only someone in that very business can provide. This makes a lot of sense, considering the man behind this manga was none other than Kaguya-sama's Aka Akasaka-sensei himself. Having seen his mangas blossom into well-received animes, this man poured all he knew about the industry into one fantastic manga that burdens our souls with the same weight these very characters go through while also retaining aspects of comedy, romance, and drama that a normal manga of this genre would achieve.

Plot
This piece is definitely where it hits my soft spot. The Isekai genre has been overdone to no avail and now every anime season a new dull one pops up to give us shits and giggles. The premise of Oshi is original in their own right. Aquamarine and Ruby are reincarnations of a hospital doctor and a passed patient respectively, both respect their figurative and literal idol Ai, and as a result when Ruby passes from her illness and Aqua gets stabbed from a stalking fan, they reincarnate as Ai's new twin children. Originality points there

Other than that, the kids decide to follow in their mother's footsteps, with Ruby retracing the path to Idol Greatness while a slightly less enthusiastic Aqua becomes a talented actor. From there, the progression goes on. Aqua's talents land him gigs of increasing magnitude while retaining the same friends. His mysteriousness, along with his stunning good genes, land him a variety of different showbiz genres, anything from stageplay dramas to reality TV dating shows. Meanwhile Ruby, reaping from the benefits of Aqua's new connections, successfully establishes her idol group and makes a stunning splash at the annual Idol Festival (which is actually a real thing). While it is far too early to call what the authors will do with established storyline, it is brilliant to see this progression happen. Many moments in the manga turn us on our heads with how unexpected they are, or just how straight up funny they are. This is one of the great things about this manga, and its plot director Aka Akasaka. One minute you're experiencing much of the PTSD Aqua went through, and another you're laughing your guts out because of the stupid shenanigans this group of chumps are doing. It's honestly refreshing to see a manga or an anime that can aptly mix these two emotional extremes, but this anime does it perfectly.

Art
This carries on within the art section too. The artists drawing this manga made very clever use of symbolism. The most prominent of which is the Hoshino Family's signature starry eyes. When Aqua gets dead serious, his star turns pitch black and his irises are no longer reflective, when Ruby adapts into her onstage persona, her stars get larger and widen to resemble Ai's own eyes. For Aqua, his darkening is motivated by his desire to find the person who killed him, and for Ruby, her lightening is motivated by her passion coming forth. The Twins aren't the only one who have this tho. Partway through the Reality TV arc, Akane Kurokawa adopts Ai's personality for one scene after her return, slipping into the idol's persona and emulating her very emotions to such a pinpoint accuracy that she actually correctly guessed the fact that Ai secretly had children. In that scene, her pupils turned into the signature Hoshino stars and her hair was redrawn to emulate Ai's. This uncanny use of symbolism gave me mad respects and it gives the reader so much visual clue that they can immediately understand just what kind of a person these Hoshino siblings are.

Apart from that, despite not drawing the art, Akasaka's Kaguya definitely influenced the other panels. One thing I kept noticing as I was reading was how real these characters looked, the light reflecting off their eyes and hair and the atmosphere of the sets on stage. It felt stunning for still black-and-white images to feel so 3D. Even in their comedic cartoony moments, it is more than just a simple doodle, as the characters look genuinely funny. One more thing to point out is the text bubbles. If you have read the Webtoon Unordinary you'll definitely be familiar with the style. Depending on how serious the characters are, their text bubbles shift from light to dark. The best example of this is when Akane was researching Ai's personality to slip into. You can see how she's getting serious by the gradual darkening of her text bubbles. An excellent touch.

Characters
One of the most important things in showbiz is the people portraying the characters. The many characters introduced in Oshi no Ko definitely emulate that idea. Not only are multiple perspectives these character possess evaluated, but everything the characters do is also important as it helps with their standings in their peers. On top of that, the frequent burdens of the showbiz industry frequently show their scars on them. Each of them displays a different trauma associated with a different part of showbusiness. I'll give a quick run-through so you guys know what I mean.

Aquamarine Hoshino
Since the events of his past, the once chipper young lad became a solemn husk of a being racked by PTSD and a desire for vengeance. He is shown to be exceptionally adaptive and perceptive, and that frequently proves to be his ally. In him we see the burden of emotion and reluctance. His immense talent has landed him some killer gigs, yet his personality remains solemn as ever. He's hardworking, yet antisocial. And he has frequently reminded others that he doesn't even want to act at all. Despite this, he takes on the jobs because he wants to enact vengeance. His pure willpower is what's driving him, because what's left of his passion is all gone. He's the embodiment of people trapped in jobs purely for the rewards. And in the case of showbusiness, talent like him won't go to waste.

Ruby Hoshino
Ruby remains a bit of a pure bubble especially in terms of the negatives of showbiz, but she is constantly hammered by one thing: no headstarts. Ruby's aspirations are constantly being denied because people either don't want to accept her into the idol business or she just doesn't have enough of a fanbase to start. Her personality remains the steadfast dreamer as always, but enough nightmares can crush a dream.

Kana Arima
Kana is a child actor known for her ability to cry on command, but that's it. Ever since then, she's embodied the one thing people playing BitLife hate the most: being forgotten. Her spotlight has faded and no one remembers her name. Her talent is impeccable and her skills are numerous, but since her gigs never blew up, no one remembers her. She went through a showbiz person's worst nightmare, and despite climbing back, it has continued to influence how she acts, poisoning her confidence and her self-esteem.

Akane Kurokawa
My personal favorite of the bunch and the victim of the harshest reality of all, Akane Kurokawa is beyond talented, with skills rivaling Kana and a legendary agency behind her. Yet, during the Reality TV arc, she faced an uncontrollable force: The Internet. Nervousness coupled with confusion and lack of action made her forgotten in the TV show, following that, an unintentional outburst and deliberate framing by the studio framed her to be a villain. This drove the internet mad with rage, and if you've played Genshin recently you'll definitely know what's coming up: fans started bombarding her accounts with insults, death threats, toxicity, and everything a fragile 17-year old rising star would NOT want to face every day. Akane was driven to seclusion, her confidence plummeting, and had Aqua not intervened she would no longer be alive. Her plummet during the season exposes the internet's worst consequences, and the unfortunate thing is that it keeps on happening. Many people every day suffer from cyberbullying, even just a bit of it on a high school level was enough to drive high school teens to suicide. Now imagining it happening to a big-shot star, who's also a high schooler so she, therefore, has the tolerance of one. The mangaka did a painstaking job recreating every single thought that went on through her brain as the comments flooded in right up to the moment she was about to jump ship, showing us how this negativity drives a brain. It pains me as I write this to know that this is happening right now. Even through all this, Akane perseveres, bouncing back and giving us all a hell of a show for all the later arcs. Her personality is tough, and her spirit tougher.

Takeaways
Overall, Oshi is a heavy story

Not only is the world it describes one we take for granted, but it also rips each and every industry wide open to reveal how demanding it is. Everyone may aspire to be on the big stage, but it always costs more to win than to lose. Oshi no Ko shows brilliant exploration of such heavy themes and connotations, and it shows us that in the world of showbiz, the greatest lies you can tell are what gets you the furthest. In all else, Oshi teaches us a few important things:

If you want to do something, consider everything about it. Its benefits, its enjoyments, and most importantly, how much it will demand of you. It takes three positives to outweigh a negative, so your passion must burn even brighter to light your way.

Story 5/10:

This is conflicting…the “main” storyline that was set up at chapter 1 was absolutely amazing, and had the potential to be one of the first 10/10 stories I give. And then… it got abandoned for the rest of the entire manga, with a sprinkle of dick tease here and there just to rub it in your face.

The majority of the story about the idol industry is honestly boring as hell, and if it weren’t for the first few chapters of brilliant setup, I would have dropped it in a flash. That said, I did speedread most of the chapters due to how uninteresting it ... was.

Art 7/10:
The art for Ai’s family were amazing, especially Ai. The way she is drawn, you can really emphasis with her fans feel why she was loved so much. Her cheerfulness and energy was fully showcased by the art. The siblings reminded me of Kagamine Rin and Len, so they were enjoyable in that respect. The other characters didn’t have any art that particularly caught the eye, but was good enough that the impressions left is: good.

Characters 6/10:

The only real point Aqua and Ruby got any development was when advancing the main plot, and during the idol parts, all their development feels fake and unappealing. The minor characters got tons of development during idol parts, but they are really not enticing enough for me to cheer them on and be engaged by their characters.

Enjoyment 5/10:

The manga had my absolutely hooked at the first part, then bored me to death whilst I held onto the faint hope that enjoyment will come back, and to the current latest chapter, no it has not. Idol mangas really aren’t enjoyable and any drama, training, or production feels unenjoyable to read. The characters make it slightly more bearable but this is defiantly not a manga I would recommend until maybe it is fully finished.

Following on the brilliant Kaguya-Sama, and with its public reputation preceding it, I had high hopes for Oshi no Ko.
These hopes weren't met, although that's not really surprising, since doing two masterpieces back to back is extremely rare. However, I can't say that Oshi no Ko would've earned a review if it hadn't come from an author I already knew and loved.
Oshi no Ko isn't necessarily poor, but "mid" sort of comes to mind. This isn't due to any art or storytelling problems per se. It's an identity problem, and the pacing problems that it constantly breeds.

Oshi no Ko starts with a fairly chaotic first ... part/prologue, which jumps around between characters and timelines, there's confusing flash forwards on several occasions, numerous quick "mini stories" that are supposed to introduce characters to us, but none of these characters get enough time to build a proper personality. They're both slightly too long to be short and too short to deliver a fully self contained story, so they just feel like you're juggling from one situation to another, from the doctor, his patient, his other patient, their situations, etc. Then the Occult starts happening and more mini stories with fast forwards happen.

This entire prologue sequence ends with a captivatingly tragic, and very well put together moment which I won't spoil, but has rocketed Oshi no Ko to fame when the anime came out. This was a catalytic moment for me, as I was drawn very deeply into the manga and felt emotion in a way that rarely comes to me. I immediately couldn't stop wolfing down the pages, and wanted to know the sequel to this event.

Over one night, I read 50 chapters (and woke up late for work). The next day, I finished the rest.

I haven't had any proper sequel to the event, nearly 120 chapters in.

This isn't due to a lack of the story advancing, although that's certainly a slow story. But the real issue is that as soon as the starter event is done, and we get into the manga proper, it devolves instantly, and never turns away from, a somewhat "mid" teenager story about the showbusiness world. By "mid", I really mean "middle ground" here. It's a bit shounen/monomyth story, with the protagonist needing to reach the heights of showbiz. It's got a lot of shoujo touches, lots of girls, lots of girly things. It's kind of a social commentary with a lot of text à la Akasaka Aka, but also about simple personalities/teenagers trying to survive in showbiz. It's...mid.

No particularly strong style comes out of it. This sadly applies to the characters, who neither delve into cartoonish hyperbole like in Kaguya, nor in great subtlety or complexity. The motivations are simple, a lot of characters are very one note. Including the main ones. The fact that Oshi no Ko is also not a comedy deepens the problem. An occasional joke is thrown yes, but the general pacing is fairly slow, novelty is rare, situations are long, story does captivate but never really amazes. It's not very funny, or entertaining, or has great moments. It's mostly just showbiz situations handled with some charm, some intelligence and a lot of commentary.

Between the start as a tragedy and the followup as a very "shounen/shoujou/monomyth/social commentary"(so "some of everything"), the identity feels very lost. It's like you can remove the entire prologue, restart the story as "2 kids with a tragic past" and lose very little. Or you can keep the whole showbiz story, but then the main tragedy needs to not have hiatuses of 30 chapters.

The pacing thus suffers, and through and through, it feels like an earnest story, but that has too many styles mixed together. It just feels...like a full course meal where everything was served at the same time. There's little "wrong", but also next to nothing that's really remarkable. What was remarkable was unfortunately at the start, and was already quite difficult to follow.

The manga is still alright and deserves to be read, but I wouldn't ever put it above an 8 even if the ending was magnificent. Which is still very fair, but again, if it hadn't come from Akasaka Aka, I'd probably not even have bothered writing anything about it. Ultimately, this feels like a manga that wants to be "good" at everything, art, cutesy, drama, commentary, emotional investment, but it's just ending like a ratatouille. Lots of stuff in it, but little taste that actually comes out. It's more like a long, fairly pleasant, but unremarkable soup.

While I think it had a lot of potential, the lackluster execution makes for a disappointing read. First off, the best aspect is the art. It's well drawn and pretty consistent from what I've seen. The only issue with the art is that it doesn't really stand out in any meaningful way. The art style is fairly generic and it doesn't excel at any one aspect (detail, expressions, etcetera).

The core issue with the manga is the writing. With the exception of Ai, none of the characters are particularly interesting or compelling. While they aren't unlikable per se, they aren't likeable either. They are just dull. ... This is a problem given that Ai isn't even the main character of the story.

I think that the whole reincarnation premise hurts the story more than it helps it. The initial chapters spend more time setting up and explaining the reincarnation than it does introducing and properly fleshing out the characters. It comes across as a decision solely made for the sake of giving the manga a stupid and attention grabbing description more than anything.

With the exception of some weird leaps in logic, the plot seemed mostly fine, though I obviously couldn't get invested in it given the characters. The dialogue and narration on the other hand was pretty bad throughout. The writing was very overbearing, often to the point of being cringey. Most of the time the characters either start monologuing about the entertainment industry mid conversation or drop some incredibly forced and unnatural lines for the sake of some absurdly blatant and obvious set up.

The writing is also very repetitive, the characters and narration reiterate the same things over and over again, both in regards to the plot and the entertainment industry. This not only makes the reading a slog but also comes across as the author being incapable of respecting the reader's intelligence.

While I find a lot of what the author brings up to be interesting and can appreciate them shining a spotlight on the seedier aspects of the entertainment industry, I don't think they made a good job actually incorporating it into the story. It just comes across as the author being more interested in talking at the reader about the entertainment industry than they are writing a story.

NO SPOILERS HERE.

Coming from the author of Kaguya sama, a series which I have been enjoying weekly for quite some time and the artist of "Scums wish" and "You are dirty, my queen", I decided to give it a shot.

I wouldn't go much in depth as it only has 10 chapters out. The first chapter was quite weird but I liked it regardless. The concept does sound like your average isekai but it's the same world and not some harem reincarnation shit. As more chapters came by the story became more interesting and reached the 9th chapter which was quite a twist to the story ... (though already foreshadowed before). The first 10 chapters were basically a prologue arc.

The art is cool. Some panels look really great. The main character really has potential.

The actual story begins from this point. I'd say that I am quite interested to see how this turns out to be. So yeah if you got some free time I'd recommend reading this.

My rate so far: 6/10

Minor spoiler warning

Plot: (4/10)
Aqua was a doctor that was obsessed with a 16 year old idol, helped her give birth and after that got isekaied as her son after he was murdered by her stalker, some time after that she dies as well by the same stalker in front of him and now aqua wants revenge so he joins the entertainment industry (he became an actor). The 2-3 first arcs are great after that the last 1-2 arcs are mid at best the latest arc for example keeps on drugging out its been like 20+ chapters since they started preparing to make a movie

Art: (8/10)
great ... art i dont have much to say about it

Characters: (2/10)
-Aqua (MC), he is an edgy edp that instead of developing constantly regresses as a character, when the idol he was obsessed with died and he became an edgelord that barely spoke or interacted with anyone outside of his family (he also got help by a psychologist but pretended to be fine and left) some years after that he starts meeting many people that want to be his friend or even girlfriend in some cases but he constantly puts them aside and they are good only when he has use for them exept for once when the writer tried to develop him but thought "revenge better" if that wasnt enough now after he found that a little girl that was his patient is his twin sister and she is in love with him instead of telling her off the story heavily implies they are endgame
-Ruby, good character that sadly got butchered because of the artist's incest obsession now she is a simp for Aqua
-rest of the side characters: they are far better than the protagonists

overall: (5/10)
if you want to have a good experience of watching and putting some thought behind the story watch the anime's first season and stop there dont go any further or read the first 2-3 arcs after that incest isnt even close to being the biggest problem of the manga

This is a pretty beloved series so this may be a contentious review. The tl;dr, it starts off very good, but progressively gets worse until I'd argue it's barely worth reading.

Oshi no Ko starts off very strong, but even at its peak it suffers from massive tonal shifts, where you can get 10-20 chapters that are essentially slice of life drama, and then a few chapters where it turns into a mystery briefly before rapidly shifting back. The characters are all very likeable, and it does a good job at not glamorizing the entertainment industry while giving an interesting look into the inner workings and ... how talent are chewed up and spit out, and backstage employees are overworked and underpaid.

The issue then, comes from the mystery side of it. It really brings the worst out of the characters, and serves to destroy any 'progress' made in the slice-of-life portion. I don't think it does it in an artistic way either, I think that the author is just less adept at telling mystery stories than they are at slice-of-life. Every so often supernatural elements are brought in to deus-ex-machina a plot point because the author seemingly couldn't find a natural conclusion for it. Characters suddenly become horrible communicators, urgent actions are left untaken for years. It isn't a planning issue either since, to the authors credit, they seem to have the entire plot planned out from chapter 1. I just think it's badly written, and after chapter 80 when it becomes the central focus of the story, it really begins falling apart.

I think the premise was really good, and half of the execution was great, but the other half left a lot to be desired. The overall product is fine, but it's not incredible by any means.

If you are planning to read this manga after watching the anime, don't bother. After scrolling through 80+ chapters I can safely say that this manga has no real substance in every aspect ; characters, story, art. Everything about its storytelling is extremely mundane and cheap you would roll your eyes at how the author tries to keep the story interesting.

My biggest problem with this show is how the author tries to be edgy with both the writing and art. I cannot count how many times "the dark-hollow eye" has been used for every trauma related event and realization moment. I'd rather not spoil ... the edgy writing and if you are going to read the manga regardless then I have warned you. There are moments where the edginess is cool, but it is rather overused in nearly every part of this manga.

Extra:
The only great part of oshi no ko is episode one of the anime. The other 11 unwatchable episodes and the manga should not be entertained unless you are unfamiliar with typical teenage drama

A grown man doctor that has a creepy obsession with an idol gets reincarnated as her kid, the author is just living out his own weird fantasies and glosses over an industry that's absolute cancer, it's the peak of weak, anyone with two brain cells can tell the hype is 100% from melodrama and 'cute' stuff being stylized and blown up for the less intelligent portion of the population. There's absolutely nothing profound, no meaning, just propaganda to make the creeps that are into idols feel less guilty and to make the female fan base feel like there's some stake in it for them, like ... being an idol is an acceptable or genuine occupation, but it's all hollow, essentially just appealing to shallow readers that enjoy fantasizing about inflating their value or becoming simps for those already with inflated value. Idols are some of the darkest and most fake people on the planet, the characters in this hold zero weight whatsoever. It's really sad anyone actually enjoys this garbage.

Oshi no Ko is very cliché in the first chapters but when you let it air out a little that's when it opens up and takes you in just like a nice scotch's smell. Oshi no Ko story is interesting and nicely paced with a lot of events. Character development is outstanding that leaves you with a melancholic feeling after reading. Oshi no Ko art is overall a nine out of ten, outstanding panel art. I've read thousands of manga and I hate most of them but this one I like so I would give it a 9/10 and would highly recommend!

(as of writing there has been 57 chapters released)

From the creator of Kaguya-sama, Oshi no Ko is an unfiltered look into Japan's entertainment industry, and it is definitely one of the best ongoing manga right now.

While the plot does begin in a very strange way (as of now I do not see the reason behind why Aka-sensei decided to start off the story in that fashion, but only time will tell) and the motivation of the MC makes it more like a revenge story, Oshi no Ko's main plot is exploring the different facets of the entertainment industry. In the span of 57 chapters, the ... idol, reality dating tv show, live action, theatre, manga industries have been tackled with great detail. One of the best parts about Oshi no Ko is how much research Aka did in regards to these various industries, and how seamlessly the story weaves the muddied world of these respective industries into the story. It does shed light onto many of the underhanded and morally grey aspects in the various industries, but it does so in a nuanced and respectful manner. Things like cancel culture are very relevant in today's society, and Oshi no Ko tackles these issues and how people in these industries react to them making it easy to understand, and yet not oversimplified. This is definitely the strongest aspect of Oshi no Ko. The pacing of the story is also fast, and it is a highly enjoyable read.

The characters are solid, with each of them having different personalities and never conforming to a certain trope, something that Aka has done with Kaguya-sama as well. For example, Kana seems like a typical bratty, egoistical girl during the early chapters, and you'd expect her to remain like this. However, that is not the case, as she grows into a more mature, understanding woman even before meeting MC again. They fulfil their role well, and are enjoyable and fun to read. Only nitpick so far is MC. He does feel a bit too edgy as of now, and I do hope Aka shows more sides to his personality as the series progresses.

The art is genuinely outstanding. Characters look very fashionable and pretty, and it's just very aesthetically pleasing to read. The art style also does resemble Kaguya-sama for the comedic scenes, which generally works very well as expected of Kaguya-sama's mangaka.

Overall, an extremely fascinating read, there are some minor nitpicks here and there but it is a very promising series.


(Quick edit now that the manga hit over a 100 chapters):

I don't have too much to add on, since the quality is still solid with the arcs that followed, but I do have one gripe with the series that I think plagues Aka as an author: it can be pretty fucking chuuni. There are some panels and moments that feel, um, a bit too melodramatic and dark. Don't get me wrong, Oshi no Ko is a dark series, there's no denying that, but those moments feel just a bit gratuitous in the portrayal of the characters' angst. It's a bit much.

Also still have no idea why the supernatural elements exist, it's just such a weird element in a story that doesn't work tonally.

Other than that uh yeah, still entertaining and thrilling to read.