The Infuriating Downfall of Oshi No Ko

*MANGA SPOILERS!!!!!*
i still love most of oshi no ko, just that the ending was a bit....yeah.
if anyone even reads these, i am getting cooked by finals...helpp
what should i make a vid on next

#oshinoko #videoessay #anime

0:00 Background
1:13 The Ending
2:17 Arima Kana
3:16 Akane Kurokawa
3:53 Ruby Hoshino
4:52 What Went Wrong
7:18 The Last Chapter

[joegamingaxe]

The main issue that caused the ending to be such a disastrous nightmare is the indecisive nature of the story. It establishes one thing (Hikaru being a broken soul, Ruby proclaming she wouldn't be like Ai, etc) and then it decides it doesn't want to be that way anymore, and takes a complete detour while ignoring all prior build up, resulting in a complete contradiction of various themes and plotlines in the story. The ending itself literally goes against everything Ai's character stood for and it really is a shame.

[honoredcurse]

Threw his life away to be obsessed with an idol, threw his life away to avenge said idol. He did not consider the fact that Sarina will be left alone, yet AGAIN, and his resolve to stop her from being an idol completely got scrapped away as well. Throw this throw that, fitting for 🗑️ .

[ms-Alex]

The finale was so delusional there were hundreds of better alternatives

[dreamer]

The ending basically continue the toxic cycles of lies and deaths.

And poor Ruby has no family, unless she consider her half-older brother.

The only good thing about the ending is that incest didn’t happened .

[nikozguri]

this entire ending is basically just Aka Akasaka (the creator) having a mental breakdown over the backlash he got for messing up all the rules HE created HIMSELF for the story.

[Slitheringpeanut]

It's a very common trope in Manga/Japanese literature. Vengeance is bad, it will always get you killed. It's often overused and in this case, very badly used.

[michaelp]

I mean it is bad for all the reasons you explained, it further more contradicts itself since even if we want to go ahead and say the only solution was to kill Hikaru (despite capturing Nino hours prior and through her confession it was possible to dig up a bunch of dirt on Hikaru’s other victims) Aqua’s reason for killing himself is ….because if Ruby was related to a murderer that would be bad press for her….but being related to a murderer father was good somehow?
Are you seriously trying to tell me the media wouldn’t eat up a story about a brother killing a murderer in self defence of his sister?
People love a good martyr story so this isn’t even beyond the realm of possibility.

[alliew]

As soon as you said Aqua died I thought “they f—ed up”. Like the entire point of the story so far in the anime has been about how he needs to learn to not throw his life away

I think a lot of the newer manga are either having too much oversight or being told to finish before they wanted to. I think Attack on Titan was always supposed to end that way but I think it needed longer post time skip to get used to the new versions of the characters. I think Dr Stone’s ending was quickly rapped up and while I didn’t necessarily dislike it, it was anticlimactic. If it was one or two then I’d think it was just certain authors don’t know how to write endings, but there are so many that I feel like something must be going on in the industry. The only “perfect” ending I can think of recently is Mob Psycho and that was a relatively short run. I hope that the anime notices the dissatisfaction and tweaks it to either make his death feel meaningful and keep the characters arcs intact or forget Aqua’s death in place of a different climax (literally could kill off any other character and have it feel more meaningful. Killing off a character who doesn’t have much of a drive to live is never a good option because it’s so much more tragic when someone who has dreams for the future dies and the one ready for death has to keep going without them)

[dirge]

I've always had this firm belief that no matter the writer, no matter their status in life, it does not shield you from valid criticism and generally being called out for bad writing.

This manga/anime had actual real promise, and yet the writer chose to "deliberately" write multiple plot holes, inconsistences and leave parts unresolved, while cramming in shock value points (when he did not need that many in place).

Like with BeastStars, we get yet another manga that starts off small, builds up a world in front of it's audience, then decides to smash it all/squander it's total value, with excuses like "I meant for all that to happen", as if that makes you an objectively good storyteller (it in fact does not).

I'm just disappointed that we have yet another author that refuses to acknowledge that they screwed their own writing, their own IP, and rather than humbling themselves they pass it off as if it was always meant to end up in a bad state, like that is not how this works dear authors. You write a good story that ties up all loose ends, or you get lazy and write in hamstrung plot points that matter very little, or worse, "leaving it up to the viewer to decide" (I don't care what excuses that can be made for that template, it's straight up lazy from a storytellers perspective).

[dreamcatcherstan-wv]

Most people are angry when they accidentally see the spoiler and then here is me who is always watching the review of an ending first and then deciding if the anime/manga is even worth my time lol

[Ammy-qw]

How to fix it: Hikaru should have died instead of Aqua. Him somehow dying to save Aqua and prevent his sacrifice would have been a perfect way to redeem him and to wrap-up his character arc. Then, there could have been a scene in the afterlife with him confronting Ai about everything, and her actually dropping the mask and being honest about everything for once. She can admit that she never truly loved him, but that she was grateful when he saved their children, and that made her wish that she was capable of loving him when she was still alive. Aqua & Ruby would both still be alive and there for each other, so they'd achieve their dreams and try to find happiness together like their parents wanted.

[revy]

Hopefully they make a anime original ending.

[kagekun]

Two main things: First, even at the very end I have no idea why the father did what he did. Why he killed so many actresses and Ai, what drove him to such lengths and how he got away with it. Second is the cause Aqua died for. Throwing his life away just to protect Ruby's idol career? Is that the message Oshi no Ko is promoting? That idol careers are worth lives? It all left a bitter taste in the mouth

[Novaurawr]

Tbh I’m not rly sad with Aqua’s ending as much as I find Ruby’s ending disappointing. Her whole arc was that she’s not gonna be like Ai, the ending reverts it all and makes her Ai for no reason.

[azurerandomness]

After the crow girl showed up out of nowhere I just tapped out, bc clearly this is not some mystery solving thing for the characters anymore if they’re just… using a random girl and her crows to give exposition to ruby, and just straight up show us who their dad is

[SLimes-ceid]

In my opinion, oshi no ko really pushes the idea that the world moves on and that it doesn't stop specifically for someone. Generally in fiction, since the world revolves around the main character, it makes it seem as though time moves slower when a critical moment happens and everything changed around them, but in oshi no ko, after an important moment, it just goes on

Take for example Ai's death, right after the emotional scene, it skips straight towards a news reporter talking about Ai's death and within like 10 minutes, everything goes back to normal. Another example is when Aqua cries at the end of tokyo blade, even though Kana knew that Aqua was torturing himself and both Kana and Akane knowing that something is up (probably), the scene just skips straight after the show finishes, showing that immediately after that, the world moves on and basically no one cares after a while. The final example is from Aqua's death, after like 1 chapter and a half, everyone moves on and Aqua gets treated as another unfortunate case of someone getting murdered.

(Do correct me if im wrong, but I just feel like this is a core message Aka was trying to send throughout this entire story, that is why the ending was rushed, because in the time scale of the internet, after a couple of days, something becomes extremely old news.)

[WorldsGreatestRingAnnouncer]

Everyone is wrong here. I proposed the “spite theory”. There is circumstantial evidence to point that Aka spited us. It’s not how it ended, which was according to him done years prior. It was why it ended like this is the issue. A tragic ending is not the issue. Aka spited us with the nonsensical and soulless push to end the manga. I enter exhibit A into record. 18 months or so ago, Aka is on record saying that he wanted to end the manga. His editors begged him to reconsider since the anime blew up. He agreed to continue this to help keep the anime relevant. Exhibit B: 2 years ago, Aka was on record saying that when he gets bored he starts a new manga and tries to end the previous one. 2 yrs ago what ended…the other manga connected to this world. Exhibit C: Aka started in 2023 his latest work Love Agency, it was cancelled in June due to low ratings. Exhibit D: Oshi no Ko’s writing defoliated in mid-June which was the last half of the Ai Movie Arc, but due to mangas being written earlier than they are release this was written in mid-May. Exhibit E: Aka already announced his new project which takes 6 months of planning to get it up and running. Mid-May/June. Aka spited us for not supporting Love Agency and forcing him to continue a work he wanted to end 18 months ago.

[succededhail]

I think saying Ruby's character was reversed in the end is a bit off base. She's not living to be just like Ai, nor is she just living for something as soulless as revenge. While Ai lied for herself to learn what love is, Ruby already knows it, and lies in order to distribute that love to her fans and those around her so she can be that star for them.
I think that's the foil with the twins vs Ai and Kamiki. Lying for the sake of others vs lying for the sake of yourself.

[Lo-tfqt]

I'm willing to bet Oshi no Ko's ending is gonna get the Attack on Titan treatment as well. Manga readers will know that the ending was objectively bad because it was rushed but anime only watchers will be like: "OMG SUCH A TRAGIC ENDING, 10/10, MASTERPIECE OF OUR GENERATION, NO FLAWS AT ALL, PERFECT ENDING"

[Imacatlady]

Bro also forgot the whole weird inc3st between Aqua an Ruby and how Aqua as the supposed “adult” and more mature one, didn’t even put boundaries between him and Ruby, or even explain that they aren’t the same as their past life, plus WHY would you need the sister, plus the big age gap from the past life that makes it double illegal, to be a “love interest” when Kana is right there and is a good character with a solid personality and relationship. It’s just so obvious that it was mainly done for weird fan service. Plus there is this weird crow edgy goddess that was a big fraud and just empty plot device. It felt rushed, it was badly written and weird…