[SPOILER ALERT] Manga Series “Oshi no Ko” Ends in Bittersweet Note

DISCLAIMER: The following article contains spoilers for the focus of this story. Readers should read the manga or watch the anime series for context before continuing.

The creators of the manga series Oshi no Ko have published the story’s final chapter, which is about loss, revenge, hope, and the Japanese entertainment industry.  Writer Aka Akasaka and illustrator Mengo Yokoyari publicly released Chapter 166, the last installment of the series, on Wednesday (Nov. 13) after four years of telling the equally tragic and inspiring story of Aqua and Ruby Hoshino and the characters who surrounded them. 

Story Rundown

“Oshi no Ko” revolves around the story of the Hoshino twins, born out of teenage Japanese idol Ai Hoshino, who was tragically murdered when Aqua and Ruby were very young. The story also provides a “slice-of-life” concept of how the Japanese entertainment industry works and how the twins navigated it. 

The family name “Hoshino” means “star field” or “constellation,” and is a wordplay of the series title.

In their teenage years, Ai’s prophecy of Aqua being an actor and Ruby following her footsteps as an idol gradually became a reality as the former delved into the acting scene for both stage and screen, while the latter reformed her mother’s idol group B-Komachi alongside former child actress Kana Arima — who reluctantly took the role of lead singer out of unreciprocated love for Aqua — and 25-year-old YouTuber Mem-cho.

As the series progressed, Aqua steadily made his way to fame while looking for actor Hikaru Kamiki, who fathered Ai’s children, and Taiki Himekawa, who Aqua discovered was his older half-brother after both of them were involved in the theatrical play “Tokyo Blade.” It was later revealed that Kamiki was raped by Himekawa’s mother, Airi when he was an aspiring young actor aged 11, and Taiki was the product of such an affair. Taiki’s parents eventually committed a murder-suicide pact.

Ruby, on the other hand, eventually understood that she was the reincarnation of the terminally ill patient and idol otaku Sarina Tendōji and that her twin brother was the reincarnation of Gorou Amamiya, the doctor and fellow otaku Tendōji was infatuated with who became a fan of Ai, only to disappear — and be presumed dead — on the day she delivered her twins. 

Amamiya’s rotting corpse was found after Aqua, his on-screen partner Akane Kurokawa, and B-Komachi went on location to shoot for the idol group’s new music video. Ruby then realized her twin brother’s intention to kill their father and avenge their mother, while Aqua was revealed to be writing the screenplay on Ai’s life entitled “The 15-Year Lie.” 

Finale of Contrasts

The story then revolved on Kamiki’s intention of killing his daughter Ruby off as he thought no one should surpass Ai, which he has successfully done to other women in the years before the story’s climax. Aqua realizes this and makes the fateful decision of protecting her sister at all costs, including his own life. 

The revelation also prompted the people surrounding the twins to take action and thwart an assassination attempt on Ruby, including Kurokawa’s suggestion to stand in for Ruby and be stabbed by the assailant, who was revealed to be Nino, former B-Komachi member and Ai’s contemporary. It was also revealed that Nino was the girlfriend of Ryosuke Kaihara, Ai’s killer. Kamiki told Aqua that he manipulated the couple, and killed Kaihara off and framed it as a suicide to tie off loose ends, to make Ai’s life and the lives of their children miserable. 

Realizing that Kamiki’s plot has been foiled, especially because Kurokawa managed to wear body armor underneath her dress during Nino’s stabbing attempt, Aqua confronted his father at the edge of a seaside cliff with the intent of committing a murder-suicide to stop Kamiki’s killing spree. 

Both Aqua and Kamiki drowned while Ruby and the rest of B-Komachi were performing at a concert tour.

Arima tearfully expressed her love to Aqua at his funeral, which included a bet that she would slap Aqua’s corpse if he died. 

On the other hand, Aqua’s movie “The 15-Year Lie” was posthumously released with the help of his cinematography mentor Taishi Gotanda and his producer and manager Masaya Kaburagi, and it became a box office hit. 

In the series finale, Ruby was revealed to be severely mourning the loss of her twin brother, and Kurokawa thought Ruby would take a long time to process the tragedy, but was proven wrong as she stayed in the course her mother and her brother paved for her, leading to a dome concert which effectively made her surpass Ai. 

It was also revealed that Ruby succeeded Arima as B-Komachi’s lead singer, and the latter cheered on her former group’s dome concert from the audience while seated beside Kurokawa.

Finally, Ruby, in her own final soliloquy, emphasized her intention to keep the memory of Ai and Aqua alive by continuing to put up a show and be a light in the midst of darkness, including her own.

Real-Life Inspirations, Implications

The circumstances regarding the Japanese entertainment industry featured in “Oshi no Ko” have been highlighted in real life with musical acts like Babymetal and Atarashii Gakko going international to cater to a wider audience of Japanophiles, especially in the J-Metal and J-Pop genres, respectively. 

The series also highlighted, in an accidental way, the issues and controversies surrounding the industry, especially the 2020 suicide of 22-year-old professional wrestler Hana Kimura after her involvement in the reality series “Terrace House.” It is understood that a confrontation with another contestant led to a barrage of insults and verbal abuse against her on social media, which led to her depression and untimely death.

Manga and anime observers suggested that Kimura’s suicide was indirectly portrayed in “Oshi no Ko,” specifically the attempt made by Kurokawa, which was thwarted when Aqua stopped her from jumping off an overpass.

When the manga was adapted into anime in 2023, the story of Kurokawa’s suicide attempt happened in the sixth episode of Season 1, which garnered criticism from Kimura’s mother, Kyoko, who said the portrayal was similar to the circumstances experienced by her late daughter. 

“The words that the character [Kurokawa] was exposed to are exactly the words that Hana was exposed to,” Kyoko told local magazine Shūkan Josei Prime. “We have talked about these things publicly through interviews and the like. How could those exact same words be used? I can’t overlook the fact that Hana’s death is being used like free source material.”

On the other hand, fans of the manga came to Akasaka’s defense, stating that the story was drafted shortly before Kimura’s death. 

Himura Kana’s mother took issue with Oshi no Ko, which some viewers/readers have attributed to have taken inspiration from or paid homage to her daughter’s tragic fate, when in reality the manga initially highlighted relevant issues. It’s ironic but unfortunate timing. pic.twitter.com/LeOzKRrpna

— Baleygr (@Baleygr086) May 22, 2023

“[Hana Kimura’s] mother took issue with Oshi no Ko, which some viewers/readers have attributed to have taken inspiration from or paid homage to her daughter’s tragic fate, when in reality the manga initially highlighted relevant issues,” a tweet read at the time. “It’s ironic but unfortunate timing.”

The Asahi Shimbun reported in August that the Osaka District Court dismissed both the lawsuit filed by the older Kimura against some social media users talking about her daughter’s death and the countersuit filed by a local woman who was one of Kimura’s targets. 

Nonetheless, Akasaka intended “Oshi no Ko” to reflect the current state of the Japanese entertainment industry, especially its dark and often seedy underbelly, and how the advent of the internet and social media is shaping it. 

“With the spread of the internet, we live in a society where fans’ voices are heard directly,” he told Anime News Network in a 2023 interview. “I want people to know how young talents are being hurt, exploited, and suffering. I think that this work also asks the question of how people should deal with and treat those talents. I guess it is correct to say that when I wrote about reality, it naturally became darker.”

Meanwhile, the “Oshi no Ko” subreddit discussed and theorized about the series finale, with a consensus of mixed emotions about the story as a whole and how the characters developed through it.

Future Plans

While the manga has run its course, the third season of the “Oshi no Ko” anime series was announced alongside the season 2 finale earlier this month, but it fell short of announcing a specific date of release. 

Amazon Prime Video also announced that a live-action version of the series would be released on Nov. 28, while a film sequel would be released on Dec. 20. Both would star former Nogizaka46 idol Asuka Saito as Ai, Kaito Sakurai as Aqua, and Nagisa Saitō as Ruby. 

The “Oshi no Ko” franchise has also been written into spinoff novels, with a prequel centered on Ai (“Spica the First Evening Star”) released in November 2023 and a second book focused on the rivalry between Arima and Kurokawa (“Etude for Two”) scheduled for publication on Dec. 18. Hajime Tanaka writes both novels under Akasaka’s supervision.

Watch Paper Straw Podcast hosts Chris Short and Ian Riñon review the first season of “Oshi no Ko” below.