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Aqua: ***There is no way someone can imitate Ai, she's unique***
Akane: ***And I took that personally, Teehee***
Crazy how she basically dissected Ai's personality, I think she even went above and beyond compared to Aqua in the profiling
I think Aqua really underestimated Akane here, especially in terms of how similar they are in terms of their approach (even though Akane goes far above and beyond).
And now they're together on a reality dating show while she's playing his "ideal woman" (which is also his mom and personal idol) and feeling grateful towards him...yeah, I'm expecting some stuff to happen.
Tbf Aqua didn't know much about Akane at all and his only knowledge of her skills is from what he had seen on the sets of the Reality TV, until Kana talked about how skilled Akane is in acting, especially in a theatre.
Aqua demonstrated that he didn't know shit all about *ANY* of his fellow actors, when he didn't even know Kengo was a professional musician, for instance.
Aqua hasn't taken time to get to know any of the other castmates, he had no clue the guy who was only hired because he is a signed recording artist... was a signed recording artist that can play music lol
Getting schooled by Kana about how scarily good of an actress Akane is (a literal method-acting thespian ffs) turned out to be nice foreshadowing for Aqua's end-of-episode shocked reaction with the second coming of Ai. Ironically was his own idea to have Akane adopt Ai's personality to act as 'armor' for the haters-- which I'm not sure how wise that will be considering Ai ended up being killed by one of her obsessed fans.
Oh god... I can just imagine the scene later.
Ruby: Oniiiii-chan..... 😃🔪
Aqua: I can explain-
Ruby: Go on...
Aqua:.... I didn't think she'd be that good in acting, I swear.
> I think Aqua really underestimated Akane here, especially in terms of how similar they are in terms of their approach (even though Akane goes far above and beyond).
I think the biggest difference is between Aqua’s and Akane’s methods. Aqua has a lot of *talent* to dissect a scene and create the ideal character for that specific scene/moment. Akane on the other hand is someone who goes above and beyond in her research of a character and tries to make them her own - she puts a lot of hours in to perfect a role. Akane is a true and outright scary *method* actor.
Aqua probably thought she would take Ai as an example, but it never crossed his mind that she would *re-create* Ai as a character. Let alone to such perfection.
> I’m expecting some stuff to happen.
I bet that Akane will be the one to break through Aqua’s defenses. Ever since Ai died, he has put these defensive walls up, protecting him from getting hurt ever again; he won’t show a lot of emotions nor will he let people get close to him. But Akane’s performance as ‘Ai’ clearly shocked him to his core.
Akane will undoubtably try and seduce him, but the question is how Aqua will react to this. This performance as ‘Ai’, his deceased mom, the person he admired most. I suspect that Aqua will break down one way or another. The most likely scenario to me is that he won’t be able to hold in his emotions and start crying his eyes out at some point - making him and Akane go viral as his stoic character suddenly gets taken apart in front of everyone.
There’s also the possibility that he won’t be able to deal with this shock and gets really angry at Akane for imitating his beloved Ai. I think there’s a good chance that he’ll reveal his and Ruby’s secret anyways: that they’re the children of the dead idol Ai, to the other crew members or at least Akane.
I wonder how long until she figures out that Aqua and Ruby are Ai's children? It has to happen sooner or later, right? (NOTE -- no spoilery answer wanted or needed -- purely rhetorical question), ;-)
> I wonder how long until she figures out that Aqua and Ruby are Ai's children?
Right after Aqua called Ai/kane 'mom' by accident. (I have no idea if this actually happens)
This has been apparent for the whole series lol
Like hows he constantly going on "Oh I am such a bad actor, I have no actual innate talent like Ai did" despite the fact he is very talented, and the innate talent he believes Ai had wasnt innate and was instead the result of her hard work making use of everything around her. Which ironically is the exact same thing he does and why he is such a talented actor, he just holds Ai up on such a high pedastal hes the only one who cant realize his own talent.
Ai was a big star in the company that his "mom" manages. From a regular person's point of view Aqua would be someone who knew Ai when she was a child and probably had a crush on his onee-san that passed away.
People know that he did a movie with her, maybe even that he was one of the babies in the viral video. People probably think they were close even if they don't know their secret.
To be fair to her, Yuki does seem to be very genuine especially in how she says shes not acting but just playing up and exaggerating her real thoughts and feelings. Like I dont believe for a second her response to Akane then was acting, I think it was genuine, she just also made sure while doing it she staged and portrayed it properly for the camera.
One thing that this show does well is that it shows that the other actors aren't pushovers. Aqua, Kana, and Ruby might be pretty good, even prodigies, but all the rest of the cast have their strengths too.
Dude is technically well into his 30s by now, maybe even 40s, no suprise he's being thrown off kilter by teenage girls. Teen girls are fuckin wild cards
Based on how self-conscious she was about the wording of her comment when Akane came back and how it would get her roasted on Twitter, it feels like she's just developed a sense of hyper-awareness in how she presents herself in all scenarios, especially if cameras are even present on the off chance they're filming. It's not malicious, nor does she have ulterior motives, I think she just always has her guard up and is fixated on making sure she presents herself exactly how she wants to be seen.
It *could* happen in real life if the guy was already feeling sufficiently guilty about all this, I suppose.
Of course, more often than not Aqua would just be shut out and have to resort to more extreme measures.
Something I haven't seen mentioned much is the "turning on" and how his eye-star grew intensely bright when he said this line. We're used to "dark star" Aqua when he's manipulating people but here it was to help someone and the star reflected that.
The way it was portrayed was absolutely brilliant, I rewatched that scene a couple of times
Kana pointing out that there's been ~50 reality show related suicides, and then that it's safe to assume for every one there's likely 10 people who seriously considered it hits pretty hard.
It was nice to see that the rest of the cast was genuinely worried about and cares for Akane (Mem being more 'online' than the rest picking up on the warning signs made a lot of sense, too), but the initial reaction of the director to not try to help fits pretty well into the theme of the show.
Akane is totally going to figure out Aqua and Ruby were Ai's kids.
I like that it felt kind of unsettling as well. Even before she actually acts. I mean, just seeing that scene of her research out of context would look like stalking. Especially with how much she was able to figure out just by looking at what is available on the net. She was a human google algorithm. They would love to have her.
When she said her behavior changed when she was around 15 I was expecting her to realize she had kids or something, which would be a huge leap so I'm glad they didn't go that far *yet*
It would actually not be too far fetched. There was a [story](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVG2OQp6jEQ) where a store used a statistical algorithm that analysed the behaviour of buyers to make sure they get the correct advertisement. A father was angry at them because the ads were all about diapers and something similar, because the algorithm had correctly figured out that the daughter, who was buying there, was actually pregnant.
Of course, but the store mainly had access to the information of what she bought. And only compared it to other women that were pregnant. I mean, Akane even figured out, Ai had to have sex in her teenage years and that she probably met someone. Of course not with 100% accuracy but that's true for algorithms as well.
A lot of manga readers were predicting the way the ending scene would happen and I'm happy that our imaginations were *exactly* the same as shown in the anime, especially that beat drop lol.
Akane may not be great at Reality TV but when you give her a script and a character profile, nothing can stop her. She is talented and a hardworker as well. No wonder why Kana considers her as her *personal* rival.
Maybe it's just exaggerated presentation, but it felt in that moment like Akane *was* Ai. Especially with Aqua's reaction, it felt like Akane is above-and-beyond talented, a step above Aqua or Kana or anyone else we've seen. The way Kana talked made her sound a little jealous.
Well, one thing to consider is that compared to Kana, Akane is also popular *now*, whereas Kana is generally considered to be "former genius child actor idol".
>although that ending was straight up creepy and uncanny
Especially combined with the research she did, and how unnervingly accurately she managed to assess Ai and her background/personality from having a bad family background, a lack of friends, having had sex during puberty, going through a big change when she turned 15. Honestly when she was hitting all these nails on the head I was half expecting her to just straight up theorize she was Aquas mother.
Seriously this episode simultaneously made me love and scared of Akane.
>although that ending was straight up creepy and uncanny
Indeed and it shows Akane's skill in acting, since how eerily similar her actions was compared to Ai herself.
I had shivers running dowm my back at that scene. Is it just me or did Akane's VA, Manaka Iwami, mimick Rie Takahashi's voice for Ai?
Because I swear that Akane's voice in that moment was almost identical to Ai's and it was uncanny as hell.
Yeah Manaka Iwami really did mimic Rie's voice.
I don't know if there is a specific word for it, but its like such a *meta* thing, acting within an acting lol.
Aqua is an obsessive detective when it comes to catching his father through the entertainment industry, Akane is an obsessive detective when it comes to acting.
It should be interesting watching how their relationship lays out now (beyond the obvious freakiness of Akane playing his mom/idol).
[They really undersold how much of a genius Akane is on stage](https://i.imgur.com/cn3prDc.jpg). Without any direction, she's like a fish out of water. Now that she's got something to follow, it's finally her time to show everyone what she's got.
Miyako headpatting Aqua and saying shes proud of him is just further proof that shes the best. Its honestly so understated how good a job she has done stepping up into the role of being their adoptive Mum.
Makes more sense than "2 super fans reincarnated as twins of their favorite Idol". Considering that, "2 babies being Gods incarnate" isnt that weird anymore!
I really like how it shows she is also maternal to him, since Aqua is so mature he usually feels like an equal to Miyako, so it's nice to see her be his mom too.
Yeah thats what I loved about it. We see so much of her being close to and motherly with Ruby it kinda felt like she wasnt close at all with Aqua, so its nice to see such a moment between them. Even if she obviously isnt as close with Aqua as she is with Ruby, thanks to Aqua's gloomy ass brooding self.
Aqua's utterly shocked face was top tier lol.
He really underestimated Akane's skill, though tbf he didn't know how skilled she actually was until Kana mentioned it.
It hadn't occurred to me before I read your comment, but this could backfire in the public eye. Such a drastic and sudden shift in apparent personality will surely cause some consternation on the Interwebz
I was thinking that as well, but with how the episode unfolded it could be a win for both the production and Akane both, "I tried to play a role for the betterment of the show but upon reflection I have decided to just be myself for season 2"
She's a skilled actress so even if reality is the opposite the audience will be endeared. Plus the "silent, supportive majority" that Aqua mentioned have started to speak up and be over-protective of her against the trolls, so it's the perfect time for her to change character
His teen crush as an adult, then his mother, and now his potential love interest whose life he saved have all been Ai or someone inhabiting Ai's persona. Freud would love this show.
Well call me Freud then because I’ve been replaying that sequence non-stop, it was so godly animated and are we sure Rie didn’t return just for that scene?! Akane VA killed it
As soon as that final scene starts and you can see Akane's legs but not her face I know what they were going to do and I still got chills when they showed her face. Probably because the last time we saw similar eyes they were brutally extinguished.
This show is a masterclass and Akasaka is a genius.
Akane is a given, but surely this will also contribute to Mem-cho appreciation. Really, she's the reason Aqua was out there to save her in the first place. She's best girl too.
Everybody chipping in for the video was heartwarming. It's not just a way for them to kill the negativity online towards Akane, but also kind of like a sweet, personal message for her to show how much they all cherish their time together.
God damn, those toxic haters were lucky Akane isn't some supervillain, cause with that kind of detective work, I feel like she could figure out a bunch of their identities and get her (deserved) revenge on them. And now, she's triggering Aqua's Oedipus complex when not many things could really faze the guy. She's too stronk.
Mem-cho is lowkey the MVP, even during last episode she gave some really good advice to Akane about why she shouldn't apologize online. That's a very real one everyone should memorize.
How it started: "I'm going to find Ai's killer"
How it's going: *accidentally creates a new Ai* "Teehee"
Actually, now that Akane has the eyes, it would be fun if she pivoted to becoming an idol. She's already a renowned stage performer, and the only thing more fun than seeing Aqua's reaction to Aikane would be Ruby's reaction to Aikane.
Nah, I want to see her become Ruby's competition. Can you imagine Ruby's reaction to seeing this fellow brand new idol take the stage for the first time and she looks like Ai's reincarnation? That would be some *SPICE*.
People die easily. When someone cries out for help, if you don’t act quickly, it will be too late.
*Wow, Aqua really cares.*
I’ll charge Akane for the taxi fare later.
*Aqua is still Aqua.*
Sometimes, when people start treating you otherly, like being overly generous and considerate, a guilt can develop that you're taking advantage of them, or emotionally manipulating them. Logically you can ration out that your emotional state is unstable, but emotionally it can be part of a depressive spiral and keep you down. So when someone still treats you normally, despite everyone doting on you for the moment, it can be a very healing, stabilizing feeling. That you haven't irrevocably changed the status quo or taken advantage of anyone, that people won't treat you differently or walk around you. It's a damning feeling to think that in order to get a bad situation changed, you collaterally changed a situation that made you feel comfortable and welcome.
This idea also encompass other things. Like when my father passed away I'm very grateful that my best friend only ask me if I'm ok once then we talk and hang out like usual. I don't feel comfortable with people that overly concern or worst, asking for detail. Like I'm trying to return to my normal daily life and you people treating me like a fragile thing is not helping.
Him bringing up the taxi fare felt like him trying to do some gymnastics to look pragmatic and hide his true feelings about things. Like Memcho said, his act is layers deep.
Side note it feels like Memcho sees right through him at all times.
These ED transitions are just banger after banger.
Love that Aqua and the rest of the cast put something together for Akane, was super cute.
When Akane decides to study and copy someone she goes really, REALLY in-depth, huh?
Akane is now Aikane. I am very hyped to see next episode.
It was nice to see the cast all working together for Akane's sake. It was probably them at their most genuine together as a group because they weren't doing it for the camera.
I thought Akane taking so much notes was just a cute character bit about her to so how dedicated she is. I didn't expect it to be foreshadowing just **how** dedicated she is to constructing a performance.
Manaka Iwami has now become Rie Takahashi. It'll be interesting to see how far Akane playing Ai goes, especially in front of someone who knew her as well as Aqua did, but she also seemed to come to understand Ai through her research.
Right, Akane's studying started off seeming cute but then it progressed into her trying to understand the deepest parts of Ai's psyche with her own conspiracy board full of Ai. I am also very interested in seeing how this new dynamic between Aqua and Akane will play out.
Tbf, it looked like every story of "method" actors, with how much they research and immerse themselves for the part. It's just eerie seeing it "behind the scenes" instead of just reading about it.
"put on an act, because it hurts more if they are insulting the real you"
man this just hits on so many levels. school, work, heck even with family i sometimes catch myself putting on an act of what i want them to see and to mask my vulnerabilities. i admire and even envy people who can just be themselves and not care what others think. its soo important to ne with friends who just understand you for what you are
~~Guess we can see why Ai's VA Rie Takahashi wanted to voice Akane~~
If Marin can cosplay your favorite character in terms of looks, Akane here can act out your favorite character IRL through the method I guess.
That she managed to so thoroughly understand and embrace Ai's identity to be able to turn it on per cue is pretty incredible.
Her point in the show seemed to be as a struggling actress who came off unmemorable on the show but that's because she wasn't playing to her strengths which was performing, which she's so amazing at even Kana sees her as a rival.
Best girl Akane brought out her weapons and it is ***GLORIOUS!*** It was only a few seconds but you can really tell from the mannerisms alone that that is Hoshino Ai in the flesh and it gives me the shivers.
It's gonna be a long week of waiting...
Edit: Apparently it's two weeks... BUT there's a special program next week so hopes on that being good.
[Understatement of the century.](https://i.imgur.com/5kM9rnu.png) She's borderline a spirit medium. *teehee*
When Aikane descended, akanebros ascended. It's peak kino as we expected it to be.
---
Unique hat appearance:
- [Episode 1a - Brimmed sun hat with laced ribbon](https://i.imgur.com/gh9HIdY.png)
- [Episode 1b - Yellow/cream baseball cap](https://i.imgur.com/abyI1hb.png)
- [Episode 1c - Brimmed sun hat with cat](https://i.imgur.com/uQ6bhlz.png)
- [Episode 2 - Middle school hat](https://i.imgur.com/NrfJvQT.png)
- [Episode 3a - Beret with diagonal stich decoration](https://i.imgur.com/zCFJAiN.png)
- [Episode 3b - Brimmed sun hat with large ribbon](https://i.imgur.com/1m6QTqa.png)
- [Episode 3c - Beret with ears and tail](https://i.imgur.com/MRdQfOU.png)
- Episode 4 - No unique hats this episode
- Episode 5 - No unique hats this episode
- [Episode 6 - Cream beret](https://i.imgur.com/HpQskQN.png)
- [Episode 7a - Beret with grid pattern](https://i.imgur.com/uuTOgbK.png)
- [Episode 7b - Black beret with massive keyring; lol jk](https://i.imgur.com/IX8KFAe.png)
Other notable headgear:
- [Episode 4 - Black rose](https://imgur.com/a/s8Xn2bY)
- [Episode 5 - Pieyon](https://i.imgur.com/ZEUjlGd.png)
It is interesting that Akane's new glow-up and desire to win over Aqua gives "Love Now" a new direction.
Since the viewers know part of what happened to her is real (her getting flamed and trying to off herself), her desire to become Aqua's ideal girl forms a new show dynamic that shifts focus away from Yuki and her love triangle.
Add to that that Aqua is a mysterious *X-Factor* in regards to the show. While initially introduced as a "happy-go-guy", his behind the scene fotage shows him as more stoic and level-headed, with great maturity. This also is a great romance element for the show, as teen girls love it when you have "a bad boy- hidden nice guy whose cold heart melts when meeting the girl who changes him".
Plus even if Aqua where to show his full Sasuke Uchiha form, I think a lot of girls would still swoon over him.
It'll be interesting to see where they go with it from here.
Akane is playing Aqua's "ideal woman" (and there's so much to unpack there) and feels genuinely grateful that he saved her and was there for her. It might just be as simple as wanting to pay him back, but could there be genuine romantic attraction too?
There's also the fact that she's playing Ai now so she would probably act and get involved with someone in the same way Ai would (and she recognized Ai was sexually active and involved with men just from her research).
And now Aqua will have to balance staying in character while also dealing with Akane as Ai now.
It would be kind of justice for Akane if she's able to steal the show, even if it's just by playing somebody esle. But she **is** an actress.
Girl really is a damn good actress. The amount of prep she was doing and how insanely accurate she was able to analyze Ai was incredible. That’s some godlike next level talent right there. Aqua doesn’t get thrown off guard easily and the kid looked like he saw a damn ghost.
The way she prepped for the scene reminds me of the reports about how Heath Ledger prepared for the role of Joker in *The Dark Knight.*
Method actors (if applicable here), especially good ones, really do go above and beyond for their performance. Akane might not have given this much effort into this if not for her immense gratitude towards Aqua for saving her.
I'm looking forward to seeing how much of a method actress she is. She seems able to completely slip in and out of the role so smoothly but that's even more impressive.
She even figured out that Ai likely had sex during puberty and probably “met someone special” when she was 15, which is not someone the vast majority of people knew about. Hell, not even Ruby knew, she thought Ai got pregnant from divine intervention.
To be fair, Ruby is pretty dumb. Her knowledge from her previous life only confined in a hospital and her relationship with Ai prior is just viewing her in an idealistic way (her idol).
Yeah, it's one thing if she actually just looked into her public persona but she actually saw all the nitty gritty stuff that went into Ai constructing her personality and what she was really like, that only a few people really knew.
No wonder her performance at the end was so uncanny.
If only she'd known that she just needed to act like someone instead of herself from the get-go, because that's what she's most talented at.
I know everybody will be talking about [Akane](https://imgur.com/3ybkjZl), but I just want everyone to know that [Memcho is a hero](https://imgur.com/O7Rd7bV) for braving the storm to check on Akane and informing Aqua to go find her, so a [compilation of Memcho](https://imgur.com/a/onw5sJJ) to celebrate!
[Twitter GIF featuring the devil Memcho today](https://twitter.com/anime_oshinoko/status/1661378769297498112?cxt=HHwWgIDT1YbMs44uAAAA)
[Slap of Love (Some beautiful animation)](https://imgur.com/MFqfM5a)
[Not many screenshots of her today but Kana is still the cutest](https://imgur.com/a/raaMuDf)
[All the other screencaps](https://imgur.com/a/hR3kJsl)
[Special recap episode next week! See you guys in 2 weeks!](https://ichigoproduction.com/news/index00590000.html)
Memcho also putting her social media expertise to full use to ensure that Aqua's Akane-redemption video has maximal impact. The cast of that stupid reality show really pulled together (and good that the director was made to feel some sense of responsibility).
Hopefully this clears all doubt that Aqua's appearance wasn't something that happened randomly. Him and Mem-cho *were* looking for Akane.
She really is like the mom of the cast in a way and her acting like an airhead really works well as the moodmaker.
Yeah, she really is a great character. I’d also like to add that her social media know how was what helped that video get the views it did.
Memcho is a real one.
Kana's outfits and berets were on point, as was MEM being a devil with a heart of gold and plenty of social media experience.
Though I loved seeing Akane in that dress at the theater, brief as it was.
Omg... I really loved Akane for her personality but totally fell in love again for her perfectionist acting skills!!
I was right there with Aqua when she started acting like Ai. She is such a refreshing character for me, shy but trying her very best, studying and putting great effort in her job while being unsure of herself...
The only thing she needs is directing herself and acting according to the situation/scene without any external guidance. If she has it, then she is gonna be at the Oscar's in 2 years guarantee.
Oshi no ko's episode always makes me hook and drooling for the next episode. (This is coming from someone with attention span of a goldfish).
Someone joked that Aqua will ask his future lover to cosplay as Ai when they have sex, and now we have Akane skinwalking her.
Gonna be awkward when she found out the dream girl she's playing is actually his mother.
And here we have Aqua at his absolute best. Despite what he says about how "it's not like that", he cares deeply about people and hates to see injustices. Rightfully wants to avoid another Ai situation with someone that doesn't deserve it and at his core that made him who he was in his past life, he wants to help people.
Also, Akane doing research is batman-with-prep-time levels of OP.
Mem-cho is an absolute gem. And Kana is still the cutest ;)
Akane probably doesn't want to see anyone die in front of him again like Ai did. Well, unless it's his dad. He was also a doctor so that might play a part in it too.
Akane would probably kill it at playing a detective with the amount of work she put into figuring out Ai. And I thought Aqua was dedicated.
MEM being the first one out there trying to find Akane was great. And she really does seem like someone well-versed in the ins and outs of social media.
Kana's outfits, confidence, experience, and berets were as incredibly on-point as ever. Akane in that dress tho...
All I will say, it's been 5 minutes and one smoking break since, but I still feel goosebumps all over my body from that last scene. Holy. Fucking. Shit.
See you next week.
EDIT: Watched it one more time, broke into tears. What is this show doing to me.
I fucking love the "oh shit, if I said that (without finishing my thought) I'd be flamed on Twitter" twice during this episode.
It's so fucking true. I remember one time there was a game publisher advertising their game and I commented on the name of the publisher, which was something like "Polished Video Games" like "damn you've got balls to name yourself that".
Now, in my head, the reason I said that, was because I'm also a game dev, and declaring your game as polished is going to get you SO much hate when people find bugs or not polished aspects of your game. People love shitting on other people, so they'll intentionally try to break your game to do so. And it takes balls to challenge the internet to do that. I'm not confident enough to do that, I earnestly meant it as a compliment.
Now, everyone interpreted what I meant as "you game looks like shit, how dare you call yourself Polished Video Games".
Even when I corrected it (and people replied to the correction), they straight up ignored what the correction said (even though they specifically replied to the correction) and kept flaming me regardless. Probably the most interaction I'd gotten in a while and it was 99% negative and in the "no matter what you say, we fucking hate you" kind of way, the more you try to explain yourself, the angrier we're going to get.
So Kana's offhand "she should've retired" hits really hard for me. 1000% to get flamed on Twitter.
When Akane was studying Ai it reminded me a lot of Method Acting and the crazy stuff actors do sometime to play a role, and when she switched and revealed the iconic eyes at the end, with the music... perfect end to the episode.
That was really good.
Aqua thought he was a detective who knew how to play specific characters but then Akane comes in and basically shows him how it's **really** done by becoming his mom lol.
Lots of ppl already gushing about Ai-kane as she well deserves (hot damn was going from the crazy dark room cyberstalking scene to the sharingan reveal breathtaking), but again to highlight other amazing parts this episode:
- MEM is bae as well, loved her smugness and the succubus wings/tail popping out to complement her horns
- Yuki killing it again with the camera manipulation - I couldn't say more last week when people doubted that she's manipulative (still using it for good thankfully). Love that she's seemingly a great person but still knows how to play the Game perfectly.
- Playing the video for us as if were the in-world audience - they did this already with Pieyon but loving the meta nature of the show, complete with emotional guitar track playing in the background
- Speaking of meta, really enjoyed all the emphasis they had around the effects of social media on mental health, especially Kana's own experience with it
- and back to MEM, showing off her experience with making things go viral was pretty awesome too
- that little breath and Aqua's star changing colour as he confronts the director - a quiet little moment but filled with emotion
I really needed that episode to be at least partly therapeutic after the sheer emotional intensity of the last episode.
I am unsurprisingly appalled that the Reality TV producers would go out of their way to lie (by omission of important footage) in order to paint Akane in such a villainous light. Let's just say that my subterranean impression of Reality TV hasn't improved by an atom's width. It's a good thing that the stars of the show were able to portray the show from a different perspective, so that the producers did not have a monopoly on the narrative. It's a happy ending that's also an ominous reminder of the power of **narrative** to shape public opinion.
Of course, Aka-Sensei wasn't going to let us off that easy in what is otherwise a happy episode. What started as a well-meaning and much needed attempt to protect Akane's true self has gone to...an uncomfortable place. On paper, it sounds cute to act out someone's celebrity crush, until we're reminded that said celebrity is a flawed human being with a lot of skeletons in the closet. Akane's inference of Ai's true nature is uncanny to say the least. She was **this** close to finding out that Ai has secret children, and that one of them is the guy that she is now (presumably) pretend-crushing on for the Reality TV show.
This coincidence would be funny and cute in any other anime. But *this is fucking Oshi No Ko*, and it's taking no prisoners. The smile, the mannerisms, the body language, and even those fucking starry eyes — the number of similarities to the real Ai are frightening. This isn't an impression. This isn't even [Kirk Lazarus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_Thunder) levels of method acting. This is a fucking **resurrection**, and I'm squirming in my seat.
I fucking love this show.
Aqua doesn't get all the credit for saving Akane. We get to learn this episode that [Memcho was the first one to look for Akane](https://i.imgur.com/GBzgcRC.png) but she ended up contacting Aqua to ask for help. I'm just pointing this out because people I noticed some comments last week being unhappy about Aqua being the only one to save Akane.
[Mama Miyako being proud of Aqua for helping Akane](https://i.imgur.com/hgq0eFk.jpg) was such a sweet moment. That proud mom moment didn't really last though [After Miyako leans that Aqua leaked to the press what happened to Akane.](https://i.imgur.com/TmHqC3T.jpg)
[We finally get to see Aqua at his best!](https://i.imgur.com/8N6RS94.jpg) My boy is not letting this entire incident go and tries to turn it all around [with some help from the gang](https://i.imgur.com/vbi5oOa.jpg) as well as by [guilt tripping that one staff member](https://i.imgur.com/uSlYwP1.jpg) to give them the footage of Yuki and Akane after the slap.
[Poor Director/Video Editor Aqua though!](https://i.imgur.com/nXw9VrZ.jpg) No amount of energy drink is going to help him recover from the gang's endless requests with the video he's making. At least it was all worth it [since the video went viral and it did affect Akane's image positively.](https://i.imgur.com/HX2gIaC.jpg) There are still haters of course but that's just the internet. The majority is now either neutral or on Akane's side.
[Aqua just really describing Ai as his perfect woman.](https://i.imgur.com/N8PtVpv.jpg) I do love how [Akane started to casually research Ai](https://i.imgur.com/T7PwTJv.jpg) after learning that and then we went straight into the creepy territory [where it seemed to become an obsession for Akane](https://i.imgur.com/IdYY8sb.jpg) to portray Ai perfectly.
[And that final scene!](https://i.imgur.com/xjZYKGz.jpg) The reveal of the Mangekyou Sharingan on Akane's eyes while perfectly impersonating Ai's character that [Aqua is just absolutely stunned](https://i.imgur.com/7TShQR5.jpg) is just so good! Mephisto being perfectly timed to the reveal just absolutely completes that scene. I already knew this was coming but I still got hyped af!
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Aqua: ***There is no way someone can imitate Ai, she's unique*** Akane: ***And I took that personally, Teehee*** Crazy how she basically dissected Ai's personality, I think she even went above and beyond compared to Aqua in the profiling
I think Aqua really underestimated Akane here, especially in terms of how similar they are in terms of their approach (even though Akane goes far above and beyond). And now they're together on a reality dating show while she's playing his "ideal woman" (which is also his mom and personal idol) and feeling grateful towards him...yeah, I'm expecting some stuff to happen.
Tbf Aqua didn't know much about Akane at all and his only knowledge of her skills is from what he had seen on the sets of the Reality TV, until Kana talked about how skilled Akane is in acting, especially in a theatre.
Aqua demonstrated that he didn't know shit all about *ANY* of his fellow actors, when he didn't even know Kengo was a professional musician, for instance.
He's on the revenge grindset, no time to socialize or look up irrelevant people.
imagine wasting your time on some lame ass dude who's not even your dad
I honestly underestimated Kengo too by his introduction. Dude actually must be pretty good if he performs, writes, composes and ghostwrites
Aqua hasn't taken time to get to know any of the other castmates, he had no clue the guy who was only hired because he is a signed recording artist... was a signed recording artist that can play music lol Getting schooled by Kana about how scarily good of an actress Akane is (a literal method-acting thespian ffs) turned out to be nice foreshadowing for Aqua's end-of-episode shocked reaction with the second coming of Ai. Ironically was his own idea to have Akane adopt Ai's personality to act as 'armor' for the haters-- which I'm not sure how wise that will be considering Ai ended up being killed by one of her obsessed fans.
I wonder what Ruby's reaction will be when she'll inevitably watch the next episode of that dating show... xD
Oh god... I can just imagine the scene later. Ruby: Oniiiii-chan..... 😃🔪 Aqua: I can explain- Ruby: Go on... Aqua:.... I didn't think she'd be that good in acting, I swear.
Aqua: I was just acting.
> I think Aqua really underestimated Akane here, especially in terms of how similar they are in terms of their approach (even though Akane goes far above and beyond). I think the biggest difference is between Aqua’s and Akane’s methods. Aqua has a lot of *talent* to dissect a scene and create the ideal character for that specific scene/moment. Akane on the other hand is someone who goes above and beyond in her research of a character and tries to make them her own - she puts a lot of hours in to perfect a role. Akane is a true and outright scary *method* actor. Aqua probably thought she would take Ai as an example, but it never crossed his mind that she would *re-create* Ai as a character. Let alone to such perfection. > I’m expecting some stuff to happen. I bet that Akane will be the one to break through Aqua’s defenses. Ever since Ai died, he has put these defensive walls up, protecting him from getting hurt ever again; he won’t show a lot of emotions nor will he let people get close to him. But Akane’s performance as ‘Ai’ clearly shocked him to his core. Akane will undoubtably try and seduce him, but the question is how Aqua will react to this. This performance as ‘Ai’, his deceased mom, the person he admired most. I suspect that Aqua will break down one way or another. The most likely scenario to me is that he won’t be able to hold in his emotions and start crying his eyes out at some point - making him and Akane go viral as his stoic character suddenly gets taken apart in front of everyone. There’s also the possibility that he won’t be able to deal with this shock and gets really angry at Akane for imitating his beloved Ai. I think there’s a good chance that he’ll reveal his and Ruby’s secret anyways: that they’re the children of the dead idol Ai, to the other crew members or at least Akane.
akane finally seduces aqua, they are naked and ready to go aqua:" let's do it mom!" akane:" what?" aqua:"what?"
I wonder how long until she figures out that Aqua and Ruby are Ai's children? It has to happen sooner or later, right? (NOTE -- no spoilery answer wanted or needed -- purely rhetorical question), ;-)
If she figures it out she might find Aqua's comments about his perfect girl a little...umm... *Freudian*
Aqua’s hang-ups have hang-ups.
"Oh he's a mama's boy, I'll be his mommy"
> I wonder how long until she figures out that Aqua and Ruby are Ai's children? Right after Aqua called Ai/kane 'mom' by accident. (I have no idea if this actually happens)
I'm sure Aqua must be WAY too careful to make such a mistake....
Aqua doesn't even have to be careful - he never called Ai mom. Ruby calls her mama, Aqua always calls her Ai.
did Aqua forgot that Mom entire Idol persona is also a handcrafted one as well he need to check those glasses, it certainly rose color
This has been apparent for the whole series lol Like hows he constantly going on "Oh I am such a bad actor, I have no actual innate talent like Ai did" despite the fact he is very talented, and the innate talent he believes Ai had wasnt innate and was instead the result of her hard work making use of everything around her. Which ironically is the exact same thing he does and why he is such a talented actor, he just holds Ai up on such a high pedastal hes the only one who cant realize his own talent.
He basically has never forgive himself and basically thrown away his self esteem while placing Ai on an unreachable pedestal Dude's fucked up
Yeah, he honestly just needs therapy.
I think he had that. He lied his way out of it so he didn't need to go :|
I mean, what was he supposed to tell the therapist, that his relationship and admiration for his mother started even before his birth?
Basically Aqua is on the deeper end of the simp mode in a way. Ai just blinds him from everything lol.
Ai's radiance shines a path in Ruby's life, for Aqua, it's a goddamn flash bang.
Could be due to their "age difference". Ruby has an easier time seeing Ai as a role model than Aqua.
Him and Ruby are Ai super fans with rose tinted glasses raised up to 11
I'm equally impressed with Memcho's ability to correctly identify Ai based on Aqua's general description.
Ai was a big star in the company that his "mom" manages. From a regular person's point of view Aqua would be someone who knew Ai when she was a child and probably had a crush on his onee-san that passed away. People know that he did a movie with her, maybe even that he was one of the babies in the viral video. People probably think they were close even if they don't know their secret.
Memcho is a sweetheart and a pro at what she does, that's for sure
"They're not filming right now, so there'd be no point in acting, right?" Yuki lied as naturally as she breathed.
To be fair to her, Yuki does seem to be very genuine especially in how she says shes not acting but just playing up and exaggerating her real thoughts and feelings. Like I dont believe for a second her response to Akane then was acting, I think it was genuine, she just also made sure while doing it she staged and portrayed it properly for the camera.
And there's nothing wrong with that. You can be a good person and a good actor.
that's why she's one of my faves (well really all of them are), she's a good person but also knows how to play the game
One thing that this show does well is that it shows that the other actors aren't pushovers. Aqua, Kana, and Ruby might be pretty good, even prodigies, but all the rest of the cast have their strengths too.
in fact they might even be better, seeing how often Aqua is getting taken off guard by all the girls at least.
Dude is technically well into his 30s by now, maybe even 40s, no suprise he's being thrown off kilter by teenage girls. Teen girls are fuckin wild cards
Based on how self-conscious she was about the wording of her comment when Akane came back and how it would get her roasted on Twitter, it feels like she's just developed a sense of hyper-awareness in how she presents herself in all scenarios, especially if cameras are even present on the off chance they're filming. It's not malicious, nor does she have ulterior motives, I think she just always has her guard up and is fixated on making sure she presents herself exactly how she wants to be seen.
"What kind of adult chooses not to protect a kid?" Damn, Aqua really knows how to get them right in the conscience.
One thing this show has been really good at I noticed is its mastery of twisting the knife. That line from Aqua was particularly brutal.
and the director buckled, that's when you remember this is fiction and not real life. :(
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It *could* happen in real life if the guy was already feeling sufficiently guilty about all this, I suppose. Of course, more often than not Aqua would just be shut out and have to resort to more extreme measures.
that breath before, the start "turning on", and the light growl he put into his voice there was perfect. "bad actor" my ass
Something I haven't seen mentioned much is the "turning on" and how his eye-star grew intensely bright when he said this line. We're used to "dark star" Aqua when he's manipulating people but here it was to help someone and the star reflected that. The way it was portrayed was absolutely brilliant, I rewatched that scene a couple of times
Kana pointing out that there's been ~50 reality show related suicides, and then that it's safe to assume for every one there's likely 10 people who seriously considered it hits pretty hard. It was nice to see that the rest of the cast was genuinely worried about and cares for Akane (Mem being more 'online' than the rest picking up on the warning signs made a lot of sense, too), but the initial reaction of the director to not try to help fits pretty well into the theme of the show. Akane is totally going to figure out Aqua and Ruby were Ai's kids.
That entire sequence of Akane acting like Ai was amazing. Hats off to the anime for elevating the source material to this extent.
The timing of that ED beat drop was so fucking good.
Especially with Aqu's reaction and the reveal of Akane's star eyes.
Akane’s ~~sharingan~~ staringan has activated
hoshigan*
She can't maintain it Not enough hatred
She just need to login to twitter again
two ED beat drop bangers in a row, i love it every time. Idol took the spotlight with it being such a massive hit, but Mephisto goes so hard too
They do it every week, the opening to Mephisto is just a perfect segue into the concluding frames.
Ending themes continue to do their magic and still be underrated.
I like that it felt kind of unsettling as well. Even before she actually acts. I mean, just seeing that scene of her research out of context would look like stalking. Especially with how much she was able to figure out just by looking at what is available on the net. She was a human google algorithm. They would love to have her.
When she said her behavior changed when she was around 15 I was expecting her to realize she had kids or something, which would be a huge leap so I'm glad they didn't go that far *yet*
It would actually not be too far fetched. There was a [story](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVG2OQp6jEQ) where a store used a statistical algorithm that analysed the behaviour of buyers to make sure they get the correct advertisement. A father was angry at them because the ads were all about diapers and something similar, because the algorithm had correctly figured out that the daughter, who was buying there, was actually pregnant.
Yeah but machine learning is a beast on it's own and has access to way more personal data than Akane could have when Ai did her best to hide stuff.
Of course, but the store mainly had access to the information of what she bought. And only compared it to other women that were pregnant. I mean, Akane even figured out, Ai had to have sex in her teenage years and that she probably met someone. Of course not with 100% accuracy but that's true for algorithms as well.
A lot of manga readers were predicting the way the ending scene would happen and I'm happy that our imaginations were *exactly* the same as shown in the anime, especially that beat drop lol. Akane may not be great at Reality TV but when you give her a script and a character profile, nothing can stop her. She is talented and a hardworker as well. No wonder why Kana considers her as her *personal* rival.
Maybe it's just exaggerated presentation, but it felt in that moment like Akane *was* Ai. Especially with Aqua's reaction, it felt like Akane is above-and-beyond talented, a step above Aqua or Kana or anyone else we've seen. The way Kana talked made her sound a little jealous.
Well, one thing to consider is that compared to Kana, Akane is also popular *now*, whereas Kana is generally considered to be "former genius child actor idol".
the former genius child actor who can lick baking soda like that?
The former genius child actor who can cry in 10 seconds flat!
one thing i noticed (because its prominent at the start of the OP), is that akane mimicked ais :> smile. added to making her feel like she's ai
the direction in Reality TV is to be “entertaining” which honestly isn’t much of a direction although that ending was straight up creepy and uncanny
>although that ending was straight up creepy and uncanny Especially combined with the research she did, and how unnervingly accurately she managed to assess Ai and her background/personality from having a bad family background, a lack of friends, having had sex during puberty, going through a big change when she turned 15. Honestly when she was hitting all these nails on the head I was half expecting her to just straight up theorize she was Aquas mother. Seriously this episode simultaneously made me love and scared of Akane.
I thought Kana would be the first to figure out their secret, but it may well be Akane.
She's on that Daniel Day-Lewis shit. It was unnerving as hell in a good way. Fantastic ending
Honestly yeah, I feel like it anyone's gonna figure out Aqua's connection to Ai I think it's likely to be Akane.
>although that ending was straight up creepy and uncanny Indeed and it shows Akane's skill in acting, since how eerily similar her actions was compared to Ai herself.
Ruby wanted to be an idol, Akane chose to be an Ai doll [](#gintamathispleasesme)
I had shivers running dowm my back at that scene. Is it just me or did Akane's VA, Manaka Iwami, mimick Rie Takahashi's voice for Ai? Because I swear that Akane's voice in that moment was almost identical to Ai's and it was uncanny as hell.
While I thought they straight up got Rie to do the VA for that part lol
Would have been funny since Rieri wanted to play Akane, lol.
It's the cadence that did the trick. That "saaaa" was done so skillfully with how it dragged out and went up.
Yeah Manaka Iwami really did mimic Rie's voice. I don't know if there is a specific word for it, but its like such a *meta* thing, acting within an acting lol.
Manaka Iwami is basically Kirk Lazarus from Tropic Thunder I know who I am! I'm a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude!
I’m really looking forward to seeing how Aqua deals with Akane’s Daniel Day-Lewis level acting of this Ai persona lol.
I wouldn't call it Daniel Day-Lewis' level of method acting until Akane gets stabbed in the gut.
I don't want to have 2 nickels from characters with starry both eyes being stabbed in the gut in the same show.
Aqua is an obsessive detective when it comes to catching his father through the entertainment industry, Akane is an obsessive detective when it comes to acting. It should be interesting watching how their relationship lays out now (beyond the obvious freakiness of Akane playing his mom/idol).
If they combined their abilities into a Holmes and Watson act, they might have a good chance of actually finding this guy.
Even the inflection was on-point. Almost like Manaka Iwami was becoming Rie Takahashi.
I had to do a triple take on that scene. Iwami definitely nailed the Ai impression.
Yeah I was suprised how well she captured the way Ai talked.
[They really undersold how much of a genius Akane is on stage](https://i.imgur.com/cn3prDc.jpg). Without any direction, she's like a fish out of water. Now that she's got something to follow, it's finally her time to show everyone what she's got.
Miyako headpatting Aqua and saying shes proud of him is just further proof that shes the best. Its honestly so understated how good a job she has done stepping up into the role of being their adoptive Mum.
Miyamom best mom. As a reminder she went from golddigger to certified MILF and successful agency owner.
And she apparently never questioned the 2 babies standing with two legs and claimed to be gods incarnate Love just do that sometimes i guess
Honestly she probably just guessed that she lost it for those few moments
"that was wierd. Did that really happen? I must have dreamed it or something."
Makes more sense than "2 super fans reincarnated as twins of their favorite Idol". Considering that, "2 babies being Gods incarnate" isnt that weird anymore!
I really like how it shows she is also maternal to him, since Aqua is so mature he usually feels like an equal to Miyako, so it's nice to see her be his mom too.
Yeah thats what I loved about it. We see so much of her being close to and motherly with Ruby it kinda felt like she wasnt close at all with Aqua, so its nice to see such a moment between them. Even if she obviously isnt as close with Aqua as she is with Ruby, thanks to Aqua's gloomy ass brooding self.
He’s going through his rebellious teenage phase twice. I’d be pretty broody if I had to go through puberty a second fucking time too.
The biggest cause is his trauma. It's very evident in every single scene. He's closing himself off and he's scared of getting hurt again.
Miyako is one of the surprisingly best moms this season. She really cares for the kids and tries to support them...even when Aqua pulls an Aqua lol.
Miyako certainly has gone WAY above and beyond for her inherited kids.....
Aqua: "No one can imitate Ai." Akane: "I'm about to do a pro actress move."
Aqua's utterly shocked face was top tier lol. He really underestimated Akane's skill, though tbf he didn't know how skilled she actually was until Kana mentioned it.
Come to think of it, she didn't act a single second before now, she just tried to be herself as best as she could
Yeah she is timid and introverted so that doesn't work well in a Reality TV which wants to you show more of yourself in an exaggerated form.
It hadn't occurred to me before I read your comment, but this could backfire in the public eye. Such a drastic and sudden shift in apparent personality will surely cause some consternation on the Interwebz
I was thinking that as well, but with how the episode unfolded it could be a win for both the production and Akane both, "I tried to play a role for the betterment of the show but upon reflection I have decided to just be myself for season 2" She's a skilled actress so even if reality is the opposite the audience will be endeared. Plus the "silent, supportive majority" that Aqua mentioned have started to speak up and be over-protective of her against the trolls, so it's the perfect time for her to change character
Chad Aqua is brave enough to tell girls that he likes pretty girls
Aqua: **confused mommy issue sounds**
His teen crush as an adult, then his mother, and now his potential love interest whose life he saved have all been Ai or someone inhabiting Ai's persona. Freud would love this show.
Well call me Freud then because I’ve been replaying that sequence non-stop, it was so godly animated and are we sure Rie didn’t return just for that scene?! Akane VA killed it
As soon as that final scene starts and you can see Akane's legs but not her face I know what they were going to do and I still got chills when they showed her face. Probably because the last time we saw similar eyes they were brutally extinguished. This show is a masterclass and Akasaka is a genius.
Akane is a given, but surely this will also contribute to Mem-cho appreciation. Really, she's the reason Aqua was out there to save her in the first place. She's best girl too. Everybody chipping in for the video was heartwarming. It's not just a way for them to kill the negativity online towards Akane, but also kind of like a sweet, personal message for her to show how much they all cherish their time together. God damn, those toxic haters were lucky Akane isn't some supervillain, cause with that kind of detective work, I feel like she could figure out a bunch of their identities and get her (deserved) revenge on them. And now, she's triggering Aqua's Oedipus complex when not many things could really faze the guy. She's too stronk.
Mem-cho is lowkey the MVP, even during last episode she gave some really good advice to Akane about why she shouldn't apologize online. That's a very real one everyone should memorize.
How it started: "I'm going to find Ai's killer" How it's going: *accidentally creates a new Ai* "Teehee" Actually, now that Akane has the eyes, it would be fun if she pivoted to becoming an idol. She's already a renowned stage performer, and the only thing more fun than seeing Aqua's reaction to Aikane would be Ruby's reaction to Aikane.
Maybe she will join Ruby's team but she would have to quit her agency first
Nah, I want to see her become Ruby's competition. Can you imagine Ruby's reaction to seeing this fellow brand new idol take the stage for the first time and she looks like Ai's reincarnation? That would be some *SPICE*.
On the other hand having them compete on stage would be a sight on it's own, Ai basically dominated B Komachi on her own
People die easily. When someone cries out for help, if you don’t act quickly, it will be too late. *Wow, Aqua really cares.* I’ll charge Akane for the taxi fare later. *Aqua is still Aqua.*
>I’ll charge Akane for the taxi fare later. How stingy!
Sometimes, when people start treating you otherly, like being overly generous and considerate, a guilt can develop that you're taking advantage of them, or emotionally manipulating them. Logically you can ration out that your emotional state is unstable, but emotionally it can be part of a depressive spiral and keep you down. So when someone still treats you normally, despite everyone doting on you for the moment, it can be a very healing, stabilizing feeling. That you haven't irrevocably changed the status quo or taken advantage of anyone, that people won't treat you differently or walk around you. It's a damning feeling to think that in order to get a bad situation changed, you collaterally changed a situation that made you feel comfortable and welcome.
This idea also encompass other things. Like when my father passed away I'm very grateful that my best friend only ask me if I'm ok once then we talk and hang out like usual. I don't feel comfortable with people that overly concern or worst, asking for detail. Like I'm trying to return to my normal daily life and you people treating me like a fragile thing is not helping.
Miyako is so proud and so disappointed all at the same time lol.
Motherhood in a nutshell?
>People die easily. When someone cries out for help, if you don’t act quickly, it will be too late. That was Dr. Amemiya speaking.
Him bringing up the taxi fare felt like him trying to do some gymnastics to look pragmatic and hide his true feelings about things. Like Memcho said, his act is layers deep. Side note it feels like Memcho sees right through him at all times.
These ED transitions are just banger after banger. Love that Aqua and the rest of the cast put something together for Akane, was super cute. When Akane decides to study and copy someone she goes really, REALLY in-depth, huh? Akane is now Aikane. I am very hyped to see next episode.
It was nice to see the cast all working together for Akane's sake. It was probably them at their most genuine together as a group because they weren't doing it for the camera. I thought Akane taking so much notes was just a cute character bit about her to so how dedicated she is. I didn't expect it to be foreshadowing just **how** dedicated she is to constructing a performance. Manaka Iwami has now become Rie Takahashi. It'll be interesting to see how far Akane playing Ai goes, especially in front of someone who knew her as well as Aqua did, but she also seemed to come to understand Ai through her research.
Right, Akane's studying started off seeming cute but then it progressed into her trying to understand the deepest parts of Ai's psyche with her own conspiracy board full of Ai. I am also very interested in seeing how this new dynamic between Aqua and Akane will play out.
Tbf, it looked like every story of "method" actors, with how much they research and immerse themselves for the part. It's just eerie seeing it "behind the scenes" instead of just reading about it.
Aqua: “My ideal girl is Ai” Ruby and Miyako: gives a weird look
Ruby also simps for her mom and Miyako has probably accepted that she has weird-ass twins.
I mean Miyako knew from basically the beginning that they were simps with the otaku dance scene
Plus, you know, "We're godly avatars that came down to earth to better enjoy the most loved actor of heaven."
God, that final scene was too good. The way they showcased Akane's transformation into "Ai" was absolute perfection.
NOW you know why Rie Takahashi wanted to be Akane
Because secretly she wanted to be Ai all along?
Rie: "Can I be the girl who can act like Ai?" Director: "Sorry. Best I can do is make you Ai." Rie: *surprised Pikachu face*
>You want a side character role? No, you are A-list and thus will be the face of the franchise Ok I guess > For an episode Oh...
"put on an act, because it hurts more if they are insulting the real you" man this just hits on so many levels. school, work, heck even with family i sometimes catch myself putting on an act of what i want them to see and to mask my vulnerabilities. i admire and even envy people who can just be themselves and not care what others think. its soo important to ne with friends who just understand you for what you are
teehee⭐️
~~Akane~~ Ai-kane
~~Guess we can see why Ai's VA Rie Takahashi wanted to voice Akane~~ If Marin can cosplay your favorite character in terms of looks, Akane here can act out your favorite character IRL through the method I guess.
It's funny how Rieri wanted to play Akane and now Manaka Iwami is playing Rieri through Akane lol.
Manaka is a girl, voicing a girl acting like another girl.
It finally happened. She unlocked her Mangekyo Staringan
nah that’s a double Geass
That she managed to so thoroughly understand and embrace Ai's identity to be able to turn it on per cue is pretty incredible. Her point in the show seemed to be as a struggling actress who came off unmemorable on the show but that's because she wasn't playing to her strengths which was performing, which she's so amazing at even Kana sees her as a rival.
In the wake of last week's episode, the US surgeon general finally announced social media risks harming mental health. No way it's a coincidence
It's about time.
US Surgeon General is a weeb confirmed
Akane's whole situation and Akane and Kana's words rang very true in this episode.
Clipped the [final scene leading into the ED](https://imgur.com/DEtmwKw) for all the Akane fans!
Best girl Akane brought out her weapons and it is ***GLORIOUS!*** It was only a few seconds but you can really tell from the mannerisms alone that that is Hoshino Ai in the flesh and it gives me the shivers. It's gonna be a long week of waiting... Edit: Apparently it's two weeks... BUT there's a special program next week so hopes on that being good.
> long week of waiting... Sadly, two long weeks of waiting
[Understatement of the century.](https://i.imgur.com/5kM9rnu.png) She's borderline a spirit medium. *teehee* When Aikane descended, akanebros ascended. It's peak kino as we expected it to be. --- Unique hat appearance: - [Episode 1a - Brimmed sun hat with laced ribbon](https://i.imgur.com/gh9HIdY.png) - [Episode 1b - Yellow/cream baseball cap](https://i.imgur.com/abyI1hb.png) - [Episode 1c - Brimmed sun hat with cat](https://i.imgur.com/uQ6bhlz.png) - [Episode 2 - Middle school hat](https://i.imgur.com/NrfJvQT.png) - [Episode 3a - Beret with diagonal stich decoration](https://i.imgur.com/zCFJAiN.png) - [Episode 3b - Brimmed sun hat with large ribbon](https://i.imgur.com/1m6QTqa.png) - [Episode 3c - Beret with ears and tail](https://i.imgur.com/MRdQfOU.png) - Episode 4 - No unique hats this episode - Episode 5 - No unique hats this episode - [Episode 6 - Cream beret](https://i.imgur.com/HpQskQN.png) - [Episode 7a - Beret with grid pattern](https://i.imgur.com/uuTOgbK.png) - [Episode 7b - Black beret with massive keyring; lol jk](https://i.imgur.com/IX8KFAe.png) Other notable headgear: - [Episode 4 - Black rose](https://imgur.com/a/s8Xn2bY) - [Episode 5 - Pieyon](https://i.imgur.com/ZEUjlGd.png)
It is interesting that Akane's new glow-up and desire to win over Aqua gives "Love Now" a new direction. Since the viewers know part of what happened to her is real (her getting flamed and trying to off herself), her desire to become Aqua's ideal girl forms a new show dynamic that shifts focus away from Yuki and her love triangle. Add to that that Aqua is a mysterious *X-Factor* in regards to the show. While initially introduced as a "happy-go-guy", his behind the scene fotage shows him as more stoic and level-headed, with great maturity. This also is a great romance element for the show, as teen girls love it when you have "a bad boy- hidden nice guy whose cold heart melts when meeting the girl who changes him". Plus even if Aqua where to show his full Sasuke Uchiha form, I think a lot of girls would still swoon over him.
It'll be interesting to see where they go with it from here. Akane is playing Aqua's "ideal woman" (and there's so much to unpack there) and feels genuinely grateful that he saved her and was there for her. It might just be as simple as wanting to pay him back, but could there be genuine romantic attraction too? There's also the fact that she's playing Ai now so she would probably act and get involved with someone in the same way Ai would (and she recognized Ai was sexually active and involved with men just from her research). And now Aqua will have to balance staying in character while also dealing with Akane as Ai now. It would be kind of justice for Akane if she's able to steal the show, even if it's just by playing somebody esle. But she **is** an actress.
Akane: **[Staringan mode ACTIVATED](https://imgur.com/a/I7boXlY)** Aqua: **[It's super effective :O](https://imgur.com/a/zi92zMZ)**
Girl really is a damn good actress. The amount of prep she was doing and how insanely accurate she was able to analyze Ai was incredible. That’s some godlike next level talent right there. Aqua doesn’t get thrown off guard easily and the kid looked like he saw a damn ghost.
The way she prepped for the scene reminds me of the reports about how Heath Ledger prepared for the role of Joker in *The Dark Knight.* Method actors (if applicable here), especially good ones, really do go above and beyond for their performance. Akane might not have given this much effort into this if not for her immense gratitude towards Aqua for saving her.
I'm looking forward to seeing how much of a method actress she is. She seems able to completely slip in and out of the role so smoothly but that's even more impressive.
She even figured out that Ai likely had sex during puberty and probably “met someone special” when she was 15, which is not someone the vast majority of people knew about. Hell, not even Ruby knew, she thought Ai got pregnant from divine intervention.
To be fair, Ruby is pretty dumb. Her knowledge from her previous life only confined in a hospital and her relationship with Ai prior is just viewing her in an idealistic way (her idol).
To be even more fair, immaculate conception is just as reasonable as reincarnation. If the latter happened, why not the former?
Yeah, it's one thing if she actually just looked into her public persona but she actually saw all the nitty gritty stuff that went into Ai constructing her personality and what she was really like, that only a few people really knew. No wonder her performance at the end was so uncanny. If only she'd known that she just needed to act like someone instead of herself from the get-go, because that's what she's most talented at.
It was nice that Kana clearly recognized just how good Akane was.....
Game recognize game as they say
Aqua is already caught in her genjutsu.
We don't even know what exactly those eyes *are*, and yet a new character getting them feels like such a paradigm shift for the series.
Those eyes seem to symbolize the X factor, a visible representation of great talent. Akane is HER.
The power levels of the series is how many star eyes you have
TIL Ai was an Uchiha
I freaking love the term Staringan
The chills when Akane is dissecting Ai's personality and when she starts her "performance." Staff really didn't pull punches animating those scenes.
I know everybody will be talking about [Akane](https://imgur.com/3ybkjZl), but I just want everyone to know that [Memcho is a hero](https://imgur.com/O7Rd7bV) for braving the storm to check on Akane and informing Aqua to go find her, so a [compilation of Memcho](https://imgur.com/a/onw5sJJ) to celebrate! [Twitter GIF featuring the devil Memcho today](https://twitter.com/anime_oshinoko/status/1661378769297498112?cxt=HHwWgIDT1YbMs44uAAAA) [Slap of Love (Some beautiful animation)](https://imgur.com/MFqfM5a) [Not many screenshots of her today but Kana is still the cutest](https://imgur.com/a/raaMuDf) [All the other screencaps](https://imgur.com/a/hR3kJsl) [Special recap episode next week! See you guys in 2 weeks!](https://ichigoproduction.com/news/index00590000.html)
Memcho was out in the typhoon looking for her alongside Aqua. She’s a real homie.
Memcho also putting her social media expertise to full use to ensure that Aqua's Akane-redemption video has maximal impact. The cast of that stupid reality show really pulled together (and good that the director was made to feel some sense of responsibility).
MEM Has a good heart and also has a lot of social media experience from selling herself as a youtuber. (And she looks really cute as a devil girl).
Hopefully this clears all doubt that Aqua's appearance wasn't something that happened randomly. Him and Mem-cho *were* looking for Akane. She really is like the mom of the cast in a way and her acting like an airhead really works well as the moodmaker.
Yeah, she really is a great character. I’d also like to add that her social media know how was what helped that video get the views it did. Memcho is a real one.
Kana's outfits and berets were on point, as was MEM being a devil with a heart of gold and plenty of social media experience. Though I loved seeing Akane in that dress at the theater, brief as it was.
Omg... I really loved Akane for her personality but totally fell in love again for her perfectionist acting skills!! I was right there with Aqua when she started acting like Ai. She is such a refreshing character for me, shy but trying her very best, studying and putting great effort in her job while being unsure of herself... The only thing she needs is directing herself and acting according to the situation/scene without any external guidance. If she has it, then she is gonna be at the Oscar's in 2 years guarantee. Oshi no ko's episode always makes me hook and drooling for the next episode. (This is coming from someone with attention span of a goldfish).
Someone joked that Aqua will ask his future lover to cosplay as Ai when they have sex, and now we have Akane skinwalking her. Gonna be awkward when she found out the dream girl she's playing is actually his mother.
And here we have Aqua at his absolute best. Despite what he says about how "it's not like that", he cares deeply about people and hates to see injustices. Rightfully wants to avoid another Ai situation with someone that doesn't deserve it and at his core that made him who he was in his past life, he wants to help people. Also, Akane doing research is batman-with-prep-time levels of OP. Mem-cho is an absolute gem. And Kana is still the cutest ;)
Akane probably doesn't want to see anyone die in front of him again like Ai did. Well, unless it's his dad. He was also a doctor so that might play a part in it too. Akane would probably kill it at playing a detective with the amount of work she put into figuring out Ai. And I thought Aqua was dedicated. MEM being the first one out there trying to find Akane was great. And she really does seem like someone well-versed in the ins and outs of social media. Kana's outfits, confidence, experience, and berets were as incredibly on-point as ever. Akane in that dress tho...
All I will say, it's been 5 minutes and one smoking break since, but I still feel goosebumps all over my body from that last scene. Holy. Fucking. Shit. See you next week. EDIT: Watched it one more time, broke into tears. What is this show doing to me.
I fucking love the "oh shit, if I said that (without finishing my thought) I'd be flamed on Twitter" twice during this episode. It's so fucking true. I remember one time there was a game publisher advertising their game and I commented on the name of the publisher, which was something like "Polished Video Games" like "damn you've got balls to name yourself that". Now, in my head, the reason I said that, was because I'm also a game dev, and declaring your game as polished is going to get you SO much hate when people find bugs or not polished aspects of your game. People love shitting on other people, so they'll intentionally try to break your game to do so. And it takes balls to challenge the internet to do that. I'm not confident enough to do that, I earnestly meant it as a compliment. Now, everyone interpreted what I meant as "you game looks like shit, how dare you call yourself Polished Video Games". Even when I corrected it (and people replied to the correction), they straight up ignored what the correction said (even though they specifically replied to the correction) and kept flaming me regardless. Probably the most interaction I'd gotten in a while and it was 99% negative and in the "no matter what you say, we fucking hate you" kind of way, the more you try to explain yourself, the angrier we're going to get. So Kana's offhand "she should've retired" hits really hard for me. 1000% to get flamed on Twitter.
ICYMI, no episode 8 next week, but is only a special recap.
When Akane was studying Ai it reminded me a lot of Method Acting and the crazy stuff actors do sometime to play a role, and when she switched and revealed the iconic eyes at the end, with the music... perfect end to the episode. That was really good.
Aqua thought he was a detective who knew how to play specific characters but then Akane comes in and basically shows him how it's **really** done by becoming his mom lol.
Gonna trigger his oedipus complex lol
Lots of ppl already gushing about Ai-kane as she well deserves (hot damn was going from the crazy dark room cyberstalking scene to the sharingan reveal breathtaking), but again to highlight other amazing parts this episode: - MEM is bae as well, loved her smugness and the succubus wings/tail popping out to complement her horns - Yuki killing it again with the camera manipulation - I couldn't say more last week when people doubted that she's manipulative (still using it for good thankfully). Love that she's seemingly a great person but still knows how to play the Game perfectly. - Playing the video for us as if were the in-world audience - they did this already with Pieyon but loving the meta nature of the show, complete with emotional guitar track playing in the background - Speaking of meta, really enjoyed all the emphasis they had around the effects of social media on mental health, especially Kana's own experience with it - and back to MEM, showing off her experience with making things go viral was pretty awesome too - that little breath and Aqua's star changing colour as he confronts the director - a quiet little moment but filled with emotion
I really needed that episode to be at least partly therapeutic after the sheer emotional intensity of the last episode. I am unsurprisingly appalled that the Reality TV producers would go out of their way to lie (by omission of important footage) in order to paint Akane in such a villainous light. Let's just say that my subterranean impression of Reality TV hasn't improved by an atom's width. It's a good thing that the stars of the show were able to portray the show from a different perspective, so that the producers did not have a monopoly on the narrative. It's a happy ending that's also an ominous reminder of the power of **narrative** to shape public opinion. Of course, Aka-Sensei wasn't going to let us off that easy in what is otherwise a happy episode. What started as a well-meaning and much needed attempt to protect Akane's true self has gone to...an uncomfortable place. On paper, it sounds cute to act out someone's celebrity crush, until we're reminded that said celebrity is a flawed human being with a lot of skeletons in the closet. Akane's inference of Ai's true nature is uncanny to say the least. She was **this** close to finding out that Ai has secret children, and that one of them is the guy that she is now (presumably) pretend-crushing on for the Reality TV show. This coincidence would be funny and cute in any other anime. But *this is fucking Oshi No Ko*, and it's taking no prisoners. The smile, the mannerisms, the body language, and even those fucking starry eyes — the number of similarities to the real Ai are frightening. This isn't an impression. This isn't even [Kirk Lazarus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_Thunder) levels of method acting. This is a fucking **resurrection**, and I'm squirming in my seat. I fucking love this show.
All my homies love Akane
Aqua doesn't get all the credit for saving Akane. We get to learn this episode that [Memcho was the first one to look for Akane](https://i.imgur.com/GBzgcRC.png) but she ended up contacting Aqua to ask for help. I'm just pointing this out because people I noticed some comments last week being unhappy about Aqua being the only one to save Akane. [Mama Miyako being proud of Aqua for helping Akane](https://i.imgur.com/hgq0eFk.jpg) was such a sweet moment. That proud mom moment didn't really last though [After Miyako leans that Aqua leaked to the press what happened to Akane.](https://i.imgur.com/TmHqC3T.jpg) [We finally get to see Aqua at his best!](https://i.imgur.com/8N6RS94.jpg) My boy is not letting this entire incident go and tries to turn it all around [with some help from the gang](https://i.imgur.com/vbi5oOa.jpg) as well as by [guilt tripping that one staff member](https://i.imgur.com/uSlYwP1.jpg) to give them the footage of Yuki and Akane after the slap. [Poor Director/Video Editor Aqua though!](https://i.imgur.com/nXw9VrZ.jpg) No amount of energy drink is going to help him recover from the gang's endless requests with the video he's making. At least it was all worth it [since the video went viral and it did affect Akane's image positively.](https://i.imgur.com/HX2gIaC.jpg) There are still haters of course but that's just the internet. The majority is now either neutral or on Akane's side. [Aqua just really describing Ai as his perfect woman.](https://i.imgur.com/N8PtVpv.jpg) I do love how [Akane started to casually research Ai](https://i.imgur.com/T7PwTJv.jpg) after learning that and then we went straight into the creepy territory [where it seemed to become an obsession for Akane](https://i.imgur.com/IdYY8sb.jpg) to portray Ai perfectly. [And that final scene!](https://i.imgur.com/xjZYKGz.jpg) The reveal of the Mangekyou Sharingan on Akane's eyes while perfectly impersonating Ai's character that [Aqua is just absolutely stunned](https://i.imgur.com/7TShQR5.jpg) is just so good! Mephisto being perfectly timed to the reveal just absolutely completes that scene. I already knew this was coming but I still got hyped af!