Goro Amamiya is a doctor who resides in a remote hill town in Japan. He works with all kinds of patients, from old people who suffer from chronic diseases to young cancer patients. It was this one young cancer patient who would have an incredibly big impact on his life, such an impact that both he and we as the readers did not see coming. This young girl named Sarina, was a huge idol fan. But due to her medical conditions she was never able to live out the dream of becoming a star. Poor thing never even danced properly, nor sang her lonely heart out, all due to her poor health. To carry on her memory Goro decided to become a fan of her favorite idol Ai, to the disgust of his head nurse.
In a twist of fate, this 16-year-old idol, Ai Hoshino, appears in his office one day, in a sort of lackluster attempt at a disguise. That isn’t the only surprise, she is also 16 weeks pregnant, with twins. Go figure, a boy and a girl. Even at the non-stop begging of her manager, Ai wont have an abortion nor will she give out the name of the father. An orphan herself who has been through different centers and adoptive homes, she is determined to fulfill both her dreams, of becoming the greatest idol, as well as being a mother and having a loving, caring endearing family which she never had.
Goro admits her into his hospital under an alias and takes care of her until the very date of her delivery. As he gets the call that she is ready to deliver, he gets attacked by a overzealous fan of Ais and dies from the injuries, in a ditch somewhere. Meanwhile Ai gives birth to two healthy children, baby boy she named Aquamarine and a baby girl named Ruby.
Now, you have heard about Chekhov’s gun, but what about Chekhov’s reincarnation. That’s right folks, in a very WTF twist, which two random side characters predict when asking each other if they would like to be reborn as the child of their favorite ideal foreshadow, Goro gets reincarnated as Aqua. His twin sister is none other than Sarina, his former patient. Goro, from now on Aqua realizes who his sister is, and knows that both of them have kept their memories. And so this goes from a criticism of the entertainment industry through the eyes of a pregnant teen idol to the life of a teen idol who is secretly a mother as well right? Well… not quite.
As time passes, both of the twins adjust to their new life and roles, Ruby much more enthusiastic, than Aqua. They grow and like their mother start becoming a part of the entrainment industry. Both of them get a movie role. Ruby is determined to follow into her mother’s footsteps, which was her dream even before she was born. Aqua turns out has acting chops but he is reluctant to full commit to that career choice.
And then, as their lives were going smoothly, and Ai’s career kept ascending higher and higher, the obsessive fan appears again, kills her in front of Aqua, who keeps Ruby from seeing their mother final few moments. The fan later commits suicide, Aqua declares that he will infiltrate the entertainment industry and find their father who he thinks is really responsible for Ai’s death.
Reading this was an absolutely amazing roller-coaster ride. Its fast paced, charming and absolutely wild in the twists and turns it makes throughout the story. I haven’t experienced so much pleasant yet shocking surprises since I watched Samurai Flamenco. The big difference is that with that anime you felt everything felt like random, not thought through, but somehow, they made it work. In Oshi No Ko everything is deliberate and structurally very sound. Every element of the story is introduced with exact precision, appearing and reappearing with masterful timing and impact to the story. The twist, which is an anime and manga staple for the last few years in a lot of the popular media, had me bedazzled. The story goes from doctor and his cancer patient to doctor and his pregnant teen idol patient exploring the dark side of the entertainment industry, to a mother and her secret children navigate that same dark exploitive world to finally, a murder mystery revenge story. And with all those shift and dramatic turns, the story flows smoothly, there are not bumps in the road.
The art doesn’t lag behind the writing. I like that different characters have unique eye pupils. Ai and her kids have these radiant stars shinning bright pupils. The people and proportions are very realistic, except for the size and shape of the manager’s wife chest, who becomes the twins’ adoptive mother later on. Some of my favorite panels are when Ai delivers some of her messages, the art really makes her seem like this charming, charismatic person who is set to take the world by storm. Additionally, towards the end of the volume there is a panel where Aqua swears revenge. There is so much pain and you can see in the panel just how much that pain deforms him inside and out, turning this man in a child’s body into a revenge hungry fiend with steel plated determination.
The work doesn’t pull punches and gets very deep about the industry. There are so many people with so much talent, and they are just used like meat in a meatgrinder, like soldiers in a WW1 trench. The greedy capitalistic machine just chews them up and spits them out, as soon as they don’t perform well enough. As soon as you don’t perform according to the expected bottom line, you are tossed aside. Thought some of the characters we see just how damaging it can be, when from a very young age you try hard to and get depended on the opinion of others. Its nearly impossible to go on and live a normal life after you have been trained to try and make people like you from most of your life. Fan culture is a double-edged sword. The idol might mean the world to the fans, but once they feel slighted, there is not telling what they could do, something Ai found out in the most brutal way possible.
What To Consume 