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Long post ahead. tl;dr - This ending is very effective at framing the whole series as a criticism of the Japanese entertainment industry, as well as the futility of the criticism itself.
After letting this ending stew in my brain for a little bit, I have actually developed an appreciation for it. Let me explain…
From the beginning, OnK has been praised for its frank portrayal of the Japanese entertainment industry including all the backroom dealings, the power of connections, and the profit motives behind stoking the fires of drama. If we zoom out on this story as a whole, we have basically ended the story in an almost identical place to where we started; a young star idol without any family members has become an object of fascination for the public. To keep this up, the idol lies, both to the public and to herself, viewing that as the way to live up to the expectations of others.
Almost the whole story that happens between those two points happens within the bounds of the industry itself; a movie here, a play there, a music video, a concert, etc. All the drama that Ruby and Aqua (and everybody else) dealt with in their lives ultimately ended up being monetized by the industry machinery: that dating show got really popular after Akane’s trauma, Aqua redeemed Sweet Today by channeling the stalker that killed Ai, the life and death of Ai depicted in the movie (the director even won an award!), etc. It’s telling that after all of that apparent success within the industry, everybody left standing seems incredibly sad this chapter.
So, I think an interesting way to view this series is that it depicts the wheels of the entertainment industry slowly turning, grinding people underneath it, to provide the dramatic fuel for the industry itself. It is some kind of perpetual machine that takes in human tragedy and leaves further tragedy in its wake in the pursuit of profit.
The ultimate irony from this interpretation is, of course, that Oshi no Ko itself is being used in the same way. It can criticize the entertainment industry all it wants, but it isn’t going to bring about any lasting changes because it is an incredibly popular (and profitable) franchise. It reminds me of the famous quote by Audre Lord, recontextualized in this instance for the entertainment industry:
For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.
In addition to the manga, there is anime, merch, novels, stage plays, live action adaptation, etc. All of these ventures are making money for the people involved. At the same time, it has dredged up tragic victims of the past as well as created new ones. All of this makes the industry criticisms in Oshi no Ko ring just a bit hollow.
I had pretty much the same take on the series.
For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.
Not that this page showed beating the master at his own game, since it just ended up being more drama fodder. “Drama” itself just seems very broad.
I think this is a 10/10 but I still don’t like it. It’s a me problem. I wish the ending at least implied a possibility of change in the status quo. I think if Oshi No Ko criticising the entertainment industry is meaningless, then it would have been better if it didn’t try to say anything and just enjoyed the drama. I realise how stupid that sounds but I’m not claiming that it’s rational.
I’m considering maybe writing a more consequential ending on AO3 as a fun creative exercise, just to scratch that brain itch.
That is a nice take on a meta-narrative level as the most powerful moments have shown how “popular” tragedy is as, I for one when thinking back, has it’s strongest points anchored around tragedy with Aqau’s moments that draw in the audience throughout the series, Akane’s tipping point, Ruby’s channeling of her darkness, Melt’s acrobatic display, even Kana with how people were gravitated by her acting born from her channeling her pain ( with her trying to overcome it through her feelings for Aqua and how that also manifested in a positive way,somewhat, in the play) and heck even Kamiki seemed to be successful despite his proclivities.
There are examples with almost all the characters showing how the industry has effected them in some way, most of it being tragedy or dealing with its reality and trying to work within the system.
It shows how we, as humans, seem fascinated by the darkness and how captivated people are by those able to channel that or overcome it.
The industry knows this and it is eager to profit off of it just as much as it is eager to profit off those that know how to “play the game”.
One needs to adapt, be strong and endure the suffering and through that can one’s strength of character be radiant but that is contrasted by how ruthless the industry is as well, as people are quick to come to conclusions and how powerful that pressure is as people resort to all sorts of terrible ideas and actions in pursuit of trying to find meaning from that pressure - which can dangerously become their crutch as the industry expectation bears down on the individual.
It is personal opinion and all, but I liked it - not mind blowing but satisfying enough… it started with lies to make one happy, and ended with lies making one happy - although Ruby seems to be living with lies with some depth born from love whereas Ai lied to find love and tried to love in that deception.
Kana seems to have to find peace in her regret and probably processes it through her acting like how she used her mother.
Ruby did what her mother couldn’t which is bitter sweet but a dream was realised, in multiple ways if one wants to intepret the brighter stars as her playing to her intended audience.
Overall, satisfied with the conclusion as I can try to fill in the blanks on my own with my own narrative based off what the series showed what the characters are capable of and it brings to an end the journey of follow them
Yeah, I don’t particularly mind this ending either. I mean, yeah, it’s rushed, but it’s far from the worst endings I have seen. Out of curiosity I went and checked out the reddit discussion thread for the end, and you would think Aka was the stalker that killed all their parents or something.
Yeah, seems Reddit has a different take, ranging from rage to dissapointed…mmmm, I guess you could say it is a real life version of the pressure of the media where you have people who look to find deeper meaning in a work and you have others who take a more surface look or react emotionally with them comparing the work to others that left them disappointed.
Almost like Love Today or Tokyo Blade
Shows you why Aqua decided to try bury all his family trouble with him
All I can think of is people carrying expectation from Aka’s other work and how his earlier stories proverbially poisoned the well so to speak - as there seems there is a feeling of Aka not being able to “end a series”.
Cannot help but think of the Manga artist scenes at the start of the play arc and how it is re-enacting it self out.
People loved the characters and are probably dissappointed in not receiving the payout they felt they deserved or expected from the personal investment in the story.
I say fair enough, hope no one takes it too far then the show becomes too real, but I have to try accept that not everything clicks with people like same way things do not click with me
I’m conflicted. On one hand, I had it easier than people that followed it week by week, since I basically binged 165 chapters in two days and only had to wait one week more for the last one.
On the other hand… Holy 💩, that was a ride. It pulled a Fuuka twice on me. And I do not like that, even if the aforementioned is in my top ten list.
I am not sure if Aka wanted to play more Apex or whatnot, but it honestly felt a little too stretched at the end. What about all the people other than Ruby? Yes, there were panels depicting them. Not enough. Kana was just shown completely (and understandably) wrecked, but nothing more.
You can’t do this to me. 😢
Yeah, I wish we got more of this series post-Aqua (as much as I criticize other manga for dragging things out). We have spent so long with these characters that ending things with just a panel or two after a traumatic event like that feels dismissive. It’s already been announced that he has a new series starting next year, so I guess creative passions can come and go.
Well, that certainly was one of the endings of all time. Aqua decided ages ago that he’d take revenge on Ai’s killer no matter the cost to himself. I don’t know how many people expected him to actually get himself killed doing it, especially after the movie seemed like it would be revenge enough, but here we are.
I think the most surprising thing to me was Ruby managing to forge ahead. A couple chapters back, I was sure it was headed towards a Romeo/Juliet style complete tragedy. Her character changed a lot over the course of the series. In the early days of re-forming B Komachi, she was so insistent on never lying to where now she has adopted a similar view to Ai, that constantly lying is what she needs to do.
I loved FMA’s ending
I hated Naruto’s ending
This one? It’s mid. In comparison to its potential, how Oshi no Ko ended is so ass. The only consistently good thing is Mengo’s art. And that Aka committed to Aqua dying.
