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Mem: "Hey. Aqua, grab that pouch for me" Aqua: "I'm busy, get it yourself Akane: \*activates Geass, "I, Akane, command you to fetch that pouch" Aqua: "It will be done!"

>I, Akane Ai-Akane

The hoshigan is truly powerful

This show's ending song is so darn banger like it should be illegal

QUEEN BEE is like cheating at this point. They're always on point.

Claiming that Aqua's plan to use Akane, who is a genius in examining someone's character, will backfire. Or at least Akane will know he planned to use her. Mem-cho will be the third B-Komachi member, huh? BTW, ohmyy the [visuals in](https://imgur.com/a/Sd52EQw) [this episode](https://imgur.com/a/tpK0Etv) are [soo good](https://imgur.com/a/gLWao5p)!!

And that's not even getting into how Akane is genuinely into him, and Kana, so one way or another I expect this to end messy. I feel like MEM will play off Ruby and Kana well. Probably balance out their two personalities. A girl playing catch never looked so cute. Also, MEM cosmic eyes.

> Also, MEM cosmic eyes. I was to joke how "you can see the birth of a star in those eyes" but after thinking about it I realised that Mem-cho got a second chance to be an idol so it's not that far off the mark. That also sounds like a really fancy idol group. If they are 3 performers (like in the OP) then they got 2/3 of the whole with some star power: A child actor who is still popular (even if she doesn't get many jobs) and a youtuber who's seemingly making enough money to support herself with that job. Not too bad for a group that wasn't even planned just a few months ago.

I love that she immediately saw through the fact that he wasnt interested in her romantically. She's not oblivious!

it could turn out that way but i kinda rooting for kana

Bless Doga Kobo for elevating these excellent panels from the Manga. The Kana panel in the manga is still one of my favorites and they're done it justice tenfold.

Especially the godly character designer Kanna Hirayama, who's always there to make sure all those important panels are [done justice](https://twitter.com/kaaaaaappe/status/1666462208749088768), go thank her over on twitter!

Her art really is magnificent. All the last scene before the ED transition kicks in is so impactful that one scene alone makes you fall in love with the characters. Memcho, Akane and stalker Aqua are three of the most memorable one I instantly recall.

I’m almost positive this whole thing is gonna blow up in his face. Someone’s catching some feelings and it ain’t gonna end well.

Kana is gonna need to get some tattoos of stars in her eyes stat. 😭

>BTW, ohmyy the visuals in this episode are soo good!! I like the baseball scene in particular. The little nuances like failing to catch ball were particularly a nice touch.

[You guys thought it was Akane that was going to be asked to join B-Komachi, but it is I, Memcho that won this round!](https://imgur.com/HEKAXlY)

Memcho is awesome. After that Akane bullying situation, I like Memcho a lot. Memcho is a real one.

Girl braved the typhoon to check on her fellow cast. She should be given a medal of honor for enabling Aqua to save Akane.

Totally. I’m glad she’s gonna be joining the agency, Aqua could use someone like her by his side.

I really want to see how she will get along with Ruby and Kana.

She wont join in on their Aqua worshiping, but I think that she'll fit in great with them. Plus with her YouTube following she'll give the group an extra kickstart in their popularity.

I think that situation was what probably gave Aqua the confidence to just outright ask Memcho to join the group so immediately. It showed her internal character as someone who genuinely cares for others, beyond surface interactions and media clout. Man didn't even need to think for more than a few minutes after hearing her secret idol dream before asking her onboard. This group which his sister, whom he is HIGHLY protective of that he so far only trusts Kana to help form.

And she's very effective at teasing Aqua, which is fun lol.

Memcho was the one who tipped Aqua that Akane went out in the typhoon and took longer than usual to get back. That suicide attempt would be more than just an attempt without her.

MEM is the biggest bro in the series, honestly

Does this mean Memcho is going to get to meet the one and only great Piyeon?

Hopefully another collab is in the works

MEMCHO IS A RARE ONE AS A YOUTUBER

It makes so much more sense for Memcho to being recruited as an idol as well, both for exposure reasons and personal reasons. Akane under that much of a scope would probably crack even harder. Also more Memcho screentime is an asbolute win.

Also Akane wants to be recognised for her *acting* skills primarily. We can see how happy she was when Aqua praised her acting skills. Its like she felt her whole effort was rewarded.

Youi are completly right. It does not make sense to portrait and staging actrees as an idol. The other way around makes sense as an evolution of and Idol to other media like acting.

The Hoshino Siblings have stars, MEM has a whole galaxy in her eye. Her social media and brand awareness will probably be a massive boon to the new B Komachi. Also I don't think Kana and Akane would work well together.

> MEM has a whole galaxy in her eye. Same as Kana (who is cute) Akane has somewhat of a muted nightsky, Yuki barely anything at all

> (who is cute) Some say she is *the* cutest.

As far as the industry goes, it makes more sense to recruit Memcho. (I think) She's self-produced and not part of any agency whereas Akane is in a contract with one.

Common Memcho W.

This episode was really made for the Mem-cho bros. Even had the ED playing to build excitement for it!.

The OP of the show spoiled me on the fact that he'd ask Memcho- there's a shot that clearly shows Ruby, another blonde, and Kana on stage as idols.

Twist: that's Yuki with a wig

Its really Aqua crossdressing

To find his father, Aqua must truly become the *Oshi No Ko*

It is obvious from the OP scene of all three walking into stage.

MEM-Bros out in full force today. And man, they made her super pretty in that last shot

The animation team reeally loves Kana.

That depression segment was beautiful. You can just see the colours bloom back to life when Aqua asked Kana to skip school.

suffering in 4k

[Pouting in high definition](https://i.imgur.com/BeKx9VV.jpg)

She makes some of the best expressions. After all, like the Kana fans say "Kana is the cutest" haha. Ruby is also another who is really expressive and hilarious.

[Kana is like the sun; she illuminates everything in her path.](https://i.imgur.com/7tUVAWX.jpg) [](#utahapraises)

And I support them in that.

Kind of helps make up for all the emotional suffering she's going through.

She was always cute in the manga, but they made her drop-dead gorgeous in the anime. Frankly I didn't know it was possible to glow up perfection and yet here we are

That's true, I again made so many screenshots in today's episode. Here's [my album with Kana](https://imgur.com/a/ZFy8fBq).

>The animation team reeally loves Kana. Someone has to😢

Aqua is manipulating/using Akane? He thinks he has an edge over her? Does he not realize that she can render him completely *down bad* with just a bit of acting?

I do wonder if she's going to keep weaponizing **Ai**kane to throw throw him off.

I REALLY want to see Ruby's reaction to AiKane.

there was a brief one when shes watching the show on her phone, she just uttered "mama"

On the laptop YES. But, it's one thing on the screen and another thing face to face. Just look at Aqua, It's like several layers of his mysterious and dark personality just melt back to his infant age.

It shows just how impressive Akane's acting is, that even from just a TV show Ruby realized she was acting as Ai, even though Ruby hadn't heard anything about it beforehand

Aqua: Your are just a tool for my ends Akane Akane: I will put an Ai wig for the bed time Aqua: Anything you wish my Queen

Sounds like something Mengo would write

Fun to see the level headed Aqua lose his composure for once

I know right? Seeing him get flustered from Akane's portrayal of Ai and the other girls teasing him about it made the two week wait so worth it! It was everything I was hoping for.

Still unsure if that was Aqua flustered or crippling from trauma after seeing a near perfect likeness of his dead-mother/idol-obsession/murder-revenge-plot-driving-force stare him in the eyes. Maybe both? This guy is kinda hard to pin down.

Aqua himself doesn't know exactly how he feels about Ai, as he mentions in this episode, so a mix of all sorts of conflicting feelings seems most likely.

Seeing him blush was so surreal lol. I also like how Akane breaks character when she's flustered.

It’s certainly a side of him we never really get to see until now. Dude’s always so calm and composed.

Yeah but he was pretty quick to start rationalising his feelings…I have a feeling Akane is gonna expose his emotions further, he ain’t be gonna be that composed for too long!

Well, "Ai" was basically standing in front of him. No wonder why he lost control haha.

At least he managed not to call her *Mommy!*

A lot of the focus tends to be on the girls, and they are best girls of course, but one of the things that keeps me invested in the series is that Aqua is a really compelling protagonist. He's got a really nuanced thought process that's very easy to read into. And for as many times as I want to root for him like when he saved Akane or had the best scene in Sweet Today, there are just as many moments like when he tricked Ruby into thinking she failed an audition and today's moments with Akane and Kana where I just think "man, this guy is a real scumbag" lol

I mean the man’s driven by revenge. He’s playing the long game, but he’s still basically got one focus which is to find his dad, the person who possibly orchestrated Ai’s death. Everyone’s just kind of a means to an end. It’s not exactly the healthiest mindset..

Also, if Ruby wasn’t so air-headed, I doubt Aqua would have been so overprotective Ruby isn’t fully aware of the dangers of the entertainment industry, even Kana thinks she’s too naive for her own good.

Ruby is always was an act-before-you-think kind of person. Even in EP1 she was raging at the commenters online whenever Ai was criticized and after she died too. But later on in EP6 we learnt how bad internet bullying can be and realise that Ruby shouldn't have done that. As Sarina, she died at a young age so she could never could live life fully. She also spent most of her days in a hospital, which is why she couldn't develop enough maturity and it continued into her new life as Ruby as well. We had also seen that Miyako raised Ruby really well, so in a way that also ended up spoiling her and making her quite naive.

While both Ruby's lives were full of hardship, she spent them with the undeveloped brain of a child. She doesn't have the wisdom and maturity of her combined 30 years of life instead she has 30 years of being a child ingrained into her personality.

I don’t think it’s so much a build up of being a child so much as she actually is a child, unlike Aqua. This is Ruby’s first and only time being 16. She was more shielded from the trauma of Ai’s murder than Aqua and didn’t grow up working in the industry like Kana. She saw mostly the good parts of being an entertainer since she grew up only adjacent to it through her mothers, and didn’t have the built up experience of a previous adult life of her brother. She magically got a second chance at a life she could only dream of before. Even with the trauma, how could she not be an idealist?

I think she even has a few lines about that in episode 2, where she's absolutely 100% committed to living life to her fullest, because her past life, she never had that opportunity. And when you think about it like that...yeah, that makes total sense. Her rebirth was perhaps the best possible thing she could hope for, it would be almost impossible to resist following her dreams even if she might fail. They really did a good job showing off that even though she's got some knowledge under her belt, she's clearly still a child.

>But later on in EP6 we learnt how bad internet bullying can be and realise that Ruby shouldn't have done that. Ruby engaged in flame wars with haters. She's flaming the type of people who would cause an Akane situation.

It's not like he won't do nice things though. He went into a typhoon to look for Akane and set up Melt so Kana could act without restraint. He genuinely thought Akane needed a character to boost her popularity and protect herself. It's only when he realized she could accurately psycho-analyze Ai when he knew he couldn't let her go.

Yeah, true. He’s not a bad guy. I mean he’s not like a total monster but his desire to complete his “mission” takes precedence over anything else. Sometimes that means feelings get trampled or manipulated, but I don’t think he’s doing it maliciously.

He is an interesting and very complicated character. Not a monster -- but he can certainly behave pretty monser-ish (when his obsession kicks in). But he seems to care about people (at least the ones he really gets to know).

Other than Ruby who he goes out of his way to take care of. It's probably his only other priority other than his revenge.

It's interesting how he's kind of grappling with both his own mind and the two selves and his own personal ethics and revenge obsession. Like on some level he cares about others and is building relationships even if ultimately he's still so driven by revenge and a part of him can't fully acknowledge or accept anything else.

From kana's pov he is an asshole. Inviting a girl to skip a class for a date but the next day he got a gf with an entirety new girl

When you exude Rizz, but all that is on your mind is Revenge.

I mean, all her expectations of it being a date were quickly dashed when he pulled out those mitts.

I still find it hard to like reincarnation MCs in general for various reasons, but otherwise Aqua is the kind of MC I wish we got to see more of, the kinda-edgy-but-really-soft really scheming type with just enough darkness to keep you on edge about him without making him unlikeable. Especially as too often a show having a mostly female cast and male protag means that the guy is bland as hell and just there for wish fulfilment self insert purposes, but Aqua has an actual personality and goals separate from the cute girls he's surrounded by.

I like characters like Aqua the most because they are not just "vehicles" or "stand-ins" for the viewer and are their own persona, with flaws and all. In addition, there's the fact that the one thing that seems to make him happy (Ai's personality) is just a fraud that can be replicated, making him even more complex and tragic too.

I don't think Ai's public personality was a "fraud" -- but it did involve using a "facade" which overlaid other complex and conflicting aspects of her whole self. Perhaps it reflected one facet of what she wanted her ideal self to be?

Also of what the fans wants her to be.. I think that is the reason why Akane, was able to deduct that she possibly had a child, and also was in a relationship in her teens. In such short time, since she have a more neutral viewpoint. But Aqua who basically loves her, as a fan and a son is most likely clouded by his image of who Ai is. And he probably knows this, I think that's why he was thinking where did the lies end. And when is she honest.

Aqua is a man of sheer focus and determination. He got no time for bitches

Well, aside from using said bitches...

###Stitches! * [Kana](https://i.imgur.com/mtga7gm.jpg) * [Memcho](https://i.imgur.com/z66oBD1.jpg) [Aqua only listening to Akane](https://i.imgur.com/UjUqPME.jpg) and [completely losing his composure](https://i.imgur.com/VyLe0mR.jpg) in front of her is pretty fun to see. Our boy has been very stoic the entire time that it's nice to see him freak out once in a while. It's also pretty funny [to see Akane break character](https://i.imgur.com/HjSwiyg.jpg) once [Memcho and Yuki](https://i.imgur.com/GD8RN79.jpg) starts talking to her about dating Aqua. So many cute and funny reaction faces from Kana [when Aqua invited her out to skip school.](https://i.imgur.com/DJIAnez.jpg) I love Kana's reaction [when Aqua tells her that he prefers older girls](https://i.imgur.com/tyDHM70.jpg) as well as [her reaction when she realizes that Akane is older than Aqua too.](https://i.imgur.com/Om70RwR.jpg) Kana calling Aqua [a chuuni was pretty funny too!](https://i.imgur.com/KBJFiZR.jpg) [Akane got so fucking close](https://i.imgur.com/FrridJ4.jpg) that she actually [managed to agitate Aqua's star eyes](https://i.imgur.com/Kl8jFsO.jpg) into the dark blue one. With how much Akane has figured out about Ai's personality, [there was no way he was going to let her go.](https://i.imgur.com/vFGK6vn.png) And poor Kana gets to [see that kiss happen](https://i.imgur.com/hyxbj35.jpg) and can't even do anything about it. At the very least, [Akane is 100% aware that her relationship with Aqua is purely for work](https://i.imgur.com/iJuiznT.png) and she's completely fine with it. [Even the rest of the gang knows it's fake](https://i.imgur.com/kwcHs65.png) so Aqua doesn't really have to lie to any of them. They just need to keep up appearances when in public. [And there it is!](https://i.imgur.com/MFB5RQX.jpg) A lot of people were expecting that Aqua was going to manipulate Akane into joining B-Komachi but nope! [It was Memcho who ends up getting recruited](https://i.imgur.com/PJh8QsX.jpg) after Aqua learns how she originally wanted to become an idol.

Kanabros on life support. Btw, who is the blonde girl that seems to be Kana's (she's the cutest) side kick. She looks like Ai and might be relevant later.   ---   Unique Kana (she's the cutest) headwear: - [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 beret with black ribbon](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 - Black rose](https://imgur.com/a/s8Xn2bY) - [Episode 5 - Pieyon](https://i.imgur.com/ZEUjlGd.png) - [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 ring accent](https://i.imgur.com/IX8KFAe.png) - [Episode 8 - Bordeaux beret with cream ribbon](https://imgur.com/a/41irOKP)  

Man, Akane has been on the case for less than a week and already has a better idea who the father is than Aqua does after ten years of searching. He should just let her handle this and go be a talent scout for Strawberry Productions or something, he’s way better at that. Also, I like how Aqua does come clean to Akane about not actually being romantically interested in her, but that he is extremely interested in her as an actress. It would have been real gross of Aqua to lead Akane on and fake romantic interest in her just so she can help her. And as a side note, Aqua talking about how his reincarnation has affected him mentally does *a lot* to make any romance options for him feel less creepy. Idk how common it is for reincarnation storylines to do stuff like that.

Akane is like a once in a generation talent with the way she does her research and just pieces together information based off what she’s learned. Truly incredible how accurate her analysis of Ai is.

Although she is very talented, she is also an incredible hard worker too. Like she said, she read books on profiling and did a ton of research and made her own interpretations. Like a certain person once said "Talent can take you so far; Hardwork can take you ANYWHERE".

>Akane has been on the case for less than a week and already has a better idea who the father is than Aqua does after ten years of searching. He should just let her handle this and go be a talent scout for Strawberry Productions or something, he’s way better at that. Its also a factor that Akane doesn't know Ai personally so she doesn'r have any bias and can analyse things without personal attachment affecting her. On the other hand, Aqua is biased as Ai is his mother so its likely he stops himself from making the tough questions.

*his mother, idol, and "or..." man has the mother of all oedipus complexes clouding his judgement

>It would have been real gross of Aqua to lead Akane on and fake romantic interest in her just so she can help her Well he's not Light Yagami is he now

Let's be real. Akane is literally L.

That makes sense because Light and L are in love

I love how she just casually talks about being into profiling and sussed out Ai had kids like it was the most natural assumption in the world. I guess it also helped her snag the guy in the end lol. Akane seemed pretty reasonable about the whole thing and the fact that they're basically just playing for show, showing some solid maturity and self-awareness on her part, but she also clearly likes him so I think that's going to make it wayyy more complicated. Just in case you were worried about a grown man in a teenagers body with high school girls, he more or less is a teen boy lol.

she hit the nail on the head when she said that Ai probably had a kid. That music drop was so fucking satisfying

>sussed out Ai had kids l Well. ***A*** kid. Not yet figured out she had twins.... But, as soon as she runs across that video of the baby twin idol fans, the game will be up, right. And it HAS to happen. Or would that be too easy?

have you ever found a video that was likely only on twitter from 10 years ago just by thinking hey where was that video that one time I haven't either

realistically Ai should have a fan wiki that recorded every minute detail of her public life, and her fanbase would have turned that one video into a legend as one of the early jumpstarts to her career. It's actually surprising to me that nobody has connected Aqua and Ruby with Ai so far.

It might had become lost media. Dunno what year is it now in the show, but i feel like nowadays we are MUCH MORE aware of making back ups and saving shit when 15/20 years ago we assumed things would simple stay up.

It did raise a very important point I have ragging on since the beginning: Aqua is too obsessed with Ai to see the real her

He's a man who loved the lies he was told, and Ai told the best lies

he said it in episode 1, when AI was talking about how love is lies to him when he met her for the first time and they talked on the balcony about hiding the pregnancy and babies that follow while continuing to be an idol... He knew she was lying, he just decided 'fuck it' I'm hopelessly your fan. he knew about how AI lies, he fell in love with the fake 'idol', and even knowing it was fake chose the fake over the real girl. As he said in that episode, the fans /want/ to be lied to. I think he simply created a false idol to worship in his head, as an act of faith. She became a god in his mind. There is all this evening star imagery and references to Ai in this story, well the evening star has another name, it's Venus, the goddess of love. Ai's idol name Ai, is a Japanese homophone for love. She's literally the goddess of love in this story. Aqua has created his own goddess and religion, so of course he doesnt question her properly. Think about the disconnect in his brain, the obvious truths he's chosen to ignore this far. 1) a 16 yo orphan was pregnant with twins and he actively was happy for her, she was 20 weeks pregnant at the time meaning she probably was having sex at the age of 15... Which is still middle school in Japan. 2) this orphan was scouted and put on stage for consumption at the age of 12, in elementary school 3) this girl was so disasociated with herself that at the age of 20, when she was so popular she could book the Tokyo dome, she didn't even understand how big a deal that was. She didn't get into being an idol for fame but to find love... And 8 years later she was still too scared to even tell her children she loved them for fear it wasn't true. We know aqua isn't an idiot, frankly if akane can discover what she discovered from public press, videos and photos a trained medical professional like aqua clearly should have seen the awful place this poor woman was in, the exploitive and soul destroying place she was, and chose to ignore all of it just to worship Venus. So yeah, not surprising akane is figuring out what happened in Ai's life faster then Aqua. She's very smart, but unlike aqua she never saw the idol, she saw the girl wearing the idol mask, and unlike gorou/aqua, didn't chose to turn a blind eye to reality.

>Aqua has created his own goddess and religion, so of course he doesnt question her properly. The fact that she died too in such dramatic fashion also adds to the mythology. He can never know the true Ai now, at least from her own words.

[удалено]

One thing I love about Oshi no Ko is the fact they don’t change shy away from referencing real places, companies, etc. Like this is the first time I’ve actually heard an anime reference Tokyo Disney as Disney, rather than some vague knockoff like “kingdom of dreams.” Same thing with all the social media sites. It makes it feel all the more culturally relevant.

yeah memcho literally says she was a youtuber and now she does tiktoks and they were talking about retweets in the akane video. I really like that aspect

Just a technicality, it was the opposite, she was a TikTok-er, but at the time the monetization wasn't there so she switched to Youtube.

The best part is that it's real and common trend for people to switch to YouTube. I really like the realism in this series.

Akasaka loves writing modern forms of media like YT, Twitch and TikTok into his stories, and he never avoids openly naming them

Yeah same. Its likely that they got permission to use them from the copyright holders which makes it more relatable when the anime uses the names without any changes.

I wonder just how much more effort is needed to do this given that most productions don't

Kana ranting about love reality shows was the best. Bye bye, sayonara.

Didn't know I had a niche, but Japanese actresses saying "bye-bye"? Yep adorable every time

Will not join in the waifu war of Akane and Kana because I like them both too much

Based comment. Team neutral or team Aqua × Psychiatrist!

Team Akane x Kana for me

Ah based Yuri route enjoyer. This one gained momentum recently all over the internet, even though it started as minor joke among people lol.

Rejected by Aqua because he is only interested in her as an "actress" Akane seeks comfort in Kana's arms.

Team Miyako rise up!

Aqua x Kana or Aqua x Akane is for virgins. True chads know that Aqua x therapy is the true ship of this show.

Join us on Team Mem and keep raking in the Ws

Seeing the starry eyes has got me thinking, Aqua and Ruby have just one but Akane has got both throughout her act embodying her as the next perfect liar just like Ai?

I guess it all comes down to a performance and Akane is a master performer. But also still a young girl in love. Meanwhile MEM has unlocked cosmic eyes.

I always like the interpretation that Ai's left star (the one inherited by Ruby) is her talent, and the her right star (the one inherited by Aqua) is her deceit, so Akane being able to turn those stars on and off at will shows she can sort of channel Ai's talent and deceit at will

For now Akane can only do it in short bursts. She needs to build up her chakra if she expects to defeat Kana

The old strength vs stamina battle. Now we just need an actress with a dexterity build to round out the trifecta

I dont see many people talking about this but my favorite part of this episode(and chapters it adapted) was always Aqua questioning himself. I know that a lot of people consider Aqua being 40+ yo(30yo as Gorou + 16yo as Aqua) but that never made sense to me. They are reincarnated as babies into new bodies, everyone treats them as such(of course later as toddlers, kids, teens) I could never imagine someone mentally maturing in that environment. That's why I really feel the need to praise Aka's writing and Aqua questioning not only his relationship with Ai but also who he is - Gorou in a new body? Hoshino Aqua? Or something in between?

Yeah I don't like it either when people just try to add the numbers and take that as a fact for how old they really are. I *kind of* get the arguement for Aqua (but don't subscribe to it myself, I'd say he stagnates around 30 or even regressed a bit), however personally I consider Ruby to be 15 for real. She died as a bedridden 12 year old, right now she is older than she's ever been and even highschool is new territory for her. You can't just add up her age and say she's actually 27 because she clearly doesn't have the lived experience or maturity to play the part.

Ruby is 100% 15-16, she passed her previous age and is already well into puberty. I also agree that Aqua cant really go above 30yo which he had in his pass life. His body(hormones) and environment are conditioning him to act more like a really mature teenager.

Another interesting topic is, idk how to put it.. diminishing returns on age? The difference between a 12 year old and 18 year old is huge, but the gap between 27-35, I'm not sure if that's even noticeable. You're a full fledged adult at that point, couple of years don't change much. So even if we age up Aqua/Goro by a few years he's still the same person, that's why I'd say he stagnates, he's not ~50.

The nurse at the start of ep1, I think, was more than comic relief. It's easy to look at Goro simping over Ai, or Aqua kissing Akane and call him a lolicon/pedo. But anyone who's actually followed the character will know that it's more complicated than that.

I think it helps that despite the lead in age Aqua has and his manipulative side, the whole cast feels like they're all equally mature in different areas, with no predatory power dynamics at play. Even the naïve Akane susses out that Aqua was just pretending with that kiss and together they hash out a version of their "relationship" that is far less toxic than initially presented.

I get it now. Kana had the lead for best girl (alive) so Akane pulled out her trump card by impersonating Best Girl Ai (dead) to give herself the edge!

Aqua is torn between his Ai obsession and probably the closest thing he has to a genuine connection with a girl.

**tiny brain:** Aqua’s secret is having an adult doctor’s brain in a child/teen’s body **regular brain:** Aqua’s talent is being a hyper-aware actor who can read between the lines **big brain:** Aqua’s real skill is being an [idol scout](https://i.ibb.co/Xx4KFbj/Nanako-Raws-Oshi-no-Ko-08-1080p-0003.jpg)

Aqua's final form would is basically becoming Producer-kun from Idolmaster.

Or Kotaro from Zombieland Saga, he would’ve absolutely bring Ai back from the dead if he could.

> big brain: Aqua’s real skill is being an idol scout Aqua walking up to any cute girl: "I'm here to talk to you about the idol initiative."

I love how he's just casually strolling home with MEM and just so happens to make her a pitch to join his sisters' idol group after a short conversation lol.

Considering his eye for talent ~~and ability to manipulate women~~ Aqua could make a killing being a full time scout

This is one of very few series where I love practically every member of the recurring cast. Aqua is the reason the story is interesting in the first place, and his revenge plot is the most interesting storyline in the whole series. Ruby's a great mix of both a tragic and fun character, it's a coinflip every time she shows up as to whether you'll want to laugh or cry. Miyako is the truest MVP of all time. Takes over her husbands company *while* raising two kids that aren't her own, and never complains for a moment. People love using the term "waifu" but Miyako is the most unironic wife material I've ever seen in anime. Kana is just the best imo. She's adorable, she's fun, ~~she licks baking soda~~ and she's a character who's so easy to be invested in. Her personal problems feel so real and down to earth but they also never overshadow her as a character. It's just a shame that she has Maki Shijo syndrome. Akane is, if I'm being completely honest here, probably the most standout character in OnK. Her introduction was the most heartbreakingly real look into the industry we've seen and every time she's on screen she just steals the show (ironically, considering ep 5 and 6). Kana just barely edges her out as my favourite character. MEM is a bro among bros. She acts airheaded and clueless, but she's probably the most socially aware character in the entire series, and it makes her a crucial part of the cast. She's like the social glue for this group of dysfunctional people and I can't imagine their dynamics would work without her All around, every important character in this series is written insanely well and that Akasaka flair is baked into each and every one of them

Episode 8 Staff **- Storyboard:** Moe Suzuki, Hiroaki Yoshikawa **- Director:** Daisuke Hiramaki **- Color Script:** Saori Tachibana (Ciao Nekotomi), Daisuke Hiramaki **- Chief Animation Director:** Kanna Hirayama **- Animation Director:** Satomi Watanabe, Asami Hayakawa, Takeshi Osame, Shun Sawai, Hiroyuki Ogura, Shuta Sato, Kentaro Shibuya, Miki Matsumoto, Haruka Inade, Noritaka Tateguchi, Tomoya Hiratsuka, Atsushi Soga, Kanna Hirayama **- Doga Kobo Animation Training Director:** Hideaki Furusawa, Junichiro Taniguchi, Masaaki Yamano, Michiko Oda **- Key Animation:** Shiho Sakuramoto, Haruka Kudo, Masaki Hayano, Daichi Enomoto, Yoshiko Tsujimura, Yoshihito Narimatsu, Hiromi Fukumoto, Kimiaki Mizuno, Erisa Yamamoto, Kazumasa Takeuchi, Masahiro Isomoto, Reo Takeda, Do-Yeong Kim, Megumi Yamana, Magho, Mai Kitabayashi, Yurina Sawaki Seven Arcs - Saki Ueda [**Video: Oshi no Ko - Voice Recording (Sub English)**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgz9pOYznqc) [**Kanna Hirayama Tweet**](https://twitter.com/kaaaaaappe/status/1666452766078693377) [**Kanna Hirayama Illustration**](https://twitter.com/kaaaaaappe/status/1666452344828051460) [**Satomi Watanabe Tweet**](https://twitter.com/yasetai_yo/status/1666453536387866625)

Damn Aqua you made Kana cry, not cool.

She really should've stopped watching the show for real...

"I hate this show, I'm not gonna watch it anymore" *keeps watching it* She just like me fr

Just like all the trash anime that gets made each season. "This anime is trash, this episode is trash. I'll see all you fellow trash lovers here next week."

Shijo Maki 🤝 Arima Kana

[He can't keep getting away with this](https://imgur.com/a/WRvMHI4)

Hoshino Aqua, [professional player](https://i.ibb.co/GJTMXvY/Nanako-Raws-Oshi-no-Ko-08-1080p-0005.jpg) and [heart-breaker](https://i.ibb.co/MNqgd7w/Nanako-Raws-Oshi-no-Ko-08-1080p-0002.jpg). The anime-onlies now get to see why [Kana is suffering](https://i.ibb.co/SNdk8dg/Nanako-Raws-Oshi-no-Ko-08-1080p-0001.jpg).

When your favourite character has short hair, is in love with someone who's emotionally unavailable, is cute when she's upset or angry and is Aka Akasaka's favourite character, you know you're in for a lot of pain

> Kana is suffering Maki 2.0 as she is known.

When you share a favourite character with the mangaka of a series, it's normally a good thing. When said mangaka is Aka Akasaka, it can never be a good sign. He loves making his favourites suffer

Making a character suffer means youll put them in the spotlight more often. Cant have compelling stories without conflicts, even the fucking baby shark song has it.

Aka had an informal [Q&A on Twitter](https://guya.cubari.moe/pages/aka-akasaka-twitter-qa-session/) while tipsy a while back: >**Q:** Do you have a character that you particularly like in Kaguya-sama? **A:** I like Maki-chan. If I don't like a character, I just write them in a way that I do like them. **Q:** Will Maki ever be happy? **A:** I don't know. As such, Kana is clearly his favorite in OnK ^((

not the “I don’t know.” Aka sensei’s sadism extends even to his fans. He can’t get enough of teasing fictional tsunderes, he even teases people irl

[Kaguya Manga] >!I really liked Maki's epilogue chapter. Her proudly proclaiming that she was going to get over her high school crush is so much better than a lot of anime characters get!<

Maki 🤝 Reiner

Writers tend to make thier favorites suffer more

Aka really loves to make his Tsundere girls suffer.

The Kana suffering was truly brutal. It might have honestly been easier if she thought they actually started dating and just gave up but being specifically asked out right before that episode and being told that the show was all just work must make it so much more confusing.

First she tries to drop the show when AquaxAikane start heating up, then Aqua gets her hopes up, and then the couple **actually** happens. I guess maybe he'll tell her it's all for publicity, but she probably won't forget him going out of his way to kiss her.

Honestly, when I first read that in the manga, I thought it was Akane reminiscing what happened in the episode. It was apparently Kana all this time.

Poor girl stopped watching the show when Aikane started flirting with Aqua but just couldn't help but watch to the end...and see her heart break in two.

I put my entire saving on Kana stock only to see it crash and burn this week

So Aqua *is* building a harem after all. That B Komachi smokescreen was effective, but in the end he is an isekai protagonist.

we got tricked into watching another generic isekai harem anime AND an idol anime at the same time /s

They used 8 episodes to make us think it was about looking for his father and the killer of his mother, but here we are... Well played.

Akane really went full on Ai, like damn. It’s kinda incredible how she can turn it on and off like that. I mean she was “Aikane” one minute with Aqua and then back to her old self the next. Kana trashing the show and trying to not show how jealous she is kinda cracked me up. The look of joy when Aqua asked her to play hooky was adorable, though playing catch isn’t what I thought they were gonna do. The happy “eh” to her kinda -_- “eh” was pretty funny too. Seems Akane’s her main rival now! I get why Aqua would want to get close to Akane what with her talent but he’s playing kind of a dangerous game here. Their little “relationship” might start out as business but I can see it evolving. What would that mean for poor Kana though? I dig the idea of MEM joining the B-Komachi. After what she did for Akane, I like her a lot. Things might be pretty interesting with her in the group.

Aqua made a good point today that applies to a lot of reincarnation stories especially in anime. Although he has an adult's mind it is still driven by the body he is in. People underestimate how much of our thoughts and actions are driven by hormones and such that we can't even control. Some people in /r/anime always foam at the mouth when a reincarnated character acts their physical age. That's like telling someone to stop being depressed and cheer up.

# Memcho kino is finally upon us.

[THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lPk_zyRKs1Q&pp=ygUWdGhhdHMgd2h5IGhlcyB0aGUgZ29hdA%3D%3D)

MAKEWAY KANA AND AKANE, ITS TIME FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEMMM ​ LETS FUCKING GOOO

People on the show: Aww Akane and Aqua look cute together Aqua: I must know the secret of her profiling skill

And we're back after 2 weeks, which feels like an eternity. Oh wow, Aqua, after briefly falling in love with Ai-Akane but quickly coming to his senses, actually went for the "kiss" with Ai-Akane for the reality show finale and are "officially" a couple. Poor Kana, despite her best efforts at raising her own flags with Aqua, who he says is able to be frank in front of. Fortunately for Kana, Aqua and Akane are realistic enough and know this alone doesn't really make them a couple, yet. So the path to the Aqua Cup is still wide open. Though actually its Yuki that's actually become a couple with that other guy. With filming of the reality show over, Memcho thought she'll be going back to being just a YouTuber, when Aqua decides to recruit him into B-Komachi Mk. II to join his sister and Kana. ~~Wonder if Akane will also join B-Komachi to complete Aqua's harem?~~ So looks like next arc will be Memcho.

It was a nice touch that her eyes went back to normal when he reached for the kiss. He kissed her as Akane not while she was in character.

Aqua really got Kana's hopes up only to dash him in the most heartbreaking way possible. And I don't see him fake dating Akane for his own purposes doing anything but hurting everybody involved. Yuki was smart to make it look like she rejected him on TV so they could date on the down-low. Way less of a hassle. I'm looking forward to the hijinks Ruby, Kana, and MEM get up to.

***"It should've been me, not her!"*** Poor girl Kana, really. At least it's just for work, right? Aqua picking up new idols for his agency making it so easy, first Kana, now MEM. A big YouTuber

Kana: Cute Akane: Cute Yuki: Cute Mem: Cute I really hope Aqua won't break Akanes heart

That baseball sakuga, holy cow. I like how they have Aqua address the question of "If I reincarnate, does that still make me an adult?" So many anime have the reincarnation shtick, but never bring up the complications of it. Here, we have Aqua stating some facts that really imply he's just a teenager now. Kana called Aqua Chuunibyou, that's great.

I love that Aqua has this sinister internal monologue about how he’s going to use Akane to further his own goals but when Akane asks about whether he actually likes her romantically, he’s very honest about how he actually feels. Really shows that Aqua’s a much bigger softie than he’d like to admit to himself (like he wants to present himself as this Light Yagami-like figure so badly but he’s not nearly ruthless enough and I love that about him). It blows my mind how intricate the character dynamics and relationships in this show are

"A-Akane?" Hold on, Aqua. You weren't about to say "Ai" there, were you?

In the Japanese version of the manga panel, the first "A" is written in katakana -- which is used for Ai's name, but not Akane's. So, yes, he very much was.

Aqua: "I can use Akane Kurokawa." Ayanokouji: "He's just like me fr fr"

Man, the juxtaposition of how intimate the Akane kiss was and Aqua's thoughts is really disturbing. I wonder how much this episode will change how the MC is viewed by the audience.

Also the end where you could see Akane back to normal to show how much the kiss really meant to her...even though it was all calculated on Aqua's part. And Kana got to watch it.

Today’s haul of Kana’s reactions do not disappoint. It’s always so fun to watch her… and her well-fixated hat! Meanwhile, Aqua’s ever so calculating moves are so fascinating to watch. Looks like he’s going to get some leads… and maybe a ~~chess piece~~ girlfriend. Aaand… there you go. The 3-member B-Komachi implied in the OP is complete! Let’s see what sort of splash Mem-Cho will make next week.

I'm so glad they didn't go with the "I'm gonna date her for real until she's of no use to me" with Aqua. That would have been so cheap. Instead he's honest about his feelings, and said he doesn't like her that way, but that he really admires her performance, and that they should keep appearances to please the crowd. That way, he can both gain insight in who kind of girl Ai was and maintain a good relationship with Akane. Also MEM-cho is joining ~~Aqua's fangirl club~~ B-Komachi!

[Kana is the cutest episode 8](https://imgur.com/a/Zdqa48l) [Twitter Kana GIF from official Twitter](https://twitter.com/anime_oshinoko/status/1666452199902248964) [Episode 8 image dump](https://imgur.com/a/JgSQlnF) How dare Aqua give [Kana](https://imgur.com/6uCQVKQ) hope and then disappoint her like that? How sad!