MeinMMO demon Cortyn was emotionally caught off guard once again. Because an anime from the current year is causing a lot of tension.
Currently, anime fans are relatively lucky. There are more new anime series this year than ever before, and there is something for pretty much every taste. Nostalgia fans are thrilled with the revival of Dragon Ball. Those who prefer something more bizarre will check out DAN DA DAN.
However, today I want to talk to you about a series that finished its second season a few days ago: Oshi no Ko or “My*Star”.
With its first season, Oshi no Ko was for me the absolute highlight last year – and that’s despite the fact that I typically don’t engage much with the obvious genres.
Basically, I don’t like idol anime, and the theme of “I died and was resurrected as XYZ” has been wearing on me after the relentless isekai bombardment of the last decade.
Still, Oshi no Ko captivated me after the first episode, and the second season has taken it up another notch.
A revenge story with believable characters
Season 2 picks up relatively seamlessly from season 1. Aqua Hoshino had to witness his mother, a popular star, being murdered by a fanatic fan as a child. But how the fan got the address is clear to Aqua: Only his previously unknown father could have revealed the address. Therefore, Aqua plans to find and kill his father, who must be somewhere in the Japanese entertainment industry.
At its core, Oshi no Ko is a pretty dark revenge story where Aqua manipulates and exploits the people around him to achieve his goal – without being purely “evil.” He mainly helps his sister but also friends and acquaintances and forms a lot of relationships to survive in the ruthless world of stars.
A play with more emotion than any film
The second season revolves largely around a play in which Aqua and many other characters are supposed to perform. A manga adaptation that is to be realized as 2.5D theater.
The actual performance spans a solid 3 episodes, allowing you to see the key scenes in their entirety. Every now and then, flashbacks are interspersed that reveal emotions and backgrounds of the individual participants and illuminate conflicts between the various actors – both the characters within the play and those of the actors.
At the same time, a large part of the episodes is from the perspective of the audience – or rather, as if you were yourself a visitor in the theater. You see the rows of other audience members in front of you and observe the theater from a distance.
For me, that was an unexpected experience. Because Oshi no Ko not only highlights the harsh reality of show business, but also illuminates themes that everyone has certainly wondered about at some point:
- Why are books so often “better” than the movies?
- Why is so much changed in the adaptation?
- Why are “bad” actors chosen for important roles?
However, what surprised me even more was how much I could empathize with the different characters. As if it were a matter of life and death, even though they are only performing a play.
Just to make it clear what I mean: The fictional characters of Oshi no Ko are performing a play within their world, in which they portray yet other fictional characters – and yet I am sitting tensely in front of the screen, anxious every second.
An anime that deserves a chance
I am aware that many have already dismissed Oshi no Ko without giving it a chance because they thought at first glance: “Oh, this is yet another annoying idol anime.” But that is not Oshi no Ko. Sure, the series has some colorful, vibrant moments, but the story behind it is dark, emotional, and, in terms of the entertainment industry, sometimes brutally honest to the point that it almost hurts to watch.
Oshi no Ko or “My*Star” is, in my view, an exceptional anime – something that doesn’t exist for a second time in this form and probably won’t come again anytime soon. The emotional rollercoaster that you are taken on here, combined with excellently developed characters, is currently very rare in the often repetitively same “waifu uniformity.”
Have you already seen the second season of Oshi no Ko? Or did you read the manga to know how the story ends? If so: Woe betide you spoil anything in the comments. That would be really mean. And then I would have to return the favor with trash anime. Nobody wants that.
