MeinMMO demon Cortyn reflects on the best anime character of all time. At first glance, he seems totally ordinary.
Spoiler warning: This article is about the series Oshi no Ko. If you haven’t watched it for some inexplicable reason – you have been warned.
Okay, okay. I know. The title of this article is already going to cause stress in the comments, and some of you probably have ChatGPT open to send a prompt like “Explain to me in 10 paragraphs why Cortyn is talking nonsense” and post the result in the comments. After all, everyone has a favorite character in some anime and considers that person the “best” character.
But let me explain to you why, in my view, it’s Ai Hoshino from Oshi no Ko and why exactly one episode was enough to grant her this rank.
Who is Ai Hoshino? Ai is the star of the idol group B-Komachi. At just 16 years old, she has already gained great fame. However, her life is about to fall apart when she becomes pregnant – which is an absolute “no-go” in the idol scene, especially at such a young age. But she has twins and continues to push her career forward – until she is murdered by a stalker at the age of 20.
However, Ai is not outstanding in most areas. She is not particularly intelligent and even quite irresponsible, as she becomes pregnant at only 16. She is also not willing to step back in her career for her children and burdens others with this responsibility, who end up suffering. Ultimately, she is even so “naive” as to open her front door to a stranger – and pays for it with her life.
Yet Ai is the born idol, the born star. She is beautiful, possesses seemingly endless charisma, and is the perfect liar, giving her fans and the public exactly what they want – a perfect illusion.
One episode to define the entire series
Ai dies in episode 1 and thus exits. She is the trigger for her children’s revenge quest and the hunt for the actual murderer. However, through Ai’s murder, she becomes a kind of divine presence, whose influence resonates in all the characters and has many consequences.
Of course, this is not just due to Ai’s character, but to the story of Oshi no Ko as a whole. The story primarily deals with characters who were somehow influenced by Ai:
- The two children who witnessed her death.
- The producers who worked with her.
- The employees of her agency who were responsible for her.
- Fans from back then who have never fully gotten over her death.
There is a trope in the series called “Woman in the Fridge.” This term describes a recurring cliché in many series and films: women who typically suffer something gruesome at the beginning of the story. Be it murder, rape, or abduction. Typically, the woman and her fate only serve as motivation for a (mostly male) protagonist to embark on a revenge quest – but then the woman has no further significance and is often not mentioned again.
However, with Ai in Oshi no Ko, this is not the case. Yes, she dies in the first episode, and her death is the motivation for her children’s planned revenge. But she is much more than that. Although Ai is only seen in the first episode, she permeates every episode of Oshi no Ko, can be felt everywhere, and influences the actions of so many characters. This is likely also the reason why Ai is still present in the opening of seasons 2 and 3 – even though she has long “exited” the story.
In every single episode, Ai somehow “hovers” over the entire plot. Sometimes indirectly through the character development of others, and sometimes more directly when someone refers to her as a “legendary idol”.
I can’t think of any other character with as little screen time as Ai who has had such a drastic impact on the plot, the emotional world, and the development of all involved characters. Even now in season 3, this feeling persists and even continues to grow.
Oshi no Ko and Ai have set new standards for me
With each episode of Oshi no Ko that I see, my opinion is cemented more: This is one of the best, if not the best anime I have ever seen. I don’t know of any other series that manages to blend so many different genres so elegantly without feeling overloaded or chaotic.
Oshi no Ko is simultaneously drama, comedy, romance, murder mystery, and psychological thriller. A combination that seems completely chaotic at first glance, yet masterfully woven into an elegant, nerve-wracking series.
And above all of this, Ai hovers, even though she has been dead for a long time.
I can only repeat what I have said so many times: If you haven’t given Oshi no Ko a chance so far because you find the starry eyes weird or because an idol series initially puts you off – give it a shot. You definitely won’t regret it. Because one of the last episodes was even the best anime episode I have ever seen.
