Spoilers for Episode 7 of Oshi No Ko ahead!At the end ofOshi No KoEpisode 6, Akane Kurokawa was in just about the worst place she could possibly be, feeling as though her life was completely falling apart. She was receiving hoards of hateful comments, her acting wasn’t taking off the way she’d hoped, and her very character was being called into question, all because of the editing of a “reality” TV show. The showrunners weren’t doing anything at all to defend her or help her out, either. According to her contract, she just had to sit quietly and take it all, and that’s too much for any teenager to handle.
All things considered, she bounced back relatively well. Her friends had a lot to do with that, of course — Aqua publicized her suicide attempt (probably not the best move in the world, but at least it helped), then led their costars in publishing their side of the show. It was nice to see the counterpoint to the last episode: as hateful and damaging as the Internet so often is, it can also be used for good. The criticism didn’t die down entirely, of course, but it did dissipate, and Akane was finally able to breathe again.
Aqua and her female costars encouraged her to begin playing a character to help protect herself, too. As they explain it, the criticism hurts a lot less when you know fully well people online aren’t commenting on your true self, and at least if you’re acting, you’re able to pick and choose what they’re commenting on more directly. That revelation, however, ends up bringing out more of Akane’s true self than we’ve seen yet, and it all happens behind closed doors.
As it turns out, Akane is… obsessive. And that could go one of twoverydifferent ways for Aqua, because after saving her life, he seems to be the target of her focus, especially once she realizes that he’s her only real chance at an onscreen romance — and once she asks him exactly what kind of girl he’s interested in. As Aqua describes his dream girl, Akane takescopiousnotes. She writes down each and every little thing, especially when one of her fellow cast mates points out that the woman Aqua is describing sounds an awful lot like Ai Hoshino.
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Mommy issues aside, Aqua admits that Ai is more or less his perfect ideal, and Akane is off to the races. She could quite possibly find her place alongside some of Hollywood’s most infamous method actors if she’s this dedicated with all her roles. It turns out Jared Leto has nothing on a teenage girl dedicated to making a name for herself; the sheer amount of research Akane puts in is incredible.
Everything she learns is only bettered by her incredible skill for breaking down people’s actions and motivations. From Ai’s public performances alone, she’s able to ascertain that she had a difficult home life, and that her behavior stabilized around her disappearance from B-Komachi when she was about 15. Akane has yet to figure out why exactly that is, but she does note Ai’s incredible eyes, and honestly, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before she’ll put two and two together with all the attention she’s directing towards Aqua.
My initial instinct was how badly this could all shake out forAqua and Ruby. At this point, it’s not a particularly big deal if anyone finds out Ai was their mother — after all, they were only hiding it so that her idol career wouldn’t be impacted, and that didn’t exactly help matters anyway. But still, a big reveal could throw the twins into some unexpected limelight, andas Episode 6 established, that could be either a very good or a very bad thing.
But as I thought about it, I realized that Akane’s special set of skills could actually work in Aqua’s favor, if he plays his cards right. After all, she was able to find so much information on Ai so quickly. What else could she figure out with the right amount of time and the proper resources? She’s a detective in her own right already, and she could easily be a boon to Aqua’s search rather than a hindrance.
Akane and Aqua could strike up the perfect partnership here. Aqua could date Akane for the cameras, helping her boost her own acting career and make more of a name for herself. And behind the scenes, Akane could help Aqua look into his father’s identity so that he can find out why he hadthe twins' mother killed. Aqua’s definitely the kind of person who could weigh the benefits of an arrangement like that, and frankly, Akane doesn’t seem like she’d care as long as she’s getting something out of it.
After all, she did turn up to her first taping after her hiatus with bright, shiny new stars in her eyes. It’s unclear if those are just contacts, or if it’s a sign that something major has changed for Akane internally, but Aqua already seems incredibly caught off guard by her new appearance. It’s like seeing his mother reappear before him, I’d imagine — and I can’t wait to see if we finally get to see some emotion from him when faced with a ghost from his past.
