Oshi No Ko S02 Ep07 reaction

Created: 8/14/2024

This will obviously be full of spoilers and random thoughts i had after watching the episode

If i had to describe the past 7 episodes with one word, it would be rollercoaster. Whoever came up with the pacing for this show is literally a genius, at one moment you feel the highest of highs and then it drops to the bottom of the abyss (no pun intended).

Also each episode so far doesnt end with a huge fuck you cliffhanger and yet i am really excited about a new episode coming out every week.

I was never a fan of theaters IRL, but this whole Stage-around concept looks sick! And it actually exists in real life! (ONKO is probably going to boost their sales by ten billion percent lol)

This episode had insane amount of character development in a very short amount of time and yet it didnt feel rushed or out of place. It feels like the audience was told all of this through small hints earlier and now you get to see the whole puzzle solved in front of your eyes. And omg, it was so masterfully done.

I think its pretty clever that her shadow is purple here, as a reminder that she is probably still using her Ai-imitating jutsu

Telling Kana-chan's story through Akane's perspective, WHILE also developing Akane's character too. O M G... Literally genius.

Nothing like the Darling in the Franxx trauma (they should seriously take notes... i had such high hopes for that show, but the whole explanation dump episode literally ruined everything for me and i still can't get over it)

And a lot of the character development happened even without anyone saying anything, its the small details here and there, like how Akane started eating her veggies, even tho she doesnt like them that much, or how she endured the embarassment of acting in stupid tea-cup costume (tbh it actually looked pretty sick) and all of that lead to actually meeting her beloved idol. (how this small sequence was probably way longer in the original material, but had to be done in another way to save time. literally the same way, they showed as how Akane's acting had to make up for an incredible amount of skipped story and character development only to be saved by acting skillz.

Side note: its crazy how this show makes you think about how shows like this are actually made, so meta lol.)

That whole dialogue about staged auditions showed just how mature Kana-chan is and logically speaking she is saying all of the right things... and yet somehow she couldn't be more wrong. Kana-chan literally betrayed herself, her will and her nature, to fit the environment she was in. Which tbh sounds like that is what you are supposed to do, especially in Japan. The proverb 出る釘は打たれる (The nail that sticks out gets hammered down) comes to mind. But this show tries to show you that its not always a good thing. I think this episode should resonate with the Japanese audience pretty well.

But coming back to the whole scene, what would every normal child do, after witnessing their whole universe collapse in front of their eyes? Avert them of course, she was supposed to get angry at Kana and forget about her, but Akane does none of that.

She changes her whole perspective from

I want to be like Kana-chan

I want to undestand why she is like that

She goes on another multiple-year adventure of reading what feels like thousands (???) of psychology books and improving herself in general (god i wish i had that level of motivation to do anything... even when i hyperfixate on another thing, it usually doesnt last for more than two weeks at most lol).

On a side note, the direction and camera work in this background-story arc was crazy good!!! The angles and transitions are thought out so well!

ALSO

Can we talk about how this transition from the backstory was CRAZY?! Music stop and all that.

The transition from backstory. Akane is STARING at Kana's soul

And then after a bit of dialogue we are back at stage performance. WITH A BANGER TRANSITION ONCE AGAIN:

These guys REALLY love their stars, yknow? lol

Kana-chan gets rallied-up by Akane's passionate and "proper" acting... and then she stops herself. She understands that it would better if she toned down her acting, so Akane can shine brighter. As the director notes, she does the best thing possible for the play and for the people watching, she perfectly knows the last episode's mega lesson of having contrast and unpredictability in acting. From everyone else’ s perspective, she makes all the right choices... except her own. She silences her inner child that wants to go all out and act her heart out and its so heartbreaking to watch.

Even Akane is shaken by this turn of events and starts doubting herself.

Am i egoistical? A show-off?

God, she is so sweet. Akane is such a good girl, maybe a bit crazy though, considering the last episode's "yes i'll gladly help you murder people" lol).

And Aqua instantly comes the rescue and reassures her that she is doing the right thing. (it would be nice to have someone like that too Q_Q). A giga-chad move as always, perfectly considerate of his totally-only-work-related girlfriend, while also trying to help protect his best friend's smile.

Que the ending theme.

(God i love the ending so freaking much, such a mood)

Literally can't wait for the next episode and for that already-spoiled-in-the-opening epic Aqua's performance

also i REALLY need to create some sort of chart of all of those epic transitions and rollercoaster turns, i think it would be quite interesting to look at. (im too tired rn tho, TODO add it later or something)

wait the veggies were bell-peppers??? LOL