Rating: A
Oshi no Ko was, by any reasonable measure, one of the biggest titles of 2023, and one of the hardest-hitting as well for the content it covered. Hence it was, by far, my most-anticipated title for the Summer ’24 season (if not the whole year). I am pleased to say that its first episode back does not disappoint. It positions the series quite well to make a strong run for “best of season” honors.
Much or all of the season is going to involve the source manga’s “Tokyo Blade” arc, which focuses on the bulk of the principle cast (Aqua, Akane, and Kana) getting involved in production and performance for the stage play version of the in-universe supremely popular manga of the same name. This leaves me a little concerned that MEM-cho and especially Ruby could end up short-changed; indeed, after one early scene where Ruby is reflecting at Ai’s grave, she doesn’t appear again, and MEM-cho doesn’t appear outside of the OP and brief flashbacks. Ruby does get one of the best lines of the episode, though, and the focus is meant to be more firmly on Akane here anyway.
That’s fitting, because the first episode takes a very analytical approach to the whole process of putting together one of these 2.5 stage plays, and Akane is, even over Aqua, the series’ most analytical character. The series has strongly implied before that current-prodigy Akane and former-child-prodigy Kana have sharply-contrasting acting styles, and that is both put into words and put on display here. Whereas Akane seems to lean towards method acting, Kana is more reactive; she tends to act up or down to the level of the performances around her, ensuring that’s she not out of line with the baseline either way. Aqua points out here that she has a reason for this approach (she lost roles in the past from being too expressive), so that means she only shines when put up against a truly talented actor. We saw some of that when she was performing as part of B Komachi in episode 11, and when Aqua showed off in Sweet Today, but those were just warm-ups for her finding herself acting against Lala Lai’s top talent, who has the play’s lead role.
The visual presentation of the series sometimes doesn’t get enough credit, but boy, it shows off in that scene! The use of paint-like color splashes and the contrasts against the limited coloring of the characters are fantastic visual gimmicks to emphasize how much the acting intensity steps up, as is the way the scene shifts to fully-colored mode only when comparing to how the scene would look in full stage dress. I will probably rewatch that scene numerous times in upcoming weeks, but it’s not just that. The way Akane is framed in her feature scenes (especially the ones where she is attempting to puzzle out her current character compared to the way she puzzled out Ai), all the detail work in the backgrounds of the practice hall, even the comedy scenes – all of it is very carefully crafted so there’s hardly a dull, simple shot anywhere in the episode. The episode’s prologue, which shows the opener of the finished stage play, also shines; who wouldn’t get enthusiastic about seeing the play after seeing that?
But again, the episode’s analytical side shouldn’t be understated. All of the details about how the 2.5 play is handled are fascinating, from the way the practice schedules work to the decisions that have to be made for such a project to be feasible in two hour stage play form to the motivations behind having a theater troupe serve as the core of the project. One of the most interesting is why Akane’s character had to get changed significantly from the manga version. The decisions behind it make sense, and I have to think the original manga-ka had personal observations or experience in mind when crafting how her character got downplayed in the source material, due to fan reaction, as it progressed. Given the twist about the production at the episode’s end, I am quite curious to see how the manga-ka of Tokyo Blade‘s request gets analyzed, as that is doubtless also based on real-life experience or observations.
Given how successful the original OP and ED were, I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring the new ones up here, too. Original ED “Mephisto” was widely-regarded as one of the best of 2023, but new ED “Burning” by hitsujibungaku (OP for The Heike Story, ED2 for Jujitsu Kaisen) is a sharp hard rock number with visuals exclusively featuring Ruby; I could see myself watching that each episode. Comparing to original OP “Idol” is an impossible task, as that was a once-in-a-decade level of hit, but “FATALE” by GEMN stacks up remarkably well on both audio and visual fronts despite taking a starkly different stylistic approach. The real test will be how well the lyrics fit, but this could still wind up being one of the season’s better OPs.
This season-opening episode may not be the emotional powerhouse that the first episode was, but it still delivers absolutely everything I wanted from this season’s first episode and then some. I will be eagerly looking forward to this series every week.
USA Anime 