Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Oshi no Ko Season 2
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MFrontier
Posts: 14267 |
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We've finally caught up with the prologue! I don't think this is necessarily completely accurate to 2.5D stage plays but dang it if they don't make them look fun.
Kana seems to be having the time of her life as Tsurugi. Also all that amazing wirework stunts. Just how physically fit and and agile is Kana? Did do acrobatics at some point? I guess being taken advantage of by an older girl could really throw your life off even if Melt kind of just treats it like a stepping stone to how "easy" his life became until he finally realized how that could only take him so far especially next to people with actual talent. And especially when it impacts others, like Kichijoji-sensei. Everyone holds what happened to Sweets Today against him, including himself. He's not going to turn into an expert actor overnight, he's not going to be the next Aqua or Kana, but he puts in the effort and he tries his best and sometimes that can make a difference even if it means he can only really show off for a brief period...but what a show off indeed. Doga Kobo did not need to go anywhere near that hard with the sequence in Melt's eye but bless them for doing so. And Melt for pulling off a manga accurate maneuver no one expected to see. Melt related to the jobber Shonen side-character who tries their best even when they lose, and with that in mind burns as bright as he possibly can, impressing his co-stars, earning their respect, and finally moving not only Abiko-sensei but the person he most needed to redeem himself in front of Kichijoji-sensei. And now that he's stolen the show, it's time for Aqua, Kana, and Akane to duel over who will steal it next. |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1482 |
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It's not acrobatics, but as an idol, she's been doing intense dance training for, I guess several months at this point. So that might help. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2182 |
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These two latest episodes really felt like "Cinema masterpiece" as the anime is showing us the play with focus even on the audience. The character designs are also amazing as it really feels we are seeing a fighting manga at the same moment.
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1482 |
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Episode 18
Gosh, whoever owns the 2.5d stage venue being lightly disguised in this series I hope is paying for the promotion they’re getting. What a technical and visual extravaganza! On top of that, some wonderful directorial moves. They’re really squeezing everything they can out of this medium. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 14267 |
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I got so caught up in the Kana and Akane rivalry and and believing Kana disilussioned Akane so much that I never for a second thought that, in her own way, Akane never stopped being a fan of Kana Arima. She was just determined to bring back the real Kana Arima, the one who acts her heart out and puts her all into anything rather than changing her performance to match the production and co-stars (which is great from a production standpoint but stifling for a performer).
Though honestly the bigger shocker is Akane's dad exists and was supportive. We've had so many moms that I totally expected her dad to not be in her life at all. Smol Akane was adorable, especially seeing how much she idolized Kana and even styled herself after Kana (that's the entire reason her hair was short in season 1). It's just that it also had the consequence that when faced with the real Kana she represented the pure and idealized version of her that she lost sight of after being so burned by the industry so she rejected Akane. Imagine getting rejected by your idol but instead of losing heart you become a psychology major as a little kid just so you can understand why she did it and then translating that into your acting. It's kind of funny how Aqua's character is basically him as an Oni. So he doesn't even really need to act so much past the upcoming Saya death scene. Imagine Aqua and Kane teaming-up to bring out the best in their mutual fave...Kana Arima. And let Kana be the Oshi No Ko once more. |
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5518 |
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It just dawned on me why I actually don't mind this arc at all and liking this rivalry between Akane and Kana especially when it doesn't have love triangle shenanigans with Aqua. This is pretty much what I'd imagine if there was an Act-Age anime adaptation. While Akane's and Kana's characters are not exactly the same as Kei's and Chiyoko's respectively, this is pretty much the closest presentation to that moment so far. And now I sigh on "what could have been" for Act-Age.
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Daidan12
Posts: 69 |
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Don't remind me, ActAge was some orders of magnitude better than Oshi no Ko to me. The last manga chapter that I actually cared to see adapted was the Melt one and it was fantastic. After that one Aka starts the same downward spiral in quality that Kaguya-sama suffered., there's nothing left for me to really look forward in this adaptation the main story will only get worse. |
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Shay Guy
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I think the cutting between Princess Saya and Akane worked for me, though I may have been bringing too much manga knowledge in to judge it effectively. Pretty sure all Akane and Aqua's lines are being really spoken backstage. (How many act breaks have we had now? Is the Tsurugi/Saya fight at the end of Act 2?)
It closed at the end of last year, I'm afraid.
You're far from the only one. I've seen a few other comments about Act-Age on Reddit and YouTube since the last couple episodes came out, and back when this arc was running in the manga, I did my own share of thinking about the similarities and differences in that rivalry. Like, Kei and Chiyoko got along much better, and Kei was much more open about her admiration; Chiyoko was still at her peak and Kei just starting out. And selfish/supporting wasn't really a focus, compared to Kei acting from the "inside out", falling into her character's mindset to a potentially dangerous degree and forgetting everything else, while Chiyoko's approach was "outside-in", being hyper-aware of the camera and others' eyes while carefully crafting her surface for the proper effect. I even referenced it in my thoughts on the chapter adapted into the last part of this episode:
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Aerdra
Posts: 427 |
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Child actor Kana was self-centered and needed to be humbled, and the director brought in Aqua to do that. She learned her lesson, perhaps too well. Now Aqua and Akane want to get Kana to shine for herself again.
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2586 |
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Man, now I feel like I'm going to regret it when we leave this arc. This Akane / Kana semi-showdown on stage has been by far my favorite part of the show to date.
And I've enjoyed the rest of it! But, nothing before has drawn me as quickly and deeply as this latest episode did. |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 426 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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I liked how this episode presented the starburst eyes as the star-power to be the center of attention and that it's something Akane has figured out how to turn on and off when she needs it. But there's also the implication that it's something Ai had turned on 100% of the time.
It also felt like Kana was on the verge of getting starbursts of her own before she withdrew herself and I'm looking forward to seeing her steal the stage if Akane and Aqua can get her to finally stop holding back. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2135 |
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Story so far is going as I expected. There is always more to dig in regarding the past and perspectives with this show. Still good stuff! There is mutual admiration for each other. The childhood meeting incident was more complex. What I have trouble buying is Akane at such a young age checking out psychology books...
 I think it would've been more believable if she seethed for awhile and pursued acting out of spite, and only as she matured tried to understand and get into psychology later. I guess she is a 'genius', but it still kinda stretches things seeing her get into psychology that way. Well, no biggie.
I'm guessing the next episode will play out with regards to the love triangle, both in Tokyo Blade and IRL between the trio. Kana and Akane's characters are both in love with Aqua's oni. I'm guessing the manga author and scriptwriter both wanted to change this part of the story, and this will be a scenario unique to the play that is not an adaptation or condensation of something in the manga. They will give the Princess a stronger role as the author intended, while also catering to the fan-shipping. Our girls are gonna fight over their man, and this way they can both compete on equal terms and actually have a chance to outshine each other, versus the previous scene, where Kana was right to shrink back and allow Akane to shine as that was what the scene in the play called for. But with this next scene, the direction calls for them to literally compete with each other.
I get the feeling it was because she was acting (lying) 100% of the time. Like how the Hulk is "always angry"!
Dang! 
This show does a good job of helping to sell this sort of venue and I'd be totally down to check something like it out, but I do imagine that it is expensive to run that sort of place, though I figure that they should also rent it out to corps to hold their Apple or PlayStation press conferences. An E3 presentation with this set-up could be ridiculous! In fact I have a plan! You guys can crowdfund me to go to Japan, and I will put together a 2.5D Stage Adaptation of 'Uma Musume Pretty Derby.' I'm gonna make all dem pretty actresses run around'n'around that stage, and let the audience make bets on a smartphone app. Winners get free concessions/tickets. I will psychologically profile and cast actresses who are all highly competitive with each other. The Girls will literally race each other at every show, and I'm counting on their talent to ad-lib depending on who wins in the finale. It's gonna be lit! |
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MFrontier
Posts: 14267 |
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No better way to bring out the best in Kana than making her ad-lib with her co-star and crush! Especially when said crush gets right up in her face about it.
I love how the director is totally thrown off by how much their pulling improv on the play at this point. I honestly thought Kana came from an uneventful background but jeez...an obsessive stage mom and a philandering dad who basically abandoned her and her mother. Akane is literally the only character with two solid and supportive parents. There's something to be said for trying to keep your head above water and play to the production to make sure everything runs smoothly and you can get reliable work...but some people are born to be stars and deserve to act like it, as Kana finally unleashes herself as the Oshi No Ko again. And it's powerful enough to make Akane break character and fangirl over. Aqua could enjoy acting and be there with the rest of them and shine brightly on stage...but he's too caught up in his revenge and his dark feelings to do it, so all that's left is to twist those feelings into a raw and visceral performance that destroys him emotionally but lets him pull off the best he can act at this point. Is there any hope for him? Could Kana and Akane bring back his light? [/code] |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 426 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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I found it interesting that Kana had different starburst eyes than Ai, Aqua, Ruby, and Akane. Kana's are unique and belong to her. Akane on the other hand, the first time we see her starbursts is after she's been studying and analyzing Ai, which suggests to me that her's are fake, that they are just an imitation of Ai.
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jdnation
Posts: 2135 |
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I'm going to be contrary here for the first time and say that the Kanna episode did little for me and I'm disappointed in the presentation this past episode.
The show has already impressed us with its visual flourishes with regards to Melt, and the same exaggerations and abstract painterly collages being repeated for Akane and particularly Kanna are starting to feel repetitive. Already I'm feeling like a few of the flashbacks from Aqua trying to think happy thoughts being nothing other than quick flashes of past episodes feels highly limiting, and doing that for Kanna here too also feels like a budgetary concern more than an actual touching memory, as certainly months have gone by and you'd think there'd have been more development and interactions between everyone. But that is a minor criticism... My biggest one is that the moment for Kanna coming out of her shell and putting it all on display with her acting fells a lot more like the show telling me that Kanna is putting on an amazing performance rather than showing me that Kanna is putting on an amazing performance. This was a time where instead of some still images of Kanna here and there, that they should have leaned in harder on the animation with higher fps, animating a full 24 frames instead of 12, and more 'moe' facial animation and lighting and movement to really make Kanna stand out. Not only did they do this admirably for Melt with his sword trick, but we've already seen more impressive sequences of Kanna doing wire-fu around the stage and laying it on thick with her character since the show's opening moments. Those are completely absent here. Instead we get still images and people talking about how impressed they are with Kanna. So, the moment for Kanna to shine, rang hollow with me. And that's disappointing. The only idea I loved was seeing her eyes filled with stars as opposed to the one-star eyes of Akane, Aqua and Ai. But there was something there that I don't feel the production department took advantage of to really lean into. So overall, I'd subtract a star simply for that, in that the presentation of Kanna's big moment didn't live up to what it was trying to sell us - an absolutely adorable girl stealing the show in the spotlight in comparison to everything that has come before. Getting down to the story, it's great to learn more about Kanna's past and the complex motivations behind her attitude and behaviout. Great stuff! Now getting down to the climax of the episode regarding Aqua. This was also a very cool reveal of how his mentor figured out who Aqua was, and his great but hard advice - to overcome his trauma with a stronger emotion and drive - Aqua's hatred. But we all already know since Sweet Today, that Aqua can play up a villainous and hatred part. The real challenge will be whether or not that hatred can be used for the pivotal scene he has trouble with - feeling joy at the princess' recovery. This will be what is most interesting. It could be that the episode is pulling a fast one where we think of Aqua's method as being what he's going with, but in reality, he will have to try and pivot to some other kind of solution, and thus there will be a clever subversion, that I'm still guessing will have to do with thinking of Sarina/Ruby. Instead of thinking of Ai, which has too much baggage, maybe Aqua needs to remember Sarina instead. Whatever happens, I'm certainly looking forward to the next episode. |
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