Oshi No Ko – Season 1 Episode 11 Recap & Review

Idol

Episode 11 of Oshi No Ko begins with a group of guys getting excited to watch B Komachi’s performance at the Star Stage. They’re big fans of MEM-cho and can’t wait to see her perform. Although their boss fears for this new group’s future and was a hardcore fan of Ai, he agrees to watch their performance. Afterward, Kana, MEM-cho, and Ruby head on stage and perform. Kana realizes some people aren’t carrying her signature white glowsticks, only Ruby’s and MEM-cho’s.

Nevertheless, the girls perform their songs. During the performance, Kana says she’s not nervous but starts feeling bitter about herself because most of the audience seems to be watching them for MEM-cho only. At the same time, the guy group’s friend isn’t thrilled about their performance because they lack a star as great as Ai. However, he switches his stance on them when he notices Ruby and her likeness to Ai. After performing their song, Kana reflects on how great Ruby looks as an idol and knows she’ll steadily grow a fanbase. Kana worries she’ll never achieve the same fame as her partners. They perform their next song while Kana reflects on her dream of feeling wanted by people.

Kana notices Aqua in the audience waving around all three of their glowsticks. Although Kana thinks Aqua looks goofy, he helps her gain the motivation to try harder. Kana’s performance elicits a thrilling response from the crowd, causing them to wave her glowsticks around in excitement. The boys discuss their second performance and think they all have the potential to become incredible stars.

On their car ride back from the concert, Kana asks Aqua to share his thoughts about their performance. Aqua says they performed well, but he knows they’ll be more amazing at future concerts, so he doesn’t want to praise them highly yet. Miyako asks Aqua if he’s been chatting with Akane, but he says he hasn’t been conversing with her. He says they’re only in a working relationship, eliciting a sassy comment from Kana. MEM-cho realizes that Kana’s secretly in love with Aqua and refused to interact with him because she thought he was in a romantic relationship with Akane. MEM-cho’s worried because she doesn’t know who to root for.

Meanwhile, Akane’s manager tells her about her next job. Akane’s ecstatic because she’ll get to work with Aqua again. The following day, Kana asks Aqua why he disguised himself as Pieyon, and he admits he did it so he can chat with Kana again. Kana mocks Aqua for his goofy behavior as Aqua says he pulled the Pieyon stunt to give Ruby a stellar first show. Ruby and MEM-cho spy on the two discussing the matter further. Ruby says Aqua’s developed a twisted personality over time, but when he’s with Kana, he reverts to his usual self.

We cut to Kubaragi speaking with an event Magic Flow representative named Samiaki Raida. He’s excited that he’s secured the IP for a popular anime called “Tokyo Blade,” as it will receive a stage adaptation. Raida prattles on about how much money he received to make the play a success and says he even got the Lala Lai company to help with it. Raida asks Kubaragi if he knows of any good-looking guys that would help make Tokyo Blade’s adaptation a success. Kubaragi suggests Aqua and forms a deal with Raida.

Meanwhile, Aqua and Akane visit a place and take a photo for her Instagram. Akane hopes this will provide enough evidence that they’re a couple. Akane asks Aqua if he got a call about the Tokyo Blade stage adaptation role and reminds him that her theater company Lala Lai is involved with it.

Aqua remembers his discussion with Kubaragi about Lala Lai and Ai’s involvement with them in the past. Aqua says he’ll call the people in charge as Akane informs him of the roles they’ll be playing. She says that Aqua’s character’s fans often ship his character with the female lead (Akane’s character) or his associate. They question who’ll play the associate character, and Kana arrives to tell them she’s starring in that role. Kana and Akane are shocked that she found them here, but Kana tells them that Akane should stop posting in real time on Instagram. Kana argues posting in real-time will lead to malicious fans tracking Akane down.

Kana belittles Akane for her foolishness, while Akane’s surprised that Kana’s cast as the associate character. Akane fires back at Kana and reveals they used to act together. The two argue with each other, leaving Aqua flabbergasted. Kana leaves. Akane informs Aqua that she and Kana knew of each other for a while since they were child actors and are around the same age. Akane says Kana stole many roles from her over the years. Akane feels this is the perfect time to settle her long-standing grudge with Kana.

The episode concludes with Aqua vowing to bring the person responsible for Ai’s demise to justice.

The Episode Review

Oshi No Ko concludes its first season with a stellar finale filled with gorgeous visuals and incredible music. Despite Ruby’s kind and reassuring words to Kana, she mildly struggled to keep it together after seeing the audience wave around MEM-cho and Ruby’s glowsticks instead of hers. Many will relate to Kana’s personal issues of feeling wanted and accepted by others.

This made Aqua’s goofy dancing feel meaningful. This is because it helped Kana realize she’ll receive love from the most unexpected places. B Komachi’s performance was astonishing from beginning to end. The girls’ dance moves were well-choreographed and the catchy music got me moving to the beat of the rhythm at points.

However, it was tough to pay attention to Kana’s monologue and the flashy visuals and song lyrics displayed on the screen. I’m unsure what the team could’ve done to make everything work, but that’s one aspect that prevented the scene from becoming masterful.

Akane’s close rivalry with Kana was an unexpected surprise but makes sense in the grand scheme of things. And considering both girls have some dormant feelings for Aqua, this actor rivalry adds more fuel to the fire. I’m looking forward to seeing how the next season handles their feud.

Overall, this was a compelling conclusion for Oshi No Ko. It gave us some remarkable scenarios and provided excellent build-up for the characters’ next endeavor involving the Tokyo Blade stage adaptation. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to see it all unfold.