Oshi No Ko – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap & Review

First Time

Episode 8 of Oshi No Ko begins with Kana recapping Akane’s career with Ruby and highlighting how she may not be suited for reality shows, but as an actress, she’s a genius. Yuki and the others greet Akane and realize she’s acting too much in character and not like her usual self.

MEM-cho and Yuki notice Aqua’s acting strange around Akane, so MEM-cho tests Aqua to see if he may have feelings for this new version of her. After seeing that he’ll only listen to Akane, MEM-cho and Yuki tease him for his possible affection toward her. Aqua leaves the room from sheer embarrassment while Akane returns to her former self. MEM-cho and Yuki ask Akane if she’d return his feelings, and she says she would.

Meanwhile, Kana tells Ruby she doesn’t watch the show anymore because she doesn’t like the idea of reality shows. At the same time, Aqua researches Ai while contemplating how little he knows of her despite spending his new childhood with her. He questions what Ai is to him. Kana overhears people discussing reality shows and their desired shippings, including Akane and Aqua. Kana grows weary when someone mentions the couple from last season kissed. Suddenly, Aqua approaches Kana and asks her to hang out with him.

He and Kana play catch in the park, and Kana’s weirded out by his decision to cut school for this. He explains why he doesn’t want to hang out with Ruby or anyone from Love Now. Kana asks Aqua who he’s gunning for, but Aqua says he’s only treating Love Now as a job and doesn’t want to pursue romance. However, if he had to insist, he’d rather be with older girls. Kana thinks she has a chance but remembers Akane is also older than Aqua. After spending time with Kana, Aqua feels his feelings for Akane aren’t within the romantic ballpark.

Akane meets Aqua and explains her process of how she nailed her interpretation of Ai through research and assumptions. Aqua freezes up when Akane says something about Ai having a child. Thinking this way allows Akane to understand Ai’s decisions and achieve coherence between her varied emotions. Akane believes she figured out what types of men Ai liked in how she lived her life. While shooting, Aqua plans to use Akane since she may be the key he needs to get close to his biological father. After filming for the final episode of Love Now concludes, we find our characters at the Fellini bar.

The gang asks Akane if she plans to date Aqua for real, but she’s unsure if she can balance a relationship with her work life. The director butts in and says whatever happens to the couples after the show is up to them. He remarks how several pairs kept dating after the show and eventually married. Aqua meets Kubaragi outside the bar. Kubarahi tells Aqua that the higher-ups weren’t happy that he broke the taboo of releasing hidden footage to the public. He says there was talk of seeking damages from Strawberry Productions. However, Aqua knows that can’t occur due to the terms set in the contract.

Nonetheless, Kubaragi tells Aqua to meet him next week for sushi as he promises to share some info with him about Ai. Aqua returns to the bar and chats with Akane. Akane knows Aqua doesn’t see her as a love interest, and Aqua confirms it and says he’s only interested in Akane as an actress. As a part of their jobs, he’s willing to stay as her boyfriend.

Aqua and MEM-cho walk together, and MEM-cho says she knows Aqua and Akane will fall for each other over time. Aqua asks MEM-cho about her knowledge of B Komachi and Ai. MEM-cho tells Aqua she always wanted to be an idol but has settled with her role as a YouTuber. The episode closes with Aqua asking MEM-cho to join the new B Komachi with Ruby and Kana.

The Episode Review

After a week’s break, we’re finally back with another fun episode of Oshi No Ko. After Akane shocked the world with her interpretation of Ai in episode seven, fans wondered what would happen next. While it appears Aqua was almost smitten by her performance, he managed to turn the situation in his favor.

Many fans may not love his approach to using Akane for his quest for vengeance, but it’s great to see Akane thriving and doing well after all she’s been through. On that note, it appears Yuki and Nobuyuki got together after the show, so at least two members of Love Now wound up tying the knot. As for MEM-cho, it’ll be interesting to see her interact with Ruby and Kana.

Since they have minor YouTube experience with Pieyon, it’ll be great to have a B Komachi member who understands the YouTube game, so they won’t need to always rely on him. Speaking of Kana, it appears the anime might be setting up a love triangle between her, Akane, and Aqua. Based on her reaction to Aqua kissing Akane in Love Now, we can speculate there will be tension between the three.

It makes Kana’s inevitable encounter with Akane exciting for those who love the dramatic aspects of this anime. Overall, this was a great episode of the anime and a nice wrap-up for this Love Now arc. It looks like Aqua will be receiving his intel from Kubaragi and now has another person to rely on for information on Ai with Akane. I’m looking forward to seeing what other endeavors await our characters in the anime’s future chapters.