Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Oshi no Ko Season 2
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Leo Martin
 Posts: 8 |
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So we are finally about to see the play, kinda wish they would take the next week off just to make it extra special.
Poor Melt needs a win. Even Ruby only recognizes him as "that one guy that could not act on Sweet Today". |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1436 |
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Thanks. I've thought it odd that no one (especially not Akane) put together AI Hoshino and the twin Hoshinos. I hadn't realized that Ai's last name was not widely known. |
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utawoutau
 Posts: 209 |
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As a fan of Glass Mask, I was shocked at how fast we got from completely re-writing the script to opening night of the performance.
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MFrontier
Posts: 12911 |
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I feel like it's telling how differently Aqua views Kana and Akane that he lets Akane see the video of his past acting but he'd never let Kana see it. I don't think it means he favors Akane so much as he puts Kana on such a pedestal that he would never let her see something as embarrassing as his weak child acting, but he feels more on the same level as Akane.
Akane can play the perfect wife and the perfect ride or die girlfriend and the perfect accomplice to murder you could ask for. Like literally no reservation, if Aqua wants his dad dead, Akane will help him bury the body. It's enough to throw even Aqua off. I can't wait for the next season of The Feud focusing on Kana and Akane. Like, who cares about professionalism when you can utterly roast each other and nearly engage in a catfight amidst all your co-stars? And it's not even just about Aqua (though it doesn't help) but their own pride as actresses and in their acting methods and a rivalry that's been stewing since they were little kids. I only wish Aqua and Akane were knocking boots...I bet Akane is too. Say what you will about Melt, he might not have Kamoshida's pedigree but he's got better ethics and is genuinely trying to improve. I hope he shows everybody how far his acting has come. Especially to Kichijoji. So much phenomenal character animation. The way they transformed into their characters... Channeling your PTSD into your acting is a valid method. Will it work, though? |
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Covnam
 Posts: 3777 |
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The eye game was on point this week
I wonder how much of Akane's devotion is a part of the act of being a girlfriend (we know how good she is at channeling a role) and how much is her general feelings for Aqua.... Was there much focus on Kana & Akane's acting rivalry last season? I just remember Aqua being a point of contention between them... Regardless, it would have been nice it if came up more throughout this season as I felt it was a bit too heavy loaded for a single episode. Kana going out of her way to buy that magazine meant that she had to have been preparing for this for a while... |
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minamikaze
Posts: 234 |
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In the last episode of last season, when Kana intruded on Aqua and Akane's "date", although ostensibly Kana's motivation was Aqua, after she announced that she would be playing Tsurugi in the play, both she and Akane shifted into (bitter) rival actor mode and started antagonizing each other. After Kana left, Akane vented her feelings about Kana the actress to Aqua, while Kana was determinedly repeating "I won't lose (to her)" all the way home. That was about competing with Akane in the play, not about Aqua. Also, during Akane's crisis in the first season, there were a couple of times when Kana mentioned her feelings of rivalry towards her as an actress. That was before Kana started perceiving Akane as a potential rival for Aqua's affection as well. |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 399 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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I've actually been quite impressed by Melt. He actually seems to be on a very similar character arc to Kana (except Kana could act from the start). Both of their initial encounters with Aqua humbled them, but instead of harbouring resentment and bitterness towards Aqua, they respect him and have used that experience to reevaluate themselves and to motivate them to become better. I have a feeling both Kana and Akane are in for a big surprise. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2057 |
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Good guy, Melt, I'm rooting for ya! Nothing like a despicable rival to help turn a character around.
And damn, Akane, I'm still not sure if she was putting up a front, because she thought Aqua was being forcibly hypothetical, so she played along, or if she really believed what he said and meant it. Because if she was willing to help him murder and bury the body, damn, Aqua, put a ring on it! Sorry Kana...
As far as using AI's death as the vehicle for acting out the scene of despairing over the death of the princess. That's doable. The problem is feeling happy again to realize that the princess comes back to life... I think the show slowly bringing Ruby back into the picture will be the key. By Ruby trying to become the Idol Ai wanted her to be, and being like Au, and as others noted, growing into a real beauty... Aqua will realize the Ruby IS like Ai come back to life! And so his memories of her will be the elation he needs to pull off the scene. Anyway, as to the 'Hoshino' name, I'm sure director Gotoh has pieced it together, much like Akane. Either way, if there's one thing I'm certain of, whoever it is will have that natural anime yellow hair that Aqua and Ruby have, so we'll know him when we see him. Unless he dyes his hair, or is bald...
The show has finally started (although it already did at the beginning of Season 2 episode 1), but I'm sure that now there will be more flashbacks in between scenes. |
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Covnam
Posts: 3777 |
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@minamikaze Thanks for the info/reminder =)
Guess it wouldn't have felt as sudden while reading or at least without the year gap
Still, I think it could have benefited from more build up during the current arc... |
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jdnation
Posts: 2057 |
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Well, when Kana asked, they'd literally just met years after they acted together as children, and she pretty much butted into his life unwanted. So he refused, and it's implied that he is like that around everyone. Kana probably could look up Aqua's public body of work and check them out for herself if she wanted to. Heck, she watched his reality TV show, so she probably did, unless his roles were so minor they weren't necessarily catalogued conveniently. Akane, he'd known for awhile, and he pretty much initiated their work-relationship, and she helped him, stayed over, and cooked a meal for everyone. So Aqua allowed her a 'reward.' Plus he knows he needs acting help and respects her talent. Maybe he figured her watching them would be helpful? It feels like the show is now strongly shipping them together, but for some reason, I don't see it lasting. I think that Aqua won't want Akane getting involved with his revenge quest because he is starting to care more about her. He'll feel guilty for thinking about using her and he'll push her away so that she won't fall with him. He won't want to see her life or career get destroyed because of him. He'll always look out for those he perceives as 'children' and to him. That said, this episode we do also learn that Ruby is also scarred by what happened to Ai. So those associated memories do haunt her, although she is better adjusted than Aqua, which could be because Aqua overprotected her to the point that she is still naive about boys, or because she faced death herself. I was going to complain that it is odd that Aqua's happier flashbacks oddly have nothing from his previous life, hence making the present reincarnation aspect more irrelevant... But it now occurs to me that his traumatic haunting by his former self likely makes it so that he tries NOT to think about that guy; but confronting his former self will be the key to this. So I hope the reincarnation aspect does make a significant return. Finding his old body and putting it to rest may be something he needs to do, possibly also serving up some clues. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2600 |
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Starting at 21:35 that was the best sakuga artwork I've seen in a long while, visually depicting Melt's struggle and triumph.
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jdnation
Posts: 2057 |
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Kick ass episode! I felt a bit of Melt's thing was overdone when it went all abstract, but I was kinda hoping when he was reaching out for that star that one would finally begin glinting in his eyes in that moment. But all in all the production of the show was well 'effin done! Bravo! Melt finally get his chance to shine, and the manner in which it went is smart and a great point in the biz of storytelling and in terms of audience perception! Those moments when the unlikely character subverts your expectations! A lot of it is cliche now, but it's still a fun tactic that works! For recent examples of this in action, see Demon Slayer's Zenitsu and Chainsaw-Man's Kobeni.
One thing I am a bit puzzled about is the wire-fu. Not the fact that it's there, but the fact that the actual actors themselves are pulling off these stunts. Now I know there are definitely plenty of pro actors who do their own stunts, Asia is full of them, and Hollywood as several too. But normally, when these kinds of things are done live, there are set-ups where stunt-men swap out and replace the actors during those moments, no? At best a wire would be used to simply levitate a main actor, like a Peter Pan and Wendy flight scene, but aren't intricate fight scenes like we are witnessing here usually handled by stunt professionals? Would the management allow their actors to do stunts that could seriously harm them??? I know Kana is talented, but there's no way I buy her swinging up in the air and around on stage like that. I mean, it could also be the case that the anime is stylishly over-dramatizing the action, much like it does abstract slashing paint effects and other stuff to impress the viewer and so we are to imagine it as greater than what is actually being done on stage by these characters. Which is perfectly fine, but I just want to know... Also I don't know how many acts there are for stage plays. I think it's typical that a story has 3, but I heard live theater has 5? So I'm guessing given that this episode covered 2, that the next one will focus on Acts 3 & 4 for Akane and Kana, and leaving the finale of Act 5 to focus on Aqua? So the play will carry on for 2 more episodes before the next arc? Sounds good. I was also thinking that Aqua seems pretty comfortable here, though that could also be how Melt is viewing him as a cool guy, so we see no hints of his worries and internal struggle. Which is fine as this was Melt's episode. As for Aqua, I was thinking that if he still can't get over Ai, there is another source of inspiration that he can use - Sarina - the little girl he also couldn't save who died, and how he'd feel if he were to see her alive again - which Ruby could also remind him of, as well as Ai. So that's another way the reincarnation aspect of his past life could be relevant again. Maybe we'll finally see more backstory of the Doc and Sarina together. |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2231 |
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Shakespeare's plays had five acts; Broadway musicals almost universally have two, and there's smaller one-act plays as well. I have no clue about Japanese theater. I'm actually not sure I can think of any three-act stage plays. It's normally a framework applied to movies IME. (And "acts" are less meaningful for movies that don't have intermissions.) |
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Amuro1X
Posts: 191 |
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I mean, the way that backstory opened seemed pretty tragic to me, to the point I had to pause and take a moment from how blunt it was. Melt having his first sexual experience after having just entered middle school with a girl two years his senior, leaving him basically shocked and confused was tough to watch. He may have framed it as having it easy due to his looks, but I read it more as he was taken advantage of because of those good looks and his behavior and narcissism afterward were symptoms of that. Having to face the reality of his shortcomings by having his sheer lack of talent and, more importantly, experience, shoved in his face when he was put in the position to fail by people in the industry that only cared about his appearance is at least sad, if not tragic. But that's what made this moment of triumph meaningful. Fantastic episode and a heck of a redemption for Melt. |
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Azure Chrysanthemum
Posts: 135 |
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I've been excited for this arc since Oshi no Ko's anime adaptation was announced, and oh man this episode blew my expectations out of the water and then some, they went so hard it was such a joy to experience.
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