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Oshi no Ko. Where do I begin.

If you look at my profile one of my all time favorite manga is Kaguya Sama Love Is War, also by Akasaka of course. Back when chapters for it were still releasing Aka sensei mentioned he wanted to write a darker and more tragic story so when Oshi no Ko was announced I was ecstatic for it. Sure enough it started out great with an interesting reincarnation plot, tragedy in the entertainment industry, and touching on bleak topics such as the storyline with Akane and I loved the idea of reading a manga about an idol group being ... formed by the reincarnated Sarina and also seeing how the relationship around all of these characters would develop. Especially after the Aqua reveal to Ruby. Then the anime came out and with the banger of an Opening by Yoasobi and a great first episode the excitement was through the roof in the anime community. All was good.

What went wrong?

The issues I'm about to bring up really start about around the halfway point in the manga. It was after the Aqua reveal to Ruby and before Miyako reunited with Ichigo at a bar. I equate the problems that start surfacing at this point to one simple fact. Aka stopped caring about his own story. He took a long several month hiatus and did nothing but played Apex Legends. At the time I was not concerned and just anticipating chapter releases returning. But after he came back with each new chapter it became more worrying. Subplots were being ignored. Reveals that just happened were left in the dust and characters were no longer getting any development. Then the entire story sure enough was getting rushed to what was one of the worst endings of all time to surpass AoT, JJK, and MHA.

It's not even just about the ending being bad, it's also how we got to the ending that was really bad. At least with the three aforementioned anime/manga there is some awesome action and there were character developments before they ended. Oshi no Ko just forgets all of its characters, has no development, no resolutions, and the most nonsensical reasoning for how it ended just to call itself a tragedy. Reminds me of those (I'm 14 and this is deep) memes. No amount of effort was put into it and it shows.

It's honestly kind of a spit in the face of all the fans, myself included, who really loved this story. Aka didn't care anymore and just wanted to get the manga over with. Kaguya had its issues near the end as well but ultimately still ended satisfyingly enough. I can't say the same with Oshi no Ko and honestly it left such a bitter taste in my mouth I don't know if I will ever give one of Aka's stories a chance again.

My recommendation to anyone that is thinking of reading the manga, don't. Maybe watch the anime if it decides it wants to take an entirely different route. Only disappointment waits.

Finally. I can write a positive anime review. Feels like it has been a while.

This anime has some actually really hilarious moments and a great cast of characters. It contains cliches and tropes within it but uses them in an interesting way, rather than just being generic harem anime number 3,247. The animation and art is beautiful, the soundtrack is great, and the voice acting superb.

The story overall is a lot less about the MC and romance rather it is about a coming together of a bunch of characters who suffer from rejection basically. And it just makes for a very interesting and fun plot. ... The MC we have here is actually very likeable and not just the typical nice fedora tipping guy that a bunch of women fall for because "PLOT".

Honestly I don't feel like going into too much detail about what makes it great. I would just recommend to definitely give it a watch.

My overall rating is 8 for being a great anime. My favorite that has come out since Frieren Beyond Journey's End.

I honestly didn't want to write another anime review until I could write a more positive one, but the ones I have been enjoying this season are still releasing episodes and I am still watching so I will hold until they finish airing. With that being said I really want to write a review for this anime because I love Seiyuu Radio and was looking forward to the anime adaptation.

I actually have been reading the manga for this for quite some time and the story is really good and I love the characters. The adaptation has been very disappointing and underwhelming though which sucks because ... it was one of the main anime I was looking forward to this season.

They skip over quite a lot of material, the ost is terrible when there even is any, and the animation is a looot of still shots. The characters are very watered down too. The manga is far better. Wish this anime had the same love put into it as the adachi to shimamura adaptation or a recent anime original release "Jellyfish can't swim in the night."

For lovers of Yuri or the romance genre in general I don't want to dissuade them from checking the series out so I will leave it at a 5 and mixed feelings, however I definitely recommend reading the manga or light novels instead.

I went into this anime with average expectations. I didn't set the bar high or low but I wanted to watch it because a lot of people have been giving it great ratings and one review here even said they enjoyed it more than Frieren (blasphemy by the way) though I took that with a grain of salt before even going in anyways. Basically my point is, I went in unbiased of it being amazing or bad. But here is my review. I'm going to break it down into 5 parts. Animation, OST, Story, Characters, and my Overall final thoughts on it.


Animation: 5/10 (Average)
Studio Trigger ... is one of the best animation studios ever. They've produced some beautiful bangers in the likes of Kill La Kill, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Panty and Stocking etc. So many beautiful anime. Here it's just okay. It isn't bad. It's well animated. But there's nothing amazing like the above mentioned or anything that sticks out. It just isn't bad. I don't believe this is on Studio Triggers part rather it's just a lack of anything substantial enough story or plot-wise to really bring out that creativeness for animating. This is one of VERY few instances I've seen something bland actually come out of Studio Trigger and that should tell you something.


OST: 5/10 (Average)
You know when you hear an opening or ending, or sometimes even a regular soundtrack in the middle of an anime or game and think to yourself "Wow! I need to look this up on youtube so I can listen to it regularly!" Yeah nothing here like that. In fact the OST is bad enough I would often not even realize anything was playing in the background and I gave the OP/ED one chance then skipped them every time no questions asked. Not much else to say here. Just unremarkable. I guess I can't say bad so I'll just leave it at average.


Story: 4/10 (Bad)
There isn't really much of a central plot. I mean I guess technically there is but it's sidelined so hard not even the main cast actually cares or brings it up after the first episode. What the "story" really is, is exactly as the title suggests. Cuisine in a dungeon. They hunt various monsters in the dungeon and make meals out of them. And this is every episode. Sounds like it could be interesting given there are great anime like Toriko and Food Wars out there with similar concepts. However the action isn't good. It's really boring and the cooking is portrayed in a very boring manner and the final product that is the food, doesn't even look that appetizing.

The only positive I can really give in this regard is the way the author designed and portrays some of these monsters is really interesting and cool. Such as plant monsters and the different types and how they subdue prey and their different uses, or how possessed armors turn out to actually be these muscle mollusks that join together to control them. They are interesting but not enough to literally watch just for them especially with the bland action and characters. Speaking of, lets move onto the characters.


Characters: 3/10 (1 dimensional characters. Very Bad)
I saw another review that mentioned they're 1 dimensional and they're absolutely correct. Laios has no personality aside from being fixated on monsters. Marcille has no personality aside from being a clutz and the butt of many jokes. Midget often plays as the straight man who is the only sensible character. The dwarf guy or whatever is overly obesessed with recipes from monsters. This actually sounds like a decent cast of interesting characters. But they aren't and the main reason behind this is how they're utilized which would be the dynamics between them to highlight personalities or add more depth to them.

Character Dynamics: The dynamics between the characters is mostly from slapstick comedy. The comedy lacks any real punch or funny moments though. It's a lot of rehashed jokes mostly centered around "Lets eat this weird creature!" and "Ehhhh!? We can't eat this! Muri muri muri! Wow it's so good!" and the elf Marcille being a clutz. It doesn't have any moments that are really that funny to make it worth watching for the comedy. This in turn makes it very difficult to actually like any of the characters and building any connection with them is abysmal. The dialogue in general is just really boring too, so even if it isn't the bad comedy that makes me not like the characters, the basic dialogue definitely does. It's reminds me of Oblivion NPCs. Nothing noteworthy at all and some of the most forgettable characters I've seen from an anime in a while.


Overall: 4/10 (Bad)
This is the most boring anime I've given a chance in a while because a lot of people are rating it as good for some reason. I think it may have to do with the hype coming off the back end of Frieren but there just isn't anything substantial about this anime. It lacks a compelling story, the characters are really bland, and the food doesn't even look appetizing and that's the main premise. OST is also very average if not kind of bad and animation is subpar. The comedy isn't anywhere near funny enough and is actually very unfunny to be worth watching for. It has nothing good going for it. This is an average anime at best and really bad at worst.

UPDATE: I've been thinking lately I'm going to try reading the manga for this. I think it may work better in Manga format for me than the anime did. I struggled to find any enjoyment while watching but since people say the story is good, I will give reading it a chance instead.

"I remembered. Before I entered St. Lucia Academy I'd denied magic while I was still young. That's why since that day, Maria onee-chan's diary slowly started to change."

Keeping up the tradition for the few reviews this manga has by starting it with a quote from the manga itself.

I'm going to try and keep this review brief as not to spoil anything which will be really difficult to do while explaining what made this episode in particular so great in the Umineko series. I will break it up into three parts. Story, Characters, and Lore.

Story: 8/10
Of course the story is a continuation from the previous episodes ... and revolves around the incident on Rokkenjima, however it also focuses on the future and Ange after the incident already took place. The story throughout the entire series is pretty solid but what makes it particularly stronger in this episode is we get to see the true consequences of what happened on the island. The time travelling aspect is not as simple as everything gets fixed. People have been hurt, tormented, and continue to suffer because of the events that took place and this episode REALLY shows this. This episode isn't only focused on the island rather it's Ange's story. Her story of rescuing her family. Even if that may not save herself. I can't say much more from this without spoilers.

Characters: 10/10
This is what really makes this manga and this episode so amazing for me. In particular Ange's character obviously, but also Maria were the two greatest. In the future while Ange continues to suffer from current circumstances due to the Rokkenjima incident, the only slight solace she can find is in Maria's diary, which is all that remained from the incident. As Ange reads through the diary memories of the past and Maria's life are recollected and we get a lot of insight into who these characters were and who they are. There are also events that take place that shows Battler, the overall MC of the story, the consequences of his choices and not escaping Rokkenjima. Again unfortunately I can not say much more here without spoilers. But the dynamics of these characters and how the world and events plays on them is heart gripping.

Lore: 9/10
On top of everything we get a LOT of lore behind the witches, who they are, their personalities and much more in this episode. There are still certainly more answers needed by the end of the episode but we see that characters we thought were allies never were or will be and even some characters that would be considered enemies were just more puppets suffering as they're manipulated by powers way beyond their control. The lore introduced in this episode really shows how terrifying the antagonists really are and what truly makes them so evil. I was reminded a lot of the insanity Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 displayed and how uncaring he was about the damage he did. They do it because they can and simple.

This is the first manga review I will have ever written. This episode really made me want to because it's such a hidden gem. I don't cry at manga anime or games very often, like practically never, but there were so many points this episode had me in a sobbing mess.