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I am giving this series an 8 purely out of respect for what it used to be. However, I do not recommend reading it for reasons I will explain. This review is spoiler-free and I'll attempt to keep it short/non-specific.

Firstly, let me address the good. Oshi no Ko has some fantastic writing and characters. The series was started as an exposé of sorts on the entertainment industry, meant to pull back the curtain on how things really are for those in various parts of the industry (idols, producers, directors, actors, etc). It's under this direction that Oshi no Ko is at its best, building realistic ... and relatable characters with well-researched plots, and handling a lot of very real, serious issues with the industry and society with the respect they deserve.

However, at a certain point, the series massively deviates from this. That isn't an inherently incorrect choice; the author has pivoted a series successfully before, with Love is War going from a fantastic romantic comedy to a more serious drama without any loss in quality. However, just the same as Love is War, he completely fumbles the ending and ruins everything that had been built up to that point. The final arc of Oshi no Ko is like a fanfiction written by someone who hates the series and is trying to create the worst ending physically possible. No, actually, I think someone who hates the series could write a better ending. Nothing that's happening makes any sense, with characters acting completely illogically in accordance with plans that they have no reason to believe will work, nor are good solutions to the situation they're in. On top of that, multiple extremely important plot points from as early as volume 1 get completely retconned in such a way that the entire plot of the manga post volume 1 should never have happened to begin with.

The main antagonist of the entire manga, who barely appears prior to the ending arc and never actually involves himself in the plot post volume 1, finally shows up and is given some backstory. Then, he is replaced by a different antagonist who gets forced into the plot via a retcon that *completely ruins the first volume and every character motivation for Aqua/Ruby*. Then we go back to the main antagonist, then back to this new one, then back again all within the span of a few chapters. It is jarring and incredibly poorly planned/written.

The characters, for the most part, get 1-2 panel endings in what basically amounts to a PowerPoint presentation of "where did they end up?". Only 1 character, Aqua, gets a proper ending, which sees all of his character development completely undone as he reverts back to being the exact same person he was at the end of volume 1.

Effectively, the final arc of the manga makes reading the entire series up to that point useless, as most of the series' foundations are retconned away, most characters don't even get to pretend they had an ending, and the one character who does get an ending has all their character growth destroyed in one big "screw you" from Aka to the fans. Hopefully the anime gets an original ending if it makes it to the final volume. Do not read past Tokyo Blade.