A subreddit for the manga series Oshi no Ko by AKASAKA Aka (story) and YOKOYARI Mengo (art).
Manga
Oshi no Ko's protagonist Aquamarine Hoshino is an excellent character that stands out of the herd of today's anime and manga protagonists with his realistic and complex personality that is changing throughout the story. Aquamarine's character is portraying how unresolved psychological trauma can impact a person's motivations and repress their want for help, relationships and happiness. I have been working for 10 hours on this analysis I hope in provides you with new insight.
WARNING: You are in for a long read. Feel free to jump between segments
In this analysis of the manga I will try to:
- Explain Aquamarine's character motivations and reasoning for his actions
- Take a close look at his changing relationships with other characters in the story
- Make a conclusion
- At the end: Speculate the direction Oshi no Ko is going towards
The first thing I am going to establish is what I believe to be Aqua's primary motivating factors going from the most influencing his personal actions to those that are equally important but give way to the traits higher on the list. These factors are:
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Thirst for vengeance; This character trait tends to override any other character traits mentioned below and is a number one primary motivation of Aqua Hoshino. His thirst for vengeance is directed towards his father as his father is indirectly responsible for his beloved mother's death and his own in his previous life.
-
Psychological trauma; Aqua has been severely hurt by his mother's Ai Hoshino's death. This trait
can feel similar to the first motivator but I feel it is quite diffrent. His psychological trauma is
what caused his thirst for vengeance as way to deal with his overwhelming feelings. Generally
we will see this motivator in particular when Aqua is having a mental breakdown, or has done
something specifically because his memory of his mother's fate has caused him to do so. -
Kindness; Aqua helps people. He is not indifferent when a life is threatened as we see in Akane
Kurokawa's attempted suicide scene. He helps other people shine when they're together on
stage as seen in the Sweet Today live-action adaptation and Tokyo Blade's Theatrical adaptation.
His high regard for others tends to cause him to feel like his trauma and his mission of revenge
is something he needs to deal with himself as to not cause anyone else to suffer.
I will quickly summarize Aqua Hoshino as he was before Ai's death.
Aqua, known in his previous life as Gorou is kind and supportive. He is a doctor and he is there for Sarina, his patient struck with a deadly and incapacitating disease. He feels great empathy towards his ward, because her parents have not been visiting their daughter at all. As described by Sarina herself, who at the time already reincarnated and became Ruby Hoshino:
"At a time when I had been left all alone he was always by my side spurring me on... If not for sensei (Gorou/Aqua) I wouldn't have the will to go on."
This tells a lot about Aqua's kind and empathetic side. We again see him protecting others when he protects his client, Ai Hoshino's, identity and privacy against a stalker, which results in his premature death.
After reincarnation as Aqua Hoshino he is self conscious about abusing his baby status for physical stimulation (Those who know, know) and defends his mothers identity by preventing Miyako Saito from exposing Ai's secret children.
Unexpectedly, his mother gets murdered at the doorstep by the same person who murdered Aqua in his previous life. Ai Hoshino dies in Aqua's arms and her last words and death shakes Aqua Hoshino to the core. He starts blaming himself for Ai's death and this traumatic expierience leaves a big scar on him, who is not able to cope with his own feelings. In the depths of his despair he realizes that his until now unknown father is the one behind Gorou's and Ai's deaths, and he finally puts himself together with one word on his mind: Revenge.
Aqua is kind, empathetic and values life, and yet he starts to desire nothing less than suffering and death upon his father. Vengeance becomes his number one goal clearing his mind and making him feel that he will find peace and happiness only once he achieves it. He decides to take up Taisha Gotanda, who was a director under which Aqua acted once before Ai's death. The director agrees.
Then, we time skip to when Aqua is 16 years old.
Here we can see that he has changed a lot. He has become more detached and gloomy as other characters describe him.
He directly interupts his sister attempts at becoming an idol because he really cares for his sister and he is terrified that Ruby Hoshino will share their mother's fate. Ruby's persistence and passion along with Miyako Saito telling him that his sister will find a way anyway, he agrees to stop opposing his twin's dreams if Ruby works with Strawberry Productions, Miyako's company that managed Ai Hoshino over 10 years prior. Here we can see that at this point in the story Aqua cares deeply enough for Ruby to forego his trauma this time.
Aqua is aware that to get to his father he needs to engage the entertainment industry and specifically the people his mother had contact with, of which he knows from her private phone. He feels that he has no acting skills and no place in the acting industry although his mentor Taisha begs to differ. Aqua is not convinced by him and proceeds to apply for school under general education despite the fact that the school offers entertainment industry specified education.
In the said school he meets an old acquaintance, a girl he acted with in the movie when they were little: Kana Arima. She used to be a spoiled arrogant brat back then so much that it sparked killing intent in Ruby and Aqua. They're both positively suprised that that is not the case anymore, as the girl acknowledges her past behaviour and is now much more sympathetic. Her performance with Aqua when they were kids has impacted her a lot, so now she insists on catching up with Aqua. Aqua told her that he is not interested in being an actor and tries to disengage with Kana as her behaviour can certainly come across as obnoxious. Arima's adamantly tries to encourage Aqua to go back to acting by suggesting that she could find him a role. Aqua refuses still, but perhaps from simple kindness, perhaps from not shattering a potential contact with someone from the entertainment industry, perhaps from sympathy for Kana or all of the above reasons he decides to allow her to follow him to the Taisha Gotanda's place. There Kana learns a little more about Aqua and mentions a name of an another director, one that is on the list of contacts from Ai Hoshino's phone. This makes the director a potential suspect of being Aqua and Ruby's father. Aqua then suddenly asks Kana to get him a role in the "Sweet Today" live-action adaptation. Obviously to get closer to one of the suspects.
On the show's set he is friendly towards his co-workers most likely to maintain a good relationship with them for the future, where contacts in this industry might be useful. He meets the show's director, to whom he is also friendly. At this point we can acknowledge that the square boxes with black background and white font is Aqua's vengeance mindset internal monolouge. We can see this vengeance mindset after talking to director and thinking about being the one to play a stalker.
Aqua listens to Kana's backstory and how she came to be an actor that gives the spotlight to other actors and focuses on good relations with co-workers. "Love Today" adaptation has been of terrible quality from the beginning. Kana grabs Aqua's hand and tells him she has faith that with him there, there is a chance that this last episode will go well.
During that exchange Aqua wears his usual expression of neutrality on his face that changes slightly depending on what is being said. He seems particulary slightly moved when Kana puts her faith in him (Although that still is not a very expressive response).
Due to the fact that the writer of this analysis is lazy and Aqua generally has the same expression all the time with said slight adjustments I will rarely mention his non-verbal language.
Immedietaly after talking to Kana the story cuts to Aqua in his room thinking how to make this failed adaptation's last episode work with a smile on his face.
While on camera he provokes real emotion from an untalented actor and releases some of his "darkness" to make his acting believable. He tries to make this episode good, thanks to this, and Kana herself giving it her all this time too, the episode is a success. In the meantime Aqua gets the directors DNA and confirms he is not his father.
Assuming Aqua's only motivation to be in this show is to get the director's DNA, Aqua has absolutely no reason to do everything within his power to make this episode good. From this I conclude that Kana Arima has made quite a positive impression on Aqua at least strong enough for him to want to do this.
After the show he consults the director he just confirmed is not his father. The director who worked with Ai and Strawberry Productions sees resemblance between Aqua and Ai. Aqua turns his head away from the director probably to hide his facial features from the director and allows his speaker to make the excuse of being a fan for him, which proves Aqua is cunning in conversation, not jumping to explain himself. The Director says he knew Ai Hoshino and the places she was going to and people she met with.
Aqua's interest is instantly sparked, he knew that this might be a golden lead to his father and vengeance. Aqua inquires about Ai. The director offers information about Ai's associates from the past in exchange for Aqua's participation in a TV drama the director is responsible for. Aqua agrees without hesitation.
This starts the TV drama reality show "My love with an idol starts now", My Love for short.
When performing in the show Aqua puts on a facade of being much more bashful and friendly than he really is.
During the show we see Aqua's introvert nature when he gets extremely bored by small talk. He pushes through with it for the sake of his revenge mission.
He meets with other people cast in the TV drama; Akane Kurokawa, Mem-cho and Sumi Yuki of the important ones.
Aqua confides a little of his past love for Ai in Sumi Yuki without mentioning Ai by name of course. After realizing that this moment has not been a private talk between co-workers but was filmed as part of the show we can see that Aqua no longer tries to engage with them as he is reluctant to talk about his real feelings and opinions afterward.
The TV drama's star turns out to be Sumi. Akana Kurokawa who doesn't want to fade into irrelevance in the show takes more and more drastic measures to stand out and try to bounce off of Sumi. This results in an emotional outburst and Akane physically hurting Sumi on the face.
Akane receives and insurmountable amount of hate online. The hate gets to her and she cannot deal with her feelings, so she decides to take her own life by jumping off of a bridge.
Aqua stops her in the last second by physically pulling her back over the ledge. We learn that Aqua, although didn't have much interaction with Akane at this point, values life tremendously and his trauma taught him that when life is in danger you have to react immedietaly to save it.
After saving Akane he calls her a fool and is noticably upset (Although still neutral kind of upset). After retuniting with rest of the TV drama's cast Akane decides to stay and we can see Aqua has a lot of empathy towards her and anger towards the one responsible for the show as they were also fanning the flames of hate towards Akane. After the light is made of Akane's suicide attempt through the police and press, Aqua determines to save her public image that is at an all time low.
I think Aqua, who is empathetic with Akane and hates making money over other person's suffering feels partially guilty; rationally or not, and his guilt and anger makes him jump into action to resolve not only the situation, but his feeling towards the situation. With the show's cast he is succesful at saving Akane's public image.
After the whole situation he advises Akane to don a mask, a facade. That way she can protect herself. I believe Aqua speaks from experience not only from this show, where he puts on a facade while on air, but in general with how he hid his whole revenge plan and hasn't told anybody, even his own sister, who is intimate with the situation. Akane tries to put on a mask that would be attractive for Aqua for whom she developed feeling for, and because he is the only male in "My love" not affilated in any romance.
Aqua, who is asked about his "type" of girl has an image of his mother, Ai, appear in his head. At first he only reveals he is into a pretty face, but when he is pressed by other cast members he reveals his "type" of girl is: A smile like the sun, performs flawlessly, her behaviour screams invincible and something that received a separate panel: Blessed with captivating eyes. The description of Ai, which Mem-cho picks up on.
Akane Kurokawa rises up to his expectations and reproduces Ai's personality perfectly. Aqua has truly been captivated by her eyes and truly charmed. Akane Kurokawa has trule impersonated Ai. Aqua is seriously uncomfortable that someone has could copy Ai and make him feel this sort of attraction. When the cast confronts him about we see one of, if not the only time Aqua seriously blushes and is embarassed. He leaves and tries to cope with his feeling in solitude.
Unable to fully proccess his feelings alone, he finds Kana Arima and gets her to skip school with him to play catch with her. Kana asks why pick her to play with, to which Aqua responds that she is the only one he is comfortable talking with without any ulterior motives. Kana too inquiers about Aqua's "type" and whether he is aiming for somebody on the show. Aqua says the relationships in the show are a part of his job and questions his identity and body in his head. He mumbles something confusing to Kana under his breath to which Kana calls him delusional and tells him to stop being so. Aqua is infuriated at first but quickly recovers and gets in touch with his feelings. He admits that he sees other girls around his age as potential romantic interests and starts enjoying the game of catch.
After seeing Kana happy and bubbly Aqua realizes that Akane Kurokawa is only imitating Ai and thinks that his feelings for Akane aren't like that. Whatever feelings he meant by those words.
When he meets Akane, he congratulates her on her performance as Ai. Akane says she interpreted her perfectly and Ai's image in her head is one that has Ai with a child in it.
Aqua is startled and looks like his darker feelings have completely over as he is shrouded in darkness and his face is not visible. He realizes that Akane's understanding of Ai might be useful in deducing her love interest; the target of Aqua's revenge, and her skill might mean she will get to have a wide net of contacts to choose from.
Aqua decides to keep his relationship with Akane and kisses her at the end of the show while a dark box thought states that she is a useful tool he is going to keep.
Aqua recruits Mem-cho to the revived B-Komachi idol group led by his sister Ruby. Seeing Mem-cho accepted by Kana and especially Ruby, Aqua asks Kana to take care of both of them for him. Kana is furious. Kana had a crush on Aqua. Aqua has told her he is not aiming for anyone on the show and yet Aqua kissed Akane at the end. Kana feels betrayed in a way (Not fully justified as Aqua has the right to choose his partner) and becomes cold and mean to Aqua. Kana insults Aqua and tells him to flirt with his new girlfriend. Aqua is visibly hurt by her words his mouth slightly parted and his face obstructed. He is shown in shadow on the next panel further puntcuating the fact that he was hurt by Kana. In the next chapter, Aqua tries to show support towards Kana despite the first interaction. Kana refuses support and tells Aqua to go away. Aqua, who this time keeps his usual completely neutral and apathetic expression, tells her that if she keeps behaving like this towards him, then even he will get hurt.
I conclude that Aqua was hurt by Kana's sudden mean behaviour, gave himself sometime to think about it. At this point in time it is maybe possible that Aqua is aware that Kana has a crush on him, because if he knew it, he knew the possible reason she is behaving the way she is and would definitely be more understanding and forgiving to her as he was. Nevertheless he decides to steel his face and communicate to Kana that her words are hurtful. The way he describes it suggests that he was not hurt by Kana's first comment, but I think he just forgave her and wanted to be as polite as possible in communicating the message.
By acting in the TV drama Aqua has furfilled his part of the bargain to the director now the director returns the favor. We can see how brilliantly Aqua brushes off the directors legal complaints with his knowledge of the contract. The director furfills his by showing Aqua to the "Lalalie" Theatre, the place the director believes to be the place Ai Hoshino fell in love. Aqua still continues his mission and dismisses the directors suspicions by claiming to be an obsessed fan.
The next time we see Aqua, he is under a disguise of Pieyon, a mostly irrelavant character that has personally attended the revived B-Komachi and helped them getting started in the idol industry. Aqua gives them advice and leads on their training.
Aqua with a mask and Kana meet on a balcony. Aqua asks if Kana has any regrets about becoming an idol. It could potentially imply that Aqua has some sense of guilt for pushing her to join. Kana shares her feelings of becoming an idol and the center of the new B-Komachi adjoining a self-deprecating comment. Aqua is supportive towards Kana telling her she is amazing, and when he is knowledge of Kana is questioned he responds with an accurate estimate of her character. This shows that Aqua is either a very decent people reader, or has taken enough of an interest into knowing Kana that he could make this estimate. They continue to casually talk afterwards on the balcony.
Night settles and Kana finds out the one that was hiding under Pieyon's mask in the recent time has been Aqua all along. Then the first concert happens. Aqua can be seen in the cheering crowd holding all of the three girls light sticks and dancing. He has two possible motivations that could make him attend the concert and support the idol group. Number one being supporting the idol group of his sister and his friends. Number two that I believe to be more probable is to win back Kana's sympathy, which is possible because their relationship is strained and the surrounding chapters gave a lot of focus to their relationship and that would make sense. Secret third option is both of these had an influence in Aqua's decision making with either taking priority.
Upon everyone's return from the concert Kana confronts Aqua about hiding under Pieyons mask. Aqua states that Kana would not talk to him otherwise. This would be in line with his character having already said he enjoys Kana's company because he can talk to her casually. Kana takes it as sign of his affection for her and makes fun of him for it. When Aqua tries to leave saying there is something up with her. Kana, who is still amused by the situation says Aqua is using excuses and running away. This causes Aqua to get serious as his text turns white on black which implied Aqua's darker side in his internal monoluge and emotional speech in other characters.
Watching the on Ruby tells Mem-cho that Aqua had a trauma in a past and his personality got twisted as result (A very accurate assessment), but also mentions that when Aqua is talking with Kana he is like his old self (pre-trauma Aqua) again. If we are to believe Ruby's words, when Aqua is talking with Kana his trauma developed personality fades.
The next is the "Lalalie" theatre or "2.5d stage play" arc.
Aquamarine Hoshino, Akane Kurokawa and Kana Arima all get a role in a theatre play adaptation of "Tokyo Blade" a manga. He interacts with Akane, regularly as mentioned, to keep their relationship true to the public. In the past Akane has confronted Aqua about his true feelings towards her after which Aqua admits he views their relationship more in "work" type of way. Akane says to be happy with that.
Aqua is suprised to learn that Kana and Akane know and are really verbally agressive towards eachother.
Aqua still tells everyone he is not interested in acting, but still takes more acting jobs and says he is only on stroke of luck for getting jobs.
On theatre set he is friendly with everyone, altough very neutral and passive. He talks with Akane about the play and about Kana. Aqua mentions to Akane that he is happy to not participate in many scenes with Kana as he doesn't want to hear more of her complaining later.
Next Aqua and the viewers can witness a brilliant actor Himekawa in action. Himekawa is a primary suspect on this for being Aqua's father on this on Aqua's list. we see Kana giving it her all when playing with such an outstanding actor and everyone is astonished. Special attention in the manga has been given to Aqua's suprise. Aqua starts thinking about something intensely. The narrators, who are the producers of the stage play adaptation, say that when other actors see such a performance a question appears "How do I compete with something like that." This heavily implies that this beatiful display of art has touched Aqua's inner actor and has made him too want to perform well.
We see Aqua isolating himself from the rest of the crew from that moment onward. Akane approaches Aqua and notices he is observing Kana performing with Himekawa. After confirming her observation he very seriously tells Akane that she is going to lose to Kana in the acting department.
Some time later Akane takes Aqua to a special kind of theatre with innovative effects and Aqua had a very positive experience.
A very important moment exploring Aqua's trauma is coming up. Aqua is expected to portray emotion as actor, but as Kana states and as he admits to himself, he is not a very emotionally expressive person. He asks Kana how she does emotional acting and she says that one of the simplest methods is to use making things personal for oneself. She walks up to Aqua and tells him: "What if your mommy died". This is the first shot taken at Aqua's weak spot, his psychological trauma. When I mentioned the second motivational factor for Aqua, I meant moments like these. Kana continues to give advice to Aqua. Since the scene demands happiness expressed, she tells him he needs to look for his happy memories to bring that emotion. Here is a special moment where we can see a couple of panels that show us which of Aqua's memories he considers "happy".
The first panel shows us Aqua reminicing his recent memories of Akane, when he and the cast managed to save her public image, when Sumi has shown support for Akane after the incident and most interestingely; his recent date with Akane, which he claimed to be for keeping up appearances. This is the first sign that his relation with Akane might be more than a relationship purely for "work".
Between the first panel and second we can see Aqua with his eyes still open.
The second panel shows us the memories he feels are happy with Kana. We can see he really enjoyed his talk in disguise with her. We see the memory of playing catch with her. Weirdly we see that Aqua was happy when Kana was cheerfully saying some not the nicest stuff regarding Akane I quote : "Don't get too attached to her!" is what we are shown. I see two plausible explanations for this situation with these words in particular being Aqua's happy moment. The first is: The panel is totally random. The second is: Aqua enjoys seeing Kana jealous. The last scene we see on this panel is when Ruby said that her brother is back to his former self when talking with Kana, which makes it clear that it's not the specific argument, but his overall talks with Kana that are his happy moments.
Between the second and the third panel Aqua closes his eyes, as if digging deeper into his memories or focusing harder.
The third panel shows us the new B-Komachi's first concert with his sister's wide smile taking a lot of the panel.
Aqua actually smiles. Genuinely. His smile does not last long though as we get a good glimpse into Aqua's psychology. His kind and people saving nature appears represented by his past self from his previous life. He tells himself that he could save Ai, therefore he has no right to be happy. Aqua covers his mouth as if the gag reflex kicked in and falls down on his knees.
Here we can see directly what kind of effect his trauma had on him. Aqua has convinced himself that he has no right to be happy. This is manifested by his constant lack of expression on his face. He wears a face that has very small reactions to anything. You can see when he is upset or angry, but his expressions are much more subtle than other character's. At the emotion that is mostly non existent on his face is happiness. In most of those memories Aqua thought of as happy, the viewer didn't know for sure if those memories were happy when he viewed them as Aqua has not smiled in large majority of them, him playing catch with Kana being the only one I remember Aqua smiling faintly.
Before I continue, the order in which the panels appear might indicate the level of happiness Aqua feels towards them. If we assume that the first panel is the first thing that comes to Aqua's mind when he thinks of happy memories, then the panels' relevance is in decending order with the first panel being most important. If we view this as Aqua digging his memories from the least to most happy, then the panels' relevance is in rising order with the first one being least happy memories (Altough still quite happy), and the latter would make sense from story-telling perspective; you show the happiest memories last.
After that sudden breakdown, Aqua retreats to nearby room as Akane follows him as his oficial girlfriend. Aqua insists that Ruby should not be the one called to take him home. Ruby knows Aqua best, and since Aqua doesn't want Ruby knowing about his trauma triggering, it means Aqua does not want to talk about his trauma with Ruby, who is intimate with the situation, or Aqua is perhaps afraid that Ruby will get him to therapy again. Aqua gets taken by Taisha, his second closest person after Ruby, his mentor. Aqua falls asleep after which Taisha tells Akane that Aqua has PTSD. Aqua has nightmares back home. While sleeping he mentions Ai's name causing Akane to accurately speculate Aqua's situation. When he wakes up she hugs him with tears in her eyes telling him that she will be there for him to confide in and to support him. Aqua looks somewhat comforted, but still asks what Akane is talking about.
Aqua allows his mentor to show the footage of Aqua when he was a very young actor. Akane asks Aqua why he is an actor. Aqua is reluctant to tell her, claiming that she would not understand. Akane insists and Aqua implies to her that he is an actor to kill someone. Akane says that if that was the case, then she would help him kill that person, trusting that Aqua has a good reason to do it. Aqua says Akane is crazy for talking like that. This is the first and only time when Aqua has told anyone the nature of his personal mission. It makes this moment a very special one, it makes Akane a very special person to Aqua for him to tell her.
Akane asks for Aqua's help as his girlfriend. Akane wants to beat Kana and Himekawa in acting, and wants help from Aqua. Aqua, probably still feeling positively from Akane's support for his darker side, does his best to master emotional acting to help Akane.
The day comes for the play to premiere. During the play Aqua helps Akane draw Kana's true talent out, allowing her to shine on the stage. It is not fully clear whether Aqua puts the spotlight on Kana for Kana's or Akane's sake (or both). Aqua's mentor, Taisha, helps him undertsand that his trigger for trauma is guilt, and the solution to emotional acting despite guilt turns out to be the one Aqua has already be employing; turning his overwhelming feelings, any positive feelings, into hatred and pain; negative emotion. Unfortunately for him, Aqua agrees to use his acting as revenge fuel. Here we see Aqua's internal conflict again. His side that feels guilt over not preventing Ai's death is satisfied, pleased that he gets what he think he deserves; suffering.
Aqua's self destructing self convinces himself that Akane is not someone who understands him, and Kana is not the light that will save him, and that his only path towards reclaiming the right to happiness is through enacting brutal, painful revenge against the one responsible for Ai Hoshino's death.
After the scene no longer requiered hatred, Aqua exercised self awareness and self control to bring the dream of saving his mother in his mind, allowing him to cry happily at the stage.
The stage play arc ends and Aqua has collected DNA samples from all suspects.
It is revealed that Himekawa and Aqua are half-brothers. It is also revealed to Aqua that his "father" is no longer alive.
This really shakes Aqua. He finally starts to come to terms with his mother's death now that he knows that revenge is simply not possible. The symbolic star of determination in his eye disappears as he lets light get through the window curtains.
When another potential suspect is mentioned Aqua's first thought is to investigate, but he gives up on it immedietaly as his "father" is already dead. Kana mentions that Aqua has become warmer somehow. We can see that in this and the following moments of Aqua's bliss he became somewhat more expressive with his face.
Aqua starts to seriously reconsider his relationship with Akane. He is reminded of when she hugged him and has shown him thorough support. He states before himself that he no longer has a need to stay in a relationship with Akane. He tells the same to Akane, who takes him to bridge she almost died under. Akane tries to keep Aqua with her by offering physical intimacy. This is also the only time Aqua mentions his sexual feelings admitting that even he gets horny.
Aqua, whose revenge is now over, admits he tried to take vengeance on his father and explained the lenghs of his schemes. Akane is, again, the only person Aqua confided in. Akane realizes that something doesn't match what Aqua was saying, and she concluded that Aqua's father is still alive. Ske keeps this information to herself, knowing that Aqua would go back to his ways of hatred. If Akane, who is an excellent people interpreter, is to be trusted, then Aqua overlooked this detail because deep inside he wanted it to end and be free of his trauma.
Aqua gets propositioned by Kana to help him gear up for the upcoming trip. Aqua agrees to do it next day, prioritizing the above mentioned date with Akane.
His day with Kana begins. When she arrives late he is waiting for her in a cafe for a coffee warm up. He pays for Kana in a moment before she paid herself. When they are out to choose a luggage case for Aqua, he is told to choose by his favourite color. Aqua chooses white. Kana notices it's the same color as her light sticks when she is an idol, altough I think it's not a absolutely certain Aqua chose this color to appeal to Kana. Their little escapade is over and it turns out Aqua reserved a table for two at a famous meat restaurant. Kana then realizes that their whole route has been planned out from the start.
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Bro wrote an entire thesis. 😭 Jokes aside appreciate the effort put into this analysis.
CW in advance for discussions of long-term suicidal ideation and associated self destructive behaviour in the context of OnK.
This is overall a pretty good analysis of Aqua and I especially like that you've pointed out that Aqua, at his core, is ultimately someone who wants to be kind and help others. He isn't a person who actively revels in causing harm to people for no good reason but I think what this analysis misses or otherwise understates is two extremely key factors in why Aqua's character has taken the turn it has of chapter 117 and beyond.
First of all is the fact that Aqua has very likely been suicidal for a long, long time. We know for a fact that just before he had the revenge realization he was considering ending his own life – he straight up says that he has already died once and isn't afraid and this is directly contrasted (at least in the manga) with the news reports confirming Ryosuke did so after killing Ai. It's only the realization that their father orchestrated Ai's death and that he has someone to take revenge on that gives him the motivation to keep living. Even then, I don't get the impression that Aqua had any plans for himself after achieving that goal.
It's hard to overstate the damage long-term suicidal ideation can do to a person's ability to live a normal life. With this type of suicidal ideation that is founded on the completion of a goal, it creates a sort of futurelessness in the mind of the person dealing with it as, to then, they have no long term prospects beyond this singular fixed end goal. This can also lead to self-sabotage and self destructive behaviour both in terms of actual physical harm to the self and in self-isolation and destructive behaviour as pertains to social relationships.
This dovetails into the second point: Aqua is actively trying to isolate himself from the people who care about him, out of self loathing. From Aqua's point of view it is a basic matter of indisputable fact that he is a bad, manipulative person and that the people he loves are better off not being around him. A lot of this Light Yagami ass behaviour is Aqua just doubling down on those same self-hating intrusive thoughts we saw him batter himself with in prior arcs, especially Tokyo Blade – only now they're being externalized and put on show for other characters so Aqua can cut off all his relationships in preparation for ending his life after his revenge is fulfilled. To Aqua, when he externalizes that self hatred, acts on those destructive thoughts and pulls his Light Yagami bullshit (which you, as the reader, absolutely should not take at face value) and then faces backlash and consequences from other characters, it's just further confirmation for him that he is an intrinsically broken and shitty person who doesn't deserve to be happy and that the people around him are better off with him gone.
With that context, chapter 117 is a natural conclusion to the Aqua development we've seen so far. Aqua believes that he is a fundamentally bad person and that he does not deserve to be happy. Because of that, he dirties his hands, doing bad and shitty things that hurt the people around him because, to him, it's better than letting these 'good' people who mistakenly have come to care for him dirty themselves in turn. Essentially, Aqua is looking to take everyone else's impurity and suffering into himself and purge it with his death, something he mistakenly thinks will allow him to atone for the supposed sin of just existing and being Hoshino Aqua.
It should go without saying, of course, that this is not true. Aqua is not an inherently bad and broken person and he deserves to be happy. Chapter 117 is the culmination of a mental health spiral that Aqua has been circling the drain on since he was four years old. He's a traumatized, suicidal teenager who desperately needs help before he causes irrevocable damage both to himself and the people around him who, despite Aqua's best efforts, still love and care for him.
Ah, I see you're a fellow analyst as well.
Thanks for furher exploration of the topic. You definetely have a point when you say that Aqua has been suicidal from much, much earlier that I have pointed out. I'm impressed by your insight.
I love discussion and reading opinions so I encourage each and every soul to share the insights like the man above.
Nice analysis.
Aqua is turned out need to be stopped after reading chapter 117.
And after reading chapter 117, plus according to my "opposite rule about Kana and Akane"(they are always being the total opposite to each other), Kana seems likely to be the one saving Aqua from his self destruction. Since Aqua saved Akane from jumping off bridge and also Akane did stated that she couldn't save Aqua on the chapter when they break up. As Kana being the opposite of Akane, it is likely to assume that Kana will soon save Aqua from what Akane had failed. Then this will be a nice paralleling (Aqua save Akane; Kana saves Aqua). There will be a nice parallel triangle if Akane is gonna save Kana as well.
God I would LOVE IT if Akane ended up saving Kana somehow! I've wanted really badly to see more of their relationship following Tokyo Blade since that was such a massive turning point for them but we haven't quite gotten the sort of deep dive I'd really love to see. If Akane's involvement in stopping Aqua's revenge plan also lead to her colliding with Kana in a positive way that would be the ideal outcome for me.
but I think they have already recovered their relationship when Akane helped Kana fixing her ribbon.
That's a pretty short, throwaway moment though – I'd like them to get some focus on the level of Aqua & Kana and Aqua & Akane's relationships.
This is proof that this whole interaction has not been a mere coincidence and most likely, Aqua has been truly trying to appeal to Kana. Aqua has remained expressionless during the entire day, almost like nothing of any significance has happened. During dinner he implies that he is going to break up with Akane. He says that he thought he should never get into a relationship, but is currently considering forgetting that and giving love a chance. After the whole interaction when a taxi stops to take them home, Aqua smiles very warmly.
I believe that there is no doubt what this sequence means. Himekawa has told Aqua to not play with Kana's and Akane's feelings and finally choose. Aqua has for now came to terms with his trauma and is looking for happiness. Manipulation is out of the question since Aqua is kind person and his manipulative behaviour stemed from his thirst for vengeance, and Kana is a person Aqua specifically doesn't feel the need to manipulate as stated in the catch play scene.
From this sequence and the counter-arguments above for any other reasonable explanation I conclude that Aqua without question has romantic feelings for Kana.
The trips happens, and the new B-Komachi is recording their own brand new song. Aqua tries to find his own corpse while accompanied by Akane. He is unsuccesful. When the two rejoin the idol group in the filming session, it turns out Kana told Akane about her date with Aqua. Akane tells Aqua to keep his distance from Kana, as she is an idol and the slightest scandal like dating could be career ending.
I can't clearly tell if Akane is talking out of genuine concern for Kana and Aqua, or if she is trying to manipulate Aqua into staying away from her acting rival whom she hates.
Akane strikes a nerve; Aqua's still not fully resolved trauma. Aquamarine is reminded of his mother's fate regarding a dating scandal. He takes Akane's words to heart and actually stops interacting with Kana at all.
When Ruby and Akane find Aqua's corpse from previous life, Aqua reveals to Akane that he wanted Akane to find, for some reason Aqua didn't want to find himself, he wanted someone else to find his corpse. Aqua says it's over. His "father" dead, Aqua's corpse has been found. Akane realizes that this means their relationship is over, starts crying and turns around. Aqua realizes that Akane loves him and kisses her before she leaves. Aqua wants to give love a chance with Akane. The trip is over
A six month time skip occurs. Everyone is rising to the top in the industry. Aqua indeed decided to avoid Kana, for what he believes to be her safety. One of the things that hurt Kana the most is people turning their back on her. When the person she has a crush on actively avoids her, she is very emotionaly distraught. This sparks Mem-Cho into action. Mem-Cho finds Aqua and forces a conversation with him. She takes him to her apartment. After a little bit of joking about taking a minor to your house after a late hour and discussing Aqua's future university plans, Mem-Cho goes smoothly into the primary topic. Mem-Cho mentions how Aqua hurt Kana by cutting her off like that. She says Aqua made moves on Kana that are obviously suggestive.
Aqua says that once one has decided to cut someone off, one shouldn't do so half-heartedly. Aqua gets emotionally shaken, as he tries to physically intimidate Mem-Cho by standing over her. He tells her that she shouldn't treat him like he is a naive person who doesn't understand the complexeties of men-women dynamics, and that his decision to stay away from Kana was intentional. Aqua states he knew that Kana would get hurt and that he is not avoiding her because he wants to. He explains his concerns regarding Kana safety if she was ever caught interacting with a boy. He is reminded of his mother's death that was exactly that situation. He questions Mem-cho who would take responsibility if something happened to Kana.
While Aqua is saying all of this we get a good look and his expression. It is not that of anger or frustration. It is an expression of pure fear. It appears Aqua is terrified that what happened to Ai Hoshino may happen to Kana Arima. I believe that one of the factors that multiplies the terror is the fact that he could be indirectly responsible for Kana's death. Aqua, who is barely dealing with his feelings from his mother's death, cannot imagine dealing with the guilt of it happenning again.
Mem-Cho is another witness that testifies the magnitude of Aqua's emotions during his vent. Mem-Cho has been sure that Kana is obsessed with Aqua, but hearing his words and seeing his reaction she changes her mind, she believes that Aqua is more obsessed with Kana than Kana is with him.
In the meantime Aqua's relationship with Akane is not thriving. Aqua is very kind and considerate towards his girlfriend, but the spark doesn't seem to be there. Akane thinks that Aqua is attracted to Kana. She decides to ignore that fact and put her faith into Aqua.
When Ruby starts to get in on Aqua's show and exhibits very manipulative and cunning behaviour targeted to get Ruby even higher in popularity and rank, Aqua becomes deeply concerned for his sister and is skeptical that she is not the one to who came up with her devious plans. His sister explains her motivation, including she was inspired by her brother's manipulative behaviour to take this road, including their mother's death.
By following his sister finds the man behind the her plans. This man sees himself as Ai's former father figure and also seeks revenge against Aqua's father. He tells Aqua that the man Aqua thinks is his father can't be the one who gave the murderer Ai's address, since the man was dead before Ai has moved her house. It is therefore chronologically impossible for the man that Aqua pointed out as his "father" to be responsible for Ai's murder. This means one of two things: That man is not Aqua's father, or someone else leaked Ai's address. It means one thing for sure: Aquamarine Hoshino's revenge can once again be enacted.
Aqua is absolutely shocked and a range of many emotions can be seen on his face. He sits on a bench in the rain. At first he tries to deny it, but his guilt and hatred come flooding back to destroy the feelings of peace and happiness Aqua managed to build while free of his thirst of vengeance. His trauma comes back to haunt him. After he lets out a scream and lashes out towards what he thinks is air it turns out the one who experienced the lashout was Kana. He is cursing in his mind while Kana starts crying now completely convinced that Aqua hates her, she runs away crying. Aqua stays on the bench in the rain, broken. Suddenly he has an umbrella though.
Akane calls Aqua to meet up. Aqua says he is not in the mood for meeting people, as we see him in his room up against a wall on the ground next to his bed, with trash and thrown over furniture surrounding him.
Akane makes an investigation to find Aqua's father and through her great understanding of Ai's character she finds him. His name is Hikaru Kamiki.
Aqua calls Akane. Aqua tells Akane that she was the one to save him bit by bit, and that he will like her no matter what. Then he asks her whether he should let go and live hapily or; by his silence he is implying taking revenge. Akane senses that Aqua wants his decision to be made for him, and refuses to control his life. This is an excellently healthy response to a healthy individual. Aqua is not a healthy individual. Akane is the only one that can help him make that decision and she doesn't even suggest one of the options to Aqua, leaving him alone with his decision.
Akane, perhaps happy that Aqua confessed to like Akane, is determined to save Aqua. She leaves her house and meets Aqua at the bottom of a bridge's stairs.
Aqua seems diffrent. His eyes are empty and his expression is expressionless. Aqua exposes that Akane was trying to kill Aqua's father. Aqua is also exposed, for having hid a GPS tracker on Akane. Akane, realizing that Aqua was tracking her all the time, snaps. She says she would've helped in any way if he asked, and that the GPS tracker means that Aqua doesn't see her as human (It's debatable whether that's the truth). Aqua wants Akane to stop doing dangerous things and says he will have nothing to do with her anymore. Akane says that she would go to hell with him. Aqua replies that he will go there by himself. Akane tells Aqua that he made the wrong choice, and Aqua agrees. Aqua now knows his father's name; Hikaru Kamiki, and a dark star appears not in one, but in two of his eyes.
Aqua has proved unable to make the right choice. He couldn't deal with his feelings in a healthy, so he is trying to deal with in an unhealthy way, the way he feels will bring him closure.
Mem-Cho approaches Aqua again. She feels Kana is about to leave B-Komachi at this rate and wants Aqua to do something about it. Aqua refuses. Mem-Cho insists, telling Aqua the truth that Kana joined B-Komachi for him. Aqua who at this point completely gave up to his guilt and hatred, is subtly but visibly suprised. In his internal monolouge he says that he doesn't deserve her straight gaze after what he decided to do, which according to him, is something that guarantees his place in hell. He doesn't want her doing anything with him. "She shouldn't have anything to do with me anymore."
This is a specific way to phrase things. His internal monolouge sounds like he feels unworthy or dangerous to Kana, making him not want to interact with her. Something a little similar happened between Aqua and Akane. His possible reason for leaving Akane out of his life might the same or similar as the one for leaving Kana out of his life. Aqua has obviously been eaten up by his guilt and hatred. His feeling of self-worth is completely destroyed, so he can longer interact with people he cares about because he is feeling guilty that such a precious person with would be dealing with a monster like him.
When Aqua learns of the scandal involving Kana, he is worried about her, but confident his involvement is not necessary. It is interesting that Aqua is not concerned with the scandal itself, but with the effect it might have had on Kana. Miyako makes Aqua doubt himself, claiming that young people aren't that strong and Kana could potentially not deal with it too well.
Aqua finds Kana to confirm she is alright. He was right. Kana is dealing very well with the dramatic event. He concludes that Kana doesn't need him which I think is one of the many red flags Aqua has been showing recently. As if a suicidal person was confirming that the people he cares about can do without him.
Upon returning home, he ponders the fact that Kana joined B-Komachi for his sake. This causes him to ask Ruby if she would go to any lenghs to save Kana.
I will mention that since Aqua's breakdown he is referring to Kana by her last name; Arima.
Ruby says that she obviously wants to save her friend. She doesn't know her brother's intentions.
Aqua barters his mother's identity for Kana's future. Ruby is furious. For Ruby there were sacrums that were never to broken and Ai Hoshino's identity was one of them. She thought that Aqua too believed in the same values as Ruby, and felt betrayed. Aqua explains that this will increase their popularity and save Kana, and says that this information: "Should be used for the sake of the living." Red flag, Aqua forsakes his old values and claims the living should be prioritiezed? Sounds like words of a suicidal person. Ruby renounces Aqua as a family member. Aqua says after Ruby leaves that this is necessary for Ruby to live on after he is "gone".
Up until this point Aqua only hinted that his intention is self-sacrificial. Now he confirms that he plans to be gone after his mission is furfilled. I think does not mean prison.
Aqua meets Kana who tries empathize with Aqua. She shares her own kind of trauma of being turned away from, and that she feels that Aqua turned his back on her too and that Aqua hates her. Aqua is visibly sad that Kana feels this way and says its the opposite and explains with a slightly emotional expression that he avoided her to avoid a scandal. Kana is very angry that Aqua caused her some much pain and worry for such a reason.
Kana insults Aqua calling him a gloomy narcissist. Aqua seems to feel bad for a moment, about the gloomy part of the insult.
edit: I misinterpreted the speaker who was throwing harsh words around. Aqua remains calm and reserved in the conversation without saying any mean words to Kana. Thanks to user DirectryX for pointing out this oversight.
When Kana resolves the matter and calls Aqua a precious friend he ponders the word friend with a complex expression.
Aqua talks with Mem-Cho confirming that he is no longer looking for happiness. In internal monoluge he says he will use even Kana in his goals, if he musts. This can mean that Aqua intents to involve and use Kana in his plot for vengeance, or the opposite, he will try to not involve and use her but is willing to so if that is what it takes furfill his mission.
Next we see Aqua is pulling the strings to get a movie about Ai Hoshino done. He confronts Akane Kurokawa again. Akane expresses her desire to stop Aqua's plan. Aqua responds with a smile full of malicious intent and a provocation. I believe that the future relation of Aqua and Akane will become extremely strained or downright hostile as Akane directly opposes Aqua's number one primary motivator: Thirst for vengeance.
Time for the last chapter: 117
Aqua holds casual conversation with Kana until the movie gets brought up. Kana is playing the role of a B-Komachi member that hated Ai. Aqua says that if its Kana its fine because she is special to him. When Kana leaves flustered, Aqua starts to laugh. He calls Kana easy to exploit if she is so flustered over flattery.
This last chapter leaves a lot of room to speculation. Aqua is acting against his own personality.
Aqua is kind and generally doesn't resort to manipulation UNLESS he thinks it will bring him closer to his goal.
Aqua perceives Kana as a person he can talk to without any ulterior motives
Both of these character traits have been broken, so lets look at the possible explanations:
-Aqua has changed and the statements above are no longer true. This is the simplest answer that is both the most boring and the scariest. If this is true, and Aqua has irredemably changed to be fully manipulative and evil then we might get to see him become the show's finale antagonist with everyone who knew him hating him.
-Aqua perceives himself as a terrible person. He thought he can't look Kana straight in the eye anymore and that Kana should avoid him. When he interacts more with Kana his guilt kicks in and while he tries to keep it normal, he is justifying his genuine kind feelings with malicious intent to fit in in the image of the terrible himself in his head. In this version of events, Aqua could still be redeemable and the story will end with his fathers death and his acceptance of his own trauma, or even Hikaru's survival (Although jail forever) and Aqua abandoning his vengeance.
It has been established that Aqua intends to make Hikaru suffer, and gave a lot of thought into how to do it. Making light of his crime in the movie is most certainly not the final Aqua's goal.
"Then what purpose does it serve?"
Either after thorough analysis Aqua determined that exposing him publicly is the worst thing he can do to him or he wants something else. I believe Aqua expects some sort of a reaction from Hikaru. Perhaps he knows he will be in attendance at the premiere, or that he will try to do something specific once the movie comes out. Maybe it's not about the movie itself but the news of it's creation. Perhaps Aqua is anticipating that Hikaru will try to stop the movie from coming out. Perhaps the movie is a hidden message to Hikaru that will lead him to Aqua.
One thing is certain: Aqua doesn't intend to stay alive after enacting vengeance on his father. He also wants to do the deed itself without involving anyone else which means that all of Aqua's plans assume a direct confrontation in private between father and son.
"What does Aqua want to do to his father?"
It is possible that the answer is simple torture. Brutal and slow death. It is possible that Aqua wants to inflict psychological trauma on his father in some way. It is possible that maybe someone else important to Hikaru is involved like a lover, and Aqua will kill them. It is possible that Aqua will slowly ruin everything in Hikaru's life, fame, money, relationships, and when Hikaru is at the lowest of lows; Aqua kills him.
It is obvious Aqua is not concerned with legal repercussions and is probably planning suicide after enacting his revenge. It is plausible that Aqua has changed too much as a result of his trauma and it will never leave him, or to kill Hikaru he must become a criminal. Whatever the way Aqua intends to die, as heard from him himself; he intends to be gone soon as stated after his argument with Ruby.
Conclusion : Aquamarine Hoshino is a fantastic character brought to life by Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari. Aqua portrays what happens when one can't deal with their own feelings and decides to resolve them in an unhealthy way. His thirst for vengeance has very negatively impacted his character. Despite being driven by negative emotions there was/is a place for relationships in Aquamarine's life; with his dear sister, with Akane Kurokawa and with Kana Arima. Aquamarine acts kindly and is quick to praise and give support which makes him more likable as a character and to other characters.
Finally, my personal opinions:
-I really like Aquamarine Hoshino's character, his traumatic backstory is relatable to anyone as everyone has lost someone close at some point. I like that he is not very vocal and that he is an overall nice person. I do not like the drastic turn Aqua has spiraled towards by the newest chapter as of writing this analysis. Aqua has become very emotionaly unresponsive and ulikable in chapter 117 and I don't like that. It is fine if a character like Light Yagami is casually toying with someone's feelings as Light's character is established from the begginning to be cunning and manipulative, but when our nice boy Aqua goes insane it just makes me sad and frustrated.
-I ship AquaXKana and if my job as an analyst has been succesful then you weren't completely sure of that by the end of reading this analysis. I have tried to remain unbiased especially in regards to the best ship/best girl matters. Kana received more attention from me since she has received more attention from the story and Aqua himself. If you feel like I have been biased, call me out on it.
-If I accidentaly forgot a crucial detail and am accidentaly spreading misinformation, let me know in the comments.
Feel free to share your opinions about Oshi no Ko's story and characters and where you think it's going.
I absolutely love your detailed chapter-by-chapter analysis. It's been a while since I first read Oshi no Ko so I can't remember everything that has happened in the past chapter and how Aqua behave in them. This post is a really good refreshment for my memory.
Like many others, the latest chapter made me think that Aqua is just being a dick to Kana and although it definitely felt out of character, I brushed it off as Aqua becoming more obsessed with revenge. But your post made me realize Aqua always treats Kana differently and it shows that Aqua somewhat has a feeling for Kana so there's no way he would do something like that without reason. The second possibility definitely makes more sense to me. I trust Aka for this one
I think Akane is just oppose to Aqua's self destruct plus manipulating others 's plan, but not opposing Aqua taking revenge on his father.
A hot popular manga like this has a low possibility of taking the first ending. If Aqua successfully killed his father, this ending is not satisfy with Ai's finding right before she died, as a story the ending is not matching its plot.
From what we see from the character Ai, the ending will definitely be Aqua's trauma got cured through "saving" someone/something. Let's think deeper of it, if Aqua successfully killed/ put his father in jail forever, I don't think his trauma will really got cured in long-term.
I don't think he got a lover. If he got a lover, he wouldn't be killing actresses everywhere. And I agreed with you with the other things Aqua is gonna ruin them from him.
Wow. That's some work done! Good job, thank you!
I re-read your, I suppose, thesis, and find that you may had overlooked one significant detail. Namely, Gorou's past, which we know form the Private arc.
Many of his psychological ticks and problems got their roots in his first life, not second.
You limited yourself with saying that he was kind, supportive and empathetic, and while truthul, it's not the whole picture at all.
Gorou's mother died in childbirth. He lived and was raised by grandparents from maternal side, as father never was in the picture. His granddad hated him, citing the his life is not worth his daughter's death. The only close human being to him was his grandma, but eventually even she and her husband passed away. His mother's fate was his motivation for taking up a medicine.
When we see him, he is a seemingly cheerful guy, but that's because we see him mostly when he is fanboying, or when he is with Ai or Sarina. With Sarina, he is empathetic to her, and furious with her parents for their indifferent attitude, of course it is his berserk button because of his own childhood.
In most other situations, he is kinda aloof and a bit cold, his character is demostrating "going through motions" type - it's not that he dislikes his life, it's more like there is no passion in it. Or it wasn't, until his acquaintance with Sarina. She, and later Ai, put so much energy to his life, that if you remember he even said in his internal monologue that he is kinda thankful to the guy who killed him. A shining example of mental health, indeed.
TLDR; wanna say that Gorou's life and expiriences made a tremendous influence on Aqua's character, and that fact is very often overlooked. Both of his lifes are twisted mirrors of one another, and that is a significant key to understanding his character. IMHO, of course.
You are right, you convinced me I have taken Gorou too much at face value.
Oh! Thanks for consideration of my thoughts. =)
Aka-sensei likes to make everything and anyone a puzzle, I think, and personally, I like it. There are so many pieces, and even if most of them are in the plain sight, it's hard to not miss something even in the most thorough research like yours.
Akane's profiling of Ai is a nice and kind of self-aware example of what kind of work you need to do to fully understand some of his complicated characters 😁
This is what is very appealing about Aka-sensei's wirting.
His characters, just like real people, are complicated and flawed. It is so entertaining to see them deal with their lives in an imperfect way.
I am a huge Kaguya-sama fan (Gave it a 10/10 on MAL) so when I learned through a meme the name of Oshi no Ko's author, I simply had to read it.
Imma assume you made great points bc other commenters seem to think so, but in my opinion (take with a grain of salt, I'm just one person), your post would be better off without excessive plot summarization or even cutting down on the number of examples you're using to support your analysis.
The target audience for the post are already readers that not only regularly keep up with the manga but also like it enough to participate in the Online community. So you can already assume that the audience is well versed with the specific plot details -- no need to recount so many and in such detail. That's the main reason why I didn't read your post after skimming the first part of it
I respect your opinion. My post is very long and I don't blame anyone for not wanting to fully read it. I felt that going into such detail was going to make my analysis clear, and examples are always provided to avoid arbitrary statements.
I can see why they did that, analyzing a character going by chapter to chapter can help organize thought better easier for them. Kind of like keeping notes while rereading.
You, sir, have put in words WHY Aquamarine Hoshino is one of my favorite characters (from all the fiction) ever. And I'm very grateful for that.
After posting my analysis on Akane (a character which with had a few doubts.... Then chapter 116 nuked those doubts), I was doubtful about doing one about Aqua (alongside Kana, my fav. Character) but after reading yours, i don't think that I can add something of value.
I think that the ending of this Arc will determinate if he ranks over Lelouch and behind Okabe, Kenji or Reinhard on my rank of MCs.
I'm really happy that you enjoyed my analysis! Aqua is also one of my favourite protagonists now.
People who sees Aqua for the first time and said "another light yagami clone" or "Ayanokouji 2.0" should've read this post.
It really does help into understand Aqua's psychology and development along the story.
Therapy doesn’t exist in this world. Need to introduce Therapy.
People are really out here forgetting that Aqua literally got sent to therapy and just faked being better to get out of it
Men will literally enact a whole ass revenge plot against their father who killed their mother instead of going to therapy.
Gotanda straight up says to him in Tokyo Blade "you could stop all this and go to therapy and eventually be happy" and Aqua was like "no I want to be miserable" BOY 😭😭😭
Need someone to die and get reincarnated as Therapy Chan. (Calling it now, Ai reincarnates, becomes a therapist and gives Aqua proper Therapy and Closure)
I really read all of it..this was amazing
Thank you, I have put a lot of effort into it
Thanks , it was a brilliant post ......it took me more 1 hour to read it tho btw why did you posted half of your post in the comments?
Character limit or something
There is a character limit for posts and comments. My analysis consists of over 52000 characters and has gone way over the limit. The limit for comments is 10000 characters.
It's a very good read my good sir. I've been reading your analysis while having the manga open on another screen. I did notice one oversight though:
This is back in Chapter 107, I believe it is Kana who said this rather than Aqua. She then immediately regretted saying this after Aqua mentioned that he broke up with Akane.
Yo dude, I think you are right. I'm gonna edit the post real quick as it is an actual oversight.
I'm sorry to everyone for the confusion but since no one else noticed , I guess I was not the only one confused about the speaker.
Based
I love when analysis posts are made in the subs. And yours is of excellent quality. I read it all, and it is very deep. Congrats OP!
Aww, thanks!
All of aqua’s actions are for his revenge, a lie in reality.
You could have just said he's a sociopath bro.
Jesus Christ you weren't lying when you said this was a long read 😭
Great post! I enjoyed reading this a lot! Kudos for keeping the analysis of Akane and Kana's relationship with Aqua unbiased.
I too, enjoyed Aquamarine as a character, right until the latest chapter. Chapter 117 (and the chapters revolving around the movie, in general) feel strangely OOC for him in a way that makes me dislike Aqua quite a bit. He had decided not to get involved with Akane so as to protect her, and yet agrees to cast her as Ai despite the danger it may bring to her. He does that evil-laughter-monologue thingy after praising Kana, when there's no reason to manipulate her in the first place (Kana seemed like she'd decided to act in the movie regardless). I don't see how Kana can be 'used' in his revenge plot when she doesn't know the first thing about it.
I'd like it if the reason for this was tied to your second option:"Aqua perceives himself as a terrible person."
He is trying to convince himself that he is a terrible person... manipulating everyone for his revenge, so that when his revenge is over, people will keep away from him and he can justify everything as his fault and his evil nature. I don't want to think that Aqua's drastically changed to the worst version of himself (the Kana-fan in me does not want to see her manipulated to this degree by the person she loves), but I have the feeling that his mental state is going to get worse as the movie plot progresses.
Ruby and Taishi Gotanda are the two people I am veeeery interested in the moment, because they are the closest thing to family (except Miyako) who are in on Aqua's plan for the revenge.
I’m good
damn man nice job
Good Analysis overall. But I feel some details didn't need to be added mainly because this is a manga discussion and most people are aware of these things and after reading it which took around seven minutes. I feel like it could've been dumbed down a bit but that amount of detail is useful as well these are just my thoughts but great analysis regardless.
I agree with much of the analysis. Aqua is a fantastic character from a writing perspective. There's a lot of depth, and it's sad people reduce him to being a cringelord.
I think you downplay Akane's influence on Aqua quite a bit. I used to be of the mind Kana was the one that he harbored romantic feelings for... but upon rereading the series, I don’t agree with that sentiment. I believe those strong, passionate feelings you see from Aqua are him being a fanboy.
I see Kana being to Aqua what Ai was to Gorou- someone he both fanboys hard and supports, but someone he had a close, real relationship with (even if brief in regards to his friendship with Ai as Gorou).
I see Akane being the one he's slowly developed romantic feelings for because Akane has been his most intimate relationship over the course of the series since Love Now.
She made him blush heavily with her Ai-Kane performance and forced him to have to seriously consider his feelings. Naturally, he didn't fall in love then, but she certainly left an impression on him.
She awoke the actor within him when she took him to see the stage play and got him motivated to put effort in the Tokyo Blade play. he revealed his true nature to her, and she accepted him for it. I think it's notable he allowed Akane to see old tapes of his performances when he previously denied Kana the opportunity.
When he tried to break up with her after Tokyo Blade, his reasoning had nothing to do with his feelings and whether he liked her or not. It was strictly based on his guilt for using her, and he hesitated to do so when remembering her kindness. That’s telling. He tried to push her away again by telling her he used her to find Gorou's corpse, but he relented when he saw she was devastated at the thought of ending their relationship.
I think you misinterpret Akane's monologue in chapter 86? 87? She's not saying there's no spark in their relationship. Watching Aqua walk her home and talking about wanting to see her, he's definitely not forcing himself. What Akane was troubled with was the fact she believed Aqua had stronger feelings for Kana (but again, I argue it's the case because he's a fan).
But she didn’t question him, and from her perspective, Aqua was being honest with her and putting in the effort to be a good boyfriend.
Lastly, when distressed by Ichigo's revelation and that his dad was likely still alive, the person he turned to was Akane. He begged her for direction because he specifically didn’t want to lose his days with her. The words he uttered to Akane in that phone call aren’t words you utter if you don't like that person romantically, as I see it.
Tl;dr, Aqua has eyes for Kana as a fan of a star, but he has eyes for Akane as an SO whom he shares intimate moments with.
There's literally zero confirmation from Aqua's side (or from anyone else) that Aqua sees Kana as a fan, though? If he were to see her solely as a fanboy, he would have put her on a pedestal... not berate her for being rude with him, or taking her out for a casual catchball and implying that he 'feels comfortable around her'. Most of Aqua's happy memories around Kana constitute of them talking about random shit. If he were thinking of her as a fanboy, then those memories would largely be related to Kana's acting or Kana's performance in the JIF, which is not the case here.
Yes, Akane is undoubtedly special to Aqua, there's no denying that. But that doesn't mean that his feelings for Kana are solely out of admiration/fanboy passion. Idk where you got this idea from.
I may be a Kana fan, but Akane's influence is undeniable. She is the only one Aqua shared the nature of his mission with.
Akane is at least very special to Aqua, and perhaps someone for whom he has romantic feelings.
I think the no spark thing might be my Kana bias, but that's the way I interpreted that chapter; We see Aqua is doing his best as a boyfriend, yet Akane still senses something is off.
Yes, Aqua turned to Akane for directions. Do consider however that he did so at his lowest point in the series, he didn't know know what to do with himself now that revenge is on the table again. In his despair he appealed to Akane and wanted her to make the choice for him.
So lets try to make an argument that Aqua has romantic feelings for Akane:
-Aqua decides to date her for serious -Aqua says he will always like her (if we assume that this sentence has romantic undertones.)
I can't think of more arguments that undeniable indicate purely romantic interest so I will move to the counter-argument:
-Aqua could have continued to date Akane out of guilt. Guilt is a big factor in Aqua's character. He decides to continue dating Akane when he sees her start crying and try to leave, while his internal monolouge keeps saying "stop" and an unfinished thought about tears.
You can argue that Aqua didn't do it out of guilt, but rather out of fear of losing Akane, but then the clarity of his romantic feelings for Akane is still ambigous.
Remember, your opinion is valid and Akane Kurokawa is an excellent character. She is definetly a potential romantic interest for Aqua, she wouldn't harbor so many shippers otherwise.
I hate Aqua because he's manipulating my Precious Kana I'm gonna burn him alive, Skin Him, Hang Him amd then Feed him to pigs as they also eat the bones leaving no evidence behind
Relax, he only flattered her at worst
I know that your analysis hasn't went up to this part of the story yet but I just wanted to say that, after chapter 98. Aqua seems so destructive that he's even willing to harm Ai's image to succeed his plan.(unless saving Kana was because he is kind, or he likes her that much, but, on chapter 117. It seems like Aqua is going to use Kana in his plan.)
Edit: I just remembered that Aqua wants Ruby to live on without him when/if he is gone. (the exact words are "This is necessary. So you can live in this world... ...Even after I'm gone" of course room for error in the translation, in not dismissing that.)
So Aqua probably does care for the people close with him, unless that only applies for Ruby.
...I may be wrong but... You do realize that a large part of my analysis is in the comments?
Your comment gave me an impression that you haven't read the full analysis
Do Akane next, I can't help to think that she is manipulative as well. Even in real life, smart people with profiling ability or work as psychiatrist tends to take advantage of their partner with their knowledge.
Here you are, I wrote an analysis of Akane https://www.reddit.com/r/OshiNoKo/comments/13jckib/the_kind_obsessed_genius_and_her_relation_to_aqua/
I might consider your request. Akane is not the main protagonist so an analysis on her will certainly take less effort.
Be warned though, as Akane has shown manipulative behaviour
Yes
I'm to tired to read this right now but it looks detailed and the amount of effort could be an analysis paper. I'll read it later since it looks interesting
He still got a reason: if he made the show turned out to be good, he may have more chances of getting more important jobs from the director. In which, this given him chances of climbing higher/deeper into the industry.
But I do agreed that he did contain sympathy on Kana after hearing her backstory.
I don't think it is all because of his trauma. He did try to save Ai when Ai is bleeding as well, I don't think that is direct result from his trauma. He could still immediately to react on saving someone/something before he got his trauma.
But of course his trauma enhance it.
Ah yes, he DID try to save his own mother, truly the best proof of his immediate reaction to life endangerment.
Anyway, Aqua says himself that when a life is threatened you need to act immediately, a lesson learned in my opinion from his experience with Ai's death, since he constantly blames himself for it.
I think the word "responsibility" as a co-worker is more suitable than feeling guilty. Because from Aqua's point of view, he just want this job to be done quick, stable and save. If any accident happens, it would be a trouble to him. All he wanted is just the trading between him and the director. That is why he chosen to help Akane rebuilding her public image.
I think both.
The skill of interpreting a person, Aqua is not good enough when compare to Akane. But through the evidence of Aqua's past acting videos, we know that he is good at replicating the surface characteristic of a character, so he must know how to interpret someone reaction. But for the deeper meaning of it, it contains the understanding of Kana as a person.
I think this implies the dark side of Aqua didn't allow him to grab happiness. That is why he kept distance with Kana.
I think this implies that the first priority in Aqua's heart is "saving" someone. He wants revenge because he knew someone killed Ai on planned. But his trauma isn't build up on revenge but the guilty that he couldn't "save" Ai.
Aqua's past life as Gorou, continues being Ai's fans even after Sarina's death is because of his guilty that he couldn't "save" her.
That is why the only possible way of curing his trauma is let him "save" someone instead of killing someone.
It is for sure that Ruby is more important than both Kana and Akane, to Aqua.
Kana and Akane is discussable about the order of panels. But Ruby is for sure the most important. Even until ch117, Aqua never got a thinking of making Ruby as a tool. While Kana and Akane always being put between "Aqua's tools" and "Aqua's sympathy and guilty".
So I think Kana and Akane panels are just put in the order of Aqua's recalling memory timeline.
I hope there is a conclusion instead of a summary at the end.
The chapter dating Kana is a bit unrelated to the main plot, hope the author will return necessary message of that chapter.