After spending a bit of time calming myself with romcoms, I've decided to delve into this anime finally. I will say that I have read the manga beforehand, but I will obviously not include any of the manga info in this review, nor will I try to compare them. The anime should be judged as it is and I'll do my best to be fair and take into account how cliffhangers/story reveals will have seemed to the "anime-only" viewers.

Given the nature of the show I will spoil the anime, though, so please be wary of that. If you need to know if it's truly worth your time I'll throw in a tl;dr at the end; I recommend it, though. Story is also easily the longest segment, if you want just the general feel of the show, interaction, animation style etc. scroll to the miscellaneous section.

But let's go from the top: The characters

We're starting the story with "the doctor/Gorou/Aqua" who is way into idols after interacting with one of his patients "Sarina/Ruby". Sarina is bedridden, weak, alone and desperately seeks solace any way she can. This leads her to the sparkliest and "most perfect" people she can find: Idols. And more specifically our main idol, the "star" of the show: Hoshino Ai.

We'll go into the story in a second, so to quickly introduce the rest of the currently important characters. Saitou Miyako, foster mother to Aqua and Ruby and head of the Strawberry talent agency. Kurokawa Akane, an incredibly talented actress capable of perfectly slipping into any role, due to her knack at profiling. Arima Kana, a former child actress prodigy, whose skill has remained, while her fame has waned. And lastly Memcho, a streamer with a fascination for idols.

The plot is clearly the strongest point in Oshi no Ko. This is highlighted magnificently with an opening episode that is 4 times as long as your average anime episode. It serves as a setup for our premise: Reincarnation. Sarina has passed away years ago, but she left her love for Ai with the doctor. Ai enters the picture heavily pregnant (twins) and hiding that fact by coming to this rather remote hospital with her manager/CEO of the Strawberry agency; Ichigo. Extremely creative man, as you can tell. Also not relevant to the current story too much, so not included in the main cast for now.

We build a little rapport between Ai and the doctor, discuss the pregnancy plans and get introduced to one of our first major themes of the entire story: Lies. Hiding away from the crowd, choosing to hide her children, lying to fans to make them feel loved. Hoshino Ai is a deeply flawed character from the start. She's felt alone all her life, is incapable of truly bringing her emotions across and can't even feel sure if she's telling the truth to herself. Everything she does is in the pursuit of a happiness that she shows on the outside in order to maybe eventually feel it, too.

As a side note, we also see another big motif, this one mostly visual, but obviously also metaphorical: Stars. Hoshino Ai (among the stars/between the stars), "starry-eyed", "stars"; you get it. It's not subtle, but it's clearly not intended to be. You're very much supposed to see this sparkly brightness and then notice the shadows that pool in the spaces between.

Back to the story, Ai eventually is about to give birth and she wants the doctor to deliver the kids. On the eve, however, doctor encounters a suspicious individual who asks for Ai by full name and chooses to chase, then pursue the stalker in order to protect Ai. He ends up shoved down a cliff and busts his head open on the rocks below - the stalker and a flock of crows the only witnesses in this remote area out in the woods. After a look at the stalker's face his life fades. As he wakes, however, he finds himself reincarnated as one of Ai's twins. The other twin is of course another Ai superfan; Sarina. A fact we, the viewers, first guess, then get confirmed, but neither of the two know the other's identity. They only know each other as Aqua and Ruby.

Fast forwarding a bit, Ai is coping with motherhood, Miyako is made the foster mom ("real" mom to the public) and Ai slowly returns to showbiz. Miyako has a lapse in judgment and figures she could sell out Ai to get away from babysitting, at which point the babies start talking to her and trick her into believing divine intervention should befall her, if she doesn't care for them and keep the secret. Ai in the meanwhile loses a bit of drive, but this gets quickly renewed as the babies are dancing (in the baby carriage) at one of her concerts and she finds it in her to show off an actual genuine smile, instead of the perfectly crafted smile she'd used til then.

This very smile gets her some more attention and she starts starring first in a drama, then in a movie. Aqua helps out here, by impressing the director of said drama with his unexpectedly sophisticated speech and by agreeing to also be in the movie, Ai is offered the role. Her Aqua meets Kana for the first time, a bratty, conceited child actress who gets immediately outshone by Aqua's "acting". Which is really just him acting his adult self in a toddler body, to perfectly exude the creepiness required for the role. Aqua and the director enter into something that could resemble a very weak father/son bond.

We eventually reach the point where B Komachi, Ai's idol group, is about to fulfill the dream of everyone in the agency: Perform at "the dome". A huge stadium, the dream not many idols get to fulfill. On the morning of their stadium gig, the doorbell rings and Ai opens it alone. The same stalker who had killed the doctor previously, has finally found Ai and expresses his hatred for her audacity to have children in the only way he can and stabs her on the spot. Aqua runs in on this and Ai clears up that she only wanted to show everyone love; after remembering the stalker's name and thanking him for all his time spent supporting her he bolts and Ai slumps against the living room door clutching Aqua. Ruby can't see them, but listens through the door to Ai's last words: "You might be an actor in the future/I think you could become an idol/I love you". The last one obviously hitting the hardest, as Ai could finally say these words to her children - words she purposely avoided in fear of discovering that she may not be able to truly mean them.

At the funeral Aqua muses about the situation and realizes that the stalker could only have found them, if he had an accomplice that leaked the location. And the only person that could've known that, was one that Ai had just recently contacted to introduce the children: The father. Which lays down the foundation for our main goal of the story. Murdering the father to avenge Ai's death.

Another timeskip and we arrive at the present. With teenage (16) Ruby and Aqua enrolling at the same school in different departments. Here, Ruby comes into contact with a great deal of actors and entertainers, while Aqua meets Kana again, who appears head over heels for this guy who showed her up back in the day. She's your typical tiny, loudmouthed tsundere, but she's not too grating. As time goes by we see Aqua editing movies for the director and honing his "backstage skills" in order to plant his feet in the scene and get connections to those who may have been close enough to Ai. Deducing who his father is being the main goal of even entering that field. Get close to a guy, collect some hair/spit and do dna tests to see if one among them is the father. His list of suspects is narrowed down by cracking a phone over the course of a few years, which holds the names of big players in the industry Ai used to have contact with.

Kana ends up inviting him to a role in a tv drama, the director of which being one of these bigshot names he knows. Grasping the chance he chooses to play the role in this shoddily produced show that's really just a promotion for the male model "actors". Kana is the only real actor on set and holds herself back to have the others shine, but gets mocked for it behind her back. Something Aqua quickly notices, then rectifies by setting the stage correctly and having her show her real talent in the last episode of the show. All this accomplished, he tests the drama director's spit and finds it not to be a match. This guy does however claim to have info on the men Ai was in contact with just as she was "beginning to look more like a woman", so Aqua gets roped into the next role for that info.

A reality tv dating show, in which he meets Akane as well as Memcho and a few other side characters. Ruby in the meantime is setting up a new idol group, with Kana joining after Aqua pesters her into it. On the dating show we get a lot more development for Akane. She stays in the background most of the time, but is under immense pressure by the management that really needs her to stand out. So eventually she lashes out and scratches another actress' face on accident. The whole thing is caught on camera and although the two of them make up on the spot, the only thing that counts is what the show and its editors will broadcast to the world. This culminates in a flood of hate comments and constant online harassment. Even being recognized at school and unable to cope with the situation, Akane doesn't know who to turn to. Her mother she'd disappoint, her schoolmates gossip while she's overhearing in the bathroom and she feels she can't face any of the cast. The only way out appears to her on a whim, as she stands on a walkway over the street: "I don't want to think anymore" being the last words, before stepping off the railing.

Aqua, however, grabs her just before she falls, having been alerted by Akane's last message in their group chat to "get some groceries" in a typhoon. This sparks romantic interest in Akane and leads her to pursue Aqua on the show, shortly after the cast of the dating show sets up a video that shows the reconciliation between Akane and the girl she scratched. In that romantic pursuit Akane finds out Aqua's type is Ai and strives to research her for hours on end. The next day Akane mimics Ai so perfectly, that even Aqua is shocked. He turns down her romantic feelings in the end, but as they are talking finds out she could only mimic Ai by finding out everything she can, then making assumptions to fill the gap - like the assumption that Ai had a child as a teen. Learning this Aqua decides to keep Akane around in order to use her talent to help find out who the father is.

We're ending the season on "new B Komachi"'s first real concert. Memcho decided to join Kana and Ruby in the group after the dating show. There's a quick bit of coldness between Kana and Aqua, due to Aqua kissing Akane and keeping up a work relationship with her, but ultimately this is cleared up at the end and she's gushing over him again. The concert goes off well, when the self-doubting Kana who was made the center girl, gets encouraged by Ruby and then by Aqua in the audience to truly try and be "your star" - roll credits. There's a bit of a teaser for the next arc, which is a theater play starring Kana, Akane and Aqua; the former two having a years-long rivalry.

So why is Oshi no Ko worth all the praise it's getting? It's all the inbetween, the characters, the interactions and the general feel of the show. None of these characters are shown as perfect. No one is evil or good. Ai may be the perfect idol on the outside, but she's deeply broken and incapable of expressing love or any true feelings. She hides everything behind lies and barely lets anyone in. Aqua inherits this and is quick to advise "lies are the best armor". Ruby is bubbly and incredibly happy to be in a body she can actually move, but at the same time she wants to become an idol not just for her mother's sake, but also to find the doctor and show him she made it. She could be seen as one of the weaker main characters, but this'll improve as the seasons go on. It is one of the reasons why I can't give this season a full 100, though.

Kana is a troubled child who went through years of hardship and has already learned a few lessons. But while she has become a better person on the outside, now she's troubled, insecure and afraid on the inside. She wants to be recognized for her talent and stand in the spotlight, but at the same time feels like she'd betray herself, since she changed and moved on from that.

Akane is simply a young girl with not enough experience regarding criticism and her uncertainty regarding her own individuality is on full display whenever she appears. She's in some powerful scenes, but a lot of her development and character growth/change is still to come, so for now she's not a fully-fledged character yet.

Aqua is hellbent on revenge, extremely willing to exploit whatever he can to get there, but at the same time extremely protective of Ruby. He also shows a unique care for Kana, who doesn't inherently help his plan and goes out of his way to make her feel better. He sows chaos at the drama to make her shine, he dons a ridiculous costume to aid her and B Komachi when she refuses to talk to him and he mentions multiple times that he is "weak" when it comes to her. It's also not 100% clear just what Ai was to Aqua. She was clearly a cherished and important person, but this is where the topic of "love" comes up again.

Is she a romantic love interest? Is she adoration manifest? Is it an instinct to protect? Is she a remnant of the past that he can't let go of, due to his failed duty to help Sarina recover?

The concept of love in general is a key factor. The love for others, the love for oneself, the various types of love you can feel for another person. Where does adoration end and love begin? And when does it turn into obsession? What to do when love overflows so much that it turns to hatred?

Would you be honest or lie? Would you choose to protect others by lying or deceive them to further your own goals? Are these lies weighed the same in the grand scheme of things or is a white lie just the nicest thing a blackened heart can produce?

All of this is part of what Oshi no Ko is and will be addressed in a multitude of ways going forward. It's worth looking forward to the future seasons and I await the (somewhat) weekly release of every chapter eagerly.

Lastly a few words on the general quality. Animation is pretty basic, with some really big moments being beautifully highlighted. Aqua's revenge plan inception is exactly the kind of powerful menacing tone I had imagined reading it. Ai's stage performances are just as captivating as you hoped they would be. The style of the show is quite alright, it's bubbly, beautiful and colorful on the outside, hiding pain and trauma within the characters; perfectly fits the show. And the eyes got the attention they required to bring the characters to life. OP and ED are great, with the few thrown in idol songs being catchy enough to make you believe the premise. The ambient bgm sometimes felt a little lackluster, but wasn't necessarily bad. Voice acting was good as always, with Akane's cries after the rescue being insane. Felt like someone stabbed my heart. Speaking of, they do the manga proud and show Ai's dead body pretty often, which never fails to make one feel terrible for this poor girl who really just wanted to be happy and loved.

TL;DR: Oshi no Ko has the potential to become a modern classic. However, season 1 is only the start, serving as the basic setup for the main characters and very few story arcs to just cement who these people are. The start to a story about lies, love and how these intertwine and overlap with the dark world of showbiz and wrapped up into one big revenge plot. This very story is incredibly interesting, painful and arguably informative, but the lion's share is yet to come.

That's why, in the end, I can not yet give this a full 100. I really wish I could, but if were to, then I'd do the upcoming story an injustice. Is it worth watching? 100%. If you're old enough to ponder the aforementioned topics and willing to put up with the feelings that come with such introspection, it's almost a must watch/read. You should probably steer clear if you expect this to be just a pretty romcom about idols. Despite one of the central themes being "love", this isn't a show where "shipping" really fits. You could argue the show itself points this out during the dating arc, where it mocks those who "pair people up".

Ultimately: It's good. I'd give the manga 100 points, if Akasaka doesn't screw up the ending. But as the anime is, I'll hesitantly give it 93. It's not quite perfect, but it gets pretty close, even if I might really be a little blinded by what's to come.