Oshi no Ko
17 Mar, 2025
Oshi no Ko is a manga/anime that got hyped a lot these past few years. According to most people, it's a harrowing look at the "dark side of the entertainment industry," adressing the horrors idols, singers, actors, and other entertainers go through in order to fulfil their dreams. And considering the ending, I guess this was also the author's intent.
But if you ask me, the entertainment industry is just background setting for the real question asked by Oshi no Ko: if reincarnation was real and you carried several lifetimes worth of trauma on your back, would it be fucked up or what?
Also while typing this I'm realizing I should put a trigger warning for discussions of fictional incest ahead so here it is. I'm gonna talk about Oshi no Ko incest at some point. Reader discretion is advised.
Anyways, for context: Oshi no Ko follows two twins, who are reincarnation of two people who somewhat knew each other in their previous life (long story.) That means that, like many reincarnation isekais, these kids speedrun a lot of shit (like "understanding social codes" "knowing how to act" etc.) Unlike reincarnation isekais however... well, there is no "isekai" happening here. These bitches are reincarnating in their own world.
Which is a long way to say that these people carry a lot of stuff from their previous incarnations. Some good stuff (love for one specific idol who is still kicking even after their death) and some less good stuff. Like "who the fuck killed me last time" or "why did my homie disappear overnight surely this guy wasn't murdered was he" or "oh these people were AWFUL parents to my homie last time but rn they have NO idea who I am."
Oshi no Ko also briefly explores what is the relationship between your "present self" and your "past self" when reincarnation is involved. It's not so simple as "this grown-up guy gets a new game + in a younger form," this guy still had to go through a whole new set of formative years and experiences. Is it still the same person? Is it a different person? Whenever Aqua strays a bit too much from who he used to be, he sees a ghost vision of his past self going "dude wtf you're betraying everything that makes us us." Ruby is not helping by seeing her brother as "her crush in her past life" first and "her brother" second. I've seen a lot of people complain about the incest in this manga, but for all its many flaws... this bit makes sense for these characters. These are two people trying to sort out how much of who they are now coincides with who they used to be. For Aqua, whether he even wants to be his own person separate from before is something he's actively trying to figure out. For Ruby, the question is not worth asking; they're the same people as before. Her crush is still her crush. The current meat bot situation doesn't matter to her.
Another thing Oshi no Ko brings up is that, yeah reincarnation and speedrunning the annoying parts of childhood is cool. But also. That's exactly what dooms Aqua. If he'd been a normal kid, he would not have processed his mother's death in the same way- but since he's carrying the full cognitive abilities of an adult at this point, he can understand the implications of how/why/who exactly killed his mother, and that's what enabled him to go full destructive path of revenge about it.
To me, Oshi no Ko is a manga about the inherent horror potential of reincarnation, and why it isn't as sweet of a deal as people usually make it out to be. And I do think they nail that part.
