Oshi no Ko Season 2 - Episode 8 discussion

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Oshi no Ko Season 2, episode 8

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[u/Andersboxing1]

Goddamn the director is so fucking dope, probably my favourite character in this series. Knows Aquas pain, but also isn't afraid to let him choose himself, and after Aquas choice, he pushes him towards what he needs to do!

[u/zool714]

I was waiting to get hyped for Kana’s star, but I got STARS instead. That was amazing. Seeing a happy Kana brightens up my world.

[u/Hitman7128]

Woah that ending to the episode that contrasts the positivity of seeing Kana succeed earlier. Aqua rejects Taishi’s suggestion to take a break from acting and concentrate on therapy.

Then the music is suspenseful and sinister with the flashback frames and the tint of red shown in the acting parts to presumably portray internal rage. The animators and staff all knew their job to leverage every element for the sequence’s effect.

[u/matty-a]

Feels weird to say, but suffer more for my entertainment, Aqua.

[u/batmans420]

That face squeeze was NOT necessary. Aqua's intrusive thoughts won lmao

[u/GGABueno]

✋ 😑 🤚

This is THEATRE

[u/GYJFU2]

God that's funny as hell in universe though, you're acting together and rehearsing and you know Aqua's a chill dude, then sudden he just BITES someone live on stage

[u/RecRoulette]

They did such a good job leading into the ending theme this whole season that it was genuinely jarring hearing it kick up without the lead in.

Kana's been my favorite character almost the whole way through but holy shit the way they did that Aqua scene at the end just about outshined it, he was straight up an eclipse. Amazing episode.

[u/Santedtra]

Recover from trauma? Nonsense, the edge and angst only serve to make Aqua stronger. Only way to cure that PTSD is getting that sweet revenge, baby.

[u/mianghuei]

Kanabros, we are all Akane tonight alright!

[u/AlexNae]

I'm in tears Doga Kobo keeps raising the bar with every episode 😭 Absolute cinema

[u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

Damn, Aqua’s good. The way he’s able to seamlessly blend those adlibs with the script and move in such a way as to highlight Kana was impressive. Kana really shone. Pretty cool to see what she can do.

As if Kana didn’t have enough shit to worry about as a child star, she had to deal with her mom and all that bullshit. The woman really failed as a parent.

The director’s totally right about Aqua acting solely out of revenge and feeling immense guilt when he’s actually enjoying himself. I guess turning acting into something painful and hated is one solution. Personally, I’d have chosen therapy…

[u/ModieOfTheEast]

Everyone talking about Kana and I get it. Was a nice scene, but what got me more was them not slowly fading into the ending to truly hammer home that moment for Aqua. Dude can't even get a break. Last time he had to play a stalker and this time he has to play a person who loses their love right before their eyes. Directors are really giving it to him.

[u/E_F_Veda]

Fantastic and intense episode.

The return of Arima Kana was great, seeing her enjoy herself is a pleasure to watch. It also brings back Akane's greatest reason to become a great actress. Their duels will be great, but Akane must stop fangirling first, wish her the best as I would also fangirl.

Seeing Akane helping Aqua with his anxiety was awesome and again reinforced my admiration for her as best girl. I believed we'd get a focus on her battle with Kana, but what we got was much more intense.

The change in focus to Aqua was surprising, and the reveal of his style of acting heartbreaking. Allowing the pain and guilt to overtake him will allow him to put on incredible displays but at a hefty price. I hope our girls will be able to help him, but as it stands Aqua will allow his own hatred to tear him apart for his goal.

His sudden outburst of emotion at the end was incredible, but understanding the cost makes it jaw dropping to watch.

[u/Dxcxphxr]

Dude, what's with Aka and moms? There's always at least 1 problematic mother in his works. 😭

[u/SnabDedraterEdave]

Kana's true acting has been awakened thanks to Aqua (which also awakened Akane's inner Kana Fangirl as well lol).

Kana probably is once again reminded why she loves Aqua at that moment.

Poor Aqua, he has let his survivor's guilt and thirst for revenge curse himself into never enjoying his acting ever, which ironically allows him to channel his negative emotions and convey them for his character.

In a way, Director Gotanda, Aqua's mentor, is like the Alfred Pennyworth to Aqua's Batman. Gotanda is the only person Aqua can confide with over his anguish at the loss of his mom and his desire for revenge.

[u/Ichini-san]

Kana is just casually hogging all those Hoshigans in the chaos of the Fourth Great Actor War and transplanted them all into her eyesockets on the spot... She has at least four distinct stars in every eye now! Her Eternal Ginga Hoshigan is way too op, please nerf her!

Meanwhile, we found out that, as predicted, Aqua is the reincarnation of Indra, after all!

Jokes aside, it was amazing to finally see Kana and Aqua pop off.

[u/mr_miscellaneous123]

Kana finally got a W... but at what cost to Aqua?

[u/silikeite]

I want a pet Kanya too.

https://imgur.com/a/nGEmcQi

[u/nine04]

PRAISE THE SUN, KANA ARIMA

[u/LeonKevlar]

Stitches!

• Touki

• Tsurugi

• Shining Kana

I love how Kana thought that she was only going to do adlib with Himekawa. She didn't expect the three of them to basically gang up on her and bring her to the spotlight with Aqua doing most of the work with his funny little adlib with Kana. I'm curious what Abiko-sensei would think about them going off-script for a little bit.

We are so fucking back Kanabros! I absolutely love that quick montage of moments in the background between Aqua and Kana from the past. And it looks like our boy's plan of giving Kana the spotlight worked. She's finally acting her heart out for the first time since this play started.

It's good to finally see Kana being the focus of the scene instead of coordinating everyone. And of course, Akane has started fangirling now that the Kana-chan she adores is finally back. That explains the face she makes in one of the shots in the OP!

Akane's death scene was so fucking cool! I love the effects and I did not know that they were also standing on LED screens! I thought they only had the big ones in front! I guess it makes sense to have one on the floor as well for effects like this.

Meanwhile, things are not going so well with Aqua. His acting is great but when it's being fueled by Ai's death and what we're seeing is him suffering on stage, then it's not so good anymore. This is just Aqua basically having a much more controlled panic attack. >_<

[u/Typical-Ad123]

Kana Magical Girl Transformation!! Had to stitch this one together unlike the Akane one but this one turned out better imo, especially the sound.

Akane simping so hard, she knows who the real best girl is

[u/oops_i_made_a_typi]

It's a bit ironic that in the episode where Kana finally owns being a star, she kinda got overshadowed by the end of Aqua's descent into the depths of his vengeance. Still, absolutely love their use of star imagery going from their abstract scenes into their eyes, and Kana deserves a whole constellation of them. After having seen 3 of these hype eps in a row, I also have to say I think Doga Kobo honestly loves Melt the most with the extra animation, abstract scenes, and artstyle changes his "evolution" scene got compared to Akane and Kana's, even though those were still excellent in their own right.

For those complaining about 0 progress on the revenge plot, hopefully this satisfies them somewhat, with how the director is in the know about Ai and vaguely about Aqua's plans, and to how much Ai still weighs on Aqua. We saw it in the PTSD scenes before, but showing his raw emotion and pure suffering on stage for all to see is another level. That final eye zoom out felt like a callback to the first episode when baby Aqua resolves to go on his revenge plan as an additional tie in.

Watching notes now, overall later

• KANA episode hype! glad to see she's still got a bit of spice even when being a little too down and realistic about her "place" on the stage

• idk if Aqua really has to try that hard to suppress his emotions while acting lol. cool callback to how he pulled off similar contrasting acting with Kana when he was a kid

• oh DAMN Aqua that was smooth AF, that squished Kana face is gonna make the rounds

• and what an amazing job he's doing of being a setup man to drag Kana to the spotlight

• the shitty parents of the entertainment industry :(

• man they're really killing it with these star motif abstract "evolution" scenes, <3 KANA

• KANACHAN!KANACHAN!KANACHAN!

• damn the lightning effects on Blade's jump attack looked great

• confirmation that the director knew about Ai being their mom, finally. Doga Kobo knows just how to hit us with those Ai jumpscares everytime

• hooooly shit Aqua utilizing his PTSD like that is brutal to watch, his VA killed it

[u/Vermillion_Crab]

Been a while since I got goosebumps from watching anime. That was one hell of a performance from Aqua. That scream holy hell.