Oshi no Ko (2021)

[推しの子]

Volume 6

Author: Aka Akasaka
Artist: Mengo Yokoyari
Publisher: Young Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Akane tends to Aqua after he suffers from a PTSD-induced panic attack.

Story/Characters:
Sometimes in reincarnation stories where past-life memories are intact, the character gradually develops a distinct personality from their previous incarnation. If it weren't for Doc showing up to traumatize poor Aqua, you probably wouldn't have thought the Aqua persona had grown so far apart from the Doc persona, but now Aqua is having to suffer the consequences of allowing his eyes to drift from the prize. Akane being his girlfriend serves as the pretext for her looking after him (much to Kana's annoyance), but he doesn't want Ruby to know about his episode, so he asks her to call Gotanda. It turns out that these episodes happen occasionally and though Gotanda doesn't come out and say the reason, all it takes is Aqua muttering Ai's name in his sleep for Akane to go into profiler mode and put all the pieces together. She then remembers her offhand comment before about the possibility of Ai having a hidden pregnancy. The realization leaves her in tears, but she doesn't reveal her conclusions to the freshly awakened Aqua. She then shows off her domestic side by making supper, much to the approval of Mrs. Gotanda, and afterward she gets to see some of Aqua's childhood roles. She can see that his performances are carefully calculated, rather than the more naturalistic emotional style he needs to adopt for the play. She goes out to the balcony to talk to him about why he got into acting and he replies by telling her his plans, posed as a hypothetical, that he's infiltrating the entertainment industry because there's someone he wants to kill. Without skipping a beat, Akane offers to help him. She tells him it's her responsibility to him as his girlfriend, and in exchange, she wants him to fulfill his responsibility to her as her boyfriend by helping her outperform Kana. He enlists Gotanda's help to teach him how to do emotional acting, contrary to his previous style of doing only what was needed for the scene.

We move on to Melt, whose stewing on what a crappy actor he's been, when he comes upon Ruby and Minami (Ruby trying to spy on Aqua during rehearsal and Minami trying to rein her in). Minami speculating on developments in Aqua and Akane's relationship puts Ruby in a sour mood, and when Ruby excuses herself, Kamoshida starts hitting on Minami, only for Melt to intervene. Kamoshida doesn't appreciate the interference and takes the opportunity to needle Melt on his insecurities. The next day at rehearsal, Kana and Akane are going at it, with Kana taking especial pleasure in whipping out an old interview with Akane where she stated her admiration for Kana. Definitely a don't meet your heroes kinda deal, and the exchange of verbal barbs gets broken up by Aqua and Himekawa. We won't get into the roots of Akane's beef with Kana just yet, but we all know Kana's problem with Akane is that she's Aqua's girlfriend. Anyway, the true battlefield is on the stage and opening night will be the time for the showdown.

All the supporting cast comes together for the big day. Kana and Akane have a brief exchange before showtime and Aqua is subjecting himself to psychological torture to get himself into the role. (You'll have to see it for yourself. Boy has issues.) We turn our attention to Melt for a bit for his big scene, where he's facing off with the much more talented actor Kamoshida. From the audience, Kaburagi explains to Raita why he pushed to have Melt cast in the play. We then get a bit of a flashback for some context before we see Melt show his chops in his physical performance, flawlessly recreating a scene from the manga to the delight of the audience, Samejima in particular. He's pushed hard enough to sell the emotional part as well, and in the end, Kamoshida--who'd given him so much crap--actually has some newfound respect for him.

Next is Akane's turn to face down Kana, not just in their roles but in the meta as well. We finally get to see why things went so sour, starting from young Akane idolizing Kana to the day they first meet at an audition. You might remember what an unpleasant child Kana used to be. Well, how kind do you think she'd be to a professional rival who shows up mimicking her style. I say "professional rival", but the role was already decided behind the scenes, which adds an extra layer of cruelty. Yes, yes, we know she gets better (albeit still a little twisted), but, man, the way Kana was back then, especially considering how much Akane looked up to her, it's no wonder Akane's got an axe to grind. Our cliffhanger has Akane pulling out all the stops with "a performance that consumes everything".

Art:
As we've come to expect from the series, the big emotional beats get delivered really well. I haven't really commented on it before, but I love how the eye sparkles play such a big part of conveying the mental state of the characters. We also get domestic Akane. I know I favor Kana, but, Aqua, put a ring on that quick. ^o^ Speaking of Kana, the little catfight between her and Kana has some great facial expressions. Melt's big cool guy scene is really well done, and, man, that cliffhanger image of Akane really packs a punch. As always, big props to Yokoyari for the art.

Other:
We get a bonus comic by Akasaka about studying. The way he draws Kana makes her look so much like Iino, I swear it only adds points for her in my book.

Conclusion:
If you're an Aqua/Akane fan, there's some really good stuff here as the two of them become closer. It's nice to really dig into Akane's rivalry with Kana, and, honestly, it's a surprise to get some rather satisfying character work with Melt of all people. We've finally gotten to the big first performance of the play, so this arc is building up to its climax. If you're already a fan, you don't need me to tell you that this one belongs in your collection.

Rating:
Own It