Oshi no Ko Season 2, Episode 7 Spoilers

The following contains spoilers for Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 7, “Sun.”

Summary

  • Akane Kurokawa's flashback cements her as a shonen-style heroine, pitting her against the bitter and subversive Kana Arima.
  • The professional and personal feud between Akane and Kana adds depth and contrast to Oshi no Ko's narrative.
  • Akane's episode makes her more sympathetic, presenting her as a good and motivated character.


Episode 7 of the new season of Oshi no KoJust like the previous episode, it devotes all of its screen time to a single character. While episode 6 was a heartfelt underdog story starring downtrodden actor Melt Narushima, episode 7 makes Akane Kurokawa the star. It is true that most of the episodes of Oshi no Ko juggles a variety of characters and plot threads, and for good reason, but the show needs to dive deeper into its main cast every now and then. Now it's Akane's turn, and episode 7 does a great job with its laser focus on Akane and her current plot.

But that's not all episode 7 does. This episode also reminds fans that even though Oshi no Ko is a seinen anime that focuses on dark and subversive drama, the series also has room for shonen-style storytelling with gritty underdogs like Akane Kurokawa, and the results are stellar. This helps balance out the narrative of this complex anime and gives it a strong appeal for fans who are more accustomed to optimistic zero-to-hero stories in shonen. All of this and more is accomplished when Akane directly faces off against her rival, Kana Arima, in both the past and present as Tokyo Blade the theatrical performance continues.


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Akane Kurokawa's flashback sequence cements her as a shonen-style heroine.

This contrasts her with Kana's bitter and subversive arc.


A considerable portion of episode 7's runtime is dedicated to Akane Kurokawa and Kana Arima's shared story, which does a lot for these girls' intertwined story arcs while still being highly entertaining and emotionally tense for fans. At this point, Akane and Kana are shonen-style rivals who clash regularly, and for more reasons than one, and episode 7's content helps add even more context and personal insights into that ongoing rivalry. On the one hand, Akane and Kana are romantic rivals, being two members of a love triangle centered around Aqua Hoshino, though it's not just that. Akane and Kana are also feuding on a professional level, with Kana smugly flaunting her superior acting while Akane fights hard to prove herself and overcome the glamorous, note-stealing Kana Arima. Kana is Akane's Sasuke Uchiha, in a nutshell.


Such a rivalry has had symbolic scenes in other episodes of Oshi no Ko first, with what is one of several plot threads the anime is currently juggling, along with Aqua's quest for revenge and Ruby's determination to make the new B-Komachi group a huge success. It's fine to keep this rivalry on fans' radar, but at this point, it's important for the anime to go much deeper into Akane's shonen-style competitive feelings, and a laser-focused episode like “Sun” is key. It's true that the Oshi no Ko the anime's fast pace needs to be reined in to make single-character episodes like this possible, and the anime can't afford to do that too often, but there needs to be at least one or two episodes like this to make Akane's arc feel more substantial. The payoff is serious, with Akane feeling more than ever like an underdog shonen hero much like Melt Narushima in episode 6.

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The flashback begins with a young Akane Kurokawa watching TV with her parents, with Kana Arima appearing on the screen as a young artist, and Akane feels inspired to try to do it herself. After all, she and Kana are around the same age, so Akane believes that if Kana can do it, then she can too. However, the popular Kana Arima has a serious advantage over Akane from the start, having the advantage of being not only talented, but also established in the eyes of fans and producers. When the flashback finally shows Akane and Kana meeting face to face near a vending machine, the two girls are quite different, and not just because of Kana's advantage. While Kana is a star in the industry, she feels bitter about it, and Akane feels optimistic and determined despite being so far behind.


The professional and personal feud between Akane and Kana represents not only these girls' desire to outdo each other, but also Oshi no Kothe strange mix of seinen and shonen elements. Above all, Oshi no Ko is a darkly subversive seinen anime, but it also has room for shonen-style underdog stories where determination, self-belief, and hard work tend to pay off more often than not. In episode 7, Akane Kurokawa embodies the shonen half of Oshi no Kowhile Kana is a tragic avatar of the subversive seinen side of anime, which is why the girls clash. Kana doesn't just feel threatened by Akane working so hard to become a fellow artist: she evidently suffers from impostor syndrome to some extent, getting gigs just because of her name recognition, regardless of her talent. When Kana sees Akane working so hard to make her name as a shonen star, Kana feels like an even bigger fraud. Or at least, anime fans are open to inferring that.


Not only does this make Akane and Kana feel very different from each other, it also gives the anime a broader appeal beyond its initial hook of being a subversive take on the idol genre. In a way, Oshi no Ko It's two stories in one, with one story darkly tearing away the glittering facade of the monstrous entertainment industry, and the other story being a familiar and inspiring tale of a young heroine trying to make something of herself through hard work. There's room for both in Oshi no Koand each stands out much more with the other around to contrast with it. Fans of both types of storytelling will find much to appreciate in this anime, and may also enjoy what they see in the other style. Most likely, many Oshi no Ko Fans have started to follow this subversive drama, but with Akane establishing herself as a shonen heroine, there is much more to love and is sure to be welcomed by everyone.


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Akane's episode makes her more likable than ever

While Kana Arima is an example of what Akane shouldn't be

Akane and Kana face off in Tokyo Blade.

It's common for a single-character episode like “Sun” to make the star in question much more likable, as viewers end up spending a lot of time with that character and getting to know them on a deeper, more sympathetic level. However, Akane has more than just exposition that makes her so lovable in this episode. In the two contexts of her flashback sequence and her current performance in Tokyo BladeAkane Kurokawa has everything that makes a solid heroine, and there's almost nothing subversive or twisted about her. She suffered from ego surfing in the first season, but that wasn't really a reflection on Akane; back then, it was simply a plot device to subversively show how fickle and harsh an audience can be. The real Akane Kurokawa has nothing to do with cyberbullying.


By now it is clear that Akane Kurokawa is a kind-hearted, serious, honest and determined person, almost to the point of excess. She is less similar to Kana Arima and Mem-Cho and more similar to a character from a series like Blue Period OR Bakumafeaturing hardworking protagonists who want to make it in the art industry or fail. Even though Akane isn't actually Oshi no Koofficial protagonist of, still feels like one in episode 7, and fans will likely see more of her in episode 8, which will likely wrap up this phase of Akane and Kana's feud. Akane checks all the boxes for a compelling and touching protagonist, while doing very little to tinker or sabotage. She can be quite intense, as some recent episodes have shown, but Akane isn't mean or cruel unless fans consider her intent to help Aqua kill a certain person.


Akane may not have the magnetic “it” factor that makes Kana Arima so popular in the fandom, and she doesn't chew the scenery or pop like Kana does, but not all anime fans love a character as vivid as Kana. Akane is Kana's necessary foil, a kinder, more serious shonen-inspired artist who relies on pure grit and hope rather than subversive elements to stand out to fans. Fans saw more than enough of this in episode 7 to decide once and for all whether this makes Akane Kurokawa the best girl in Oshi no Ko.

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