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the decision to call back to this moment gels badly with the wider context on two fronts .

the first being the sheer stupidity of the plan . even if akane was the best fighter in the world , she's still a teenager being put into contact with somebody who has malicious intentions and a weapon . putting aside all the ways this could've gone south , it's putting akane into certain danger . how on earth are you 'not repeating that mistake!' if you're asking akane to confront somebody who's going to attempt murder ? be so serious ! even if akane is willing , the adults in the situation shouldn't put her (or anybody , for that matter!) into danger like this . prepping her with a knifeproof vest says you're expecting something to happen .

it completely undermines its own point in the same chapter .

(( to be quite honest , akane especially should've been told no . it's absolutely in character for her to attempt this sort of thing without any regard for her own well-being , but then it's especially encumbent on the adults to handle it so she doesn't have to . ))

the second being ruby's circumstances vs. ai's , both as a person and the 'murder' .

ruby isn't failed to the extent ai is . ruby has so many things in her life that ai doesn't . ruby has a loving family , supportive friends/co-workers , a CEO mommy , a high school education - most of the problems ai has , ruby doesn't have to quite wrangle with . the closest ruby gets to it is her fight with kana and the subtle drip-feed of mem-cho and kana's growing dissatisfaction with ruby overshadowing them , but b-komachi is able to overcome them because everybody has a support system and somebody they can talk to .

in fact , this actually leads to one of her big realizations about ai - she asks herself 'was mama always crying , too?'

kana having beef with her is a catalyst for ruby's understanding of ai to deepen . but kana is a single person acting out on a single project -- gen 1 b-komachi has spent years letting their discontent simmer . both kyun in viewpoint b and nino in 45510 comment on how impossible it is to know ai , and that she's the source of the quiet tensions within the group . kana and ruby resolve their differences and make up -- only kyun is shown to come to any sort of understanding about ai .

i could go on , but i think the picture makes itself clear . ruby , for the most part , has been protected and loved and helped by the adults in her life (hi , ai . hi , miyako <3) , to say nothing of her greater support system in her friends and family .

this catharsis isn't for her , but for ichigo .

like so many moments in late OnK , you can tell where there's a clear vision but the foundation upon which it rests is super suspect . our vision here is the catharsis of ichigo getting to prevent another death , that ruby goes on to perform at the stage ai never could .

but that misses the point of ai's murder . the tragedy of ai isn't an idol cut down at her zenith , but a mother being struck down in her own home while she comforts her children as she dies . the happiness ai has found in her family and as a mother is so brutally torn from her and the twins . that's the focus of the tragedy , not the idea that she didn't get to do her dome performance .

ai dies to misogyny .

ryosuke murders her because he perceives betrayal . hikaru openly admits to wanting to scare her a little by sending a stalker her way . his despair very much mirrors ryosuke's own - the idea that ai's love was a lie and he was just being strung along , that he's being so callously discarded by the girl he loves more than anything , and more importantly ...

both of them face a refutation from ai herself that this love was a lie . what makes ryosuke flee is when ai begins talking about how he gave her the star sand , when she remembers his name from a meet-and-greet , when ai shows she's never forgotten him . similarly with hikaru - the DVDs are so devastating because it punctures a hole in the idea that ai didn't love him . she very much did , even if she wasn't always sure how to express it . both of them get devastated by the realization of what they've truly destroyed .

which , while a condemnation of misogyny and idol culture , doesn't tie well into the separate thread of adults failing ai .

there's nobody here to blame but ryosuke and hikaru . ichigo warns her against contacting the father , even if it's just to head off a scandal . ai herself only offers this olive branch years after the break-up and after hikaru's had considerable space to digest everything . there's nothing anybody on ai's side could've done differently to avoid this situation - ai's murder is a symptom of a larger problem . as much as there's very valid criticism to be had about the idol industry , that ichigo chooses to market b-komachi as gachikoi idols and groom investment from fans that way , there's also the misogyny and entitlement of fans that make them believe it's acceptable to 'punish' women like this .

even if ai had the best security measures in the world , there's no ultimate defense against men who hate women . all the security and protective measures women have to engage in for their own safety is an indictment against malicious men . you can do everything right and still end up hurt or worse .

there's so many ai hoshinos out there , in both fiction and real life , treated this way . it kind of really does add another layer to 'ai is an ordinary girl' - the systematic nature of her struggles . but running contrary to that ...

nino's motives aren't faceless misogyny . there's thousands of ryosukes and thousands of hikarus , of men who just can't let go of a girl , but nino's motivation is specific to her and her experiences as an idol beneath ai . she's pushed to murder ruby (+ potentially others) because nino can't stand the thought of somebody beating ai . it's easier for nino to accept a loss to ai if ai is simply Unbeatable than for her to face her own insecurities and shortcomings . that's heartrending and good characterization , but it also individualizes her . nino's failures are personal , rather than societal .

i thought my initial discomfort with this scene is how transparently it mines ai's murder for emotional shock , especially since late OnK is pushing really hard on the ruby-ai parallels . i kept thinking 'even if this was ruby , what reason would she have to open that door?' . we know why ai does - in the moment , she jokes she wasn't taught why door locks are there (and in 153 , there's a door lock shown as hikaru laments ai just didn't know how to take care of herself sometimes) . in hindsight , there's the possibility she's half hoping hikaru might show up .

but ruby ? not only does she have others there (aqua and iirc , miyako as well) , but she'd know better . even if it weren't for her mother being murdered by an unexpected visitor , people are constantly stepping in to shield ruby from nefarious intentions and explaining why something that seems innocuous is wrong (kana demanding her phone in tokyo blade and explaining why she shouldn't give away her contact info so readily , melt rescuing her and minami from aggressive come-ons , miyako explaining to her why this or that won't work , etc etc) .

i digress . the emotional shock and drama are the point .

it takes a tragedy of ai's and averts it . this is supposed to be a moment of triumph . ichigo states he won't make this mistake again . this is supposed to be the crowning resolution of the idea that this is everybody's time to do right by ai .

but the tragedy they decide on is a tragedy that can't really be attributed to the everyday little failures of people who stand by . it starts to feel ghoulish because i know the point is this emotional reaction - i'm supposed to feel scared and worried for ruby , and then cheer when the adults protect and defend her (fuck akane , i guess) where they didn't ai .

especially since ai's murder makes a point NOT to exploit violence against a woman for emotional drama , with minimal focus given to the act . there's just something so icky about doing it here with ruby - oh noes , a flower cut down just as it begins to bloom !