Spoilers for episode 4 season 3 Oshi no Ko and manga spoilers.
Frothing at the mouth while watching this episode.
Every single sentence that came out of Ruby's mouth in her conversation with Aqua. I was like: Hikaru would totally say that too!!!
“It’s just a coincidence.”
“Nobody was hurt by this.”
“I gave a little push but this was always going to happen.”
The most Hikaru coded sentences ever. Like father like daughter. The Ruby/Hikaru parallels are so strong and explicit lately. Ruby says she’s not a god but she has compared herself to Amaterasu before. Yet she also says that the gods love her. Well, I like to interpret the term gods in her words meaning Kamiki. Of course, Kamiki loves her! He narrates an entire damn article about her cf. later. I also adore the symbolism in this part! Ruby walking further down the path signalling the revenge going forward and Aqua standing still not sure if he wants to follow and Ruby even diverges and takes a different path. (Got the idea from this yt video. It’s interesting to hear first time watchers.) The childlike yet unsettling music is also quite fitting. I enjoyed it a lot!
It’s super cute how Ruby hugs this bear. The bear has always been a symbol of Aqua, but I also like to think of Hikaru. It’s like she’s embracing that side of her. I also found it super weird that she reminded me of Hikaru’s design before Ai’s in this photoshoot (this comes back later).
At first I was like who’s this voice narrating Ruby’s success and then I saw people saying it was Mamoru-san! This is confirmed by the credits. It's super interesting that Hikaru narrates Ruby's rise to fame.
They use the term ライター which means writer. It can also mean lighter which I think is a funny play on Hikaru’s name meaning sparkle/radiance and him being an instigator that lit the way for murder.
Also, the way the cute sound effect transitions into black glare (his theme) ughhhhhhh. It’s still as unsettling as ever. He has such a soft voice. Definitely when he says that people see Ai in Ruby. By people you mean mostly yourself lmao. He has been keeping tabsssss. He even mentions Aqua so that’s cute, even though he’s more neutral about him. He also says that he doubts that Ruby would surpass Ai, but that she has potential, which is interesting depending on how they’ll write him and Nino later.
“We’ll keep a keen eye on what Ruby does next.”
You sly sly man. Is being a journalist a hobby for him? He interviews Aqua later on for seemingly no reason except just because… he felt like it? Oh boy it’s pulling me back again into the rabbit hole of what does this guy even feel for his kids… I’m not going in it right now, but I am super excited to see what the anime will do next regarding him and his feelings/opinions on his kids (twins and Taiki). He compliments the twins which is something quite consistent weirdly enough. His voice sounds soo good!! They shouldn’t keep him quiet please more.
Weirdly enough, they did not retcon the Uehara's dying during the dome concert meeting. In the movie arc this has been framed twice as happening before the breakup. Ai was not famous enough at the time to already have these kinds of meetings before the breakup so I'm intrigued if they will actually cling to this timeline. It also fits with Taiki saying he was around five, Ai would have been 18 and two years beforehand makes more sense to plan a concert than 4 years beforehand with a lot less popularity to support a full dome concert. It also means that Hikaru was further abused by Airi after the breakup which is 💔 💔 💔.
N…no, full body Kamiki? 🥺👉👈
When I said I was excited about seeing the back of his head. I didn’t mean just the back of his head. The anime is teasing us! Ah, I knew I was being too greedy and let my expectations tower into hubris when I saw the first episode of the season.
The anime kinda frames it like he just delivered the white flowers, casually hands in pockets lol. He also has a smile here in contrast to the manga!
White roses! They have so many meanings but I always had a hard time figuring out what they mean towards Akane because Hikaru never really interacted with her, except knowing that she stalks him. He never really targeted her so maybe it is true that he just does it because Lalalai is involved. I like that the anime made this more explicit because I found “at every opportunity” a bit vague (I might’ve misunderstood this part, I’m basing off subtitles here).
Ai’s bouquet and Akane’s bouquet.
The bouquet is also purely white without any other coloured flowers, which as of now we have only seen at Ai’s concert where the twins did the wotagei dance. The bouquet could just mean respect for her acting, but for Akane herself it could also mean a departure of her relationship with Aqua as Akane discovers Kamiki and decides to face Kamiki without informing Aqua. Maybe it can also mean something for Lalalai as a whole where it could also be a form of respect.
AHHH poor Aqua! I don’t think I’ll ever get why Ichigo just let’s the kid who’s obviously having a terrible time go home alone, but whatever I guess. Aqua deserves better care.
The scene where Seijuro chokes Airi continues to be super brutal. Airi still even wears her wedding ring! Ah, the angst, atrocity and tragedy of that entire family is horrible. I hope to see more of them!
“Eyes that trick people. The power to make lies look like truths. One of our best actors.”
Kindaichi looks so thoughtful saying all of this. I wonder what he knows about Hikaru and Taiki’s situation. A lot of interesting characters were kind of forgotten in the manga. I hope the anime gives them more time to shine. The subject also makes me wonder why Hikaru left acting if he was good. That was never explored. Honestly, it has always been a problem that 15- up to 33-year-old Hikaru is just ignored. Only the start and end of his character are explored, but the transition between them is not.
There doesn’t really seem to be much interesting in the description of Hikaru’s youtube video.
Theatrical Company Lalalai: past performance archive young artist led work
Play: "Star of God” Rehearsal 1
(荒立ち a rehearsal that is done after the script is read, with the general movements added.)
The only thing that is interesting is the title of the rehearsal. Star(s) of God(s). Star can of course refer to just a star but it can also mean celebrity. Ai has always been associated to the first morning star and Kamiki has the term God (神) in his name, but without actual text it’s hard to really give it much meaning.
Lik no voice actor reveal for kid Hikaru? 🥺👉👈
Ahah, the anime team are such teasers! (I still enjoyed the episode though!)
I still wonder what emotion “Ai’s recreated emotions are stirring inside of me” is supposed to be. Is it shock, disappointment or something else entirely?
Ahhhhh the very old days where I thought Hikaru would have green eyes. Feels so long ago at this point.
Ignore the ton load of screenshot. I’m just so happy! It’s nice to see a character you’ve loved for so long appear animated on your screen with such care.
He has white stars???!!! It's such a big deviation from the manga! It took some time getting used to. I’m still so busy with my Hikaru analysis (It's been a year already?!) that I treat every significant deviation of the manga with maybe too much scrutiny. I think I understand the change though. I believe they want to make him more similar to the movie version of the movie arc. I'm very intrigued by the change and I adore both.
A lot of people have also pointed out that he looks more like Ruby here, which I think is really great to strengthen the parallel between them. I had a feeling they drew Ruby more Hikaru-like at the start of the episode and then drew Hikaru more Ruby-like. They’re not subtle with the parallel at all. Hikaru’s genes are crazy strong for both Ruby and Aqua, even Taiki has his face. Still crazy that nobody in-universe sees the resemblance until Akane.
I really like how Hikaru's hair is a bit more unkempt than in the manga. It makes him seem a bit more neglected in my opinion yet also adds some kind of cuteness to it. The background being a bit more pinkish in colour is also super cuteeee!
The colours of his eyes are also not fully consistent but usually lean towards a blueish purple. But when he has white star eyes they also have a red tone in them which is Ruby’s eye colour. I feel like they really want to underscore the parallel.
The contrast between adult Hikaru and kid Hikaru is striking. It's almost funny.
Honestly this episode was banging. It’s nice how they show how Ruby’s rise effects the people around her. Also, all the extra scenes with Ai are so nice! They’re spoiling us. I ate that up! The way Kana looked like she was crying using the car window that was so cool! Aqua’s breakdown was so good and upsetting. Akane also looked super pretty this episode. Super excited for next week!!
