#chapter review

Mr. Kornich presents Anna to Baron Bethlenffi, and the baron basically calls her plain but sturdy, adding that his last wife was (lovely but) so frail she couldn't bear him any children. Anna is shaking and sweating.

Modri is incensed that the baron would be so rude to Anna. It's bad enough she doesn't want this marriage to begin with, and now her intended fiancé is treating her like he's window shopping for an incubator. Truth be told, that's just what he's doing.

Modri makes a fist and moves to punch the baron, but someone steps forward, reaching out a gloved right hand to stop the attack. The mystery man asks the baron to introduce Anna to him.

I'm not sure if it's simply because the mystery man calls Anna "lovely", but Modri seems to fall under a spell. Anna is still nervous, but now she's clutching at her necklace. The baron realizes who has just shown up, and he introduces the man as his consultant, a financial advisor from Vienna.

The consultant goes on to give his name and specifies that he travels around the (Austro-Hungarian) empire and that he assists "distinguished families" with their "sensitive interests". This leaves his position open to interpretation as more than just a financial advisor.

He puts out his left hand now, also gloved, while essentially saying he might be of service (to Modri, Anna, and/or Mr. Kornich) if needed.

He appears to have blond hair, and that's about all I can see. When he states his name and shows his face, we still cannot see either. Is Yana-san covering those up for a reveal later... or has she decided his face and name don't matter, so perhaps she never decided on his assumed name or appearance?

So uh... the only positive thing I can say here besides the beautiful Ai art is that I felt sad reading the page where Miyako was hugging Ruby. Everything else left me completely empty

This chapter is either:

A) A self-aware ending meant to show that life is suffering and the idol industry will suck out your soul if you let it

B) Outsourced to someone who skimmed OnK for 30 seconds on Wikipedia before putting pen to paper

It has to be A, right? You can't tell me that the same author wrote both of these pages without the right being ironic

But I don't think so because big brained Akane is the one clumsily narrating this crappy montage masquerading as a real ending

Aqua died for nothing. His sister is now a soulless cog in the idol machine

Ruby is mimicking Ai's speech - "Lies are an outstanding kind of love... We pile on the lies and no matter how hard things get, we sing and act happy onstage. It's a fun job!" But she forgot the rest of it: "Only, I'd like the 'being happy' part to be real. Nobody notices, but we have hearts and lives of our own. Happiness as a mother. Happiness as an idol. Normally you'd have to pick one, but I want both. Ai Hoshino is a greedy girl"

Ai wasn't only a misunderstood girl who worked hard to please her fans. That was a big part of her story but she also broke the rules to create her own family, her own happiness

Ruby, on the other hand, seems to have no real desires anymore, she's just following a path she believes her mother and Aqua paved for her. Never mind that Aqua only wanted it in the end because she wanted it and Ai just wanted her kids to be happy

You can tell that Akasaka is patting himself on the back for making a cyclical narrative where Ruby becomes Ai 2.0 by being commodified, scrutinized, and idolized like Ai was

But it's such a flimsy parallel when it comes to the theme of lies because lying to hide your grief =/= "lies are love" which was the only way Ai knew how to frame her genuine desire to love

And Ai's "I love you" to her kids was true whereas Ruby has swallowed her own lie that being an idol is fun even when you're just doing it to outrun your pain

What this chapter showed us is that the meaning of Ruby's life is to be Ruby of B Komachi and she was put on Earth to sing pop songs. Because that's what Ai did, right? If I remember correctly, her final words were "I'm so glad I got to be an idol #blessed"

My God was the Dome concert soulless. Miyako and Ichigo crying happy tears is a punch to the gut. Doesn't Miyako know her daughter is still hurting?

The last scene is so fucking depressing

Ruby, are you okay? Blink twice if you still remember your life outside the idol industry!

The last two pages work really well as horror. She has a brilliant smile but you can tell that she's dead inside. She's got more merch on her table than photos. Why doesn't she have a corkboard of family photos? Although I more or less have this Ai plushie and it's pretty cute so I'll give this a pass because it's hilarious

I guess the takeaway here is to live for others and life is painful so just grin and bear it. Oh yeah, and inspire other young women to join an industry where they get to act happy and lose their humanity. Cool

I mean I get that it's supposed to be about moving on with your life even while grieving and that's a good message, sure, but Aka's insistence on using the word "lies" multiple times as if saying it makes it make sense ruins the whole thing

The most insane part is that this chapter is a wholehearted endorsement of the lies sold by the entertainment/idol industry

I haven't even said anything about anyone besides Ruby because what's the point? Aka didn't have time to do justice to any of the characters I grew to love

It's clear something went wrong with the timeline of wrapping up OnK. No artist wants to execute a final chapter like this. I'm convinced the film reel edges are Aka and Mengo's way of telling the reader, "we know this is a shitty clips show so don't @ us on Twitter about it"

But it's so much worse than that. Aka really decided to tear to shreds everything he worked so hard on for 4 years. Damn

This is my favorite manga and I'll always love that it gave me Ai, my most beloved character of all time, but this leaves an extremely bitter aftertaste. It's really hard to believe that the same person who wrote vol 1 wrote this.

OnK has been pretty important to me. Reading weekly, chatting with fans, and reaching dangerous levels of Ai brain rot has actually been a helpful distraction. TBH I've been a little too invested in it but sometimes you need escapism. So it's crazy that I'm kind of glad it's over.

But this is why fanfic, fanart, and your own headcanons exist. In another universe, this manga wrapped up beautifully and I was depressed for weeks because I couldn't look forward to it anymore. In this universe, at least we're all suffering together here at the end of all things.

And at least the little Hoshino family is still adorable. Too bad Ai is dead, Aqua is dead, and Ruby desperately needs grief counseling. But NEVER MIND. Look at Ai's smile and the twins' faces. This was the Oshi no Ko I really loved.

If you did not, go read you deserve to feel it to

There's something just so sad about Anya dreaming about her biological mother, then Yor saying, in a very motherly way, that she can read every part of Anya, just to next say to Loid why and he looks to then in a sweet gaze...

Oh yeah it's because they are not a real family...

Good stars I'm sad

Aqua Hoshigan Status: It's Officially Hoshinover

Chapters Until The Story Ends Without The 143 Kiss Being Addressed Or Acknowledged: 1

damn i guess they really did just kill his ass

I'm gonna be so real with you gamers, I kind of don't have a lot to say about this one either lol. Which I acknowledge sounds completely wild given the Everything that happens in it, but most of my meat and potatoes analysis in these reviews comes from breaking down characterization and we're flying through everything at such breakneck pace that we're barely getting any characterization.

It continues to drive me bugfuck insane that Ai is completely absent from this finale despite the importance of 15 Year Lie. Its imagery is plastered all over but whenever we return to it, we just see Aqua. Not only that, but Gotanda is the one who insists on pushing the movie through for Aqua. 15YL as a story about Ai's true self and her tragedy is now officially taking a backseat to being about Aqua's tragic death and legacy. It was already bad enough that we spent so much time in the Movie Arc not actually focusing on Ai to the extent that, as everyone pointed out, based on what we saw on-page it was basically a Sad Kamiki Movie, but this really is just pissing right in the wound at this point lmao.

The funeral scene also serves as the final nail in the coffin for any Secretly Alive Aqua copes, which is kind of a relief. I still don't like how Aqua's death played out, but I think dragging it out for four chapters then going "sorry you thought i was /srs when i was just /jk" would have been infinitely more insulting. I don't like this ending, but I can respect that Akasaka seems to be sticking to his guns on it, even if we still do have like a whole chapter left for him to whip around and go "I WAS /JK ALL ALONG!!!!" but I don't see it happening.

Anyway, yeah! The funeral! Uh. Is it gonna sound weird if I say I felt kind of like… grossed out reading this the first time? Like, I really don't know how else to explain the visceral "why the fuck is the author making me read this" reaction I had to it. I think it's just because Kana is so fucking distraught here and the drama is just so hammy and so over the top that it feels kind of… ech. I dunno. I just really didn't vibe.

It doesn't help that this is part of a much broader pattern in the back half of OnK of Aka getting us right up close into the gory details of a character's complete mental breakdown and suffering and then spend zero time or focus on their recovery. This happened with Ruby all over the Movie Arc and this many times and with this little runway to the end of the series, it just starts to feel exploitative, like a way to cheaply pull at our heartstrings without doing the work to build everyone back up after tearing them down.

also pre-emptively dreading all the fuel this is going to add to the fires of People Who Are Weird And Misogynistic About Kana but she could die saving innocent children from a burning building and people would find reasons to be shitty about her lmao

we really are not seeing ruby's reaction to finding out her brother was dead huh lol

I will say the one thing I didn't Actively Dislike about this chapter was Ruby, though. I was honestly starting to get pretty skeeved out with how many people were gleefully predicting or actively wishing for her immediate suicide purely for ship motivated reasons and I was also worrying that the story was going to pretend that Ruby doesn't like. Have a life and support system outside of Aqua. Yes, she should absolutely be affected by his death but this period of her shutting down only to drag herself back onto her feet that we seem to be getting feels way more in line with pre-Movie Arc flanderization Ruby and I'll take that W where I can get it.

god. I haven't even talked about Kamiki's supposed serial killer cult. I just don't have the strength. Like… that's self-evidently stupid, right? I don't need to explain to you why that's ridiculous and unbelievable? You don't need me to tell you why it's fucking crazy that we're getting this information about the alleged overarching antagonist of the series not only in the second-to-last chapter of the entire series but after he was already dead, right? We can just move on? Ok good. jesus christ.

At long last, our journey resumes!! And ohoho what a chapter to start off with X-D

Oh my word THIS is where the “far green country under a swift sunrise” line comes from. I might cry.

There’s something about getting ready to leave early in the morning, when the air still smells cool and clear, that’s just nearly magical. I love that Tolkien leaned into that vibe here.

Frodo being distressed that they didn’t say goodbye to “my fair lady Goldberry” is so darling of him X-D

GOLDBERRY SPARKLES WHEN SHE DANCES

Once again, Tolkien’s descriptions of the country they traverse are beautiful at atmospheric.

Oh yes. One singular cold rock, standing upright all by itself, like a finger pointing towards the sky, in an area where you KNOW there are ancient graves nearby. That’s not worrying at all. Let’s just use it as a cooling pad. Great idea.

And now they took a too-long afternoon nap and are surrounded by fog. Great job, guys.

In which Tolkien reminds us that he ABSOLUTELY can write horror…

“‘Where are you?’ he cried out miserably.” Oh poor Frodo 😭

The Wight answering “HERE! I AM WAITING FOR YOU!” is NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

Oh sure just leave it until the end of the paragraph to mention that the hobbits are lying surrounded in treasures with a SWORD ACROSS THEIR NECKS

Bruh reading the Wight’s incantation actually gave me chills oh my word

FRODO HACKED THE HAND OFF THE WIGHT’S ARM LET’S GOOOOO

The fact that Frodo falls on top of Merry specifically is making the Cousin Feels part of my brain go brrr

I cannot WAIT to draw this ahahaha >8-D

SUDDENLY: TOMBADIL

The severed hand is still WRIGGLING EUGH 🤮

Did Tom stomp on the hand like a spider??!? That’s hilarious LOL

THEY’RE ALIVE!!!

Sam being annoyed with the burial clothes is PEAK 🤣

The ponies are okay!!

Tom like “seems I’m gonna have to babysit you boys until you get to the Road so you don’t get freaking lost again” 🤣

Tom choosing a brooch from the treasure pile for Goldberry is adorable actually

THE DAGGERS LET’S GOOOO

One of those is gonna kill a troll, and the other is gonna stab the Witch King in the knee >:-D

A vision of a Man with a star on his forehead?? Aragorn foreshadowing?? 👀

The two stones Frodo rode between earlier have mysteriously disappeared. Thanks I hate it.

Turns out the line of “trees” they saw in the distance was actually a line of bushes that marked off the boundary of an ancient kingdom. But we don’t get to learn anything else about it, except that the memory of it makes Tom sad. Yet another example of Middle Earth being SO FREAKING OLD.

THEY FOUND THE ROAD 🥳

The hobbits like OH RIGHT, CRAP, THE BLACK RIDERS

Bye Tom!

Sam like “welp, I suppose he’s the nicest and weirdest person we’ll come across” 😂

Of course the Brandybucks visit the Prancing Pony every now and then!!

The number of times I've stood up and went "HUH" this chapter was crazy and suddenly there's so much I want to talk about help @_@

Chapter 306;

Wow... Just wow.

I thought that we were done with Nagi being miserable about being locked off of Blue Lock but no, it's far sadder than I imagined.

Nagi is destroyed emotionally. I never saw him so miserable before, like he always was like a blank face guy when he wasn't fired up while playing but he just has this soulless look on his face and it's just sad because he knows the reason he's like this now, it's his own fault.

And honestly I relate a lot to Nagi. Because the same thing happened to me.

Quick backstory for me before I decided to become a writer: I wanted to be a professional football player but I couldn't because I lacked physical training and I was way too old to be with the people that were playing since their childhoods.

When I got rejected, I felt the same thing Nagi is feeling right now, I wanted a thing so much and then got denied and entered a spiral of "Am I going to spend the rest of my life like this?", "Maybe I'll never get excited about something ever again."

But I moved past that but Nagi is desperate to feel that fire again. So desperate that he goes to the Blue Lock facility and begs to get accepted again.

Now what's even sadder is that Nagi tried to contact Reo, just to realize that he was BLOCKED by him. Now, maybe Reo blocked Nagi because he's training and he has to concentrate, but I like to think that Ego might have something to do with this (probably not).

Anyway, Nagi camps in front of Blue Lock and Anri (btw the person who discovered Nagi) tells him to get out of there before she calls the police on him.

And Nagi just crashes out. Get on his knees, completely broken.

Just for that fat ass show up, saying that he wants to talk with the genius...

So... Nagi's coming back. But I doubt that Ego will accept this, so what will happen to Nagi? Will he play for another national team? Will he be sneaked into the Blue Lock Eleven?

Chapter 307;

This chapter might be on my 10 top Blue Lock chapters.

First of all, Isagi, following Ego's training, goes to Spain! Not only Spain but Barcelona!

To what? To watch a match between FC Barcha and Chicorid (Aka Atletico de Madrid, but instead of a bear on the shield, it's a bunny, to avoid copyright. Also foreshadowing?).

But this match is no ordinary match, Isagi is going to watch the final of Copa Del Rey. Again, an important match, that Isagi has to analyze because he has to be decisive on big matches. But before going to the stadium, he decides to have dinner first.

Isagi doesn't speak Spanish, so he asks a guy on the table next to him and asks what he's eating. And when this guy shows his face, I know that he's important. Because what kind of background character has a scar on his eye forming a cross?

Anyway, they chatted for a bit (Isagi gave him the earbuds that translate in real time, again, crazy technology) and this guy is hella sus because out of nowhere when Isagi is explaining his passion for football, the guy says: "I envy you. When I see someone as happy as you, it makes me want to kill myself."

Ex-fucking-cuse me?! Who the fuck says that to a stranger without having the intention of killing them?

Anyway, the guy leaves and Isagi eats dinner.

Isagi goes to (this is just my headcanon because I'm applying real life logic to this fictional football manga) the Camp Nou and Isagi starts to watch the match.

The game starts and holy shit, FC Barcha was robbed in the NEL.

Anyway the game started and who's playing right by Lavinho's side? The guy that Isagi talked to in the restaurant. And his name... Is Bunny?

Seriously, Bunny? This has to be a nickname, there's no way that this guy's legal name is Bunny?

Anyway, the match continues and Lavinho gives an assist for Bunny to score the first goal in the match. Which leads to the question, where the fuck was this guy in the NEL?

Was he not interested in going to Blue Lock? Because I remember Kaiser saying that the only two reasons he came to the NEL was to see Isagi and to force his way out of Bastard and go to La Real.

The last panel of this chapter is where the leftover pieces in my head began to fit together. Because guess who made an appearance after what? 200 chapters?

Itoshi "fuck that striker shit" Sae. And he was watching the final and was not very pleased to see Bunny.

Which leads to the assumption that Bunny, probably, is the one that ruined Sae's dream of becoming a striker.

I'm very interested in seeing what happened with Sae and what Bunny (I can't take his name seriously) has to do with it. Also New Gen 11 player so...

And now... My favorite panels of this chapter;

Ok, bro, we see the fit!

The Barça fan in me is winning so much!

This panel gave me chills.

MY BOY!!! GOD, HE'S SO FUCKING COOL WITH IT!!!

His design is really cool ngl. Also can someone give me a Barcha jersey? Just kidding (Am I though?)

FINALLY YOU SHOW UP AGAIN, YOU ASSHOLE!!!