【Oshi no Ko】 - Vol. 16 Ch. 165 - AND THEN

[Azaleal]

Those who say that this manga/chapter is bad, please grow up.

The manga ended as it was intended from the very beginning.

Just because he died, doesn't mean it is trash

This isn't fairytale type manga where every ending is good and happy, this is the sad truth and the harsh reality of the entertainment industry.

sure Buddy, It seems you know better than the rest of us, including Aka Akasaka himself..

Q: Were there any other changes made to the story during the planning stage or before serialization?

Yokoyari: At first, both Akasaka-sensei and I really wanted to take our time to depict Aqua and Ruby’s childhood years. But since Weekly Young Jump is a seinen magazine with an older readership, we were told that a story about children being the main protagonists might not be able to continue for too long. So, I remember Sakai-san suggesting, "Could you wrap it up in about three chapters?" (laughs).

Sakai: That’s right. Because of that, we decided to include future-perspective interviews at the beginning of each chapter during the childhood arc. I think that was a big factor in making the story work.

Yokoyari: I was also secretly worried about how long we could sustain the story with just child characters, so that idea was really helpful.

Akasaka: Honestly, if Sakai-san hadn’t pointed that out, I think we might still be stuck in the childhood arc even now (laughs).
Q: In the climax of Volume 1, there’s a shocking development involving Ai. Was this something you had planned from the beginning?

Akasaka: Actually, this idea came up as we were working on the serialization. Originally, we had planned for Ai and the children to be active in the entertainment industry for a much longer period. However, once we started drawing, we realized that Ai, as a character, was just too strong for the story.
Q: So, the story has been evolving quite a lot as it goes along.

Yokoyari: Yes, exactly. Characters that weren’t very important before suddenly became main ones, and I was like, "Whoa! I didn’t see that coming!" (laughs).

Akasaka: MEM-cho is a perfect example of that. As I kept drawing, I just ended up liking MEM-cho a lot, so I decided to have her join Ruby and Arima Kana’s idol unit.

 

[dheomaster]

i say ah.... this is the least sadness I ever felt yet. Maybe in the last chapter, they will cook something.

 

[Grimmycoffee]

I don't know about Kana, and I might've misunderstood what "fragile" as meaning in this context, but I guess it somewhat make sense for Ruby?

Her first instinct after knowing about the doctor's death is advancing her own career, grab herself an "advisor" on how to do things and even expand that advice by aiming straight for the director.

The lack of target make that a bit complicated now, but we know she's not really the type of taking things lying down.

 

[Grimmycoffee]

And while I'm not satisfied, I believe chapter 158 (where Kamiya "sends" someone to kill Ruby) is more than enough reason to justify what Aqua did.

They manage to do something that time with Akane and the others, but letting it continue is risky. Even with Nino's confession and assuming that scrambled evidence can put the dad in jail, there will at least be days if not months before that happen, plenty of time before another murder attempts harm Ruby or someone close to her and Aqua.

 

[Kyotaro]

Seeing kana crying like that make me cry too.

 

[Lame_Security]

Huh, no cop-out this time from Aka.

 

[Airzpool]

I just hope that the reason the author kills Aqua is not because the author doesn't know which girl should be with Aqua, so the author kills Aqua to make sure nobody gets him.

 

[redscizor]

I just hope that the reason the author kills Aqua is not because the author doesn't know which girl should be with Aqua, so the author kills Aqua to make sure nobody gets him.

Well ... kill Aqua is more easy that a ship wars, now everyone is sad =(

 

[Judaskiss]

Those who say that this manga/chapter is bad, please grow up.

The manga ended as it was intended from the very beginning.

Just because he died, doesn't mean it is trash

This isn't fairytale type manga where every ending is good and happy, this is the sad truth and the harsh reality of the entertainment industry.

Y’all need to have higher standards. Stop defending garbage writing because you’ve sunk a lot of time into a series.

 

[Saybah]

friggin this, the biggest love of the doctor wasn't Ai, but Sarina, he loved Ai because it was Sarina's dream his biggest regret as the doctor was losing her and seeing how her family wasn't with her.
Then he met and befriended Ai and even ended as his son, his revenge started because once again he failed to save his loved ones.
So knowing the f*cker was ready to kill her own daughter on his delussion, ofc he didn't have many choices as he already learned his modus operandi and had to end the guy and at the same time keep Ruby's dream (her happyness and HEALTH was his priority), the same could be said as his Aqua part, he was a big siscon hahaha (sorry for the joke at the end)

I quite disagree there. I believe both Ai and Sarina/Ruby hold equal position in his heart, evident by how in Aqua's last imagination has him imagining both Ai and Sarina singing together in a concert. If he cares more toward one of them he'd imagine only one of them. Plus you also need to remember that 90% of this manga runs is about Aqua's motivation of avenging Ai's death.

 

[Saybah]

I just hope that the reason the author kills Aqua is not because the author doesn't know which girl should be with Aqua, so the author kills Aqua to make sure nobody gets him.

I honestly think author always intended this ending since the beginning. Early chapters shows future flashback like Kana giving "No comment" to the interviewer while having sorrowful expression.

I don't think this is about which girl's winning since technically Kana won since Aqua admitted being in love with her, it just that he prioritizes his sister future more (likely combination of Aqua's familial love and Goro's regret of unable to save Sarina before), while Akane would be happy with whatever makes Aqua happy.

 

[sf7pakistan]

For anyone that might be interested, you can find the latest leak for the last chapter. Comes from a reliable source. For what it's worth, I like the saying that goes "it is not about the destination, it is about the journey" or something like that. But man, at least make your work worth reading until the end.

Spoiler: Spoilers

https://imgur.com/a/F0sgibG

I'm absolutely done if this is the ending dude

 

[rrrrrr333333]

Those were good slaps

SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP GET REINCARNATED GET REINCARNATED

 

[CrimsonSix]

The meaning of bittersweet.

 

[fujoshiWe]

Gotta admit the Kana-slaps-Aqua scene is cool! Slapping a corpse? In front of his foster parents to boot? Kana-chan you rock!

 

[Katmaii]

Ahh, from Akane's narration, we can confirm that Aqua is indeed gone. Maybe it is time to buy a knife and a letter to the author. Just why... we have only one more chapter left for us...

weird. just read and don't leak your thoughts irl

 

[yurimakesmeuglycry]

I'm absolutely done if this is the ending dude

Literally worse than Boy's Abyss.

I STG popular mangas are required to having crap endings.

 

[Baqi312]

It's unfortunate that the ending like this, but i think it's still necessary. Enough of too much plot twist and finally it's really end. Even though it's not happy, but still a good ending

 

[sf7pakistan]

Literally worse than Boy's Abyss.

I STG popular mangas are required to having crap endings.

I'd have been sad but I'd have understood if Aqua came up with a plan of a lifetime to kill Hikaru but something goes wrong and Hikaru takes him down with him. But this was just dumb, even dumber than the AoT's ending premise that the Eldians kill 80% of the world population but the people they stomped over forgive them because the Japanese think this is how pacifism works and what not. I understand things going wrong and that makes things fun but doing it like this after he's been acting like Sherlock in the whole manga was just an insult to our intelligence

 

[Sholvq]

No be IS dead and shes telling him what happened after his death
She is literally talking to him
Who the fuck says there is no afterlife? Because 2 people got reincarnated once? Massive leap in logic
This is a universe with confirmed souls and gods, the chances of an afterlife are through the roof

IIRC, Crow loli god suggested that death was as final as can be in one of her earliest appearances.