【Oshi no Ko】 - Vol. 16 Ch. 166 - STAR

[Grimmycoffee]

But anyways, I have some opinions on the ending but I'm not going to get too into that because everything I could say has already been said. So in short: this ending just thematically pisses on everything that came before it. Aqua learning to separate himself from his revenge? Nope, he kills himself because he's just that obsessed with killing Kamiki. Ruby becoming the honest idol Ai wanted to become? Haha, no, she stuck pretending she isn't upset Aqua died for the rest of her life.

The revenge against Kamiki was supposed to be done on around chapter 152s after he saw Ai's tape, both Aqua and Ruby come to terms with that, this only changed after "Ruby" got stabbed and the manga explicitly stated that Kamiki was behind it.

 

[Dulkia]

It's not a bad ending but it doesn't deliver as it should.

I would take out the running thing and put a time skip instead. Then show everyone has moved on and is working hard on their own thing while still remebering Aqua. Then Ruby herself will narrate her feelings (her sadness, her despair, and how she pulled through with the help of her loved ones).
And then she'll meet a little boy (NOT aqua's reincarnation) who's her fan and he reminds her of Aqua. Ruby will tear up and the little boy get worried, so she'll lie and say she's OK. Ruby will think to herself "Aaaah~ I lied again. It can't be helped though. Lying is a form of love, after all" as she heads to the stage for her concert with B-komachi.
And at the stage she'll say with the brightest smile "Everyone! I love you all!" and we as the audience get to choose to belive if that's a lie or not.

 

[MzzK]

This shit is so ass

 

[SuperOniichan]

I'm surprised we didn't see those two manga authors.

I believe the implication when she said "it's an incredibly fun job" is she's thriving. There's darkness, but she used it like a tool to make her glow brighter, giving hope to others similar to what Ai did for Serina.

They tried a peaceful solution with the whole "Ai loves you" record thing and walked away pretty happy, Kamiki forced Aqua's hand by his attempt to kill Ruby which likely won't stop.

Nino is stop, but chapter 165 shows us that Kamiki has more people to use, and despite the number of victims, no incriminating evidence to condemn him are found.

It's not fake, when she said that the job is a lot of fun to herself around page 20, that was real. You can feel sad while still striving toward your goals and be happy while doing it.

I get that it's not satisfying, but isn't the entire movie arc a large part of why Ruby can move on as shown in the ending? And I'm sure there are others too, I know that Kana and Aqua has a little change during the whole filming.

Ai's lies did keep her isolated and cause misunderstanding, but the manga also shows that lies, manipulation, and "darkness" are essential in the industry (aside from acting being acting, there is also Memchou breaking the gloomy mood after she confessed lying about her age, and Ruby ranking up by pleasing the producer and co-producer during the arc that ended with the producer crossplaying.

Not that said darkness should be kept entirely, the manga also shows bad things not worth keeping, just that it needs to be tempered with aspects like honesty and understanding. Memchou's age reveal and the old producer making his own cosplay to understand the cosplayer's protest are examples of this too, though Aqua saving Akane from suicide along with Akane's reputation with the help of the other actors, actresses, and the cameraman are also example of this.

One very formal phrase that only confirms that she enjoys working as an idol and that she motivates others does not change the fact that the death of her brother put her in the very trap of her mother that she tried so hard to avoid. And yes, Aqua dying after 150+ chapters of trying to get rid of his traumas and baggage from her past life literally shows that trauma and pain cannot be avoided, that they will catch up with you anyway. Even when Ruby gets some semblance of a happy ending, she is traumatized and gets it thanks to her brother's sacrifice. I understand trying to convince yourself of the illusion of a better ending by coming up with a reservations like "yes, Ruby is in the same ass as Ai, but at least she's not isolated now" but in fact this is nothing more than attempts to self-convince yourself that everything is not so bad and the characters received at least some relief from their suffering. Sorry, that's not enough for me. I want an objective fragrance, not a stench whose good smell I will have to convince myself of.

 

[cheekibreeki]

This shit is so ass bruh

 

[EMJzero]

Honestly, a boring ending…

I believe we all began reading this manga knowing that a tragedy was behind the corner, and at least I was fine with that. However Aqua truly picket the most inefficient way to its goal, and ultimately the story played out without much of a purpose if not the moral it intends to teach. And such moral seems to be kinda forced into the story, to the point of killing all the amazingly good plot elements that we had like Kana as a comic relief but also as someone who feels very lonely, Akane going from depressed to a scheming savage, and so much more. Ironically, the final moral is given to us by Ruby, which was the least interesting character plot-wise. So ultimately I think that while the finale is fine, it was kinda forced onto this work which had so much more potential that ended up being wasted for the purpose of telling us to be “fine with grief”.

I mean, I read all sorts of “what ifs” online, from the good old Aqua dying to save Akane or Kana, or viceversa one of them dying to save Aqua, or even Ruby at that. For what I care even the whole cast could have died, since death being a significant plot element for the final was very clear from the start. But this…just feels like the bad ending of a videogame where the MC dies and you get a “death” splash screen just for the titles to roll…

 

[sf7pakistan]

I want a fucking refund for all the hours I wasted on this bullshit. Aka is two for two with the most dog-ass endings like mate how even? Anyone in media/literature studies dude this is a brilliant research opportunity, no other person has been able to make such brilliant and captivating stories only to smear the ending in absolute pig-shit like this. Dude stop being a mangaka and go work in a sanitation plant or something cause you have absolute firsthand experience on how to present the most toxic, radioactive and smelly piles of turd I've witnessed in my three decades of living and this includes ny workplace experiences, relationships, trauma, school politics, world politics, corrupt and anything else you can think of. At this point any of you reading are are more than fucking welcome to come and beat me with shoes and belts if anyone of you ever finds me reading something by Aka ever again

 

[rikahime]

For some reason, I'm not surprised by the ending (not that I can ever have high ending expectations after AoT so I'm not really disappointed) because I did expect a character or two dying and the ending being tragic or bittersweet but the execution and moral messaging are stupid. I feel like the last few chapters can literally be fixed to a great extent only with different dialogue while keeping the same panels.

 

[kuma]

i am conflicted with ending. it's interesting and memorable for sure, but also unsatisfying in lot of ways, also pretty rushed. the journey tho, very fun. the twist, the thrill, the gag, the drama, the dark insight of entertainment industry, i liked it very much. 8/10. looking forward for next works.

 

[Judaskiss]

Another banger ending from Hacka Akasaka

 

[naofummi]

i hope aka’s next work is more close to love is war

 

[Thyme.Minister]

Y’know all of this could have been prevented if aqua simply had a gun, no stupid ass “I’ll take you down with me” required

he was right next to a large body of water, he could have easily tied some heavy weight or something to Kamiki and pushed his body to where he can never be found. Aqua's death was so contrived.

 

[Saybah]

Ruby just "getting over it" is the worse part to me.

She's a lot less affected by Aqua's death than discovering that the nice doctor she fell in love with 16 years ago died. That makes sense, since Aqua was both that doctor and her brother who she lived the next 16 years with, was reincarnated together with, shared their mother's death with, and more. If you can't convince yourself that this person is your soulmate, especially after spending an entire lifetime pining for him, what more do you want?

That she just suppresses it all, because she's "stronger than you think," is the point I can't suspend disbelief. If Aka wanted a sad ending, then he should have committed (by having her commit). Instead we got a fluffy final chapter which just emphasized that Aqua killing himself was a good idea, with no real long term consequences. Anybody who says people who don't like this "just hate sad endings" haven't read the chapter, there is nothing sad about it. She feels hopeful for the future and has come to terms with her entire family being murdered by her father.

Yeah the issue is that its too rushed. Ruby and others get over Aqua's death in span of two chapters with just wordless panel for us to get it just doesn't feel satisfying. Give us 5 chapters with them talking and we see how they get over it would've been better.

 

[maxyall]

Im convinced this whole story is written on a post it notes

 

[BigGuyForUUUU2012]

shout out to that ai fumo, the real hero of the finale

 

[Knighto]

It's not a bad ending but it doesn't deliver as it should.

I would take out the running thing and put a time skip instead. Then show everyone has moved on and is working hard on their own thing while still remebering Aqua. Then Ruby herself will narrate her feelings (her sadness, her despair, and how she pulled through with the help of her loved ones).
And then she'll meet a little boy (NOT aqua's reincarnation) who's her fan and he reminds her of Aqua. Ruby will tear up and the little boy get worried, so she'll lie and say she's OK. Ruby will think to herself "Aaaah~ I lied again. It can't be helped though. Lying is a form of love, after all" as she heads to the stage for her concert with B-komachi.
And at the stage she'll say with the brightest smile "Everyone! I love you all!" and we as the audience get to choose to belive if that's a lie or not.

it could work and it would even tie a nice good ribbon with Yoasobi's op, making us think it's not a lie as it was Ai's dream to finally said while Ruby got the opportunity to mean it.

 

[Vmpslushie]

Well that was kind of a let-down.

Hope there's an extra chapter in the tankoubon.

 

[wryytart]

Aqua/Goro died a virgin.

L Story

 

[BritishMalaya]

"I will continue to sing!" Ahh ending

 

[derpdederp]

Bit of a letdown for an ending, but if that's what they originally planned, then that's the way she goes. Still, felt like the mystical stuff just got dropped, don't need to explain shit.