【Oshi no Ko】 - Vol. 16 Ch. 166 - STAR

[phorx]

Right, because what we really need is boring happy ending #1000000 that gives the MC stupid plot armor so that he can have sex with the girls that all these drooling losers are so horny over

Regardless of whether the ending was happy or sad, most of the characters didn’t even get any closure. It was incredibly lazy and dismissive of the readers

 

[Lord_Ad5]

My reaction to this manga honestly....

 

[Sagara-Sousuke]

The ending is a 3 but it's not going tp take away from other parts I like in the story so I'll give the overall manga a 6/10

 

[Ihallahi]

I started reading the manga about a month before the first episode of the anime. It was one of the best decisions I could have made. It's been over a year and a half since then and the time I spent reading it was really great. The whole manga 10/10. Thanks a lot for that Akasaka!

But that ending... I really didn't expect it to end like that. I'm devastated by the way they decided to end it. It's... It's really sad...

Edit: I just want to add that I don't like the ending either. But I won't change my rating just because of it because I really enjoyed the rest of the manga. Although Akasaka needs to work on endings not being so shitty.

Edit 2: I'm sitting here wondering what went wrong and after thinking about it for a while and with that ending... I just can't give it a 10. It's true that I had a really good time reading it for the most part, even with the weaker second half but... I just can't so I'm changing it to 9/10. When it comes to the ending, Akasaka disappointed me a lot.

 

[Yasakamegurine]

Truly oshi no ko

 

[velcrosnake]

I am glad I held off buying the physical volumes, as this would have been another series that became less fun for me to read over time only to culminate in a disappointing ending, only for me to consider selling all my volumes at a loss just because I wouldn't want to read through them again.

 

[wizard_mouse]

I am glad that it is done and the author did not want to keep it going when it is pretty obvious the story got loose a while ago.

While I could point a bunch of issues I had with it, I will just say. I AM SO GLAD THE INCEST WAS NEVER FULFILLED.

 

[spectacure]

This shi was so aaaassss, and not because of the ending itself, you could right whatever sort of ending you want whether it’s happy, sad, or even confusing, that’s irrelevant, this ch was especially bad because it‘s ending the story with narration of how she feels instead of actually showing us how she feels, oshi no ko has always been an expressive manga that shows you how the character feels with exaggerated beautiful art, so it’s so sad to see an ending like this where it’s literally just someone tells you how it ends instead of experiencing it yourself

 

[Anonymous4245]

I feel like we've gone full circle and we're back with an Ai who lies every time

 

[DoingScience]

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.

 

[mrls026_]

Damn... I disliked the incest inuendos like any normal person, but I was expecting for them to be together again in a reincarnation. Akasaka made another "Kaguya" wrapping the story in a sudden way.

There's an expression we use in México for endings this unoriginal: "sí sí a la verga" (yes, yes, f**k it), used when someone gets tired of something and finishes it without any care.

 

[radstylix]

I still love Oshi no ko but... the ending is indeed ass

 

[BlackwingYu]

Would it have been so difficult to have Tsukuyomi take pity on Aqua and revive him again in another body? Do a little timeskip, Ruby now in her mid-20s meets a little kid and realizes that it's Aqua, crying reunion, everyone's happy? Like the ending to PMD:Explorers main campaign. You don't get to have a happy feels-good ending if you don't earn it.

 

[TheCancerFest]

It’s like mangaka had something in mind and it got viral. But it became way too much of a deal so he said fuck it.
Everything the base premise tried to prevent( that is Ruby becoming Ai v2) became reality like in one and a half chapter. Aqua died like for nothing. His death only being more capitalized Everyone moved on eventually even Ruby but I wonder: was that really the thing she truly wanted? No and she states that. But fate is a cruel mistress. This show operates like an Ancient Greek tragedy.

 

[Redaer-Feka]

Well, it started awesome, middle arcs and stuff were great, but the climax and end were not as satisfying. Was it on purpose? Ship war happens and to solve it, just off Aqua so the three has no other option but to move on? I suppose this is a fairly ehhh conclusion but oh well. I wonder if situations happen for the author and editor to go with this route or this was predetermined since start, because it does leave an upsetting end...

 

[Me412]

Wait what was the point of the crow girl? A lot of loose ends in my opinion.

 

[Grimmycoffee]

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

(Ruby) -is also forced to forcefully feign joy and happiness while hiding the pain?

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.

Thanks to the brother who cut himself out of her life for 5-10 idol years (Aqua had such a low opinion of his sister, thinking that a short term idol career was more important and valuable to her than the life of her sibling and closest person?)?
So we just ignored the entire manga in favor of returning to the status quo of Aqua/Goro once again brutally dying alone and suffering for the sake of others and Serina/Ruby once again feigning happiness while being broken inside? And that's not even to mention that the work, which began with a scandal over the discussion of suicide, ended with the portrayal of suicide as an important self-sacrifice (not to mention the fact that the entire ending is essentially a mirror copy of the ending of the delusional live action Bokumachi movie for some strange reason).

I just don't understand. If the promised special chapter doesn't change anything, this manga and everything related to it will simply lose me. I don't even know how I can continue to follow anime or listen to Yoasobi after this.

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.

Serina/Ruby once again feigning happiness while being broken inside?

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.

Exactly. How can you look up for story, if you know, that almost everything that will happen between then and the end will be meaningless? I mean, there is always FIRE animation and art, but...

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.

I kind of get your point, and I would say I liked the ending rather than hated it (still went from an 8 to a 7), but in the long run it feels weird as Aqua clearly knew what Ai represented was good but not healthy at all, and Ruby ended like her mom, while sacrificing himself for her so it feels like a nothing burger, like we got back to status quo, but on the other side as you said it ties back to the theme and choose to be darker.

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.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Friggin… THAT’S IT??

Ugh. At least it’s over, I guess…

 

[greatninja3]

Ruby got mental illness and after 3 years of idol work what's next ?

 

[Aikotoba]

This shit is so ass