#ai Hoshino

[sparkleferret]

[figurecollection]

Ai Hoshino Prize Figure by Bandai Spirits, from Oshi no Ko

[aihoshiino]

is Ai really autistic or is it just popular headcanon/fanon?

She is!

To be totally transparent, Akasaka has never said autism specifically (自閉スペクトラム症 jihei spectrum shou) to my knowledge, but Ai is canonically neurodivergent and is referred to at least twice across the series that I remember as having specifically a developmental disability (発達障害 hattatsu shougai) which are umbrella terms in both English and Japanese that specifically refer to a very specific category of neurodivergence that autism falls into.

Additionally, in Ai's chapter of Spica, she behaves... I don't want to say stereotypically because I think Spica's POV outwards depiction of a non-masking autistic person navigating the world is one of the few things it does right, but the particular social issues twelve year old Ai has and the ways they cause her to clash with B-Komachi do very much read to me as a writer who is intentionally trying to portray an autistic person w/o directly using the word 'autism'. Especially given that the resolution at the end of Ai's chapter is that she starts learning how to mask - literally, explicitly in those words.

Akane also singles out a lot of things to do with Ai's behaviour and physicality that also feel like big, obvious signposting for 'this character is intentionally being written as autistic' to me:

Singling out just from this image, Akane notes that Ai has very sharp (an alternate translation is sensitive) hearing and sense of smell, has some fine motor issues (holds her chopsticks irregularly), among other things.

It's also not in this image, but something you can quickly pick up from looking at Ai's fashion choices when she's dressing for herself is that she very consistently gravitates towards baggy and loose fitting clothes, which could imply she has some sensory issues when it comes to tight fits.

This is also more anecdotal so feel free to take it with a grain of salt, but in Japanese fan spaces, I've seen plenty of people say re: Ai that "oh yeah, this is really obviously a character you're supposed to read as being autistic/having ADHD", so that implies to me the coding here is very recognizable and thus intentional. Like - again, Akasaka went out of his way to have two characters at LEAST refer to her as this very specific umbrella term so there was obviously authorial intent here.

The specific focus on Ai's confusion regarding communication and organic empathy is what lands me on the side of 'autistic', but either way, I don't think it's really in question that it's a canonical part of her characterization.

[yuseirra]

a family bigger than 4! part 5.

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / side story 1

I did mention Gorou has a really important role earlier, right? In this story, he's the one who's helped the two reconcile. Who else would deliver the child other than him? He's a good soul.

next..would probably be some wholesome slice-of-life things(finally getting to those ;v; haha)

[zephyrine-gale]

my favorite idol!

[deathberi]

♫ FATALE by GEMN | 【推しの子】 OP2

[deelovescats]

Have a perfect loop of the twins

[senjo]

[kronehaze]

Please watch oshi no ko

[edensania]

(>.<)*♡

[gabbyp09]

[sparkleferret]

[ambigirl]

My jaw seriously dropped!!!!

[greatwyrmgold]

Ruby explicitly says she puts up with the stresses of idol work because being an idol is "an incredibly fun job". [Chapter 166] And Ai is convinced to become an idol because Ichigo says "while you're saying you love everybody...it may turn into the truth." [Chapter 8]

If for some reason I wanted to paint one of the Hoshino idols as pure and saintly and the other as a selfish bitch, Ai would not be the bitch.

seeing takes saying ai is a selfish liar while ruby is a selfless liar who does it for the sake of the fans as if she doesn't turn out to be ai 2.0 at the end LMAOOO

and even then that's wrong lol. at least ai tells her lies with the hope that they'll come true someday. ruby's motivations for going on are... what, exactly??

"to the future that mama and aqua illuminated" as if they both weren't victims that had their lives tragically taken away (aqua's case is different, yea, but only akane knowsbthat)

minor detail also, but as a fellow ai wifeguy, aren't the two pics of ai at ruby's bitchass merch shrine rehashes of prev art?? ai when she first takes off the hat in the hospital (this one is especially obvious to me) & the pic of her in the shampoo commercial but just edited a bit. same goes for thr aqua pic, looks like his cover art from vol 3

anon before i say anything else i need you to know that the combo of the words "fellow ai wife guy" and "bitchass merch shrine" took me out so hard. i was eating spicy noodles when i read this ask and it almost killed me. ig i don't blame mengo for reusing the linework for what are just throwaway background elements but it is kind of funny. like. yeah, girl. i wouldn't have put any extra effort into this chapter either lolo

Anyway yeah lol the idea of interpreting Ai as 'selfish' in that sense is kind of incomprehensible to me because tbh one of Ai's major issues as a character is that she isn't selfish. She feels obligated to endlessly contort herself to match the shapes other people want her to take - I mentioned it in my episode 1 liveblog but there's this constant underlying theme in Ai's arc of her doing her best to be every single contradictory thing that was asked of her, succeeding against all odds and being punished for it anyway. She doesn't value herself and her own happiness enough to choose it over continuing to be the version of herself other people ask her to be. TBH, that's another way that Ai and Aqua parallel each other - they both view not just their happiness but their entire lives as being ancillary at best to the people around them. Ai is at least able to understand that she wants and deserves to have happiness when she decides to have the twins, but she still undervalues herself to a shocking degree.

As for Ruby.............. honestly, Ruby's endgame characterization is so undercooked that I don't even really know what to make of her. But it's not as though she's a pure selfless angel who's getting nothing out of being an idol - this is the dream she's had for two lifetimes now and she's at the peak of her success. She's talked all series about wanting to be famous, etc etc. I'm sure it's hard and she's not always having an easy time and that it's probably frustrating for her to have to compartmentalize her feelings, but like...

Ruby could quit! She could just walk out!!! Hit da bricks!!!! It's nothing at all like Ai's situation where the combo of socioeconomic and interpersonal factors that contributed to her success also essentially trapped her in the entertainment industry with no safety net and nobody to help her find her footing in everyday life. If Ruby wanted to quit Tomorrow, she could and she'd have an endless amount of people who would help her adjust. As such, I can only assume Ruby is an idol because she still wants to be an idol. Which is fine! But this selfishness vs selflessness stuff is just not in the text.

And even if it was..................... again, who cares lol. Selflessness is not and inherently morally righteous quality and neither is selfishness inherently bad. Aqua and Ai again are both prime examples of how self destructive selflessness at the cost of the self is.

[yuseirra]

a family bigger than 4! part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4

Before I get to the part about Gorou(He has a really important role in this story!!) a side story

There was something I always wanted to tackle, but it was always so hard and impossible to do in canon. I wanted to see Hikaru tell what happened to him as a child wasn't his fault. Personally, I feel they did him pretty dirty on this one...his character IS illustrated pretty well, but they make him have this traumatic past...and just leave him with it till the very end. To be fair they do that to A LOT of characters if not all in this series, but it always really pained me to see this character blame himself even after all these years about what's happened.

This is a sensitive and tough subject. I'm not sure if I'm handling it as considerate enough but I've made an attempt to. I quickly looked up how crimes like this are penalized in Japan(interestingly enough, Airi still could have been punished in canon because recently, the statute of limitations has been extended from 10 to 15 years). This article really helped too: A lot of people decide to confront their abusers after the assaults happen for it could help them move on (there are many potential different reactions)

Pretending that something doesn't exist when it already does isn't my thing. They have these really heavy themes in the storyline, if that's there, I think it should still be acknowledged because it's part of what makes the characters as they are. To move onto the future, it'd help come to terms and face/heal from the past. So in this story, I'll have him truly be happy with Ai even being the way he is (as they would have been).

[deathberi]