#idk it also doesn't help that the two tones of this manga don't work well together

[problemswithbooks]

Ch. 374 Leaks

So, I guess Hori is going to paint Hawks as bad for killing Twice now...

First of all it’s a little to late for that. After Twice was killed Hawks wasn’t framed as a bad person for doing so. As much as people say that him getting off scot-free during the press conference is supposed to be another failure of Hero Society, it wasn’t framed that way what-so-ever. It was framed as Enji and the rest of them trying to step up and do the best they could. It wasn’t sinister at all and zero people ever showed any hesitance over what he had done. This makes you think the plot was either dropped or that it was a sad but necessary thing.

Second of all Twice coming back to fuck over the Heroes isn’t a direct consequence of him being killed. Twice would have been on AfO’s side regardless of Hawks killing him or not--he made that perfectly clear when they fought the first time and with his actions during the MVA arc. Hori is passing it off as ‘see, you shouldn't have killed Twice because now he’s going to fuck things up’, but that only works if Hawks not killing him would have caused a different outcome, which from everything we’ve been shown wouldn't have been the case. Hori easily could have set it up to work that way but he didn’t.

Twice was never going to not follow his friends and do whatever they told him to do. He was devoted to them fully and nothing would have deterred him to our knowledge. Twice was never upset with all the killing they did and how much further Shigaraki wanted to go. He was fine with going after and possibly killing teenagers right out the gate because the only thing that mattered to him was that the LoV liked him and they were his friends. 

If Hawks hadn’t killed him Twice would have either escaped with the LoV and used his duplicate to help over run the city and kill as many people as possible (as we saw him do in Deika), or been arrested and given how Kurogiri was just sprung, probably ended up on the battle field again anyway. Hawks killing or not killing Twice has zero effect--he’d be here fighting the Heroes anyway. It’s not a fitting punishment for Hawks that he’s back because his actions wouldn't have changed this scenario either way. Twice was always going to duplicate himself or his allies and try and murder as many people as possible because his ‘family’ told him to. 

On top of that Hawks is, I guess, supposed to be wrong for wanting to kill Twice again, but like I said above the writing undermines this message. We have never seen someone talk down a villain with success ever. Not even Stain stuck around to actually help out, he just gave All Might a letter, cheered him up and fucked off (plus it wasn’t even useful in the long run anyway). Hawks is the only Hero who even tried to talk a villain. Sure, it wasn’t the best, but it was better then just sticking a knife in his back and calling it a day. If Hori wanted the killing Twice option to be so clearly wrong, he shouldn’t have had Hawks bother to try talking to Twice at all. Now both options look like failures and that neither would work, yet only one is suddenly the wrong choice. 

The whole thing is so disappointing because there was a way this plot could have worked but Hori never pulled it of. He just couldn’t have Hawks kill Twice in cold blood, nor could he have Twice (or any of the other LoV members for that matter) show any concern or displeasure at the extreme methods they were being asked to do. Yet, despite not doing those things in the story, Hori is still pushing Hawks’ actions as wrong now. If he was going to do that Hori shouldn't have chickened out and just have made Hawks completely in the wrong to begin with. 

[aihoshiino]

hello! I really enjoy your way of looking at oshi no ko so I wanted to know your pov on something that's been bugging me throughout the manga! do you think Miyako remembers the twins being 'gods' early in their lives?? I feel that as much as her character has evolved past the whole 'i'll sell Ai's secret for money and fame as revenge' it's still weird that she, as someone who clearly was witness to something supernatural for AT LEAST a year doesn't like... bring it up at all? or seems to actually remember even...

like I can see it being explained away as 'oh maybe as they grow up they forget, so it makes no sense to bring it up now' but also I'm just curious as to when the twins stopped using that as a way to get whatever they wanted lol.

like idk I know that bringing up that bit of silly lore from volume one into the world of the movie arc is out of place at best but also! I just feel like Miyako either gaslighted herself into thinking she was delusional for a year or she's too afraid to bring it up because then she'll sound insane.

this piece of silly lore will chase me to the grave if it isn't brought up again and I need someone else's thoughts cause sometimes I feel like it was quietly retconned.... I'm rambling. anyway! I love your Tumblr!

THANK U FOR THE LOVELY MESSAGE, ANON!! I feel like i say this every single time but it really does make me so wibbly to know so many people vibe with my OnK takes to this degree lol

tragically... I do not have a clever answer for this one, unfortunately!!! Funnily enough though, I did have a bit of a chat about it recently with my friend Silvie (@relares) who has been watching the anime for the first time with me, and it kind of rattled some of my thoughts about the scene loose.

I think a lot of volume 1, while it works really well in isolation, has a lot of what me and Silvie ended up calling 'clunk' in hindsight where it's clear that Akasaka was just... not quite writing the Oshi no Ko that the story ended up becoming, if that makes sense. This is understandable given that at that point, he and Mengo were literally not working on the Oshi no Ko we ended up getting! The decision to kill Ai and re-adjust the series trajectory is one that was made during serialization and it meant the two of them had to course correct a lot of stuff extremely quickly. For the most part, I think they did a shockingly good job of handling that genre shift to the point where a lot of the more jarring elements actually just help in making that shift feel more effective - it makes the horror of Ai's death feel just as sudden and shocking and life-altering to the reader on a storytelling level as it does on a very literal one to Aqua and Ruby.

Unfortunately, it also means there's a lot of choices made in terms of like... punchlines and characterization decisions that I don't think Akasaka would necessarily have made if he had the benefit of foresight and I think Miyako is definitely a victim – or I guess more of a prime example of that.

Miyako as she ends up functioning in volume one is both shockingly different in terms of characterization compared to the Miyako we get from volume two onwards and also pretty transparently kind of just a vehicle/plot device to give the twins an adult ally without revealing themselves to Ai prematurely. The twins manipulating Miyako in such an overtly silly way is also exactly the kind of absurdist problem solving that works fine in a comedy, where your suspension of disbelief is a lot different. I think Akasaka was still very much in Kaguya-sama mode while writing those early chapters and that kind of comedy beat as problem solving bit would feel really at home in an Oshi no Ko that was more tonally in line with Kaguya-sama... but that ultimately isn't the Oshi no Ko it became, so it feels weird.

In a lot of ways, the timeskip between volume 1 and 2 is sort of a soft reset for the series in terms of tone and genre and it allows the manga to sort of smooth out a bit of that clunk going onwards. This is why I think the Sweet Today arc is the best post-timeskip arc in the manga because it's the one that best balances the comedy, drama and industry commentary in a way it never quite managed again - not that all the other arcs are bad, but they generally tip pretty far in one of those three directions in a way that leaves the others high and dry.

TO UH, ACTUALLY ADDRESS YOUR QUESTION THOUGH... I honestly think this aspect of the story has been retconned! Or at least, that Akasaka is purposely not addressing it because he realizes it was a misstep and so he's just quietly pretending it didn't happen lol. It isn't addressed even in places we would expect it to be and Miyako herself never even once mentions it even when we get peeks directly into her head, so I honestly think Akasaka kind of wrote himself into a corner with it and decided to just ignore it.

That's nowhere near as fun as an in-character explanation though so I like to think Miyako thinks it was just a tripped out dream she had once and since Ruby and Aqua don't remember it, it's just never come up again. If she got drunk enough around them, though, she'd ramble about it to them while Ruby and Aqua lock eyes with each other and just have a moment of silent sibling communication like. oh my god. did we really do that????

For as serious as it is a lot of the time, Oshi no Ko is a pretty silly manga when you get down to it, eh....

[neko-chans-teashop]

Obey me hcs (younger brothers)

Ps. I had to use seperate gifs for them cuz I couldn't find that one card summon gif.... Enjoy!

Satan

It's the angry boi who loves cats lololol

Somehow likes Levi and Asmo, even though they aren't part of the Anti-Lucifer League

He is actually a pretty skilled writer, but is too shy to tell anyone

Chaotic Neutral

Secretly loves manga. All of Levi's old manga is stuffed somewhere in his room.

Is good at brewing tea, and has contrasting tastes in tea compared to Luci. Satan likes the more subtle and smooth tea flavors, and only drinks strongly flavored tea when his no sleep spells don't work. Meanwhile Luci loves strong tea 24/7

Asmo gave him skinny jeans once. Istg his feet nearly turned purple and he never wants to wear skinny jeans again.

Secretly very big on wearing hoodies. They're comfy and loose, and come in cute designs.

Secretly has a hoodie with cat ears, bought by Asmo and Belphie. Each of them had matching cat ear hoodies.... So cute

The pajama set that he wears (in the gif) was bought by Asmo.... In the animation, both of their hoodies show nearly half their chest, so we can assume that they probably bought similar-ish pajamas

Levi would sometimes be like "It's Kunikida Jr."

Istg it gets nearly all of the brothers hung from the ceiling when they hear that and start laughing so much

Has cat themed everything... Pajamas, coffee mugs, bookmarks, and secretly..... Even underwear sometimes

Asmodeus

I've been waiting for this for a while....

He is very good at drawing, and sometimes even designs his own clothing.

He went and designed a kimono for himself, honestly it was really into the pink and purple aesthetic

Thinks he and Satan are a good pair. I mean pink and green are one of the best color combos right???

He mostly raised baby Satan, and ordered most of his clothes. Satan secretly got his fondness of cats from him

Asmo likes bunnies, and Satan likes cats. They sometimes argue about which is better, and it always ends with "But we know mc is the best."

Sometimes asks Belphie to wear some of the clothes he buys, and also asks Beel too

He likes how well toned Beel's body is, and invites him to his photoshoots. I'll tell you that I'm sure that the other models would swoon when they saw Beel

Associates the song suki suki daisuki by Jun Togawa with terror bc of one of his late night stands *ahem* it's story time kids

He brought home a succubus late at night, and the song playing in the club was suki suki daisuki. He asked the succubus "What's your favorite song dearie?" The succubus answered you know what......

And then Asmo accidentally got trapped in the succubus' sort of realm or smth (similar to the Megumi's domain expansion in jjk)

Lucifer had to save him..... Asmo didn't bring home anyone for about a month or two.

Beel is the go-to shopping companion, he doesn't complain when carrying shopping bags but you need to feed him first tho

Once considered Luci a sugar daddy (idk he probably pays for his brother's expenses) bc he frequently pays for his shopping sprees

Hung from the ceiling. Mammon was already hanging there and he was like "Ara ara." (Mammon watched demon slayer when he was bored) and Asmo was like "You watch Highschool DXD too?"

Will tease the shit out of you but will help you calm down when you're done with his teasing

Anime character with similar energy as him - Akiko Yosano from bsd (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Chaotic good

Beelzebub

He gives loads of lawful good energy

His energy = serotonin blast from just hanging out with him

When he eats just enough, he will go to sleep quickly (he'd need to eat the same amount as all the food content of a grocery store to eat "just enough")

Puppy eyes from Beel are just so precious- I can't even breath just thinking about it-

It's frequent that Mammon takes him out to eat and pays for it most of the time (yes I am trying to tell everyone to not hate Mammon bc he is just a big bro with problems)

For any Kenji (bsd) and Mitsuri (kny) kinnies, he gives off so much aura that is similar to theirs

Eats a lot, wholesome, and cinnamon roll energy multiplied by three-

Whoever handles the bill would faint

Take them to an eat all you can buffet and you'd actually have to pay extra bc they'd eat so much

He tasted sakura mochi and loved it so much and ate lots and lots til eventually..... His hair turned pink and green

That one person to turn a racist into a guy that kind of cares for the race that they used to hate

Does not mind being teased about the time he got pink and green hair, it's cute anyways, and who would tease him??? (Y'know like teasing that seems like insulting somebody)

Belphie

I'm sorry but I have mixed feelings about this man

Yes this is that one scene where Beel saved over Levi's file in a game

Chaotic Neutral energy

When they meet a karen, it is high quality comedy. He'd talk back so much that that the karen would be running out of words

Sassy energy sometimes, in the words of my bestfriends, SLAYYYY QUEEN

Anime character with similar vibe - Tanaka-kun (Tanaka-kun is always listless)

Somehow gives off mysterious wholesome energy... Possibly from Beel and his telepathy

This is just a theory but, I think he and Beel's designs were made to be kind of opposite to each other

Just like Luci and Satan's designs are completely opposite

Belphie and Beel = Sun and moon energy that if you ship I will track you down to the depths of Devildom just to slam your face to the ground

He doesn't really like to wear thick clothing that makes him sweat a lot. He only wears warm clothes in the winter or fall, but rarely regularly

Appreciates the aesthetic of winter at night, it's chilly but you're warm under the blankets with Belphie while stargazing

I get why he'd want to kill us in the beginning. I mean like, he blamed humans and despised them for Lilith's death. He just wanted revenge

Master of shit talking other people

Sometime gives off Tsukishima (Haikyuu) energy....

So that's all I guess. I might edit this, but I'm unsure about that. Next post will probably be "Anime characters that give off similar energy as the obey me cast" Idk what to do with my life yet.