You know, I can never get too comfortable with Oshi no Ko. On balance I’d rather barely follow shows that veer between extremes than ones that are mediocre all the time. But the flipside of that is that there’s a certain comfort factor in the latter – I know it’s never going to really piss me off. OnK is a series that pisses me off a lot, and this mini-arc (but especially this episode) certainly qualifies. At its best this series can be almost exceptional, and even at its worst at least its usually interesting. But boy, can it be annoying.

I think the issue really comes down to the yawning disconnect between Akasaka’s worldview and my own. He sees what went on here as great, and it just makes me want to puke. And the fact is, he does a very good job of capturing the sheer awfulness of the awful things he fetishizes, like Japanese TV series such as the one featured here. The truth is the overwhelming majority of “unscripted” Japanese programming – and there’s a shit-ton – really is this unbelievably bad. The thing is, my impression is that Akasaka knows the awful things are awful, and he loves them anyway.

As for Ruby, I don’t know where he’s going with her. Are we supposed to find her heroic or admirable because she’s so good at manipulating people? I’m not absolutely confident the answer is yes but that’s the direction I’m leaning at the moment. It’s not as if Aqua isn’t a master manipulator too, but there seems to be a qualitative difference between the two of them on this front. There are places Aqua wouldn’t go, clearly, but you get the sense Ruby has no such guardrails – any means would be justified by the ends she’s pursuing. That  would be one thing if the writing was using her as the villain, but I think it’s the opposite that’s happening here.

Meiya, the pro cosplayer she drafts into the TV debacle, is really a pawn in this more or less. I don’t think Ruby knew that Urushibara was going to conduct that hideous interview or anything – that was just a lucky break from her perspective. From then on Meiya is just another tool to be weaponized, which Ruby is very good at. Everyone else is caught in the middle, and Aqua gives the vibe of someone watching a slow-motion traffic accident at the “apology” broadcast. And as for that whole ending with the cosplay, what even was that? What are we supposed to have taken away from it?

I get the idea we’re supposed to have felt some sympathy for Urushibara, which I certainly don’t. This is another Akasaka-ism – he just can’t bring himself to condemn anybody if there’s a connection with something he’s a fanboy of. Urushibara is a disgusting pig of a man and really, we didn’t need to go any deeper than that with him. All the rest of it is unnecessary and dilutes the original message, because Akasaka just can’t stop himself from going past the finish line and crashing into the grandstands beyond. If I take any solace here it’s that this storyline, at least, appears to have been a brief one. But Ruby being the prime mover doesn’t seem like it’s going away, and that may prove to be a lot to take.

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