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A dark horse this Spring anime season is the anime adaption of the original manga Oshi no Ko, created by Kaguya-sama Love is War author Aka Akasaka alongside illustrator Mengo Yokoyari. It is of no surprise that a project as layered and well-made as Oshi no Ko would have an opening theme song that perfectly encapsulates its core themes through sound and lyric, and the genius of YOASOBI is something many anime fans have experienced before.

However, after the work that went into the Oshi no Ko opening theme, "IDOL", whoever didn't know them before surely knows them now. The brilliance of the series' opening sequence comes from the marriage of YOASOBI's great understanding of Oshi no Ko as a series – here's how.

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Plot and Background

Oshi no Ko Ai Hoshino Manga

Gorо̄ Amemiya was a gynaecologist and huge fan of the up-and-coming teenage idol sensation, Hoshino Ai. His professionalism is tested when Ai walks into his countryside clinic a few months pregnant, looking to give birth to her child in secret. Unfortunately, on the night before Ai was due, Gorо̄ was murdered by one of her stalker fans and found himself reincarnated as none other than Aquamarine Hoshino – one of a pair of twins born to the celebrity that day. As Aqua, Gorо̄ maintains his memories from his previous life, much like his fraternal sister Ruby, who unbeknownst to him, happens to be the reincarnation one of Gorо̄'s patients from his past life. Years later, the same fan who killed Gorо̄ manages to track down Ai's address and murders her in front of the young Aqua, who then comes to the conclusion that given the tightness of the seal on information regarding Ai Hoshino, the only way the fan could have found their home address is if he was tipped off by someone she knew very well: their father. Fuelled by a desire for revenge, Aqua makes it his life mission to track down the person responsible for the death of Ai Hoshino, and kill him by his own hand.

Oshi no Ko tackles various dark themes such as the truths and lies of the entertainment industry, the societal expectations placed on those who find themselves in a moment of celebrity; particularly those who are considered "superstars", the various lies that performers uphold in order to become artists and icons of immense status. Ai's story, especially the violent death at the hands of an entitled fan is horrific but not entirely unheard of, and such violent behaviour from overzealous self-dubbed "super fans"; "stans"; "sasaengs" has rapidly been enhanced by today's social media-driven, content-based lifestyle which sees fans engage their favorite personalities through (oftentimes) toxic, obsessive parasocial relationships. In an interview with Anime News Network, series author Aka Akasaka explained that the series was inspired by a desire to bring to light the kind of suffering and exploitation faced by young talent in the entertainment industry.

"LUV"

oshi no ko episode 1

The wordplay used in Ai Hoshino's name is particularly important, and it connects to YOASOBI's song on various levels. "Hoshino", is written 星野, with the kanji for "star" followed by another character that elicits the meaning of "field". The consequence is some kind of plane filled with stars. Her first name, Ai アイ, is written in katakana, one of the basic Japanese writing systems that is often used when transliterating foreign words, for emphasis and various other reasons. Generally, "Ai", written 愛, refers to "love", however, it describes an intensity and pureness of love, perhaps better explained as love's most abstract verbal expression.

Anyway, there are many ways to understand the katakana used to write Ai's name, one of which is the intention of emphasizing (therefore intensifying) the love that she embodies; however, what's also likely is that her name comes directly from the first two kana of the loanword "idol", written in katakana like so: アイドル. In this way, Ai's mistrust of her own understanding and ability to love; her lack of an experience that she can categorize as love, is built into her name – because it isn't "real 'love'". In the anime version of the song, the last few lines go: "With that smile, telling people 'I love you'; you captivate everyone; even if those eyes, those words, are false; they make up a perfect love ('Ai')", blurring the line between love and Ai further.

Love and Lies

Atypical Anime Girls That Subvert Gender Stereotyping Ai Oshi No Ko

Muteki no egao de arasu media

Shiritai sono himitsu misuteriasu

Nuketeru toko sae kanojo no eria

Kanpeki de usotsuki na kimi wa

Tensai-teki na aidoru sama

- YOASOBI's "IDOL"

The opening theme to Oshi no Ko, YOASOBI's "Idol" is layered with context regarding what being an idol means and is commentary on the harshness of the industry for those who dare enter it, which makes it on-point regarding the thematic content of the series and the world that it depicts. The catchy opening rap by YOASOBI's Ikura is punchy and wastes no time getting to the point – "The invincible smile tearing up the media; you want to know her secrets, she's mysterious; even what she lacks ends up in her area; a perfect liar, you are – a genius-level idol", but it is followed by a sinister-sounding chorus chanting "You're my saviour, you're my saving grace" before Ikura continues with her verse, which follows a back and forth kind of format with rapid-fire questions from an unknown narrator(s) directed at the genius idol. "What did you eat today?"; "What is your favourite book?"; "If you're going out today [to play] today, where are you going?". These questions are insistent and unending; however, as the song explains, her ability to dodge whatever question she is asked and maintain her air of mystery is a characteristic that makes her one of the best – that elusiveness is a testament to one's mastery of the craft that is being an idol.

The song cuts its high-tempo instrumental briefly, replacing it with the chanting of fans as if at a concert. Ikura, singing as Ai, explains; "I don't know what it means to love someone. I can't tell lies from the truth, and yet people continue to fall for my words". This quiet moment in the song is the most introspective for a reason: it is the biggest takeaway from the piece of media that inspired these specific lyrics in the first place: 45510, the Oshi no Ko short story written by series author Aka Akasaka. The title is the password to Ai's cellphone, and the story of 45510 delves into the archives of a defunct social media platform where the last remaining instance of a particular Ai Hoshino livestream can be found. The story is told from the perspective of a former member of the idol group Ai was once part of, B-Komachi, and details her viewing of this piece of lost footage of the genius idol. The narrator grapples with complicated feelings towards Ai, and as the livestream continues, there are certain moments the narrator can identify as Ai's neat execution of her craft, and others in which Ai's mask began to crack.

SOS

Oshi no Ko

The main thing this narrator emphasizes is the aloofness and unending mystery that served as the main selling point of the idol Ai Hoshino. Despite having worked closely together with Ai, she never got close enough to know Ai as a person, only as the unreachable genius idol. A major theme in Oshi no Ko is the entertainment industry from which the main product sold is the series of well-maintained lies that is a celebrity. The break in the song, in which the high-tempo production is switched out for the chants of fans at a show is particularly fascinating when it comes to the primacy of love as a motif when it comes to the characterization of Ai and the entire act of being an idol, and this is because YOASOBI's lyrics in this part, like with various others in the song, is a direct quote of Ai's responses to fan comments coming into her livestream in the events of 45510. The chants themselves are a counter of the sinister choral chants heard right after the opening rap – the immense pressure of fandom on an idol is exemplified in those sinister chants of "you're my saving grace"; but in the break, the chants are the positive vocal expressions of fans' love for their fave – their love for Ai.

What solidifies the idea of these sinister chants as the evidence of a level of cognitive dissonance in the song both sonically and lyrically is that the anime version of IDOL has an extended run of the chants from before the first sung version to drive home the dark undercurrent of the song; of the industry; of fan culture. Ai's grappling with the difficulties of maintaining "the lie" and being able to tell it apart from truth, and know her own truth eat away at her, and she struggles to believe that her own feelings are truly her own. She would be devastated to learn that she were in fact lying after telling someone she loved them, yet the only way she knows how to express love is through her craft – through the meticulous construction of the personality that is the star entertainer Ai Hoshino. Ai doesn't know who she is, doesn't trust her own perspective but desperately seeks to express this love in a way that isn't fake; and having her children gave her the ability to be able to be sure of her own love, even as life continued to seep out of her.

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