It’s time to be sad again after watching episode 6 of Oshi No Ko. Episode 6 takes an entirely different turn and focuses on Akane, one of the leads of the show Aqua is on. We barely see any of Aqua and Ruby, but it still manages to pack a punch. It takes a moment to remember that Aqua is still looking for Ai’s killer, but we’re slowly seeing everything that is wrong with the entertainment industry and getting a lot of insights.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In Episode 6?
In episode 6 of Oshi No Ko, we follow the members of the reality dating show that Aqua is on. Last week , we learned about the character Yuki and how she might be a bit of a deceiver and knows how to manipulate the viewer by acting a certain way on camera. Aqua can see clearly through her facade, but some of the other members and mainly the audience don’t see it at all. As we already know, Aqua sees everything because he’s actually a 30 something year old man in a 17 year old body (not that he is old, but he makes himself out to be). So, Aqua is quick to predict who will do well on the show and who will fail miserably. Aqua is close to one of the girls on the show—just platonically, of course. They discuss what’s happening on the show often and figure things out together. Although Mem Cho is considered a stupid person, and she herself admits so, she’s great at marketing and getting what she needs through her skills. Mem Cho and Aqua are quick to notice that Yuki is using her manipulation skills to getting what she needs. The audience eats it up, and soon enough, the show becomes about Yuki and one of the boys, Nobu. The other guy, Kengo, decides that he wants some screen time too, and begins a love triangle by exhibiting a false sense of jealousy toward the closeness Nobu and Yuki share. In the middle of all of this, Akane finds herself lost and unworthy.
Akane is the third member of the girls on the show. She’s smart and a hard worker, as we see her take notes at every step of the show. She goes to the gym to be fit, asks curious questions on set, and is a really nice person. On-screen, though, nobody can see this; she’s shy and doesn’t have the “star power” to be the center of attention. Akane aspires to be like Yuki so that she can do well for her agency and get her name out there for herself and the agency. Yuki is not mean as such; she appears to be a nice person to everybody, but she is determined to be the winner and shows no remorse for hurting other people on the show. To become the “main character,” she exaggerates a story about how she wanted to quit the show because she got teased at school for showing people the kind of guy she really likes. She is on a reality dating show; what else is going to happen? This triggers a chain reaction of viewers beginning to like her and keeping her relevant on the show. In reality, because of the contract, she can’t quit even if she wants to. Aqua, who was prejudiced against reality shows in his past life, now sees that it is not as fake as he expected and mostly depicts individuals as they are, making it the appeal of the show. He’s always learning new things and has an open mind because he’s so young and, in many ways, free. Mem Cho wants to direct the viewers of the show to her YouTube channel; that is her only ultimate goal, so even though she isn’t getting popular with the guys, she’s using the show’s social media platforms to create a buzz around herself and her channel.
Now, Akane is from a difficult agency, and the CEO picked her out of many girls to be on this show. But since Akane is doing badly on the show, the CEO yells at her manager for Akane’s limited screen time. If she doesn’t show up, the money doesn’t come in. Akane overhears this conversation and apologizes to her manager, but fortunately for her, her manager is kind enough to act as a shield for her. But Akane is not one to just walk away from a problem. She decides to work harder than she already is and do everything in her power to increase her time on the show, even if that means acting more flirtatious or behaving negatively towards other cast members. On the other hand, Ruby gets told off by Arima for tweeting the wrong things because of egosurfing. If, as a newbie, Ruby publicly badmouths a company, everyone related to that company would come across the tweet and essentially cancel her future brand endorsement. According to Arima, a lot of idols look up their own names when their shows are over. This could be very harmful to such young people.
This is what we see with Akane. Because of the words of the CEO, Akane starts checking the internet for comments. She’s not been mentioned at all, and she’s considered a nobody on the show. Some people are even talking about how she shouldn’t be there at all, and this begins to push Akane deeper into her bubble. She begins to get more stressed, barely eats any food, and only focuses on getting known on the show. Akane’s next move is to interfere with Yuki and Nobu’s relationship and try to “steal” Nobu from her because that’s what the director suggests her to do. Akane starts to to come under the public’s radar with that. But all she gets are negative remarks, and Akane doesn’t feel very good about what she’s doing. Still, she pushes on and accidentally cuts Yuki’s face with a jewel on her nail. Coincidentally, this jewel was placed by Yuki herself.
Is Yuki Actually Nice?
Yuki is quick to tell Akane that it’s alright, and she knows it was a mistake. She also mentions Akane’s hard work and how she sees it all. Akane tells Yuki how she wants to be like her, and that she doesn’t mean to hurt her. When there are no cameras around, Yuki tells Akane that she likes her too, and it’s all okay. But the damage has already been done. Yuki knows this better than anyone, so she specifically used a moment when there were no cameras to make Akane feel worse about herself and apologize for an accidental mistake. Since Yuki is the fan favorite, Akane is done for now, and she begins to face even more hate per episode. She tweets an apology, and this makes things worse because it’s like admitting that she had hurt Yuki on purpose.
She gets insulted in school too, and more importantly, her mother, who has never done anything bad, gets dragged through the mud too. The internet is a terrible place, and Akane becomes depressed from everything that is happening to her. Soon, people she “knew” before spoke up about how she was a terrible friend and also a flirtatious girl who’d been around many boys in school. Even the people who vouched for her before, seeing how hardworking she was, began to think she was faking the hard work so she could get some brownie points. They can’t see that she may have actually made a mistake and stop showing their support for her. This is the breaking point for Akane, who has completely stopped eating and decides to step out to get food during a typhoon. Finally, Akane decides to jump off a bridge and leave everything behind, but it is Aqua who saves her from jumping off a bridge to her death! He tells her he means no harm and holds her tight because she needs to be protected. Maybe Aqua will now work towards making Akane show her true kind self and change things for the better because the poor girl can’t quit the show at this point. Here’s hoping the next episode is more jolly.
