Welcome back to another Oshi No Ko recap! We are nearing the end of the season, so anything could happen. This show has really opened my eyes to the entertainment industry in Japan and manages to keep me watching with never-ending cliffhangers as we follow the story of twins Aqua and Ruby.
Speaking of Ruby, last week’s episode focused a lot on the idol group she has formed with actor Kana Arima and internet personality Mem-Cho (also called MEM). At the end of the episode, the girls were trying to figure out who would be the center of the idol group. There was a twist revealing that the former child actress, Kana, had a hidden singing ability that she hadn’t been honest about, even with herself. Let’s get into episode 10 of Oshi No Ko, “Pressure,” and see what the group thinks after that revelation.
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The episode opens up with Ruby and MEM introducing Kana as the group’s center. Sort of. Kana shuts the two down and instructs them to stop recording. Kana was serious in episode nine, “B Komachi,” when she said she didn’t want to be the group leader. While Ruby and MEM see great value in Kana’s abilities, Kana doesn’t want to be pressured into that position by them.
MEM and Ruby reveal to Kana that the two had seen Kana’s old music videos and agreed she would make a good center. However, Kana considers part of her past a failure because it wasn’t profitable for those involved. Kana gets upset, and Ruby promises not to bring it up again on the condition that Kana listens to MEM and Ruby sing.
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Listening to the terrible singing from the other two convinces Kana to give in and take on the role of the group’s center. She’s distraught with the outcome, but her strong sense of responsibility forces her to do it. Kana scolds the two for being such bad singers despite wanting to be idols desperately. Honestly, the scolding is a bit deserved.
Kana gets ready to leave practice for the day, feeling upset with how she can never say “no” to people and hides her feelings. Despite her best effort to refuse the lead role, she feels completely stuck with it. Before anyone leaves, Miyako comes in with someone to help the group prepare for their big performance at the festival.
That’s right, Miyako brought on none other than Pieyon! I bet you thought you’d seen the last of that mysterious muscle man with a chicken mask in episode five, “Reality Dating Show,” but no. It is starting to look like he will be a recurring character, which is relieving considering how desperately this show needed comedic relief during the dating show arc.
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Since MEM wasn’t part of B Komachi in Pieyon’s last appearance, this is her first time meeting him. Turns out MEM is a huge Pieyon fan and knows he was a choreographer for idol groups in the past. MEM asks Pieyon for his professional opinion on their routine, and he expresses that the group needs serious work.
They start with runs before practicing their sets three times in a row. On top of that, Pieyon is having them do serious planning for their performance and mapping out their steps. While Ruby and MEM go over the details after several days of practice, Pieyon goes to have a heart-to-heart with Kana. Did I mention he is doing all this with the mask still on and using a silly voice? Yeah, it makes the heart-to-heart feel a bit silly, but in a fun way.
During said heart-to-heart, Pieyon questions why Kana is against being the center despite her superior abilities. Kana shares that her issue is being the face of the group. She seems to be haunted by the past projects she’s been involved with that haven’t done as well. Somehow Pieyon turns Kana’s mood around when he compliments her work ethic and talks about all the little things he has noticed about her.
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Kana asks Pieyon if he is one of her fans, to which he quickly says yes. The two start to bond over a shared hate for bell peppers, which Kana was forced to eat when she had to do adverts to promote healthy eating. Charming music starts to play, and the mood is nice. Suddenly, I’m somehow shipping Kana with the random muscle man wearing a chicken mask.
At first, I thought I was going crazy, but then Kana says she could fall for Pieyon. It all seems a little too coincidental, but okay. Kana’s internal dialogue says she might go for Pieyon instead of Aqua. Cool.
Then we overhear a conversation between Ruby and MEM about how Pieyon isn’t that buff and how he is about Aqua’s size. Uh-oh.
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The next day they are all four practicings again. During a break, Kana starts talking badly about Aqua with MEM. Kana goes on about how Aqua never uses honorifics when talking to her and lists his many other flaws. MEM listens but can’t help but think Kana hasn’t been using honorifics with her, either. Kana also talks about what a letdown it is that Aqua ended up being so awful when she had been thinking about him since their meeting in episode one, “Mother and Children.“
When they return to practicing, we see that Aqua is, in fact, the one in the Pieyon mask and is sharing videos of the practice with the actual Pieyon. Actual Pieyon is on vacation, and Aqua, who has been established to be a great method actor, has been playing Pieyon this entire time. Over a call, Pieyon expresses how impressed he is that no one suspected Aqua of being a fake. I’m impressed that it took me as long as it did; this show always surprises me.
The day before their debut performance, the three girls spend the night together at Ruby’s home, Strawberry Production’s office. While MEM is fast asleep, Ruby is too excited and keeps Kana up with excited chatter. Kana doesn’t get why Ruby is so excited, which causes Ruby to open up.
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Ruby talks about a time when she was confined to a room and thought she’d die without having experiences like the ones she is having now. She refers to her life as Sarina, but Kana doesn’t know this. But after becoming an idol-obsessed fan girl, every day was a new adventure. This explains why Ruby is so happy to be part of this.
While reminiscing, Ruby talks about her first love. Via a flashback, we discovered she was talking about her cancer doctor when she was Sarina. Dr. Gouro. If you’re keeping up, he died and was reborn as Aqua, Ruby’s twin brother. Yeesh, this is getting to be a bit too complicated. Ruby doesn’t know about Aqua’s identity in his past life, just that he was also reincarnated with memories.
With that, Ruby falls asleep, leaving Kana alone with her thoughts. Kana’s past failures keep her up, and she is convinced no one supports her. Since she can’t sleep, Kana heads downstairs and accidentally discovers Aqua taking off his Pieyon costume. Kana doesn’t say anything about this discovery, but we can tell by the look on her face that she is upset. Aqua overlooks Kana.
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The next day is the big performance, and the spirits are high. Except for Kana, who couldn’t sleep after discovering the truth about Aqua pretending to be Pieyon.
The group heads to a changing room that is packed full of idols. Everyone except the experienced head of Strawberry Productions, Miyako, is pretty shocked to see that this is what changing rooms are like for underground idols at these kinds of festivals. Hundreds of idols and their support staff get crammed into one place to do makeup and prepare for their performances.
Kana is nervous thinking about the pressure she is under. But she is determined to be the leader, for Ruby and MEM’s sake. Ruby appears and expresses how nervous she is to Kana. Kana shares that the most nerve-wracking thing isn’t going on stage but the fact that it is a shared stage. We learn that Kana isn’t just afraid of not being profitable but ruining this for Ruby and MEM. Kana wants to shield Ruby from the harsh realities of the entertainment world.
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The scene is very dynamic, with great music, glimpses of flashbacks and shots that bounce between Kana and Ruby. Ruby motivates Kana to try even if they might fail because being a rookie idol comes with lots of failures. And after a pep talk, they are ready to go! Everyone gets changed, and the show ends right before we see their debut performance.
Dang, these cliffhangers, but man, do I love them.
I’m so glad those motivating words came from Ruby and not Aqua. Since this show is centering an idol group, it is great to see the strength these girls can get from one another instead of focusing on the ever-growing love triangle surrounding Aqua.
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So, Kana had a crush on Aqua, but then Aqua turned out to be a bit of a manipulator who was using Kana. Since he was so awful, Kana stopped falling for his tricks and fell in love with Pieyon in this episode. Except it wasn’t Pieyon, but Aqua who was acting as Pieyon because Aqua knew that Kana was mad. Aqua is willing to act like a different person to manipulate Kana into being a good idol in his twin sister’s group, a new version of his dead mother’s group.
Aqua also seems to genuinely like Kana; however, he is going out with Akane so that he can use Akane to learn info on Ai’s death. Ai is the mother of Ruby and Aqua. Aqua also had a crush on Ai in his past life when he was a cancer doctor, Dr. Gouro. He was also Ai’s doctor when she was pregnant with Aqua(Gouro) and Ruby. Before he was Ai’s doctor, he was Ruby’s doctor, but this was when Ruby was Sarina. And Sarina continues to have a crush on Gouro, who is now her twin brother. But she doesn’t know Gouro died and became her twin brother, but she knows that her twin brother got reincarnated.
Wow, are we all caught up on this insane love triangle yet? Don’t get too comfortable because there are probably even more turns to come.
Is there any hope for these girls that are all hopelessly in love with Aqua? Will B Kamochi’s debut go off without a hitch, or will we see some of those rookie failures?
Let us know your predictions in the comments down below. Don’t forget to check out the rest of Oshi No Ko, streaming on HIDIVE. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out our other Oshi No Ko recaps.
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