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Spoilers ahead for the Oshi No Ko pilot
The pilot ofOshi No Kowas anabsolutely wild ridefrom start to finish. The new show from the creator of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War absolutely surpassed everyone’s expectations and has already hit #1 on MyAnimeList. The pilot was a wild, genre-shifting ride covering everything from reincarnation to the secret lives of idols, but the real shocker came in the final minutes with its climactic end.
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The best way to enjoy Oshi No Ko is completely devoid of spoilers, so avert your gaze if you haven’t already seen it (though if you saw the title, it’s probably already too late for you). If you have, though, and you’re seeking a little clarity on what exactly happened to Ai, mother of Aqua and Ruby, I’ve got you covered.
How Did Ai Die?
Ai Hoshino was atalented idoland burgeoning movie star, in addition to being themotherof Aquamarine and Ruby. She was just 20 years old when, on the morning of her very first dome show, she answered her apartment’s door. She believed the president of her agency and his wife were the ones ringing the bell, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case; instead, it turned out to bea stalker, the same man who had killed Gorou Amemiya a few years prior.
The stalker, a fan namedRyosuke,knew about Ai’s twins and was furious that she had engaged in a relationship with a man and gotten pregnant. He considered it a betrayal to her fans. He accused her of lying to them, claiming she never loved them to begin with. Ryosukestabs Aiin the stomach with a knife. As she begins to bleed out, Ai tells him that she always wanted to love her fans. She believed that if she lied enough, one day, her lies would become true; even now, shewanted to love himdespite the fact that he had just given her a fatal wound. Ryosuke burst into tears and fled the scene of the crime. It’s revealed after Ai’s death that he was admitted to the hospital for a suicide attempt shortly after the incident. He ended up succumbing to his wounds shortly after, so the case is officially considered closed.
Who Killed Ai?
On the surface, this seems like an easy question to answer: Ai was murdered by her stalker, Ryosuke. After all, we see him stab her in the stomach. The whole thing plays out on screen, but there ismore going onbehind the scenes, as Aqua soon realizes. Someone had to tell Ryosuke where Ai and her children lived. The three had just moved to abrand-new apartment; he couldn’t have found out any other way.
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Aqua goes down the list of everyone who knows their address mentally. It wouldn’t have served the president to reveal her location — Ai was well on her way to stardom, and as the head of the agency, he was losing out on a ton of money now that Ai was dead. The other members of her idol group were unlikely candidates, too. Aqua comes to the realization that only one person would have known both the new apartment’s address and the location of the hospital Ai was first admitted to –His birth father. Aqua swearsrevengeon his father then and there, promising to learn his identity and kill the man himself.
The pilot episode of Oshi No Ko ends with Aqua and Ruby heading off to school. They’re both 16, the same age their mother was at the beginning of the series — and still, Aqua is looking for revenge. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
