penguinkyun

[penguinkyun]

What had terrified me was Ai. She'd become something otherworldly and inhuman that night, an unstoppable force of nature that swept up everything in her wake. She was a star, brighter than any of the rest of us, burning so brilliantly that she eclipsed everything else in her path. I watched her, paralyzed, as she captivated the hearts of the entire stadium and I was stricken by the overwhelming realization that once again, I would never measure up. No matter how hard I practiced, no matter how much I sacrificed, I would never be able to reach that same height she had. Oh, I had thought. So that's what true talent looks like. ~~~ The former B-Komachi member known as Kyun mulls on her past and a possible path to her future, only for an unexpected encounter to open a door for her she had long since sealed off. Canon divergence.

i've been threatening to do it for months. and now it's happened. Chapter 1 of my first Oshi no Ko fic is now live on AO3!

#!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #viewpoint b #does this count as kyunposting #READ THIS EVERYONE ITS SO GOOD

[penguinkyun]

#hoshino ai #onk official art

[penguinkyun]

[Important Update 10/05/2024]

TLDR: Please help a trans disabled venezuelan person of color help their father appeal for an USA parole so the economic crisis doesn't eat their asses alive

[alt title: Maduro bastardo vas a caer imbécil]

I speak from complete honesty when I say that I wish I didn't have to come to this, but the situation here due to the economic crisis seems to just get worse each day, and we strongly fear that regardless of the outcome of either country's elections around the corner, the possibility to leave to the USA and work for a better situation than here will be cutted entirely from our possibilities. This week I spoke longly with my father and we got to the conclusion of saving and helping as much as everyone can to help him appeal for a parole, stay with trusted relatives in Miami, and work to help things over here a little better.

I'm currently working trying to keep things at bay as much as possible. But my relatives at Miami estimate that in order for my father to emigrate safely we'll need At least 8 Thousand, not to mention all the external spends in basic services, food, and others in the meantime we save as much as possible to help him move in the nearest future before the elections of either country

Because of this. Along with any donations anyone wishes to make, I'm currently offering semi-traditional doodles in this rendering style at $30

You have no idea how much anyone helps by even simply sharing this post as much as possible, thinking on the future has been really exhausting and I'm open to working for anything in order to disperse my mind. I hope I explained myself as best as I could, if anyone has any doubts then please don't doubt in contacting me through DMs or Ask prefferible to avoid bot flagging.

PPAL

KO-FI

( $30 / $10000 )

(Original post before date under readmore)

---------------------------------------

Well hey there! I used to be ghonrenoki but either the growt in traction or the high amount of ask and messages flagged my past blog as a robot :^)

I'm a venezuelan disabled trans artist still in urgent financial help over here. I don't want to repeat myself of be too personal, but essentially our car's wheels broke and we now have a new urgent thing to assist, so that's why after consulting friends and clients I elevated a little the goal and comm prices.

If you have the chance, please consider making a donation, buying a commission, or just helping me by rebloging this post is more than enough! <3

( $150 / $2000 )

[penguinkyun]

List of Palestinian Evacuation And Support Fundraisers

Last Update: 05/25/2024

All fundraisers have been looked into by me or vetted by others. If anyone notices issues in validity with any of the fundraisers listed please let me know. Funding updates daily!

Fadi Al-Sharif and family ($25,227/$62,500 goal)

Hayam Taha and family (€16,809/€30,000 goal)

Deyaa and family (€17,705/€30,000 goal)

Deyaa reached the initial evacuation fee for his family and they have extended the goal to pay to support themselves after they evacuate.

Fatima Alshanti (kr21,863 SEK/kr150,000 goal)

Shahed Ghazi and family ($22,208 CAD/$94,838 goal)

Little Yusuf and family (€25,802/€85,000 goal)

Sara & Huda Hajjaj and family ($9,281/$25,000 goal)

Mohammed JH Shamia's family (kr49,084 SEK/kr250,000 goal)

Maram Ahmed and family (€9,150/€30,000 goal)

Hamza Almofty and family ($7,021/$35,000 goal)

Mahmoud Jomaa (€2,669/€10,000 goal)

Dr. Mohammed Shaga ($2,605/$20,000 goal)

Abdulrahman Alshanti and family (kr148,010 SEK/kr350,000 goal)

Besan Almabhouh's family (€8,556/€25,000 goal)

Said Tanani and brothers (€33,759/€50,000 goal)

Donia Tanani and family (€76,062/€100,000 goal)

Hussein Shamiya, his pregnant wife, and son ($19,211/$40,000 goal)

Mohammed Shamia and family ($31,570/$35,000 goal)

Amro Bakr & kids Bakir and Tala (€15,119/€28,000 goal)

Almadhoun family ($26,675/$80,000 goal)

Child Mohammed and family (€20,239/€30,000 goal)

Sana'a and family (£27,691/£70,000 goal)

Noha Ayyad and family ($32,826/$95,160 goal)

Maryam Ayyad and family ($1,015/$15,000 goal) - Maryam is related to Noha listed above, who is managing her fundraiser.

Hamza Sameer and family ($6,773/$55,000 goal)

Hamza is related to Noha, he is her uncle’s son.

Nazmi Mwafi and family ($6,753/65,000 goal)

Ibrahim Almofty and family ($7,782/$40,000 goal)

Hamdi Hejazi and family ($25,312/$25,000 goal) GOAL COMPLETE!!!

Mohammed Ali and family ($10,505/$25,000 goal)

Heba and family (€60,860/€80,000 goal)

Mohammed Abuhasanein and family (kr10,817 SEK/kr 350,000 goal)

Rawan and Yemna (kr50,542 SEK/kr319,315 goal)

Laila Auda (€7,318/€35,000 goal)

Ola Madi (€2,974/€40,000 goal)

Tawfik Satoom and family ($6,367/$45,000 goal)

Laila Abd El Bari, her husband, and unborn baby Sham (€7,150/€25,000 goal)

Abdullah Mohammed and family ($7,447/$47,000 goal)

Ruba Abushaban and family (€12,891/€50,000 goal)

Hala, her husband, and their daughter ($7,272 CAD/$50,000 goal)

Hoda and Abdul Rahman ($2,669/$18,000 goal)

Al Maghari family (£4,864/£74,000 goal)

Arwa Abudawaba and family (kr241,966 NOK/kr500,000 goal)

Hani Alhajjar’s family (€14,300/€50,000 goal)

Ouda family ($19,789 CAD/$50,000 goal)

Rawan Ahmed and family ($14,795/$40,000 goal)

Dr. Wael Eldahdouh's family (€5,638/€110,000 goal)

Abdullah Lulu and family ($8,000/18,000 goal)

Lara, Abdalla, and family (€11,630/€50,000 goal)

Firas Salem and family (€17,217/€65,000 goal)

Amal Abu Shammala's family (€46,170/€47,000 goal)

Dr. Mohammed Alshaer and family (€5,675/€18,000 goal)

Roqaya Al-Hayek and Mohammad Jamal Al-Hayek (€14,769/€25,000 goal)

Haya and family (€6,471/€60,000 goal)

Mohammed Dahdooh and family (£46,055/£65,000 goal)

INITIAL GOAL COMPLETE!!! Mohammed is now raising money for his family to support themselves once they evacuate.

Ahmad Iyd and family (£6,146/£150,000 goal)

Renad and family (£1,810/£25,000 goal)

Mohammed Aljbour and family (€4,932/€25,000 goal)

Sarah's mother (€5,951/€15,000 goal)

Sarah reached her initial goal to evacuate her mother and has raised the goal to provide support for she and her family once they are in Egypt.

Dr. Hasan Adwan and family (€5,058/€98,000 goal)

Marah Atallah and family ($1,069/$27,000 goal)

Dr. Nasrallah Almassri ($8,798/$30,000 goal)

Afnan Hasaballah (€5,775/€20,000 goal)

Muhammad Al-Thalateeni and family (€7,530/€20,000 goal)

Al-Zaeem family ($6,968/$50,000 goal)

Mahmoud Al Tibi and family (€9,076/€60,000 goal)

Almoghrabi family (€5,404/€25,000 goal)

Mohammad's family (€8,925/€30,000 goal)

Aziz and his mother ($3,008/$50,000 goal)

Mohammed, his wife, and their newborn son ($991/$50,000 goal!!!)

Tala, her aunt, and their family (€18,229/€50,000 goal)

Ala Osama ($130/$50,000 goal!!!)

Aesha Balaha and family ($1,261/$10,000 goal)

Farah and family (€2,156/€35,000 goal)

Zinh Dahdooh ($5,433/$40,000 goal)

Rana and family (€7,875/€30,000 goal)

Al-Alami family ($3,078 CAD/$100,000 goal)

Khaled and family ($118/$15,000!!!)

Tamer Alnoaizy and family (€3,642/€20,000 goal)

Ahmed Dawoud and family ($2,300/$87,000 goal)

Omar and family (€4,213/€20,000 goal)

Haytham and family ($1,107 CAD/$70,000 goal)

Hamdi and family ($434 CAD/$62,000 goal!!!)

Mahmoud & Rawan (€944/€15,000 goal!!!)

Hashem, Samar, and baby Omar (€355/€45,000 goal!!!)

Aseel Maher and family (€2,080/€30,000 goal)

Mayada Jihad and family (€2,155/€30,000 goal)

Amal, her children, and her unborn baby ($2,266/$15,000 goal!!!) URGENT! 15 DAYS TO COMPLETE!!!

Margaret, Sara, and Maxine's friend and her family (£37,998/£50,000 goal)

Tahani Shorbajee and family ($3,503/$50,000 goal)

Baby Youssef and family (€5,654/€50,000 goal)

Iman Eyad and family (£1,670/£60,000 goal)

Mohammed & Hamza Hilles and family (€719/€30,000 goal!!!)

Bilal Salah and family (€21,803/€70,000 goal)

Rabah Dawoud and family ($46,020/$70,000 goal)

[penguinkyun]

Thank you so much to everyone who donated and helped in my campaign. Today was scary with the bombing close to my family's tent. 💔

€5720 raised of €55,000 goal

Verified by : @communistchilchuck and @el-shab-hussein

Please help my family to survive and leave for Egypt, after losing their home and everything they owned. They really need your help now.

Please donate!

Please help !

Thanks to all who have and will help my family. With your support, we can give them the help they need.🙏🏻

[penguinkyun]

【推しの子】 ✶ OSHI NO KO SEASON 2 ⇝ 2024年7月3日

#oshi no ko #gif #flash warning

[penguinkyun]

Oshi no Ko season 2 - PV

#AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #the second gif ko's me #oshi no ko #gif

[penguinkyun]

OSHI NO KO SEASON 2: WILL BE RELEASED ON JULY 3RD

#augahaugag i cackled when i saw this #oshi no ko #arima kana #himekawa taiki #gif

[penguinkyun]

New Key Visual for Oshi No Ko Season 2! Broadcast begins on July 3rd of this year!

#AAAAAAA IM SO EXCITED #oshi no ko #key visual #onk official art #oshi no ko official art #described

[penguinkyun]

"I won't lose to her!"

Oshi no Ko Season 2 broadcast begins on July 3rd!

#JULY 3RDDDDD

[penguinkyun]

hey, don't cry. onk 150, okay?

bonus:

#SCREAM. AQRB FOUND DEAD IN TOKYO LEAD SUSPECT HOSHINO AQUA #oshi no ko manga spoilers #this is a manga edit

[penguinkyun]

Oshi no Ko 150: Mistranslation or Miscommunication?

Something I was surprised to see in the aftermath of OnK 150 were accusations from the English fanbase that the chapter had been mistranslated or that the content of it had been misrepresented somehow. I fully admit that I was extremely skeptical of this assertion when I first saw it crop up given but MangaPlus's translations do have an unfortunate habit of flubbing minor details in places that do lead to pretty major cascading errors with the English script. It's possible it could have happened, especially in a chapter operating on dream logic as this one does, so I decided to take a look at the JP text myself and see if this was the case. And what I took away was… no, the English translation is more or less fine. A bit stiff but nothing has been lost or changed from the original text. But since there seems to be a lot of misinfo on this topic going around and I have nothing better to do on a Friday morning I guess, I thought I'd do my best to clear some of it up.

First of all: credentials, I guess? I'm the translator of 45510 and Viewpoint B and I was also part of the team working on Spica, The First Star where I contributed translation efforts as well. Basically I just want to assure folks that I'm not pulling this stuff out of my ass lol

Also apologies that some of these caps from the manga are fucking shmeared with Vaseline, tracking down the JP raws in decent quality was a fucking nightmare this time around for some reason. Anyway!

Black Eyes

The first major point of confusion seems to surround a line from Gorou at the start of page seven, while warning Aqua off from 'Sarina'.

「���の目が黒い内はさりなちゃんに手ぇ出させねえ からな？」

In initial TLs, this line was translated literally and rendered as "You're not allowed to touch Sarina while your eyes are black!" which immediately caused a flurry of speculation among fans that this was a lore drop, meant to indicate that Aqua was 'not allowed' to be in a relationship with Ruby so long as he had his black hoshigans on - and thus, pursuing a relationship with her would restore them to white. When this line was rendered as "I won't let you make a move on Sarina-chan for as long as I live!" in the official TL, a lot of people assumed this was a mistake or an active omission on the part of MangaPlus. I regret to inform everyone that there was a mistranslation here… but uh, it wasn't MangaPlus!

First of all, Gorou is referring to his own eyes, not Aqua's - and furthermore, he's actually using a euphemistic idiom in the vein of 'over my dead body' or 'when hell freezes over'. There is a bit of missing subtext here in that Gorou is specifically expressing a sort of paternalistic expression and the obvious visual pun of Aqua's black hoshigans but MangaPlus's line gets at what Gorou is actually saying here. So no, unless Akasaka is playing a Ryukishi07 Umineko tier wordplay foreshadowing trick on us, I think we can take this at face value as just a brief gag.

'Good Enough'?

Another point of contention from this same page is a seemingly minor note of potential ambiguity with regards to Aqua's feelings for Ruby. When discussing their relationship at Gorou's prompting, Aqua states that Ruby is 'his precious little sister' with the following phrasing:

「世界でたった一人の大切な妹。それだけで良い。」

MangaPlus renders the 「それだけで良い。」 part of this line as "That's all that matters". Pretty much since the moment this chapter dropped, I've seen people insist that this is a mistranslation and that initial pre-official TLs of "That's good enough for me" are more accurate - that there is some sense of 'settling' or resignation on Aqua's part, that he does want to be with Ruby but he'll settle for being her brother and that the official TL erases this nuance.

My take on this is… eh. That's kind of a stretch.

Obviously, context is everything but if that sense of 'settling for good enough' is what Akasaka was wanting to convey, 「それで十分だ。」 feels off to me - I would say that 「それで十分だ。」 would be a much more natural choice of words and in fact, we already have at least once instance of this phrasing being used in OnK to express a similar sentiment and being rendered similarly in official TLs as "That by itself is enough."

When it comes to 「それだけで良い。」, "that's good enough" is a perfectly fine TL for it… but so is "that's all that matters", honestly! Depending on context, anything from "That's all there is to it", "That's plenty by itself", "That's all I want" or even "Just that is enough" are all perfectly fine ways to render this idea in English and I don't think the official TL is missing any nuance not suggested by the art. If I can be frank, this attachment to the 'good enough' phrasing in the English seems to come from this being the wording that was initially used by leakers and that it is just slightly more favorable to Ruby in terms of potential to be an endgame heroine.

The Japanese text is just as favorable or unfavorable to Ruby as the official TL is and any ambiguities in that regard exist in both versions of the text. Do with that as you will.

Tensing Up

This is moreso something I've see on Twitter as opposed to the sub but I thought it was worth addressing: when discussing Aqua's supposed feelings for Kana, Gorou phrases it as such:

「星野アクアとして、思春期らしい年相応の恋愛感情を抱えていた。」

MangaPlus translates this as "As Aqua Hoshino, you have romantic feelings that are appropriate to your age as an adolescent." This is pretty much exactly as he phrases things in Japanese (i.e, he specifically says 恋愛感情 renai kanjou, romantic feelings not just vaguely defined 'love'), but the point of contention sees to be whether this is still the case and that Gorou was specifically talking in the past tense about something that is no longer the case.

This is actually the opposite of what Gorou is saying here: in the part of the sentence that refers to Aqua having these feelings, Gorou uses the phrasing of 抱えていた, which indicates that this state or action is present tense and ongoing.

If I can speculate, this insistence on past tense phrasing seems to come from the fact that feeding Gorou's original line into MTLs such as Google Translate or DeepL returns this past tense phrasing… oops lol.

Bits and Bobs

Just some smaller bits of confusion I've seen floating around that didn't really warrant their own sections…

There seems to be this weird misinfo scrap going around that Aqua switches to referring to himself as 「僕」 (boku) as his first person pronoun after waking from his dream as opposed to 「俺」 (ore), which is what he'd been using in his dream and what Gorou had been using too - thus implying that 「僕」 (boku) is Aqua's 'true self' with no Gorou influence. This… uh, is flatly not the case! Putting aside that Aqua doesn't say anything at all after waking up, codeswitching between 'boku' and 'ore' as a first person pronoun is not super uncommon and is more to do with context and politeness than anything else - 'boku' is more polite and more appropriate for formal environments whereas 'ore' is always informal. You might switch back and forth between the two depending on who you're talking to - busting out an 'ore' at work would be like going "hey boss, ya boy just finished those financial reports, bitch" so…!

The other bit of discussion I've seen as pertains to the translation is whether Kana's line in the final page - translated by MangaPlus as 'I'm seriously in love' - was a reference to LoveNow's title or if she used the word 'gachikoi' there in Japanese as Ruby does in 143. The answer to both of those is a resounding 'nope'. Kana's line in that final page is 「私は本気の恋をしている。」, while LoveNow's Japanese title is 「今からガチ恋始めます」. Specifically, Kana describes her feelings as 本気の恋 (honki no koi), i.e, seriously, earnestly, truly in love, whereas both LoveNow and Ruby use the term ガチ恋 (gachikoi), a slang term referring to a fan who considers themselves to be legitimately in romantic love with a celebrity/idol/etc. Gachikoi is also how the first generation of B-Komachi are described in both Viewpoint B and 45510 in the original Japanese text.

Shakers of Salt

This is pretty much everything I saw floating around and I am not personally super interested in litigating every line of text in this chapter, BUT - if there's anything you feel was confusing about this chapter's TL in particular or anything that felt off or crunchy, I'd be happy to clarify stuff in the comments!

Ultimately my motivation here was to sooth the itch triggered by seeing my pet peeve pop up, which is people spreading misinfo about the original language text of a work lol. As I said up top, I was immediately skeptical once claims like this started popping up because "actually, this was mistranslated and the original Japanese text just so happens to word for word support my argument actually" is a song and dance I've done a whole lot of times before. I did my time in the Persona fandom, I'm not going back to this!!!

That being said: absolutely fact check me on this! If any of this smells stinky to you, get a second, third and fourth opinion from other parties, do your own research and come to your own conclusions. "People in fandoms will misrepresent the original language text of a work to support their agendas" is not something I am exempt from just because I have done my own translations and the last thing I want is to inadvertently perpetuate bullshit about a language or culture that is not mine. If you take anything from this, it's to do your own research and ultimately see where you come down on this sort of thing.

#oshi no ko manga spoilers #translations

[penguinkyun]

reminder to donate to gazafunds, a project that highlights random crowdfunding campaigns for people trying to evacuate from gaza

[penguinkyun]

Chapter 150 thoughts!

Glad to be back in the nightmare hell scape! Fun Tokyo Blade vibes.

Bro is so BORED of the horrors. He looks at his sleep paralysis demon and goes “augh you again??”

The most obvious answer to 123 that we’ve all been waiting for for like a year.

Seriously though, on one hand it’s a bit annoying that we’re matter of facting this conclusion after a whole volume worth of playing the ‘What is Aqua thinking?’ game during the aqrb section of filming, it feels disproportionate to the buildup (a very common criticism for subplot resolutions lately)

On the other hand, they’re finally saying what everyone with reading comprehension has been thinking! Aqua doesn’t want this stupid badly written ship to happen, and neither does fucking Gorou!

But Gorou changing the subject from the big revenge life dream to “so what girls do you like” after he just admitted he was like, fading away is a little jarring to me. Maybe it’d read better with voice acting but right now it’s just a little tonally weird.

“You don’t need to act anymore” goes hard though, all things considered. Tbh, I don’t even really dislike the conversation, it just feels a little fast to me. It’s a dream sequence though so I’m being nit picky.

You and the girl who’s telling you not to worry about

Akane aggressively playing matchmaker is a pretty funny role for her, it utilizes her knowledge of people and Aqua adjacent manipulation skills while keeping her motives as well meaning yet overbearing as I’d expect from her.

The current dynamic of her Kana and Aqua has a very Kaguya feel, which I mean positively. It’s refreshing and reminds me why I like this cast and their interactions in the first place. Again, it’s a pretty stark contrast to the rest of this volume which has been steering into horror territory, but I’m suspecting this is probably to set us up for another tone shift later.

The dual flashbacks of their building crushes and feelings is very cute, I think their ship still walks the line of healthy and toxic, but it’s still built on a strongly established foundation. That said, there’s no way they get out right now and it works out. Not without at least one more solid complication first.

So happy for you to admit that, babe. Not gonna go well for you though.

#hahahaha #oshi no ko manga spoilers

[penguinkyun]

chapter 150 thoughts!

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 7…. ttttttechnically? they don't actually mention that the kiss happened, so i'm counting it…

ladies, gentlemen and those who know better, our long national nightmare is finally over

after… literally I've lost count of how long it's been since we had some proper Aqua introspection, our landmark chapter 150 is almost entirely dedicated to putting us back in Aqua's head (quite literally!) and sort of catching up with him. Some things about Aqua that have been mostly only communicated through showing over telling are explicitly told in text and i'm ngl, there's one or two things where seeing textual confirmation of them got me barking like a fucking dog. Overall, while the pacing of the start of this arc has been bit clunky and this chapter itself isn't free of that either, it actually feels like things are moving and meaningful characterization is happening which after the Movie Arc is a bit of a luxury lol.

As usual, I want to gush about Mengo's art before I touch on anything else. Setting the majority of this chapter in a dream sequence allowed her to do some incredibly fun things with the staging and imagery here. Aqua in that eerie void with his feet drenched in blood… Aqua and Gorou still stuck in that hallway where Ai died, while Ruby has managed to take steps to leave… It's so fucking good.

There were some absolutely top tier Kanas this chapter, too… her little baby tantrum in flashback and that gorgeous final page of her… But I'm getting ahead of myself.

While I described this chapter up top as being communicating things about Aqua, it very much feels to me like it's also serving as closure for Gorou, both in the sense of him as a person and resolving the posthumous arc that he's been going on as part of Aqua. This chapter at last draws a clear and explicit distinction between the two, that Aqua is no longer Gorou, even if he might have been built on the foundation of his identity. Gorou is even described as a 'role' that Aqua has been compelled to play that Gorou himself is now urging him to step down from - he is offering to relinquish Aqua's future back to him… if that's what Aqua wants.

This was how I'd initially read the relationship back in my 143 review - that 'Aqua Hoshino' created from Gorou, his core values and driving ideals, but 18+ years of living a whole new life in a whole new social role, meeting people and having experiences Gorou would never have and literally having a different body and brain in the process have made him different and the sum total of those differences is the person we call Aqua Hoshino. This chapter seems to lean into this interpretation, casting them as a pair of briefly intersecting lines that once crossed but have now diverged onto their own paths.

I also just really liked the dynamic that they were shown to have this chapter. Whenever we've seen this conflict externalized in the past, Gorou has always been this frightening, overwhelming presence whose existence actively prevents Aqua from having any kind of happiness or peace. Here, though, they have a much less adversarial energy, which is a really nice reflection of Aqua being able to gradually start pulling himself out of the shit he's been stuck in. Gorou almost feels fatherly or big brotherly here, not just in how he behaves in regards to Sarina-as-Ruby, but for Aqua, too.

But……….. okay, I'll stop dodging around the elephant in the room now lol

After over 25 chapters of very deliberately avoiding putting us in his headspace, 150 finally puts the ball in Aqua's court vis-a-vis the AquRuby tension and he answers in a way I think would be pretty hard to walk back: That Ruby is his precious sister and that's it. That her feelings for him are the result of her projecting Gorou onto him, chasing a ghost that is fading from this world and that she does not actually love him. Whoof.

This was another thing where seeing it in text felt pretty great. I'd caught pretty early on that there was a weird divide in the way the story was handling the AquRuby dynamic - namely, that there wasn't an AquRuby dynamic and all the supposed ship development of it was largely happening in retrospect, beefing up the intensity of the GRSR relationship and having Ruby express her feelings to Gorou-through-Aqua. When the idea of Aqua and Ruby romance was floated, by contrast, it was always treated like a gag. With the Movie arc being as much of a mess as it was, it was hard to work out what the intentionality of that was (if there was any to begin with) but this seems to make it about as clear as it can be: neither Gorou or Aqua have any had any feelings of that sort of Sarina-through-Ruby and neither of them want to pursue romance with them.

Once again tapping into my powers of Claire-voyance, I already know a lot of people are trying to insist that this is Aqua lying to himself or 'settling' and that he does secretly want a relationship with Ruby for reals! but that really isn't how it comes across to me in the art. He's calm, speaks straightforwardly and without hesitation and makes his point pretty clear. We know how it looks when OnK character lie to themselves and this isn't really it. It would also just be strange for that to be the case when this is a scene about Aqua starting to consider the idea of moving past the things that hurt him and live out his future with someone.

And who that someone is… seems to be coming into focus, but I don't think we'll be getting there quite yet.

I will say that for as much as I liked this as a chapter and as a goodbye for Gorou… it kind of doesn't really make a lot of sense as a resolution for his guilt lol. This chapter frames things in such a way that centers his guilt on Sarina and that seeing her live her life as Ruby has given him some catharsis over it. This is a sweet idea but… that's, uh, not how this was framed anytime prior! When we've seen Gorou intrude on Aqua's happiness before, his self hate and his guilt all center on Ai's death and his inability to save her. The last time we saw him in this capacity in 95, that's what he was saying with his whole chest: that he deserves to suffer as punishment for Ai's suffering, Ai's death. I'm sure that knowing Sarina is living on as Ruby was very cathartic but… it has nothing to do with Ai! Why is this being framed as narratively resolved in this way?

Like… if I chew on it a bit, I can make it make sense: since chapter 1, Gorou has been pretty open about projecting Sarina onto Ai, processing his grief that way and imagining her living vicariously through Ai's success. The idea of Ruby doing the same by continuing Ai's legacy and keeping her radiance alive being the thing that gives him release over Ai's death is interesting and I can understand it emotionally, it just feels like a weird unexplained leap for the narrative to make. I was talking to a friend about it, trying to work it out by externalizing it, and they theorized that this was always the intended endpoint of Gorou's posthumous arc but that the story had drifted in the middle section and Akasaka hadn't quite realigned them. This makes a lot of sense to me and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the case.

I will say that it really bugs me. I've already talked about the ways Ai's importance to the twins as their mother has been gradually downplayed and diluted as the Movie Arc has gone on. In my original post, I attributed this to Akasaka trying to amp up the intensity of the GRSR -> AQRB relationship in a soap opera-y sort of way, but given that this chapter seems to shut down AquRuby, I don't really know if that's the case. In general, Ai has been treated as sort of narratively 'resolved' as of 137, as if that chapter was the capstone to her posthumous character arc and while that might be the case for Ruby… I really don't think it is for Aqua!

It's possible that this is intentional. Aqua still has a shitton of work to do on unfucking his relationship with Ai and the ways his view of her, as implied by the Movie Arc, is warped by his grief. I could see this final stretch of the story being primarily about that - after all, this chapter is about confronting Aqua with the binary choice of revenge or love. In a lot of ways, this has always been what he's struggling with but putting the ball this firmly in his court establishes Ai's death entirely as his own trauma that he has to work through on his own. After all, Aqua might have confronted Gorou in this chapter, but there's a certain someone we also saw in chapter 95 that Aqua hasn't dealt with yet…

I'm talking about Kana, obviously! (ducks thrown tomatoes)

I don't have a ton to say about the AQKN romance setup in this chapter other than… yeah, I kinda saw this coming! It's interesting to see Gorou, the representation of Aqua's guilt and self destruction, be the one to so directly confront him and push him towards trying to find some happiness with her. Aqua quietly noting that he knows the things he likes about Kana and he knows that moving on with her makes a lot of sense - but what makes this especially interesting is the way it mirrors Kana's own reflection on her relationship with Aqua at the end of the chapter.

I like that a lot of the AQKN moments the two reflect on are just… mundane, everyday instances of the two of them stumbling through life together. I've seen a lot of people say AQKN is 'boring' or 'flat' because it lacks the drama of AQAK or AQRB but honestly, I feel like this is what makes it work (when it does work) - their relationship, whatever form it takes, is a safe and quiet space where they can just exist outside the drama and transactional utility of so many of their other relationships.

That said, while those montages mirror each other, what makes them interesting is their divergence point. Kana decides to commit to choosing 'love', with that absolutely gorgeous full page panel, but Gorou hands the knife - the symbol of the violence that blighted Aqua's life - back to him and makes it clear that love or revenge, the choice is now entirely in Aqua's hands. We don't see what he chooses, but… if Oshi no Ko really is a story with a happy ending, I think it's a foregone conclusion. And that makes me really happy.

Not that it's happening anytime soon, lol. I'll be very shocked if Kana's confession doesn't result in a rejection from Aqua, at least at this point in time - there's too much else going on in the story for this to be the right place for Aqua to commit to Kana. She's still an idol, after all and Kamiki is still around. The bets I'm placing right now are that AQKN are going to get their resolution, whatever form it takes, at the Dome concert during or after Kana's graduation.

As for their date… Call me cynical, but I also don't see it going particularly well. After all…

Aren't we forgetting somebody?

#YEP TO ALL OF THIS #oshi no ko manga spoilers

[penguinkyun]

chapter 150 review

*laughs* oh this chapter. this is the day ive been waiting for since 123 dropped last year. folks its finally over. but before that lets review: augh aqua looks so tiny in the first panel....standing with bloodsoaked pants. man. he can't ever escape that hallway huh. him and goro being stuck in that same hallway from over ten years ago, still drenched in blood is so....auhg. i am so happy we're finally getting back into aquas head after *checks notes* 31 chapters of no longer being in his head! and i really love the conversation between the two of them too! it establishes a lot of what i've been thinking of how aqua views his reincarnation vs how ruby views it i.e. she is continuing her life as sarina unbroken but aqua....is a wholly different person! a year is enough time to change a person let alone almost twenty years! and how goro refers to himself as a faint wound is also quite interesting because as we've seen in c.65 and c.95, goro is used almost exclusively as aqua's vehicle of self hatred, constantly telling him he has no right to be happy or that he deserves to live unless ai's murderer is dead (put a pin in that point). goro is wound that aqua has not allowed to heal and it festers until he does. AND FINALLY. WE ARE FREE. we've never really seen aqua's viewpoint of the whole Incest Debacle apart from the very very uncomfortable faces he makes when ruby is chasing after him and that's because the very instant we get back into aqua's head he instantly shuts down any notion of it ever happening. it really is just ruby seeing the illusion of goro amamiya in him and aqua is no longer that person. anyways speaking of c.95, goro giving up here is very....eh. sure seeing sarina happy must've triggered some rethinking because she was also a major part of his guilt but. its always been centred around ai! ai's murder is the reason goro can't let go, because he was never able to fulfill his promise to protect her. avenging ai is always the driving force of whenever we see phantoms of goro in aquas head! honestly this is part of like. the story largely removing ai as a driving force in the twins lives - from decentering her involvement in their reincarnation to excising her from goro and aqua's central motivation for vengeance. but as i say that, goro has always been a vehicle for aqua's self hatred when it comes to his revenge. he is exclusively shown as a restraint on aqua gaining any sort of happiness and all his self hatred given form. but the phantom that is actually his desire for revenge, pure and unfiltered is:

and we haven't seen aqua confront him yet have we? *laughs nervously* also goro acting like an elder brother to aqua and teasing him about his crush on kana is hilarious lmfao. and handing him the knife. ha. anyways kana is so funny here. girl does not acknowledge akane as her rival in any major sense. akane is crying somehwere in the background (for legal reasons this is a joke). anyways kana slowly working up the courage to finally confess to aqua is so beautiful because she has incredibly low self esteem and to see her hope in this? after reminiscing on all her moments with aqua is really sweet. honestly a lot of aqkn romantic moments feel overdramatic on kana's end but this was. just really sweet really. it reminds of the moment in sweet today where she just glances aqua's way before the camera comes on. actually this chapter itself gives me a lot of the early onk vibes in how its written which is quite different from the tone of the movie arc which swung between comedy and almost horror. i will say i like that both aqkn think of their more normal moments in between all the dramatic ones. and god that panel of kana. shes so beautiful. i am so scared. because there is no way aqua will accept, since she is still an idol, kamiki is somewhere in the background and. well baby aqua hasn't shown up yet has he?

either way the knife is in aqua's hands now. its his choice if he wants to turn it on himself or throw it away.

break next week!

#oshi no ko #oshi no ko manga spoilers #chapter review #speed typed this bc all my thoughts came back after reading the official tl

[penguinkyun]

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