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Aka Akasaka doesn’t shy away from the dangerous and devastating real-life situations celebrities face in the Oshi no Ko manga and anime. After all, Ai Hoshino is murdered by a stalker and had to hide her teen pregnancy of Aqua and Ruby Hoshino, and an early volume deals with an online harassment campaign against Akane Kurokawa. Now with the eleventh volume of Oshi no Ko, we return to the concept by showing how damaging paparazzi can be to a career by putting Kana Arima in a series of scary situations. At the same time, that’s being used as a device to set in motion the plans to take us through the end of the series.
Editor’s Note: There will be some spoilers for the first half of volume 11 of the Oshi no Ko manga below.
While in the past we’ve seen Akane and Ruby appear as possible victims or targets, this time Oshi no Ko Kana is a target. But not just in one way. Instead, Akasaka is using the story to show exactly how vulnerable the industry is even to someone who is as savvy and aware as she is. She’s been acting since she was a child. She knows how fickle people are and the shady underbelly. When she gets a chance to meet with Masanori Shima, a famous and award-winning director, she knows he cheats on his wife, sleeps with young women for casting calls, and can be a jerk. But she thinks she’s savvy enough to head it off. Which leads to the first possible mistake.
When confronted, she almost seems willing to go back on things and give up control of the situation. However, due to her personality and love for Aqua, she unexpectedly manages to “win” that encounter. She gets to be herself. She shows how captivating she is and manages to be “interesting” to Masanori even though she doesn’t become his lover.
What makes it interesting is Akasaka shows how even a seasoned professional can be caught off-guard and that threats are multifaceted. Because while Kana passes the one challenge with flying colors, the real danger is in what comes after. We’re vaguely aware of the influence of media and outsiders due to past situations in Oshi no Ko, but now Kana ended up being “caught” by a Weekly True Entertainment Stories reporter who was stalking Masanori and realized it would be a much better story to catch an up-and-coming idol going back to his apartment with him.
It’s terrifying.
Because before this, Kana is always the confident and stable one in Oshi no Ko. She’s established and a street smart member who seems aware of pitfalls. But once that paparazzi catches her, she’s frozen. As smart as Kana is, and she is absolutely one of the more media-savvy members of the cast, she is paralyzed. She has no idea how to handle it, and even Miyako Saitou is a bit flummoxed as to possibly making it go away.
Akasaka handles the tension and horror of it all perfectly. Especially as we see what this means for B-Komachi as a whole. Since because Kana is part of a group, it would reflect poorly on Ruby and Mem-cho too, potentially ruining their careers.
But it also means the resolution is fantastic. I won’t spoil it for folks here. However, in recent volumes we’ve seen Aqua working toward his goal of avenging Ai. Once Miyako brings up what could save Kana, Aqua sees how it could benefit him and others. His actions and the result are cathartic in some ways, but also equally terrifying given what we know is coming.
Volume 11 of the Oshi no Ko manga maintains Akasaka’s trend of not being afraid to be brutally honest about what can happen in the entertainment industry and allow readers to feel afraid for and uncomfortable with the situations Aqua, Ruby, Kana, and Akane find themselves in throughout the series. It’s a dangerous job! We don’t realize it! And while these performers can seem mature sometimes, they are young! It’s a wake-up call and realistic peek at the inner workings.
Volume 11 of Oshi no Ko is available now, and Yen Press will release volume 12 on December 16, 2025.
