By 
Throughout the Oshi no Ko manga and anime, we watch as Aqua Hoshino gradually moves pieces into place to get revenge for the murder of his mother Ai Hoshino, and the in-series movie The 15 Year Lie is a major part of that plan. He knows it’s the only way to expose the truth and the person who killed her. Now that we hit volume 12 of the manga, it is starting to come together. So while that means often painful and major changes and realizations for characters, it also means we’re closer to the truth.
Editor’s Note: There will be minor spoilers for volume 12 of the Oshi no Ko manga below.
From a procedural standpoint, volume 12 of the Oshi no Ko manga is really insightful. The series often gets into the inside baseball elements of the entertainment industry. In this case, that comes down to preparing to get The 15 Year Lie movie about Ai Hoshino actually made. So this installment starts with the movie producer Masaya Kaburagi drumming up support by getting a distributor.
When they get Eikyo Inc to handle getting the film in theaters, that comes at the cost of securing their own 100 million yen in funding from other sources. But then that means acquiescing to their demands in order to secure their investment. So while the actual events relating to characters are huge spoilers that I’d feel bad discussing and disclosing, in the event it’d ruin revelations for people, the procedural elements can be equally interesting.
That leads to another fascinating element of the progress of The 15 Year Lie movie in Oshi no Ko, as investors’ interests differ from the director Taishi Gotanda’s. While one investor wants Frill Shiranui and Akane Kurosawa is being thrown around, Gotanda wants Ruby Hoshino after meeting her again and seeing exactly how similar she is to her mother. But while there is no traditional audition process, with Frill explaining why after encountering Ruby at school. As a result, we see how the heroine of the film is really chosen.
We’re seeing all these steps come together. So much so that we also see Aqua’s machinations and manipulations influence things. From the way he handles Akane and Kana Arima especially, we see the thought he puts into his mission. This culminates in us seeing all the moving parts on the production side come together to allow filming proper to begin in the next volume.
Oshi no Ko volume 12 is another example of the series managing to combine the drama and mystery of the characters’ lives while also offering possible insight into elements of the entertainment industry. Major moves are happening involving characters like Aqua, Ruby, and Kana in this entry! But equally important is seeing how the producer, director, and actors make their additional moves to get The 15 Year Lie movie made.
Volume 12 of the Oshi no Ko manga is available now, and Yen Press will release volume 13 on April 28, 2026. The first two seasons of the anime are on HIDIVE, and season 3 is streaming on Crunchyroll starting in 2026.
