Score: A

After the first “episode” of [Oshi no Ko] I thought Kana was a nice character. She had a small role that seemed to set up Aqua’s path towards acting and was mostly left behind after that. But her popularity and the fan art were strong enough that I was left curious how good a character she’d end up being. Episode 3 absolutely made it clear to me that Kana will be one of the highlights of this show. Her presence and personality were allowed to fully shine in an episode practically dedicated to her. The story was still being told from Aqua’s point of view, but Kana just took over whenever she was on screen. Both in the show and outside of it she’s a girl with powerful charisma that demands attention.

Tough to get negative reviews in that situation

There is just a strong sense of fun and passion with Kana. She truly does love acting even though she isn’t blind to the negative elements of the world that she’s a part of. The girl truly has come a long way from her childhood where she did what she wanted and didn’t care how she treated those around her. Now she’s got a more mature perspective about things. There’s an understanding that she must tailor her acting to both her role and the cast. She can’t just go all out with the job she has right now. It would make her acting look better, but it would also make the acting of those around her look even worse. And that’s saying a lot because those guys suck! If she acts any harder, it will make the whole thing completely unwatchable.

The sad thing is that she must approach it this way. She’s had a tough time getting roles and spotlight since she’s grown up a bit. That period between child star and teen actor hasn’t gone smoothly. It’s a somber point to admit that she considered retirement a few times. The bridges burned by her childish behavior has made it difficult to bounce back. She hasn’t slacked off. The effort and talent is still very much there. But in a career that’s as much about connections as ability (if not more so) it’s not easy to rebound. That she needs a job like this where she can’t even flex her true ability has to be difficult to manage.

If she can keep her spirits up then she’ll be ok

I will note the obvious path forward. Kana left or was dropped by her previous agency. So, she’s technically a free agent. It would be a real twist of fate to have her signed by Strawberry Productions! It’s not like they can’t do that either. Any acting that Aqua does is done while being represented by that company. Not that they are a major force in the entertainment industry right now. But they are trustworthy, and it would give her a legitimate reason to hang around Aqua some more. If she’s going to keep pushing him to act, then she’ll need more places to spend time with him besides heading to karaoke. It is true anyways that Kana’s ability to protect herself professionally is limited if she doesn’t have a company backing her. I could easily see it happening.

If she wants to talk then he should give her some attention!

Might as well keep the Kana praise train going. Her aggressiveness around Aqua and her charm was on full display here. I love how she just determinedly followed him until he was willing to talk to her. And then she just went all the way to the Director’s place to keep the conversation going. There’s no question that she’s interested in Aqua in a variety of ways. The impact he had on her as a child remains even now. Little things like the adorable hop she made towards Aqua when trying to pitch that stalker role to him was just perfect. She’s got a ton of energy and has no qualms about pushing as hard as she can. She wants to spend time with Aqua and she wants to see more of his acting.

Even the acting he gave during the practice run didn’t sway her opinions. That also goes for when he was talking about mostly shifting to behind-the-scenes work. That’s because she was just happy to have someone she knew and connected with having kept on the same path she was walking. Even if he keeps trying to deny that he is. Of course, she wants to see fantastic acting from him and believes he can deliver it. And I’m sure she’ll get that faith rewarded in the next episode. But honestly, she’s just happy to have him around and it helps keep her own acting fire alive.

This guy has brooding down to an art form

Instead, the focus for him is very much still on revenge. It shows the depth of his determination and anger that he spent literal years trying to unlock Ai’s phone. I can’t even imagine being that determined. But it was the biggest thing he had when it came to leads. So, I can understand that he’d throw everything at that chance even though Ai’s phone might have had no useful information. There are decent odds that someone in that phone is the father of the twins. But there’s no certainty there. But he’s living for this revenge, and he’ll chase it as far as possible. I really doubt the producer is the guy. He doesn’t seem competent enough for that. While he appears to be a jerk, I don’t think he’s a murderer.

I can’t blame her here.

This show just keeps delivering strong episodes. The scene of the creator of the source material for the drama looking depressed when seeing the adaptation felt very real. I’m sure there are many adaptations like that in live action or animation. But it’s nice to think that this show isn’t like that. You can see the determination to make an entertaining and good show here. They aren’t taking this lightly or pulling punches. And that’s allowing the show to be good every week so far.

I’m excited to see what stunt Aqua pulls next week. I presume he’ll go all out and might draw Kana into showing her full potential as a result. There are risks there, but I like the idea of him sticking it to a producer that cares more about the schedules of male models than the quality of the show he’s making. Plus, it shows that he does care about Kana. He was clearly unhappy about the reality of that situation. If he goes that way, it could work. This is the last episode, these people can’t be bothered to do a second take, and they’ll have to work with whatever they get. Aqua is also “the villain” of this scene so they can’t exactly cut out his scenes. I hope things go great and that it works out as well as possible for Kana especially.